Understanding Nirvikalpa Samadhi, Part - II

[Guest guest]

Different Shades of Meaning

 

Surely, in the mystical experience of the school of bhakti (devotion)

the bhakta (devotee) strives to realize union. After having purified

his individuality, he merges in Ishvara or in his ishta (the chosen

ideal), and he will actually realise this union. But the sadhaka

(spiritual aspirant) who follows the Advaitic method will, in

nirvikalpa samadhi, attain the metaphysical Reality itself. This

Reality is also the Truth (satya) which may be formulated as follows:

Jiva (the individual soul) and Brahman (the Absolute) are identical

and, since this Truth is indivisible (akhanda), nothing would be more

wrong than to describe it as a ‘union’.

 

This misconception proceeds from the fact that we persist in using the

occidental term of ‘soul’, which we try to fit in with the

metaphysical realisation that takes place in nirvikalpa samadhi. But

the paramarthika jiva (the ontological individuality) has nothing in

common with the ‘soul’ in the sense which the Occident confers on the

latter term. The Buddhists, too, imagine that, in the conception of

the paramarthika jiva, an entity would be present as a concrete

reality. The Atman of the Vedanta, however, is quite different. If one

would like to describe Atman by using the terms of Buddhist philosophy

itself, one could say, in a sense, to arrive at ‘emptiness’ (shunya),

after having dissolved the five aggregates (skhandas) that make up the

human individuality although all Buddhist philosophers do not agree on

the meaning that is to be given to this ‘emptiness’: Does it, or does

it not represent absolute nothingness? It is a subject that has given

rise, and is still giving rise, to heated controversies! However,

modern criticism is inclined to admit that the Buddhism of Nagarjuna

and the Vedanta of Shankara expound each from a different angle the

same conception of the Absolute. The nirguna Brahman of the Vedanta

and the shunya of the Madhyamika Buddhists are probably referring to

the same spiritual experience which we call ‘nirvikalpa samadhi’.

Finally, one sometimes comes across another objection. The westerner

who does not know all that is implied by this realisation, expresses a

sort of repugnance, when he hears it said that, in this experience,

there is no longer any place for the ‘individuality’! If we examine

this spiritual experience no longer from without, but from within we

will find that the ‘I-sense’ is completely abolished there, since all

relations have ceased to exist. Therefore, in order to give one’s

sound judgment about this experience, we must try to put ourselves at

the level of the man who comes down to the ordinary plane of

consciousness again, and who defines his reactions with respect to the

world. What will the sage declare thenceforth? Will he come back and,

as a result, be richer or poorer? Those who have realized the

experience proclaim unanimously that their vision of life had changed

radically: The sage sees his own Self as the Self of all beings! He is

for ever freed from the ignorance that accompanied his earlier

individuality‘the old man’! That is also what the Bhagavad Gita (VI,

29-31) explains:

 

He who has attained stability of mind

through the practice of Yoga,

and who considers the whole spectacle

with the same regard,

he sees the Self in all beings,

and he sees all beings in the Self!

 

He who sees Me in all things,

and who sees all things in Me,

he is never separated from Me,

nor am I ever separated from him!

 

He who is established in unity,

who worships Me who dwells in all beings,

that yoginwhatever his way of life

also dwells in Me!

 

The Bhagavad Gita (VI, 28) also declares that the sage enjoys infinite

bliss, which is the result of contact with Brahman. In the

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (IV, 4, 23) again the same idea appears:

 

This, then, is the eternal glory

of the knower of Brahman!

It does not increase nor decrease

as a result of action!

Therefore, one should know the nature of That,

and of That alone!

After having known That,

one is no longer affected by evil actions.

Thus he who knows That as such,

has absolute mastery over his senses;

he is calm, recollected, patient and concentrated.

He sees the Self in his own (body) †"

He sees all as the Self.

Evil cannot dominate him:

It is he who is beyond all evil!

Evil cannot disturb him:

It is he who absorbs all evil.

He is without sin and without stain;

he is for ever freed from doubt †"

He is a true brahmana!

 

‘This, then, is the Kingdom of Brahman, O majesty,

and this Kingdom you have conquered, says Yajnavalkya.’

‘Master, I give you the whole empire of Videha,

and, in addition, I give myself to you in order to serve you!’

And the Chandogya Upanishad, too, declares that all is Brahman. The

only thing which is lost in the experience is the ignorance (ajnana)

which accompanied the individuality that ignorance which made one see

multiplicity and which created fear, the source of all evil.

 

The Point of ‘No-Return’

 

From the point of view of the ignorant, however, the experience of

non-manifestation is a state ‘from which there is no return to the

plane of empirical consciousness’. That is why it inspires those who

still entertain within themselves a desire for life and who remain

attached to their illusory individuality, with a sense of horror. It

is precisely this individuality which considers life as its exclusive

property and which, by particularizing it, revolts against the

Totality. The case is quite different for the sage who returns to

normal life after the experience of nirvikalpa samadhi. He declares

that one and the same pulsation animates the whole cosmos, and that

the manifestation proceeds from one and the same Entity: It is this

homogeneous Reality which is experienced in nirvikalpa samadhi. Then

one is but one with the ‘All’, and this inner revelation impresses a

new orientation upon the human endeavor. Thus, and only thus, will we

be able to understand the full significance of Love, the Love that

incorporates and welds our being into the Totality, in an

undifferentiated Consciousness. Wherever the notion of ‘part’ or

‘fraction’ arises, there also an obstacle is raised on the road

leading to the realisation of that Love.

 

In his commentary on the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (II, 1, 20) Shankara

says:

 

‘In order to assure oneself, through direct experience, of the true

nature of Brahman, the sage should abstain from thinking of that

nature in terms of ‘all’, of ‘part’ or of ‘fraction’ of ‘cause’

or of

‘effect’. For the real meaning of the Upanishads is to remove all

finite conceptions that are attached to Brahman.’

 

Further on Shankara adds:

 

‘In the transcendental Self all conditions become only possible

through the adventitious limitations of names-and-forms.’

 

The Meaning of Jnana

 

This, then, is what is realized experimentally during nirvikalpa

samadhi. And, when next the manifested aspect is unfolded before the

eyes of the sage, the latter knows that, in reality, the

names-and-forms of which his individuality was only a passing

expression, are no other than Atman himself. To the common man,

however, all that consists of names-and-forms is opposed to his own

individuality. But, truly speaking, both the asmat jagat (the inner

world) and the yushmat jagat (the outer world) are the same Brahman.

Thus we read in the Vivekachudamani (231, 237-38):

 

Surely, this whole universe is Brahman! †"

Such is the august verdict of the Atharva Veda.

Therefore, all that exists is Brahman

and nothing but Brahman.

Under no condition can that

which is superimposed upon any substratum,

have an existence independent of that substratum.

That is why everything

that is manifested before our eyes

in other words, this whole universe

is the supreme Brahman,

the one Reality, the One without a second,

pure Being, pure Intelligence,

the Unconditioned, the silent Peace,

the Unlimited without beginning or end,

the Witness who remains apart from all activity†"

absolute Bliss.

And Brahman transcends the world of multiplicity

produced by maya †"

that other name for ignorance.

He is eternal and can never be touched

by a shadow of suffering.

He is indivisible, incommensurable,

without form, undifferentiated,

inexpressible and immutable.

He shines with his own Light!

 

The jnana yogin is endowed with discernment and, therefore, he knows

that anything that harbours the ‘I-sense’ within himself, will prevent

him from obtaining jnana the Knowledg eand that it will incite him to

go in search of happiness again. Therefore, by conducting his enquiry

(vichara) based on discrimination (viveka), and by following, parallel

to it, spiritual discipline (sadhana) in order to evoke the experience

of samadhi, he attempts to raise ‘the self by the Self’. The mental

mode (vritti) immediately preceding the experience of samadhi is to be

prepared long before through the unceasing discernment between the

Real and the unreal. In that way the aspirant succeeds in cutting, one

by one, the last bonds which still kept him attached to happiness and

suffering. Whatever the intellectual conviction that one may have

obtained regarding Advaita, it cannot suffice: It is the whole being

which is to give its assent to the eternal Truth of Advaita. However,

the thirst for life (abhinivesha) which always remains as the

determinant factor in the most secret recesses of our individuality,

will never accept to give up all attachment to the ego despite our

intellectual conviction. Such total renunciation is only realized in

the experience of samadhi.

 

Samadhi is Not Deep Sleep.

 

One also should not identify deep sleep (sushupti) with samadhi, for

the experience of sushupti, although taking us, too, to the heart of

non-manifestation, does not bring with it the enlightenment which

invariably accompanies nirvikalpa samadhi. In fact, the supreme

realisation is an act of the waking state, and the mental disposition

that characterizes the waking state immediately before the experience,

is of the highest importance.

 

We slip into deep sleep while overcome by fatigue, whereas the sage,

before plunging into samadhi, finds himself in a mental disposition

that is particularly pure and luminous: At that moment the buddhi

(reason) shines with a vivid splendour the ego which is about to be

dissolved into unconditioned Consciousness, knows only too well what

its imminent fate is going to be.

 

According to Yoga the illumination of the buddhi produces a particular

mental wave in the one who redescends from samadhi. Then an inner

voice declares: ‘All this †" this whole universe †" is Brahman!’:

‘Sarvam khalvidam Brahma’. With the sage who returns from samadhi,

long discipline has developed the appropriate mental mode, and

therefore he can adhere with all his being to the Truth, giving life

to that which, before, was only an intellectual conviction.

The experience of samadhi stamps the mind of the aspirant with the

seal of an infallible authority which is realized as the highest

degree of discrimination. Knowledge (jnana) thus yields the ultimate

Truth.

 

(Concluded.)

[Guest guest]

Dear Advaitins,

 

Due to some problems the previous post contains lot of junk

characters. Hence, I am resending this mail. Please ignore the

previous mail. Hope this mail reaches the group in a good

condition. :-)

 

Different Shades of Meaning

 

Surely, in the mystical experience of the school of bhakti

(devotion) the bhakta (devotee) strives to realize union. After

having purified his individuality, he merges in Ishvara or in his

ishta (the chosen ideal), and he will actually realise this union.

But the sadhaka (spiritual aspirant) who follows the Advaitic method

will, in nirvikalpa samadhi, attain the metaphysical Reality itself.

This Reality is also the Truth (satya) which may be formulated as

follows: Jiva (the individual soul) and Brahman (the Absolute) are

identical and, since this Truth is indivisible (akhanda), nothing

would be more wrong than to describe it as a `union'.

 

This misconception proceeds from the fact that we persist in using

the occidental term of `soul', which we try to fit in with the

metaphysical realisation that takes place in nirvikalpa samadhi. But

the paramarthika jiva (the ontological individuality) has nothing in

common with the `soul' in the sense which the Occident confers on

the latter term. The Buddhists, too, imagine that, in the conception

of the paramarthika jiva, an entity would be present as a concrete

reality. The Atman of the Vedanta, however, is quite different. If

one would like to describe Atman by using the terms of Buddhist

philosophy itself, one could say, in a sense, to arrive

at `emptiness' (shunya), after having dissolved the five aggregates

(skhandas) that make up the human individuality although all

Buddhist philosophers do not agree on the meaning that is to be

given to this `emptiness': Does it, or does it not represent

absolute nothingness? It is a subject that has given rise, and is

still giving rise, to heated controversies! However, modern

criticism is inclined to admit that the Buddhism of Nagarjuna and

the Vedanta of Shankara expound each from a different angle the same

conception of the Absolute. The nirguna Brahman of the Vedanta and

the shunya of the Madhyamika Buddhists are probably referring to the

same spiritual experience which we call `nirvikalpa samadhi'.

 

Finally, one sometimes comes across another objection. The westerner

who does not know all that is implied by this realisation expresses

a sort of repugnance, when he hears it said that, in this

experience, there is no longer any place for the `individuality'! If

we examine this spiritual experience no longer from without, but

from within we will find that the `I-sense' is completely abolished

there, since all relations have ceased to exist. Therefore, in order

to give one's sound judgment about this experience, we must try to

put ourselves at the level of the man who comes down to the ordinary

plane of consciousness again, and who defines his reactions with

respect to the world. What will the sage declare thenceforth? Will

he come back and, as a result, be richer or poorer? Those who have

realized the experience proclaim unanimously that their vision of

life had changed radically: The sage sees his own Self as the Self

of all beings! He is for ever freed from the ignorance that

accompanied his earlier individuality' the old man'! That is also

what the Bhagavad Gita (VI, 29-31) explains:

 

He who has attained stability of mind

Through the practice of Yoga,

and who considers the whole spectacle

with the same regard,

he sees the Self in all beings,

and he sees all beings in the Self!

He who sees Me in all things,

and who sees all things in Me,

he is never separated from Me,

nor am I ever separated from him!

He who is established in unity,

who worships Me who dwells in all beings,

that yogin whatever his way of life

also dwells in Me!

 

The Bhagavad Gita (VI, 28) also declares that the sage enjoys

infinite bliss, which is the result of contact with Brahman. In the

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (IV, 4, 23) again the same idea appears:

 

This, then, is the eternal glory

of the knower of Brahman!

It does not increase nor decrease

as a result of action!

Therefore, one should know the nature of That,

and of That alone!

After having known That,

one is no longer affected by evil actions.

Thus he who knows That as such,

has absolute mastery over his senses;

he is calm, recollected, patient and concentrated.

He sees the Self in his own (body) –

He sees all as the Self.

Evil cannot dominate him:

It is he who is beyond all evil!

Evil cannot disturb him:

It is he who absorbs all evil.

He is without sin and without stain;

he is for ever freed from doubt –

He is a true brahmana!

`This, then, is the Kingdom of Brahman, O majesty,

and this Kingdom you have conquered, says Yajnavalkya.'

`Master, I give you the whole empire of Videha,

and, in addition, I give myself to you in order to serve you!'

And the Chandogya Upanishad, too, declares that all is Brahman. The

only thing which is lost in the experience is the ignorance (ajnana)

which accompanied the individuality that ignorance which made one

see multiplicity and which created fear, the source of all evil.

 

The Point of `No-Return'

 

From the point of view of the ignorant, however, the experience of

non-manifestation is a state `from which there is no return to the

plane of empirical consciousness'. That is why it inspires those who

still entertain within themselves a desire for life and who remain

attached to their illusory individuality, with a sense of horror. It

is precisely this individuality which considers life as its

exclusive property and which, by particularizing it, revolts against

the Totality. The case is quite different for the sage who returns

to normal life after the experience of nirvikalpa samadhi. He

declares that one and the same pulsation animates the whole cosmos,

and that the manifestation proceeds from one and the same Entity: It

is this homogeneous Reality which is experienced in nirvikalpa

samadhi. Then one is but one with the `All' and this inner

revelation impresses a new orientation upon the human endeavour.

Thus, and only thus, will we be able to understand the full

significance of Lovethe Love that incorporates and welds our being

into the Totality, in an undifferentiated Consciousness. Wherever

the notion of `part' or `fraction' arises, there also an obstacle is

raised on the road leading to the realisation of that Love.

 

In his commentary on the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (II, 1, 20)

Shankara says:

 

`In order to assure oneself, through direct experience, of the true

nature of Brahman, the sage should abstain from thinking of that

nature in terms of `all', of `part' or of `fraction' of `cause' or

of `effect'. For the real meaning of the Upanishads is to remove all

finite conceptions that are attached to Brahman.'

 

Further on Shankara adds:

 

`In the transcendental Self all conditions become only possible

through the adventitious limitations of names-and-forms.'

 

The Meaning of Jnana

 

This, then, is what is realized experimentally during nirvikalpa

samadhi. And, when next the manifested aspect is unfolded before the

eyes of the sage, the latter knows that, in reality, the names-and-

forms of which his individuality was only a passing expression, are

no other than Atman himself. To the common man, however, all that

consists of names-and-forms is opposed to his own individuality.

But, truly speaking, both the asmat jagat (the inner world) and the

yushmat jagat (the outer world) are the same Brahman.

 

Thus we read in the Vivekachudamani (231, 237-38):

Surely, this whole universe is Brahman! –

Such is the august verdict of the Atharva Veda.

Therefore, all that exists is Brahman

and nothing but Brahman.

Under no condition can that

which is superimposed upon any substratum,

have an existence independent of that substratum.

That is why everything

that is manifested before our eyes

in other words, this whole universe

is the supreme Brahman,

the one Reality, the One without a second,

pure Being, pure Intelligence,

the Unconditioned, the silent Peace,

the Unlimited without beginning or end,

the Witness who remains apart from all activity–

absolute Bliss.

And Brahman transcends the world of multiplicity

produced by maya –

that other name for ignorance.

He is eternal and can never be touched

by a shadow of suffering.

He is indivisible, incommensurable,

without form, undifferentiated,

inexpressible and immutable.

He shines with his own Light!

 

The jnana yogin is endowed with discernment and, therefore, he knows

that anything that harbours the `I-sense' within himself, will

prevent him from obtaining jnana the Knowledgeand that it will

incite him to go in search of happiness again. Therefore, by

conducting his enquiry (vichara) based on discrimination (viveka),

and by following, parallel to it, spiritual discipline (sadhana) in

order to evoke the experience of samadhi, he attempts to raise `the

self by the Self'. The mental mode (vritti) immediately preceding

the experience of samadhi is to be prepared long before through the

unceasing discernment between the Real and the unreal. In that way

the aspirant succeeds in cutting, one by one, the last bonds which

still kept him attached to happiness and suffering. Whatever the

intellectual conviction that one may have obtained regarding

Advaita, it cannot suffice: It is the whole being which is to give

its assent to the eternal Truth of Advaita. However, the thirst for

life (abhinivesha) which always remains as the determinant factor in

the most secret recesses of our individuality, will never accept to

give up all attachment to the ego despite our intellectual

conviction. Such total renunciation is only realized in the

experience of samadhi.

 

Samadhi is Not Deep Sleep

 

One also should not identify deep sleep (sushupti) with samadhi, for

the experience of sushupti, although taking us, too, to the heart of

non-manifestation, does not bring with it the enlightenment which

invariably accompanies nirvikalpa samadhi. In fact, the supreme

realisation is an act of the waking state, and the mental

disposition that characterizes the waking state immediately before

the experience, is of the highest importance.

 

We slip into deep sleep while overcome by fatigue, whereas the sage,

before plunging into samadhi, finds himself in a mental disposition

that is particularly pure and luminous: At that moment the Buddha

(reason) shines with a vivid splendor the ego which is about to be

dissolved into unconditioned Consciousness, knows only too well what

its imminent fate is going to be.

 

According to Yoga the illumination of the buddhi produces a

particular mental wave in the one who redescends from samadhi. Then

an inner voice declares: `All this – this whole universe – is

Brahman!': `Sarvam khalvidam Brahma'. With the sage who returns from

samadhi, long discipline has developed the appropriate mental mode,

and therefore he can adhere with all his being to the Truth, giving

life to that which, before, was only an intellectual conviction.

 

The experience of samadhi stamps the mind of the aspirant with the

seal of an infallible authority which is realized as the highest

degree of discrimination. Knowledge (jnana) thus yields the ultimate

Truth.

 

(Concluded.)