Dhyaanam & Yama

“Dhyaanam - Meditation and the Meditator” with Swamini Brahmaprajnananda Saraswati was an excellent course I completed this semester at the Hindu University of America. In our weekly Zoom classes and through homework assignments, we looked experientially at the ways by which different practices of meditation can transform our relationship with the mind.

As an Ashtanga yoga practitioner, I’m very interested in this subject as it is integral to the 8 limbs of Ashtanga Yoga.

First, for those not familiar with the term “dhyaanam”, it is a Sanskrit word (ध्यानं) that is often translated as “meditation”.

Dhyaanam is also the 7th limb of the 8 limbs of Ashtanga Yoga as described in the yoga sutras of Patañjali:

1. Yama (ethics)

2. Niyama (observances)

3. Asana (postures)

4. Pranayama (breathing exercises/expansion of life force)

5. Pratyahara (sense withdrawal)

6. Dharana (concentration)

7. Dhyana (contemplate/meditation)

8. Samadhi (meditation/realization)

The last 3 limbs, “dharana”, “dhyana”, and “samadhi”, are considered the inner limbs of Ashtanga Yoga and together they are known as “samyama” or the complete inner practices for realizing the powers of the mind (siddhis) and more importantly for attaining liberation (kaivalya).

As an Ashtanga yoga practitioner, I often translate “dhyana” as “contemplation” when discussing “dharana” as “concentration” and “samadhi” as “meditation”. For me, this helps to distinguish the experience of “dhyana” from “dharana” and “samadhi”. However, “dhyana” is usually translated as “meditation” and when using that translation, I then translate “samadhi” as “realization”. Anyway, “dhyanaam” is here referring to the practices of meditation.

(Also to note: it is common to see differences in the English spelling of Sanskrit words depending both on their original Sanskrit context and the way that the word is being written in English, especially when it comes to distinguishing the long and short vowels (i.e. dhyaanam, dhyanam, dhyaana, dhyana) even though these different spellings are ultimately referring to the same word. I currently use different spellings of the same word depending on the context in which I am discussing the term. I admit there is some laziness in not writing the long and short vowels all the time but it is how I first learned the terms and I am in-between both worlds at this point.)

“Mindfulness” and “mindfulness meditation” are popular expressions. How often is the phrase “mindful” used without further consideration of the “mind” that we are referring to? How can we be mindful if we don’t know what the mind is?

According to ancient Indian philosophy (in particular Sankhya, Vedanta, and Yoga), the mind is an inner-instrument: antahkarana (अन्तःकरण).

As explained by Swamini Brahmaprajnananda Saraswati, there are 3 main stages of relating with this inner-instrument. The 3 stages of relating with the mind are:

1. Perceiving the mind as a problem that needs to be fixed, such as when it is distracted, confused, unfocused, restless, inconsolable, under or over stimulated.

2. Perceiving the mind as an inner instrument, the antah-karana, that helps us like a friend to experience chitta (recollection), manas (desire), buddhi (discernment and will), and ahankara (self-concept).

3. Perceiving the mind as the illuminated reflection of chaitanyam, unchanging self-awareness, such that there is no longer any identification with the changing conditions of the mind.

Personally, I may have glimpses of stage 3, but I feel that I am in-between stages 1 and 2. I can intellectually understand the mind as a gift and expression of the divine, but I still want to work on my mind in order to refine this inner-instrument, like tending to a garden of flowers and fruits.

Meditation can be a way of gardening the mind but it is ultimately meant to turn the mind towards chaitanyam, the divine reality, or one’s true nature.

For those who don’t subscribe to a theistic vision of the divine, then you can simply think of meditation as turning your mind towards your true nature. As the yoga sutras of Patañjali explain: yoga, the path of meditation, is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind such that the seer can abide in its true nature.

In the Dhyaanam course, Swamini ji really emphasized that meditation is not a magic “fix all” contrary to its reification in contemporary “new-age” trends.

According to Vedanta (philosophy based in the Vedas), meditation is an activity like any activity that cannot be greater than the one who is doing the activity. Meditation is not a substitute for the full dimensionality of life and dharma practice: how we relate with ourselves and others beyond any given activity is just as important, if not more important, than the activity itself.

According to Swamini ji, emotional conflicts arise in relation to whether dharma is upheld or not so the key to resolving emotional conflicts cannot ultimately be found in meditation practice but in the re-establishment of dharma. Dharma can be summarized succinctly by Yama, the 1st limb of Ashtanga Yoga according to the yoga sutras of Patañjali. Yama has 5 parts:

1. Ahimsa: non-violence (or at least less violence)

2. Satya: truthfulness, not lying

3. Asteya: not-usurping, not stealing

4. Brahmacharya: walking the path of Brahma, self-discipline and commitment to relating with and knowing the divine (one’s true nature)

5. Aparigraha: not grasping or clinging to possession

Therefore, it is important for the purposes of meditation (and yoga) to reflect on the Yama and to determine which of the Yama have not been upheld in any particular situation that may be troubling the mind. Only then can the mind be calm for meditation.

Here’s a way to check our alignment with dharma. It’s also a great prompt for journaling. Consider:

1. How do/did I participate in harm?

2. How do/did I participate in dishonesty?

3. How do/did I participate in stealing?

4. How do/did I participate in distractions from relating with and knowing the divine (one’s true nature)?

5. How do/did I participate in possessiveness?

Some things may stand out more readily than others. We may have experienced ourselves as “the doer” or “the done to” in any given situation. Either way, our consciousness participated in the experience and therefore has the power to reflect upon it.

We can reflect upon a single day or a whole lifetime.

Our experience of limb # 7, Dhyana, is interdependent with our practice of limb #1, Yama.

Reflecting on ethics as essential to meditation can help us to discern dharma in our minds in order to re-establish it in our lives and thereby experience the complete path of Ashtanga Yoga.

Reflections from my studies in “Dhyaanam - Meditation and the Meditator” with Swamini Brahmaprajnananda Saraswati at the Hindu University of America