''Dhāraṇā'' () is translated as "collection or concentration of the mind (joined with the retention of breath)", or "the act of holding, bearing, wearing, supporting, maintaining, retaining, keeping back (in remembrance), a good memory", or "firmness, steadfastness, certainty". This term is related to the verbal Sanskrit roots ''dha'' and ''ana,'' to hold, carry, maintain, resolve. Dharana is the noun. ''Dhāraṇā'' is the sixth limb of eight elucidated by

Patanjali Patanjali ( sa, पतञ्जलि, Patañjali), also called Gonardiya or Gonikaputra, was a Hindu author, mystic and philosopher. Very little is known about him, and while no one knows exactly when he lived; from analysis of his works it i ...

's Ashtanga Yoga or

Raja Yoga ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...

in his ''

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali The ''Yoga Sutras of Patañjali'' is a collection of Sanskrit sutras ( aphorisms) on the theory and practice of yoga – 195 sutras (according to Vyāsa and Krishnamacharya) and 196 sutras (according to others, including BKS Iyengar). The ...

''.

Overview

''Dhāraṇā'' may be translated as "holding", "holding steady", "concentration", or "single focus". The prior limb Pratyahara involves withdrawing the senses from external phenomena. ''Dhāraṇā'' builds further upon this by refining it further to '' ekagrata'' or ''ekagra chitta'', that is single-pointed concentration and focus, which is in this context cognate with

Samatha ''Samatha'' (Pāli; sa, शमथ ''śamatha''; ), "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and ''vipassanā'' (Pāli; Sanskrit ''vipaśyanā''), literally "special, super (''vi-''), seeing (''-passanā'')", are two qualities of the ...

. Gregor Maehle (2006: p. 234) defines Dharana as: "The mind thinks about one object and avoids other thoughts; awareness of the object is still interrupted." ''Dhāraṇā'' is the initial step of deep concentration meditation, where the object being focused upon is held in the mind without consciousness wavering from it. The difference between ''Dhāraṇā'', Dhyāna, and

Samādhi ''Samadhi'' ( Pali and sa, समाधि), in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools, is a state of meditative consciousness. In Buddhism, it is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path. In the Ashtanga Yo ...

(their "integration" constituting Samyama) is that in the former, the object of meditation, the mystic, and the act of meditation itself remain separate. That is, the mystic or the mystic's meta-awareness is conscious of meditating (that is, is conscious of the act of meditation) on an object, and of one's own self, which is concentrating on the object. As the seer becomes more advanced, dwelling in the subsequent stage of Dhyāna, consciousness of the act of meditation disappears, and only the consciousness of being/existing and the object of concentration register (in the mind). In the final stage of Samādhi, the ego-mind also dissolves, and the seer becomes one with the object. Generally, the object of concentration is God, or the

Self The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhoo ...

, which is seen as an expression of God.

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Dharana
Comments on the Patanjali's Scheme.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dharana Eight limbs of yoga

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