Heart of Yoga, by TKV Desikachar
Chapter 12 - The World Exists to Set Us Free
[A summary of the key points]
We gradually change as we progress along the yoga path, which we started on because
we wanted to better ourselves.
Pratyahara: ahara = nourishment, and pratyahara = to withdraw oneself from that which
nourishes the senses. In pratyahara we sever the link between the mind and the senses.
This happens for example when we are totally obsessed with the breath in pranayama,
or when we are absorbed in meditation. It happens by itself - we can't make it happen,
we can only do things likely to make it happen.
Dharana: from dhr = to hold - it is "the condition in which the mind focuses and
concentrates exclusively on one point. The more intensely we focus on one point,
the more other activities of the mind fall away."
Dhyana: This comes after the contact has been made (i.e. dharana). "You perceive
an object and continuously communicate with it."
Samadhi: = to bring together, to merge. "When we succeed in becoming so absorbed
in something that our mind becomes completely at one with it."
You can't deliberately practise these things, but through asana and pranayama you
can create favourable mental conditions - i.e you enable the mind to settle and become
quiet. This prepares for dharana, from which the next two stages may follow in sequence.
"When dharana, dhyana and samadhi are concentrated on one object, this is called
samyama." (sam = together; yama = discipline) "When a person is focusing on one particular
object, he or she will come to understand it progressively more deeply."
"Kaivalya describes the effect on the persona;lity of being in a continuous state
of samadhi. This is the state of inner freedom that yoga strives for." People in
this state live in the world, behave like normal people, but understand the world
so well that they aren't influenced by it. It is a state which gradually comes into
being.
Pages 111-118 of this chapter are devoted to a question-and-answer session on the
above topics, and makes very intersting and helpful reading. Here are some of the
points that I found particluarly helpful:
On the relationship between pratyahara and dharana:
"Pratyahara occurs automatically
in a state of dharana or dhyana or samadhi, and is the result of these states." It
is mentioned first in the Yoga Sutras not because it occurs first, but because it
is to do with the senses and thus more external than dharana. The senses may be involved
in dharana etc. but are focused entirely on the object of your meditation. You may
become aware of other objects in the outside world, but are not distracted by them.
"In a meditative state, the senses are in accord with a state of dhyana; pratyahara
occurs as a result of this state; it is not possible to achieve pratyahara by itself."
But what you can do is create the conditions which make dhayana possible. And this
will always require a certain effort. "The moment we no longer have to make any effort
at all is the beginning of dhyana."
An example of samadhi:
You are a student and you have to write a paper. You have an
idea you intend to use. When you sit down to write and begin to concentrate, you're
in a state of dharana. When you get really involved in the work of getting your idea
on paper, this is dhyana. Then maybe you get stuck and take a short break and meanwhile
do something else. Then while you'r busy doing something else you suddenly think,
"I've got it!" You sit down and finish the paper. At this point you are completely
immersed in the paper and its ideas; you are at one with it. This is samadhi. "In
samadhi the gap betwen the mind and the object we are focusing on is much smaller,
and the understanding so immediate, that we no longer have to think." Desikachar
refers to YS I.17:
"Then the object is gradually understood fully. At first it is
at a more superficial level. In time comprehension becomes deeper. And finally it
is total. There is pure joy in reaching such a depth of understanding. For then the
individual is so much at one with the object that he is oblivious to his surroundings."
Other points to understand about samadhi:
As we meditate, the object of our meditation
retains its distinct identity. It may change - as all things may change - but not
as the result of dhyana or samadhi. What changes is our understanding - we achieve
prajna - very clear understanding.
Samadhi doesn't depend on us sitting with eyes closed and legs crossed. "We know
we are experiencing samadhi if we can see and understand things that we could not
see or understand before."
It's possible to use your body as an object of neditation.
This means you come to understand the body better. Similarly, you can use pranayama
as an object of meditation; this will allow your understanding of the breath to grow.
In samadhi when you are absorbed in the object of meditation, "there are no thoughts.
Thinking is absent; there is no need for it because we are so closely linked to our
object." Desikachar addes that there are various stages and degrees of intensity
in samadhi.
He also says that every time you learn something you've had a little taste of dharana,
dhyana and samadhi: in learning, our mind has to be actively involved, and this is
dharana and dhyana. "It is usually the case that we alternate between dharana, dhyana
and samadhi on the one hand and states of restlessness and confusion on the other....
As a person gets more involved, he or she spends more time in samadhi, and experiences
less restlessness. It may get to the point where that person is always in a state
of samadhi."
