Samadhi

Defining Samadhi

• A common definition of samadhi is union or absorption.
• In dhyana, consciousness of self remains. In samadhi there is no self-consciousness. Samadhi involves losing one’s self / identity / ego.
• Dharana, dhyana and samadhi together are called samyama. They may be seen as a progression of knowing the object of concentration.
• Dharana leads to dhyana which turns into samadhi. During an ecstatic experience such as playing music, one may experience fleeting moments of each.
• In samadhi, there is no consciousness of concentration.
• In samadhi, there is union with the object of concentration. There is no longer awareness of a subject being separate from an object.

Teachings

• Samadhi can be experienced in everyday life through full participation in an activity.
• Samadhi itself is not a practice but a result of practice.
• The path to samadhi involves self-forgetting.

SAMADHI CAN BE EXPERIENCED IN EVERYDAY LIFE

Samadhi can be experienced in everyday life. Anytime we get lost in something and our consciousness is completely absorbed in it, we are experiencing a type of samadhi. Full participation in an activity, when we are so involved in it that nothing else exists except what we are focused on doing, can be samadhi.– Nicolai Bachman 

AWAKENING EXPERIENCES ARE RELATIVELY COMMON

People of every culture and every period of history have described such experiences. Awakening experiences seem to be universal… They have occurred in essentially the same form all over the world throughout history… They give us a glimpse of the world of beauty, meaning and unity that lies beyond the normal human world of separation and suffering – a new world which it is possible for us to inhabit permanently. – Waking from Sleep 

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Ecstatic oneness. Stephen Cope’s description of his experience of entering samadhi while painting a house one summer is so compelling because the images he describes are at once so ordinary and yet so haunting in their crystalline clarity. He is recounting an experience we have all had, and yet have probably discounted and relegated to our subconscious. – Rolf Gates 

PRACTICING THE LIMBS READIES US FOR SAMADHI

Samadhi cannot be practiced. Rather, it is available to us in each moment… As the beliefs and judgments that separate us from ourselves dissolve, we become available to the experience of oneness with our universe. – Charlotte Bell

TURNING INWARD, OUTER SENSORY STIMULI FADE AWAY

The process of turning our attention away from outer objects and toward our inner Self occurs in stages and is the culmination of our journey through the eight limbs of yoga. The previous limbs are preparation for samyama, which itself can mean meditation… As our heart-mind turns inward and progresses from one stage of samyama to the next, outer sensory stimuli fade away (pratyahara) naturally and completely. As we sit quietly for meditation we will mostly likely move back and forth among them, eventually spending less time in the first stage and more time in the last. – Nicolai Bachman 

THREE ASPECTS OF SAMYAMA PERCEIVED AS A SINGLE CURRENT

In samyama, the three aspects are not perceived as individual but as a single current flowing from uninterrupted awareness. This flow is seamless and without effort. Any effort immediately brings us back into the realm of thoughts and emotions… We can reflect on the story of the great Albert Einstein… He was often asked how he discovered the intimate properties of something as subtle as light. His humble reply continues to inspire many. “I did not discover it, I meditated on it, until it revealed itself to me.” – Nischala Joy Devi