Love before / Love After –Samadhi

Meditationtime Forum Post

Date:  Posted 3 years before Jan 15, 2016

MiBeloved 3 years ago

Question from Jay on LinkedIn:

What happens after samadhi?

I love what Swami Shivananda said about the limbs of yoga after samadhi: Serve, Love, Give. Why not do it now?

MiBeloved’s Response:

Swamiji may be bringing our attention to quality. Before samadhi, serving, loving and giving are of a poor quality no matter how popular or recognized one is. After samadhi, the quality is enriched even if one is an unknown sadhu.

It is not the same. There is the incidence where during the Bhagavad Gita discourse Lord Krishna explained to Arjuna that he should act normally in social duties and not abandon the duty of his caste and family, but to do so with a totally different attitude, even though Krishna said Arjuna should not alert people who are not advanced about the non-spirirual value of ordinary social activities.

prakṛterguṇasaṁmūḍhāḥ

sajjante guṇakarmasu

tānakṛtsnavido mandāt

kṛtsnavinna vicālayet (3.29)

prakṛter = prakṛteḥ — of subtle material nature; guṇasaṁmūḍhāḥ = guṇa — variations of material nature + saṁmūḍhāḥ — deluded people; sajjante — they are attached; guṇakarmasu — in the mood-motivated activities; tān — them; akṛtsnavido = akṛtsnavidaḥ — partially-knowing; mandāt — foolish people; kṛtsnavin — the person who understands the whole reality; na — not; vicālayet — should unsettle

Those who are deluded by the variations of material nature are attached to mood-motivated activities. The person who understands the reality should not unsettle those foolish people who have partial insight. (3.29)

It may appear that Arjuna is a warrior just like any other but actually the quality of his battle actions (even those undesirable killing actions) were of a higher aspect indeed.

Is your question: Why not serve, love and give even before one reached the advanced stages of meditation? Then the answer is:

Do it even then even though it is implicating because of its lower quality. And that is what Krishna wanted the sadhus like Arjuna to encourage others to do.

saktāḥ karmaṇyavidvāṁso

yathā kurvanti bhārata

kuryādvidvāṁstathāsaktaś

cikīrṣurlokasaṁgraham (3.25)

saktāḥ — attached; karmaṇyavidvāṁso = karmaṇyavidvāṁsaḥ = karmaṇi — in activities + avidvāṁsaḥ — unintelligent; yathā — as; kurvanti — they act; bhārata — O son of the Bharata family; kuryād = kuryāt — he should perform; vidvāṁs — the wise person; tathāsaktaś = tathā — so + asaktaḥ — detached; cikărṣur = cikărṣuḥ — intending to do; lokasaṁgraham = loka — society + saṁgraham — maintenance

As the unintelligent people perform with attachment to cultural activity, O son of the Bharata family, so the wise person should act, but in a detached manner, for the maintenance of society. (3.25)

Krishna indicated that if a sadhu should discourage ordinary people from their social task, then the sadhu might become implicated for encouraging laziness and neglect of duty in others. Here are a few verses from that part of the Gita*:

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Beginning with Janaka, perfection was attained by cultural activities alone. Seeing the necessity for world maintenance, you should act. (3.20)

Whatever a great person does, for that only, others aspire. Whatever trend he establishes, the world pursues. (3.21)