the term pratyaya-eka-tanat ̄ ̄a. Pratyaya refers to the effort or contents of
the mind, and eka-t ̄anat ̄ameans “flowing as one” (eka, ‘one’; √tan, ‘to
extend,’ ‘to expand’).
Dhyana ̄ may be described as that process by which the mind is con-
stantly concentrated on a single object to the exclusion of other objects
in such a way as to put an end to all internal reactions from both past
and present impressions, to completely annihilate the very tendency to
undergo manifestations and run into all sorts of forms, to overcome all
disturbing memories and thoughts, whether pleasurable or painful, and
to be able to work with the single impression of restraint, assuming one
form and state, and possessing the sole character of the absorbing
thought or memory.^76The faculty of mental concentration used in Yogic meditation is necessary
to all stages of Yoga, and indeed “no profession in this world can we suc-
ceed in, if we do not develop this power.”^77 However, the concentration
exercised in dhara ̄ Ón ̄a, dhyana ̄ , and samadhi ̄ is a higher form of concentra-
tion. Yogic meditation is not of the same order as secular meditation. Eli-
ade is adamant that the experience of Yogic meditation exceeds ordinary
meditative experience in purity and density, and, further, that dhyana ̄ per-
mits comprehension of the inner form of objects. He gives the example of
the meditation on fire, which permits the yogin to have insights such as
comprehension of the physiochemical process of combustion, identifica-
tion of this process with the combustion that occurs in the human body,
identification of the fire before him with other forms of fire including the
sun, cognizance of fire at the plane of the ‘infinitesimals’ that compose it,
recognition of fire as prakÓrti, mastery of the ‘inner fire’ by pra ̄Ónay ̄ ̄ama,
and—by extension from microcosm of self to macrocosm of world—
mastery of the actual coals before him.^78
The passage from dhy ̄anato samadhi ̄ is marked by the dissolution of
distinctions between the subject, object, and process of meditation. Com-
plete integration of experience arises, and the meditator is aware only of
“the new ontological dimension represented by the transformation of the
‘object’ (the world) into ‘knowledge-possession.’”^79 This break to a
higher order of knowing and being is the yogin’s entry into the stages of
sam ̄adhi.
Eighth Limb: Meditative Trance—Sam ̄adhi
In samadhi ̄ , the yogin has consciousness only of the object of meditation,
for the mind is ‘absorbed’ in the object and loses awareness of itself:
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