Showing posts with label Samadhi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Samadhi. Show all posts

Monday, 24 July 2023

Samadhi - The final stage of Enlightenment

I got the answer while reading a commentary on Isha Upanishad. We seek that based on what we understand it to be. So what we think is enlightenment or understand what enlightenment is or have heard or have been told it is will determine what it is. This is what I read : 1. We live in the a-surya loka. A world devoid of light (a capacity to see the reality as it exists) because there is no prevailing light. Even the smallest flame brightens the space around when we are in a dark room. So the final stage of enlightenment is to get to hold the flame and see all that exists with clarity.
It also answers / guides how to proceed. This is what it says.
2. We view existence when awake limited by I-ness, my-ness / not my-ness, our body, our relationships and associations of sorts and our understanding. The associations are the blocks. Then in sleep we view existence limited by the mind. It is the mind which uses stored memories, relationships and associations to generate existence which we hold true in that state. Then in deep sleep stage we are in an ocean of null-ness. We know of its existence but not what it is. The reality is beyond that state. Why? We will now see. Our consciousness is limited by our body (personal existence), in sleep consciousness is limited by our mind. We have no consciousness of what exists when we are in deep sleep. We conclude its existence by inference not knowing what it really is. Then about the fourth state - it is impenetrable, knowable like being a fish that has become one with the water, meaning it is of water, living in water, gulping and throwing out water. That is its reality. So also of the fourth state we are the whole and at the same time every minutes to part of the whole whether we be there or not like when water molecules evaporate into the atmosphere. Do they loose their waterness. No they don't. So also we are that whole in its entirety and not different from it or any part of it. We experience and infer its suchness. So be we awake, asleep, in deep sleep - literally the three worlds material, of mind, the impenetrable and the one whole remaining one with the whole as the whole is the last stage of enlightenment. That is when we see the reality by becoming one with the reality - consciousness itself like researchers build how molecules are structured using molecular models.
3. To end it all we need to understand the word Hiranyagarbha. Our life started off with a fertilised egg. So also for any and every conceivable thing or idea there is its primordial seed form. For the impenetrable wholeness is its conciousness also variously experienced one life force, one existenceness, one being, one isness. That is its Hiranyagarbha.
This one surah from the Qur-an says it all.
Allah. La ilah illa huva. Lam yalid wa lam yoolad. Wa lam yakun la hu kufwan ahad = there is nothing matching, comparable to him.
The named God - diety of Islam is the embodied version of reality.
The same is identified as Atman as partial existence and Brahman as universal existence.
The one and the all and not but it in whole and part.
Realising this is the final stage of realisation of enlightenment, of emancipation. It is ever present without beginning or end. Ever in flux and ever existing, alive, life itself, all knowing, the being, the isness, consciousness.
Om tat sat
Hence the verse
Sahna vavatu, sahanau bhunaktu, sahaveeryam karavavahai, tejasvinam dheetamastu, ma vid vishavahi, om shanti, shanti, shantihi. 
*Om sahana vavatu*
ॐ सह नाववतु
Om, may God protect both teacher and student
*Saha nau bhunaktu*
सह नौ भुनक्तु
May He nourish us together
*Saha viiryam karavaavahai*
सह वीर्यं करवावहै
May we work together with great energy
*Tejasvi Navaditamastu*
तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु
May our studies be enlightening.
*Maa vidvissaavahai*
मा विद्विषावहै
May there be no hate among us
*Om shanti, shanti, shanti*
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः
Om peace, peace, peace

This is my copy of post on Quora of date 24 July 2023
in answer to a question "what is the last stage of Enlightenment. 

Thursday, 27 October 2022

I am That

I am that. Signature statement of Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Explained by Papaji (Harivanvsh Lal Poonja) on how Ramana Maharshi put forth resulting in the liberation of Papaji.



What appears and dis-appears is not real.
You saw him (Krishna), he dis-appeared. You remained. The seer remained. Now find out who the seer is? The real seer is beyond all this. The seer is the abiding source and substance of all that exists. It is called the self. It has nothing to do with mind or the personality. It is the continuous presence that abides timelessly and formlessly as the real nature and heart of all beings. We live in the illusion that we exist overlooking the abiding presence. Directing the mind to the source. This is the enquiry to be pursued. Get the mind to face the source. What is mind? Thought. What is thought. I. Let the I face the source. Now this facing the source is called enquiry. Now the I is facing the source. Just like mirror, reflecting. When you look at a mirror, what do you see? Our reflection. When we keep aside the mirror, where does the reflection go? Back to the face. No this I was enquiring from its own source which was reflected to the mind mind to the senses, senses to the body and body to the objects. So this universe. So this is the method of Ramana Maharshi. Striking at the root of the mind. Other kinds of practices are with the mind. Result will be mental. Or with yoga, physical. By striking at the root of mind, mind is no more. So by getting the I to face its source. The I merges with the source. It becomes that. Thus the man will experience the ever abiding freedom.

For interview of which this is a transcript see this YouTube Video.

https://youtu.be/k-7Iip6lk8Q


Wednesday, 13 May 2020

What is Samadhi

What is samadhi?

Samadhi is a state achieved by prescribed practices resulting in:

1. Becoming equipoised.

2. Becoming free of five fetters.

3. Gaining oneness with consciousness itself.

4. Becoming absorbed in God consciousness.

Becoming equipoised: Samadhi - becoming Sama Aadheen (सम आधीन). This is achieved by engaging in practices that result in a Stitha-Pradnyaa (स्थितप्रज्ञा) Awastha (अवस्था). Awastha = condition or state; Stitha-pradnyaa = steady wisdom. You can get more on this from the India Scripture of Bhagwat Geeta and from Vivekananda's Rajayoga.

Becoming free of five fetters (klesha-impurity causing tendencies or givens in human mind): We humans are affected by activation of - Manah = mind; Buddhi = intellect; Ahamkriti = Ego or My-ness or Possessiveness; and Chitta Vrutti = Tendencies sullying content of mind stuff; Of these Ahamkriti and Chitta are the most difficult to resolve. Ahamkriti is resolved by becoming free of ego. It is similar to but beyond the state of dreamless sleep called turiya = the fourth state. Chitta Vruttis are resolved by working on the sullying caused by activation of memories, ignorance, imagining into being of reality, naming and rationalising by offering of proofs.

Gaining oneness with consciousness itself: The universal being (meaning is-ness) and presence is called by name Brahman (ब्रहमन). This is everywhere always - within, without, containing, contained and forming, supporting, creating, destroying et al. Its aspect in parts is called Atman (आतमन/इत्मा) - closest word though not synonymous is soul.

Becoming ‘self’-absorbed and as a result consciousness itself is samadhi.

Becoming absorbed in God-consciousness: In this practice the practitioner becomes absorbed in God being the ultimate goal, doer, done and all by one of many routes - by gaining knowledge - dnyana marga (ज्ञान मार्ग), by engaging in action - karma marga (कर्म मार्ग), bhakti marga (भक्ती मार्ग) and / or dhyana marga -(ध्यान मार्ग) engaging in meditative practices.

Conventionally when one speaks about samadhi in India it means giving up the mortal body by progressively stopping / extinguishing carnal, bodily, psychological, mental needs and finally breath and thereby life as a body. Thus it is the merger of the part with the whole. There is exhaustive literature on nirvikalpa samadhi, savikalpa samadhi and mahasamadhi. A short description of each is given in the screenshot that follows (please tap / click the screenshot to view clearly).