The turning point/Samadhi

[Guest guest]

Thank you Swaminaryanji for your comments and quotes. Like many others here,

I don't know Sanskrit and rely on good translations only. I recall that in

grade school in Amritsar I had a choice between Art and Sanksrit and I chose

Art. Actually for some reason, all the boys chose art and all the girls

chose Sanskrit. As it stands now, I am neither an artist nor a scholar but

can certainly appreciate those talents in others. So thank you for sharing.

 

Sunderji had given some excellent quotes from Ramana Maharshi on Samadhi. To

add to this, if I recall correctly, Paul Brunton had asked Sri Ramana when

Sahaj Samadhi should be practiced. The Sage of Arunachala stated that Sahaj

Samadhi should be practiced from the very beginning! There is deep meaning

in this statement and it requires serious reflection. Sri Ramana further

added that what is natural for a Siddha is the practice for the aspirant. I

will pass this on to along with Sunderji's quotes followed by

Swaminaryanji's Sanskrit quotes from the scriptures.

 

Love to all

Harsha

 

Sunderji's quotes of Sri Ramana on Samadhi

 

Namaste,

 

It would be hard to excel the answers that Ramana Maharshi

gave on the subject of samadhi: [Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi,5th

ed., 1972; Ramanashram,Tiruvannamalai]

 

p.84: "When the senses are merged in darkness it is deep sleep;

when merged in light it is samadhi.

Just as a passenger when asleep in a carriage is unaware of the

motion, the halting or the unharnessing of the horses, so also a

jnani in sahaja samadhi is unaware of the happenings, waking,dream

and deep sleep. Here sleep corresponds to the unharnessing of the

horse. And samadhi corresponds to the halting of the horse, because

the senses are ready to act as the horses are ready to move after

halting.

 

In samadhi the head does not bend down because the senses are ther

though inactive; whereas the head bends down in sleep because the

senses are merged in drkness.

In kevala samadhi, the activities [vital and mental], waking, dream

and sleep, are only merged, ready to emerge after regaining the state

other than samadhi.

 

In sahaja samadhi the activities, vital and mental, and the three

states are destroyed, never to re-appear. However others notice the

jnani active, e.g. eating, talking, moving, etc. He is not himself

aware of these activities, whereas others are aware of his

activities. They pertain to his body and not to his Real Self,

swarupa. For himself, he is like the sleeping passenger --or like a

child interrupted from sound sleep and fed, being unaware of it. The

child says the next day that he did not take milk at all and that he

went to sleep without it. Even when reminded he cannot be convinced.

So also is sahaja samadhi.

 

sushumna pare leena--here sushumna refers to tapo marga, whereas the

para nadi refers to jnana marga."

 

p. 105: "Samadhi transcends mind and speech, and cannot be described.

For example, the state of deep slumber cannot be described; samadhi

state can still less be explained.....Consciousness and

unconsciousness are only modes of the mind. Samadhi transcends the

mind."

 

p. 121: " Samadhi is one's natural state. It is the under-current in

all the three states. This--that is 'I'--is not in those states, but

these states are in it. If we get samadhi in our waking state that

will persist in deep sleep also.

 

p. 123: " Jnana, once revealed, takes time to steady itself. The Self

is certainly within the direct experience of everyone, but not as one

imagines it to be. It is only as it is. This Experience is samadhi.

 

p. 135: " When the one who asks the nature of samadhi and the method

of getting into it vanishes, samadhi will result.

 

p. 357: " Holding on to Reality is samadhi.

Holding on to Reality with effort is savikalpa samadhi.

Merging in Reality and remaining unaware of the world is

nirvikalpa samadhi.

Merging in ignorance and remaining unaware of the world is

sleep. [Head bends, but not in samadhi].

Remaining in the primal, pure natural state without effort

is sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi.

Samadhi means passing beyond dehatma buddhi [i-am-the-body

idea] and non-identification of the body with the Self is a foregone

conclusion.

 

p. 358: " The yogis call it Kundalini Shakti. It is the same as

vritti of the form of God {Bhagavatakara vritti] of the bhaktas and

vritti of the form of Brahman [brahmakara vritti] of the jnanis. It

must be preliminary to Realization . The sensation produced may be

said to be hot.

The kundalini of jnana marga is said to be the Heart, which

is also described in various ways as a network of nadis, of the shape

of a serpent , of a lotus-bud, etc....

The Heart is the origin of the 'I'-thought.

 

p. 381: " External samadhi is holding on to the Reality while

witnessing the world, without reacting to it from within. There is

stillnes of a waveless ocean. The internal samadhi involves loss of

body-consciousness.

What is body-consciousness? Analyse it. There must be a body and

consciousness limited to it which together make up body-

consciousness. These must lie in another Consciousnesswhich is

absolute and unaffected. Hold it. That is samadhi. It exists when

there is no body-consciousness because it transcends the latter, it

also exists when there is the body-consciousness.. So it is always

there. What does it matter whether body-consciousness is is lost or

retained? When lost it is internal samdhi; when retained it is

external samadhi. That is all. A person must remain in any one of the

six samadhis so that sahaja samadhi may be easy for him.

 

p. 552: " What is samadhi? Samadhi is one's essential nature. How

then can it come and go?

 

p. 553: " The effortless samadhi is the true one and the perfect

state. It is permanent....

When the real, effortless, permanent, happy natureis realised it will

be found to be not inconsistent with the ordinary activities of life."

 

On page 359, there is a tabular representation, which I shall try to

copy in a future post.

 

Regards,

 

s.

 

 

 

Swaminarayan T [tvswaminarayan]

Wednesday, November 29, 2000 6:21 PM

advaitin

RE: Re: The turning point

 

Dear Harshaji,

 

Most certainly,you have explained it nicely and we cannot agree with you

more.Has not Gaudapada said:

 

" Manasohyamaneebhave dwaitam naivopalabhyate " ? And again:

 

" Akalpakam ajam gyaanam gyeyaabhinnam prachakshate,Brahmagyeyam ajam nityam

ajenaajam vibhudyate."

 

Also:

 

" Yadaa na leeyate chittam nacha vikshipyate punaha, aninganam anaabhaasam

nishpannam BRAHMA tat tadaa "

 

Hari Om !

 

Swaminarayan

 

 

Harsha <harsha-hkl wrote:

In his Drg-Drsya Viveka Bharati Tirtha explains thus:

 

But the Nirvikalpa samadhi is that in which the mind becomes steady like the

(Unflickearing flame of a ) light kept in a place free from wind and in

which the student becomes indifferent to both objects and sounds on account

of his complete absorption in the bliss of the realization of the Self.

__________________________

_____________________

Generally I agree with the spirit of this. Steadiness of the mind can

precede Self-Realization and may be considered a prerequisite. That is why

there is an emphasis on making the mind subtle and pure through the practice

of meditation and samadhi. In Nirvikalpa Samadhi, however, the question of

mind being steady or indifferent to objects and sounds cannot arise at all

as the mind itself along with its powers of cognition and perception and

imagination disappears upon entering the Heart.

Harsha