Dharana is first of the three stages of meditation described in the Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali. The three stages are: Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi.

Dharana, or meditation, is viewed by yogic authorities as the highest form of penance. (Purifying austerity.) Dharana and it's final fruit, samadhi, are is viewed as the ultimate form of religion.

"The Highest Penance consists of the one-pointedness of the Mind and the Sense;
that is better than all religious practices; that is the Highest Religion."
 
The Jivan-Mukti Viveka of Sri Vidyaranya, p.175

Austerity, in turn, is the first of the three basic "actions of yoga." (See austerities.)

Dharana is the first stage of meditation, the attempt to focus the mind on one thing. In dharana you bring the mind back repeatedly to the same object. Actually, all people practice dharana intermittently  throughout the day. Any time you concentrate on one thing for a time you are practicing dharana. The breath naturally slows down at these times. This slowing and even stoppage of the breath is a concommitant of deep concentration. The movement of the breath is connected with the movement of the mind, and this is why techniques of pranayama (breath control) are utilized to quiet the mind. (See kumbhaka.info.)

As you master concentration or dharana, the flow of concentration becomes smooth and uninterrupted. This stage of is called dhyana. Getting to dhyana is the most difficult threshhold to cross in deep meditation, and many become discouraged in their attempts at dharana. But this should be a comfort to the meditatior and yogi: At the point of dhyana, the state of samadhi is very near. In samadhi the mind merges with the object. These three taken together are termed samyama. Samyama and the ability to become one with an object are part of the basis for the miraculous spiritual powers seen in yogic saints.

So dharana is that simple, yet difficult, activity of focusing the mind on one thing. As the mind becomes more and more still one attains "chitta-vritti-nirodha," or cessation of the modifications of the mind. (Yoga Sutras 1:2) According to the Yoga-Sutra, this is yoga. As one pursues dharana and this stilling of the mind, one becomes a yogi and comes into the mysteries of yoga. 

Dharana is very difficult. The battle to still the mind is actually the most challenging human activity. All people find concentration difficult, even to focus on one thing beyond a few moments. But even a little progress gives great fruit. Krishna said in the Bhagavad-Gita: "Even a little of this yoga gives freedom from great suffering."

To help us with this very difficult goal, the yogic saints come here to show us the way to accomplish dharana, for the cessation of sorrows and the fulfillment of life. Saints and sages have prescribed various meditation techniques for the stilling of the mind, often called "dharanas." The Vijnana-Bhairava is a scripture describing 112 different dharanas, or meditation subjects. Each involves a different point of focus for the stilling of the mind.

According to the saints the effort at dharana (yogic concentration) is powerfully assisted by practicing the purifying austerities, along with meditation technique. In the Yoga-Sutra austerities are called the first basic activity of yoga. Austerities include solitude, silence, fasting, and sexual restraint, celibacy (brahmacharya) and holding to a posture. These all assist greatly in concentration.

Concentration (dharana) is also dramatically boosted by an attitude of faith and devotion toward the object of concentration. Finally, dharana is powerfully aided by the emergence of the "supernormal peception of a divine object [within]" and "a radiant perception free of sorrow." (Yoga-Sutras, 1:35-36) By becoming able to concentrate on these divine appearances within, the mind becomes easily stabilized. The austerities, celibacy in particular, directly support the ability to perceive that "radiant perception free of sorrow."

Vyasa states in his commentary: "Yoga is samadhi." The path to samadhi begins with the effort at dharana, or concentraation. Thus in a way, dharana is the first activity and most basic tool of yogic effort.

A placid life with little drama, distraction, or disturbance is most conducive to dharana and samadhi. Thus the ethical and teachings of yoga. A body that is free of excitement and disturbance conduces to dharana, thus the moral teachings. And a mind that does not react to outer conditions or find them distracting conduces to concentration, thus the pursuit of austerities that break addictions and attachments and weaken their impact on the mind.

SACRED WORD TRUST