What a week we have behind us! Earthquake and hurricane in our area... Unexpected turbulance around us leads the yogi and the yogini to look within and find reprieve from all that is the external world. This is our final week of the Summer Yoga Challenge and the exploration of the Eight Limb of Yoga. I am so glad that so many of you participated and I hope that you all will carry something new that you learnt with you in your hearts… It is a perfect week to explore and contemplate on the last two limbs, Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi (enlightenment, bliss)…
In Light on Yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar likens the analogy of water taking the shape of its container to the mind being transformed into the shape of the object it is contemplating. This elicits an important truth: that which we dwell on in our minds becomes how and who we are.
Dhyana is absolute concentration upon a point of focus with the intention of knowing the truth about it. Therefore, dhyana is meditation or perfect contemplation. It is the next step following up on Dharana (one pointed concentration). Although there is a notable separation between dharana (concentration) and dhyana (meditation) in yogic philosophy, there is also an intimate connection between the two.
In Dharana, the mind is put through various rigors of trainings to restrain its waywardness and to refine its awareness to the ultimate degree of one-pointedness. Achieving this state is an active process that requires much effort. But it is precisely when this one-pointedness of mind ceases to be an active effort and then just happens naturally, without any effort, that we have achieved the state of meditation. So Dhyana, as far as it can be described with words, is an unbroken stream of concentration, whereby very little sense of self remains.
At this level, it becomes increasingly more difficult to use words and the reasoning, conscious mind to describe the experiences of yoga. After all, the state of meditation, by its very nature transcends our material human experience and everything that is related to it.
The eighth limb in Patanjali's text is Samadhi. Samadhi translates to enlightenment, bliss, or Union with the Divine. Patanjali describes the feeling as ecstasy. This is the ultimate goal of the practice of the other seven limbs of yoga.
This state is described as a feeling of complete inner peace and unity with the Divine and with every other living creature on earth. They completely experience the oneness of all life in the universe. Samadhi is a state of awareness and consciousness with the body, mind and senses completely relaxed.
There is no timetable or order to reaching the state of enlightenment. The steps and practices in the previous seven limbs are all intended to provide the path to enlightenment and the profound peace that accompanies it. It is something that is experienced on a personal level and not a goal that is attained in a specific time frame. Samadhi requires devotion and regular practice of yoga and meditation to clear the mind and experience the peace and unity of enlightenment. And we all so need it more than ever…
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