Just what is Samadhi?
We are continuing our journey through Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is and have now come to the place where Krishna explains to Arjuna what the actual perfection of yoga really is. And that perfection is the state of samadhi. Many of us have heard the word ‘samadhi’ but the true meaning of the word still escapes most of us. Please read this short message and understand from Krishna Himself the true meaning of the word ‘samadhi.’
The stage of perfection is called trance, or samadhi, when one’s mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This is characterized by one’s ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses.
Established thus, one never departs from the truth and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact. (Bhagavad-gita 6.20-23)
Srila Prabhupada has given us a very wonderful explanation of these verses in his purport so I am just including that “as it is” below. Please read it carefully and if you have any questions or realizations please post them as comments on the article below.
By practice of yoga one becomes gradually detached from material concepts. This is the primary characteristic of the yoga principle. And after this, one becomes situated in trance, or samadhi, which means that the yogi realizes the Supersoul through transcendental mind and intelligence, without any of the misgivings of identifying the self with the Superself. Yoga practice is more or less based on the principles of the Patanjali system. Some unauthorized commentators try to identify the individual soul with the Supersoul, and the monists think this to be liberation, but they do not understand the real purpose of the Patanjali system of yoga. There is an acceptance of transcendental pleasure in the Patanjali system, but the monists do not accept this transcendental pleasure, out of fear of jeopardizing the theory of oneness. The duality of knowledge and knower is not accepted by the nondualist, but in this verse transcendental pleasure–realized through transcendental senses–is accepted. And this is corroborated by the Patanjali Muni, the famous exponent of the yoga system. The great sage declares in his Yoga-sutras: purusartha-sunyanam gunanam pratiprasavah kaivalyam svarupa-pratistha va citi-saktir iti.
This citi-sakti, or internal potency, is transcendental. Purusartha means material religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and, at the end, the attempt to become one with the Supreme. This “oneness with the Supreme” is called kaivalyam by the monist. But according to Patanjali, this kaivalyam is an internal, or transcendental, potency by which the living entity becomes aware of his constitutional position. In the words of Lord Caitanya, this state of affairs is called ceto-darpana-marjanam, or clearance of the impure mirror of the mind. This “clearance” is actually liberation, or bhava-maha-davagni-nirvapanam. The theory of nirvana–also preliminary–corresponds with this principle. In the Bhagavatam this is called svarupena vyavasthitih. The Bhagavad-gita also confirms this situation in this verse.
After nirvana, or material cessation, there is the manifestation of spiritual activities, or devotional service of the Lord, known as Krsna consciousness. In the words of the Bhagavatam, svarupena vyavasthitih: this is the “real life of the living entity.” Maya, or illusion, is the condition of spiritual life contaminated by material infection. Liberation from this material infection does not mean destruction of the original eternal position of the living entity. Patanjali also accepts this by his words kaivalyam svarupa-pratistha va citi-saktir iti. This citi-sakti, or transcendental pleasure, is real life. This is confirmed in the Vedanta-sutras as ananda-mayo ‘bhyasat. This natural transcendental pleasure is the ultimate goal of yoga and is easily achieved by execution of devotional service, or bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga will be vividly described in the Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gita.
In the yoga system, as described in this chapter, there are two kinds of samadhi, called samprajnata-samadhi and asamprajnata-samadhi. When one becomes situated in the transcendental position by various philosophical researches, it is called samprajnata-samadhi. In the asamprajnata-samadhi there is no longer any connection with mundane pleasure, for one is then transcendental to all sorts of happiness derived from the senses. When the yogi is once situated in that transcendental position, he is never shaken from it. Unless the yogi is able to reach this position, he is unsuccessful. Today’s so-called yoga practice, which involves various sense pleasures, is contradictory. A yogi indulging in sex and intoxication is a mockery. Even those yogis who are attracted by the siddhis (perfections) in the process of yoga are not perfectly situated. If the yogis are attracted by the by-products of yoga, then they cannot attain the stage of perfection, as is stated in this verse. Persons, therefore, indulging in the make-show practice of gymnastic feats or siddhis should know that the aim of yoga is lost in that way.
The best practice of yoga in this age is Krsna consciousness, which is not baffling. A Krsna conscious person is so happy in his occupation that he does not aspire after any other happiness.
There are many impediments, especially in this age of hypocrisy, to practicing hatha-yoga, dhyana-yoga and jnana-yoga, but there is no such problem in executing karma-yoga or bhakti-yoga.
As long as the material body exists, one has to meet the demands of the body, namely eating, sleeping, defending and mating. But a person who is in pure bhakti-yoga or in Krsna consciousness does not arouse the senses while meeting the demands of the body. Rather, he accepts the bare necessities of life, making the best use of a bad bargain, and enjoys transcendental happiness in Krsna consciousness.
He is callous toward incidental occurrences–such as accidents, disease, scarcity and even the death of a most dear relative–but he is always alert to execute his duties in Krsna consciousness or bhakti-yoga. Accidents never deviate him from his duty. As stated in the Bhagavad-gita, agamapayino ‘nityas tams titiksasva bharata. He endures all such incidental occurrences because he knows that they come and go and do not affect his duties. In this way he achieves the highest perfection in yoga practice.
About the Author
Madhudvisa dasa My first contact with a Hare Krishna was a most merciful Mataji in Oxford Street, London who sold me a "Higher Taste" cook book in 1984 while I was on holidays there. I started seriously reading Srila Prabhupada's books in Australia 1985 and by 1986 Srila Prabhupada had convinced me "Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead" and "we should surrender to Krishna." I joined the Hare Krishnas in Perth, Western Australia in 1986. Since then I have been chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, reading and distributing Srila Prabhupada's books and preaching as much as I can. That's my life and full-time occupation now really. I like it more than anything I've ever experienced before. Srila Prabhupada's books are so amazing... Even after reading them all many times they're still fresh and new. They are truly transcendental! That's it really. Now I'm just hankering to once again see the world chant Hare Krishna, dance and feast and float away in the ecstasy of Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana movement as it did in Srila Prabhupada's physical presence. Let the whole world drown in the ecstatic flood of love of Krishna!
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prabhupada is a great human
My dear Prabhu I am begging for your emails because it is helping me so much in my spiritual life I am simple Brahman and is begging for your mercy hair Bol srutadevadas
Hare Krishna
I loved this article, a Krishna conscious person always trys to connet every word of his life and activitys with Krishna, and that’s simply great.
i’ll pin this article in my phone, and will keep reading it time to time!
happy Janamashtami to you all
thankyou prabhu ji for such an awesome website which provides the full Krishna assosiation.
Hari bol….
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa Swami ji,
I have attained state of unlimited happiness, a state where I a infinitesmall sprit a part and parcel of KRISHNA merge with the transedental vibration of HAREKRISHNA mahamantra, this happen around feb 2012, my face become BLACK, lips become REDDISH I have seen this in the mirror in ITPL folk hostel Bangalore and many prabhu(devotee) whose use to live with me from past 2 years, I had already left my job from one a MNC’c of BANGALORE i was working as the Design engineer, after practising 2 year 16 round chanting after mangala arti, in sept 2011, I had left my job and 24 hrs I used to chant, reading Grant Raj Srimad Bhagvatam, dancing, slowly I found tremendous enjoyment alone when everyone(inimates of the nivas) in office. I found interest only in harekrishna mahamantra of Srila Prabhupad, a day reached when torrent of tears comes out spontaneosly from my eye, everyone was watching(inimate) temple folk preacher also comes and they say don’t disturb Mayank, that enjoyment those days when NARSIMHA DEV and RAS Bihari comes in my body for few hours I can’t forgot.
Now, I am in working as PRODUCTION MANAGER in one of a company nearby my home KASHIPUR Uttrakhand
At that time I had an intense desire of serving PRABHUPAD, KRISHNA 24 hrs by joing ISKCON but that was not happened, I feel my self a MANDA BAGYA as kaliyug people are.
Now I have decided, I will continue my BHAKTI in VANPRASTYA ashram.
I have a keen desire to go back to real home GOLOKA DHAM play with krishna, live with krishna as in folk stand for FRIEND OF LORD KRISHNA.
I feel that becuse of my past KARMA and suffering as this is truth also.
But I want to say the line which I use to repeat in folk “KRISHNA SANG JIVAN SADA AANAND SADA UTSAV HAI”
Jai Prabhupad
Jai Shri Krishna
I believe only on Krishna on consciousness for moksha
Krishna consciousness is NOT for moksha. Krishna consciousness is for service. Of course through service we will become liberated. But liberation is not the point. SERVICE is the point.
What’s the meaning of “Transcendental Senses”?
Transcendental senses are the senses that the living entities have in the spiritual world. They are our original, pure and uncontaminated senses. We do have these transcendental senses but they are currently covered by our material body and our material senses. But by the process of Krishna consciousness this material covering can be removed and we can then experience our real transcendental senses…
You will not really know until you experience it. The process to purify your senses centers around chanting:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
So chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa Prabhu,
I am thankful to you for enriching me by sending the emails containing the spiritual nectar.Please continue it.
How is it possible to be in Samadhi while we are working in office or at home ?
I heard that when we are in constant remembrance of Lord Krishna, it is Samadhi. It is true?
Thanks
Suresh G Jadhav Nanded (Maharashtra)
Hare Krishna Suresh
Krishna consciousness is more practical than just ‘remembering Krishna’. That is part of it of course. But Krishna consciousness is not just remembering. It means devotional service. It means we have to surrender everything to Krishna: our mind, our body, our wealth and our words; and engage all these things in the service of Krishna under the direction of Krishna’s pure devotee. So Krishna consciousness means being fully engaged in serving Krishna 24 hours a day. That complete engagement in the service of Krishna under the direction of Krishna’s pure devotee is samadhi.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa Prabhu,
I read the following in an article on another Hare Krishna website.
—————————————————————————
The truth is that Krsna is the only male, and His potencies are all female.
In the material world one individual soul is the enjoyer and another individual soul is the enjoyed.
The truth is that it is not possible for one individual soul to be the enjoyer of another individual soul. All individual souls are meant to be enjoyed, and Lord Krsna is the only enjoyer.
—————————————————————————
Are there no “Males” in the spiritual world ??
And if there are males then can and do they enjoy with females ?
Is there no “SEX” in the spiritual world ?
Brijesh.
Hare Krishna Brijesh
You will find out what the spiritual world is like when you go there.
But it is very different from the material world.
The ‘male’ mood is the purusa or enjoyer and the female mood is as the enjoyed. So in this sense Krishna is really the only male, He is parama-purusa, the supreme enjoyer. Here in the material world, we are all, both males and females, trying to imitate Krishna’s position as the supreme enjoyer. But that is not our position. Our position is to be enjoyed by Krishna. Krishna is the enjoyer and it is our position to assist in Krishna’s enjoyment and that is our pleasure.
But there are males and females among the devotees of Krishna in the spiritual world but there the important thing that they are concerned about is their service to and relationship with Krishna. Their relationships with each other are in connection with their service to Krishna. So there is no sex in the spiritual world as we experience it in the material world. In the spiritual world everyone is interested in helping Krishna enjoy, in serving Krishna, not bewildered by maya and trying to enjoy themselves.
The idea that we can be happy separately from Krishna ‘men enjoying with women in the spiritual world’ is maya, illusion. So there is no maya in the spiritual world. There everyone enjoys by serving Krishna in Krishna consciousness, devotional service, that is the real pleasure. There is no real pleasure in men trying to enjoy with women.
Of course in the material world a materialist can not understand this because he is so much addicted to the illusion of maya that he can be happy by enjoying with women. But there is actually no pleasure in this. The real pleasure is possible only by serving Krishna…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna!
Pranam Swamiji,
I humbly want you to clear my doubts about samadhi. According to advaitha philosophy, ie. mayavadhis, samadhi is attained by controlling your senses, renouncing family life, in a remote place do meditation constantly you will attain samadhi, ie you will be united in Brahman or realise the truth. Only advaitha sanyasis are called Brahma Gyani like Sri Sankara Bhagavatpada, Sri Ramana Maharashi, Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa only treated as Brahma Gyanis, ie. who attained highest position or samadhi in spiritual path. For their statement they justify Srimat Bhaghavat Gita, “Lord Krishna himself told after many births, controlling his senses and realise/ see me everywhere, anywhere, within himself and others are Brahma Gyani and they are dear to me.”
So I have seen in India, it is misinterpreted that so many paashandis ie. fake gurus, preaches that I am God; I have attained samadhi, you are also God and make you realise how to know that you are also God.. For them our Krishna Conscious is like joke, You dress up doll (Sri Krishna’s Murthy) nicely with costly ornaments, prepare delicious food items and you only eat..Not your so called God come live and eat. Do you think is he happy with all these? No, Instead of this feed the poor, construct hospital,provide educational facility for poor, donate money/cloth for poor. God will be happy, by this way only you will become God/unite God.
Kindly guide me Swamiji, your answer will be nice reply to those who disapprove Bhakti Marg,ie Krishna Consciousness,…
Pranam.
Uma Sridhar
Hare Krishna Uma
These are impersonalists, mayavadis. They are Advaita-vadis, their philosophy is ‘everything is one’. There are also Dvata-vadis [forgive the spelling…], their idea is duality. That there is the Supreme Lord, and there are the living entities, the jivas, and they different. But we are followers of Lord Caitanya and His philosophy is acintyabedabedatattva, ‘inconceivably simultaneously one and different’. So we accept both conceptions. That everything is one, everything is God, and at the same time everyone is an individual and the Supreme Lord is an individual person and therefore everyone is different from everyone else and different from the Lord. And accepting these two apparently contradictory principles together seems to us to be inconceivable, therefore acintya.
The Absolute Truth is manifest in three different aspects: as brahman [the all-pervasive spiritual energy], as paramatma [the Lord who is present within the hearts of every living entity and even within the atoms] and as Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. These three different manifestations of the Supreme are simply different views of the same Supreme Lord. Srila Prabhupada gives the example of the sun. It is possible to experience the light of the sun, which is all-pervading like the brahman energy of the Supreme Lord, even without seeing the sun or without knowing that the sun even exists. If you could imagine living in a country which was always cloudy and those clouds always covered the sun then the people who live there would experience light but would not know that they light comes from the sun. They would not even know that the sun existed because they had never seen it. The impersonalists are like this. They may have some experience of the impersonal, all-pervading brahman energy, but they do not know that the brahman energy is simply the effulgence of Krishna, as the sunshine is the effulgence of the sun planet. So they are experiencing the energy of Krishna but because they do not have a bona fide spiritual master who has seen Krishna who can explain to them what the source of the brahman energy is they are ignorant as to where the brahman energy comes from. But they are experiencing the energy of Krishna, but this is not a very advanced or complete manifestation of the energy of Krishna.
The impersonalists are like the people who live in that cloudy country where they have never been able to see the sun but do experience the light of the sun filtered through the clouds. So while they do have experience of the sunlight they have no real knowledge of the sun planet.
Now if in that cloudy country one day there was a great wind and for some time the clouds cleared in the sky and the people could see the sun. That would be a great advancement in their knowledge. For then they could understand for the first time that the light they had been experiencing for all this time is actually coming from the sun, a brilliantly shinning ball of light in the sky. So this is certainly a more complete understanding of the sun. And this is likened to the yogis. The yogis meditate on the Supreme Lord within their hearts and the perfection of yoga is seeing the four-armed form of Visnu within the heart of the yogi. So the yogi can understand something of the personal form of the Lord and his realization is great than that of the impersonalists, but it is still not complete.
The people in this cloudy country, now they have seen the sun, do have more information about the source of the light. But all they know really is it comes from a fiery ball in the sky. They have no actual information of what the sun is like. But if they could actually visit the sun planet and meet the sun god and see all the activities going on on the sun planet then that would be perfect knowledge of the sun planet. So devotional service, Krishna consciousness is like this. Going to the sun planet and meeting the sun god and seeing how all the activities are going on on the sun planet.
So you see all these three different views of the sun are of the same thing. Seeing the sunlight through the clouds, seeing the sun in a clear sky and actually entering the sun planet and meeting the sun god are all different ways of experiencing the same thing, the sun. But there is a qualitative difference. Just seeing the sunlight through the clouds is a very incomplete and partial understanding of the sun planet, and this is compared with the understanding of the impersonalists and the mayavidis of the Supreme. They have no idea actually where the brahman energy is coming from. They are in ignorance. So they are showing their foolishness and ignorance when they criticize the devotees when they are worshiping the Supreme Lord in the temple. So we do not have to get too upset with this. They are just showing they are ignorant fools.
And they preach such a crazy philosophy that no thoughtful person can accept. They say they are god but if they have a toothache they have to go to the dentist to get it fixed. What kind of god is this? God is all-powerful, completely independent. He does not have to go to the dentist if he has a toothache. They are just fools. But their preaching, “I am god, let me show you that you are god too…” is very attractive to other foolish demons… So I think you may be living in this land of fools and there is an English saying: “It is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss.” So it is a bit like that for you I think, you know Krishna and they don’t. So it is something like you are living in that cloudy country and trying to explain to the people there that there is a sun planet and this all-pervading light that is all around them coming down from the clouds is really coming from a bright fiery planet called the sun. But they are in ignorance, they have never seen the sun, and they have no conception of it. So they can not appreciate you trying to explain the sun to them…
Of course the Mayavadis are offenders to Krishna. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu has said this. Because they deny the existence of Krishna and criticize the devotees for worshiping Krishna. They are envious of Krishna. They do not want Krishna to be God. They want to be god themselves… Actually they are in maya… So it is not very easy to preach to envious people. Actually in preaching we are recommended to avoid the envious people and not to speak to them about Krishna. Because if we glorify Krishna to the Mayavadis they will just get angry and become even more offensive towards Krishna.
There are three types of people. The innocent, the envious and the devotees. So a preacher needs to learn how to distinguish between these three types of people and he has to associate with the devotees, avoid the envious and preach to the innocent. There is no point in trying to preach to someone if they are not at least a little open to what you are saying to them. Krishna consciousness can only be transmitted through submissive hearing from a bona fide authority. So we have to become bona fide authorities by hearing from Srila Prabhupada and by following the instructions Srila Prabhupada gives us in our lives and then we have to find people who are at least a little bit interested in hearing from us. They have to be at least a little curious, a little bit open minded. Otherwise, if we try to preach to the envious, that will not be good for us and it will not be good for them either.
If someone is envious we can always feed them with Krishna prasadam, get them to read some of Srila Prabhupada’s books and let them hear the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra from the lips of pure devotees. All these things will be effective. But it is not recommended to preach to them directly. Although the devotees are so merciful, even though Krishna does not recommend it, they still try to preach to these envious people. But it is not very effective. That is why Krishna says we shouldn’t preach to the faithless. Not that they have to be completely faithful, even if they just have a slight interest that is enough.
It is actually Srila Prabhupada’s mission [nirvisesa sunyavadi] to eliminate this impersonal and voidist philosophy from the world and replace it with Krishna consciosuness, pure love of God. So that responsibility to eliminate the mayavadis and voidists is with us now. Lord Caitanya converted the impersonalists and voidists [Buddhists] and turned them into Vaisnavas and of course that is His mood. Defeating them means making them devotees. So we are coming in the line of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and if we become real disciples of Srila Prabhupada that power to convert the impersonalists and voidists into Vaisnavas will flow into us. But we have to wait till we have that power… In the meantime it is better to preach to the people who are a little interested in hearing from us.
Thanks for the nice question.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Primary character of Krishna consciousness / practicing yoga is detached from material concepts of life, prabhu my questions are follows.
1)What is real material life?
2)What is procedure / process of detachment of material thinking?
3)How will we feel while detach from materialist life?
4)How to gradual improve and what is state of mind to attain ‘samadhi’?
5)While chanting so many thoughts come to mind and how to control this?
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Parthasarathy Prabhu
Material life is anything that is not done for Krishna. Something that would normally be material, if done for Krishna, becomes spiritual. For example if you cook for yourself that is material and you will be implicated in so many karmic reactions as a result of that. However if you do the same cooking but instead cook for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna then that cooking is completely transcendental, spiritual, devotional service and it is free from any material reaction and will help you advance in Krishna consciousness.
So material means anything that is not in relationship with Krishna. Actually of course everything is in relationship with Krishna. The idea that anything can be without any relationship to Krishna is maya, illusion. So while we are in that illusion, thinking that our interest is separate from the interest of Krishna, we are in maya and our activities are material. But if we perform the same activities for the pleasure of Krishna then those activities become spiritual.
How you feel when you are detached from material life you have to experience it yourself by becoming detached from material life yourself. But it is very nice. It is Vaikuntha, free from any anxiety. The nature of the material world is we are always full of anxiety, the nature of one in spiritual life is Vaikuntha, free from all anxiety…
Why ‘gradually improve’? We don’t know how much time we have left in this material body. We could die at any moment. So we have to be always prepared for death at any moment. So ‘gradually improving’ may not be fast enough. We can just transform our life now so we are always remembering Krishna and never forgetting Krishna so that it will be guaranteed that whenever death does come we will be thinking of Krishna and Krishna promises in the Bhagavad-gita that if one is able to remember Him at the time of death he will be transferred to the abode of Krishna without any doubt.
The way to control the mind while chanting Hare Krishna is to stick to chanting Hare Krishna and not stop chanting when the mind gets out of control. The idea is to concentrate on the sound vibration of the Hare Krishna mantra, to clearly pronounce and hear every word. The more we chant the more peaceful our mind will become, but this takes time and determination. The mind is mad and out of control so we have to expect that while we are chanting Hare Krishna it will sometimes wander to some distracting subjects. But we have to just keep chanting Hare Krishna and drag the mad mind back to Krishna. And the more we chant Hare Krishna the more the mind will become peaceful and under control.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
hare krishna swamiji
pranam
your reply is enlightening me. Thank you verymuch hare krshna
Natarajan
Dear Madhudvisa
Hare Krsna
I currentley Donate £6.50 per Month to the Red cross, I’d much rather donate this Money to something in line with my Spiritual beliefs, can you recommend such an organisation.
Hare Krsna
Spencer
You should just purchase things like Srila Prabhupada’s books from KrishnaStore.com and distribute Prabhupada’s books to your friends. That will be far more useful for you and your friends…
An elderly man is doing his daily duties and at the same, devoting a few hours daily in
meditation/spiritual readings & thoughts. He is not in a position to relinquish
his family duties as they involve taking care of his ailing wife and also house-keeping chores including cooking. His financial position does not allow him to employ assistants to take care of all these chores.
Is he entitled to practice for attaining Samadhi without neglecting his household works? If at all he attains samadhi, will he still be able to continue his daily chores
or whether he will start living a different way of life ignoring or forgetting his present way of life?
Is Samadhi a state from which one can emerge out & enter when desired? OR, is it a state where if one enters, will never want to get out of it, as it is nothing but pure BLISS ?
Krishna consciousness means devotional service. It means being fully engaged in work under the guidance of a pure devotee of Krishna. That full engagement in serving Krishna 24 hours a day under the direction of a bona-fide spiritual master is samadhi. And becoming Krishna consciousness obviously means our life will change. Cooking for Krishna and making nice offerings to Krishna is also part of samadhi and then you can feed your wife with the Krishna prasadam that will be good for her and good for you.
It is something you have to experience for yourself. You can not jump to samadhi. There is a process how to become Krishna conscious, you have to follow that process. Chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, strictly follow the four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day and then if you follow these things that is the path to samadhi. But it will take some time… It is not such an easy thing…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Swamiji
It is enough for with Krishna consiousness and observing austsrities and chanting the maha matra hare krishna hare krishna hare hare hare rama hare rama hare hare the Lord will be pleases and bless the every thing. Is there any thing else we do? Pl answer.
Hare krshna
Natarajan
Hare Krishna Prabhu
No, you can not please Krishna unless you please His pure devotees. That is the way. So you have to have a bona-fide spiritual master who is a pure devotee of Krishna and surrender to him and hear from him and follow his instructions and serve him, he will guide you how you can serve Krishna nicely. And if you can please the pure devotee of Krishna then by his mercy you will get the mercy of Krishna. That is the only way. We can not go directly to Krishna. We have to find His pure devotees and by their mercy we can get to Krishna.
Many people chant Hare Krishna and observe austerities but never actually become Krishna conscious. It requires the blessings, the dust of the lotus feet, of a pure devotee of Krishna (like Srila Prabhupada for example…)
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare KrisHan Hi
For attaining the state of Samadhi, Is it possible for a man engaged in family life or otherwise, is he be in the process of following celibacy ? A family man who is disowning his family after marriage will he not be regarded as derelicted his duty towards his wife/children, when he attempts to attain to be celibacy in search of truth/God, so to say, for attaining Samadhi. Will it not be possible for him by truly performing his requisite duty towards his wife/children ? as done by many sages like Viswamitra. What is my question is, whether a family man by exercising his duties towards his wife/children, by virtue of his devotion to Lord Krishna, can attain state of Samadhi/Trance ? Or shall he necessarily be practicing celibacy.
Hare Krishna Jaya
Yes. A family man can achieve the stage of Samadhi, but only by surrendering to Krishna and giving up sense gratification. That means sex is only for having children with his wife and then only once a month. This has to be done otherwise one’s mind will be very disturbed and there will be no question of advancement in Krishna consciousness at all, and samadhi will be far, far away.
Anyhow Prabhupada says: “work now, samadhi later…” And actually if you fully surrender to Srila Prabhupada and are engaged in serving him 24 hours a day that is samadhi. You can experience that.
Anyhow in family life you have to concentrate on chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and strictly following the four regulative principles which includes ‘no illicit sex’. And even sex with your wife that is not meant for having children is illicit sex. So you know making advancement in spiritual life means restricting our material sense gratification activities. If we are not prepared to follow the four regulative principles then we are not going to become Krishna conscious and there is no question of samadhi at all.
A family man in Krishna consciousness has to be practicing celibacy. But he can have sex with his wife once a month if they are wanting to have a child. Otherwise there is no sex. That is just Krishna consciousness family life. If one is not prepared to accept this he can not become Krishna conscious. It is just not possible to refuse to follow the regulative principles on one hand and at the same time become Krishna conscious. It is like trying to light a fire with one hand and pouring water on it with the other hand. You can not light a fire in that way…
So if we want to become Krishna conscious then we have to take it seriously and make Krishna consciousness our first priority. The family things are secondary.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Swamiji,
In the reply, Swamiji was pleased to state that one who is involved in family has to chant Hare Krishna Maha mantra 16 rounds. Kindly enlighten me for a round how many times Hare Krishna Maha mantra is to be chanted ?
Pray for blessings of Swamiji.
Jaya
a round is 108 mantras:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Please read Prabhupada’s books and you will know all these things…
It is a good article and good points about Moksa being a starting point as much rather than an ending point.
My question is wheather a person in Samadhi or trans state knows that he is in Samadhi or not…?
Yes. He Knows…
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa Prabhu,
How does one enter the state of “Samadhi” ?
How does one get out of it ?
And while one is in “Samadhi” what does one experience?
Is it possible to perform activities while one is experiencing trance ?
Are all liberated souls in the spiritual world in “Samadhi ?
Hare Krishna !
Brijesh
Hare Krishna Brijesh
You have no idea Prabhu.
“How does one get into samadhi and how does one get out of samadhi???” If you did manage to get into samadhi why would you want to get out of it?
So Prabhu these things have to be practically realized. You can not imagine what samadhi is without making advancement in Krishna consciousness and you can no make advancement in Krishna consciousness without working in devotional service. You have to surrender to a bona fide spiritual master and serve him with your mind, your body and your words, and then, by his blessings you may be able to get some realization of what samadhi is.
There is a very famous quote by Srila Prabhupada: “Work now, samadhi later.” So we should not artificially claim to be on some platform of devotional service that is higher than our real position. We have to work for Srila Prabhupada, and actually this work for the bona fide spiritual master is samadhi…
And you can only realize that by surrendering to Srila Prabhupada everything: mind, body and words, and working for him. Without this surrender to a bona fide spiritual master no one can understand what Krishna consciousness or samadhi actually is…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
i just wish to be clear in pure krsna consciousness we are liberated as in moksha? as in no more cycles of karmic rebirth? as in no more attachment to the 5 dacoits/ as in we are done with all of this nonSENCE? great article by the way keep up the necessary work
Yes. Pure Krishna consciousness is beyond moksha. It is much greater than moksha.
Moksha is liberation for sure but when the impersonalists attain moksha it is not permanent liberation for them. Because the impersonalists have no activity in their ‘moksha’. But the soul is eternally active. So this impersonal, activityless moksha is not a satisfying position for the spirit soul, so after some time the impersonalists fall down from their liberated position and again become materialists, acting in material consciousness in the material world.
Whereas for a devotee fully engaged in Krishna consciousness under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master, he is liberated, he has achieved moksha, and at the same time he is fully engaged in the activities of devotional service. This is real liberation, permanent liberation…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa