Bhavamukha and nirvikalpa samadhi- shri ramakrishna

[Guest guest]

shriman ompremji , dear db and yeshe,

 

thank you kindly for a very lively and fascinating discussion on

this great debate on shaktism and advaita....

 

our beloved ompremji writes...

 

****Perhaps, this does not demonstrate that he "still felt the pull

of his Shakta roots, even upon achieving oneness with Brahman. "

Perhaps it demonstrates that at this point Sri Ramakrishna still had

some way to go to 'see' Ultimate Reality completely unveiled, ' from

all angles' so to speak. Perhaps it suggests that he had not quite

given up completely an identification with his mind and that he

still has a trace of ego left. ****

 

i would like to add something here. this is how shri ramakrishna

paramahamsa describes his divine experience ...

 

"The room, the temple and everything around me, vanished from sight.

I felt as if nothing existed, and in their stead I perceived a

boundless effulgent ocean of intelligence.

Whichever side I turned my eyes, I saw huge waves of that shining

ocean rushing towards me, and in a short while, they all came, and

engulfed me completely.

 

Thus getting suffocated under them, I lost my ordinary consciousness

and fell down. At the same time I was also conscious, to the inner

core of my being, of the hallowed presence of the Divine Mother."

 

About his nirvikalpa samadhi experience, shri Ramakrishna said:

 

"After the initiation, 'the naked one' began to teach me Advaita

Vedanta and asked me to withdraw the mind completely and dive into

the atman. I had no difficulty in withdrawing from all objects except

one, this was the all-too-familiar form of the Blissful Mother—

radiant and of the essence of Pure Consciousness—which appeared

before me as a living reality and would not allow me to pass

beyond the realm of name and form.

 

"In despair I said to 'the naked one', 'It is hopeless. I cannot

raise my mind to the unconditioned state and come face to face with

the atman.'

She sharply said: 'You can't do it! But you have to.' She cast her

eyes around for something, and finding a piece of glass, took it up,

and pressing its point between my eyebrows, said: 'Concentrate your

mind on this point.'

 

''With stern determination I again sat to meditate, and as soon as

the Divine Mother appeared, I used my discrimination as a sword and

with it severed it into two. There remained no more obstruction to my

mind, which at once soared beyond the relative plane, and I lost

myself in samadhi.

 

please read further....

 

"I was for six months in that state of nirvikalpa. Days and nights

succeeded unnoticed. Flies would enter the mouth and nostrils without

producing any sensation. Hairs became matted with dust. Sometime even

nature's calls were answered unawares. Hardly would the body have

survived this state but for a sadhu who recognized my condition, and

also understood that the Mother had yet to do many things through

this body—that many persons would be benefited if it were preserved.

So at mealtime he used to fetch food and try to bring me to external

consciousness by administering a good beating to the body. As

soon as traces of consciousness were perceived, he would thrust the

food into the mouth."

 

please read more....

 

"After some days in this state, I came to hear the Mother's command:

'Remain on the threshold of relative consciousness (bhavamukha) for

the instruction of mankind.' Then appeared blood dysentery. There was

acute writhing pain in the intestines. Through this suffering for six

months the normal body consciousness slowly reappeared. Or else,

every now and then the mind would, of its own accord, to the

nirvikalpa state.

 

"The natural tendency of this (my) mind is upwards (towards the

nirvikalpa state). Once that is reached, it does not like to come

down. For your (disciples') sake I drag it down perforce. Downward

pull is not strong enough without a lower desire. So I create some

trifling desires, for instance, for drinking water, for tasting a

particular dish, or for seeing a particular person, and repeatedly

suggest them to my mind. Then alone the mind slowly comes to the

body. Again, while coming down, it may run back upward. Again it has

to be dragged down through such desires."

 

shri ramakrishna's experience of nirvikalpa samadhi (absorption in

the all-encompassing Consciousness) gave Ramakrishna an understanding

of the two sides of maya (illusion), to which he referred as

avidyamaya and vidyamaya. He explained that avidyamaya represents the

dark forces of creation (eg sensual desire, evil passions, greed,

lust and cruelty), which sustain the world system on lower planes of

consciousness. These forces are responsible for human entrapment in

the round of birth and death, and they must be fought and

vanquished.

 

Vidyamaya, on the other hand, represents the higher forces of

creation (e.g. spiritual virtues, enlightening qualities, kindness,

purity, love, and devotion), which elevate human beings to the higher

planes of consciousness. With the help of vidyamaya, devotees can rid

themselves of avidyamaya and achieve the ultimate goal of becoming

mayatita - that is, free from maya.

 

SHRI RAMAKRISHNA ALSO SAYS VERY CLEARLY THAT Reasoning is one of

the paths; it is the path of the Vedantists. But there is another

path, the path of bhakti. If a bhakta weeps longingly for the

Knowledge of Brahman, he received that as well. T"

 

"One may attain the Knowledge of Brahman by either path. Some retain

bhakti even after realizing Brahman, in order to teach humanity. An

Incarnation of God is one of these.

 

"A man cannot easily get rid of the ego and the consciousness that

the body is the soul. It becomes possible only when, through the

grace of God, he attains samadhi - nirvikalpa samadhi, jada samadhi.

 

"The ego of the Incarnations returns to them when they come down

from the plane of samadhi; but then it is the 'ego of Knowledge' or

the 'ego of Devotion'. Through the 'ego of Knowledge' they teach men.

Sankaracharya kept the 'ego of Knowledge'. "Through the 'ego of

Devotion' Chaitanyadeva tasted divine love and enjoyed the company of

the devotees. He talked about God and chanted His name."

 

HERE WE NEED TO DIfferentiate between* bhavasamadhi* and *nirvikalpa

samadhi. *

 

it is said that lord shiva is in Bhava Samadhi during day time and in

Nirvikalpa Samadhi at night.

 

Shri Ramakrishna's time was also spent in various types of

Samadhi. He ever dwelt in the state of Bhavamukha, which is the

threshold state between samadhi and normal consciousness.

 

Swami Sivananda has stated that whenever songs on Siva were sung in

the presence of Shri Ramakrishna, he entered into ecstasies close to

the Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Once songs on Siva were continuously sung and

shri ramakrishna entered deep into Nirvikalpa. Thereafter

he gave instructions that songs on Siva should be fo11owed by songs

on tbe Divine Mother- so that his mind could corne down easily from

Nirvikalpa Samadhi. During his Sadhana period, Sri Ramakrishna dwelt

continuously in the non- dual plane of Nirvikalpa Samadhi for six

months which is possible only for Avatars. Like Siva, our

paramahamsa was a past master of all types of Samadhi. Sri

Ramakrishna was indeed the living image of Siva.

 

infact, right before his mahasamadhi, shri ramakrishna told swami

vivekananda that he is an avatar of rama and krishna!!!

 

This experience of nirvikalpa samadhi also convinced Ramakrishna that

the Gods of the various religions are merely so many interpretations

of the Absolute, and that the Ultimate Reality could never be

expressed in human terms.

 

both devi bhakta and ompremji have uttered the rig vedic proclamation

"Ekam sad viprah bahuda vadanti"

 

"Truth is one but sages call it by many a name".

 

As a result of this insight, Ramakrishna actually practised Islam,

Christianity and various sects within Hinduism at different times.

 

The four key concepts in Ramakrishna's teachings were the following:

 

the oneness of existence

the divinity of human beings

the unity of God

the harmony of religions

 

SO, THE WHOLE POINT IN QUOTING SHRI RAMAKRISHNA SO EXTENSIVELY IN

THIS POST IS to state that our paramahamsa was unique in many

respects; he could come in and out of samadhi like an actor can

change costumes; he kept the 'ego of devotion' and 'ego of knowledge'

so that he could teach humanity, be in the company of bhaktas. he

also taught how 'maya' (samsaric) could be transcended to

reach 'mahamaya' the ultimate realty....

 

based on gospel and other texts....

 

ENJOY AND CELBRATE THE ONENESS WITH THE DIVINE!!!

 

hari om tsat sat......