One of the biggest problems with the mind is that we project ourselves, and see ourselves as we wish to be in the future. We ignore the present moment and what we are currently experiencing. Yoga teaches us to connect with the present without expectations of the future. The future is the outcome of a balanced, harmonious and joyous present. Even samadhi is not a process of mystical experience, but a process of gaining knowledge, control and direction over the faculties of the mind. The word ‘samadhi’ means a balanced, harmonious and integrated intelligence. Not intellect, but intelligence. It means establishing yourself in wisdom, and identifying with that universal intelligence. Samadhi is a sadhana or practice you are trying to aspire to or attain. It is dealing with yourself and trying to achieve a balanced and harmonious consciousness. And, after you have achieved this internal balance and harmony, then mystical experiences can and do happen.

You can describe the glory of the beauty and nature of the sun to a blind man, and the blind man can create visual impressions, images or fantasies of it. But his images and fantasies can never be accurate. For an accurate experience, he needs to be able to see with his eyes. If you describe what the sun is like, what it radiates, and its colour, a blind man can recreate it only according to his thoughts, ideas, conditionings and mentality. We are like this blind person who thinks such images are the truth; if we think we are having mystical experiences, when we are not living in the present, and are unable to walk consciously from the place where we are now to the boundaries of our life.

Satyanandashram Paiania, June 2005

From the book “Yoga Balance Harmony, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda in Greece, Selected Talks”, pg. 17