sadhana v0.88: On Samadhi

Yoga exist with the goal of liberation from samsara. The game is to achieve: moksha. And it is a game as the acharya's describe it a lila, Bhagavan's play.

The setup of the game we are trying to acheive is easier to understand using soccer as a metaphor.

1. Goal. The goal we are attempting to achieve is Bhagavan. So we must love the pursuit of the Goal. If we are lackluster or are not motivated the Goal seems distant and uninteresting, but if we deeply love the pursuit then the Goal becomes what we want. A deep devotion must be built up for the love of the Goal which is Bhagavan. Others have made their love the pursuit of lust, or money, or power but these are all distractions.
2. Player. Discipline, meditation and jnana are practices for the player, the body and mind, to get better at playing the game. Bhagavan, in Christianity this would be the devil, is playing offense as well. There are obstacles thrown at you tempting you to go after the distractions instead of focusing on the Goal. Disciple calms the player training it to move in the right direction. Meditation stills the mind to see that the player is not real it is the Ball that is. Jnana gives the knowledge of how to play the game better.
3. Ball. Is your atman. The whole point is you are not the player you are the ball. The player doesn’t go into the goal, the ball does. The point of the player is get the ball into the goal.

To put it simply devotion is a means to love the goal so much that you dedicate yourself to it by training and disciplining your body and mind with meditation, training your intellect with Jnana to discern what is the goal and what is not the goal. And you set yourself into a position where you can get your atman into the goal. This while playing defense against the slings and arrows that life throws at you. This is the game of yoga.