Desa bandha chittasya dhaarana

Dharana is fixing the mind onto some particular object.

In other words dharana is concentration or focalization. At this stage the sadhaka steadily focuses his attention on a specific object to prevent the mind from wandering. The object can be a particular path, a place or even a name. However the choice is left to the sadhaka. Focusing of the mental energies around one object – be it a name or an idea gradually brings steady changes in one’s consciousness. The mere awareness experienced by the mind earlier in one’s life enlarges to a state of deeper consciousness. This state according to Patanjali is within everyone but in a latent form. Therefore it may be called abnormal or supernormal knowledge of the past and future and the power to read the minds of others form only part of this greater consciousness. But this is not the goal of yoga. However the distance between the seeker and the sought becomes very much reduced at this stage and finally merges to become one. The sadhaka has now attained the maturity required to enter the next stage, dhyana.