Perfection of Sadhana

Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

One cannot define perfection. Perfection is an ongoing process, and if one defines perfection in any way then one has totally missed the point. If one considers that a miracle is making God do one's bidding, then that is wrong. When we pray, “Oh God, please allow this to happen”, and that thing happens, then we say, “A miracle has taken place. I was able to convince God to do my bidding.”

But I have come to an understanding that the real miracle takes place when one lives according to the will of God. This is what I have seen in the life of Paramahamsaji and in the sadhana which he is performing even today, as a sannyasin and as a disciple. The flowering of that sadhana within him has gone far beyond the state of samadhi. He has reintegrated himself with the world, with society, with people, from the dimension of the pure mind. I am convinced that this is how yoga sadhana must culminate in our life. Isolation, no. Integration, yes.

This integration is comprised of four aspects:

1. Love, or prem, which is not a conditioned love or an expectant love, but an unconditioned, universal love.
2. Affection, or sneha, which does not have a motive, but is a natural state of being.
3. Compassion, or karuna, which is not for the sake of gaining name, fame or recognition, but which becomes a natural expression of the human personality.
4. Devotion, or bhakti, the key which links the individual with the higher being, which gives a sense of unity, a unifying force to the entire creation of which we are all a part.

The development of these four qualities is the real sadhana, the real process of yoga.