Agni Purāṇa
375- Fixing-up of the mind in the object of contemplation
Agni said:
1. Dhäraņā is the fixing-up ofthe mind firmly on (the object) to be meditated upon. Like dhyāna (contemplation), it is also twofold according as the object is an embodied or an unembodied form of (lord) Hari.
2. The mind does not getshaken from the object that lies outside. That period for which the mind remains in a state of obsorption in a particular place without being distracted (is known as) dhārarā.
3. Dharana is said to be that period for which the mind remains absorbed in the contemplation) of god, without deviating from its object.
4. Dharana has a duration of twelve yama1-s. Twelve dharana -s (are equal to) dhyana. It is said to be samadhi which consists of twelve (such) dhyana-s.
1. One yama is equal to three hours.
5. If a person practisting dhåraña discards his life, he attains supreme position in the heaven after elevating twenty-one (generations of his) family,
6. When a particular part of the body of a yagin gets affected by disease, (the yogin)should fix up the mind on that particular part as though pervaded by the mind.
7.10. (Dhäranå is fourfold namely)āgneyi, varuņi, aišāni and amrutálmikå (respectively) belonging to Agni, Varuņa and Ishäna and (the fourth) of the nature of ambrosia. O Foremost among the twice-born! (In the agneyi), the sikha (formula of the tuft) of (lord) Vishņu ending with phatshould be repeated. The glorious tip of the spear that is cleaved by the nädi-s (arteries)should be pierced with that. O Great sage! The votaryshould thinkof all those from the big toe to the skull as surrounded by orbs of rays spread across lower and upper parts (of the body) by excessive lustre. One's own body that has been (conceived mentally as) burnt to ashesshould be withdrawn into one's self. O Twice born! The cold, phlegm etc. and sin get destroyed thereby.
11-15a. (The vāruņi dhāraṇā is explained now). Oneshould think of the head, neck, dhira (?) and kära (?) (as existing) in the face bent downwards. Then after coneeiving the mind as unbroken and coneentrated, the entire earthshould be thought as being filled withshowers of snow produced by glittering spray. (The mind)should be brought down from the Brahmarandhra1 to the Mülādhāra2 through the path of sushumnä3 by means ofshaking and as remaining in the orb of the full moonshould be flooded with nectar-like water (produced) by contact with snow. A votary who is afflicted by sufferings such as hunger, thirst and the likeshould bear this väruni (dharaņā) vigilantly for the sake of pleasure.
1. An aperture in the crown of the head through which the soul is said to escape after the death of a person.
2. A mystical circle above the organs of generation.
3. One of the arteries in the human body.
15b-20. I have described to you the vāruņi dhäranā. Listen to me! (Ishall now describe) the aišāni dhāraņā. Oneshould contemplate the grace of (lord) Vishņu, after having nullified the (airs) prāņa and apāna4 in the lotus, that is verily Brahman, in the sky, until one's thoughts cease. Then one has to repeat the great truth. The lord (should also be contemplated) as pervading everything, as half moon, supreme, tranquil, without any semblance and unstained. Until a person knows one's real form through the words of his preceptor the entire unreal world (movable and immovable) appears as real. When that Supreme Principle is realised all the entities from the world to the brahman, the knower, the means of knowledge and the things to be known, theshaking of the lotus in the heart by means of contemplation, repetition, offering oblation, worship etc. and everything, (would appear) like the sweet cakes given by the mother. (The whole thing) may also be done with the formula of (lord) Vishņu. Ishall describe to you the amruta-dharaná (now).
4. The printed text wrongly reada aprana.
21-22. (In the amruta-dhāraṇā the votary)should contemplate a lotus resembling the full moon held in the clenched hand of the votary.(Then the votary)should contemplate with effort a region of the full-moon having the spendour of a lakh moons filled with the waves (of bliss) of (lord) Siva as situated on the head. (Then heshould think of the same as filling) in the lotus of the heart. (Then the votary)should think of his body at its centre. The votary would become free from distress by means of the dhäraņā-s and the like.
Summary of chapter 377 of the Agni Purāṇa is as follows:
Agni presents the liberating knowledge of Brahman (brahma-vijñāna) to Vasiṣṭha. The teaching begins with the mahāvākya: "Ayam ātmā paraṃ brahma" — this ātman is the supreme Brahman — and demonstrates why neither the body, nor the senses, nor the mind, nor prāṇa, nor ahaṁkāra can be identified with the ātman: the body is visible like a pot and is inactive in sleep and at death; the senses are mere instruments; the mind operates only by borrowed light; prāṇa is without vijñāna in deep sleep. The ātman — distinct from all these — dwells in the heart of all beings as the all-seer, the bhoktar, shining like a lamp through the night. At the commencement of samādhi, the yogī should contemplate the sequential emanation from Brahman — ākāśa, vāyu, agni, jala, pṛthivī, sūkṣma-śarīra, sthūla-śarīra — and understand that Brahman alone, attained through jñāna not karma, is the singular reality.
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