There are particular modifications to be done in Bound Lotus that allow one to move through the limbs of practice toward Samadhi, and along the way heal the body and the mind. Through following your individual yogic path, your adhikara, the level you are suited for, you can attain true knowledge. Very few can attain this true knowledge purely through Jnana yoga or meditation. Most of us need to begin with the very first limbs of practice, i.e., Yamas, Niyamas, Asana, Pranayama...on the way to Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.
Samadhi is ecstasy, but unlike any drug-induced state or peak of sexual pleasure. The 4th chapter of the Brhad Aranyaka Upanishad describes Samadhi as having a trillion times the intensity of sexual pleasure. This is what I call 'making Love to God', and it is an experience I have had twice in my life, back in the months of February and March of 1998. I had oddly achieved Yoga Chikitsa, or Yogic balance then, through daily practice of a divinely inspired sequence of postures given to me in meditation, that I practiced daily from November of 1997 through February of 1998. Foolishly, I allowed the man who I was dating at the time, who later stalked me, to convince me to give up my practice. But I had attained a very low level of Samadhi that to me was pure bliss! This is attainable through many methods.
Theoretically it is attainable through the sustained practice of Bound Lotus. In Patanjali's Yoga Sutras it is stated that practice can succeed (in the attainment of Samadhi) only when it is sustained uninterruptedly, for a long time, and with a devotional attitude. I14.
Back in 97 - 98 I had a strong sense of devotion, showering before practice, dressing in clean clothes, lighting a candle, following the same sequence of postures, then lying in Shavasana, utterly motionless and meditating on the chakras and the nadis after for 45 minutes a day, then sitting in meditation for 10 minutes. One day my body exploded, expanded and felt on fire with a bliss indescribable. I had no body, or rather I was deeply within it, riding waves of color and light, listening to the sound of bees humming, flutes and bells, drums, an overwhelming roar that years later, as I stood on The Maid of the Mist gazing at Niagra Falls, I realized was a similar roar. Overwhelming. Bliss. I heard it and felt it though I had no body.
This is possible by following the eight limbs, eating sattvic foods, balancing the doshas and the gunas. I practiced mental restraint then. I did not eat sugar or chocolate. No alcohol. No drugs. No sex. No meat. I prepared my place of practice as one would for a lover's tryst. I practiced every day at 4:30 AM without fail. Getting off work from a strip club, bathing and preparing to honor the divine. I had many temptations obviously, if I worked in a strip club, but I went beyond.
My body healed. Asthma dissapeared. I had no symptoms of either depression, manic depression, PTSD, nor Asperger's Syndrome. My mind and body were whole for the first time in my life. Sri K. Pattabhi Jois talks in his book "Yoga Mala" about how yoga can cure physical AND mental disease. But yoga practiced traditionally, not the Western dilutions, which can be fun and very healing to the mind, body and soul, but not to the nth degree when one truly follows the eight limbs. And bhramacharya does pretty much mean no sex. Not because it is bad, but because you are conserving energy. Building up the bank account. You won't save money if you spend it, the same with energy.
Sometimes I think of my focus back then and now. Bound Lotus is often rote for me. I do it and enjoy many benefits from the practice, but Samadhi, so far, has not been one. If I want my lover, my divine Krishna to come to me I have to ready the lover's bed by preparing my heart to receive the Divine as I sit with devotion.
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