Holding the mind to one point

Patanjali defines it simply (Yoga Sutras 3.1): dharana is the binding of the mind to one place. After the senses have been gathered inward by pratyahara, the attention is fixed upon a single object — a chosen focus to which the mind returns again and again whenever it wanders. It is the moment the diffuse beam of awareness begins to narrow into a steady ray.

What the mind rests upon

The point of concentration may be many things: the spiritual eye between the eyebrows, a chakra along the spine, the rhythm of the breath and its mantra, the sound of Aum, a sacred form, or a luminous inner light. In Kriya, the awareness is gathered at the spinal centres and the spiritual eye. What matters is not which object is chosen, but that the mind learns to rest there, returning gently each time it strays.

The work of concentration

At first the mind will not stay. It darts away a hundred times, and a hundred times it is brought back — without strain, without frustration, simply patiently. This patient returning is the practice; each return strengthens the muscle of attention. Over time the gaps between distractions lengthen, and the mind begins to settle on its point for longer and longer stretches. This is the threshold of meditation proper.

Concentration ripening into meditation

Dharana is still marked by effort and by the flicker of interruption — the attention touches the object, slips, and is renewed. When at last the returning is no longer needed, when attention flows toward the object in an unbroken stream, dharana has matured into dhyana, meditation. Concentration, in other words, is the doorway; meditation is what waits beyond it.