Full Moon Reflection
INSIGHT on DHĀRANĀ
The mind, by its nature, moves.
Our thoughts are in constant flux, influenced by the sights, sounds, smells, textures, and tastes of our waking life.
To stir the pot even more, we have feelings and opinions about almost everything we experience.
We like this, we don’t like that.
We crave this, and we don’t want that.
Our pendulum endlessly swings.
This duality is the nature of the human condition.
And thank goodness for that, as this is part of what makes life rich, vibrant, and engaging. Yet, this constant back and forth can also tire the mind and leave us feeling scattered and depleted.
The Yoga Sutras are a blueprint for approaching life and offer us ways to handle even the most challenging circumstances. The text has been my compass for almost 25 years.
The second sutra identifies this churning of the mind as citta vritti, or fluctuations of consciousness.
The text goes on to say that as this mental movement subsides, the mind comes into reflective stillness. In this state, the surface of the mind functions much like a mirror. Paradoxically, with the mind still as we sit in silence, our inner domain can be anything but quiet.
Meditation is filled with dynamic waves as the contents of our psyche unfurl open and pass through our field of awareness.
We may gain insight into something we’ve been toiling with. Random memories might surface, or we may see visions or intuitions of the future. Some will get enveloped by a deep well of eternal love. Others may sit quietly, listening to the emptiness of pure being.
But we must first meet the mind in its current condition and develop our capacity for sustained concentration. We first have to learn to focus the mind.
As it happens, the practice of concentration is the sixth limb of yoga on the Eightfold Path.
Dhāranā is the yoga of concentrating the mind.
Dhāranā translates as concentration or subtle attention.
Dhāranā is an act of will.
It calls on a few things to come to life: awareness, intention, presence, and will - and if we want to really begin to awaken its power - we can fuel our attempts with compassion and devotion.
DHĀRANĀ in Practice
To begin, it can be as simple as focusing the mind on the breath.
Focus on the breath; it won’t be long before other thoughts creep in.
We aim our focus again, and ripples of thought move again, and again, and again.
Some will feel defeated at this point. But what the mirror of dhāranā offers is a direct view into the true nature of the mind. We are just seeing the mind doing what it does.
And we already know that the mind, by its nature, moves.
The Two Fish
The mind and the breath are like two fish swimming in tandem.
One must follow the other. When we focus on our breath, we establish a rhythm that the mind begins to follow. Our breath and our mind become coherent, balanced, and steady.
If we are caught in obsessive thinking, more often than not our breath is arrested, the mind is scattered, and we are disconnected from the rhythm of the breath.
Sometimes, the mind leads the breath.
Sometimes, the breath leads the mind.
In this case, dhāranā acts as the vehicle to focus the mind back to the breath.
With repetition and time, the mind begins to follow.
As the strength of our concentration increases, less effort is required to sustain it.
What once was effortful becomes effortless.
In the process, the mind becomes subdued. The fluctuations fall away, and eventually, the movement of the mind stills.
In this place of inner calm, another translation of dhāranā reveals.
Dhāranā is defined as that which holds the eternal vibration of the cosmos.
In other words, our subtle attention becomes concentrated to the extent that it becomes a net that catches, absorbs, and integrates the power and vibration of all that is, all that was, and all that will be.
No big deal. Just that.
INSIGHT Full Moon Reflection
On this full moon, the invitation is to reflect on your relationship to concentration.
Do you have one? Have you ever considered nurturing your focus and being of service to it?
Contemplate how offering your mind focus, in and of itself, is an act of devotion.
Dhāranā, in its highest form, is love in action.
Yes, the mind may kick and scream at first, but that is just the mind doing what the mind does.
With love,
Kevin