Question: Could Baba please discuss bhava samadhi and its relationship to dhyana?
Babaji:
Bhava samadhi literally means ‘feelings’. The mind is constantly wavering, constantly is taking these different shapes. These are called ‘thoughts’. The thoughts are the technical basis for feelings. The thoughts give rise to feelings. When a thought occurs, you try to feel it. The mind, itself, takes the shape, and goes into a feeling. Samadhi is stillness, stand stillness. Well, Swamiji saw devotees could not go into meditation directly. They used to argue that they can do anything they want out of their own will. Then Swamiji wanted to teach them that there is a greater Divine power that’s working, and everybody is guided and inspired by the Divine power. So he blessed some devotees to go into bhava. Bhava samadhi is blessed to a devotee to give him some experience of the single-pointedness of the mind, so that eventually he can achieve some concentration. He will learn to pay attention and go into deeper meditation. Swamiji once gave me a definition in His own way, saying that when a person goes into bhava samadhi, that particular person has the vision of his Ishta Deva, the Divine, the Deity that is dearer to him or her. Others may seek some action in that body. This bhava samadhi should enable one to achieve some concentration, single-pointedness of the mind. So you get a vision of your Deity and your mind is absorbed to that Deity, that vision, that particular vision. You keep watching. And thus you go into a blissful state. This blissful state, depending on your nature, might make you to move your own body in excitement, some times. Thus others may see some action in your body.
But this is finally like giving some lollipop to a child, to make it to go to the school. But, unfortunately, people sometimes get stuck to the lollipop and they don’t go to the school. Going to the school means, eventually you have to go to meditation again, to achieve Self-Realization, the recommended goal. Thus this bhava samadhi, if this experience is understood properly, this can always help in meditation, to achieve some concentration in the beginning. You are able to pay attention to the real Self, to meditation.
Real bhava samadhi also is a culmination of long time devotional practices, which will give you faith and devotion. That’s why bhakti marga (the devotional path) is taught. It’s your consciousness towards the Deity, your attention to the Deity which gradually shall give single-pointedness to your mind. But this is also not very easy. This is the genuine bhava samadhi, which will enable you to go introvert, deeper into meditation, eventually. But you have to be really devoted to the Deity, not try to claim yourself, as if being possessed by some Divine. The more a person experiences real bhava samadhi, the more one will go introvert. The more one will go introvert, less and less they have to claim. This means they don’t have anything to claim. They stop claiming anything. They become quiet and go introvert and then they can go into meditation properly, not otherwise.
Everything else is simply a waste of energy and time. Hardly anybody will achieve by talking through bhava samadhi, by giving instructions. In spirituality, any of your efforts, the sadhana, should enable your mind to recede. Ego receding means, eradication of the ego means, the mind recedes. If the mind is in existence, it will always imagine. Because the mind will be in existence only when it imagines. Thus every imagination is a bondage. So you can understand, if your efforts can enable your mind to recede, only then you are able to achieve something. But if it becomes more excited or more violent, the mind will be in existence and you will be hypnotizing yourself more and more with imaginations and illusions. So you must be careful. Every individual must be careful if they are genuinely interested to go towards Enlightenment. They should not imagine and deceive themselves by claiming to be some divine authority. One has to very careful about bhava samadhi.
