Dharana is the sixth of Patanjali’s eight limbs of yoga, defined in Yoga Sutras III.1 as deśa-bandhaś cittasya dhāraṇā: “concentration is the binding of the mind to a single place”. The limb sits between pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses, the fifth limb) and dhyana (sustained meditation, the seventh), and is the entry point of the inner triad of dharana-dhyana-samadhi that Patanjali in III.4 collectively calls samyama. In the practical literature dharana is typically taught with a specific object: a point in the body, a deity image, a mantra, or the breath. The shift from dharana to dhyana is the transition from intermittent to continuous attention; samadhi follows when the object alone shines forth and the perceiving “I” recedes.
The Yoga Sutras definition
Patanjali’s definition in III.1 is one sutra long, and the technical terms repay close attention:
- Desha: place. In the classical commentaries this can mean a literal location (a point on the body) or an object of contemplation (a mantra, an image).
- Bandha: binding, fastening. The mind is tied to the chosen object rather than allowed to drift.
- Chitta: the mind-stuff in Patanjali’s technical sense, the full cognitive apparatus of buddhi (intellect), ahamkara (ego), and manas (sense-mind).
- Dharana: the act of holding the chitta in place.
The Vyasa-Bhashya (4th-5th century CE) glosses desha with examples from the body: the navel chakra, the lotus of the heart, the light at the crown of the head, the tip of the nose, the tip of the tongue. Later commentators extend the list to include external objects (a deity’s image) and abstract objects (a chosen mantra or a single quality such as friendliness).
Dharana, dhyana, and samadhi as a single inner movement
The third pada of the Yoga Sutras (the vibhuti pada) opens by defining dharana, dhyana, and samadhi as the three inner limbs, and then in III.4 collapses them into a single technical term, samyama. The progression is graded:
- Dharana (III.1): the mind is brought back to the object repeatedly. Attention is intermittent.
- Dhyana (III.2): the flow of attention to the object becomes unbroken. The mind no longer needs to return; it has stayed.
- Samadhi (III.3): the object alone shines, as if the mind’s own form has emptied out.
The three are not three separate techniques. They are three intensities of the same activity, distinguished by the degree of continuity. A practitioner does not “do” dhyana; dhyana is what dharana becomes when continuity is sustained.
Traditional objects for dharana
The classical and post-classical literature lists several standard objects:
- The breath: attention to the inhale and exhale at the nostrils. The most widely used object in contemporary teaching.
- A chakra: sustained attention at the muladhara, hridaya (heart), bhrumadhya (between the brows), or sahasrara.
- A mantra: a single syllable (typically a bija) repeated mentally, with attention to the sound.
- An ishta-devata: a chosen deity’s form, held in visualisation.
- A flame: as in trataka, where the outer object is fixed first and then internalised.
- The sense of “I”: attention to the I-thought, as in Ramana’s atma-vichara; this is dharana with the witness itself as object.
The role of pratyahara as preparation
Dharana follows pratyahara in Patanjali’s ordering for a reason. The fifth limb (pratyahara, II.54) is the withdrawal of the senses from their objects; without it, the chitta is repeatedly pulled outward by sensory input and dharana is unsustainable. The traditional teaching is that one should not attempt sustained dharana before pratyahara has become reasonably established. In practice this means that asana, pranayama, and the early sense-withdrawal work must precede serious concentration practice; sitting down to concentrate while the body is restless and the senses are agitated leads to fatigue and discouragement.
A practical opinion on the practice
For what it’s worth, the breath is the most defensible object for a beginner. It is portable, has no theological commitments attached, gives immediate sensory feedback (so one knows when the mind has wandered), and is treated as a legitimate dharana object by every major school. Visualisation of a deity is rich but requires devotional context to work well. Mantra practice typically requires a teacher and an initiation. Trataka has a small risk of eye strain and is best done in measured doses. Starting with breath dharana for ten to twenty minutes daily, and building from there, gives most practitioners a workable foundation before they branch into other objects.
Common questions
How long should one hold dharana?
The Vyasa-Bhashya does not give a fixed duration. The classical training is to extend the period gradually, beginning with short sessions and lengthening as steadiness improves. Modern teachers typically suggest fifteen to thirty minutes for a beginner, an hour or more for a serious practitioner. Quality matters more than duration; a five-minute genuine concentration is more productive than thirty minutes of inattentive sitting.
What is the difference between dharana and mindfulness?
Modern mindfulness practice (vipassana, MBSR) emphasises open monitoring: a non-judgemental awareness of whatever arises. Dharana is narrower, a deliberate restriction of attention to a single chosen object. The two are complementary; a practitioner can use mindfulness to notice that the mind has wandered and then use dharana to return it to the object. The Pali term samatha, often translated as concentration, is the closer Buddhist parallel to dharana.
Can samyama produce psychic powers?
The vibhuti pada (chapter 3) catalogues a long list of siddhis (powers) said to arise when samyama is performed on specific objects. Patanjali’s attitude is technical, not promotional; III.37 then warns that the siddhis are obstacles to samadhi when sought for their own sake. The classical tradition treats the siddhis as by-products to be acknowledged and set aside, not as goals.
Is dharana the same as visualisation?
Visualisation is one of the objects that can be used for dharana, but the two are not synonymous. Dharana on the breath, for example, is not visualisation. Dharana is the activity of holding attention; the object can be a visualised image, a felt sensation, a heard sound, or any other stable focus.
One limitation worth noting
The traditional progression assumes that the yamas, niyamas, asana, pranayama, and pratyahara are already in working order. A practitioner who attempts dharana without those foundations will not get the results the text describes, and may conclude that the technique is ineffective when the actual issue is that the preconditions are not met. The full ashtanga sequence is not optional in the classical view; it is the path that makes dharana viable.
For background see the Dharana Wikipedia entry and a public-domain Yoga Sutras translation.
