Stillness, and where it leads
What the settled mind is like, and an invitation to keep going.
In this step
- 01Three limbs, one motion
- 02The lamp in a windless place
- 03The goal, and the invitation
Three limbs, one motion
The map ends in three limbs that are really one motion, deepening.
The Sutras define each of the final three limbs in a line; here is the first, concentration:
From the source
YS 3.1Concentration (dhāraṇā): choosing one place to put the mind, and putting it there.
“Dhāranā is holding the mind on to some particular object.”
The original Sanskrit
deśabandhaś cittasya dhāraṇā
The final three
- 1Dhāraṇāconcentration, attention held on a single thing
- 2Dhyānameditation, attention flowing without interruption
- 3Samādhiabsorption, until the watcher and the watched stop being two
The lamp in a windless place
The Gita's image for a mind practiced to this point.
One of the loveliest images in the literature:
From the source
BG 6.19The classic image of the meditating mind is a lamp flame in a windless room: lit, steady, undisturbed.
“As a lamp in a windless place flickereth not, to such is likened the Yogî of subdued thought, absorbed in the yoga of the Self .”
The original Sanskrit
yathā dīpo nivāta-stho neṅgate sopamā smṛtā | yogino yata- cittasya yuñjato yogam ātmanaḥ
The churning mind you met at the start, finally still.
The goal, and the invitation
Yoga defined as the unlinking of a life from suffering, held with a steady, undesponding resolve.
The Gita's definition of the goal is startlingly practical:
From the source
BG 6.23A definition worth memorizing: yoga as "disconnection from the union with pain," the un-linking of a life from suffering, pursued with firm conviction and an undiscouraged heart.
“That should be known by the name of yoga, this disconnection from the union with pain. This yoga must be clung to with a firm conviction and with undesponding mind.”
The original Sanskrit
taṃ vidyād duḥkha-saṃyoga-viyogaṃ yoga-saṃjñitam | sa niścayena yoktavyo yogo 'nirviṇṇa-cetasā
That is the whole arc of what you've just read. A churning mind. A method: practice and letting go. A map of eight limbs, with body and breath enlisted as instruments. A teaching handed down and renewed, with four ways in. A working life included rather than renounced. And at the end of it, a lamp in a windless place.
You've reached the end of Yoga 101
Now put it into your body.
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