Samadhi

The Bliss of the Peerless Masters of Kriya Tantra Yoga

by Swami Ayyappa Giri, Tantracharya, Yogini Ashram, Norwalk Ca   U.S.A.

Article First Posted (2nd Edition) on Full Moon, 12 July 2014

Next Training in Babaji’s Kriya Kundalini Pranayam

“My temple is the deepest cave of the spiritual heart;

My altar lies beneath the sacrifices of all souls who aspire for truth;

My most sacred relic is the oneness of all things;

Am I a Hindu ? A Muslim ? A Christian ? A Buddhist ?

You decide.”

What makes greatness? There are so many men and women of high achievement that one has to wonder, what is a saint, a sage, a siddha, and how do they differ? What is the relationship between these attainments and their inner bliss experience; their samadhi. What is this celebrated samadhi with all its variant names? These are questions that had puzzled the author for years. As I sat before my master, I was exhilarated to hear him describe samadhi, not from theory, or academic book knowledge, but by his own direct experience.

My diksha guru, Yogi S.A.A. Ramaiah would, on rare occasions, speak to his students about the consciousness of chakras as the kundalini rose to higher states. He had complete mastery of the nadis and could enter into the breathless state of Nirvakalpa Samadhi at will. Once he delivered a lecture to a group of several hundred persons in Colombo, Sri Lanka, while three physicians monitored his pulse and heart beat. They were amazed to report in real time to the crowd their observations: the quickening of his pulse on one side of the body simultaneous to the slowing of the pulse on the opposite side. 2 minutes later, while Yogiar delivered a spiritual discourse to the assembly, he had reversed the phenomenon switching sides. By current medical understanding this is not possible, and yet he did it as he was examined by three well known allopathic physicians and witnessed by 250 members of the audience. The entire event was published the next day in the Nov 30^th, 1958 edition of Times of Ceylon. I have a copy of that document at Yogini Ashram.

Several years later, Yogiar agreed to enter into the breathless state of samadhi while a team of Australian physicians monitored his heart rate. When his heart stopped, as he had told them it would, the medical professionals became terrified and injected a substance in his body to restart his heartbeat. He survived but later said that the physicians had almost killed him in their terror. He never again demonstrated samadhi to the public.

45 years ago, I was a young newly initiated practitioner of Kriya Yoga. I was thrilled beyond description to have been accepted for training in the grand and powerful practices of Maha Siddha Babaji. The goals of a Kriya Yogi, Yogiar had explained, may be as varied as the individuals who trod the path. Yogiar S.A.A. Ramaiah frequently reminded his innermost circle of disciples at the time that the greatest goal in Babaji’s grand lineage was complete unconditional surrender to the Sathguru. Surrender to divine will, it seems, plays an important role in achieving the highest meditative states.

In 1971, I lived in Sri Lanka at the behest of Yogiar. One of my very beloved friends and yoga sadhaks, Sri Rajendram, gave me a photograph of Yogiar in samadhi. It was one of a kind and I have kept it with me only to publish it on this page about three years ago.   I was pleased to see that it had made its way as a popular photo in google images. I have posted it again here for the benefit of yoga sadhaks.

Living and serving Babaji for decades, I have been in the presence of Yogiar when he emerged from the divine bliss of samadhi. A glimpse of his ecstasy as his eyes descended downward from God consciousness is a powerful sight. Remembering such an event causes the body to tingle with electricity. How wonderful that the divine gives us these examples of extraordinary souls.

Sarvikalpa and Nirvikalpa Samadhi

There is an old and beautiful swami, a true Maharaja, who lives next to the 64 Yogini tantric temple at Bheraghat, near Japalpur. His humble ashram is graced with a magnificent banyan tree under which he sits every evening and is visited by his chelas and devotees. The grandeur of an ashram cannot be assessed by counting the number of occupants, but rather by its energy. There is a local oral tradition which maintains that sadhus and holy men have lived and shared satsang under that sacred tree in Bheraghat for a thousand years. Spiritual activity of this type changes the vibration of the area. The atmosphere is charged with divine energy and if a spiritual aspirant is properly prepared, the consciousness can be taken up to celestial realms with relative ease.

Our recognition of the divine in each other was profound and immediate. Sadhus and those who have realization recognize each other by looking at the face, the eyes and the energy around the head and shoulders. Members of a vast spiritual family, they are brothers and sisters appearing to live in the world yet navigating through it without attachment.

Each night, I was doing sadhana with Bheraghat Baba under the banyan tree. Through the grace of the master, I was pulled into a state of bliss without thought, unaware of the physical plane. As the bliss gave way to the relative plane and all thought, Babaji spoke, “The difference between sarvikalpa samadhi and nirvakalpa samadhi is not always apparent during the experience but is clarified at the moment the initial breath occurs following the experience. It is at that time that the mind again functions and the differentiation between the experience and the one who enjoyed the experience can be understood”.  I am reporting to you the message of Babaji, his message was not verbal, and occurred as a revelation. Soon after, a breath was taken by the body and I returned to the physical plane. In the background, I could hear the sound of the Maharajah speaking softly to his Chela about sarvikalpa and nirvikalpa samadhi. Amazingly, the Maharajah was completely synchronized with my experience. The Maharaja then got up from his mat, went into his ashram, and returned with a small box of cumcum. He placed the sacred red powder on my third eye, acknowledged my experience of samadhi and then enthusiastically embraced me, a rare event for swamis. He pointed to his heart with the fingers of both hands. “Maharajah”, he said. He then moved his fingers to my heart as he said with joy and exuberance “Maharajah” as he laughed deeply from the heart.

Any description of samadhi that claims full authority is misleading. That is because the world of name and form and words are not present in the state. When efforts are made to explain samadhi, they are poor reflections at best. When the mind and breath are truly stilled, one enters into the state of samadhi. The actual experience seems to be infinitely varied, but transcends all mental activity, piercing through time and words to a direct experience of the oneness. The soul that tastes the oneness-bliss experiences sarvikalpa samadhi. When there is a complete mergence of the oneness bliss, nirvikalpa samadhi is experienced.

Chitta is the mind-stuff which lingers around the innermost self and percolates through the koshas, or sheaths surrounding the self into the external consciousness. Patanjali has stated in Raja Yoga Sutras that yoga consists of cleansing the chitta. He is referring to the release of the unconscious memories, thought forms, sense of separateness from the inner oneness, and the erroneous conception that the being is actually the external ego, elemental qualities, and associated consciousness. These limited memories, and inaccurate aspects of the mind-stuff have often been stored for lifetimes in the subtle space of self. Here the reference to memories is made even though the mind-stuff is not remembered by the external self. It is the mind-stuff that interferes with the divine will manifesting from soul (atman) in an individual and drives the actions of the external being into areas that are not consistent with divine will.

As an individual begins to be liberated from the influence of the mind-stuff, the divine attributes of the atman or self manifest in the very subtle sheath of bliss (anandamaya kosham) that surrounds the atman. When the transformation of that very subtle part of the being has been given fully to the divine, the individual becomes literally a beacon of bliss-light. Simply being in the presence of such a being is uplifting. Such an elevated individual is appropriatly acknowledged as a saint. When one looks into the eyes of such a being, one will feel the depth of bliss and peace and be blessed and gradually transformed. The divine can initiate a sincere aspirant through such means. The transformation of the bliss sheath, however, does not occur in a vacuum. Anyone whose spiritual practices have thus resulted in the awareness of the divine working through them has already begun the transformational process and surrendering of the sheath of the intellect (vinjnanamaya kosham).

When the analytical or intellectual component of the being is fully informed and integrated by the divine light-attributes, we may be in a position to recognize such a being as the sage that they are. Such an individual is truly a muni‚ or one who has had their accumulated experiences and knowledge enlightened by the higher, deeper, lighter aspects of self. When the transformation of the intellect is complete the speech and communication skills are highly evolved and express a consciousness, which is focused, penetrating, broad and vast. It is a misconception to think that such persons are clones of each other. The divine essence manifests with variety in the intellect of every soul, not only because the external experiences vary, but also because of the unique qualities that are inherent in the deepest part of the being, the atman. It is said that no one is a muni who has no independent opinion of their own. Such a sage has digested and integrated the informed divine light into the analytical aspects of the being. A siddha is essentially a perfected being in some aspect, usually through transformation of the mental, vital or physical sheaths. The word “siddha” is derived from the word “chitta”. As the intellect undergoes this transformation, the mental sheath (manomaya kosham), associated with the senses, is similarly transformed. This is, of course, an individual who is fully aware of the divine as the prime mover. Since the ego has been given to the divine, every action related to the senses is observed and understood to be none other than the indwelling god or goddess doing the experiencing and enjoying. Such a Buddha-sage can enjoy all the senses without fear of confusion or being lost spiritually in them. For the great tantrics who have attained to this state, conventional rules which guide and provide stability, safety and structure to society are no longer important for their further advancement. As the divine light descends into the sheath of energy (pranamaya kosham) the entity becomes a siddha in the most transformed sense of the word.

As defined in the upanishads, A siddha is one who has progressed from the exalted state of freed while living (jivanmukta) to supremely free with full power over death (para mukta).

Jeeva Samadhi

Jeeva Samadhi is sometimes mistaken for death. In Jeeva samadhi, the pranic energy remains in and around the body.  It comes flooding into the body from the Ajna and Crown chakras, as well as the spiritual heart (Hridaya) and animates the body  as if it were still alive. There is no decay of the body, sometimes for many, many days. This is a state wherein the Yogi enters into the samadhi state at their own will following completion of their dharma on earth. Depending on their achievement, and their intellect, mind, and energy field become completely dissolved into the divine. When Paramahamsa Yogananda left his physical body, his mortal coils did not decompose for many days. The same thing happened to the great sage Aurobindo as well as my guru, Yogiar, and it is known to have happened to many others.

Samadhi is not the highest goal.  A strong desire to escape the world is a great hiding place for the subtle spiritual ego.  Many souls seek absorption in the divine but the greatest sages have reminded us that an even higher life can be service.  Personal salvation is a limited aspiration.  Yogi Ramaiah has always reminded his inner circle that complete surrender to Sathguru Babaji is a goal even greater that Soruba Samadhi.  Once Sri Ramakrishna asked Narendra (Swami Vivekananda) what his ideal in life was. “To remain absorbed in Samadhi,” replied Narendra. “Can you be so small-minded as that?” the Master said, “Go beyond Samadhi. Samadhi is a trifling thing for you!”   It is ok to aspire for samadhi, but remember that it is a means to an end.  Great souls go beyond samadhi.

Soruba Samadhi

There is yet another samadhi described in Siddhantha literature as soruba mukti or soruba samadhi. It cannot be explained by Vedanta. It was eloquently described by Sri Aurobindo as the supramental evolution. It was achieved by the siddha, Ramalinga Swami. This para mukta will rarely retain the transformed physical frame and when so, remains as an avatar. The physical body (anamaya kosham) of the siddha glows with the fire of immortality. Such a siddha, like Babaji, can be identified by having no shadow or footprint. The transformation of the physical plane is rare indeed, even among the celestial siddhas. An accurate rendering on the life of such a siddha is precisely as difficult as reducing the cosmic to a rule. The divine is to be experienced, not expressed, and the mystic greatness of a saint, sage, or siddha lies not on the surface for men to see. It is clear that certain siddhas have attained the light body, and and work together with other saints and avatars to guide the advance of man’s consciousness on our planet and elsewhere. Humanity truly owes a deep debt of gratitude to these God-Men, of which 18 are acknowledged as the greatest. The climax of the siddha tradition is the immortal Himalayan Kriya master, Babaji Nagaraj.

“My temple is the deepest cave of the spiritual heart;

My altar lies beneath the sacrifices of all souls who aspire for truth;

My most sacred relic is the oneness of all things;

Am I a Hindu ? A Muslim ? A Christian ? A Buddhist ?

You decide.”

May all experience bliss of Self and freedom from attachments.

Swami Ayyappa Giri

Next Training in Babaji’s Kriya Kundalini Pranayam

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© E. Ayyappa 1999, 2008, 2014