Samadhi Primer

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Title it: Samadhi, Ecstasy and the Great Calm

>From Conscious Immortality

 

The final obstacle to meditation is ecstasy; when you feel great bliss

and happiness, the tendency is to stay in that ecstasy. Do not yield

to this but pass onto the sixth stage, which is great calm. The calm

is higher than ecstasy and it merges into samadhi. Successful samadhi

causes a waking sleep state to encompass you, when you are always

Consciousness, for Consciousness is your nature. Hence a person is

always in samadhi, only they do not know it. All one has to do it to

remove the obstacles I have just mentioned.

 

Q: Are there thoughts in samadhi or not?

M: There will only be the feeling `I am' and no other thoughts.

Q: Isn't `I am' a thought?

M: The egoless `I am' is not a thought. It is realization. Mental

quietude is easier to attain, and comes sooner, but the ultimate goal

is mental destruction. Most paths lead to metal quietness, whereas

Self-enquiry gets there quickly and leads on to the destruction of

mind. Find where the mind takes its rise, or who is mentally quiet,

and you will succeed.

Q: Is there a difference between internal and external samadhi?

M: Yes, there is. External samadhi is stillness while witnessing the

world, without reacting to it from within. It is like a still sea,

while the internal samadhi is like a steady flame. Sahaja samadhi is

the identity of the flame with the ocean.

 

Savikalpa Samadhi explained:

External: The mind jumps from one object to another. Keep it fixed on

the Reality behind these objects.

Internal: The mind is afflicted by desire, lust, anger etc. See where

they arise from and how they have their being. Hold onto their source.

 

External: These are the external phenomena which are said to have

their origin from the single Reality. Search for it and hold onto it.

Merge in the one Reality underlying all phenomena and remain unaware

of transitory manifestations.

Internal: These are modes of thought which rise up from the reality

within and manifest themselves. Hold onto that Reality. Merge in the

inmost being which is the one Reality that gives rise to all thought

etc, and remain unaware of anything else.

 

External; This state is compared to a waveless ocean whose waters are

still and placid.

Internal: This state is compared to a flame that burns quiet and

steady, unaffected by any breeze.

 

Eternal:

All these four kinds of savikalpa samadhi are accompanied by effort.

Internal: When both these kinds of nirvikalpa samadhi are effortless

and it is realized that the waveless ocean of external samadhi and the

steady flame of internal samadhi are identical, the state is said to

be sahaja samadhi.

 

Q: Does one lose body-consciousness in samadhi? If so, how can there

be any difference?

M: What is body-consciousness? Analyze it. There must be a body and

consciousness limited to it, which together make up the

body-consciousness. These must lie in another consciousness which is

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

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

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

there. What does it matter whether the body is lost or retained? When

lost, it is internal samadhi, when retained, it is external samadhi.

That is all.

Q: But the mind does not sink into samadhi even for a second!

M: Strong convictions that `I am the Self' is necessary, transcending

mind and phenomena.

Q: Nevertheless, the mind proves to be a cork at attempt to sink it.

M: What does it matter if the mind is active? I t is only active on

the substratum of the Self. Hold onto the Self even during mental

activity.

Q: Do you go into nirvikalpa samadhi?

M: (Speaking generally) If the eyes are closed, it is nirvikalpa; if

open, it is savikapa. (Both these are temporary states.) The

ever-present and ultimate state is the natural one, i.e. sahaja.

Q: I maintain that the physical body of a person immersed in samadhi

as a result of unbroken contemplation of the Self, need not become

motionless. It may be active or inactive. Others assert that physical

movement definitely prevents nirvikalpa samadhi, or unbroken

contemplation. What is your opinion?

M: Both of you are right- your are referring to sahaja nirvikalpa and

the other to kevala nirvikalpa. In the case of kevala the mind lies

immersed in the light of the Self. The subject discriminates one for

the other, and then there is activity.

Movement of the body, of the sight, of the vital force, of the mind,

and the perception of objects and activity are obstructions for him.

But in sahaja, the mind has resolved into the Self and has been lost.

So the differences and obstruction that I mentioned before do not

exist here. The activities of such a being are like the feeding of a

sleepy child--

perceptible to the onlooker but not to the subject. The driver

sleeping in his moving (bullock) cart is not aware of the motion of

the cart because his mind has sunk in darkness. Similarly the sahaja

jnani remains unaware of his bodily activities because his mind is

dead, having been resolved in the ecstasy of chitananda (Self).

{Two words `contemplation' and samadhi' have been used loosely in

the question., Contemplation is a forced mental process whereas

samadhi lies beyond effort.)

 

1: Sleep: Mind alive. Nirvikalpa samadhi: Mind alive. Sahaja

samadhi: Mind dead.

2. Sleep: Sunk in oblivion. Nirvakalpa : Sunk in light. Sahaja:

Resolved into the

the Self.

3. No entries for Sleep. Nirvakalpa: Like a bucket with the rope left

lying in the water in a well. Sahaja: Like a river discharged into the

ocean and its identity lost.

4. Not entries for Sleep. Nirvakalpa: To be drawn out by the other end

of the rope.

Sahaja samadhi: A river cannot be redirected from the ocean.

 

Ananda is the bliss of not being disturbed by any mental activity or

characteristics. There is a temporary bliss and a permanent one. The

former state is called kevala samadhi, the latter is sahaja arising

from the cessation of mental activity and the disappearance of outside

objects. But after a while his bliss ceases as mental activities begin

and there is no samadhi for some time. In sahaja, however there is no

relapse into mental activity and no consequent loss of bliss. The

happiness is unbroken and ever enduring. The body, senses and mind may

be operative, but the person is hardly conscious of the acts of the

body.

Q: It is said that one remaining in nirvikalpa samadhi for 21 days

must necessarily give up the physical body.

M: Samadhi means passing beyond. Non-identification of the body with

the Self is a foregone conclusion. There are said to be people who

have been immersed in nirvikalpa samadhi for a thousand years or more.

 

i. Holding onto Reality is samadhi

ii. Holding onto Reality with effort is savikalpa samadhi.

iii. Merging into Reality and remaining unaware of the world is

nirvikalpa samadhi.

iv. Merging in ignorance and remaining unaware of the world is sleep -

the head bows but not in samadhi.

v. Remaining in