The word ‘dhyana’ can be derived from the root words dhi and yana. Dhi means to perceive, think, reflect, wish, or desire. Yana means path, course, journey, travel, going, moving, riding, marching, vehicle, carriage, wagon, vessel, or ship. Formed by the words dhi and yana, dhyana would mean a process, path, or vehicle to properly think or reflect. The word ‘dhyana’ can also be derived from the root dhyai, which means to think, imagine, contemplate, meditate, recollect, call to mind, and brood. Then the word ‘dhyana’ would mean to meditate or contemplate.
Dhyana is the seventh stage of the ashtanga, eight-limbed yoga system of Patanjali. This stage is the penultimate stage and is just before samadhi. Dhyana is a much deeper term and has a very profound meaning than the word ‘meditation’. Before practising dhyana, one has to have established oneself in the previous six steps of yama, ethics; niyama, self-restraint; asana, body posture; pranayama, control of the vital breath; pratyahara, control of the senses; and dharana, sustained concentration. Yama means to abstain from violence, untruth, stealing, sensuality, and hoarding. Niyama means to practise purity, contentment, austerity, study of scriptures, and surrendering to a higher principle. ‘Asana’means proper body posture and ‘pranayama’ means the control of breath. Dharana refers to the fixing of concentration so that all similar mental modifications on an object are confined to a particular place in the mind. In other words, dharana is one-pointed concentration on an object.
Dharana is usually not continuous and has interruptions. When by the constant practice of dharana, the mind gets easily focussed on the object of concentration, and such a focus becomes continuous, in an unbroken flow, just as the flow of oil from one vessel to another, it turns into dhyana. In yoga philosophy, dhyana is not connected with the object of meditation, but is a state of calmness of the mind. Such a state can be achieved by following the six-limbed process mentioned above. Dhyana is a state of mind akin to a state when there is only a single idea in the mind.