Samadhi

Samadhi is pure absorption with the unmanifest, quantum soup of creation that exists beyond yet within, and is omnipresent in the realm of our physical reality.  Samadhi’s all-encompassing “true being, pure consciousness, and bliss,” satchitananda, will engulf the yogi’s understanding of the underlying unity that bridges all polarities. The rapture results when the mind and body are no longer seen as limitations to uncover the spirit that permeates our phenomenological world. An identity no longer bound to the physical form will cease to produce the pain, fear, greed and hatred associated with the inevitable suffering interpreted by our sense organs.

Samprajnata and Asamprajnata

There is a differentiation between states of samadhi and the distinction lies between the use of and association with the objects of meditation. There is no asamprajnnata samadhi in trading, nor does it have a place within the physical dimension of space and time. This is not a practice but rather a transcendental awareness that we gradually find ourselves awakening to.  

Samprajnata Samadhi: the Samadhi of pure consciousness.  The awareness of the mind, or chitta, of the object remains, however the objects changes. 

 

There are four stages within samprajnata samadhi:

• Savitarka:  gross object (i.e. fire, body, or mandala)

• Savichara:  subtle object (ie. Tanmatras, the forces behind the elements of

creation: water, ether, wind, earth, fire)

• Sananda:  subtler object (i.e. the senses)

Sasmita:   the substance of our ego

Asamprajnata Samadhi: supraconscious state. The subject and object are unified, transcending the association with the object. Although the ego will exist, the identification with it will not.

These two states of samadhi are not entered into lightly. Enlightenment of our true identity is not found in our physical form, but the body is a necessary conduit for the spirit. The yogic conditioning has detached our ego from the fascinations that binds us to our bodies. The euphoric effect of this detached awareness links us to unlimited potentialities.

Purpose

The practical existence of an enlightened yogi is still fully functional—she is still, by all respects, alive. Yet, while the heart still beats, it is by her discretion. The knowledge samadhi has illuminated allows for the expansive control of the autonomic functions of the body. When the Kundalini Shakti has pierced the Sahasrara chakra, the yogi has either died or been enlightened to the supraconscious state of asamprajnata samadhi. A yogi practices meditation so that the latter effect may occur before death so as to consciously direct her spirit to another realm of consciousness, another form of life, another body, or, perhaps, to never be born again and meld with the field of evolutionary consciousness. The eternal bliss of samadhi is said to liberate ourselves from the cycle of reincarnation, although it is said that some choose to be born again. 

There may be glimpses of samadhi throughout the ascension of Patañjali’s eight-limbed Ashtanga Yoga as we shed our layers of physical entrapments, but we must be wary that we not become complacent of the assumed knowledge of our true Self. We have the cognitive capacity to put language to the ineffable and provide a comprehensible mental framework on which to contemplate other realms of existence. This truth is subjective and has no bearing on the real knowledge we may glean from our inner selves by transcending the trappings of our discriminating mind. 

This is not to say that ignorance of our external environment is any less delusional. We must work with our instrument, our bodies, in order to interpret our world to refine our search to what we deem as noble and true. Without the opportunity of life, we would have no means to become conscious beings in pursuit of pure consciousness.  As Teilhard de Chardin so astutely asserted, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

The state of samadhi is fleeting to those who are uncommitted to upholding the meditative awareness that brought about the state of bliss. This state will not last if the ego attempts to disrupt the meditation. Samadhi may not be attained in the near future, and perhaps not in this lifetime. Many of us are comfortable in our world of suffering as we gain a Vedantic understanding of how we may change our perspectives, if not our circumstances, by successfully pursing a satisfying existence in of our everyday lives. The higher discipline and knowledge needed for the path of the samyama is available to those who follow Patañjali’s Ashtanga Yoga, giving us the strength and motivation needed to proceed. This awareness is the heart of the yogic union: absolute absorption with eternal bliss.