Meditation is the most important practice for calming the mind. A calm mind can lead to a healthy, happy, and successful life. It can cure diseases and speed up healing processes. We describe the simple technique below called P-r-a-n-a-D-h-a-r-a-n-a. P-r-a-n-a in Sanskrit stands for the air that we breathe. It is the most basic act of life, which starts from birth and goes on till death. But generally, we are not aware of the breath till our attention is drawn close to it. D-h-a-r-a-n-a means awareness. P-r-a-n-a-D-h-a-r-a-n-a means applying the mind to the flow of air when we breathe. The method is as described below: Sit in a posture suitable for meditation. Your back should be straight and your eyes closed. Your knees should be placed well on the ground. Do not stoop your shoulders back. The whole body should be relaxed, and the whole frame steady without exerting any pull or pressure on the thighs, feet, knees, spine, or neck. There should be no stretch of tension along the abdominal wall. Let the abdominal wall sway gently back and forth, very smoothly and effortlessly, with each respiration. Facial muscles should be relaxed, and the mouth closed with a small gap between the two jaws such that the upper and lower teeth do not exert pressure on each other. Your tongue should touch the palate, with the tip touching the back of the upper front teeth. Ensure that the lips, tongue, or lower jaws do not move. Your eyeballs and eyelids should be steady and the muscles of the forehead relaxed. Your entire posture should be comfortable, steady, and relaxed. You should not feel the strain on any part of the body. Now start developing the awareness of breathing. The flow of air should be uniform, slow, and smooth. Do not make any effort or exercise any control. Never hold your breath. Do not utter any word or see any image. This will calm your mind and help you achieve peace.
Almost everyone has experienced the fact that when one starts concentrating his mind on any immediate object or an idea, the mind starts wandering. It is very difficult to keep the mind busy with a single thought. The ancient sages too encountered the same problems. Arjuna, in Bhagavad-gītā, had mentioned that controlling the mind is an impossible thing on earth. Hence, he was advised by Krishna that though mind control is difficult, it can be made silent and steady by the regular practice of detachment and renunciation. However, he has warned that yoga is very difficult for people whose minds are not steady and controlled. Patanjali, in Yoga practices, has emphasized these two qualities to achieve mind control. Hence, these are the very qualities that make the essence of yoga. The mind is like a disturbed pond with many impurities. First, you need to stop the inflow of fresh impurities and then remove the existing impurities to clean the mind. Abhyasa is one of the practices for purifying the mind. This is a stage that a person reaches after practicing concentration for some time. At the start of d-h-y-a-n-a, the mind is steadier and only a single thought about an object arises in the mind. Now it is safe to say that the state of d-h-y-a-n-a is reached. Here, the mind becomes very stable like the flame of a lamp in a calm atmosphere, and its contact with the object of experience becomes intense and complete. There are two varieties of d-h-y-a-n-a called s-a-g-u-n-a-d-h-y-a-n-a and n-i-r-g-u-n-a-d-h-y-a-n-a. In the first d-h-y-a-n-a, the stillness of the mind is associated with an object of experience which can be experienced through the sense organs. The second one is completely mental. It implies the complete absorption of the mind into itself. Here, the mind is not associated with any external object. It becomes completely still in this state. This mind is supposed to remain still, silent, and sensitive such that it can understand any past, present, and future event that might have happened anywhere in the universe.
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