[NDS] Is discrimination the key for Self-Realization

[Guest guest]

On 12/21/02 at 6:46 PM Harsha wrote:

 

[...]

ºBeing fully awake while being fully sleep is called

ºNirvikalpa Samadhi. The mind along with its faculty of

ºdiscrimination, choices, and possibilities is resolved

ºback into its source.

º

ºLove to all

ºHarsha

 

Only suspended (with emphasis on temporary): a site dedicated to samadhi is:

http://sped2work.tripod.com/samadhi.html

 

A few excerpts:

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The first point to be noted is that the word Samadhi does not occur in the ten

major Upanishads upon which Sankara has commented. This is not a matter to be

lightly passed over, for if the attainment of Samadhi is central to the

experiential verification of the Vedanta, as we can gather it is, judging by the

statements of some modern Vedantins such as those cited above, then one would

legitimately expect the term to appear in the major Upanishads which are the

very source of the Vedanta. Yet the word does not occur. The closest

approximation to the word Samadhi in the early Upanisads is the past passive

participle samahita in the Chandogya and Brhadaranyaka Upanishads. In both texts

the word samahita is not used in the technical meaning of Samadhi ,that is, in

the sense of a meditative absorption or enstasis ,although the closest

approximation to this sense occurs in the Brhadaranyaka. In the first reference

(BU 4.2.1) , Yajnavalkya tells Janaka: "You have fully equipped your mind

(samahitatma) with so many secret names [of Brahman, that is, Upanishads]." Here

the word samahita should be translated as "concentrated, collected, brought

together, or composed."

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Samadhi itself has two stages, samprajana-samadhi, or an enstasis where there is

still object-consciousness, and asamprajata-samadhi or nirbija-samadhi, where

there is no longer any object-consciousness (asamprajnata-samadhi became known

later in Vedanta circles as nirvikalpa-samadhi). The point to be noted about

yoga is that its whole soteriology is based upon the suppression of mental

fluctuations so as to pass firstly into samprajnata-samadhi and from there,

through the complete suppression of all mental fluctuations, into

asamprajnata-samadhi, in which state the Self remains solely in and as itself

without being hidden by external, conditioning factors imposed by the mind

(citta).

 

Duality, such as the fundamental distinction between subject and object, is

obliterated in deep sleep and in Samadhi, as well as in other conditions such as

fainting, but duality is only temporarily obliterated for it reappears when one

awakes from sleep or regains consciousness after fainting, and it also reappears

when the yoga arises from Samadhi. The reason why duality persists is because

false knowledge (mithyajana) has not been removed.

 

REMEMBER FROM THE PREVIOUS ABOVE:

 

The attainment of Samadhi is not a sufficient cause to eradicate false

knowledge, and since false knowledge is the cause of bondage, Samadhi cannot

therefore be the cause of liberation.

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One day Lin Chi decided to test this monk. He called a student of his, gave him

a set of beautiful clothes, and asked him to present them to the monk. The

student went to the monk and said, 'Ah, you are wonderful. Your practicing is

very strong. So my teacher wants to give you these beautiful clothes as a

present.' The monk kicked away the clothes and said, 'I don't need these

clothes. I have original clothes, from my parents! Your clothes can only be kept

a short time, then they will wear out. But my original clothes are never broken.

Also, if they become dirty, I just take a shower and they are clean again. I

don't need your clothes!'

 

The student went back to Lin Chi and told him what happened. Lin Chi said, 'You

must go to this monk once more and ask him a certain question.' So the student

went to the monk and said, 'Great monk! I have one question for you. You said

you got your original clothes from your parents.' 'Of course!' said the monk.

'Then I ask you, before you got these original clothes from your parents, what

kind of clothes did you have?' Upon hearing this, the naked monk went deep into

Samadhi, then into Nirvana and died.

 

Everyone was very surprised and sad. But when the monk's body was cremated, many

Sarira appeared, so everyone thought, 'Ah, this was a great monk.' Sitting on

the high rostrum, Lin Chi hit the stand with his Zen stick and said, 'Form is

emptiness, emptiness is form.' He hit it again, 'No form, no emptiness.' He hit

it a third time, 'Form is form, emptiness is emptiness. Which one is correct?'

Nobody understood. Then the Zen Master shouted 'KATZ!' and said, 'The sky is

blue, the tree is green.' If you cannot answer in one word the question about

your original clothes, then, although you can get Samadhi and Nirvana, you

cannot get freedom from life and death.

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