What Is the Meaning of Dhyana?
It is absorption; union. It is the seventh limb, or requirement, to attain full Self-realization as outlined in the Yoga Sutras attributed to the sage Patanjali, who says that it is “concentration on higher aspects of reality.”
Dhyana is the ability to merge with the object on which you are concentrating. For example, someone who had achieved the state of dharana would say that they were able to focus completely on a light during meditation. Someone who had achieved dhyana would say that they seemed to become the light, as if they had merged with it. (1)
References
- ↩ How to Meditate, by Jyotish Novak. Chapter 13, “Patanjali’s Eightfold Path.”
