---
type: Concept
bundle: upanishadic-core
bundle_version: "0.6.0"
id: nididhyasana
title: "Nididhyāsana"
iast: "Nididhyāsana"
devanagari: "निदिध्यासन"
description: "The third stage of Brahma-jijñāsā — deep, sustained internalization of the Mahāvākya's recognition until contrary-to-knowledge saṃskāras are dissolved and the knowledge becomes unobstructed; not concentration, not visualization, not dhyāna in the Yoga-darśana sense"
darshana:
  - Advaita Vedānta
  - Vedānta
school_scope: "Advaita Vedānta's third means of Brahma-jñāna; the stage that removes viparīta-bhāvanā (contrary-to-knowledge habituation) after doubts are cleared by Manana"
text_source: "Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.4.5"
tags: [nididhyasana, shravana, manana, samskara, advaita, jivanmukti, brahma-jijnasa]
not:
  - term: "dhyāna (Yoga meditation)"
    why: "In Pātañjala Yoga, dhyāna is defined as an uninterrupted flow of attention toward a chosen object (YS 3.2) — there is an object, a meditator, and a sustained relation between them. Nididhyāsana has no object: the recognition that Ātman = Brahman dissolves the subject-object structure. What is being 'practiced' is the sustained return to already-arising recognition, not the production of a mental state."
    instead: "Distinguish Nididhyāsana from Yoga dhyāna by its object-structure: Yoga dhyāna maintains duality (meditator and object); Nididhyāsana aims at the dissolution of the meditator-identity into the non-dual recognition"
  - term: "concentration or mindfulness"
    why: "Concentration (dhāraṇā) and mindfulness both maintain a subject-object structure — a mind attending to something. Nididhyāsana's characteristic is that the more successful it is, the less there is a 'practitioner' performing it."
  - term: "repetition of the Mahāvākya"
    why: "Repetition of a formula is Manana's domain when used to deepen conviction. Nididhyāsana is post-Manana: all doubts have been cleared. What remains is the habitual counter-cognition ('I am limited') arising from stored saṃskāras even in the absence of intellectual doubt. Nididhyāsana is not repetition — it is the sustained removal of this second layer."
  - term: "a separate practice from Śravaṇa and Manana"
    why: "The triad is a single integrated path. Some students with great purity of mind may achieve the recognition fully in Śravaṇa; for others, Manana and Nididhyāsana are necessary. But all three point at the same event: the unobstructed arising of Brahma-jñāna. Nididhyāsana is not a separate retreat practice — it is the maturation phase of the same inquiry."
related:
  - /concepts/shravana.md
  - /concepts/manana.md
  - /concepts/mahavakya.md
  - /concepts/jivanmukti.md
  - /concepts/brahmabhavana.md
timestamp: "2026-07-01"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Nididhyāsana — निदिध्यासन

**Not:** Yoga dhyāna, concentration, repetition, separate practice

## Etymology

Nididhyāsana from *ni-dhyai* — to fix the mind on, to reflect deeply, to contemplate. The prefix *ni-* intensifies the root *dhyai* (to see, to contemplate). It is related to Dhyāna (meditation) etymologically but is functionally distinct in the Vedāntic epistemological sequence.

The verbal form used in Bṛhadāraṇyaka 2.4.5 is *nididhyāsitavyaḥ* — "must be deeply internalized" (passive imperative, third person singular).

## What Nididhyāsana Addresses

After Manana removes intellectual doubt (saṃśaya), a second obstacle remains: viparīta-bhāvanā — contrary-to-knowledge habituation. This is the tendency of the mind to continue generating the cognition "I am limited, I am the body-mind, I am finite" from stored saṃskāras, even when the intellectual case for non-dual identity has been fully accepted.

This is not hypocrisy or failure. It is the natural inertia of habit. The mind has been reinforcing the body-mind identification since birth — these saṃskāras do not dissolve simply because they have been shown to be incorrect. Nididhyāsana is the dedicated sustained engagement with the non-dual recognition that gradually replaces viparīta-bhāvanā saṃskāras with jñāna-saṃskāras (recognition-habits).

## The Correct Understanding of "Practice"

Nididhyāsana is sometimes misunderstood as a practice one performs in addition to the prior stages. It is better understood as the maturation of the recognition delivered in Śravaṇa, cleared by Manana, and deepening by sustained abidance.

Śaṅkara's Vivekacūḍāmaṇi (v. 364) describes the result: when Nididhyāsana is complete, the recognition of Ātman-Brahman identity becomes *asaṃdigdha* — without the shadow of doubt — and the subsequent arising of the ordinary ego-sense is recognized immediately as an Upādhi rather than as reality. The Jīvanmukta does not eliminate the ego-sense; they cease to be deceived by it.

## The Absence of Object

What distinguishes Nididhyāsana from Yoga meditation is precisely the dissolution of the object-relation. In Pātañjala Yoga, dhyāna requires an ālambana (support, object of meditation) — a form, a name, a quality — on which the mind rests. The progress of Yoga is from Dhāraṇā (holding the object) to Dhyāna (flowing toward the object) to Samādhi (merging with the object). The subject-object structure is present throughout.

In Nididhyāsana, the "object" (Brahman = Ātman) is recognized as the subject itself. As the recognition deepens, the structure "practitioner engaging in a practice" softens. This is not mystical language — it is a description of what happens when the identification with the body-mind loosens: there is less sense of a "me" performing Nididhyāsana and more of the recognition simply being present.

## Duration and Indicators

Advaita does not prescribe a fixed duration for Nididhyāsana. The indicators of maturity are behavioral and cognitive: the student increasingly finds that the default position of the mind is non-dual recognition rather than object-world engagement; the arising of the ego-sense is recognized almost immediately as an Upādhi; suffering, while experientially present, no longer generates the secondary suffering of "why is this happening to me?"

The Vivekacūḍāmaṇi lists the qualities of the Sthitaprajña (steady-minded one, BG 2.55–58) as approximate external indicators.

## Audience Metaphor

A person who has learned to ride a bicycle still falls occasionally when they are first learning. They know intellectually how to balance (Manana has removed the doubt), but the body has not yet habituated the new pattern. The sustained practice of cycling — not thinking about cycling, but cycling — gradually eliminates the old falling-habits. Eventually, balance is not maintained by effort but by absence of imbalance. Nididhyāsana is the cycling: not the theory of balance, not the single successful ride, but the sustained practice until the old habit of falling simply stops.

## Citations

1. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.4.5 — Yājñavalkya's formulation; see [references/brhadaranyaka-upanishad.md]
2. Vivekacūḍāmaṇi vv. 362–366 (Śaṅkarācārya) — the triad and the removal of viparīta-bhāvanā; see [references/vivekachudamani.md]
3. Brahmasūtra Bhāṣya 1.1.4 (Śaṅkarācārya) — the stages of inquiry and the role of Śravaṇa-Manana-Nididhyāsana; see [references/brahmasutra-bhashya.md]
4. Upadesasāhasrī 2.1–3 (Śaṅkarācārya) — Nididhyāsana and the Guru's role in its completion; see [references/upadesasahasri.md]
