Chapter 375 - Fixing-up of the mind in the object of contemplation (dhāraṇā)

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Fire-god said:

1. Dhāraṇā is the fixing-up of the 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 get shaken from the object that lies outside. That period for which the mind remains in a state of absorption in a particular place without being distracted (is known as) dhāraṇā.

3. Dhāraṇā is said to be that period for which the mind remains absorbed (in the contemplation) of god, without deviating from its object.

4. Dhāraṇā has a duration of twelve yāmas^[1]. Twelve dhāraṇās (are equal to) dhyāna. It is said to be samādhi which consists of twelve (such) dhyānas.

5. If a person practising dhāraṇā 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 [yogin?] gets affected by disease, (the yogin) should fix up the mind on that particular part as though pervaded by the mind.

7-10. (Dhāraṇā is fourfold namely) āgneyī, vāruṇī, aiśānī and amṛtātmikā (respectively) belonging to Agni, Varuṇa and Īśāna and (the fourth) of the nature of ambrosia. O Foremost among the twice-born! (In the āgneyi), the śikhā (formula of the tuft) of (lord) Viṣṇu ending with phaṭ should be repeated. The glorious tip of the spear that is cleaved by the nāḍīs (arteries) should be pierced with that. O Great sage! The votary should think of 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 One’s own body that has been (conceived mentally as) burnt to ashes should be withdrawn into one’s self. O Twice-born! The cold, phlegm etc. and sin get destroyed thereby.

11-15a. (The vāruṇī dhāraṇā is explained now). One should think of the head, neck, dhīra (?) and kāra (?) (as existing) in the face bent downwards. Then after conceiving the mind as unbroken and concentrated, the entire earth should be thought as being filled with showers of snow produced by glittering spray. (The mind) should be brought down from the Brahmarandhra^[2] to the Mūlādhāra^[3] through the path of suṣumnā^[4] by means of shaking and as remaining in the orb of the full moon should be flooded with nectar-like water (produced) by contact with snow. A votary who is afflicted by sufferings such as hunger, thirst and the like should bear this vāruṇī (dhāraṇā) vigilantly for the sake of pleasure.

15b-20. I have described to you the vāruṇī dhāraṇā. Listen to me! (I shall now describe) the aiśānī dhāraṇā. One should contemplate the grace of (lord) Viṣṇu, after having nullified the (airs) prāṇa and apāna^[5] 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, the shaking 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) Viṣṇu. I shall describe to you the amṛta-dhāraṇā (now).

21-22. (In the amṛta-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) Śiva as situated on the head. (Then he should 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 dhāraṇās and the like.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

One yāma is equal to three hours.

[2]:

An aperture in the crown of the head through which the soul is said to escape after the death of a person.

[3]:

A mystical circle above the organs of generation.

[4]:

One of the arteries in the human body.

[5]:

The printed text wrongly reads aprāṇa.