Samadhi? Is this something that a devotee following sadhana bhakti can also experience? I thought I should research about this. I had a book of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras with the commentary by his disciple Vyasa. Since some of his teachings overlap with the philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita, and since Bhaktivinoda Thakura quotes Patanjali extensively in his book Prema Pradipa, I would like to share here some of the results of my research.
Samadhi is exclusive concentration on one object and, according to Srila Prabhupada, is attainable by a perfect yogi. So already at the beginning it seems that I am far from samadhi, but let's see what Patanjali says. According to him, there are five successively higher states of mind.
1. At the level of kshipta, the mind is under the influence of attraction and repulsion, preoccupied with material objects.
2. The next state of mind is mudha or mental drowsiness. Sometimes we jokingly call this the snoring-yoga.
-- Thus, kshipta and mudha are states of mind under the influence of tama-guna, not at all useful for attaining yoga-samadhi.
3. Vikshipta refers to a restless state of mind under the influence of raja-guna. According to Vyasa (not Dvaipayana), this restless state of mind provides an occasional experience of short-term meditation, because the mind is still flies to the sense objects and can only sometimes focus on dhyana.
4. Ekagra refers to the focus of the mind when sattva guna predominates. At this level the practitioner of yoga can experience continuous samadhi which is called samprajnata-samadhi in the commentaries of the Bhagavad-gita. Srila Prabhupad differs slightly in his opinion from Vyasa saying that samprajnata-samadhi is possible at the transcendental level. This transcendence can be explained by indifference to the lower modes of material nature, ie. when the person is established and steady in sattva guna, and not yet on the level of prema which is the next level of the mental state of samadhi. Additionally, Srila Prabhupad in his commentary on SB 3.25.36 writes: "totally absorbed in the thought (of the deity form) of the Lord, even a third-class devotee is in a transcendental position." Krishna recommends cultivating constant ekagra (one-pointedness of mind) to reach the next level.
5. Nirodha is characterized by complete absorption in the object of meditation, where the person becomes oblivious to external circumstances. Namely, it is completely turned inward in the state of asamprajnata-samadhi. While the yogi in this state is focused on the Paramatma, the mind of the Krishna devotee is mesmerized by the charm and beauty of Krishna.
Additionally, the Kurma Purana says that dharana means steady focus of the mind on one point for twelve seconds. Twelve such dharanas (144 seconds) are dhyana (meditation), and twelve such dhyanas are samadhi (25 minutes and 28 seconds).
Finally, as practitioners of sadhana bhakti, we will certainly not become ashtanga yogis, but I hope the above information will be an inspiration to work towards the same goal of our practice - samadhi. If some can properly practice ekagra (one-pointed concentration) every day for 10 years, that time is sufficient to attain perfection, as per Bhakti Charu Swami.
ys: Vraja Bhakta das
visit: https://bhagavatam-tikas.blogspot.com/
to read the commentaries of the acaryas on Bhagavatam
from the book Srila Prabhupada always had with himslef.
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