Dhyana (Concentration)
Dhyana, concentration,
is beyond even ordinary memory. It is a superior faculty. The more you are able
to concentrate your attention, rather to meditate in the proper sense of the
term, to that extent you become superior to others. Concentration is fixity of
mind. Wherever we find stability of any kind, fixity of any kind, we will
discover the presence of concentration. Here, the passage of the Upanishad goes
on to say that the earth contemplates, as it were, on account of its stability
and fixity of character. We do not see any kind of chaotic activity in nature.
There is a stability maintained by the various things of nature.
The heaven and the earth
themselves are contemplating or meditating, as it were, in a fixed form without
creating any kind of confusion between themselves. We see the earth and the
heaven and the waters, even the oceans, the sun and the moon, the stars, all
maintain their position due to a concentratedness of their purpose inherent in
their very nature brought into action by forces, of course, which are superior,
to be mentioned further on. Whoever has attained any kind of greatness in life
has achieved it only through the power of concentration. Whether he is a god or
a human being, success is due to the power of concentration of the mind,
inherent applicability of the mind. The application of thought in a particular
direction is the cause of success. The tenacity of the mind in a given
direction and a persistent effort in that direction alone, without deviating
the mind from the given thought, is concentration. The whole-souled absorption
of thought on a particular object, to the exclusion of any other thought, is
concentration. This is dhyana.
It is by this action of the
mind that people have attained greatness in this world, not by distracted
thinking. If we start thinking of a hundred things, we will achieve nothing. We
should apply ourselves to one thing only at a time, apply our soul and heart to
it and then we see that we succeed. This is the importance of the power of
concentration. Those who lack the power of concentration and application of
thought are the quarrelsome people of this world. They are the disturbers of
society. They are the people who carry tales. They are the dregs of human
society. Not so are those who have power of concentration of the mind. They
apply wholly to their purpose to such an extent that they have no time at all
to engage themselves in useless activity. Those who have the capacity to
concentrate, they are the great ones. Therefore, one should always apply
oneself to concentration and meditation.
It is difficult to explain the
grand nature of the result that will follow by the practice of concentration.
As a matter of fact, Yoga practice is nothing but concentration in various
degrees of its manifestation. And as the Upanishad has beautifully put it,
nothing in life has any sense or meaning when concentration is absent. One
becomes free, liberated from bondage, and succeeds in life to the extent of
success one has in the practice of concentration of mind.
Excerpts from:
Dhyana (Concentration) – Chhandogya Upanishad
by
Swami KrishnanandaArchives - Blog
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