On Meditation: The Need for the Other Seven Limbs of Yoga
March 30, 2014 (Vijayvaani by J. Venkatasubramanian): Meditation or Dhyanam has become a sure catch phrase in today’s India. Today’s Hindu media is abuzz with the idea of meditation as a must for the modern person. Corporate gurus are advocating meditation to all their followers. Given this scenario, is there truth in the statement that meditation or dhyanam is the key for spiritual progress of an average man? All the modern gurus said that spiritual progress is impossible without meditation, and here I was, not able to close my eyes for a few minutes. I became frustrated and totally abandoned meditation.
The revelation that meditation belonged to the tradition of Yoga changed my conception of the discipline completely. It is not that I did not know this, everyone knows meditation is a limb of yoga. But the crux of the matter is – has anyone paid attention to the other limbs of yoga? Dhyanam is the seventh limb in an ascending order listed by Patanjali.
1. Yama: The five qualities of ahimsa, adherence to truthful ways, non-coveting of other’s property, brahmacharya, and non-interest in accumulating wealth make up the first limb called Yama.
2. Niyama: Cleanliness, pleasantness regardless of one’s status, life of sadhana, self study of works of adhyatma path, dedication of all oneself to Iswara constitute Niyama.
3. Asanam: A proper posture which can afford painless sessions of sadhana is asanam. This is also a victory over our posture which allows us to do long sadhanas.
4. Pranayama: Retaining the prana inside or outside with regard to the place, time and count are called thedeergha and sookshma pranayamas.
5. Pratyahara: The stage in which the senses are withdrawn from the sense objects and dwell in the chitta is called pratyahara.
6. Dharana: Focussing the mind for quite a length of time is called dharana.
7. Dhyanam: Ability to focus the chitta further for much longer periods is called dhyaanam.
8. Samadhi: When the feeling of ‘I’ vanishes during dhyaanam and only the meditated object remains, that state is samadhi.
My mistake was to have started with the seventh step without the least idea of the basic steps. It was Swami Bhajanananda who so beautifully illustrated the fault lines in the modern understanding of dhyanam. His book (Meditation) was the first book I have read which stated explicitly that puja is a very sure and safe path for a beginner of yoga. I am in total agreement with this since for the last ten years I have been drawing much spiritual strength from my daily puja and sloka chanting.
