18. Camp Eighteen : Samadhi

On the fourtheenth day of Guru Ramanand Swami’s demise, Lord Shri Swaminarayan assembled His devotees on the bank of river Bhadra in the village Faneni in Saurashtra. In that assembly, He initiated the chapter of Samadhi by granting Samadhi to a sage named Shitaldas for the first time in the history of Swaminarayan sect. Thereupon, a phenomenon of Samadhi became a part and parcle of the proximity of Bhagwan Swaminarayan. By darshan, graceful touch or will of Shreeji Maharaj, .... oh even by the stepping sound of His Chakhadi, the phenomenon of Samadhi began to happen.

Once Shreeji Maharaj had granted Samadhi to a devotee lady named Ladkibai Bhat. By seeing intense light in Samadhi, she began to scream. She shouted: ‘I am burning.’ Shreeji Maharaj explained her: ‘Yourself is (soul) Atma, not the body. You are not this Ladkibai of the Bhat sub-caste. Rather, your self is the Soul, which is unpierceable and uncuttable so focus on your that form.’ Then again she was placed into Samadhi and said: ‘Go to the four petaled lotus at the site of Ganapati and behold your own self there.’ That lady in Samadhi entered Muladhar Chakra and saw divine light and heard the divine sound there. When she entered the higher site of Brahma at Swadhisthan chakra, She heard louder sounds and saw brighter light. When she entered the still higher site of Vishnu at Manipur Chakra, she heard even louder sounds and saw even brighter light. In this manner, as she entered higher and higher stages, she heard increasingly louder sounds and saw increasingly brighter light. As a result of the intense divine light seen in Samadhi, and the loud thunderous sounds that occur, even the most resolute Souls may become timid. But Ladkibai by dint of self realization and God-realization became stable in Samadhi after this experience.

After this much prefacial ground, now let us think about what really this Samadhi is? In the context of mind, we shall understand this subject. Generally human mind operates on two levels. The first stage is conscious level, in which all the activities are inspired by I-consciousness (ego). e.g. waking state. Second stage is unconscious level in which all that is being performed without I - ness. e.g. During sleep, all the activities of the body are performed without I-consciousness. There is one more level higher than these two levels, on which mind actively performs without I-consciousness. This is called superconscious level or Samadhi.

The state in which consciousness is in concentration and is illuminated by the divine light - without any desire - that superconscious state is Samadhi. Samadhi is the state of consciousness in which there are no objects, no passions, no aversions, but there is supreme happiness and supreme power. According to Lord Swaminarayan, Samadhi can be achieved by two ways. One is controlling the prana through pranayam, whereby the chitta is also controlled. The other is by controlling chitta, whereby the prana is also controlled. When is control over the Chitta achieved? It is achieved when one’s vruttis (mental tendencies) are detached from everything else and focused only on God. However, these vruttis can be focused on God only when desires for everything else are overcome and only a singular desire for the form of God remains. (Vachnamritam, G-F-26)

When a person enters into deep sleep, he shirks from the conscious level to the lower unconscious level. In that condition, he not only breathes but also does other bodily movements like changing sides etc.While doing so, he has no I-consciousness that I am doing this act. When he wakes up from the sleep, he remains the same individual as before.When an individual enters into Samadhi, he may be insane, subtle, fool, ignorant or sinner, but from Samadhi he comes out with a new get up of wise, pious and compassionate man. Why does it so happen? Lord Swaminarayan has given its explanation in Vachanamritam of Gadhada-M-20.

As long as Jiva is in the body, it is only the drastta (witness) of the senses and antahkarana, when that Jiva experiences Samadhi, it abandons its role as the drastta of the indriyas and antahkarana, and like Brahma - who transcends maya - that Jiva becomes Chaitanya, and its rapport with the form of God being maintained, Jiva attains likeness to that Brahma through Samadhi, then that Jiva can also be said to be Brahmarup. As a result, its gnan (knowledge) also increases. Devotees whose strength of the indriyas is coupled with austerities, nivrutti dharma and vairagya, attains yogic powers like that of Narad, Sanakadik and Shukji. One who has attained yogic powers can travel to God’s abodes such as Swetdweep, Badarikashram, etc. in his very body, and can also travel to all places in this realm and beyond. But for those who follow the path of Pravriti, only their gnan increases - like king Janak.

According to Astangyoga, there are two types of Samadhi. (1) Samprajnata Samadhi (2) Asamprajnata Samadhi. In Samprajnata Samadhi, all the powers to control the nature are obtained. Whereas, Asamprajnata Samadhi is fructified by constant study of ending all the mental activities. Bhagwan Shri Swaminarayan indicates two types of samadhi in Vachanamritam.

(1) Savikalp Samadhi

(2) Nirvikalp Samadhi

If a person who has engrossed in the form of God does not have any impure desires, but does have some pure desires - for example, ‘I wish to become like Narad, Sanakadik and Shukji, or I wish to go to the hermitage of Nar-Narayan and stay with the munis there to perform austerities.’ or 'I wish to go to Shwetdweep and become like a mukta of Shwetdweep by performing austerities.’ - then such a person is said to be in Savikalp Samadhi. On the other hand, one who does not entertain such desires and having attained the attributes of Aksharbrahma, remains engrossed only in the form of God, is said to be in Nirvikalp samadhi. (Gadhada-F-40)

Regardless of whether a person has controlled his prana or not, if he has firm conviction of the manifested form of God - without any form of doubts whatsoever - then he has attained Nirvikalp samadhi. (Vadtal - 1)

Once in Vadtal, Bhagubhai Patidar of Bhadran approached Shreeji Maharaj, and asked: ‘Maharaj, how does Samadhi actually occur?’

Shreeji Maharaj replied: ‘So many types of rocks are there on the earth. A magnetic rock also appears similar to all of the other rocks, yet there is a natural magical property in it - when a ship sails pass a mountain of magnetic rock, then all of the iron nails of the ship are drawn towards the magnetic rock due to its magnetic property. Similarly, when God is incarnated on earth as a human, He appears similar to all other people, but due to His magnetic personality, when any person has His darshan with love and faith, his senses are automatically drawn towards Him and his mind instantly enters Samadhi. (Vadtal-13)

Once entering into Samadhi, it is not easy to come out easily from the form of Brahma to physical body. Only in three cases, Jiva returns to body coming out of Samadhi.

(1)Inclinations to worldly pleasures are so strong that they provoke Jiva out of Samadhi.

(2)Highly powerful Muktas can enter and exit by themselves from Samadhi according to their will.

(3)Such Muktas grant Samadhi to other persons and also make them return to body from Samadhi. (Gadhada-F-73)

Lust does not uprooted even in Samadhi. Ratna Bhakta of village Bhadara had mastered Samadhi, yet the seeds of lust were not burnt from his heart. When Sadguru Gopalanand Swami had taught him the technique of Pratilom Dhyan (ultimate kind of meditation), Ratna Bhakt started meditating upon the form of Lord Swaminarayan with lom-pratilom vruti and by merging his soul with the light of Aksharbrahma and achieving oneness with it. As a result, the lust mingled with his Jiva had been burnt out.

Thus it is proved that Pratilom meditation is superior to Samadhi. That is why Abaji Bapashri said that Samadhi is a Sakam Marg. One who visualizes the form of Shreeji Maharaj constantly is a true achiever and such sublime position of achievement is the only Akhand Samadhi!