Upaniṣads · Jābāladarśana 8.1
॥
Devanāgarī
अथातः सम्प्रवक्ष्यामि धारणाः पञ्च सुव्रत । देहमध्यगते व्योम्नि बाह्याकाशं तु धारयेत्
Transliteración (IAST)
athātaḥ sampravakṣyāmi dhāraṇāḥ pañca suvrata | dehamadhyagate vyomni bāhyākāśaṃ tu dhārayet
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
अथ अतः सम्प्रवक्ष्यामिatha ataḥ sampravakṣyāminow I shall tell henceforth
धारणाः पञ्च सु-व्रतdhāraṇāḥ pañca su-vratathe five concentrations, O one true to his vow
देह-मध्य-गते व्योम्निdeha-madhya-gate vyomniin the space that is in the middle of the body
बाह्य-आकाशं तु धारयेत्bāhya-ākāśaṃ tu dhārayetlet him hold the outer space
Traducción
"Now I shall tell, henceforth, the five concentrations, O one true to his vow: in the space that is in the middle of the body, let him hold the outer space."
Versión
73af8199a025 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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The eighth khanda begins — on dharana, the sixth rung; and the exercise proposed here is called pancha-dharana, "fivefold concentration," for the number of elements. Its design is this: five elements are found in the body, and each is brought together with its corresponding element outside the body. It is worth saying something of the word dharana itself, from dhri, "to hold": literally "a holding." The Yoga-sutras define it: desha-bandhash chittasya dharana, "concentration is the binding of consciousness to a place" (3.1).
This definition is precise, and worth noting is the word bandha, "binding": the mind is bound, as an animal is tethered so it will not wander off. This detail shows a sober understanding: it is not said "calm the mind," it is said — tie it. The Vaishnava side uses the same image, and speaks of mano-niyama; but it binds not to a place, but to an object, and this object, for it, is a Person.
The advantage it points to here deserves citing. An animal tethered to a place strains, for the place means nothing to it. An animal tethered to what feeds it does not strain at all, but stands of itself.
Hence its whole teaching on concentration comes down to one thing: to make the object attractive. Not to hold the mind by force, but to give it something it will not itself want to leave; and hence its books are so occupied with descriptions, narratives, and details — they make the object living, not abstract.