Within the sevenfold yoga of the Gheranda Samhita, dhyana is presented as the sixth limb, arising only after the disciplines of purification, posture, mudra, sense-withdrawal, and breath regulation have been established. This placement itself is instructive: meditation is not treated as an isolated technique, but as the flowering of a body and mind already steadied and refined. The text portrays dhyana as a practical means for stilling mental agitation, purifying the mind, and preparing it for the culminating state of samadhi. In this vision, meditation is both a method and a bridge, linking disciplined practice with the possibility of inner freedom.

Dhyana is described as an unbroken, steady flow of attention toward a single chosen object, distinct from mere thinking or wandering imagination. The mind is to become firm, unwavering, and one-pointed, so that awareness rests continuously on the object of meditation without interruption. The Gheranda Samhita emphasizes that this is an internal and subtle process, surpassing outward ritual or conceptual worship. When this continuity of attention matures and becomes effortless, the dual sense of “meditator” and “object” begins to dissolve, and meditation naturally shades into samadhi.

The text speaks of both meditation on form and meditation beyond form. On the one hand, it encourages saguna contemplation: vivid inner visualization of a chosen deity or revered form, complete with posture, ornaments, radiance, and auspicious qualities, often situated in the heart or between the eyebrows. On the other hand, it acknowledges nirguna meditation, a more subtle turning toward pure consciousness or formless reality, treated more briefly and closely linked with the threshold of samadhi. In both modes, the instruction is to hold the chosen focus steadily, allowing no room for distraction.

Practical preparation and inner attitude are given significant weight. The practitioner is advised to choose a clean, quiet place, establish a stable posture, and regulate the breath so that the senses are already calmed before meditation begins. The gaze is turned inward, the image or principle is brought clearly to mind, and attention is sustained with patience and persistence. Devotion and reverence toward the chosen form, together with detachment from sensory entanglements, are presented as the inner atmosphere in which dhyana can deepen. Through such disciplined, one-pointed practice, meditation becomes the direct pathway by which the aspirant moves from steady inner worship toward the nondual absorption of samadhi.