In theory, the potential is within all of us, and the eight limbs are the most straightforward "steps" to reaching it. Sundaram notes mantras like " Om " are very helpful as well because they train the mind to be focusing on just one thing.
In the stages of enlightenment, which we'll outline next, we understand that the basis of enlightenment is the ability to detach from the ego and otherworldly attachments, to the point where there is only consciousness and a feeling of "being one with permanence," Sundaram says. Depending on who you ask, there could be two, four, or more stages of enlightenment.
According to Sundaram, Patanjali describes two main levels of getting to that space, which are as follows:. Sabija concentration can be translated as "with seeds," and it represents the idea that, at first, we must recognize our concentration is "seeded" with links to our own ego and our understanding of our place in this world and even in previous lives.
We all carry markings and memories on our soul, and we have to acknowledge that. Once you are able to detach from those miseries and memories, "you get to that elimination of the subject-object distinction," she notes. Nir means "without," and so Nirbija means "without seed. Overall, "it's about getting through that first stage of recognizing those connections," Sundaram says, "and then the second stage is erasing those connections such that you start to see what Patanjali calls the object in and of itself.
Keeping Chitta vritti nirodha in mind, the telltale sign of samadhi is the ability to stop the turning wheel of thoughts. For anyone who's tried their hand at meditating, you likely know this doesn't exactly come easily. Other signs include:. Samadhi may not come easy, but anyone can participate in the path toward it.
Like any practice, it requires patience, determination, and a degree of detachment from the outcome. Even if someone doesn't reach Samadhi in this lifetime, the pursuit of enlightenment can still deepen your spiritual life and help you reach a new level of peace and understanding.
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Saved Articles. You are projecting your memory as intelligence, which it is not. Once you identify with your memory, equanimity is not possible. Everything is labeled in some way: as good and bad; what you like and what you do not like; high and low; God and devil. As long as you are identified with the bank of memory that you hold, equanimity is not even a possibility.
Samadhi is an equanimous intellect. This means you have to disengage your memory from your intellect. If your intellect gets disengaged from your memory, it struggles for a little while. After putting in a certain amount of sadhana, suddenly you will see all that is in the memory does not seem to mean anything. Freedom is a crazy thing. Everyone says that they are looking for freedom, but actually, they are working for bondage.
Everyone is trying to bind themselves to something or someone. Whether a man is trying to bind himself to a woman, a woman to a man, or to a God, a party, an ideology, a philosophy, a belief system, or now Isha.
No matter what you bind yourself to, you are binding yourself to find some meaning. If you bind yourself to something that obliterates your memory in some way, for immediate purposes, it is a good binding. It is a good binding to start with, because it creates a distance between you and everything that is past. This is what brahmacharya or sanyasa means — you have divorced yourself from your memory, because you want an equanimous intellect.
If you are attached to your memory, you will never know equanimity. It is like stepping on the throttle and thinking the vehicle will stop — it will not stop. It will only go faster and faster!
Mahasamadhi is not a gift or a prize to be attained. Mahasamadhi is not a way to end life because there is suffering, because there is an ailment, because you are not able to do a certain thing, because something has become painful. Ending life is called suicide; it is not called Mahasamadhi. Do not seek Mahasamadhi as an end to your suffering. To seek Mahasamadhi means to see how to evolve life to another dimension.
To seek Mahasamadhi means you have fallen so deeply in love with life, now you want to know the root of it. You have experienced life in its full depth, now you want to know the dimensions of life.
It will not come just because you have a longing. It will come simply because you are divorced from your memory — you live today as today, not as an accumulated nonsense of many yesterdays. We have already taught you systems and methods to get there. A simple practice like Shambhavi Mahamudra can deliver you there, if you set the other conditions right. You do not need anything else. In a state of samadhi, you are completely at peace. You are fully aware of the divine within.
You are happy with what you have and do not grieve over what you have lost. You are excited about your quest and have no anxiety about its outcome. You know how short-lived worldly pleasures are, yet you are fully present while you enjoy them. In other words, you are in samadhi when quietude permeates your every thought, speech, and action.
You do not go into samadhi; samadhi emerges in you. You prepare the ground for samadhi to emerge by training and taming your mind. To do this, practice quieting your mind and focusing it on a single object, such as a mantra or a prayer.
At first the mind will tend to wander. Soon you will notice that the mind is also contacting many other objects. You do not want to contact these other objects, but out of habit your mind is doing it anyway. No matter how distracted your mind is, continue to bring it back to the mantra. Through constant practice—by focusing on the mantra and bringing the mind back when it strays—you will develop the habit of maintaining that object in your mindfield for longer and longer periods of time.
When the mind stays focused on the mantra longer than it strays to other, distracting objects, that is called dharana, concentration. If the objects that distract your mind crowd out the mantra most of the time, you are not concentrating—you are significantly distracted.
Concentration and distraction go side by side and one stream is always stronger than the other. When the stream of concentration is stronger, heavier, and fuller than the stream that is carrying various distractions, you have attained a state of concentration. You attain this state by practicing concentration patiently and diligently for as long as it takes to train your mind to remain focused on your mantra or other chosen object.
As concentration matures, it turns into dhyana, meditation. Simply put, meditation is prolonged concentration. Much has been said and written about the point at which the process of concentration turns into meditation, but what many saints and yogis tell us is that if the mind remains concentrated on one object for at least 12 breaths, concentration has matured and becomes meditation.
The analogy most often used is that meditation is like pouring oil from one container to another—the unbroken flow of the stream of awareness is meditation.
When the same process deepens further, it matures into samadhi. Concentration, meditation, and samadhi are part of a single continuum. When samadhi emerges in you during your meditation practice, the trinity of meditator, meditation, and object of meditation merges and becomes one. No part of your mind is left to maintain the awareness of anything other than the object of your meditation—that is samadhi.
When that state of stillness—the core of your own being—emerges in you, you acquire that stillness, which infuses all aspects of your life. As the author of numerous books, including his autobiography Touched by Fire: The Ongoing Journey of a Spiritual Seeker , Pandit Tigunait offers practical guidance on applying yogic and tantric wisdom to modern life.
For over 40 years he has touched innumerable lives around the world as a teacher, humanitarian, and visionary spiritual leader. You can view more of his teachings online at the Himalayan Institute Wisdom Library.
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