Samadhi Pada, quiet mind (Sutras Patanjali, Gita)
The objective of Samadhi Pada is to understand the functioning of the mind and how to calm it (Yoga Sutras, Moksha, Bhagavad Gita)
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and Bhagavad Gita (Sadhana Pada, Vibhuti Pada, Kaivalya Pada)
In the Samadhi Pada (51 aphorisms) of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali defines Samadhi, a state of enlightenment through Meditation (Dhyana Yoga), where Purusha (the Self, the Seer, the Eternal Universal Principle) dwells within itself
Swami Vivekananda defined Samadhi as a state of supraconsciousness, it is a state of absorption with God. When a Swami voluntarily detaches himself from the body, he enters Mahasamadhi. Both Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda attained Bhava-Samadhi, the state of ecstatic consciousness.
- The equivalent term for Samadhi in the Bhagavad Gita would be Moksha. The last chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga of Liberation by Renunciation, in Sanskrit is called precisely: Moksha Sannyasa Yoga
- Chapter 6 of the Bhagavad Gita is called: The Yoga of Meditation (Dhyana)
- Both in the Yoga Philosophy, in Raja Yoga (Sankhya), in Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and in the Bhagavad Gita the concept of Purusha is used
- Both in the Philosophy of Yoga, in Raja Yoga (Sankhya), in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and in the Bhagavad Gita,
«If a person can maintain his concentration on the same point for 12 seconds, he has acquired the ability to concentrate. If he is able to maintain concentration for 12 times longer (i.e. 12 × 12 seconds, i.e. 144 seconds) he acquires the ability of meditation. And when he manages to maintain concentration for 12 times more (that is, 12 × 144 seconds, that is, 28 minutes and 48 seconds) he acquires the capacity of Samadhi.» Sri Swami Sivananda, Concentration and Meditation.
According to the Shastras, Nirvikalpa Samadhi is the highest spiritual experience. Sri Ramakrishna reached it thanks to his Advaita Vedanta guru, Totapuri.
The objective of Samadhi Pada is to understand the functioning of the mind and how to calm it. Throughout the Bhagavad Gita there are important verses related to the control of the mind, for example in Chapter 6: The Yoga of Meditation (Dhyana) we find this beautiful simile:
This chapter of the Yoga Sutras contains the famous verse where we find a definition of Yoga according to Patanjali:
"Yoga is the restraint of the fluctuations of mental matter" (YS 1.2)
The Bhagavad Gita gives many more definitions of Yoga and Yogi (What is Yoga according to the Bhagavad Gita?). For example, in verse 48 of the Sankhya Yoga chapter, on which Patanjali bases his Yoga Sutras, we find a definition similar to YS 1.2, but expressed in a much more poetic and broad way:
Patanjali's aphorism is a brief statement; In the Bhagavad Gita, a similar idea is expressed but in a much more poetic way that invites us to reflect on this impartiality of the mind. Sri Krishna also reminds us of the importance of practicing detachment.
For example, in verse 23 of Chapter 6 (Dhyana Yoga) we find a profound definition of Yoga:
“That state should be known as Yoga, the union with the Supreme, the disunion of all union with pain”
What causes the pain? the ignorance that must be “cut with the sword of knowledge (Jnana)”
When man has been able to quiet the mind, then the seer or the real Self is revealed:
“Then the Seer establishes himself in his own essential and fundamental nature” (YS 1.4)
“In other states there is assimilation (of the Seer) with the modifications (of the mind)” (YS 1.5)
In the Bhagavad Gita the term Seer is practically not used, but rather it usually speaks of Atman.
In Yoga Sutras 1.33 to 39 Patanjali mentions seven practices for stilling the mind, the seventh being meditative absorption (YS 1.39), which is explained in more detail in YS 1.40–51 and YS 3.1–12.
Once calm, Kaivalya is achieved, the isolation of the “seer” from the impurities of the mind, that is, from its difficulties (fourth book). The different states of consciousness are also defined. This term does not appear in the Bhagavad Gita.
Below are the main topics analyzed in this chapter
And some of the verses of this chapter:
In Chapter 13 of the Bhagavad Gita: The Yoga of the Field (that is the body or Prakriti) and the Knower the Field (Purusha) defines Purusha, the Eternal Universal Principle, Omnipresent, indestructible and formless.
Furthermore, we find in the following chapters: 15- the Yoga of the Supreme Being (Purushottama Yoga), 7 - The Yoga of Knowledge of Brahman, 8- the Yoga of the Imperishable Parabrahman and also in 9- the Yoga of Royal and Discriminatory Knowledge. All these chapters are within the Jnana Marga.
In verse 20 of Chapter 13- The Yoga Field and the Knower the Field), Krishna explains to Arjuna the difference between the spirit (Purusha) and nature (Prakriti):
«You have to know that Prakriti (nature) and Purusha (spirit) have no beginning; that all modifications and Gunas are born from Prakriti» Bhagavad Gita 13-20.
In verse 21 we see that the cause of the experience of pain and pleasure is precisely Purusha. In verse 22 we see that as Purusha resides in nature (Prakriti is affected by the Gunas (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas); and in verse 24 it shows us Moksha (liberation) if we really understand what Purusha is.
In verse 22 we observe that Purusha resides in Prakriti and is the one who experiences the Gunas:
«For Purusha, residing in Prakriti, experiences the Gunas born of Prakriti Bhagavad Gita 13-(Yoga Field and the Knower the Field).
- Yoga Shastra: Yoga Sutras and Bhagavad Gita
- Aphorisms (Sutras) / verses (Shlokas, Gita)
- Bhagavad Gita (Shruti), Yoga Sutras (Smriti)
- Style: Yoga Sutras (formal), Bhagavad Gita (poetry)
- Bhagavad Gita (dialogue), Yoga Sutras (scientific text)
- Non-repetition of the Yoga Sutras
- Length of the Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Sutras
- Yoga Philosophy and Vedanta
- Science and Yoga Philosophy
- Spiritual Science (Para-vidya)
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