yahooyoga: Samadhi

Samadhi is the end of the Sadhaka’s quest. At the peak of his meditation, he passes into the state of Samadhi, where his body and senses are at rest as if he is asleep, his faculties of mind and reason are alert as if he is awake, yet he has gone beyond consciousness. The person in a state of Samadhi is fully conscious and alert.

All creation is Brahman. The Sadhaka is tranquil and worships it as that from which he came forth, as that in which he breathes, as that into which he will be dissolved. The soul within the heart is smaller than the smallest seed, yet greater than the sky, containing all works, all desires. Into this the Sadhaka enters. Then there remains no sense of ‘I’ or ‘Mine’ as the working of the body, the mind and the intellect have stopped as if one is in deep sleep. The Sadhaka has attained true Yoga; there is only the experience of consciousness, truth and unutterable joy. There is a peace that passes all understanding. The mind cannot find words to describe the state and the tongue fails to utter them. Comparing the experience of Samadhi with other experiences, the sages say; ‘Neti! Neti!’ – It is not this! It is not this! The state can only be expressed by profound silence. The Yogi has departed from the material world and is merged in the eternal. There is then no duality between the knower and the known for they are merged like camphor and the flame.

There wells up from within the heart of the Yogi the song of the soul, sung by Sankaracharya in his Atma Stkam.

    I am neither ego nor reason, I am neither mind nor thought.
    I cannot be heard nor cast into words, nor by smell nor sight ever caught:
    In light and wind I am not found, nor yet in earth and sky-
    Consciousness and joy incarnate, Bliss of the Blissful am I.

    I have no name, I have no life, I breath no vital air,
    No elements have moulded me, no bodily sheath is my lair:
    I have no speech, no hands and feet, nor means of evolution -
    Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss in dissolution.

    I cast aside hatred and passion, I conquered delusion and greed;
    No touch of pride caressed me, so envy never did breed:
    Beyond all faiths, past reach of wealth, past freedom, past desire,
    Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is my attire.

    Virtue and vice, or pleasure and pain are not my heritage,
    Nor sacred texts, nor offerings, nor prayer, nor pilgrimage:
    I am neither food, nor eating, nor yet the eater am I -
    Consciousness and joy incarnate, Bliss of the Blissful am I.

    I am no misgiving of death, no chasms of race divided me,
    No parent ever called me child, no bond of birth ever tied me:
    I am neither disciple nor master, I have no kin, no friend -
    Consciousness and joy am I, and merging in Bliss is my end.

    Neither knowable, knowledge, nor knower am I, formless is my form,
    I dwell within the senses but they are not my home:
    Ever serenely balanced, I am neither free nor bound -
    Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is where I am found.