On Samadhi and Asthanga Yoga

[Guest guest]

Thanks Bob for your nice comments and some great posts on traditional

practices leading to Samadhi. Horia, you raise some good questions on the

nature of Samadhi. There is much literature on this topic in scriptures as

well as by modern writers.

 

Based on my experience, there are many different types of Samadhis. Samadhis

associated with Kundalini Yoga involve a loss of body consciousness as in

sleep (but there is retention of awareness at subtle levels). In higher

Samadhis, typically the body is temporarily paralyzed as in sleep. Traveling

to celestial planes, visions of angels, gods and the Goddess take place

during various types of Samadhis brought on by the rising of the Kundalini

Shakti. The highest Samadhi is Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Here, not only the body

consciousness, but any remaining mental consciousness is also lost so there

is no room for visions, thoughts, doubts, etc. The mind itself having been

swallowed up, time and space disappear. Here Fullness of Awareness

Recognizes It Self in All Clarity.

 

Love

Harsha

 

 

 

Horia Cristescu [horia]

Wednesday, September 06, 2000 10:08 AM

Kundalini-Gateway@

[K-list] On Asthanga Yoga

 

Hi Bob,

 

I like the way you explained the meaning of all the 8 limbs of Yoga. I was

always wondering what were the separation lines between pratyahara, dharana,

dhyana and samadhi. I just call them all 'meditation'. I know their

definitions but I never quite satisfactory understood the exact differences

in terms of personal experience. Your description sheds more light on this

matter.

 

I'm asking anyone who can help me : What are the exact signs of samadhi as

in personal experience, not theory ?

I think I experienced samadhi recently but I am not quite sure. It could

have been just a mental void or a state close to samadi.

 

Love

Horia

 

P.S. I just run my spell check and it tried to correct "samadhi" into

"salad". hahaha ))

 

> For review, the 8 limbs of yoga are:

>

> 1. Restraints (Yamas)

> -Non-harming & Non-lying (Ahimsa)

> -Non-stealing (Asteya)

> -Non-attachment to sensuality (Brahmacharya)

> -Non-possessiveness (Aparigraha)

>

> 2. Observances (Niyamas)

> -Purity of body and mind (Saucha)

> -Contentment (Samtosa)

> -Intensity for enlightenment (Tapas)

> -Spiritual study (Svadhyaya)

> -Surrender to ultimate truth (Ishvara Pranidhana)

>

> 3. Postures (Asanas)

>

> 4. Breath Control (Pranayama)

>

> 5. Withdrawal from worldly attachments (Pratyahara)

>

> 6. Bringing attention to a point- concentration (Dharana)

>

> 7. Expanding attention from a point- meditation (Dhyana)

>

> 8. Transcendence of attention to unbounded awareness (Samadhi)

[Guest guest]

Hello to Harsha, Horia and all,

 

 

Sharing in response to your post...from both my exposure to Robert Adams (a

self-realized devotee of Ramana Maharshi, who actually had an experience of

complete realization at the age of 14 - 4 years prior to meeting Ramana in

the flesh) and my own personal experience:

 

....when your concentration becomes one pointed, you go into a state of

Savikalpa Samadhi

 

....merging in consciousness for awhile, you taste the bliss of eternity. You

may become proficient in this samadhi; Nirvikalpa Samadhi, where you can do

feats like being buried alive and then being unburied and you're still

alive. You may make your heart stop beating, look as if you're dead, but you

have merged with Absolute Reality, but it doesn't last. You come back to the

world. This is as far as a person can go by themselves. It is only a rare

few who can go further by themselves. The average meditator has to find a

Satguru, one who has passed that stage, and the enlightened one may "give"

them Grace, that they may transcend that stage and go into

 

....Sahaja Samadhi, which is becoming normal again, but always in a state of

bliss, transcending the world, being in a permanent state of liberation and

yet back to functioning in the world. But deep inside you are not of this

world. You have become totally liberated. You have become Absolute Reality,

Pure Awareness, all-pervading and totally free.

 

However, all experiences are of a personal nature, and ultimately, the

greatest "samadhi" leads to the non-personal, nobody home; no individual

doership. In my own personal experience, (this is impossible to describe,

but I'll do the best I can) about 17 years ago, when I was not a meditator,

one day, while reading a book, ( nothing of significance) suddenly, my

breath was being sucked out of me. I have no idea how long this lasted.

Simultaneously, I felt an indescribable, almost unbearable Love and felt as

though my heart would burst. I felt connected to everybody and everything in

the entire Universe and beyond and in that instant there was a Knowing,

there was no time, only awareness.

 

Horia, in response to your question about the "signs", those would be of an

individual nature.

 

The Light of Awareness has brought the understanding that ultimately all

experiences are of the mind. All of the samadhis, eventually lead to the

greatest samadhi, Sahaja samadhi, wherein one is taken beyond mind; where

there is no experiencer left; all experiences melting away, revealing

nothing ever really happened, no you, but rather the "you" is the space in

which all experiences arise. You are "God".

 

Love to all,

 

jessica

 

 

 

-

"Harsha"

>

> Thanks Bob for your nice comments and some great posts on traditional

> practices leading to Samadhi. Horia, you raise some good questions on the

> nature of Samadhi. There is much literature on this topic in scriptures as

> well as by modern writers.

>

> Based on my experience, there are many different types of Samadhis.

Samadhis

> associated with Kundalini Yoga involve a loss of body consciousness as in

> sleep (but there is retention of awareness at subtle levels). In higher

> Samadhis, typically the body is temporarily paralyzed as in sleep.

Traveling

> to celestial planes, visions of angels, gods and the Goddess take place

> during various types of Samadhis brought on by the rising of the Kundalini

> Shakti. The highest Samadhi is Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Here, not only the body

> consciousness, but any remaining mental consciousness is also lost so

there

> is no room for visions, thoughts, doubts, etc. The mind itself having been

> swallowed up, time and space disappear. Here Fullness of Awareness

> Recognizes It Self in All Clarity.

>

> Love

> Harsha

>

> snip

> Horia Cristescu [horia]

>

> I'm asking anyone who can help me : What are the exact signs of samadhi as

> in personal experience, not theory ?

> I think I experienced samadhi recently but I am not quite sure. It could

> have been just a mental void or a state close to samadi.

>