[Advaita-l] [advaitin] What is Samadhi?

H S Chandramouli hschandramouli at gmail.com
Fri Feb 2 07:05:31 EST 2024


Namaste Sudhanshu Ji,

Reg  //  What is the difference between akhanDAkArA-vritti (of BhAmatI and
VivaraNa) and nirvikalpaka samAdhi (of Patanjali Maharshi)? //,

nirvikalpaka samAdhi (of Patanjali Maharshi)  is cessation of all vrittis
of the mind in that state. akhanDAkArA-vritti of Advaita Siddhanta is the अहम्
ब्रह्मास्मि (aham brahmAsmi) vritti which is originated automatically,
without any further effort, following the shabda vritti, when the sAdhaka
hears any of the MahAvAkyAs from the Guru at the time of fructification of
the sAdhana. It is admitted in Advaita SiddhAnta that such a vritti can
pervade अवच्छिन्न ब्रह्मन् (avachChinna brahman ), Brahman  veiled by
ajnAna. The vritti replicates the veiled Brahman. The Chaitanya in that
vritti destroys the veil of ajnAna in that replication. That jnAna is
termed Realization.
Regards

On Fri, Feb 2, 2024 at 5:06 PM H S Chandramouli <hschandramouli at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Namaste Sudhanshu Ji,
>
> I think my other post answers your question.
>
> Regards
>
> On Fri, Feb 2, 2024 at 4:46 PM Sudhanshu Shekhar <sudhanshu.iitk at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Namaste Chandramouli ji.
>>
>> What is the difference between akhanDAkArA-vritti (of BhAmatI and
>> VivaraNa) and nirvikalpaka samAdhi (of Patanjali Maharshi)?
>>
>> Regards.
>> Sudhanshu Shekhar.
>>
>> On Fri, 2 Feb, 2024, 4:40 pm H S Chandramouli via Advaita-l, <
>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Namaste.
>>>
>>> I have not come across anywhere in Bhamati School or VivaraNa School that
>>> Nirvikalpa Samadhi of the type advocated by Sri Patanjali Maharshi is
>>> mandatory, or even recommended, for Realization as advanced by the
>>> Advaitic
>>> School. If anyone has come across such declarations, please provide the
>>> references.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>>
>>> On Fri, Feb 2, 2024 at 4:17 PM 'Bhaskar YR' via advaitin <
>>> advaitin at googlegroups.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> > Can you summarize what exactly you finally understand what is involved
>>> in
>>> > Self Realization and is samadhi - required for it, etc.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > praNAms Sri Sada prabhuji
>>> >
>>> > Hare Krishna
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > I reckon these two observations from Dennis prabhuji’s article would
>>> > suffice to understand his perspective on samAdhi.  And being a
>>> follower of
>>> > Sri paramArthAnandaji I hope you too would agree with him.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > //quote//
>>> >
>>> >  whereas what I would call ‘traditional’ Advaitins believe that
>>> Shankara’s
>>> > teaching was that it is self-ignorance that obscures our understanding
>>> of
>>> > the truth and that only self-knowledge can remove it. Thus, one of the
>>> key
>>> > issues around the topic of neo-Vedanta is that of experience versus
>>> > knowledge.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > But the most convincing argument for not including *nirvikalpa
>>> samAdhi* (in
>>> > the Patanjali sense) as part of advaita is one I heard recently from
>>> Swami
>>> > Paramarthananda. He argues that Patanjali, having written about this
>>> in his
>>> > yoga sutras, and being regarded as the highest authority in the yoga
>>> > philosophy, must obviously himself have experienced *nirvikalpa
>>> samAdhi*.
>>> > Consequently, if its result is as has been argued by the neo-Vedantins,
>>> > then Patanjali should be the greatest Advaitin ever. And yet his
>>> philosophy
>>> > claims that there are many Atmans and that the world is real. So one
>>> has to
>>> > conclude that his experience of *nirvikalpa samAdhi* led him to dualism
>>> > and not non-dualism! Swami Paramarthananda’s last word on the subject
>>> is
>>> > that we can happily be liberated without *nirvikalpa samAdhi*!
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > //Unquote//
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > If I am right not only bhAmati vehemently insisted the mandatory
>>> > experience of ‘yOga school type samAdhi’ even in vivaraNa school too
>>> this
>>> > non-dual practical experience advocated. Though as per this school the
>>> > jnana of I am brahman devoid of any duality (nishprapancha etc. ) is
>>> the
>>> > result of shAstra vihita vedAntavAkya shravaNa.  After the vAkya jnana
>>> > dawns  the qualified jnAni ( he is mere qualified seeker of mOksha at
>>> this
>>> > stage) has to continue to practice both the vedAnta vAkya shravaNa and
>>> > vAkya janita jnana over and over again and over a period of time he
>>> would
>>> > become aparOksha jnAni and he will be considered as custodian of direct
>>> > intuitive knowledge.  But even for this aparOksha jnAni there is
>>> prArabdha
>>> > and avidyA lesha hence he would continue to see the duality of world
>>> when
>>> > he is not in asaMprajnAta samAdhi.  And for him, on certain occasions
>>> he
>>> > would get the practical and ‘literal’ experience of Atmaikatvam.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
>>> >
>>> > bhaskar
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
>>> Groups
>>> > "advaitin" group.
>>> > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
>>> an
>>> > email to advaitin+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
>>> > To view this discussion on the web visit
>>> >
>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/AM7PR06MB6581F87F0C6435D08C43D0F484422%40AM7PR06MB6581.eurprd06.prod.outlook.com
>>> > <
>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/AM7PR06MB6581F87F0C6435D08C43D0F484422%40AM7PR06MB6581.eurprd06.prod.outlook.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer
>>> >
>>> > .
>>> >
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Archives: https://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
>>>
>>> To unsubscribe or change your options:
>>> https://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l
>>>
>>> For assistance, contact:
>>> listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org
>>>
>>


More information about the Advaita-l mailing list