Sahaja samadhi

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This is one of the diary extracts by Sri Annamalai Swami:

 

"One evening, while I was accompanying Bhagavan on one of his walks,

I asked him:

'When I meditate my breath seems to get suspended in my stomach.

Is this good?'

Bhagavan replied: 'That is very good'.

 

Cheered by this positive comment I asked him a further question;

'If I go on meditating after that, what will happen?'

'Samadhi will be attained,' replied Bhagavan.

'Does samadhi mean that one is unaware of everything?' I asked.

'No,' said Bhagavan. 'Meditation will go on without our effort.

That is samadhi.'

'Then what is sahaja samadhi?' I asked.

Bhagavan answered by saying, 'In that state meditation will always

be going on. In that state the thought, "I am meditating," or "I am not

meditating" will not occur.'

 

I then asked Bhagavan about periods in my meditation when I was only

aware of an all-pervasive blankness.

'Sometimes nothing is seen,' I said. 'Is this good?'

Bhagavan did not seem to approve of these states.

'In the beginning', he said, 'it is good if meditators meditate with self-

awareness.'

 

The state of sahaja samadhi continued to intrigue me. A few week later

I asked him another question about it.

'Can one practise sahaja samadhi right from the beginning?'

Bhagavan replied by saying that one could.

'But how to practise it?' I asked. 'And how does one practise nirvikalpa

samadhi?' How many different kinds of samadhi are there?'

'There is only one kind of samadhi,' said Bhagavan, 'not many kinds.

To remain temporarily subsided in the reality, without any thought,

is nirvikalpa samadhi. Permanently abiding in the Self without forgetting

it is sahaja samadhi. Both will give the same happiness.'"

 

(David Godman: Living by the Words of Bhagavan, p. 240f)