1180
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 3, Ch. 28]
of the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Lord. It is never mentioned that one should concentrate on the impersonal or void. It is clearly stated,  vaikuṇṭha-līlā .  Līlā  means pastimes. Unless the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, has transcendental activities, where is the scope for thinking of these pastimes? It is through the processes of devotional service, chanting and hearing of the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that one can achieve this concentration. As described in the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , the Lord appears and disappears according to His relationships with different devotees. The Vedic literatures contain many narrations of the Lord's pastimes, including the Battle of Kurukṣetra and historical facts relating to the life and precepts of devotees like Prahlāda Mahārāja, Dhruva Mahārāja and Ambarīṣa Mahārāja. One need only concentrate his mind on one such narration and become always absorbed in its thought. Then he will be in  samādhi .  Samādhi  is not an artificial bodily state; it is the state achieved when the mind is virtually absorbed in thoughts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
TEXT 7
एतैरन्यैश्च पथिभिर्मनो दुष्टमसत्पथम् । बुद्ध्या युञ्जीत शनकैर्जितप्राणो ह्यतन्द्रितः ॥ ७ ॥
etair anyaiś ca pathibhir mano duṣṭam asat-patham buddhyā yuñjīta śanakair jita-prāṇo hy atandritaḥ
etaiḥ—by these; anyaiḥ—by other; ca—and; pathibhiḥ—processes; manaḥ—the mind; duṣṭam—contaminated; asat-patham—on the path of material enjoyment; buddhyā—by the intelligence; yuñjīta—one must control; śanakaiḥ—gradually; jita-prāṇaḥ—the life air being fixed; hi—indeed; atandritaḥ—alert.
TRANSLATION
By these processes, or any other true process, one must control the contaminated, unbridled mind, which is always attracted by material enjoyment, and thus fix himself in thought of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.