So far we been explaining the different stages of psycho-spiritual practice. Last Sunday I discussed ekendriya and in that context I analysed the science of indriyas and discussed the circumstances in which people act and think.

By the way you should know that samádhi does not only occur as a result of a certain realization; other samádhis can occur on indriyas or the five fundamental factors. When the mind is focused on a particular object and becomes intensely concentrated it is called samádhi. According to spiritual science the samádhi attained when the entire mind is pin-pointed on Parama Puruśa is called prajiṋá samádhi.

When a sádhaka focuses his or her mind on the solid factor (solid is one of the five fundamental factors) and thinks “I am the earth” he or she attains kśitibhaetik samádhi, losing all practical intelligence in the process. Those who constantly think about rupees or dollars attain a kind of samádhi, too, for they become completely identified with their crude object of attraction. If such people incur heavy losses due to the collapse of their business or bank, they will die an instant death, for the pillars on which their life was built crumbled beneath them. So, once they lost their wealth, they lost their lives too.

So samádhi can be attained if one focuses one’s mind on a particular thought, sense organ or inference (sound, form, touch, taste and smell). The samádhi on inferences is called tanmátrik samádhi. Sometime ago I gave a practical demonstration of tanmatric samádhi. I demonstrated the type of physical and psychic changes which occur when the mind is withdrawn from a specific inference or tanmátra. [refer to Ananda Marga Philosophy in a Nutshell, Part IV]

Suppose there is a rose. If the entire mind is focused on the colour of the rose it will become totally identified with it and will ultimately think, “I am the rose.” Similarly, samádhis on the indriyas is also possible. One who attains samádhi on a particular indriya consciously bring it under one’s control and get one’s work done accordingly to one’s sweet will. This was widely practiced in avidyá tantra in the past. The indriyas can function within and beyond their immediate surroundings. For instance, from here you can physically see a part of Calcutta. But if you have been to Naiháti (a small town about thirty miles from Calcutta) you will certainly be able to visualize a part of Naiháti town while sitting here in the room. In this case there should be proper adjustment between the eyes and the previous perception. In this case it is the mental eye which actually visualizes part of Naiháti.

Avidya tantriks make use of this sort of process. With the help of their sense organs and ectoplasms they create positive hallucinations. In Saḿskrta this science is called rakśasi vidyá. Rakśasa does not refer to any monstrous type of animal, but to a particular group of humans. With the help of your mental eyes and your psychic power you can create an image visible to the eyes of an ordinary person. You can actually suspend the power of vision of another person so that he sees the object you want him to see. This is called rakśasi máyá (a kind of hypnotic spell) Such negative practices are common in avidyá tantra. For example, a wicked person is sitting in a lonely place with bones scattered around him. Using his psychic power he can create “ectoplasmic hands” and command them to throw the bones into the house of that person he wishes to harm. The inhabitants of the house, ordinary people no doubt, will certainly be terrified by such occult phenomena. They will think it is the work of a ghost and will probably decide to move out of the house. Instead of bones, bricks and stones could also be hurled. To do this one does not require great power – rakśasi máya is an occult power of an inferior quality.

The Ramayana, the great Indian fictive epic, contains some stories which illustrate rákśasi máya. The golden deer is one such a story. Of course, there was never a real golden deer could you ever think of such a thing? – it was the demon Máriic who made a golden deer out of his occult power. Another such story goes as follows. Prince Angad, the son of the King Bali, was about to present his credentials to King Ravana in the court. The nineteen ministers present wanted to humiliate him in some way, and decided to use their rákśasi máyá for the purpose. Present in the court at the time were Prince Angad, King Ravana and his son Indrajita, and the nineteen ministers. In order to baffle Angad, the ministers created a form tanmátra, a type of positive hallucination, through which they all assumed the form of King Ravana. So, his vision distorted, saw that there were a total of twenty Ravanas beside Indrajita. Nineteen of them were the ministers, of course, but due to the hypnotic spell exercised on his unit mind (a kind of tanmátric samádhi) they all looked like Ravana. The best way to disturb someone’s mental concentration is to make him or her angry by being provocative. Be it vidyá tantra or avidyá tantra, everything depends on the degree of psychic concentration. So Angada thought, “I have to disturb their mental balance by provoking them in some way. If I make them angry they will certainly lose their ectoplasmic support and simultaneously their tanmátric samádhi, and will revert to their original tanmátric form”. Angad did just that. He said,

Angada Kahila tave shuna indrajitá
Vishti rávan dekhi vishti ki tor pita?

[Listen Indrajita. I can see twenty Ravanas. Are they all your father?]

All of them become furious lost their mental balance and became their original selves permitting Angad to single out the real Ravana and submit his credentials.

Samádhi on the indriyas is much higher than tanmátric samádhi. Tanmátric samádhi is higher than the samádhi on the fundamental factors, even though the tanmátras are only five in number. The reason is that these five tanmátras have countless expressions. For instance, a single rose plant may have twenty flowering roses, each with its own size and colour. Each and every object of this colourful universe has a certain speciality of its own. This speciality divides the tanmátras into numerous fragments – that is, in one form tanmátra there are countless forms; in one sound tanmátra there are countless sounds. In the musical world we hear of six rágas and thirty six ráginiis but actually their number is much more than that.

The samádhis on indriyas are concerned with the five motor organs. If the six indriyas (sensory organs) are controlled then people can easily elevate themselves to higher states of existence. That’s why this samádhi is greater than other samádhis.

While explaining the concept of ekendriya, I consider it important to explain something about the samádhi of the indriyas. In my next discourse I would like to discuss some interesting things about ekendriya which might have happened in your personal lives, but which your intellect could explain how and why it happened.