Gita 6.15

Sadhak: "Guruji, the verse says 'sada' - always. Always uniting the self? How is this possible? I have to work, eat, sleep, interact with others. I can't be meditating constantly!"

Guru: "What is the nature of meditation in its essence - is it a posture, a technique, or something else?"

Sadhak: "I would say it's... a technique? A practice of focusing the mind?"

Guru: "And when you become skilled at any technique, what happens?"

Sadhak: "It becomes natural, automatic... you don't have to think about it consciously. Like driving - at first every action is deliberate, but eventually you do it without effort."

Guru: "'Sada' - always - points to this natural state. At first, meditation is deliberate effort during specific times. But as practice deepens, the meditative awareness becomes a background presence even during activity. You work, but awareness of the witness remains. You interact, but connection to the source continues. This is what 'sada yunjann' ultimately means - not that you sit in formal posture 24 hours, but that the essence of meditation - connected awareness - becomes constant."

Sadhak: "That seems very advanced. I can barely maintain focus for five minutes of sitting practice, let alone during daily life!"

Guru: "Every master was once a beginner who couldn't focus for five minutes. The 'always' in this verse is both the method and the result. As method: keep returning, keep practicing, don't give up after failures. As result: eventually the returning becomes continuous. You are in the stage of frequent returning - which IS the stage of 'always' for a practitioner at your level. 'Always' for you means: always come back. Always resume. Always continue. This is the continuity that matters now."

Sadhak: "The fruit mentioned is 'santim nirvana-paramam' - peace culminating in nirvana. Is this the Buddhist nirvana? I thought the Gita was Hindu teaching?"

Guru: "The concept of nirvana - the extinguishing of suffering-causing fires - existed in the broader Indian spiritual context and was adopted by Buddhism. The Gita uses it too, showing the shared heritage. But notice Krishna's addition: 'mat-samstha' - abiding in Me. Buddhist nirvana is sometimes described as shunya - emptiness. The Gita's nirvana is purna - fullness. The fires of craving and delusion are extinguished, but what remains is not void but divine presence. This is the Gita's distinctive teaching: liberation is not escape into nothingness but arrival into the infinite fullness of the Divine."

Sadhak: "So the peace of meditation is not just stress relief but the beginning of ultimate liberation?"

Guru: "Exactly. The peace you taste in meditation - even for a moment - is of the same nature as nirvana, just less complete. It's like tasting a drop from the ocean - the drop is the ocean's water, just in small quantity. Each meditation is a small nirvana, and consistent practice allows this to expand until it becomes 'nirvana-paramam' - the supreme dissolution of all that is false. This is why Krishna emphasizes 'sada' - the consistent practice gradually transforms temporary peace into permanent establishment."

Sadhak: "And 'mat-samstha' - abiding in the Divine. This makes it sound very personal, relational. But I thought liberation was about transcending all relationships, becoming one with impersonal Brahman?"

Guru: "This is one of the Gita's deepest teachings: the ultimate reality is both impersonal and personal, both Brahman and Bhagavan. You can rest in formless awareness - that is Brahman realization. But there is also the possibility of eternal relationship with the Divine Person - that is 'mat-samstha.' Krishna offers both paths in the Gita, but repeatedly invites seekers into relationship. The peace of meditation culminates not in blank extinction but in loving rest in the Source of all. Whether you experience this as impersonal vastness or personal presence may depend on your nature and grace - but either way, it is 'established in the Divine,' no longer established in the limited ego."