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Patanjali Yoga Sutra - Dharana Part 2

PublishedbyLightoftheSelfFoundation

PatanjaliYogaSutra

Dharana-Part2

DiscoursesbySadguruPrabhuji

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Patanjali Yoga Sutra - Dharana Part 2

PatanjaliYogaSutra–Dharana

Chapter3Sutra1

16October,2012

MyhumblepranamstoallAtmajyothis,theDivinelightsoftheSelf.Today,letuscontemplate

onDharanafromthirdchapterofPatanjaliYogaSutrasalsoknownasSamadhiPadha.From

Pratyahara one grows intoDharana. As mentioned earlier, yoga can be considered as eight

stepsoreightlimbs.FromPratyaharagrowingintoDharanaisconsidered&loweringofabe-

ingorprogressiveunfoldingofenlightenment.

देशब�धः िच�ःय धारणा ॥देशब�धः िच�ःय धारणा ॥देशब�धः िच�ःय धारणा ॥देशब�धः िच�ःय धारणा ॥११११॥॥॥॥

deśa-bandhahacittasyadhāranā||1||

Fixing the mind on an object is called Dharana.DharanaisanaturalprogressionfromPratya-

harawhichiswithdrawalofsenses.Theattentionspanofmostpeopletodayisveryless;the

mind jumps hither thither, from one object to another. Over a period of time, the attention

spanhasbecomeshortduetoitsexposuretomassmedialiketelevision,internetetc.Adver-

tisershavestudiedthenatureofhumanmindanditsattentionspananddecidedonthetime

intervalatwhichcommercialsshouldbeairedduringaTVshow.Whilewatchingashowon

TV, the mind starts wandering after a certain time and commercials are aired around that

time to capture the attention of viewers. This is the era of people with very short attention

span making it very dif&icult to have engaged audience. People are bombarded with infor-

mationbecauseofwhichtheyareattentionde&icit,butonewhohasmasteredPratyaharahas

masteredthesenseorgans.

Senseorgansobeythemind,oncethemindhasbecomecalmer,puri&ied,andhavesettledin

theSelfandhadaglimpseoftruenatureoftheSelf.Whenthepuri&iedintellectbecomesthe

realmaster,one’smindisableto&ixitsattentiononanobjectforcontemplation.Thisabilityis

tobecultivatedasitisrequiredandhastwofoldbene&itofsuccessinlifeandspiritualevolu-

tion.

Tobesuccessfulinlife,oneneedstobeabletoholdontoanidea,conceptandworkonthat

withdeepinterestwithoutwhichonecannotfocusonthesame.Whenthemindissettledin

theself,hadaglimpseof theSelf,greathappinessandblissisexperiencedbythemindand

whenthathappensone’smindiscalm,controlledandfocussed.

Let us take the example of sunlight, the sunlight doesn't have the ability to burn paper, but

whenthesunlightisfocussedthroughaglasslensintoabeam,itcanburnthepaper.Similar-

ly,acalmandcollectedmindcanbefocussedlikeabeamonanobjectandgainclearunder-

standingofallaspectsoftheobject.Ifsuchapersonfocusesonanysubjecthecangainmas-

teryoverthatsubject.andwhenheappliesthatDharanaforenlightenment,hecanfocuson

anobject,aconcept,anidea,holdontothatuntiltheinnertruthisrevealed.Themovementof

awareness, from gross to subtle tocausaland &inally to the transcendental, requires a very

re&inedandcollectedmind.AYogiattainsthisabilityasapartofprogressive&loweringofen-

lightenment.ThisiscalledDharana.