Settled Inner Focus
Samādhāna ('placing together,' 'settlement,' 'equanimity') is the sixth and culminating quality of the ṣaṭ-sampat. It refers to the settled, undivided, unwavering focus of the mind on Brahman — the inner state that results from successfully cultivating all the preceding five qualities. When the mind is calm (śama), the senses controlled (dama), sensory pursuit ceased (uparati), hardship endured with equanimity (titikṣā), and faith established (śraddhā), the natural result is samādhāna — a mind that is gathered, focused, and resting in the Lord.
Samādhāna as the Goal of Practice
The earlier five qualities are all preparations for samādhāna. They remove what distracts and disturbs; samādhāna is what remains when distraction and disturbance are removed — a mind naturally resting in Brahman-awareness. This is why samādhāna, though listed last, is in some ways the summary quality: it is the inner equanimity that makes all spiritual practice genuinely fruitful.
Samādhāna and Prapatti
For the prapanna, samādhāna is the inner quality of resting in the certainty of the Lord's protection. The anxious mind — perpetually worried about its sins, its worthiness, its future — has not fully internalized the act of surrender. Genuine samādhāna after prapatti is the mind that has truly released anxiety into the Lord's hands and rests in the peace that the surrender brings.
Samādhāna in Practice
Samādhāna is cultivated through: consistent nityānuṣṭhāna (daily practice), regular satsaṅga, kalakṣepam study, and the ongoing deepening of understanding of tattva-hita-puruṣārtha. The Lord's own grace, flowing through the ācārya's teaching and the Divya Prabandham's pasurams, gradually produces the settled inner focus that is samādhāna.