Laya

“Dissolution”, “absorption”, “merging”. State in which the mind dissolves into its source, losing its separate identity.

Contexts of use:

1. Laya yoga: Yoga of dissolution, practice of absorbing the mind into increasingly subtle states.
2. Meditative state: Phase where thought ceases and consciousness unifies.
3. Cosmological: The dissolution of the universe at the end of a cosmic cycle.

The HYP (3.104) describes the chain:

“The lord of the senses is the mind; the lord of the mind is breath; the lord of breath is laya; that laya depends on nāda.”

Laya is practically synonymous with samādhi in many contexts. It is the goal of haṭha yoga: the mind dissolved in pure consciousness.