The yoga of the still mind

The sage Patanjali defined yoga itself as “the stilling of the modifications of the mind” (see our page on the Yoga Sutras). Dhyana Yoga is the direct pursuit of that stillness. As long as the mind is a churning sea of thought, the soul cannot see its own depths; when the waves subside, the seer rests in its true nature.

The Gita’s instructions

The sixth chapter of the Gita is a complete manual of meditation. Krishna tells the yogi to choose a clean, quiet place; to sit with body, neck and head erect and still; to calm the senses and gather the gaze inward; and, serene and fearless, to fix the mind on the Divine. The mind absorbed in the Self, he says, is like “a lamp in a windless place that does not flicker” (6:19). When Arjuna protests that the mind is restless as the wind, Krishna reassures him: through practice and dispassion, it can be mastered (6:35).

Raja Yoga, the royal path

Called “royal” because it governs all the others, Raja Yoga is the systematic inner science of concentration, meditation and absorption (dharana, dhyana, samadhi). It does not reject action, devotion or wisdom — it gathers them inward and directs them to the single goal of union.

The fulfilment in Kriya Yoga

Where the Gita and the Yoga Sutras describe the goal, Kriya Yoga supplies a precise, time-tested technique to reach it. By working directly with the breath and life-force (prana), Kriya interiorises the restless energy of body and mind and leads, step by step, from pranayama to deep meditation to samadhi — absorption in the Divine. As Yogiraj Gurunath describes it: breath becomes prana, prana becomes Kriya, Kriya awakens the inner energy, and that energy opens into union. This is Dhyana Yoga made practical.

Explore the other paths: Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Jnana Yoga; or return to the Bhagavad Gita.