Yoga enables us to unite the individual soul with the ultimate eternal One. This union is the chief purpose of human life and in our endeavour to achieve this, we are faced with innumerable obstacles. But all hurdles are removed when the sadhaka or practitioner of yoga obtains the grace of God.

Fourteen obstacles have been observed formally by yogis. Nine of them are classified as main obstacles and another five, as sub-obstacles. When these nine hurdles are encountered, five more obstacles appear according to the circumstances:

Read more here: » Yoga obstacles: Hurdles and obstacles in Yoga

Abhinivesa (Sanskrit) (from abhi towards + ni down + the verbal root vis to enter)

To enter into completely; application, intentness, devotion, tenacity, determination to effect a purpose or attain an object. In the Bhagavad-Gita, when used with manas (mind) and atman (self) it means to devote one's attention to.

In the Sankhya and Yoga systems, abhinivesa or tenacity for life is the last of the five hindrances (klessa). W. Q. Judge defines it as "idle terror causing death" -- a permissible extension of meaning (WG 1).

(See also: Abhinivesa, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Sadhya, susiddha, siddha and ari - These are four kinds of dosa (faults) calculated according to jyotisa-sastra concerning the nature of a sisya in accordance with his purva-karma. Some of them appear to be good qualities, but from the absolute perspective, anyone who takes a material birth has fault.

In this context sadhya indicates that the candidate has the adhikara to attain  prema-bhakti if he endeavors fully in this life. Susiddha has the adhikara to attain perfection with very little endeavor and siddha has somewhat less  adhikara than him. Ari indicates that the sisya has so many ari (inauspicious planets) in his chart that almost any endeavor he makes for bhaktiwill simply create further hindrances. However, when these four kinds of sisyas accept krsna-mantra from sad-guru all of their hindrances can be removed.

(See also: Dosa, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Concentration With meditation, an equivalent for certain parts of yoga, as found in samadhi, dharana; the removal or surmounting of distractions originating in the mind and centering the latter on the spiritual and intellectual objective to be attained, which in the best sense is union with the inner god, the divine monad -- a conscious identification of oneself with the universal through the individual's innate divinity.

The method of meditative concentration prescribed in the Bhagavad-Gita is to perform all the duties of life without either attachment or avoidance. The hindrances to concentration which are to be removed are those arising from anger, lust, vanity, fear, sloth, etc. Such obstacles are removed by lifting the mind above them or by deliberately ignoring them, since directly fighting with them serves to concentrate the mind on them, thus defeating the object aimed at; and by cultivating the spirit of impersonal love and the light of wisdom which it evokes. Thus the blending of the personal self with the impersonal self is achieved by an orderly process of self-directed evolution, first by unselfish work in the cause of humanity, continued in the various degrees of chelaship, culminating in initiation.

Concentration has often been perverted to mean a kind of personal self-culture, having for its aim the attainment of personal power or self-satisfaction. If unsuccessful, the attempt upsets the balance of the constitution, and if successful, it sows a bitter harvest of aroused personality for future reaping; for when yearning for sympathetic fellowship with our fellowmen we shall find our faculties counterworking us. True meditative concentration actually applies more to the heart than to the mind, and is not a forcible mental practice but a general although very positive and impersonal attitude towards life. It means the centering of our wishes, thoughts, and acts on the ideal of self-identification with the spiritual and universal.

See also DHYANA.

(See also: Concentration, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)