Seminar Notes
The Samadhis of Yoga
Over the years in SRV, Babaji has offered about four retreats on the darshana of Yoga. In all cases these retreats never made it up to the 8th Limb of Yoga, Samadhi. This has been due to the incredible subtle, complex depth of Patanjali’s sutras and their implications, combined with the need to establish a firm enough foundation in yogic teachings in the sangha so that the limb of Samadhi can even be presented. Fortunately, for the last 10 years, some members of the seminar had been studying the sutras with Babaji through the Raja Yoga email study, which is nearing the final sutras. Between past retreats and this study, there was enough of a foundation to appreciate this rare topic.
A few notes are gathered below to perk remembrance of sections of this seminar. It is impossible for them to do justice to the flow of the priceless teachings we received. You had to have been there…
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Luminaries are sensitive to the thought of samadhi, whereas ordinary people are sensitive to the thought of objects.
Beyond morals and ethics is dharma; beyond dharma is sadhana. You have to practice.
Yoga and Vedanta have a precious relationship. One doesn’t practice Vedanta. One comes to understand it and then lives it. But if one cannot understand it, then Yoga becomes one’s practice; or Tantra, if one prefers God with form.
Do not confuse the Indivisible Self with the individual self. The individual self has its own stunted bliss called happiness, but absolute Bliss is the very nature of the Indivisible Self.
The fetus is gestating while the jiva for that body alternates in awareness of its physical condition, to falling back into deep sleep with the Cosmic Mother. There is a different type of umbilical operating in the latter state.
You have to connect elements to senses – why? So you will know that one comes out of the other and eventually this means it comes out of you, not God.
Every-thing is made of vibrating particles – i.e. matter, energy, or thought. And you are the witness of it.
Ignorance is unreal, therefore how can it cause any real doubt? [i.e. since ignorance is unreal, all issues arising in ignorance are also unreal.]
Dharmic Parenting: The parents must say to the child: “Your body is growing, but not your Soul. Your mind is learning, but your Soul knows all. And all activity takes place in nature, not in your Soul.”
Krishna states, “You must come to know that there is an end to knowledge in Truth.” This is because, as Sri Ramakrishna has stated: “He who is aware of knowledge is also aware of ignorance.” Truth is nondual, beyond dualities.
What would it be like to be beyond balance [sattva], which naturally has non-balance as its opposite?
The darkness around beings conditions the way they see Sri Ramakrishna. They do not see him as God; They do not see each other as God…..
It is not a case of “my truth” and “their Truth” (Indian Seers); it is more “their Truth” and “our delusion.” There is but one Truth – I and my Father are One. If you knew the oneness of everything, you would know the essence of Truth.
They say “I’m all right and you’re all right” But that is incorrect. Nothing’s all right in Maya. You have to be ready to face off with good and bad, life and death, and remain impervious.
They say “Don’t think; feel.” What a mistake! It should be “Think deeply and begin to feel whole.”
Nature comes out of the Soul via the mind. If the collective & individual mind is turbulent you get a turbulent world. If you have peace of mind all turns peaceful…and if it does not, you can still easily forbear.
Every night we dissolve everything – events, karmas, etc. – into deep sleep. Now all that is left is to do this consciously.
Sri Ramakrishna stated that the world is a deep pit and one’s relatives are vipers at the bottom. Even good people are vipers. If they have not given up unreal things, they can poison you. Only those who have sincerely surrendered their ego-self to God can be trusted.
Sometimes I am asked: “What does Vedanta say about dreams?” I respond, “Dreamer Awake!”
Dissolution of the sattva guna brings about asamprajnata samadhi. People seldom have this nondual state because they are attached to the subtle pleasures that sattva brings to them.