In the course of sádhaná, the unit mind takes the ideation of Parama Puruśa. According to the very nature of the mind, it will one day become converted into Parama Puruśa. Before being finally merged in Parama Puruśa, sádhakas [spiritual practitioners] pass through different phases of samádhi,⁽¹⁾ of which savikalpa and nirvikalpa are prominent.

After continued practice of sádhaná, when the mahattattva [“I” feeling] of the unit mind gets metamorphosed into the Cosmic “I” feeling, the citta [done “I”] of the microcosmic mind merges in the aham [“I do” feeling], the aham in mahat.

When an object is converted into its cause, this merger is called prańásha (utter destruction). Mahat is the cause of Aham. Aham is the cause of the citta of the Macrocosm (Bhúmá), and in the path of pratisaiṋcara⁽²⁾ the citta merges in the aham and the aham in mahat. The unit mahat becomes one with the Macrocosmic Mahat.

At this stage, the unit mind feels that there are two entities – “I” and “my Lord”. The mind cannot think or feel anything except the existence of its own self because the feeling of the doer “I” is metamorphosed into the pure “I” feeling.

There are two tendencies of the mind – saḿkalpátmaka and vikalpátmaka. When the mind thinks and plans⁽³⁾ to do this or that, it is the saḿkalpátmaka portion of mind, and those feelings or thoughts are translated into physical action by the vikalpátmaka portion of mind through the sense organs. In savikalpa samádhi, the vikalpátmaka portion of the mind is totally suspended; only a small portion of the saḿkalpátmaka mind remains active. The sádhaka thereby attains saguńásthiti. That is why it has been said in Ánanda Sútram,⁽⁴⁾ Bhúmávyápte mahati ahaḿ cittayorprańáshe saguńásthiti savikalpa samádhi vá [“When the aham and the citta merge into the Macrocosmic Mahat, the merger is called saguńásthiti or savikalpa samádhi”].

But when the goal of a spiritual aspirant is Nirguńa Brahma [Non-Qualified, or Non-Attributional, Supreme Entity] then ultimately the microcosmic mahat will also merge in pure Citishakti.⁽⁵⁾ The unit mind will totally lose its individual existence and become one with Supreme Consciousness. In such a case, where all mental activities are suspended in Bhúmábháva [Cosmic ideation], it will be a case of objectlessness, or nirvikalpa samádhi (the trance of indeterminate absorption, or total suspension of the mind).

This stage of spiritual attainment is only possible when all the guńas, or binding factors, have ceased exerting a static influence on the mind. This state is the state of mindlessness and consequently objectlessness.

This state is verbally inexpressible, because Tasya sthiti amánasikeśu – “This state of objectlessness being beyond the orbit of the mind, it is not mentally apprehensible.”

Proof of Samádhi

During samádhis, spiritual aspirants attain immense bliss, which the sádhakas feel and cannot describe. Then what is the proof that the one in samádhi actually experiences that bliss? In this connection Ánanda Sútram states:

Abhávottaránanda pratyayá lambanirvrttih tasya pramáńam.

[The lingering bliss which follows this state of vacuity is the proof of that state, the means of firm belief in that state.]

In the state of wakefulness all three stages of the mind, namely, conscious, subconscious and unconscious, remain active, but the subtler condition is inconspicuous due to the activeness of the cruder condition. While dreaming, the crude or conscious mind remains dormant, the subconscious and the unconscious minds remain active. During sleep [and during senselessness], only the unconscious mind remains active. The opinion that the state of sleep is the state of the sense of vacuity is unacceptable to a subtle philosophical judgement, because at that time the works of both the conscious and the subconscious minds are done by the unconscious mind. The real state of vacuity is verily the state of utter destruction of the mind, and so even savikalpa samádhi is not a state of vacuity. Only the state of nirvikalpa is the state of vacuity. In this state of absolute vacuity, the spiritual waves of exhilaration that fill the unit entity still continue to flow and trail on for some time even after that state of vacuity, that is, after the mind returns due to unserved saḿskáras [the consequential reactive momenta of one’s past deeds]. These very trailing waves of exhilaration and joyous exuberance keep reminding the “mindful” sádhaka [intuitional practitioner] that his or her “mindless” state had been one of absolute bliss.

Footnotes

(1) “Absorption” of the unit mind into the Cosmic Mind (savikalpa samádhi) or into Consciousness (nirvikalpa samádhi). –Eds.

(2) In the Cosmic Cycle, the step-by-step introversion and subtilization of consciousness from the state of solid matter to Nucleus Consciousness. –Eds.

(3) To think and plan is saḿkalpa. –Eds.

(4) Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti, Ánanda Sútram, 1995. –Eds.

(5) Cognitive Principle, Puruśa, Pure Consciousness. –Eds.