One of the many things that set Mr. Iyengar apart was not only his ability to link his asana practice to the eight limbs and other philosophical concepts, but his ability to draw on vivid imagery further describe these concepts. In our last meeting, we discussed dhāranā and reviewed the related sutras. However, the conversation was driven by discussion of some of the passages from Tree of Yoga and Light on Life. Each of these use the image of a little waves to describe the citta vritti that eventually become a single wave of concentration.
We’re including just two passages here…
Dhāranā means attention or concentration. It is a way of focusing attention on a particular path, region, spot or place within or outside the body. Dhāranā is control of the fluctuations of consciousness to focus it to a single point. In dhāranā one learns gradually to decrease the fluctuations of the mind so that one ultimately eliminates all waves or tides of consciousness and the knower and the known become one. When consciousness maintains this attention without altering or wavering in the intensity of awareness, then dhāranā becomes dhyāna or meditation. Tree of Yoga. p 139
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True concentration is an unbroken thread of awareness. Yoga is about the will, working with intelligence and the self-reflexive consciousness can free us from the inevitability of the wavering mind and the outwardly directed senses……The chattering mind is a lot of little, distracting waves. Concentration is one big wave. Bring many to one. Subsume the many in the one, then calm the one for meditation…[I]n an asana we send our attention, which is a wave, to our right knee, left knee, arms, right inner knee, left outer etc. Gradually awareness spreads to the whole body. At this moment our awareness is unified. We have brought all the disparate elements under the control of one flow of intelligence. This is concentration or one powerful thought wave. A mind that can learn to concentrate in this way, to bring out unity in diversity, can now aspire toward serenity, which is the meditative state where even the big wave of concentration is brought to a state of tranquility …In this way, the practice of asana, performed with the involvement of every element of being, awakens, sharpens and cultures intelligence until it is integrated with senses, mind, memory and self…This is asana performed at a sattvic level, where luminosity infuses the whole pose…Here I am practicing asana but at a level where the quality is meditative. The totality of being, from core to skin is experienced…conscious life is in every cell of the body. Light on Life. pp 180-182.
These are just two instances where the poetry of dhāranā comes through in Mr. Iyengar’s writings. Continue to explore the books listed on our reference page for more and feel free to share what you discover in the comments below!
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