What Is Samadhi?

Imagine being in a state of spiritual ecstasy, where one’s conscious leaves one’s body.  Not only does breathing stop, but the heart also stops beating, and one is in a trancelike state.  For highly enlightened people who have reached spiritual illumination, this is called Samadhi.  Samadhi has been described as one’s spirit leaving the body and a state of bliss replacing it.  Samadhi is part of an old Indian tradition that has a long history, even though it is not heard of or used much today.

Some people misunderstand the meaning of the word Samadhi and mistake it for a death-like situation.  This is not the case, however.  “Sama” means equanimity and “dhi” denotes intelligence.  When one reaches Samadhi, there is a feeling of knowing and openness at the core of oneself.  In a state of Samadhi, one is able to experience openness, trust and realizations into moments of life.  It is a deep merging within oneself and things around one.  Samadhi helps one realize things like soul, spirit and essence are what are truly real.

Samadhi can become real for anyone who is able to realize spirituality is more than life.  Samadhi helps one release oneself from opinions formed by others, past events, issues one is burdened by and caring too much about who one is.  One will be able to live life openly in the most satisfying, open-heart manner, regardless of the environment or situations around him or her.  There is a tremendous feeling of bliss even though no “mind” is present.  Thoughts go through the mind; however, there is no clinging to them as they pass.  There are two kinds of Samadhi and they are Upacara Samadhi and Appana Samadhi.  Upacara Samadhi precedes Appana Samadhi and Appana Samadhi fixes cittas on objects in the mind.

There are four obstacles in the path of one’s mental progress.  They are:

• Kammacchanda - this includes sight, sound, smell, touch and taste
• Byapada - this is the evil desire to destroy others or bring pain to them
• Thina middha - this is good for meritorious deeds
• Uddhacca kukkuccs - this has two parts, the first part is flitting of cittas in all directions and the second is worrying over past omissions and commissions

Samadhi, or complete mental concentration, will help keep these cittas or nirvanas out.  There are forty different ways to acquire Samadhi.  They are known as “Forty Samatha Bhavanas”. Samatha is mental concentration.  The following is a breakdown of the forty bhavanas:

• 10 kasina bhavanas
• 10 asubha bhavanas
• 10 anussati bhavanas
• 4 brah mavihara bhavanas
• 4 aruppa bhavanas
• 1 sanna bhavanas
• 1 vavattrana bhavanas

The only difference in Samadhi is what point of view you look at it from.  Savikalpa Samadhi refers to the first state of Samadhi, while Nirvikalpa Samadhi is the end result.  During Savikalpa there is the first taste of bliss.  Entering Samadhi takes effort, and even more effort is required to hold on to total Samadhi.  The beginning is only temporary, however.  It is possible for one to remain in Nirvikalpa Samadhi and be functional.  This is known as Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi.