Dhyāna Yoga

Dhyāna means meditation, and dhyāna yoga is the path of steady, unbroken meditation on the Paramātman (the Supreme Self) as the way to liberation. The Mahābhārata teaches it in the Mokshadharma Parva, a part of the Śānti Parva devoted to liberation, and especially in the Vārshṇeya-adhyātma-kathā (Chapters 210–217), a spiritual teaching given by Śrī Kṛshṇa.

There, dhyāna is presented as the main means of cleansing the antaḥkaraṇa (the inner instrument: mind, intellect and ego) of the kleśas (inner impurities). These impurities hide from the kshetrajña (the “knower of the field”, the true self) its own nature. Dhyāna also dissolves the false sense that one is the body and mind.

Dhyāna in the Vārshṇeya-adhyātma-kathā

In the Vārshṇeya-adhyātma-kathā (Chapters 210–217), Vāsudeva (Śrī Kṛshṇa) teaches how dhyāna and liberation are connected. He does so within the joined framework of Sāṃkhya and Yoga that runs through the Mokshadharma Parva.

The root problem is this. The kshetrajña (the witnessing consciousness, the ātman) has taken itself to be the kshetra (the “field”: the body, the mind and all their changes). This mistaken identity produces the kleśas, the recurring impurities of mind and feeling that bind the jīva (the embodied soul) to saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death). Understanding with the intellect alone cannot remove this mistaken identity, because it works at a level deeper than thought itself.

Dhyāna works on this deep level directly. Through steady, one-pointed practice:

  1. The vṛttis (movements) of the antaḥkaraṇa slow down and in time stop.
  2. The kleśas, which are really patterns of mental movement, lose what keeps them going (the restless, wavering mind), and fade away of themselves.
  3. The kshetrajña, which was hidden behind the screen of constant mental activity, becomes plain to see.

Cleansing the Kleśas Through Dhyāna

The Vārshṇeya-adhyātma-kathā names particular kleśas that dhyāna removes:

  • Rāga (attachment): the mind’s habit of seeking and grasping pleasant experiences
  • Dvesha (aversion): the mind’s habit of avoiding and pushing away unpleasant experiences
  • Asmitā (the sense of “I am this”): the basic mistake of taking consciousness to be one particular body and mind
  • Abhiniveśa (clinging to life): the deep-rooted fear of ceasing to exist, which drives the search for permanence in things that do not last

These are not removed by argument or by making resolutions. They melt away through dhyāna, which slowly withdraws the prāṇic (life-energy) and mental energy that keeps them alive.

The Stages of Dhyāna Practice

The Mokshadharma Parva’s teaching on dhyāna describes a step-by-step progress:

Pratyāhāra (withdrawal): the first stage is drawing the indriyas (senses) back from their objects. The senses are turned inward, not crushed but redirected, as water is led from one channel into another. Attention moves from the objects of the outer world to the inner space of the antaḥkaraṇa.

Dhāraṇā (concentration): the attention that has been drawn in is then fixed on one point: the ātman, the Paramātman, the ishṭa-devatā (one’s chosen form of Bhagavān Vishṇu), or a mantra. At this stage the fixing is not yet effortless. It needs steady effort, and the mind still throws up distractions.

Dhyāna (unbroken meditation): when the effort of fixing the attention becomes unbroken, when the stream of the mind flows toward its object without interruption, dhyāna has been reached. This steady, unbroken flow is the mark of true dhyāna.

Samādhi (complete absorption): when even the difference between the one who meditates and what is meditated on disappears, when the kshetrajña knows itself as separate from all of the kshetra and at the same time knows that it was never bound, samādhi has been reached. This is moksha (liberation) in its living form.

The City of Nine Gates

The Vārshṇeya-adhyātma-kathā uses the image of the nava-dvāra-pura, the “city of nine gates”, for the body. Its gates are the nine openings: two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, the mouth, and the two openings for excretion. The kshetrajña lives within this city. The practice of dhyāna is the turning of the kshetrajña’s attention away from the nine gates, the places where it goes out to meet the world, and inward to the hṛd (heart), where the ātman dwells.

Dhyāna and Japa Yoga

Japa yoga (the repetition of a mantra) and dhyāna yoga complete each other. Japa gives the anchor: the mantra gives the mind a steady point to return to. As japa matures into a continuous bhāvanā (meditative presence), it passes naturally into dhyāna. The two practices support each other: japa trains the mind in return, and dhyāna deepens the stillness that allows japa to continue without break.

Sources

  • Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapters 210–217 (the Vārshṇeya-adhyātma-kathā)