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Verse 47
himself to dharma dhyāna, that is, meditation on the nature of tattvas, the means of the destruction of karmas, the consequences and effects of different kinds of actions, and on the nature of the conditions of existence prevailing in different parts of the universe - heavens, hells and the like – in which souls are born in transmigration. Dharma dhyāna leads to vairāgya, and enables the house-holder to renounce the world. But it is the śukla dhyāna which is the direct cause of mokṣa.
Sukla dhyāna is practised by holy saints well advanced in asceticism and self-control. It consists of four parts, limbs or steps as follows: 1. that which is characterised by the changes of yogas,
that is, of the instruments or vehicles of meditation; 2. that in which there is no changing of yogas, but which
is steadily maintained, with only one yoga; 3. that in which the bodily activity is the slightest; and 4. that in which there is no bodily action whatsoever.
Of these, the first part is practised by excellent saints in the eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh stages on the path, and is the cause of the destruction of mohanīya karmas. The causes of distraction being destroyed, steadiness in meditation is attained in the twelfth stage, and there is no changing of yogas any more, that is to say, that the mind can then be fixed exclusively on one out of the three channels of self-contemplation. This speedily leads to the destruction of the other kinds of ghātiyā karmas, and to the acquisition of omniscience and other divine attributes, which were held in check by those
Self-contemplation is only possible in three ways, viz: (1) with the aid of the mind, i.e., thought, (2) by means of words, and (3) with the help of the body, e.g., the fixing of the mind on the nervous centre in the forehead. Being instrumental in self-contemplation, the mind, speech and body are technically called yogas.
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