Alternative Meditation - Samadhi

1. Sit in Padmasana or Sidhasana with the lower back, spine, neck and head in a straight line. Assume a comfortable state of body by relaxing the muscles and keeping the hand either in the 'Gnyana Mudra' or clasped together on the lap.

2. Close the eyes and concentrate at the 'Thrikuti' (place between the eyebrows). Remind yourself that you are not the body, mind, ego or individual consciousness.

3. In this stage, various thoughts start entering the mind of the beginner. Various desires and tendencies from within start to surface. Be calm and do not let the mind feed on these thoughts. Stay indifferent to them. You are the unmovable self or the Atman who has no desire and no thoughts. These thoughts are the result of the ego. But you are not the ego. Since the world is an illusion, these thoughts are also an illusion. Discard them as you discard the scenes you have seen in a movie after watching it. We do not let these scenes affect our real life; so should one discard the thoughts which try to grow on sitting for meditation as being unreal.

4. As each thought arises, we will erase it like we erase a photograph on the screen of our mobile phone. After some time, these thoughts reduce in volume. The mind becomes calmer. You are the unmovable Atman (self) who is constant, thoughtless, desire-less and full of bliss. Thoughts were being superimposed on you due to past actions and impressions just as various moving images are superimposed on the cinema screen. The cinema screen is blank, still and free from all images in reality. It does not have any distinctive feature. The projector beams these images on the white screen. We will now switch off the projector within us (the mind) and realize ourselves to be the blank screen. Whenever some thought invades the mind occasionally, let it be erased in this way. Let there be a strong reminder that this world, the body, the mind and all other things are not real but images as in a dream. We are not any of these. We erase these images as and when they arise. Much effort in unbroken Yogic practices and the grace of God will be required to achieve this in the initial stages, but then Yoga is not for the meek and weak. It takes superhuman effort to attain to Yoga.

When this process of elimination is practiced for a long period of time in meditation further to a life of Yogic practice and honest Brahmacharya, all thoughts from the conscious and sub-conscious mind will evaporate gradually and that which remains is the pure I-ness or pure egoism, also called as 'Asmita'. Upon reaching this stage, only pure 'Buddhi' or the sense of individuality uncolored and untouched by any thought remains. It is like the bedrock on which all the other thoughts and images stood and took support. But we vacated them and now only the base remains. With no thought and no desire to perform any action or not perform any action, we have now started experiencing pure individuality unmodified by an impression. This empty space, devoid of all thought, devoid of all urge and completely serene and tranquil is pure Asmita (I-ness) unadulterated by any modification of the mind. There is no thought, no desire, no want, no attraction or repulsion to anything or anybody. One is simply witnessing and experiencing the sense of I-ness. However, this too is not the 'Atman'. It is still the individual 'I' which is ultimately unreal. What is it which is preventing us from completely experiencing the Atman and becoming only the Atman or our true self in this state? It is the mind itself which has become a barrier. Though fully cleansed of all thoughts, the awareness and consciousness of the mind itself is acting as an obstacle. The awareness of individuality as being separate from the universal is the obstacle. It is a state of duality. As long as the mind exists in its state of witnessing the process, we cannot fully merge into the Atmic state, for there is still the thought - "I am meditating and enjoying bliss". There is still awareness of the process of meditation.

When one is established in this process to perfection, the resultant state is Samadhi (super-consciousness). This stage of Samadhi where the mind is still aware of itself being in a state of meditation (but with no other thought) is 'Savikalpa or Sabija Samadhi'. The concept of individual identity or I-ness exists in this type of Samadhi. Since the mind exists, breath also exists. One breathes very lightly and occasionally. Since the 'I' in terms of individuality exists, the world also exists. It is a state of experiencing the I-ness or Aham with a mild awareness of things external to us (but not thinking of them). It is the Samadhi maintained with effort from the meditator. At this stage, the meditator mistakes the I-ness or 'Asmita' itself to be the Atman. In reality, this is incorrect, for the Atman is the illuminator of I-ness and the source behind its existence. Hence the name 'Savikalpa' (presence of wrong perception.)

When one transcends this state and goes into a deeper state where the mind loses awareness of being in a state of meditation (as in deep sleep but with full awareness of only the Atman (self), which is not the case in sleep, for there is absolutely no awareness in sleep), it is 'Nirvikalpa or Nirbija Samadhi'. Since the 'I' in terms of individual identity does not exist here, the world does not exist. It is the state of BEING the self or pure consciousness itself and not merely witnessing I-ness as in Savikalpa Samadhi. THIS is the Atman. THIS is pure consciousness. This is the real you. YOU are THIS. You are only this and nothing else. You are now experiencing your own self in totality. There is no awareness of things external to the self here. Everything has become the self or Atman, not even the mind exists. The Yogi has now become the PURE SELF, PURE CONSCIOUSNESS STRETCHING ACROSS INFINITY. This is the Parabrahman (Almighty).

It does not matter now whether we call IT God, Atman (self) or something else. IT is IT. The final origin of everything and which exists everywhere. The Yogi who is in this state occupies the entire universe. He feels the experience of occupying the entire universe. In the normal, wakeful state, he experienced being the body. Nothing more. Now he experiences infinity. He is in his true state of infinity and matchless Ananda (bliss). It is the Samadhi maintained without effort (as in sleep, we don't put in effort to maintain it). The mind and Prana merge into the Atman and cease to exist here. This when practiced long leads to self-realization.

The experience of Nirvikalpa Samadhi cannot be described after coming down from meditation. The mind which was absent (through merger with the Atman or Brahman) in this state is reborn after the Yogi regains external consciousness on coming down from Samadhi meditation. To succeed in description, the experience of Nirvikalpa which took place beyond the mind in a state of super-consciousness has to be explained using the limited mind. It is impossible. The limited mind cannot concise this concept through words. We can only say that even the continuous & combined sum total of all the pleasures ever possible in this world using the mind or body cannot equal even one percent of that supreme Ananda (bliss). Even this does not do justice in describing the experience correctly, for the knowledge and state of being which one experiences beyond the mind, without the mind is beyond words. It is the state of complete union with the Almighty.

Since the mind is absent in Nirbija Samadhi, breath is absent. Since breath is absent, the lungs stop. Since the lungs stop, the heart stops. Since the heart stops, all other organs stop. The man is as good as dead externally and internally, yet he is not dead. He is in a mysterious state of SUSPENSION. The body is maintained without food through the shower of Soma or Amrit (divine nectar) from the region of the moon in the brain. He can remain unmoving in this state without food, water and breath for hours, days, months or years if so destined without any decay or ageing. He cannot hear any sound, cannot feel touch, does not breathe, does not move and in other words appears as though he is dead. He has completed Yoga and the final purpose of the human birth. Nothing more exists for him from hereon. Yoga (union) has happened. He has merged with the universal consciousness or the Parabrahman (Almighty).

As long as his 'Prarabdha' (karma which is to be worked out in this lifetime) remains, he comes back into the world after meditation. When it is over, he merges with the Supreme forever in his state of Sat-Chith-Ananda (knowledge-existence-bliss) and does not return. He has no further birth on this Earthly plane. He is then gone forever. The drop has merged into the Ocean...

ॐ तत् सत्
(That Supreme being is the absolute truth)