27 Apr 2014
[Shri Ramanathan asked: “Please tell me about the significance of the word Samaadhi”. Given below is Shri Swami’s response.]
Every word has its true meaning and that alone should be taken for practice. When the true meaning becomes inconvenient, people try to link a false meaning with the word, which is very much convenient to them in practice. Such false meanings form the false knowledge, which is propagated by false preachers. The preacher, who propagates the true knowledge alone, neglecting the reactions from the disciples, only is called as Satguru. The prefix word ‘Sat’ means the truth. It means that only the Satguru propagates the true knowledge. Satguru happens to be the human incarnation of God like Krishna, Shankara etc. God does not change the true knowledge since He does not aspire for any benefit from the disciples. The other Guru, a scholarly human being, propagates false knowledge to please the disciples to get some benefits from them in the form of money etc. (Guru Dakshina).
In view of the above background, let us examine the true and false meanings of the word Samaadhi. The true meaning of this word ‘Samaadhi’ is effective and complete decision done by the faculty of intelligence. This word is divided into three parts. The first part is ‘Sam’, which means effective. The second part ‘aa’, which means complete. The third part is ‘dhi’, which means the intelligence. Mind debates the information received through physical senses. Intelligence concludes giving the final decision. Chittam, the faculty of memory, stores all the final concluded decisions. Ego is the feeling of basic individuality that forms the basis of all the knowledge. These four faculties are called as internal instruments (Antahkarnams). Therefore, the word ‘Samaadhi’ means the final decision, which is invariable under any circumstances. This refers to the unbreakable and invariable faith or confidence of a devotee in God as we see in the case of Prahalada, Gopikas etc. This true meaning is very much inconvenient to normal devotees, whose devotion changes very easily due to circumstances. Therefore, a false meaning is forced on this word, which is sitting in a place without any vibration and closing the eyes. Such a situation resembles death and hence, this word is also used in the sense of final death. The false meaning is quite diagonally opposite to the true meaning. The true meaning is based on the quality of sattvam in which lot of the activity of analysis to conclude the right knowledge exists. The false meaning is based on the quality of tamas in which the climax of inactivity through deep sleep or death exists. The false meaning is selected by the people since it is very difficult to take determination to serve God and it is very easy to sit in a place without any vibration closing the eyes.
Samaadhi is the final stage of yoga propagated by the sage Patanjali. Even the word yoga is associated with false meaning. Yoga means the fortunate union of the devotee with the contemporary Human incarnation. The unimaginable God can never be met. The energetic form of God like Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva etc., can also not be met since the energetic incarnation is meant for the upper world only. This yoga is in eight steps (Ashtanga Yoga). The first four steps involve the development of physical health and the latter four steps involve the development of mental health. Both these constitute the fitness for service to the God in Human form, whom you met. The best example for attaining perfect fitness is Hanuman, who met Lord Rama and served Him. The entire yoga in the eight steps is given a false meaning in which you are able to attain the full fitness to enjoy the worldly pleasures. Yoga has become a subject of health science so that the human being after attaining perfect physical and mental health can succeed in all the worldly activities. The present yoga is like a dead body since the main aim of life, which is the service to the Lord in Human form, is lost.
The Kundalini means the mind, which is the nervous energy travelling in the form of waves like a serpent. The false meaning given to this word is some special divine power. The true meaning of the word chakra is the hurdle like whirlpool in which if one is trapped cannot travel further. The chakra is the worldly attraction or bond with a specific area of the worldly life. The first chakra is Muladhara (earth) is the bond with the mother. The second chakra is Manipura (water) is the bond with father. The third chakra is Swadhishthana (fire) is the bond with the spouse. The fourth is Anahata (air) is the bond with children. The fifth is Vishuddha (space) is the bond with false preacher. The sixth is Aajnaa chakra (the mind) is the bond with angels in whom God does not exist. The seventh is Sahasraara existing on the top most head (intelligence) is the bond with money that is related to many worldly issues represented by many petals of a lotus flower. At the centre of this lies the God with whom the mind (kundalini) is expected to unite, which means that the mind is perfectly attached to God. Since two strong bonds (Eeshanas) of spouse and children were already mentioned, the remaining third strong bond must be mentioned and this comes in the plane of God. The Veda says that you can attain God through sacrifice of money (Dhanena Tyagena…) alone and thus, a common plane exists between God and money. Money or wealth is the basis of all the worldly bonds. You can attain God by the sacrifice of wealth since it is the root of the world (Dhanamulamidam jagat…). The sacrifice of the wealth, which is in the form of butter to Lord Krishna, is the highest in the case of Gopikas. For all this sacrifice, the final decision and determination in practice is denoted by the word Samaadhi. All the chakras are worldly bonds in the true sense. In the false sense, chakras mean actual wheels of centers in the spinal cord, which are not seen by any surgeon so far in this world. The false preachers say that they can visualize these wheels after the awakening of the divine power called as kundalaini. This entire story is totally false and complete nonsense created by the false preachers to exploit the disciples in order to get some benefits from them. In fact, one innocent devotee after hearing the speech from Verabrahmendra Swami on yoga cut the body of his alive wife to see these chakras in the spinal cord. He could not find anything and his wife died!
Therefore, you should always try for the meeting (Yoga) with the Satguru, who can guide you in the right direction through the true knowledge. The Veda says that God alone is the possessor of the True knowledge (Satyam Jnaanam Ananatam Brahma) and such true knowledge alone is the identification mark to recognize the true human incarnation. The responsibility of God lies only in giving the right direction. The responsibility of the disciple is to practice it and attain the result. It is again the false knowledge to think that God will help you through His power beyond preaching, which is not true. Hence, Lord Dattatreya is always called as Guru Datta. The Guru Dakshina given by you to Him is only for the preaching of true knowledge and for nothing else. There is a false impression to think that God will lift you by His unimaginable power without your practical effort in implementing the preached knowledge in practice. It is very important to note that the three basic authorities to texts of spiritual knowledge i.e., the Veda, the Gita and the Brahmasutras do not mention this false concept of yoga and words like Kundalini, Chakra, Sahasraara etc., even once.
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