Dhyana

ध्यान

Pronunciation: DHYAH-nah

Also spelled: Dhyaana

Meditation; continuous flow of attention

Yoga

Dhyana is the seventh limb - meditation as an unbroken flow of attention toward one object. While dharana is the effort to fix attention, dhyana is the effortless continuation of that fixation. The stream of awareness becomes smooth and continuous.

In dhyana, there are still two: the meditator and the object of meditation. But the distinction begins to thin. The meditator becomes absorbed in the object, losing awareness of surroundings, body, and the passage of time. This absorption deepens progressively.

Dhyana is not a technique but a state that arises through sustained dharana. It cannot be forced but only prepared for. When conditions are right - body steady, breath refined, senses withdrawn, concentration established - dhyana naturally unfolds. From this sustained absorption, samadhi becomes possible.

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