A bit more on Nirvakalpa Smadhi

[Guest guest]

Dear Atmachitanya,

 

Since you are collecting the names of luminaries in support of your points, do

not overlook Krishna Menon (Sri Atmananda of Tivandrum), author of the great

advaitic tracts ATMA DARSHAN and ATMA NIRVRITTI. Sri Atmananda says in many

different places that Nirvikalpa Samadhi is a passing state. But the true goal

is that which has never passed, has never been missing, and which is never apart

from anything, the everpresent natural state. In Samadhi terms, it is called

Sahaja Samadhi, and it is irreversible.

 

On the other hand, Nirvikalpa Samadhi is often referred to as a "free sample."

It comes, it goes. It can lend inspiration and encouragement to the aspirant.

For many, it is the carrot, whereas suffering is the stick.

 

Harih OM!

 

--Greg

 

Sun, 16 Dec 2001 20:23:29 -0000

"atmachaitanya108" <stadri

Re: Importance of Samadhi in Advaita Vedanta

 

Dear Kaushal42,

Thank you for your thought provoking post. This topic is definitely not

"trivial", but of great significance to all those who are trying to grasp the

teachings of Advaita Vedanta, especially as expounded by Sri Shankara. For, 'If

the attainment of Samadhi is central to the experiential verification of

Vedanta', then all sincere seekers should immediately begin the practices of

Patanjali's ''Ashtanga Yoga', or Kundalini Yoga, or any other type of so called

'Yoga' which claims to result in the of attainment of a state in which all

distinctions subside, all duality vanishes, all subject and object phenomena

merge, i.e.; The state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi. The seeker should also realize

that the mere study of the Upanishads can only result in an 'indirect knowledge'

or 'intellectual conviction' about the nature of Reality, and without the

'Direct experience of Reality',which can only be had in the Nirvikalpa State,

Liberation can never be attained.

 

This also implies that 'the real Guru' is the one who has himself already

attained Nirvikalpa Samadhi, for without that attainment, he too would only have

a indirect knowledge of Reality. And that Guru should teach the seeker the

means, the 'Yoga', by which he can too can attain the Nirvikalpa Samadhi state,

and thereby get the Direct experience of Reality, and thus attain Liberation.

 

It should also be noted that almost every modern Advaita Vedantin, i.e;

Paramahasa RamaKrishna, Swami Vivekananda (and all other Ramakrishna Monks),

Swami Shivananda, Swami Chinmayananda, Ramana Maharshi, etc., etc., have all

thought, without exception, the necessity of Nirvikalpa Samadhi. And it is not

only these modern Advaita Vedantins, for we see these same teachings being

propagated by all 'post-Shankara' ancient Advaita Vedantins (with the sole

exception of Sureswaracharya), starting with Vichaspati Mishra's Bhamiti

School,where, when commenting on Brahma Sutra 2-3-39, he explains the word

'Drashtavya' (To be seen) as if it were a passage from Patanjali, and concludes

that it means that "Atman is 'to be seen' by means of Samadhi". And the author

of the Vivarana(the commentary on Padmapada's Panchapadika),and founder of the

'Vivarana School', Praksatman, offers an explanation for the apparent

inconsistency that one who has already had the experience of the Non-Dual Atman

still continues to perceive the manifold world. His explanation is that the

Experience of the Non-Dual Atman is only in the Yogic trance of 'Asamprajnata

Samadhi', while the perception of duality is due to the defect engendered by the

Prarabdha-Karma,the Karma whose effects are still fructifying and can subside

only after the body drops! All other writers on Vedanta, (Vimuktaman, Chitsuka,

Sri Harsha, Anandabodha, Vidyarana, Sarvajnatma, etc., up to our own times) also

follow in the footsteps of these two 'way-showers', and seem to think that the

experience of Vedantic truths are reserved for adepts in Patanjali Yoga.

 

The truth of the matter, at least according to Sri Shankara, is quite

different,for he clearly states that:

 

'THE ATTAINMENT OF SAMADHI IS OF NO MORE VALUE THAN THE ATTAINMENT OF DEEP

SLEEP, YOU GO INTO IT IGNORANT AND YOU COME OUT OF IT IGNORANT'

 

What this actually means is that it is not a matter of attaining a state in

which all duality is merged, for everyone, without exception, has that

experience without any effort at all in the state of deep sleep. What is

required, however, is the Knowledge that 'how I was in Deep sleep , or

Nirvikalpa Samadhi, is how I am right now', and this knowledge only arises from

the teaching of the Upanishads and not from going to sleep or attaining

Nirvikalpa Samahdi.

 

The very best proof that Nirvikalpa Samadhi is utterly useless for the

attainment of the Knowledge of the Non-Dual Self, is that Maharishi Patanjali

himself,having attained Nirvikalpa Samadhi, proclaimed THE TRUTH OF DUALITY not

Non-Duality!!

 

That ignorant person who thinks he has been passing through the states of

walking ,dream and deep sleep, and then at a particular time 'attained' the new

state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi,and then came out of it, is not a knower of the Self

of the Upanishads, the Self which is unchanging,beyond time and space,and

eternally free from all 'states'.

 

The subject of necessity of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, is one which every serious

student of Advaita Vedanta must come to terms with. My understanding of Shankara

Vedanta is that it is NOT dependant on the 'private, individual, mystical

experience of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, A state which has been attained only by a few,

but rather that, the Truths of Vedanta are based on Sarva Loka Anubava(the

experience that is common to all people,at all times,and all places,and that by

merely examining your own everyday experience,without reliance upon any mystical

state of Nirvikalpa, one can come to realize that his true Self is

Nitya-Shuda-Budha-Mukta Svabavah - (Having the Nature of being Eternally Pure,

Eternally Conscious and Eternally Free).

 

That this topic deserves much more investigation than the brief presentation

made above is obvious. However, I would like to see what the other learned

Vidvans have to say regarding this subject before pursuing it in further detail.

 

Hari Om

Atmachaitanya

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

advaitin, <goode@D...> wrote:

> Dear Atmachitanya,

>

> Sri Atmananda says in many different places that Nirvikalpa

Samadhi is a passing state. But the true goal is that which has

never passed, has never been missing, and which is never apart from

anything, the everpresent natural state. In Samadhi terms, it is

called Sahaja Samadhi, and it is irreversible.

>

 

When identification with the body has gone and the Supreme Self has

been realized, wherever the mind goes, it experiences Samadhi (or

perception of the Self).