Book 4 (Part I)

83 natural result of Dhyana, but he cannot call Dhyana in the same way the precursor of Samadhi. Perhaps he does not really know the con- ditions which induce Samadhi. He can produce Dhyana at will in the course of a few minutes’ work?,־and it often happens with apparent spontaneity: with Samadhi this is unfortunately not the case. He probably can get it at will, but could not say exactly how, or tell how long it might take him?,־and he could not be sure of getting it at all. One feels sure that one can walk a mile along a level road. One knows the conditions, and it would have to be a very extraordinary set of circumstances that would stop one. But though it would be equally fair to say: “I have climbed the Matterhorn and I know I can climb “it again,” yet there are all sorts of more or less probable circumstances any one of which would prevent success. Now we do know this, that if thought is kept single and steady, Dhyana results. We do not know whether an intensification of this is sufficient to cause Samadhi, or whether some other circumstances are required. One is science, the other empiricism. One author says (unless memory deceives) that twelve seconds’ steadiness is Dharana, a hundred and forty-four Dhyana, and seven- teen hundred and twenty-eight Samadhi. And Vivekananda, comment- ing on Patanjali, makes Dhyana a mere prolongation of Dharana?,־but says further: “Suppose I were meditating on a book, and I gradually