The need to practise
Shraddha Virya Smriti Samadhi
Pragnya Poorvaka Itaresham
Some are born great. Some achieve greatness. Some have greatness thrust upon them. There are some who are born with the experience of Samadhi very early in age. Samadhi is endowed by nature on some others at different stages of their lives. Samadhi here simply means an equanimity of vision and a personal experience of connectedness with the Unverse. It is important that Samadhi is not or rather need not be some fantastic experience or imaginary expeditions of the mind. It simply means a working knowledge of the interconnectedness applied moment to moment.
There are however a large segment of people who are neither born with it nor can they hopefully wait for such an experience to happen. Those persons, Patanjali says, can reach the Samadhi state of mind with Shraddha - faith in a glimpse of truth that has been revealed to them and holding on to it, Veerya - dynamic energy and enthusiasm, Smriti - constant remembrance of the state of oneness and extending the periods of awareness of a glimpse of any experience that one may have had.
For instance, if one has tasted sugar, there is a remembrance of the taste and a hope to taste it sometime again. Samadhi can happen in very ordinary states of absorbption - while eating a chocolate, while spending silent moments alone watching a gurgling brook, while intensely hugging someone dear to you - a state where you are not there, but the experience is.
(Trekkers' progress: An arduous climb up Parvathamalai.)
(Articles on health, fitness, spirituality including two columns About You, and Zenith on April 28 and May 1 issues on Expresso - Page -6 in the epaper of The New Indian Express)
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Patanjali Yoga Sutra 19
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18 comments:
where is the original sootra by the great Patanjali in this column? it would be useful if you publish. Where is this parbat located?
Anonymous: Thank you for pointing out the line I missed.
I'll post it soon.
It is the 19th sutra in the first chapter - Samadhi Pada.
I'm glad you have clarified the nature of Samadhi. Most people think it is beyond their reach.Actually, it is open to all as long as sraddha,viryam and smriti keep us focused.How easily you reach that state depends on your sraddha and your state of evolution.
Meena.
Anonymous: This mountain is a rocky difficult and intricate climb. It is 25 kms away from Tiruvannamalai near a place called Tenmadimangalam, (Tenmahadevamangalam)in Tamil Nadu. There is a Shiva temple on top of the mountain. The climb here is considered a tapas by itself where one as to clutch a part like a lizard, crouch like a frog or simply walk step by step with nothing but total faith! But people go in large numbers nevertheless day in and day out.
Yes Meena. Samadhi is actually simple and commonplace. Yet it is not something that can be experienced by any force, but has to be come into our lives like the wind enters the room through an open window!
dear swahilya, it is a sad story to hear, that people should have different opportunities to reach samadhi. How could this be? Are we not all the same?
How could I learn more about these differences?
The blog on Friday, April 25, 2008 was given as Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 19.
Is the current blog continuation of it
Ray, it's not a sad story but a happy one that there are many many ways....just as water is one but it becomes sweet in an icecream, sour in buttermilk - we are all the same essence, but the outer characteristics are different and so we can experience it differently.
Rozario: This is the next sutra. But somewhere I have skipped a number or may have given the same number for two posts. It is the next sutra.
Great post! The info about Tenmadimangalam is very interesting, thanks.
The new header looks beautiful and the layout too is very good.
Thank you Krishna Shankar. Welcome.
Thank you Merging Point.
Swahilya, how beautiful those glimpses of Samadhi are when they first happen. That was how it was with me at first, and then I blossomed to where I am now. I hope I continue to experience enlightenment. :D
Hugs, JJ
Yes JJ! As the Buddha exclaimed when he got enlightened under the bodhi tree - all are actually already enlightened, but it takes all the while and effort to know it.
Swahilya,
Love your new header,and format!
Meena.
Welcome Meena, Thank you.
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