Dhyana

0.00 - The Book of Lies Text, #The Book of Lies, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
making Dhyana at least on any conceivable thing, at
a second's notice; otherwise, the practice would only
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Dhyana gets rid of the Ego.
Samadhi gets rid of the Soul Impersonal.
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Dhyana destroys the tendencies (Sankhara).
Samadhi destroys the consciousness (Vinnanam).

03.07 - Brahmacharya, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The energy that one stores by continence, regular habits and self-discipline increases also in that way. Sometimes special methodskriyaare adopted to help the process, Asana or Pranayama, for example. But an inner and a more psychological procedure is needed, a concentration of will and consciousnessa kind of Dhyana, in other wordsin order to be able to take the next step in discipline. For after the storage and increase of energy comes the sublimation of energy, that is to say, the physico-vital energy transmuted into the energy of mental substance, medh. Sublimation means also the increase of brain-power, an enhancement in the degree and quality of its capacity. This has nothing to do with the volume of knowledge enclosed (the mass of information to which we referred before) the growth is with regard to the very stuff of the mind from within, the natural strength of intelligence that can be applied to any field of knowledge with equal success and felicity.
The basis and the immediate aim of education according to the ancient system was to develop this fundamental mental capacity: the brain's power to think clearly, consistently and deeply, to undergo labour without tiring easily and also a general strength and steadiness in the nerves. The transference of nervous energy into brain energy is also a secret of the process of sublimation. It is precisely this aspect of education that has been most neglected in modern times. We give no thought to this fundamental: we leave the brain to develop as it may (or may not), it is made to grow under pressuremore to inflate than to growby forcing into it masses of information. The result at best is that it is sharpened, made acute superficially or is overgrown in a certain portion of it in respect of a narrow and very specialised function, losing thereby a healthy harmony and homogeneity in the total movement. The intellectual's nervous instability is a very common phenomenon among us.

1.01 - SAMADHI PADA, #Patanjali Yoga Sutras, #Swami Vivekananda, #Hinduism
and higher Dhyanas. In these that are called with reasoning,
we keep the duality of subject and object, which results from

1.02 - SADHANA PADA, #Patanjali Yoga Sutras, #Swami Vivekananda, #Hinduism
Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi, are the limbs of Yoga.
30. RTT: II II

1.03 - Meeting the Master - Meeting with others, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Gandhi: What is the method of Yoga? How do you meditate? Do you meditate on an image or do you practise Pranayama, Dhyana and Dharana?
Haribhai: It is meditation but it is by quite a different method.

1.03 - YIBHOOTI PADA, #Patanjali Yoga Sutras, #Swami Vivekananda, #Hinduism
tatrci pratyayaikatanata Dhyanam
An unbroken flow of knowledge to that object is
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that state for some time it is called Dhyana (meditation).
98
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form, that state of Dhyana is called Samadhi.
4. II VII
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Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi, one following the other,
and making one. The form of the thing has vanished, and only
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Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi. Yet these latter even are
external to the seedless Samadhi. When a man has attained to

1.04 - GOD IN THE WORLD, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
There are four kinds of Dhyana (spiritual disciplines). What are these four? They are, first, the Dhyana practised by the ignorant; second, the Dhyana devoted to the examination of meaning; third, the Dhyana with Suchness for its object; fourth, the Dhyana of the Tathagatas (Buddhas).
What is meant by the Dhyana practised by the ignorant? It is the one resorted to by the Yogins who exercise themselves in the disciplines of Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas (contemplatives and solitary Buddhas of the Hinayana school), who perceiving that there is no ego substance, that the body is a shadow and a skeleton which is transient, impure and full of suffering, persistently cling to these notions, which are regarded as just so and not otherwise, and who, starting from them, advance by stages until they reach the cessation, where there are no thoughts. This is called the Dhyana practised by the ignorant.
What then is the Dhyana devoted to the examination of meaning? It is the one practised by those who, having gone beyond the egolessness of things, beyond individuality and generality, beyond the untenability of such ideas as self, other and both, which are held by the philosophers, proceed to examine and follow up the meaning of the various aspects of Bodhisattvahood. This is the Dhyana devoted to the examination of meaning.
What is the Dhyana with Ta thata (or Suchness) as its object? When the Yogin recognizes that the discrimination of the two forms of egolessness is mere imagination and that where he establishes himself in the reality of Suchness there is no rising of discriminationthis I call the Dhyana with Suchness for its object.
What is the Dhyana of the Tathagata? When the Yogin, entering upon the stage of Tathagatahood and abiding in the triple bliss characterizing self-realization attained by noble wisdom, devotes himself for the sake of all beings to the accomplishment of incomprehensible worksthis I call the Dhyana of the Tathagata.
Lankavatara Sutra

1.04 - KAI VALYA PADA, #Patanjali Yoga Sutras, #Swami Vivekananda, #Hinduism
tatra Dhyanajam anashayam
Among the various Chittas that which is attained by

1.04 - The Gods of the Veda, #Vedic and Philological Studies, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Next, it is to Indra that he turns. I have already said that in my view Indra is the master of mental force. Let us see whether there is anything here to contradict the hypothesis. Indra yahi chitrabhano suta ime tu ayavah, Anwibhis tana putasah. Indrayahi dhiyeshito viprajutah sutavatah Upa brahmani vaghatah. Indrayahi tutujana upa brahmani harivah Sute dadhishwa nas chanah. There are several important words here that are doubtful in their sense, anwi, tana, vaghatah, brahmani; but none of them are of importance for our present purpose except brahmani. For reasons I shall give in the proper place I do not accept Brahma in the Veda as meaning speech of any kind, but as either soul or a mantra of the kind afterwards called Dhyana, the object of which was meditation and formation in the soul of the divine Power meditated on whether in an image or in his qualities. It is immaterial which sense we take here. Indra, sings the Rishi, arrive, O thou of rich and varied light, here are these life-streams poured forth, purified, with vital powers, with substance. Arrive, O Indra, controlled by the understanding, impelled forward in various directions to my soul faculties, I who am now full of strength and flourishing increase. Arrive, O Indra, with protection to my soul faculties, O dweller in the brilliance, confirm our delight in the nectar poured. It seems to me that the remarkable descriptions dhiyeshito viprajutah are absolutely conclusive, that they prove the presence of a subjective Nature Power, not a god of rain & tempest, & prove especially a mind-god. What is it but mental force which comes controlled by the understanding and is impelled forward by it in various directions? What else is it that at the same time protects by its might the growing & increasing soul faculties from impairing & corrupting attack and confirms, keeps safe & continuous the delight which the Aswins have brought with them? The epithets chitrabhano, harivas become at once intelligible and appropriate; the god of mental force has indeed a rich and varied light, is indeed a dweller in the brilliance. The progress of the thought is clear. Madhuchchhanda, as a result of Yogic practice, is in a state of spiritual & physical exaltation; he has poured out the nectar of vitality; he is full of strength & ecstasy This is the sacrifice he has prepared for the gods. He wishes it to be prolonged, perhaps to be made, if it may now be, permanent. The Aswins are called to give & take the delight, Indra to supply & preserve that mental force which will sustain the delight otherwise in danger of being exhausted & sinking by its own fierceness rapidly consuming its material in the soul faculties. The state and the movement are one of which every Yogin knows.
But he is not content with the inner sacrifice. He wishes to pour out this strength & joy in action on the world, on his fellows, on the peoples, therefore he calls to the Visve Devah to come, A gata!all the gods in general who help man and busy themselves in supporting his multitudinous & manifold action. They are kindly, omasas, they are charshanidhrito, holders or supporters of all our actions, especially actions that require effort, (it is in this sense that I take charshani, again on good philological grounds), they are to distribute this nectar to all or to divide it among themselves for the action,dasvanso may have either force,for Madhuchchhanda wishes not only to possess, but to give, to distribute, he is dashush. Omasas charshanidhrito visve devasa a gata, daswanso dashushah sutam. He goes on, Visve devaso apturah sutam a ganta turnayah Usra iva swasarani. Visve devaso asridha ehimayaso adruhah, Medham jushanta vahnayah. O you all-gods who are energetic in works, come to the nectar distilled, ye swift ones, (or, come swiftly), like calves to their own stalls,(so at least we must translate this last phrase, till we can get the real meaning, for I do not believe this is the real or, at any rate, the only meaning). O you all-gods unfaltering, with wide capacity of strength, ye who harm not, attach yourselves to the offering as its supporters. And then come the lines about Saraswati. For although Indra can sustain for a moment or for a time he is at present a mental, not an ideal force; it is Saraswati full of the vijnana, of mahas, guiding by it the understanding in all its ways who can give to all these gods the supporting knowledge, light and truth which will confirm and uphold the delight, the mental strength & supply inexhaustibly from the Ocean of Mahas the beneficent & joy-giving action,Saraswati, goddess of inspiration, the flowing goddess who is the intermediary & channel by which divine truth, divine joy, divine being descend through the door of knowledge into this human receptacle. In a word, she is our inspirer, our awakener, our lurer towards Immortality. It is immortality that Madhuchchhandas prepares for himself & the people who do sacrifice to Heaven, devayantah. The Soma-streams he speaks of are evidently no intoxicating vegetable juices; he calls them ayavah, life-forces; & elsewhere amritam, nectar of immortality; somasah, wine-draughts of bliss & internal well being. It is the clear Yogic idea of the amritam, the divine nectar which flows into the system at a certain stage of Yogic practice & gives pure health, pure strength & pure physical joy to the body as a basis for a pure mental & spiritual vigour and activity.

1.057 - The Four Manifestations of Ignorance, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
But this is precisely what has happened. All our so-called endeavours are backed up by a misconception. Because of the misconception, there is erroneous movement of the mind in its activities. Therefore, the expected results do not follow. It does not matter if we sit for meditation for hours together nothing will happen. No fruit is going to drop from the trees, because this meditation may be like the meditation of the crane for catching fish. That is also meditation. The crane keeps quiet for hours together, without doing anything, and we call it meditation. We call it bahula Dhyana in Hindi. Bahula Dhyana is a peculiar kind of meditation practised by the crane. It stands on one leg. It is also a great tapasvi and does not budge an inch from that place. We think that the crane is a great yogi but its mind is on the fish. It wants to see where the fish comes up, and then darts upon it immediately and catches it.
This ignorance is like this peculiar sleeping crane which is ready to pounce upon its objects, and it will not allow us to be in peace. As was mentioned previously, unless the cause is tackled properly and treated, there is no use merely catching hold of the effects. These effects are like ambassadors who have come merely to convey the message of the government to which they belong. There is no use in talking to the ambassador with a wry face or in language which is unbecoming, as he is only a representative of the force that is there behind him. The force is something different, and what we see with our eyes is a different thing altogether. But yet, we are likely to mistake these effects for the causes, and then it is that we practise wrong tapas. We may stand on one leg but it will not help us, though it is a tapas, no doubt. We may sit in the sun, we may drink cold water and take a bath in cold water in winter. All these treatments of the effects will produce only a temporary suppression of their manifestations. But suppressing the effects is not the treatment of the cause, because the cause pushes the effect, and as long as the living force of the cause is present, the possibility of the effects getting projected on to the surface again and again is always there.

1.05 - Dharana, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
20:Now there is a real sequence in these classes of breaks. As control improves, the percentage of primaries and secondaries will diminish, even though the total number of breaks in a meditation remain stationary. By the time that you are meditating two or three hours a day, and filing up most of the rest of the day with other practices designed to assist, when nearly every time something or other happens, and there is constantly a feeling of being "on the brink of something pretty big," one may expect to proceed to the next state - Dhyana.

1.05 - Pratyahara and Dharana, #Raja-Yoga, #Swami Vivkenanda, #unset
next chapter: 1.06 - Dhyana and Samadhi

1.06 - Dhyana and Samadhi, #Raja-Yoga, #Swami Vivkenanda, #unset
object:1.06 - Dhyana and Samadhi
author class:Swami Vivekananda
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In order to reach the superconscious state in a scientific manner it is necessary to pass through the various steps of Raja-Yoga I have been teaching. After Pratyhra and Dhran, we come to Dhyna, meditation. When the mind has been trained to remain fixed on a certain internal or external location, there comes to it the power of flowing in an unbroken current, as it were, towards that point. This state is called Dhyana. When one has so intensified the power of Dhyana as to be able to reject the external part of perception and remain meditating only on the internal part, the meaning, that state is called Samadhi. The three Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi together, are called Samyama. That is, if the mind can first concentrate upon an object, and then is able to continue in that concentration for a length of time, and then, by continued concentration, to dwell only on the internal part of the perception of which the object was the effect, everything comes under the control of such a mind.
This meditative state is the highest state of existence. So long as there is desire, no real happiness can come. It is only the contemplative, witness-like study of objects that brings to us real enjoyment and happiness. The animal has its happiness in the senses, the man in his intellect, and the god in spiritual contemplation. It is only to the soul that has attained to this contemplative state that the world really becomes beautiful. To him who desires nothing, and does not mix himself up with them, the manifold changes of nature are one panorama of beauty and sublimity.
These ideas have to be understood in Dhyana, or meditation. We hear a sound. First, there is the external vibration; second, the nerve motion that carries it to the mind; third, the reaction from the mind, along with which flashes the knowledge of the object which was the external cause of these different changes from the ethereal vibrations to the mental reactions. These three are called in Yoga, Shabda (sound), Artha (meaning), and Jnna (knowledge). In the language of physics and physiology they are called the ethereal vibration, the motion in the nerve and brain, and the mental reaction. Now these, though distinct processes, have become mixed up in such a fashion as to become quite indistinct. In fact, we cannot now perceive any of these, we only perceive their combined effect, what we call the external object. Every act of perception includes these three, and there is no reason why we should not be able to distinguish them.
When, by the previous preparations, it becomes strong and controlled, and has the power of finer perception, the mind should be employed in meditation. This meditation must begin with gross objects and slowly rise to finer and finer, until it becomes objectless. The mind should first be employed in perceiving the external causes of sensations, then the internal motions, and then its own reaction. When it has succeeded in perceiving the external causes of sensations by themselves, the mind will acquire the power of perceiving all fine material existences, all fine bodies and forms. When it can succeed in perceiving the motions inside by themselves, it will gain the control of all mental waves, in itself or in others, even before they have translated themselves into physical energy; and when he will be able to perceive the mental reaction by itself, the Yogi will acquire the knowledge of everything, as every sensible object, and every thought is the result of this reaction. Then will he have seen the very foundations of his mind, and it will be under his perfect control. Different powers will come to the Yogi, and if he yields to the temptations of any one of these, the road to his further progress will be barred. Such is the evil of running after enjoyments. But if he is strong enough to reject even these miraculous powers, he will attain to the goal of Yoga, the complete suppression of the waves in the ocean of the mind. Then the glory of the soul, undisturbed by the distractions of the mind, or motions of the body, will shine in its full effulgence; and the Yogi will find himself as he is and as he always was, the essence of knowledge, the immortal, the all-pervading.

1.06 - Dhyana, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
object:1.06 - Dhyana
class:chapter
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1:THIS word has two quite distinct and mutually exclusive meanings. The first refers to the result itself. Dhyana is the same word as the Pali "Jhana." The Buddha counted eight Jhanas, which are evidently different degrees and kinds of trance. The Hindu also speaks of Dhyana as a lesser form of Samadhi. Others, however, treat it as if it were merely an intensification of Dharana. Patanjali says: "Dhrana is holding the mind on to some particular object. An unbroken flow of knowledge in that subject is Dhyana. When that, giving up all forms, reflects only the meaning, it is Samadhi." He combines these three into Samyama.
2:We shall treat of Dhyana as a result rather than as a method. Up to this point ancient authorities have been fairly reliable guides, except with regard to their crabbed ethics; but when they get on the subject of results of meditation, they completely lose their heads.
3:They exhaust the possibilities of poetry to declare what is demonstrably untrue. For example, we find in the Shiva Sanhita that "he who daily contemplates on this lotus of the heart is eagerly desired by the daughters of Gods, has clairaudience, clairvoyance, and can walk in the air." Another person "can make gold, discover medicine for disease, and see hidden treasures." All this is filth. What is the curse upon religion that its tenets must always be associated with every kind of extravagance and falsehood?
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7:In discussing Dhyana, then, let it be clearly understood that something unexpected is about to be described.
8:We shall consider its nature and estimate its value in a perfectly unbiassed way, without allowing ourselves the usual rhapsodies, or deducing any theory of the universe. One extra fact may destroy some existing theory; that is common enough. But no single fact is sufficient to construct one.
9:It will have been understood that Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi form a continuous process, and exactly when the climax comes does not matter. It is of this climax that we must speak, for this is a matter of "experience," and a very striking one.
10:In the course of our concentration we noticed that the contents of the mind at any moment consisted of two things, and no more: the Object, variable, and the Subject, invariable, or apparently so. By success in Dharana the object has been made as invariable as the subject.
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13:Good literature is principally a matter of clear observation and good judgment expressed in the simplest way. For this reason none of the great events of history (such as earthquakes and battles) have been well described by eye-witnesses, unless those eye-witnesses were out of danger. But even when one has become accustomed to Dhyana by constant repetition, no words seem adequate.
14:One of the simplest forms of Dhyana may be called "the Sun." The sun is seen (as it were) by itself, not by an observer; and although the physical eye cannot behold the sun, one is compelled to make the statement that this "Sun" is far more brilliant than the sun of nature. The whole thing takes place on a higher level.
15:Also the conditions of thought, time, and space are abolished. It is impossible to explain what this really means: only experience can furnish you with apprehension.
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23:The most important factor in Dhyana is, however, the annihilation of the Ego. Our conception of the universe must be completely overturned if we are to admit this as valid; and it is time that we considered what is really happening.
24:It will be conceded that we have given a very rational explanation of the greatness of great men. They had an experience so overwhelming, so out of proportion to the rest of things, that they were freed from all the petty hindrances which prevent the normal man from carrying out his projects.
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26:Now the man who has experienced any of the more intense forms of Dhyana is thus liberated. The Universe is thus destroyed for him, and he for it. His will can therefore go on its way unhampered. One may imagine that in the case of Mohammed he had cherished for years a tremendous ambition, and never done anything because those qualities which were subsequently manifested as statesmanship warned him that he was impotent. His vision in the cave gave him that confidence which was required, the faith that moves mountains. There are a lot of solid-seeming things in this world which a child could push over; but not one has the courage to push.
27:Let us accept provisionally this explanation of greatness, and pass it by. Ambition has led us to this point; but we are now interested in the work for its own sake.
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35:To turn to another point. One of our tests of truth is the vividness of the impression. An isolated event in the past of no great importance may be forgotten; and if it be in some way recalled, one may find one's self asking: "Did I dream it? or did it really happen?" What can never be forgotten is the "catastrophic". The first death among the people that one loves (for example) would never be forgotten; for the first time one would "realize" what one had previously merely "known". Such an experience sometimes drives people insane. Men of science have been known to commit suicide when their pet theory has been shattered. This problem has been discussed freely in "Science and Buddhism," "Time," "The Camel," and other papers. This much only need we say in this place that Dhyana has to be classed as the most vivid and catastrophic of all experiences. This will be confirmed by any one who has been there.
36:It is, then, difficult to overrate the value that such an experience has for the individual, especially as it is his entire conception of things, including his most deep-seated conception, the standard to which he has always referred everything, his own self, that is overthrown; and when we try to explain it away as hallucination, temporary suspension of the faculties or something similar, we find ourselves unable to do so. You cannot argue with a flash of lightning that has knocked you down.
37:Any mere theory is easy to upset. One can find flaws in the reasoning process, one can assume that the premisses are in some way false; but in this case, if one attacks the evidence for Dhyana, the mind is staggered by the fact that all other experience, attacked on the same lines, will fall much more easily.
38:In whatever way we examine it the result will always be the same. Dhyana may be false; but, if so, so is everything else.
39:Now the mind refuses to rest in a belief of the unreality of its own experiences. It may not be what is seems; but it must be something, and if (on the whole) ordinary life is something, how much more must that be by whose light ordinary life seems nothing!
40:The ordinary man sees the falsity and disconnectedness and purposelessness of dreams; he ascribes them (rightly) to a disordered mind. The philosopher looks upon waking life with similar contempt; and the person who has experienced Dhyana takes the same view, but not by mere pale intellectual conviction. Reasons, however cogent, never convince utterly; but this man in Dhyana has the same commonplace certainty that a man has on waking from a nightmare. "I wasn't falling down a thousand flights of stairs, it was only a bad dream."
41:Similarly comes the reflection of the man who has had experience of Dhyana: "I am not that wretched insect, that imperceptible parasite of earth; it was only a bad dream." And as you could not convince the normal man that his nightmare was more real than his awakening, so you cannot convince the other that his Dhyana was hallucination, even though he is only too well aware that he has fallen from that state into "normal" life.
42:It is probably rare for a single experience to upset thus radically the whole conception of the Universe, just as sometimes, in the first moments of waking, there remains a half-doubt as to whether dream or waking is real. But as one gains further experience, when Dhyana is no longer a shock, when the student has had plenty of time to make himself at home in the new world, this conviction will become absolute.
43:Another rationalist consideration is this. The student has not been trying to excite the mind but to calm it, not to produce any one thought but to exclude all thoughts; for there is no connection between the object of meditation and the Dhyana. Why must we suppose a breaking down of the whole process, especially as the mind bears no subsequent traces of any interference, such as pain or fatigue? Surely this once, if never again, the Hindu image expresses the simplest theory!
44:That image is that of a lake into which five glaciers move. These glaciers are the senses. While ice (the impressions) is breaking off constantly into the lake, the waters are troubled. If the glaciers are stopped the surface becomes calm; and then, and only then, can it reflect unbroken the disk of the sum. This sun is the "soul" or "God."
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46:It is probable, too, that our memory of Dhyana is not of the phenomenon itself, but of the image left thereby on the mind. But this is true of all phenomena, as Berkeley and Kant have proved beyond all question. This matter, then, need not concern us.
47:We may, however, provisionally accept the view that Dhyana is real; more real and thus of more importance to ourselves than all other experience. This state has been described not only by the Hindus and Buddhists, but by Mohammedans and Christians. In Christian writings, however, the deeply-seated dogmatic bias has rendered their documents worthless to the average man. They ignore the essential conditions of Dhyana, and insist on the inessential, to a much greater extent than the best Indian writers. But to any one with experience and some knowledge of comparative religion the identity is certain. We may now proceed to Samadhi.

1.06 - Raja Yoga, #Amrita Gita, #Swami Sivananda Saraswati, #Hinduism
5. The eight limbs of Raja Yoga are: Yama (self-restraint), Niyama (religious observances), Asana (posture), Pranayama (regulation of breath), Pratyahara (abstraction of the senses), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi (superconscious state).
6. Yama consists of five parts, viz., Ahimsa (non-injury), Satyam (truthfulness), Asteya (non-stealing), Brahmacharya (celibacy), and Aparigraha (non-covetousness).
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26. A Raja Yogi practises Samyama or the combined practice of Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi at one and the same time and gets detailed knowledge of an object.
27. Control the mind by Abhyasa (practice) and Vairagya (dispassion).

1.07 - Raja-Yoga in Brief, #Raja-Yoga, #Swami Vivkenanda, #unset
We have spoken about Yama and Niyama. The next is Asana (posture). The only thing to understand about it is leaving the body free, holding the chest, shoulders, and head straight. Then comes Pranayama. Prana means the vital forces in one's own body, yma means controlling them. There are three sorts of Pranayama, the very simple, the middle, and the very high. Pranayama is divided into three parts: filling, restraining, and emptying. When you begin with twelve seconds it is the lowest Pranayama; when you begin with twenty-four seconds it is the middle Pranayama; that Pranayama is the best which begins with thirty-six seconds. In the lowest kind of Pranayama there is perspiration, in the medium kind, quivering of the body, and in the highest Pranayama levitation of the body and influx of great bliss. There is a Mantra called the Gyatri. It is a very holy verse of the Vedas. "We meditate on the glory of that Being who has produced this universe; may He enlighten our minds." Om is joined to it at the beginning and the end. In one Pranayama repeat three Gayatris. In all books they speak of Pranayama being divided into Rechaka (rejecting or exhaling), Puraka (inhaling), and Kurnbhaka (restraining, stationary). The Indriyas, the organs of the senses, are acting outwards and coming in contact with external objects. Bringing them under the control of the will is what is called Pratyahara or gathering towards oneself. Fixing the mind on the lotus of the heart, or on the centre of the head, is what is called Dharana. Limited to one spot, making that spot the base, a particular kind of mental waves rises; these are not swallowed up by other kinds of waves, but by degrees become prominent, while all the others recede and finally disappear. Next the multiplicity of these waves gives place to unity and one wave only is left in the mind. This is Dhyana, meditation. When no basis is necessary, when the whole of the mind has become one wave, one-formedness, it is called Samadhi. Bereft of all help from places and centres, only the meaning of the thought is present. If the mind can be fixed on the centre for twelve seconds it will be a Dharana, twelve such Dharanas will be a Dhyana, and twelve such Dhyanas will be a Samadhi.
Where there is fire, or in water or on ground which is strewn with dry leaves, where there are many ant-hills, where there are wild animals, or danger, where four streets meet, where there is too much noise, where there are many wicked persons, Yoga must not be practiced. This applies more particularly to India. Do not practice when the body feels very lazy or ill, or when the mind is very miserable and sorrowful. Go to a place which is well hidden, and where people do not come to disturb you. Do not choose dirty places. Rather choose beautiful scenery, or a room in your own house which is beautiful. When you practice, first salute all the ancient Yogis, and your own Guru, and God, and then begin.

1.07 - Samadhi, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
4:Now there is great confusion, because the Buddhists use the word Samadhi to mean something entirely different, the mere faculty of attention. Thus, with them, to think of a cat is to "make Samadhi" on that cat. They use the word Jhana to describe mystic states. This is excessively misleading, for as we saw in the last section, Dhyana is a preliminary of Samadhi, and of course Jhana is merely the wretched plebeian Pali corruption of it. footnote: The vulgarism and provincialism of the Buddhist cannon is infinitely repulsive to all nice minds; and the attempt to use the terms of an ego-centric philosophy to explain the details of a psychology whose principal doctrine is the denial of the ego, was the work of a mischievous idiot. Let us unhesitatingly reject these abominations, these nastinesses of the beggars dressed in rags that they have snatched from corpses, and follow the etymological signification of the word as given above!
5:There are many kinds of Samadhi. footnote: Apparently. That is, the obvious results are different. Possibly the cause is only one, refracted through diverse media. "Some authors consider Atmadarshana, the Universe as a single phenomenon without conditions, to be the first real Samadhi." If we accept this, we must relegate many less exalted states to the class of Dhyana. Patanjali enumerates a number of these states: to perform these on different things gives different magical powers; or so he says. These need not be debated here. Any one who wants magic powers can get them in dozens of different ways.
6:Power grows faster than desire. The boy who wants money to buy lead soldiers sets to work to obtain it, and by the time he has got it wants something else instead - in all probability something just beyond his means.
--
9:Let us try a final definition. Dhyana resembles Samadhi in many respects. There is a union of the ego and the non-ego, and a loss of the senses of time and space and causality. Duality in any form is abolished. The idea of time involves that of two consecutive things, that of space two non-coincident things, that of causality two connected things.
10:These Dhyanic conditions contradict those of normal thought; but in Samadhi they are very much more marked than in Dhyana. And while in the latter it seems like a simple union of two things, in the former it appears as if all things rushed together and united. One might say that in Dhyana there was still this quality latent, that the One existing was opposed to the Many non-existing; in Samadhi the Many and the One are united in a union of Existence with non-Existence. This definition is not made from reflection, but from memory.
11:Further, it is easy to master the "trick" or "knack" of Dhyana. After a while one can get into that state without preliminary practice; and, looking at it from this point, one seems able to reconcile the two meanings of the word which we debated in the last section. From below Dhyana seems like a trance, an experience so tremendous that one cannot think of anything bigger, while from above it seems merely a state of mind as natural as any other. Frater P., before he had Samadhi, wrote of Dhyana: "Perhaps as a result of the intense control a nervous storm breaks: this we call Dhyana. Samadhi is but an expansion of this, so far as I can see."
12:Five years later he would not take this view. He would say perhaps that Dhyana was "a flowing of the mind in one unbroken current from the ego to the non-ego without consciousness of either, accompanied by a crescent wonder and bliss." He can understand how that is the natural result of Dhyana, but he cannot call Dhyana in the same way the precursor of Samadhi. Perhaps he does not really know the conditions which induce Samadhi. He can produce Dhyana at will in the course of a few minutes' work; and it often happens with apparent spontaneity: with Samadhi this is unfortunately not the case. He probably can get it at will, but could not say exactly how, or tell how long it might take him; and he could not be "sure" of getting it at all.
13:One feels "sure" that one can walk a mile along a level road. One knows the conditions, and it would have to be a very extraordinary set of circumstances that would stop one. But though it would be equally fair to say: "I have climbed the Matterhorn and I know I can climb it again," yet there are all sorts of more or less probable circumstances any one of which would prevent success.
14:Now we do know this, that if thought is kept single and steady, Dhyana results. We do not know whether an intensification of this is sufficient to cause Samadhi, or whether some other circumstances are required. One is science, the other empiricism.
15:One author says (unless memory deceives) that twelve seconds' steadiness is Dharana, a hundred and fortyfour Dhyana, and seventeen hundred and twenty-eight Samadhi. And Vivekananda, commenting on Patanjali, makes Dhyana a mere prolongation of Dharana; but says further: "Suppose I were meditating on a book, and I gradually succeeded in concentrating the mind on it , and perceiving only the internal sensation, the meaning unexpressed in any form, that state of Dhyana is called Samadhi."
16:Other authors are inclined to suggest that Samadhi results from meditating on subjects that are in themselves worthy. For example, Vivekananda says: "Think of any holy subject\:" and explains this as follows: "This does not mean any wicked subject."(!)
17:Frater P. would not like to say definitely whether he ever got Dhyana from common objects. He gave up the practice after a few months, and meditated on the Cakkras, etc. Also his Dhyana became so common that he gave up recording it. But if he wished to do it this minute he would choose something to excite his "godly fear," or "holy awe," or "wonderment." footnote: It is rather a breach of the scepticism which is the basis of our system to admit that anything can be in any way better than another. Do it thus: "A., is a thing that B. thinks 'holy.' It is natural therefore for B. to meditate on it." Get rid of the ego, observe all your actions as if they were another's, and you will avoid ninety-nine percent. of the troubles that await you. There is no apparent reason why Dhyana should not occur when thinking of any common object of the seashore, such as a blue pig; but Frater P.'s constant reference to this as the usual object of his meditation need not be taken "au pied de la lettre." His records of meditation contain no reference to this remarkable animal.
18:It will be a good thing when organized research has determined the conditions of Samadhi; but in the meantime there seems no particular objection to our following tradition, and using the same objects of meditation as our predecessors, with the single exception which we shall note in due course.
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29:The normal mind is a candle in a darkened room. Throw open the shutters, and the sunlight makes the flame invisible. That is a fair image of Dhyana. footnote: Here the dictation was interrupted by very prolonged thought due to the difficulty of making the image clear. Virakam.
30:But the mind refuses to find a simile for Atmadarshana. It seems merely ineffective to say that the rushing together of all the host of heaven would similarly blot out the sunlight. But if we do say so, and wish to form a further image of Shivadarshana, we must imagine ourselves as suddenly recognizing that this universal blaze is darkness; not a light extremely dim compared with some other light, but darkness itself. It is not the change from the minute to the vast, or even from the finite to the infinite. It is the recognition that the positive is merely the negative. The ultimate truth is perceived not only as false, but as the logical contradictory of truth. It is quite useless to elaborate this theme, which has baffled all other minds hitherto. We have tried to say as little as possible rather than as much as possible. footnote: Yet all this has come of our desire to be as modest as Yajna Valkya!
31:Still further from our present purpose would it be to criticise the innumerable discussions which have taken place as to whether this is the ultimate attainment, or what it confers. It is enough if we say that even the first and most transitory Dhyana repays a thousandfold the pains we may have taken to attain it.
32:And there is this anchor for the beginner, that his work is cumulative: every act directed towards attainment builds up a destiny which must some day come to fruition. May all attain!

1.08 - Summary, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Fourthly, we suppress all other thoughts by a direct concentration upon a single thought. This process, which leads to the highest results, consists of three parts, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi, grouped under the single term Samyama.
Q.

1.08 - The Depths of the Divine, #Sex Ecology Spirituality, #Ken Wilber, #Philosophy
The first three stages deal with the ordinary mind or ego, "unregenerate" in the gross, manifest world of thought and sense. In the first Mansion, that of Humility, the ego is still in love with the creatures and comforts outside the Castle, and must begin a long and searching discipline in order to turn within. In the second Mansion (the Practice of Prayer), intellectual study, edification, and good company streng then the desire and capacity to interiorize and not merely scatter and disperse the self in exterior distractions. In the Mansion of Exemplary Life, the third stage, discipline and ethics are firmly set as a foundation of all that is to follow (very similar to the Buddhist notion that sila, or moral discipline, is the foundation of Dhyana, or meditation, and prajna, or spiritual insight). These are all natural (or personal) developments.
In the fourth mansion, a supernatural (or transpersonal) grace enters the scene with the Prayer of Recollection and the Prayer of Quiet (which Teresa differentiates by their bodily effects). In both, there is a calming and slowing of gross-oriented faculties (memory, thoughts, senses) and a consequent opening to deeper, more interior spaces with correlative "graces," which Teresa calls, at this stage, "spiritual consolations" (because they are consoling to the self, not yet transcending of the self). On the other hand, it is also as if the soul itself is actually beginning to emerge at this stage: "The senses and all external things seem gradually to lose their hold, while the soul, on the other hand, regains its lost control." And this carries a glimmer of the truth to come, "namely, that God is within us."26

1.11 - Powers, #Raja-Yoga, #Swami Vivkenanda, #unset
The mind tries to think of one object, to hold itself to one particular spot, as the top of the head, the heart, etc., and if the mind succeeds in receiving the sensations only through that part of the body, and through no other part, that would be Dharana, and when the mind succeeds in keeping itself in that state for some time, it is called Dhyana (mediation).

--
That comes when in meditation the form or the external part is given up. Suppose I were meditating on a book, and that I have gradually succeeded in concentrating the mind on it, and perceiving only the internal sensations, the meaning, unexpressed in any form that state of Dhyana is called Samadhi.

--
When a man can direct his mind to any particular object and fix it there, and then keep it there for a long time, separating the object from the internal part, this is Samyama; or Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi, one following the other, and making one. The form of the thing has vanished, and only its meaning remains in the mind.

--
Before these we had the Pratyhra, the Prnyma, the sana, the Yama and Niyama; they are external parts of the three Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. When a man has attained to them, he may attain to omniscience and omnipotence, but that would not be salvation. These three would; not make the mind Nirvikalpa, changeless, but would leave the seeds for getting bodies again. Only when the seeds are, as the Yogi says, "fried", do they lose the possibility of producing further plants. These powers cannot fry the seed.

1.18 - The Importance of our Conventional Greetings, etc., #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Need I remind you how urgent the wish to escape will assuredly become, how fantastic are the mind's devices and excuses, amounting often to deliberate revolt? In Kandy I broke away in a fury, and dashed down to Colombo with the intention of painting the very air as red as the betel- spittle on the pavements! But after three days of futile search for satisfying debauchery I came back to my horses, and, sure enough, it was merely that I had gone stale; the relaxation soothed and steadied me; I resumed the discipline with redoubled energy, and Dhyana dawned before a week had elapsed.
I mention this because it is the normal habit of the mind to organize these counter-attacks that makes their task so easy. What you need is a mind that will help rather than hinder your Work by its normal function.

1.240 - 1.300 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
You should certainly keep God in your mind for seeing God all round you. Keeping God in your mind becomes Dhyana. Dhyana is the stage before realisation. Realisation is in the Self only. Dhyana must precede it. Whether you make Dhyana of God or of Self, it is immaterial. The goal is the same.
But you cannot escape the Self. You want to see God in all, but not in yourself? If all are God, are you not included in that all? Yourself being God, is it a wonder that all are God? There must be a seer and thinker for even the practice. Who is he?
--
M.: Meditation on forms or concrete objects is said to be Dhyana, whereas the enquiry into the Self is vichara (enquiry) or nididhyasana.
Explaining adhyaropapavadabhyam (superimposition and its elimination), Sri Bhagavan pointed out that the first turns you inward to the Self; and then according to the second, you know that the world is not apart from the Self.

1.240 - Talks 2, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
You should certainly keep God in your mind for seeing God all round you. Keeping God in your mind becomes Dhyana. Dhyana is the stage before realisation. Realisation is in the Self only. Dhyana must precede it. Whether you make Dhyana of God or of Self, it is immaterial. The goal is the same.
But you cannot escape the Self. You want to see God in all, but not in yourself? If all are God, are you not included in that all? Yourself being God, is it a wonder that all are God? There must be a seer and thinker for even the practice. Who is he?
--
M.: Meditation on forms or concrete objects is said to be Dhyana, whereas the enquiry into the Self is vichara (enquiry) or nididhyasana.
Explaining adhyaropapavadabhyam (superimposition and its elimination), Sri Bhagavan pointed out that the first turns you inward to the Self; and then according to the second, you know that the world is not apart from the Self.
--
It contains the whole range of truth in it. Chanting (japa) will lead to Dhyana (meditation) and it is the means for realising the Self.
D.: Will half an hour a day do for it?
--
For those who are unable to do so, chanting or meditation (Japa or Dhyana) is prescribed. It is like giving a piece of chain to an elephant
Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi to hold in its trunk. The trunk of the elephant is usually restless. It puts it out in all directions when taken out in the streets of the town.
If given a chain to carry the restlessness is checked. Similarly with the restless mind. If made to engage in japa or Dhyana, other thoughts are warded off: and the mind concentrates on a single thought. It thus becomes peaceful. It does not mean that peace is gained without a prolonged struggle. The other thoughts must be fought out.
Here is another illustration. Suppose a cow plays rogue and strays into neighbours fields to graze. She is not easily weaned from her stealthy habit. Think how she can be kept in the stall. If forcibly tethered in the stall she simply bides her time to play the rogue. If she is tempted with fine grass in the stall she takes one mouthful on the first day and again waits for the opportunity to run away. The next day she takes two mouthfuls; so she takes more and more on each succeeding day, until finally she is weaned from her wicked tendencies. When entirely free from bad habits she might be safely left free and she would not stray into neighbours pasture land. Even when beaten in the stall, she does not afterwards leave the place. Similarly with the mind. It is accustomed to stray outward by the force of the latent vasanas manifesting as thoughts. So long as there are vasanas contained within they must come out and exhaust themselves. The thoughts comprise the mind. Searching what the mind is, the thoughts will recoil and the seeker will know that they arise from the Self. It is the aggregate of these thoughts that we call mind. If one realises that the thoughts arise from the Self and abide in their source, the mind will disappear. After the mind ceases to exist and bliss of peace has been realised, one will find it then as difficult to bring out a thought, as he now finds it difficult to keep out all thoughts. Here the mind is the cow playing the rogue; the thoughts are the neighbours pasture; ones own primal being free from thoughts is the stall.
--
Japa, becoming mental, becomes contemplation. Dhyana, contemplation and mental japa are the same. When thoughts cease to be promiscuous and one thought persists to the exclusion of all others it is said to be contemplation. The object of japa or Dhyana is the exclusion of several thoughts and confining oneself to one single thought. Then that thought too vanishes into its source
- absolute consciousness, i.e., the Self. The mind engages in japa and then sinks into its own source.
--
M.: All these are only the workings of the mind. Japa helps to fix the mind to a single thought. All other thoughts are first subordinated until they disappear. When it becomes mental it is called Dhyana.
Dhyana is your true nature. It is however called Dhyana because
Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi it is made with effort. Effort is necessary so long as thoughts are promiscuous. Because you are with other thoughts, you call the continuity of a single thought, meditation or Dhyana. If that Dhyana becomes effortless it will be found to be your real nature.
Talk 329.
--
Brahman), and Brahmaivaham (Brahman alone am I) is termed nididhyasana or atmanusandhana, i.e., constancy in the Self. This is otherwise called Bhakti, Yoga and Dhyana.
Atmanusandhana has been likened to churning the curd to draw forth butter, the mind being compared to the churning rod, the heart to the curd and the practice of constancy in the Self to the process of churning. Just as by churning the curd butter is extracted and by friction fire is kindled, even so, by unswerving vigilant constancy in the Self, ceaseless like the unbroken filamentary flow of oil, is generated the natural or changeless trance or nirvikalpa samadhi, which readily and spontaneously yields that direct, immediate, unobstructed and universal perception of Brahman, which is at once Knowledge and Experience and which transcends time and space.
--
M.: Pranayama is an aid for the control of mind. Only you should not stop with pranayama. You must proceed further to pratyahara, dharana, Dhyana and samadhi. Full results are reaped finally.
Another of the group asked: How are lust, anger, acquisitiveness, confusion, pride and jealousy overcome?
M.: By Dhyana.
D.: What is Dhyana?
M.: Dhyana is holding on to a single thought and putting off all other thoughts.
D.: What is to be meditated upon?
--
M.: Concentrate on that one whom you like best. If a single thought prevails, all other thoughts are put off and finally eradicated. So long as diversity prevails there are bad thoughts. When the object of love prevails only good thoughts hold the field. Therefore hold on to one thought only. Dhyana is the chief practice.
A little later Sri Bhagavan continued:
--
Peace of mind is brought about by Dhyana alone.
D.: What is the need then for pranayama?
M.: Pranayama is meant for one who cannot directly control the thoughts. It serves as a brake to a car. But one should not stop with it, as I said before, but must proceed to pratyahara, dharana and Dhyana. After the fruition of Dhyana, the mind will come under control even in the absence of pranayama.
The asanas (postures) help pranayama, which helps Dhyana in its turn, and peace of mind results. Here is the purpose of hatha yoga.
Later Sri Bhagavan continued:
When Dhyana is well established it cannot be given up. It will go on automatically even when you are engaged in work, play or enjoyment. It will persist in sleep too.
Dhyana must become so deep-rooted that it will be natural to one.
D.: What rite or action is necessary for the development of Dhyana?
M.: Dhyana is itself the action, the rite and the effort. It is the most intense and potent of all. No other effort is necessary.
D.: Is not japa necessary?
M.: Is Dhyana not vak (speech)? Why is japa necessary for it? If Dhyana is gained there is no need for anything else.
D.: Is not a vow of silence helpful?
M.: A vow is only a vow. It may help Dhyana to some extent. But what is the good of keeping the mouth closed and letting the mind run riot.
If the mind be engaged in Dhyana, where is the need for speech?
Nothing is as good as Dhyana. Should one take to action with a vow of silence, where is the good of the vow?
D.: What is jnana-marga?
M.: I have been saying it for so long. What is jnana? Jnana means realisation of the Truth. It is done by Dhyana. Dhyana helps you to hold on to Truth to the exclusion of all thoughts.
D.: Why are there so many Gods mentioned?
--
D.: Is not Dhyana one of the efficient processes for Realisation?
M.: Dhyana is concentration on an object. It fulfils the purpose of keeping away diverse thoughts and fixing the mind on a single thought, which must also disappear before Realisation. But Realisation is nothing new to be acquired. It is already there, but obstructed by a screen of thoughts.
All our attempts are directed for lifting this screen and then
--
M.: You are and it is a fact. Dhyana is by you, of you, and in you. It must go on where you are. It cannot be outside you. So you are the centre of Dhyana and that is the Heart.
A location is however given to it with reference to the body. You know that you are. Where are you? You are in the body and not out of it. Yet not the whole body. Though you pervade the whole body still you admit of a centre where from all your thoughts start and wherein they subside. Even when the limbs are amputated you are there but with defective senses. So a centre must be admitted.
--
Japa means clinging to one thought to the exclusion of all other thoughts. That is the purpose of japa; it leads to Dhyana which ends in Self-Realisation.
Talk 414.
--
M.: Dhyana or bhakti, which mean the same thing.
D.: What is meant by taking the name of God? How to reconcile the following two ideas?
--
In the course of conversation, Sri Bhagavan said that upasana and Dhyana are possible so long as there is the mind and they must cease
Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi with the cessation of the mind. They are mere preliminaries to final eradication of thoughts and the stillness of mind.
--
A judge from Mysore asked: Upasana and Dhyana were said to be due to mental activities. Cessation of activities was also said to be
Realisation. Now, how to realise without upasana or Dhyana?
M.: They are preliminaries. Such action will lead to the desired inaction.

1.300 - 1.400 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
It contains the whole range of truth in it. Chanting (japa) will lead to Dhyana (meditation) and it is the means for realising the Self.
D.: Will half an hour a day do for it?
--
For those who are unable to do so, chanting or meditation (Japa or Dhyana) is prescribed. It is like giving a piece of chain to an elephant
302
--
If given a chain to carry the restlessness is checked. Similarly with the restless mind. If made to engage in japa or Dhyana, other thoughts are warded off: and the mind concentrates on a single thought. It thus becomes peaceful. It does not mean that peace is gained without a prolonged struggle. The other thoughts must be fought out.
Here is another illustration. Suppose a cow plays rogue and strays into neighbours' fields to graze. She is not easily weaned from her stealthy habit. Think how she can be kept in the stall. If forcibly tethered in the stall she simply bides her time to play the rogue. If she is tempted with fine grass in the stall she takes one mouthful on the first day and again waits for the opportunity to run away. The next day she takes two mouthfuls; so she takes more and more on each succeeding day, until finally she is weaned from her wicked tendencies. When entirely free from bad habits she might be safely left free and she would not stray into neighbours' pasture land. Even when beaten in the stall, she does not afterwards leave the place. Similarly with the mind. It is accustomed to stray outward by the force of the latent vasanas manifesting as thoughts. So long as there are vasanas contained within they must come out and exhaust themselves. The thoughts comprise the mind. Searching what the mind is, the thoughts will recoil and the seeker will know that they arise from the Self. It is the aggregate of these thoughts that we call 'mind'. If one realises that the thoughts arise from the Self and abide in their source, the mind will disappear. After the mind ceases to exist and bliss of peace has been realised, one will find it then as difficult to bring out a thought, as he now finds it difficult to keep out all thoughts. Here the mind is the cow playing the rogue; the thoughts are the neighbours' pasture; one's own primal being free from thoughts is the stall.
--
Japa, becoming mental, becomes contemplation. Dhyana, contemplation and mental japa are the same. When thoughts cease to be promiscuous and one thought persists to the exclusion of all others it is said to be contemplation. The object of japa or Dhyana is the exclusion of several thoughts and confining oneself to one single thought. Then that thought too vanishes into its source
- absolute consciousness, i.e., the Self. The mind engages in japa and then sinks into its own source.
--
M.: All these are only the workings of the mind. Japa helps to fix the mind to a single thought. All other thoughts are first subordinated until they disappear. When it becomes mental it is called Dhyana.
Dhyana is your true nature. It is however called Dhyana because
308
Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi it is made with effort. Effort is necessary so long as thoughts are promiscuous. Because you are with other thoughts, you call the continuity of a single thought, meditation or Dhyana. If that Dhyana becomes effortless it will be found to be your real nature.
Talk 329.
--
Brahman), and Brahmaivaham (Brahman alone am I) is termed nididhyasana or atmanusandhana, i.e., constancy in the Self. This is otherwise called Bhakti, Yoga and Dhyana.
Atmanusandhana has been likened to churning the curd to draw forth butter, the mind being compared to the churning rod, the heart to the curd and the practice of constancy in the Self to the process of churning. Just as by churning the curd butter is extracted and by friction fire is kindled, even so, by unswerving vigilant constancy in the Self, ceaseless like the unbroken filamentary flow of oil, is generated the natural or changeless trance or nirvikalpa samadhi, which readily and spontaneously yields that direct, immediate, unobstructed and universal perception of Brahman, which is at once Knowledge and Experience and which transcends time and space.
--
M.: Pranayama is an aid for the control of mind. Only you should not stop with pranayama. You must proceed further to pratyahara, dharana, Dhyana and samadhi. Full results are reaped finally.
Another of the group asked: How are lust, anger, acquisitiveness, confusion, pride and jealousy overcome?
M.: By Dhyana.
D.: What is Dhyana?
M.: Dhyana is holding on to a single thought and putting off all other thoughts.
D.: What is to be meditated upon?
--
M.: Concentrate on that one whom you like best. If a single thought prevails, all other thoughts are put off and finally eradicated. So long as diversity prevails there are bad thoughts. When the object of love prevails only good thoughts hold the field. Therefore hold on to one thought only. Dhyana is the chief practice.
350
--
Peace of mind is brought about by Dhyana alone.
D.: What is the need then for pranayama?
M.: Pranayama is meant for one who cannot directly control the thoughts. It serves as a brake to a car. But one should not stop with it, as I said before, but must proceed to pratyahara, dharana and Dhyana. After the fruition of Dhyana, the mind will come under control even in the absence of pranayama.
The asanas (postures) help pranayama, which helps Dhyana in its turn, and peace of mind results. Here is the purpose of hatha yoga.
Later Sri Bhagavan continued:
When Dhyana is well established it cannot be given up. It will go on automatically even when you are engaged in work, play or enjoyment. It will persist in sleep too.
Dhyana must become so deep-rooted that it will be natural to one.
D.: What rite or action is necessary for the development of Dhyana?
M.: Dhyana is itself the action, the rite and the effort. It is the most intense and potent of all. No other effort is necessary.
D.: Is not japa necessary?
M.: Is Dhyana not vak (speech)? Why is japa necessary for it? If Dhyana is gained there is no need for anything else.
D.: Is not a vow of silence helpful?
M.: A vow is only a vow. It may help Dhyana to some extent. But what is the good of keeping the mouth closed and letting the mind run riot.
If the mind be engaged in Dhyana, where is the need for speech?
351
--
Nothing is as good as Dhyana. Should one take to action with a vow of silence, where is the good of the vow?
D.: What is jnana-marga?
M.: I have been saying it for so long. What is jnana? Jnana means realisation of the Truth. It is done by Dhyana. Dhyana helps you to hold on to Truth to the exclusion of all thoughts.
D.: Why are there so many Gods mentioned?
--
D.: Is not Dhyana one of the efficient processes for Realisation?
M.: Dhyana is concentration on an object. It fulfils the purpose of keeping away diverse thoughts and fixing the mind on a single thought, which must also disappear before Realisation. But Realisation is nothing new to be acquired. It is already there, but obstructed by a screen of thoughts.
All our attempts are directed for lifting this screen and then

1.33 - The Golden Mean, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Remember that which is written: "Moderate strength rings the bell: great strength returns the penny." It is always the little bit extra that brings home the bacon. It is the last attack that breaks through the enemy position. Water will never boil, however long you keep it at 99 C. You may find that a Pranayama cycle of 10-20-30 brings no result in months; put it up to 10-20-40, and Dhyana comes instantly. When in doubt, push just a little bit harder. You have no means of finding out what are exactly the right conditions for success in any practice; but all practices are alike in one respect; the desired result is in the nature of orgasm.
I guess that's about what I think.

1.400 - 1.450 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
M.: You are and it is a fact. Dhyana is by you, of you, and in you. It must go on where you are. It cannot be outside you. So you are the centre of Dhyana and that is the Heart.
A location is however given to it with reference to the body. You know that you are. Where are you? You are in the body and not out of it. Yet not the whole body. Though you pervade the whole body still you admit of a centre where from all your thoughts start and wherein they subside. Even when the limbs are amputated you are there but with defective senses. So a centre must be admitted.
--
Japa means clinging to one thought to the exclusion of all other thoughts. That is the purpose of japa; it leads to Dhyana which ends in Self-Realisation.
Talk 414.
--
M.: Dhyana or bhakti, which mean the same thing.
D.: What is meant by taking the name of God? How to reconcile the following two ideas?
--
In the course of conversation, Sri Bhagavan said that upasana and Dhyana are possible so long as there is the mind and they must cease
418
--
A judge from Mysore asked: Upasana and Dhyana were said to be due to mental activities. Cessation of activities was also said to be
Realisation. Now, how to realise without upasana or Dhyana?
M.: They are preliminaries. Such action will lead to the desired inaction.

1.439, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
Siva in His true nature. She made tapas. In her Dhyana she saw a bright light. She thought: This cannot be Siva for it is within the compass of my vision. I am greater than this light. So she resumed her tapas. Thoughts disappeared. Stillness prevailed. She then realised that BE-ing is Siva in His true nature.
Muruganar cited Appars stanza:- To remove my darkness and give me light, Thy Grace must work through ME only.
--
D.: Dhyana will be easy if there is a pratikam (symbol). But the enquiry into the Self does not show any pratikam.
M.: You admit the existence of the Self. Do you point to the pratikam
--
Mantra, Dhyana, bhakti, etc., are all aids and finally lead to
Swarupa, the Self, which is they themselves.
--
D.: I practised Dhyana for four hours a day and fixation of sight for two hours. I became ill. Then others said that it was owing to my practice. So I gave up Dhyana.
M.: Matters will adjust themselves.
--
The person soaked in the I-am-the-body idea is the greatest sinner and he is a suicide. The experience of I-am-the-Self is the highest virtue. Even a moments Dhyana to that effect is enough to destroy all the sanchita Karma. It works like the sun before whom darkness is dispelled. If one remains always in Dhyana, can any sin, however heinous it be, survive his Dhyana?
Talk 537.
--
A asked: What is the exact difference between worldly activity and Dhyana?
M.: There is no difference. It is like naming one and the same thing by two different words in two different languages. The crow has two eyes but only one iris which is rolled into either eye as it pleases.
--
When Sri Bhagavan was going up the hill, the Swami asked: Does the closing or the opening of the eyes make any difference during Dhyana?
M.: If you strike on a wall with a rubber-ball and you stand at a distance, the ball rebounds and runs back to you. If you stand near the wall, the ball rebounds and runs away from you. Even if the eyes are closed, the mind follows thoughts.
--
Once A asked: There is more pleasure in Dhyana than in sensual enjoyments. Yet the mind runs after the latter and does not seek the former. Why is it so?
M.: Pleasure or pain are aspects of the mind only. Our essential nature is happiness. But we have forgotten the Self and imagine that the body or the mind is the Self. It is that wrong identity that gives rise to misery.
--
D.: What is most suitable for gaining facilities for steady Dhyana?
M.: It depends on ones samskara. One may find hatha yoga suitable and another man nama japa, and so on. The essential point is the atma-vichara - enquiry into the Self.
--
The latter is Dhyana - Whence am I? (Kutoham?) This admits a
jivatma which seeks the Paramatma.

1.450 - 1.500 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
Siva in His true nature. She made tapas. In her Dhyana she saw a bright light. She thought: "This cannot be Siva for it is within the compass of my vision. I am greater than this light." So she resumed her tapas. Thoughts disappeared. Stillness prevailed. She then realised that BE-ing is Siva in His true nature.
Muruganar cited Appar's stanza:- "To remove my darkness and give me light, Thy Grace must work through ME only."
--
D.: Dhyana will be easy if there is a pratikam (symbol). But the enquiry into the Self does not show any pratikam.
M.: You admit the existence of the Self. Do you point to the pratikam
--
Mantra, Dhyana, bhakti, etc., are all aids and finally lead to
Swarupa, the Self, which is they themselves.

1.550 - 1.600 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
D.: What is most suitable for gaining facilities for steady Dhyana?
M.: It depends on one's samskara. One may find hatha yoga suitable and another man nama japa, and so on. The essential point is the atma-vichara - enquiry into the Self.

1.hcyc - 16 - When I consider the virtue of abusive words (from The Shodoka), #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
English version by Robert Aitken Original Language Chinese When I consider the virtue of abusive words, I find the scandal-monger is my good teacher. If we do not become angry at gossip, We have no need for powerful endurance and compassion. To be mature in Zen is to be mature in expression, And full-moon brilliance of Dhyana and prajna Does not stagnate in emptiness. Not only can I take hold of complete enlightenment by myself, But all Buddha-bodies, like sands of the Ganges, Can become awakened in exactly the same way. <

1.hcyc - 63 - However the burning iron ring revolves around my head (from The Shodoka), #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
English version by Robert Aitken Original Language Chinese However the burning iron ring revolves around my head, With bright completeness of Dhyana and prajna I never lose my equanimity. If the sun becomes cold, and the moon hot, Evil cannot shatter the truth. The carriage of the elephant moves like a mountain, How can the mantis block the road? <

1.hcyc - With Sudden enlightened understanding (from The Song of Enlightenment), #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
English version by International Institute for the Translation of Buddhist Texts Original Language Chinese With Sudden enlightened understanding Of the Dhyana of the Thus Come Ones, The six crossings-over and ten thousand practices are complete in substance, In a dream, very clearly, there are six destinies; After Enlightenment, completely empty, there is no universe. [bk1sm.gif] -- from Song of Enlightenment: By Great Master Yung Chia of the T'ang Dynasty, Edited by Tripitaka Master Hua / Translated by International Institute for the Translation of Buddhist Texts <

1.he - Hakuins Song of Zazen, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
English version by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki Original Language Japanese All beings are primarily Buddhas. It is like water and ice: There is no ice apart from water; There are no Buddhas apart from beings. Not knowing how close the truth is to them, Beings seek for it afar -- what a pity! They are like those who, being in the midst of water, Cry out for water, feeling thirst. They are like the son of the rich man, Who, wandering away from his father, Goes astray amongst the poor. It is all due to their ignorance That beings transmigrate in the darkness Of the Six Paths of existence. When they wander from darkness to darkness, How can they ever be free from birth-and-death? As for the Dhyana practice as taught in the Mahayana, No amount of praise can exhaust its merits. The Six Paramitas--beginning with the Giving, Observing the Precepts, And other good deeds, variously enumerated, Such as Nembutsu, Repentance, Moral Training, and so on -- All are finally reducible to the practice of Dhyana. The merit of Dhyana practice, even during a single sitting, Erases the countless sins accumulated in the past. Where then are the Evil Paths to misguide us? The Pure Land cannot be far away. Those who, for once, listening to the Dharma In all humility, Praise it and faithfully follow it, Will be endowed with innumerable merits. But how much more so when you turn your eyes within yourselves And have a glimpse into your self-nature! You find that the self-nature is no-nature - The truth permitting no idle sophistry. For you, then, open the gate leading to the oneness of cause and effect; Before you, then, lies a straight road of non-duality and non-trinity. When you understand that form is the form of the formless, Your coming-and-going takes place nowhere else but where you are. When you understand that thought is the thought of the thought-less. Your singing-and-dancing is no other than the voice of the Dharma. How boundless is the sky of Samadhi! How refreshingly bright is the moon of the Fourfold Wisdom! Being so is there anything you lack? As the Absolute presents itself before you The place where you stand is the Land of the Lotus, And your person -- the body of the Buddha. [2139.jpg] -- from Essays in Zen Buddhism, First Series, by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki

2.07 - The Cup, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
17:This cup (crescent, sphere, cone) represents the three principles of the Moon, the Sun, and Fire, the three principles which, according to the Hindus, have course in the body. footnote: These "principles" are seen by the pupil when first he succeeds in stilling his mind. That one which happens to be in course at the moment is the one seen by him. This is so marvellous an experience, even for one who has pushed astral visions to a very high point, that he may mistake them for the End. See chapter on Dhyana. The Hebrew letters corresponding to these principles are Gimel, Resh, and Shin, and the word formed by them means "a flower" and also "expelled," "cast forth."
18:This is the Cup of Purification; as Zoroaster says:

2.1.01 - The Central Process of the Sadhana, #Letters On Yoga II, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Sadhana, Tapasya, Aradhana, Dhyana
Sadhana is the practice of Yoga. Tapasya is the concentration of the will to get the results of sadhana and to conquer the lower nature. Aradhana is worship of the Divine, love, self-surrender, aspiration to the Divine, calling the name, prayer. Dhyana is inner concentration of the consciousness, meditation, going inside in Samadhi. Dhyana, tapasya and aradhana are all parts of sadhana.
***

2.1.02 - Combining Work, Meditation and Bhakti, #Letters On Yoga II, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
I dont think you understood very well what Mother was trying to tell you. First of all she did not say that prayers or meditation either were no good how could she when both count for so much in Yoga? What she said was that the prayer must well up from the heart on a crest of emotion or aspiration, the Japa or meditation come in a live push carrying the joy or the light of the thing in it. If done mechanically and merely as a thing that ought to be done (stern grim duty!), it must tend towards want of interest and dryness and so be ineffective. It was what I meant when I said I thought you were doing Japa too much as a means for bringing about a result I meant too much as a device, a process laid down for getting the thing done. That again was why I wanted the psychological conditions in you to develop, the psychic, the mental for when the psychic is forward, there is no lack of life and joy in the prayer, the aspiration, the seeking, no difficulty in having the constant stream of bhakti and when the mind is quiet and inturned and upturned there is no difficulty or want of interest in meditation. Meditation by the way is a process leading towards knowledge and through knowledge, it is a thing of the head and not of the heart; so if you want Dhyana, you cant have an aversion to knowledge. Concentration in the heart is not meditation, it is a call on the Divine, on the Beloved. This Yoga too is not a Yoga of knowledge aloneknowledge is one of its means, but its base being self-offering, surrender, bhakti, it is based on the heart and nothing can be eventually done without this base. There are plenty of people here who do or have done Japa and base themselves on bhakti, very few comparatively who have done the head meditation; love and bhakti and works are usually the basehow many can proceed by knowledge? Only the few.
***

2.21 - Towards the Supreme Secret, #Essays On The Gita, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
This first pursuit of impersonality as enjoined by the Gita brings with it evidently a certain completest inner quietism and is identical in its inmost parts and principles of practice with the method of Sannyasa. And yet there is a point at which its tendency of withdrawal from the claims of dynamic Nature and the external world is checked and a limit imposed to prevent the inner quietism from deepening into refusal of action and a physical withdrawal. The renunciation of their objects by the senses, vis.ayams tyaktva, is to be of the nature of Tyaga; it must be a giving up of all sensuous attachment, rasa, not a refusal of the intrinsic necessary activity of the senses. One must move among surrounding things and act on the objects of the sense-field with a pure, true and intense, a simple and absolute operation of the senses for their utility to the spirit in divine action, kevalair indriyais caran, and not at all for the fulfilment of desire. There is to be vairagya, not in the common significance of disgust of life or distaste for the world action, but renunciation of raga, as also of its opposite, dves.a. There must be a withdrawal from all mental and vital liking as from all mental and vital disliking whatsoever. And this is asked not for extinction, but in order that there may be a perfect enabling equality in which the spirit can give an unhampered and unlimited assent to the integral and comprehensive divine vision of things and to the integral divine action in Nature. A continual resort to meditation, Dhyana-yogaparo nityam, is the firm means by which the soul of man can realise its self of Power and its self of silence. And yet there must be no abandonment of the active life for a life of pure meditation; action must always be done as a sacrifice to the supreme Spirit.
This movement of recoil in the path of Sannyasa prepares an absorbed disappearance of the individual in the Eternal, and renunciation of action and life in the world is an indispensable step in the process. But in the Gita's path of Tyaga it is a preparation rather for the turning of our whole life and existence and of all action into an integral oneness with the serene and immeasurable being, consciousness and will of the Divine, and it preludes and makes possible a vast and total passing upward of the soul out of the lower ego to the inexpressible perfection of the supreme spiritual nature, para prakr.ti.

2.3.01 - Aspiration and Surrender to the Mother, #The Mother With Letters On The Mother, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Yoga, Sadhana, Dhyana
Yoga is union with the Divine, sadhana is what you do in order to unite with the Divine. You have to get away from the ordinary human consciousness and get into touch with the divine
--
For that call always on the Mother, open yourself to her, aspire and pray for her Force to work in you so as to make you fit - reject desire, restlessness, disturbances of the mind and vital. Dhyana means to make the mind and vital quiet and concentrate in aspiration for the Mother's Peace, the Mother's
10 October 1933

2.3.01 - Concentration and Meditation, #Letters On Yoga II, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Concentration is necessary. By Dhyana you awake the inner being; by concentration in life, in work, in the outer consciousness you make the outer being also fit to receive the Divine Light and Force.
It is in the waking consciousness that all has to be realised. But that cannot be done without a full preparation in the inner being and it is this preparation that is being done for you in Dhyana.
You have not to remain in Dhyana all the time, but to bring into the waking state the consciousness you get there and you have to live in that all the time.
It is very good, and by regular meditation you are sure to make much progress. But I do not think to spend all the night in meditation would be good. The body needs sleep also. One hour meditation daily is already a very good result and it can be increased slowly to two.

3.07 - The Ascent of the Soul, #The Practice of Psycho therapy, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
and Dhyana in the East is a similar abaissement deliberately induced for
the purpose of relaxation, a technique for releasing the soul. With certain

31 Hymns to the Star Goddess, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
But when a larger cage is offeredwhen we obtain Dhyanalet us not rest there thinking ourselves free. The door is open, Samadhi lies beyond, and beyond that, when we are ready for it, the Real Freedom, Nirvana.
O Lady of the Stars, let me not content till I penetrate the ultimate bars and am FreeOne with the Infinitely Great as with the Infinitely Small.

Bhagavad Gita, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
Gita Dhyanam
1. The Yoga of the Despondency of Arjuna

BOOK I. -- PART III. SCIENCE AND THE SECRET DOCTRINE CONTRASTED, #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
themselves, by virtue of Dhyana, celestial Selves -- the super-human Bodhisattvas. These incarnating
at the beginning of every human cycle on earth as mortal men, become occasionally, owing to their
--
(Brahma) created all this by the mind only," i.e., by Dhyana, or abstract meditation and mystic powers
like the Dhyani Buddhas (vide supra). Evidently then, these "Brahmanas" are identical with the

Liber 111 - The Book of Wisdom - LIBER ALEPH VEL CXI, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
Hydrogen and Oxygen; Love from that of Man and Woman, Dhyana or Ecstasy
from that of the Ego and the non-Ego.
--
But in the Dhyanas that were granted unto me in Kandy, in the Island of
Lanka, I used up my whole Charge of Magical Energy; and for two Years I

Liber 71 - The Voice of the Silence - The Two Paths - The Seven Portals, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
appears that "fourfold Dhyana" is a mere extension of the word Samtan.
There are, however, eight, not four, four of these being called Low and
--
The distinction between the two Paths is now evident; that of Dhyana is
intellectual, or one might better say, mental, that of Paramita, moral.
--
attainments, might pass through all the Dhyana-Lokas and through the
Arupa-Brahma-Lokas, exhaust that Karma, be reincarnated as a
--
productive of constant friction. The first Path in Dhyana has nothing
whatever to do with being a Srotapatti. It is perfectly clear that you
--
91 it appears to refer to the Dhyana Path, but the Dhyana Path has been
described in entirely different terms in verses 71 to 73, and it is

r1919 08 11, #Record of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The whole major insistence throughout the day has been on the K. Ananda. First of all the normal continuity has been founded in the settling of a great mass of gnostic K. Ananda on a pedestal of rocklike pratistha. Later this has faded and grown, half disappeared and returned, given place to a less certain fluid Ananda in the laxity of the mind and body, but the net upshot is a continuity only interrupted by sleep and distraction. The difficulties are being rapidly put aside. Laxity of the system no longer of itself brings on discontinuity, but only when it is supported by pramada, mental distraction. Absorption of thought also no longer imposes oblivion, except when there is this loose distraction or pramada of the channel mind in the physicality. Absorption in the object is at best only momentarily discontinuative; absorption of reading or writing only when extreme by necessity of attention; but this necessity is no longer really existent, since the gnosis is capable of a wide and multiple Dhyana. In the reading it is almost eliminated as a necessary factor, in the writing it is on the point of elimination. The one thing now really to be conquered is the loose mental distraction, a habit and not a necessity of the system. This gained in the evening, was brought out in full and prevented the complete actual continuity. It is assisted by the old desire of the physical mind for release from tapas, rest by inertia. Sleep also, not transformed towards samadhi, is a positive interruption.
The highest logistic ideality in assured possession of the thought, preparing assured possession of the T; physical siddhi commencing finality in the ideal Kama Ananda. This fulfils the indication for the 11, though not to the extent of the entire .. completeness.

Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna (text), #Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
840. Brahman is beyond mind and speech, beyond concentration and meditation (Dharana and Dhyana),
beyond the knower, the known and knowledge, beyond even the conception of the real and the unreal.

Talks 026-050, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
D.: I have my professional work and yet I want to be in perpetual Dhyana. Will they conflict with each other?
M.: There will be no conflict. As you practise both and develop your powers you will be able to attend to both. You will begin to look on business as a dream. Says the Bhagavad Gita: That which is the night of all beings, for the disciplined man is the time of waking; when other beings are waking, then is it night for the sage who seeth. (11.69.)

Talks 051-075, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
D.: What is Dhyana?
M.: The word Dhyana usually signifies meditation on some object, whereas nididhyasana is used for enquiry into the Self. The triads persist until the Self is realised. Dhyana and nididhyasana are the same so far as the aspirant is concerned, because they involve trinity and are synonymous with bhakti.
D.: How should Dhyana be practised?
M.: Dhyana serves to concentrate the mind. The predominant idea keeps off all others. Dhyana varies according to the individual. It may be on an aspect of God, on a mantra, or on the Self, etc.
15th June, 1935
--
Yoga. If engaged in japa, Dhyana, bhakti, etc., just a little control of breath will suffice to control the mind. The mind is the rider and the breath the horse. Pranayama is a check on the horse. By that check the rider is checked.
Pranayama may be done just a little. To watch the breath is one way of doing it. The mind abstracted from other activities is engaged in watching the breath. That controls the breath; and in its turn the mind is controlled.
--
Breath may be retained a short while in japa, Dhyana, etc. Then, too, good results will follow.
18th June, 1935
--
Mr. Ekanatha Rao: How is Dhyana practised - with eyes open or closed?
M.: It may be done either way. The point is that the mind must be introverted and kept active in its pursuit. Sometimes it happens that when the eyes are closed the latent thoughts rush forth with great vigour. It may also be difficult to introvert the mind with the eyes open. It requires strength of mind to do so. The mind is contaminated when it takes in objects. Otherwise, it is pure. The main factor in Dhyana is to keep the mind active in its own pursuit without taking in external impressions or thinking of other matters.
--- Talk 62.
--
D.: I have faith in murti Dhyana (worship of form). Will it not help me to gain jnana?
M.: Surely it will. Upasana helps concentration of mind. Then the mind is free from other thoughts and is full of the meditated form.

Talks 076-099, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
In deep sleep mind is merged and not destroyed. That which merges reappears. It may happen in meditation also. But the mind which is destroyed cannot reappear. The yogis aim must be to destroy it and not to sink in laya. In the peace of Dhyana, laya ensues but it is not enough. It must be supplemented by other practices for destroying the mind. Some people have gone into samadhi with a trifling thought
and after a long time awakened in the trail of the same thought. In the meantime generations have passed away in the world. Such a yogi has not destroyed his mind. Its destruction is the non-recognition of it as being apart from the Self. Even now the mind is not. Recognise it. How can you do it if not in everyday activities. They go on automatically.
--
D.: Is Dhyana necessary?
M.: The Upanishads say that even the Earth is in eternal Dhyana.
D.: How does Karma help it? Will it not add to the already heavy load to be removed?
--
M.: Try and see. The vasanas will not let you do it. Dhyana comes only step by step with the gradual weakening of the vasanas by the Grace of the Master.
15th October, 1935
--
D.: It is so difficult to understand this. If something concrete is said, it can be readily grasped. Japa, Dhyana, etc., are more concrete.
M.: Who am I? is the best japa.

Talks 100-125, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
The next day Sri Bhagavan said: These people want some japa, Dhyana, or yoga or something similar. Without their saying what they have been doing so far what more can be said to them? Again, why japa, its phalasruti, etc.? Who is it that makes the japa? Who gets the fruits thereof? Can they not look to the Self? Or again, even if instructed by others to do japa or Dhyana, they do it for some time, but are always looking to some results, e.g., visions, dreams, or thaumaturgic powers.
If they do not find them they say they are not progressing or the tapas is not effective. Visions, etc., are no signs of progress. Mere performance of tapas is its progress also. Steadiness is what is required. Moreover they must entrust themselves to their mantra or their God and wait for its Grace. They dont do so. Japa even once uttered has its own good effect, whether the individual is aware or not.

Talks 125-150, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
Sreyo hi jnanam abhyasat jnanat Dhyanam, Dhyanat karmaphala tyagah.
Here jnana stands for knowledge without practice; abhyasa stands for practice without knowledge; Dhyana stands for practice with knowledge.
Knowledge without practice accompanying it is superior to practice without knowledge. Practice with knowledge is superior to knowledge without practice accompanying it. Karmaphala tyagah Nishkama karma as of a Jnani - action without desire - is superior to knowledge with practice.

Talks 151-175, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
For one unable to do this also, regulation of breath is prescribed for making the mind quiescent. Quiescence lasts only so long as the breath is controlled. So it is transient. The goal is clearly not pranayama. It extends on to pratyahara, dharana, Dhyana and samadhi. Those stages deal with the control of mind. Such control becomes easier for the man who had earlier practised pranayama.
Pranayama leads him to the higher stages involving control of mind. Therefore control of mind is the aim of yoga also.

Talks 176-200, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
It is necessary to be aware while controlling thoughts. Otherwise it will lead to sleep. That awareness, the chief factor, is indicated by the fact of Patanjali emphasising pratyahara, dharana, Dhyana, samadhi even after pranayama. Pranayama makes the mind steady
Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi and suppresses thoughts. Then why develop further? Because awareness then is the one necessary factor. Such states can be imitated by taking morphia, chloroform, etc. They do not lead to

Talks 500-550, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
D.: I practised Dhyana for four hours a day and fixation of sight for two hours. I became ill. Then others said that it was owing to my practice. So I gave up Dhyana.
M.: Matters will adjust themselves.
--
The person soaked in the "I-am-the-body" idea is the greatest sinner and he is a suicide. The experience of "I-am-the-Self" is the highest virtue. Even a moment's Dhyana to that effect is enough to destroy all the sanchita Karma. It works like the sun before whom darkness is dispelled. If one remains always in Dhyana, can any sin, however heinous it be, survive his Dhyana?
Talk 537.
--
'A' asked: What is the exact difference between worldly activity and Dhyana?
M.: There is no difference. It is like naming one and the same thing by two different words in two different languages. The crow has two eyes but only one iris which is rolled into either eye as it pleases.
--
When Sri Bhagavan was going up the hill, the Swami asked: Does the closing or the opening of the eyes make any difference during Dhyana?
M.: If you strike on a wall with a rubber-ball and you stand at a distance, the ball rebounds and runs back to you. If you stand near the wall, the ball rebounds and runs away from you. Even if the eyes are closed, the mind follows thoughts.
--
Once 'A' asked: There is more pleasure in Dhyana than in sensual enjoyments. Yet the mind runs after the latter and does not seek the former. Why is it so?
M.: Pleasure or pain are aspects of the mind only. Our essential nature is happiness. But we have forgotten the Self and imagine that the body or the mind is the Self. It is that wrong identity that gives rise to misery.

Talks 600-652, #unset, #Anonymous, #Various
The latter is Dhyana - Whence am I? (Kutoham?) This admits a jivatma which seeks the Paramatma.
Talk 643.

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