Samadhi (समाधिः)

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Samadhi, which we could call absorption, is the capacity to become one with the obj ect of our perception. It is the unity of the perceiver and the perceived in direct perception, through which the nature of ultimate reality can be clearly known. Samadhi is our capacity to merge with things in consciousness that shows our joy and fulfillment in life. It brings us to the underlying Divine nature in all things . It is the natural outcome of true meditation. Samadhi or union is the goal of all that we seek. Yoga does this inwardly so that we can be one with all.

Concentration or dhāraṇā produces in us a state in which the natural wandering of our thoughts, the fluctuations of the psyche, are brought under control. In a state of concentration, the psyche attends to one thing so that there is intensification of activity of the mind in one particular direction. In a state of concentration the focus of attention is narrowed. This focus is expanded when one goes from concentration to contemplation or dhyāna. Contemplation helps to concentrate longer and to fix one’s attention on any object for a length of time with ease and in an effortless manner. When this is achieved, the psyche progresses to a standstill state in which the mind is steady and becomes one with the object of concentration. This is the state of samādhi.

परिचयः ॥ Introduction

The states of Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi are progressive in nature.

देशबन्धश्चित्तस्य धारणा ।। ३.१ ।। तत्र प्रत्ययैकतानता ध्यानं ।। ३.२ ।। तदेवार्थमात्रनिर्भासं स्वरूपशून्यं इव समाधिः ।। ३.३ ।।

Meaning: Dharana is holding the mind on to some particular object. An unbroken flow of knowledge to that object is Dhyana. When that, giving up all forms, reflects only the meaning, it is Samadhi.

That is, when in meditation all forms are given up. When the mind is trained to perceive only the internal sensations, the meaning, unexpressed in any form, that state of Dhyana is called Samadhi. Then, the form of the thing vanishes and only its meaning remains in the mind.

If you can fix the mind for ten seconds on a particular object or Murti, it is Dharana (concentration). Ten such Dharanas become Dhyana. Ten such Dhyanas become a Samadhi. This is according to Hatha Yoga.

The Progressive States of Samadhi

Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi are together known as Samyama.

When one has succeeded in making this Samyama, all powers come under his control. This is the great instrument of the Yogi. The object of knowledge are infinite, and they are divided into the gross, grosser, grossest, and the fine, finer, finest, and so on. This Samyama should be first applied to gross things, when when you begin to get knowledge of the gross, slowly, by stages, it should be brought to finer things.

However, These three (Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi) would not make the mind Nirvikalpa, changeless, but would leave the seeds for getting bodies again; only when the seeds are, as the Yogi says, “fried,” do they lose the possibility of producing further plants. These powers cannot fry the seed.

सर्वार्थतैकाग्रतयोः क्षयोदयौ चित्तस्य समाधिपरिणामः ।। ३.११ ।।

Meaning: Taking in all sorts of objects and concentrating upon one object, these two powers being destroyed and manifested respectively, the Chitta gets the modification called Samadhi.

Transcendence may be understood in a metaphysical, absolutistic, and otherworldly sense or in a relativistic and secular sense. In a relativistic sense, it is the progressive striving toward the goal of achieving the unconditioned state, the ideal of perfection. It signifies the transformation of the individual so that she overcomes in various degrees and through different stages the subjectively conditioned biases, prejudices, and predispositions that limit her knowledge, action, and being. These are represented as a variety of samādhi states in Patañjali yoga. (Refer to the chapter on consciousness)

The goal of yoga practice, as we frequently mention, is to control the natural tendency of the mind to wander. When the wanderings or mental fluctuations are controlled, one reaches a state of stillness, mental quiescence, quietude, and absorption. It is designated as a state of samādhi, where awareness is unaffected by the normal psychological processes that tend to bias and distort one’s thoughts and perceptions.

Again, samādhi has several shades and grades. Patañjali himself speaks of more than one variety of samādhi.

वितर्कविचारानन्दास्मितारूपानुगमात्संप्रज्ञातः ॥ १.१७ ॥

Meaning: The concentration called right knowledge is that which is followed by reasoning, discrimination, bliss, unqualified ego.

This Samadhi is divided into two varieties.

• Samprajnata
• Asamprajnata

The Samprajnata is of four varieites. In this Samadhi come all the powers of controlling nature.

• Savitarka

The first variety is called the Savitarka, when the mind meditates upon an object again and again, by isolating it from other objects. There are two sorts of objects for meditation, the categories of nature, and the Purusa. Again, the categories are of two varieties; the twenty-four categories are insentient, and the one sentient is the Purusa. When the mind thinks of the elements of nature by thinking of their beginning and their end, this is one sort of Savitarka. This part of Yoga is based entirely on Sankhya Philosophy. Egoism and will, and mind, have a common basis, and that common basis is called the Chitta, the mind-stuff, out of which they are all manufactured. This mind-stuff takes in the forces of nature, and projects them as thought. There must be something, again, where both force and matter are one. This is called Avyaktam, the unmanifested state of nature, before creation, and to which, after the end of a cycle, the whole of nature returns, to again come out after another period. Beyond that is the Purusa, the essence of intelligence. There is no liberation in getting powers. It is a worldly search after enjoyment in this life; all search for enjoyment is vain; this is the old, old lesson which man finds it so hard to learn. When he does learn it, he gets out of the universe and becomes free. The possession of what are called occult powers is only intensifying the world, and in the end intensifying suffering. Though, as a scientist, Patanjali is bound to point out the possibilities of this science, he never misses an opportunity to warn us against these powers. Knowledge is power, and as soon as we begin to know a thing we get power over it; so also, when the mind begins to meditate on the different elements it gains power over them. That sort of meditation where the external gross elements are the objects is called Savitarka.

Tarka means question, Savitarka with-question. Questioning the elements, as it were, that they may give up their truths and their powers to the man who meditates upon them.

• Nirvitarka

Again, in the very same meditation, when one struggles to take the elements out of time and space, and think of them as they are, it is called Nirvitarka, without-question.

• Savichara

When the meditation goes a step higher, and takes the Tanmatras as its object, and thinks of them as in time and space, it is called Savichara, with-discrimination.

• Nirvichara

When the same meditation gets beyond time and space, and thinks of the fine elements as they are, it is called Nirvichara, without-discrimination.

• Sananda

The next step is when the elements are given up, either as gross or as fine, and the object of meditation is the interior organ, the thinking organ, and when the thinking organ is thought of as bereft of the qualities of activity, and of dullness, it is then called Sanandam, the blissful Samadhi.

• Asmita Samadhi

In that Samadhi, when we are thinking of the mind as the object of meditation, before we have reached the state which takes us beyond the mind even, when it has become very ripe and concentrated, when all ideas of the gross materials, or fine materials, have been given up, and the only object is the mind as it is, when the Sattva state only of the Ego remains, but differentiated from all other objects, this is called Asmita Samadhi, and the man who has attained to this has attained to what is called in the Vedas “bereft of body.” He can think of himself as without his gross body; but he will have to think of himself as with a fine body. Those that in this state get merged in nature without attaining the goal are called Prakrtilayas, but those who do not even stop at any enjoyments, reach the goal, which is freedom.

विरामप्रत्ययाभ्यासपूर्वः संस्कारशेषोऽन्यः ॥ १.१८ ॥

Meaning: There is another Samadhi which is attained by the constant practice of cessation of all mental activity, in which the Chitta retains only the unmanifested impressions.

This is the perfect superconscious Asamprajnata Samadhi, the state which gives freedom. The first state does not give freedom, does not liberate the self. A person may attain to all powers, and yet fall again. There is no safeguard until the self goes beyond nature, and beyond conscious concentration. It is very difficult to attain, although its method seems very easy. Its method is to hold the mind as the object and allowing no thought to come into the mind, thus making it an entire vacuum. When one can really do this, in that moment one shall attain liberation. When persons without training and preparation try to make their minds vacant they are likely to succeed only in covering themselves with Tamas, material of ignorance, which makes the mind dull and stupid, and leads them to think that they are making a vacuum of the mind. To be able to really do that is a manifestation of the greatest strength, of the highest control. When this state, Asamprajnata, super-consciousness, is reached, the Samadhi becomes seedless. In that sort of concentration when there is consciousness, where the mind has succeeded only in quelling the waves in the Chitta and holding them down, they are still there in the form of tendencies, and these tendencies (or seeds) will become waves again, when the time comes. But when you have destroyed all these tendencies, almost destroyed the mind, then it has become seedless, there are no more seeds in the mind out of which to manufacture again and again this plant of life, this ceaseless round of birth and death. What one calls knowledge is a lower state than the one beyond knowledge. One must always bear in mind that the extremes look very much the same. The low vibration of light is darkness, and the very high vibration of light is darkness also, but one is real darkness, and the other is really intense light; yet their appearance is the same. So, ignorance is the lowest state, knowledge is the middle state, and beyond knowledge is a still higher state. Knowledge itself is a manufactured something, a combination; it is not reality.

The result of constant practice of this higher concentration is that all old tendencies of restlessness, and dullness, will be destroyed, as well as the tendencies of goodness too. It is just the same as with the metals that are used with gold to take off the dirt and alloy. When the ore is smelted down, the dross is burnt along with the alloy. So this constant controlling power will stop the previous bad tendencies and, eventually, the good ones also. Those good and evil tendencies will suppress each other, and there will remain the self, in all its glorious splendour, untrammelled by either good or bad, and that self is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. By giving up all powers it has become omnipotent, by giving up all life it is beyond mortality; it has become life itself. Then the self will know it neither had birth nor death, neither want of heaven nor of earth. It will know that it neither came nor went; it was nature which was moving, and that movement was reflected upon the self. The form of the light is moving, it is reflected and cast by the camera upon the wall, and the wall foolishly thinks it is moving. So it is the Chitta constantly moving, manipulating itself into various forms, and we think that we are these various forms. All these delusions will vanish. When that free self will command then whatever it desires will be immediately fulfilled; whatever it wants it will be able to do.

श्रद्धावीर्यस्मृतिसमाधिप्रज्ञापूर्वक इतरेषां ॥ १.२० ॥

Meaning: To others (this Samadhi) comes through faith, energy, memory, concentration, and discrimination of the real.

तत्र शब्दार्थज्ञानविकल्पैः संकीर्णा सवितर्का समापत्तिः ॥ १.४२ ॥

Meaning: Sound, meaning, and resulting knowledge, being mixed up, is (called Samadhi) with reasoning.

Sound here means vibration; meaning, the nerve currents which conduct it; and knowledge, reaction. In the different Samadhis that are called Savitarka or “with reasoning,” there is duality of subject and object, which results from the mixture of word, meaning, and knowledge. There is first the external vibration, the word; this, carried inward by the sense currents, is the meaning. After that there comes a reactionary wave in the Chitta, which is knowledge, but the mixture of these three makeup what we call knowledge. In all the meditations up to this we get this mixture as object of meditation. The next Samadhi is higher.

स्मृतिपरिशुद्धौ स्वरूपशून्येवार्थमात्रनिर्भासा निर्वितर्का ॥ १.४३ ॥

Meaning: The Samadhi called without reasoning (comes) when the memory is purified, or devoid of qualities, expressing only the meaning (of the meditated object).

When the word “cow” is pronounced, it enters through the ears and a wave is produced in the Chitta. That wave represents the idea of the cow, the form or the meaning as it is called. That apparent cow that is known is really the wave in the mind-stuff, and that comes as a reaction to the internal and external sound-vibrations, and with the sound, the wave dies away; that wave can never exist without a word. When one only thinks of the cow, and does not hear a sound, the sound is made by oneself faintly in the mind, and with that comes a wave. There cannot be any wave without this impulse of sound, and when it is not from outside it is from inside, and when the sound dies, the wave dies. What remains as the result of the reaction is knowledge.

These three are so closely combined in our mind that we cannot separate them. When the sound comes, the senses vibrate, and the wave rises in reaction; they follow so closely upon one another that there is no discerning one from the other; when this meditation has been practiced for a long time, memory, the receptacle of all impressions, becomes purified, and we are able clearly to distinguish them from one another. This is called “Nirvitarka,” concentration without reasoning.

एतयैव सविचारा निर्विचारा च सूक्ष्मविषया व्याख्याता ॥ १.४४ ॥

A process similar to the preceding is applied again, only, the objects to be taken up in the former meditations are gross; in this they are fine.

ता एव सबीजः समाधिः ॥ १.४६ ॥

Meaning: These concentrations are with seed.

These do not destroy the seeds of past actions, thus cannot give liberation, but what they bring to the Yogi is stated in the following aphorisms.

निर्विचारवैशारद्येऽध्यात्मप्रसादः ॥ १.४७ ॥ ऋतंभरा तत्र प्राज्ञा ॥ १.४८ ॥ श्रुतानुमानप्रज्ञाभ्यां अन्यविषया विशेषार्थत्वात् ॥ १.४९ ॥

Meaning: The concentration “without reasoning” being purified, the Chitta becomes firmly fixed. The knowledge in that is called “filled with Truth.”The knowledge that is gained from testimony and inference is about common objects. That from the Samadhi just mentioned is of a much higher order, being able to penetrate where inference and testimony cannot go.

Even after reading all the Vedas, one does not realise anything, but when their teachings are practised, then one attains to that state which realises what the Scriptures say, which penetrates where reason cannot go, and where the testimony of others cannot avail.

तज्जः संस्कारोऽन्यसंस्कारप्रतिबन्धी ॥ १.५० ॥ तस्यापि निरोधे सर्वनिरोधान्निर्बीजः समाधिः ॥ १.५१ ॥

Meaning: The resulting impression from this Samadhi obstructs all other impressions. By the restraint of even this (impression, which obstructs all other impressions), all being restrained, comes the “seedless” Samadhi.

The goal is to perceive the self. It cannot be perceived because it has got mingled up with nature, the mind and the body. The different waves (vruttis) that arise in the Chitta and cover the self make the self get mingled up with different identities like the nature, mind or body itself.

The real nature of the Soul is not perceived until all the waves have subsided; so, first, Patanjali teaches us the meaning of these waves; secondly, the best way to repress them; and thirdly, how to make one wave so strong as to suppress all other waves, fire eating fire as it were. When only one remains, it will be easy to suppress that also, and when that is gone, this Samadhi of concentration is called seedless; it leaves nothing, and the Soul is manifested just as It is, in Its own glory. Then alone we know that the Soul is not a compound, It is the only eternal simple in the universe, and, as such, It cannot be born, It cannot die, It is immortal, indestructible, the Ever-living Essence of intelligence.

Perfection in its ultimacy is a total absorption of the individual in the subject of experience, and a complete blending of one’s thinking, feeling, and willing to make one function as a holistic being. It involves complete coalescence of one’s cognitive, volitional, and affective states into a unified experience that transcends the conventional dichotomies of common experience, such as the subject and object, the “I-ness” and “otherness,” and reason and experience. It involves knowing truth (transcending subjective bias), experiencing bliss (transcending pain and pleasure), and acting free (transcending situational constraints).Again, the various states of samādhi, as described in the Yoga Sūtras, are states progressively leading to perfection.

Vedantic Perspective

Mind, minus Vrittis, with Samskaras, only is termed potential mind. In Savikalpa Samadhi, this form of potential mind exists. A Raja Yogi, in his Savikalpa Samadhi operates through this potential mind. If this potential mind is also destroyed, you enter into pure Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

Samadhi is superconscious state. It is union with Brahman. It is of two kinds: viz., Savikalpa and Nirvikalpa. When the mind is fixed in Brahman along with Triputi, viz., Jnata (knower), Jnana (Knowledge), and Jneya (knowable), it is Savikalpa Samadhi. There is recognition of subject and object in this Samadhi.

In Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the mind is fixed in Advitiya Brahman without any Triputi, i .e., the idea of knower, knowledge and knowable and is without recognition of subject and object. Savikalpa Samadhi is a means (Sadhana) to the end-Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Nirvikalpa Samadhi is the fruit or the result of Savikalpa Samadhi.

"Though there is a perception of duality in the Savikalpa Samadhi, inasmuch as there is distinct recognition of subject and object, yet the duality only helps to know the Advitiya Brahman; in the same way as in an earthen jar there is a perception of clay, though there may be an appearance of a jar. So also, there is the perception of the secondless Brahman alone, even though there may be an appearance of duality."

Nirvikalpa means free from all sorts of Vikalpas. Vikalpas are modifications and imaginations of the mind. The Nirvikalpa state of a Yogi is concerned with the mind.

Following the Upaniṣadic tradition, Śaṅkara offers three lines of argument in support of the existence of Brahman as supreme consciousness. The third line of argument, possibly the most central of them, is that its truth is revealed in meditative realization. In other words, the existence of Ātman is a matter of direct experience. Through the practice of meditation, one can attain a state of samādhi where he/she experiences consciousness as-such, participates in Brahman and realizes the oneness with it. It is a state of non-relational and nonintentional pure consciousness devoid of subject–object duality, a self-luminous state of absolute bliss. It is self-revealing in that it does not need anything else to reveal it, just as a burning lamp requires no other lamp to make it visible.

Steps to attain Samadhi

तपःस्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि क्रियायोगः ।। २.१ ।। समाधिभावनार्थः क्लेशतनूकरणार्थश्च ।। २.२ ।।

Meaning: Mortification, study, and surrendering fruits of work to God are called Kriya Yoga. (They are for) the practice of Samadhi and minimising the pain-bearing obstructions.

Tapas (Self-discipline), Svadhyaya (self-study) and Ishvara Pranidhana (surrender to God) are the foundation of Kriya Yoga, the yoga of internal action that renders one fit for samadhi.

The first step, the preliminary step towards Samadhi, is called Kriya Yoga. Literally this means work, working towards Yoga. The organs are the horses, the mind is the reins, the intellect is the charioteer, the soul is the rider, and this body is the chariot. Mortification refers to holding the reins firmly while guiding this body and mind: not letting the body do anything it likes, but keeping them both in proper control. Study refers to study of those books which teach the liberation of the soul. Vada and Siddhanta - these are the two sorts of Scriptural knowledge, Vada (the argumentative) and Siddhanta (the decisive). When a man is entirely ignorant he takes up the first part of this, the argumentative fighting, and reasoning, pro and con.; and when he has finished that he takes up the Siddhanta, the decisive, arriving at a conclusion. Also, books are infinite in number, and time is short; therefore the secret of knowledge is to take that which is essential. By “surrendering the fruits of work to God” is to take to ourselves neither credit nor blame, but to give both up to the Lord, and be at peace.

The results of Tapas, Svadhyaya & Ishwara Pranidhana

कायेन्द्रियसिद्धिरशुद्धिक्षयात्तपसः ।। २.४३ ।। स्वाध्यायादिष्टदेवतासंप्रयोगः ।। २.४४ ।। समाधिसिद्धिरीश्वरप्रणिधानात् ।। २.४५ ।।

Meaning: The result of mortification is bringing powers to the organs and the body, by destroying the impurity. By repetition of the mantram comes the realisation of the intended deity. By sacrificing all to Isvara comes Samadhi.

By resignation to the Lord, Samadhi becomes perfect.

A Hatha Yogi draws all his Prana from the different parts of his body and takes it to the Sahasrara Chakra at the top of the head. Then he enters into Samadhi. Therefore, it is very difficult to bring him down to objective consciousness by mere shaking of his body. Hatha Yogins have remained buried underneath the earth in Samadhi for several years. They plug the posterior nostrils through Khechari Mudra.

A Raja Yogi gets Nirodha Sarnadhi through Chitta-Vritti-Nirodha (by restraining the mental modifications).

A Bhakta gets Bhava Samadhi through Prema of the Lord. A Vedantin gets Nirvikalpa Samadhi through Nidhidhyasana.

Obstacles to Samadhi

ततः प्रातिभश्रावणवेदनादर्शास्वादवार्ता जायन्ते ।। ३.३६ ।। ते समाधावुपसर्गा. व्युत्थाने सिद्धयः ।। ३.३७ ।।

Meaning: the knowledge of hearing, touching, seeing, tasting, and smelling, are obstacles to Samadhi; but they are powers in the worldly state.

Synthesis of Yoga and Advaita

Yoga shares with Advaita the notion that humans are situated in an existential matrix of suffering and that the human endeavor is to overcome and change it. Along with its twin school Sāṁkhya, Yoga sketches a psychological system that is both a theory of human bondage and a practical method to overcome that bondage.

We have here a psychological conception of consciousness and appropriate methods for cultivating it. In Yoga, as in Upaniṣadic thought, we find a basic distinction between two fundamental forms of consciousness—transactional and transcendental forms. Transactional consciousness is empirical consciousness as in vyāvahārika realm in Advaita.

The source of both kinds of consciousness in Yoga is puruṣa. Puruṣa, like the Brahman in Advaita, is consciousness as-such. It is self-manifesting and selfluminous. It has no content, nor does it have an object one is conscious of. It is apprehended intuitively. It is in principle irreducible to any form or manifestation of matter.

The fundamental difference in the conception of consciousness between Advaita and Sāṁkhya-Yoga schools is that in the former Brahman is one, whereas in the latter the puruṣas are multiple. Further, in Advaita, Brahman is the eternal, unchanging sole reality without any duality, whereas in Sāṁkhya-Yoga prakṛti, the foundational basis of all material forms, is just as real as puruṣas. This recognition in Yoga of the duality of reality in puruṣa and prakṛti provides a smooth transition from the metaphysical to the psychological conception of consciousness. In Sāṁkhya-Yoga tradition, there is not a single puruṣa, like the Brahman, but a plurality of them. Here then is the transition from the metaphysical conception to a psychological representation of consciousness from the absolute to individual.

The goal in both Vedānta and Yoga is to realize transcendental consciousness; and this involves cultivated transcendence of sense-mediated and mind-generated awareness.

The main issue is the radically distinct nature of consciousness (Brahman, puruṣa) and the world of matter (prakṛti, māyā).

Both Advaita and Sāṁkhya-Yoga share the assumption that consciousness as-such does not interact with mind/body; but consciousness does manifest in a variety of forms in human experience. The problem is therefore one of explaining manifest consciousness in the world. It follows there are two kinds of consciousness, consciousness as-such and manifest consciousness. In some ways, the two are utterly different. Consciousness as-such (puruṣa or Brahman) is contentless and nonintentional. The manifest, phenomenal consciousness, however, is intentional and has content.

The person, as we pointed out, is a unique composite of consciousness, mind, and body. The mind of the person, more precisely the buddhi, has the unique ability to reflect consciousness. Buddhi itself, an evolute of prakṛti, is constituted by a combination of the three primary elements, sattva, rajas, and tamas. It is the sattva component that has a special relationship with puruṣa. We, therefore, read in the Yoga-Sūtras (III.55) that the purity of sattva in buddhi is equal to puruṣa in the state of kaivalya, which means that the reflections of buddhi, the images of puruṣa in the mind, are nearly perfect and the knowledge they generate is apodictically true. However, the buddhi is generally muddled because it is saddled by rajas and tamas, the distorting aspects that prevent sattva from providing a true reflection and give instead sensorially muddled awareness. According to Yoga, it is possible to progressively control and even eliminate/neutralize the influence of rajas and tamas on the buddhi. When this happens and sattva of the buddhi is on its own, it is able to access consciousness as-such in its reflections. This is the state of intuitive awareness, the kind of realization that is incorporated in Śruti statements. Śaṅkara has no quarrel with Yoga and its practices presumed to give extraordinary knowledge and abilities. He explicitly accepts them.