Essence of Vedanta - Part 34

THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF SAMADHI

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

A Bhakta gets Bhava-Samadhi through Prema of the Lord. 

A Vedanti gets Bheda-Samadhi through intense mediation  and concentration on the idea of the Asti-Bhati-Priya ( sat-chit-ananda or satyam Jnanam Anantam which is explained in previous posts,

It is only the Raja Yogi who attempts the annihilation of the Vrittis, the Nirodha Samadhi ("Yogaschittavrittinirodhah" -Patanjali Yoga Sutras, I-2). 

A Vedanti has always Atma-Bhava, Brahma-Bhava whenever he comes across objects. So he does not try to annihilate the Vrittis. 

There is no Pratyahara for him. There is no Bahirmukha Vritti for him. He rejects Nama-Rupa and takes Asti-Bhati-Priya (Bheda-Samadhi). 

A Bhakta sees Narayana or Krishna in all objects. He also does not check the Vrittis. He, like the Vedanti, changes his mental attitude. It is the mind that creates all the differences and separateness. 

The world is all Ananda, only if you change your angle of vision, your mental attitude. You will find heaven on earth.

You can bring down to normal objective consciousness a Raja Yogi or Bhakti Yogi or Jnana Yogi by mere shaking of the body or blowing a conch. Chudalai brought down her husband Sikhidhvaja from Samadhi by shaking his body. Lord Hari brought Prahlada down from his Samadhi by blowing His conch.

SAMADHI THROUGH RAJA YOGA

Deep meditation leads to Samadhi or oneness with God. If you can fix the mind for ten seconds steadily on a particular object or Murti, it is Dharana (concentration). Ten such Dharanas become Dhyana (meditation). 

Ten such Dhyanas form a Samadhi. The mind is filled with Atman or God. Mind loses its own consciousness and becomes identified with the object of meditation (Tatchitta, Tanmaya, Tadakara). 

Just as a toy made of salt melts in water, even so, the mind melts in Brahman in Nirvikalpa Samadhi. A sudden stroke of mystic illumination puts an end to all the empirical existence altogether and the very idea or remembrance of such a thing as this world or the narrow individuality of the spirit in this world absolutely leaves the Self.

In trained Yogis, you cannot say where Pratyahara (abstraction) ends and Dharana (concentration) begins; where Dharana ends and Dhyana (meditation) begins; where Dhyana ends and Samadhi (superconscious state) begins. 

The moment they sit on the Asana, all the processes occur simultaneously with electric or lightning speed and they enter Samadhi at their conscious will. 

In the neophytes, Pratyahara first takes place. Then Dharana begins. Then Dhyana slowly commences. Before Samadhi manifests, their minds, getting impatient and tired, drop down. Constant and intense Sadhana, with light but nutritious food, will bring about sanguine success in getting Samadhi.

YOGIC SAMADHI AND VEDANTIC SAMADHI

There is a difference between the Nirvikalpa state of a Yogi and the Nirvikalpa state of a Vedantin. The former concerns the mind. The latter concerns the pure Atman or Brahman only. 

In Yogic Samadhi, Dhyeya remains. Dhyeya means the object of meditation. In Vedantic Samadhi, Kevala Asti (Existence alone) remains.

Continued......

Essence of Vedanta - Part 33

Dear All,

With readers maintaining silence for reasons known to them only, author is bringing this theme " essence of vedanta" to an end in this blog soon.

THAT GOD / PURE CONSCIOUSNESS which exists in all waking, dream, deep sleep state, which is experienced for split of seconds in the depth of mediation when mind vanishes, was explained as SATHYAM, JNANAM, ANANTAM in previous posts. 

This was given in the first verse in Brahmananda Valli in the taittriya upanishad in the first part of its first verse.

OM ! brahmavidapnoti param | tadesa'bhyukta | satyam jnanamanantam brahma | yo veda nihitam guhayam parame vyoman | so'snute sarvan kaman saha | brahmana vipasciteti || 

 (OM ! The knower of Brahman attains the highest . Here is a verse uttering that very fact : " Brahman is truth , knowledge , and infinite . One who knows that Brahman as existing in the intellect which is lodged in the supreme space in the heart , enjoys , in identification with the all-knowing Brahman , all desirable things simultaneously )

The author  can take up the essence of "GOD/ THAT/ SOURCE/ BRAHMAN" from each of the 11 major upanishads and keep explaining. The essence /truth is one but it has been explained in 108 upanishads. Purpose being that, may be, a sincere aspirant, not able to take in/ penetrate the truth explained in one upanishad, may strike and reach the target/ goal while contemplating on the other upanishad.

How ever, there has been no response what so ever from the readers for all the posts that have been given so far on this theme " essence of vedanta" which is pregnant with Brahma Jnana in all its subtlety and yet in all its grandeur.

So, if the explanations given till now is actually understood by the readers, it is more than enough and if nothing is understood by the reader, then further exposition of all / many other verses on BRAHMAN may also be of less use!!!!

In these concluding posts on the theme, let us look at the final culmination of sadhana in various paths, which is referred to as SAMADHI.

 SAMADHI

When the mind is completely absorbed in one object of meditation, it is termed Samadhi. 

The mind identifies itself with the object of meditation. 

In Samadhi, there is neither Dhyana nor Dhyata (neither meditation nor meditator). The meditator and meditated, the thinker and the thought, the worshipper and the worshipped become one or identical. 

The Triputi (triad) vanishes. The mind loses its own consciousness and becomes identical with the object of meditation. The meditator has dissolved his personality in the sea of God, drowned and forgotten there till he becomes simply the instrument of God. When his mouth opens, it speaks God's words without effort or forethought through direct intuition and, when he raises his hand, God flows again through that to work a miracle.

Samadhi is not a stone-like inert state as many people imagine. A life in the spirit (Atman or Divine) is not annihilation. When the self is bound down to its empirical accidents, its activities are not fully exercised and, when the limitations of the empirical existence are transcended, the universal life is intensified and you have enrichment of Self. You will have a rich inner life. You will have an expanded cosmic life and supra-cosmic life, too.

Continued......

Sri Chinmoy

God and Humanity

God has a living Breath,

And the name of that Breath is man.

Man has a living Goal,

And the name of that Goal is God.

Man and God are one another's supreme necessity. Man needs God for his highest transcendental realisation and God needs man for His absolute earthly manifestation. 

Man needs God to realise his highest truth, his highest existence. God needs man to manifest Him here on earth totally, divinely and supremely.

We feel that we need God more than God needs us, but this is wrong. God needs us equally, if not more. Why? He knows our potentialities and possibilities infinitely better than we do. 

We think of ourselves as useless, hopeless, helpless, but in God's Eye we are really His divine instruments. He wants to use us in infinite ways. 

This is His Dream that He wants to transform into Reality. God wants us to be not only infinite but also eternal and immortal. He knows we have that capacity because He has given us the capacity. Now He wants us to utilise our capacity.

You talk about God, but we do not have any concept at all of who God is. Who is God?

God is all Love. God is all Light. God is all Beauty. God is everything: Truth, Peace, Light, Bliss in infinite measure. He is with form; He is without form. If you experience God as Peace, then you will say God is Peace. If you experience God as Light, then you will say God is Light. If you experience God as Love, then you will say God is Love.

Since we are human beings, according to our limited understanding we say God is this or God is that. But God is really everything. If we want to experience Him as an infinite expanse without any form, we can do so. Again, if we want to experience Him intimately as a most illumined being right in front of us, then He becomes that.

When you touch the God-Tree, you may get the experience of Peace, while somebody else will get the experience of Bliss. So you will say that God is all Peace and he will say that God is all Bliss. 

But it is the same God, the same Goal. In the process of reaching the Goal we may see it in different ways, but once we really reach it, we can see that it is everything. 

Then, if we have to describe it, give a definition, we will describe the God-Tree in whichever aspect we like best. We can experience everything, but in our expression, our revelation, we will reveal the aspect we like best.

If God is what you want,

Then He can never come second.

He will always come first.

He will come

As your Confidant.

He will come

As your Advisor supreme.

He will come

As your only Friend.

Is there only one God?

There is one absolute God. But each human being is a portion of God. The Supreme God is like the ocean. Each drop has a little of the consciousness of the ocean; therefore, we can say each drop is a tiny god, a portion of God. If you are a portion of the Infinite, you can say that you also embody the essence of the Infinite.

Man's eternal question is:

Who is God?

God's immediate answer is:

“My child, who else is God,

If not you?”

Some people claim not to believe in God, but they are still good people and they seem happy. How can you explain this?

No matter which way we appreciate the reality or want to identify ourselves with the reality, we have to feel that we are appreciating and identifying ourselves with Divinity; and this Divinity we call either God or Spirit or Being. If you do not want to call it God, you are at perfect liberty not to do so. But you have to call it happiness. 

Happiness itself is God. You can appreciate the beauty of nature and if you are happy, then the happiness that you are experiencing is God. In one word, if God has to be defined, then I wish to say God is happiness.

The real reality

Is a simple simplicity

And not a complexity.

Complexity has never been related to reality.

When you speak of ‘the Supreme', are you referring to God?

Instead of using the word ‘God', most of the time I use the word ‘Supreme'. I ask my students to do the same, for I feel it gives us a more intimate connection with Him. Although God and the Supreme are one, there is a subtle distinction between the two. 

When we speak of God-realisation, ‘God' is synonymous with the Supreme. But usually when we say ‘God', we feel that He embodies a height which is static, like a mountain that is high, but flat. 

When we use the term ‘God', we feel that He has reached His Height and stopped. He does not have a constantly evolving consciousness; He is something finished, a finished product.

But when we say ‘Supreme', we know that we are speaking of the Supreme Lord who not only reaches the absolute Highest, but all the time goes beyond, beyond and transcends the Beyond. There is a constant upward movement.

He is eternal and immortal.

He is within this world and beyond it.

He is the Creator,

Both universal and transcendental.

Love.