Subject of this seminar: "Samadhi and Sadhana Pada" - Chapters 3 and 4
Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras are the classical work of the Yoga School of thought, one of the Six Darśanas studied in the Bhakti Tirtha course. They focus on how to attain direct experience and realization of the puruṣa, or the individual self. As the classical treatise on the Vedic understanding of the mind and consciousness and on techniques of meditation and self-realization, it has exerted immense influence over the religious practices of Hinduism in India and, more recently, in the West. For Vaiṣṇavas, the Yoga Sūtras are especially helpful in understanding the first two chapters of Bhakti-rasāmṛita-sindhu.
Some people say that Bhakti is already present in the jiva and then it just manifests by doing sadhana. In this Anuccheda (47), Sri Jiva Gosvami does not agree with this view. Bhakti is the intrinsic potency of Bhagavan and it is with Bhagavan and his devotees. The very reason jiva is covered by maya is because it does not have Bhakti. If jiva had Bhakti, it could not be covered by maya.
