Hare Krsna-Below are a few verses from Lord Kapila Dev's instructions to His Divine Mother, Devahuti dasi. They are very instructive because they give us a hint as to the actual activities of a liberated soul, which a bona fide spiritual master must be. At present today, we find so many people posing as liberated souls and acting our their fantasy as bona fide spiritual masters, but from these verses from Srimad Bhagavatam, we see who is real and who is the fake.
Hare Krsna Damaghosa das
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SB 3.28. text 30-34--The yogīs should contemplate with full devotion the compassionate glances frequently cast by the Lord’s eyes, for they soothe the most fearful threefold agonies of His devotees. His glances, accompanied by loving smiles, are full of abundant grace.
A yogī should similarly meditate on the most benevolent smile of Lord Śrī Hari, a smile which, for all those who bow to Him, dries away the ocean of tears caused by intense grief. The yogī should also meditate on the Lord’s arched eyebrows, which are manifested by His internal potency in order to charm the sex-god for the good of the sages.
With devotion steeped in love and affection, the yogī should meditate within the core of his heart upon the laughter of Lord Viṣṇu. The laughter of Viṣṇu is so captivating that it can be easily meditated upon. When the Supreme Lord is laughing, one can see His small teeth, which resemble jasmine buds rendered rosy by the splendor of His lips. Once devoting his mind to this, the yogī should no longer desire to see anything else.
Purport-By following this course, the yogī gradually develops pure love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari. In the course of his progress in devotional service, the hairs on his body stand erect through excessive joy, and he is constantly bathed in a stream of tears occasioned by intense love. Gradually, even the mind, which he used as a means to attract the Lord, as one attracts a fish to a hook, withdraws from material activity.
Here it is clearly mentioned that meditation, which is an action of the mind, is not the perfect stage of samādhi, or absorption. In the beginning the mind is employed in attracting the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but in the higher stages there is no question of using the mind. A devotee becomes accustomed to serving the Supreme Lord by purification of his senses. In other words, the yoga principles of meditation are required as long as one is not situated in pure devotional service. The mind is used to purify the senses, but when the senses are purified by meditation, there is no need to sit in a particular place and try to meditate upon the form of the Lord. One becomes so habituated that he automatically engages in the personal service of the Lord. When the mind forcibly is engaged upon the form of the Lord, this is called nirbīja-yoga, or lifeless yoga, for the yogī does not automatically engage in the personal service of the Lord. But when he is constantly thinking of the Lord, that is called sabīja-yoga, or living yoga. One has to be promoted to the platform of living yoga.
One should engage in the service of the Lord twenty-four hours a day, as confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā. The stage of premāñjana-cchurita can be attained by developing complete love. When one’s love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead in devotional service is fully developed, one always sees the Lord, even without artificially meditating on His form. His vision is divine because he has no other engagement. At this stage of spiritual realization it is not necessary to engage the mind artificially. Since the meditation recommended in the lower stages is a means to come to the platform of devotional service, those already engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord are above such meditation. This stage of perfection is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
SB 3.28.38-The body of such a liberated yogī, along with the senses, is taken charge of by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and it functions until its destined activities are finished. The liberated devotee, being awake to his constitutional position and thus situated in samādhi, the highest perfectional stage of yoga, does not accept the by-products of the material body as his own. Thus he considers his bodily activities to be like the activities of a body in a dream.
Purport-The following questions may be posed. As long as the liberated soul is in contact with the body, why don’t the bodily activities affect him? Doesn’t he actually become contaminated by the action and reaction of material activities? In answer to such questions, this verse explains that the material body of a liberated soul is taken charge of by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is not acting due to the living force of the living entity; it is simply acting as a reaction to past activities. Even after being switched off, an electric fan moves for some time. That movement is not due to the electric current, but is a continuation of the last movement; similarly, although a liberated soul appears to be acting just like an ordinary man, his actions are to be accepted as the continuation of past activities. In a dream one may see himself expanded through many bodies, but when awake he can understand that those bodies were all false. Similarly, although a liberated soul has the by-products of the body—children, wife, house, etc.—he does not identify himself with those bodily expansions. He knows that they are all products of the material dream. The gross body is made of the gross elements of matter, and the subtle body is made of mind, intelligence, ego and contaminated consciousness. If one can accept the subtle body of a dream as false and not identify oneself with that body, then certainly an awake person need not identify with the gross body. As one who is awake has no connection with the activities of the body in a dream, an awakened, liberated soul has no connection with the activities of the present body. In other words, because he is acquainted with his constitutional position, he never accepts the bodily concept of life.
The Bhagavad Gitas definition of actual Samadhi or perfection of Yoga
BG 6.20-23-The stage of perfection is called trance, or samādhi, when one's mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This is characterized by one's ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact.
Some Conclusions--- Personally I dont know about everybody else, but these descriptions are a few of the main reasons I joined the Hare Krsna Movement. Who would not want this??
Damaghosa das