PAUL BRUNTON DESCRIBES THE SAMADHI STATE

[Guest guest]

prof laxmi narain (prof_narain)

 

Source and courtesy: Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad

This article was published in Sri Ramana Jyothi,

monthly magazine of the Kendram.

 

PAUL BRUNTON DESCRIBES THE SAMADHI STATE

 

Paul Brunton, a British journalist, who visited India in search of

holy men, first met Sri Maharshi in 1930 and got fully captivated by

him. In his classic A Search in Secret India, published in 1934

he provides us a glimpse of the moment one experiences the Self.

The experience, which is said to be indescribable, has been captured

by him in a very vivid manner. It may be noted that all this happened

in the presence of Sri Maharshi in the hall. He says:

 

I enter the hall and slip quietly to the floor and straightway assume

my regular meditation posture. In a few seconds I compose myself and

bring all wandering thoughts to a strong center. An intense

interiorization of consciousness comes with the closing of the eyes.

 

The Maharshi's seated form floats in a vivid manner before my mind's

eye. Following Maharshi's frequently repeated instruction I endeavour

to pierce through the mental picture into that which is formless, his

real being his inner nature, his soul. To my surprise the effort

meets with almost instantaneous success and the picture disappears,

leaving me with nothing more than a strongly felt sense of his

intimate presence.

 

The mental questionings which have marked most of my earlier

meditations have lately begun to cease. Now comes the supreme

moment. In that concentration of stillness, the mind withdrawn into

itself, one's familiar world begins to fade off into shadowy

vagueness. Some new and powerful force comes into dynamic action

within my inner world and bears me inwards with resistless speed.

 

The power to think, which has hitherto been a matter for pride, now

becomes a thing from which I wanted to escape. Then follows a sudden

desire to stand outside the intellect and just be. I want to dive

into a place deeper than thought.

 

It is strange enough to be able to stand aside and watch the action

of the brain as though it were someone else's, and to see how the

thoughts arise and then die. I feel like some Columbus about to land

on an uncharted continent.

 

I remember that the Maharshi has never suggested that I should

attempt to force the stoppage of thinking. " Trace the thought to its

place of origin " , is his reiterated counsel, " watch for the real self

to reveal itself, and then your thoughts will die down of their own

accord. " The waves of thought begin to diminish. The workings of

logical rational sense drop towards zero point. I know that at any

moment I shall be standing outside things, on the very edge of the

world's secret.

 

Finally it happens. Thought is extinguished like a snuffed candle.

The intellect withdraws into its real ground, that is, consciousness

working unhindered by thoughts. The mind takes it rise in a

transcendental source. The brain has passed into a state of complete

suspension, yet there is not the slightest loss of consciousness. I

remain perfectly calm and fully aware of who I am and what is

occurring. Yet my sense of awareness has been drawn out of the narrow

confines of the separate personality; it has turned into something

sublimely all-embracing. Self still exists, but it is changed radiant

self. With it arrives an amazing new sense of absolute freedom, for

thought is like a loom-shuttle, which is always going to and fro, and

to be freed from its tyrannical motion is to step out of prison into

the open air.

 

I find myself outside the rim of world consciousness. The planet

which has so far harboured me, disappears. I am in the midst of an

ocean of blazing light. It stretches away into untellable infinite

space, incredibly alive. I, the new I , rest in the lap of holy

bliss. Yesterday's bitter memories and tomorrow's anxious cares have

disappeared completely. I have attained a divine liberty and an

almost indescribable felicity. I embrace all creation with profound

sympathy, for I understand in the deepest possible way that to know

all is not merely to pardon all, but to love all. My heart is

remolded in rapture.

(Source: The Maharshi and his Message, available at the Kendram's

bookstore.)