"Jagat satya!"

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Tue, 23 Jul 2002, Srikrishna Ghadiyaram wrote:

> Can we not consider that the JnAni is always in
> samadhi.
>

Yes probably but we have to ask whether we are using samadhi losely or as
a technical term.  In Samkhya/Yoga samadhi is the final state when the
turmoil of the mind has ceased.  Chittavrttinirodhah as the Yogasutras
call it.  It can be savikalpa (retaining mental concepts) or nirvikalpa
(where there are no mental concepts.)

For Advaita Vedanta even nirvikalpa samadhi is at best the penultimate
stage.  The freezing of the mental state is not enough, there must also be
the positive knowledge of the oneness of Brahman.

But especially after Samkhya/Yoga became absorbed into Vedanta, this
distinction wasn't always scrupulously maintained.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
It's a girl! See the pictures - http://www.braincells.com/shailaja/