The root of Dharana comes from the verbal Sanskrit word dha which means to hold or to place.  While it seems simple enough to place our focused awareness on something for a moment like taking aim at a target, we humans are not designed to hold intense focus for very long periods of time.  We are wired with the ability to go into and out of heightened concentration.  Therefore, the skill of focused awareness is to be cultivated and coupled with persistence.  In doing so we can train ourselves to return time and time again to our objective.  In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, we are taught that Dharana is the sixth limb on the path to enlightenment.  Dharana is described as “one-pointed focus.”  Dhyana (the seventh limb) is meditation and Samadhi (the eighth limb) is the transcendental state of full realization.  While all eight limbs of yoga are interrelated, for this newsletter we will stick with Dharana.

 The roots of yoga teach focus and persistence through stories about the renowned archer, Arjuna.  A scene from the ancient epic the Mahabharata, describes a lesson the young Pandava brothers are receiving from their teacher Drona.  Drona has placed a wood carving of a bird in a tree and instructs his pupils to take aim but not to take the shot unless he gives permission.  When each aspiring archer takes aim Drona asks them a single question, “What do you see?”

As the story goes, the other brothers answer with variations on the theme of

• “I see the tree, all the leaves, and the bird.” 

• “I see the sky, the clouds, the treetops, the branches, and the wooden bird.”

• “I see the all the details of the carved bird, the head, feathers, feet, I see the beak and the eyes.”

To all of these Drona says, “Do not take the shot.”

Finally, it is Arjuna’s turn.  He takes aim and answers the question.

“I see only the one point, the center of the eye of the bird.”

To this Drona says, “Take the shot.”

Arjuna’s arrow flies and hits the center of the eye of the wooden bird, and it topples from the tree. 

I am told by friends who grew up hearing the stories from the Mahabharata, that this story is used to illustrate the principle that fierce focus leads to success.  Without acute attention, you cannot achieve your goal.