The steps of meditation:

The ageless tradition of wisdom teaches that in order to enter the state of meditation, certain definite steps are to be followed. Nobody can enter meditation without passing through these steps.

The steps are:

Dharana - mental concentration
a. Know about Dharana
b. The ideal state of Dharana
c. How to start it

Dhyana - meditation
a. What is Dhyana
b. The basic principle
c. How to start

Samadhi – blissful identification
a. What actually Samadhi is?
b. Loosing Yourself
c. Triangle of Meditaiton

In the Western Tradition, these three stages are called ‘consideratio’ ("considering"), ‘contemplatio’ ("contemplation") and ‘raptus’ ("rapture").

Each step, when mastered, naturally leads to the following step Dharana - mental concentration.

1.Dharana:- mental concentration

Know about Dharana:

The human mind continuously receives information about the outer world through the five "gates" of the senses: smell, taste, sight, touch and hearing.

Among the data received through a certain sense, the mind can select only those that are of interest at a given time. This selection is realized through focusing the attention upon that particular data and ignoring the other unimportant data. The more the attention is focused upon a certain sense, the more the amount of information received through that sense increases and the information coming from other senses becomes ‘less important’ and can even be completely ignored by the mind.

A special characteristic of the human mind is the capacity of focusing the attention toward the inner world of feelings, thoughts and ideas. More than that, the human mind can be focused even upon itself -- this fact is of paramount importance, because it creates the possibility of controlling the mind. This faculty of the human mind to modify at will the orientation of the conscious attention is the basic mechanism of mental concentration (dharana). Defining the concept "To concentrate" means to reunite into a center, to gather, to focus. Mental concentration (dharana) means to focus the mind upon a unique object without allowing it (the mind) to jump to another object for a determined period of time.

The opposite of concentration is dispersion, scattering. In this case, the mind jumps uncontrolled from one object to another fixing itself to nothing.

This is a fundamental principle of worship. Mind is movement "Dharana" means "holding the mind." The Ageless Wisdom considers that "the mind", as we know it, is just a perpetual flow, according to definite laws, of psychic patterns (vritti-s). The train of psychic patterns has an undercurrent of emotions, doubled by a consequent physiological responses. Actually, the mind is movement.

Mind is like the wind: the wind is air movement; when this movement stops, the air is still there, but the wind disappeared. The mental-stuff that remains after the psychic patterns (vritti-s) have been stopped is called citta. When the mental patterns (vritti-s) are stopped, the mind disappears: we enter the no-mind state. No-Mind (which actually means ‘beyond the mind’) is the state of highest creativity and spiritual intuition.

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The ideal state of Dharana:

Perfect mental concentration implies to focus completely the whole potential of attention -- without using any force or mental / nervous tension -- upon the chosen object for a definite period of time, allowing no dispersion at all. This state is analogous to the phenomenon of focusing sunlight through a lens: the light rays are gathered in a small point, thus enormously increasing their power. Here, the time element is very important: if the light is perfectly concentrated but this state lasts a very short time, nothing can happen. The point of focused light must be maintained continuously a certain time - only after that the effects can appear (for instance, the lighting of a piece of wood).

In a similar way, dharana must be maintained a certain period of time: only after that concentration starts the process of resonance with the corresponding cosmic energy and the consequent transfer of that energy into your being. The energy carries feelings and information related to the object of concentration.

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How to start it:

Sit in a comfortable posture with the spine and neck kept straight and vertical. Close your eyes and pass through the following steps: Relax quickly and deeply from bottom to top. Let your attention swiftly scan your body and release all tensions.

Let your breathing become calm and peaceful. Turn the attention inward (introversive gaze) and disconnect yourself from the outer disturbing factors (noises, etc.); begin to withdraw the mind from any thoughts that arise (as a result of the activity of the senses) by making a brief but detetrmined effort to stop the discursive thinking; Concentrate the mind (dharana) upon the object of your choice. Let's examine in greater detail dharana.

Empty your mind of all thoughts. Then bring the chosen object before your inner mind's eye. Don't allow the mind to jump to another object or thought. If this happens, calmly and patiently bring your mind back to your object. This is the only thing you are supposed to do during dharana: to keep the mind focused upon the object.

Beware of force or tension! Be calm, open and favorably inclined to concentrate. Doing nothing Mental concentration is a static process: during concentration the mind is ‘frozen’, the thinking is stopped, the mental activity is suspended. The only mental movement should be to bring gently the mind back to the chosen object when it jumps away. Mental concentration can be described as "doing nothing".

You understand now that it is not laziness, but "just sitting" with a purpose. During dharana, the mind is like a mirror: the only activity is to reflect the object. "During Concentration (dharana), the mind is like a pure crystal that takes the color of the object upon which it is placed."

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2.Dhyana - the state of meditation

What is Dhyana:

"Dhyana (meditation per se) is the continuous flow of the mental processes toward the object (of meditation)." Yoga Sutra Dhyana is an effortless flow of the mind spontaneously directed toward the object. Dhyana (meditation) is a dynamic process: during it, the mental processes (thoughts, ideas, etc.) are turning around the object of meditation, making free associations (for example) related to that particular object only. During meditation, the activity of the mind reaches a tremendously dynamic intensity and eventually becomes a laser-beam-like stream of concentrated thinking.

Dhyana (meditation) is superimposed upon dharana (mental concentration). In other words, mental concentration lasts permanently during the whole period of meditation. The purpose of mental concentration is to ‘keep the object before the mind's eye’ so to speak, and it is a static process. Meditation takes place at a higher level of mind and implies mental dynamics.

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The basic principle:

There is a law of mind that says that "if a thought / idea prevails in mind, all the other thoughts / ideas gradually have the tendency to submit to the prevailing thought / idea". This is the basic principle of meditation. The prevailing thought is created by concentration and the movement of the mind around that particular thought is meditation. One leads to another Concentration and meditation, even if they seem very close, are nevertheless distinct phenomena. If you realize a good concentration, this will lead automatically to meditation, because in yoga every step, when perfectly realized, gives the key to the next step. Do not force or do not try to accelerate the process of passing from concentration to meditation. Let it come naturally: this will certainly happen after a certain period of practice.

Remember: genius is an infinite patience. Be therefore patient and you will become a genius through the practice of meditation.

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How to start:

1. The first step in dhyana (meditation) is dharana (mental concentration). For some time, this might be the only step you will be able to make for meditation. Through patience and tireless practice, you will gradually discover through personal experience how to start/release the next step.
Keep this in mind: at a deep level, nobody can really teach you to meditate, except yourself, applying the traditional information exposed in this material.

2. While keeping the dharana (concentration) state of mind, let go of it, allow your thoughts to move freely, to make connections, associations. Don't you think that you have to do something for this: just be mentally alert and realize the spontaneous and effortless transition from the motionless reflection (dharana) to the dynamic thinking (dhyana). You will discover that now your mind will not jump any more at random but, on a lower level, dharana (concentration) will be sustained almost effortlessly and, on a higher level, the thoughts will start to move, to revolve around the object only. This is dhyana (meditation).

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3. Samadhi- blissful identification

What actually Samadhi is?

We saw that dhyana (meditation) is the continuous flow of mental processes toward the object of meditation. This process leads gradually to a blissful identification (co-penetration of the object of meditation with the practitioner's own being). This is the highest state, called samadhi. In samadhi the mind, continuously and to the exclusion of all other objects, assumes the nature and becomes one with the object.

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Loosing yourself

In samadhi, only the object awareness remains, as if the consciousness of individuality disappears. Actually, the individuality of the practitioner does not disappear (it would be impossible !), but the practitioner's consciousness blissfully identifies with the object of meditation. In samadhi, the mind and consciousness of the yogin become one with the object. There is no more awareness of mental functioning (the mind apparently enters into a state of void, emptiness). There is no more awareness of personal individuality as being separate form the object. Now, the practitioner feels that there is no more difference between "object" and "me." This dichotomy is now impossible.

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The triangle of meditation

During dhyana (meditation), there is awareness about the knower (the practitioner of meditation), the known (the object of meditation) and the knowledge that arises in mind about the object of meditation. These three are distinct: The triangle absorbed in a point.

In samadhi, knower, known and knowledge fuse, merge one into another, become one. Samadhi is an intuitive cognition referring to what is directly present, it is he immediacy of the replicative experience, the non-intermediateness of perception. This means that here perception is realized somehow without using any of the intermediary channels (like, for example, the senses, the mind, the intellect, etc.), and this is why this experience is perceived as identity. Samadhi is a state of undifferentiated identity with the object to be known, a self-detaching immersion into its meaning. In this state, the yogin experiences that state of consciousness in which he perceives the undifferentiatedly unique substratum of all things, creatures and worlds. The part is discovered to be the whole, every unit is present in any other units, everything is a part of the fullness of which the experiencer represents an epitome. The yogin who has brought this process to its completion is able to recognize the underlying and essentially unconcealed reality of the Cosmic Consciousness that composes the most intimate status of every apparently finite objects.

Here the triad of knower, known and the process of knowing has been transcended. The knower (the yogin in samadhi) turns away from the object and doubles back on himself. In so doing, he creates a situation in which the object of knowing is the knower himself, and the process of knowing is also simply the knower himself. This state is sometimes described as "void" or "emptiness" (shunya) because of the contrast with the apparent fullness of objectivity (represented by the duality object-subject) that precedes it. It is a process of progressively stripping away the outer attributes and characteristics of the object of meditation until the yogin is simply left with the sheer existential essence of that object. This process of rediscovery of the undifferentiated unique substratum of everything that exists is a major feature of the attainment of liberation and spiritual enlightenment. No longer do finite objects appear as separate and limited structures; rather, the Consciousness out of which all things are composed surfaces and becomes visible as the true Reality of perceived objects.

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