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Dhyana

World Religion
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Meditative absorption, the seventh limb of yoga, where the mind flows uninterrupted toward the object of contemplation, merging with it.

Detailed Definition
Dhyana in poetry is the dissolution of observer and observed—the poet becomes the moon, the river, the silence. Poets use it to describe the trance of creation, where words cease and only presence remains. It transforms verse from description to embodiment: the poem is not about stillness, it is stillness—written not with ink, but with breath.
Example
Example in poetry:
A Patanjali-inspired poem: "Dhyana—river flowing / to ocean, no ripple of ‘I,’ / just merging"; A devotional verse: "Chanting Krishna’s name—/ Dhyana, where sound becomes / the singer"; A modern lyric: "Dhyana on subway—/ strangers’ faces blur into / one human stream"; A haiku: "Rain on pond—/ Dhyana: no drop separate / from water"; Another: "Dhyana isn’t sleep—/ it’s awake, empty, / full of presence"; A minimalist verse: "No thought. No observer. / Dhyana: pure / absorption."
Additional Notes
Dhyana is sustained, effortless awareness; in poetry, it manifests as fluid, uninterrupted imagery—think of Wordsworth’s daffodils, but in Indian verse, it is the mind dissolving into the object, as in Kabir’s “The lotus blooms where the mind rests”—this is not meditation on, but meditation as; students must distinguish it from concentration: dhyana is absorption, not effort.
Also Known As
Meditation Contemplative Absorption Jhana
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