________________
126 Saiva Philosophy in the Purānas (CH. by continuous practice of dhāraṇā the mind should be made constant and steady. The word 'dhyāna' is derived from the root dhyai denoting the thinking of Siva with an undisturbed mind. Therefore this state is called dhyāna. When a person is in the state of dhyāna, the object of his meditation is constantly repeated in the same form without the association of any other idea. This constant flow of the same sort of image or idea is called dhyāna?. It is remembered that one should perform tapa or chanting the name or the mantras and pass into dhyāna, and when dhyāna is broken one should go on with tapa and from that again to dhyāna, and so on until the yoga is firmly attained. Samādhi is regarded as the last state of yoga in which the mind is illuminated with intuitive wisdom (prajñāloka). It is a state which itself seems to be nothing in essence and where the object alone shines like a limitless, waveless oceano. After fixing the mind on the object of meditation, the saint looks like a fire which is being extinguished, he does not hear nor smell nor see nor touch anything, nor does his mind think. He does not understand anything, he is like a piece of wood. So when one's soul becomes lost in Siva one is said to be in the state of samādhi. It is like a lamp that burns in a steady flame. From this state of samādhi the saint never breaks off.
It must, however, be noted that in the course of the practice of this yoga many obstacles come in, and they have to be conquered. Some of these are indolence, troublesome diseases, carelessness, doubt as to the proper object of meditation, inconstancy of mind, absence of faith, illusory notions, pain, melancholia, attachment to objects. Indolence refers both to bodily and mental laziness. The diseases, of course, come through the disturbances of the three dhātusvāyu, pitta, and kapha. Carelessness (pramāda) comes through the non-utilisation of the means of performing the yoga. A doubtful inquiry as to what may be the true object of meditation is called sthāna-samasyā. Absence of faith means the
dhyeyāvasthita-cittasya sadyśaḥ pratyayaś ca yah, pratyayāntara-nirmuktaḥ pravāho dhyānam ucyate, sarvam anyat parityajya siva eva šivankarah.
Siva-mahāpurāņa VII. 2. 37. 52-3. samādhinā ca sarvatra prajñālokaḥ pravartate, yad-artha-mātra-nirbhāsam stimitodadhi-vat-sthitam, Starupa-sünyapad bhãnam samādhis abhidhĩyate.
Ibid. VII. 2. 37. 61-2.
