During my spiritual awakening journey, the question asked the most was about the meaning of Samadhi. I know Samadhi cannot be explained clearly with human languages because it is the unique state of personal experiences. Lately, more readers have asked me to share my views on Samadhi, although we know how complicated it is to define and describe it. You indeed have to experience Samadhi before understanding the meaning and context. I want to introduce this topic as an open forum for all readers to share their views about Samadhi for the next few weeks or even months. There are no right or wrong answers on this site because free discussion and debate are part of the awakening process.
Samadhi is a Hindu word. Sama means equal, and Dhi means intelligence or wisdom. Everyone can be in Samadhi or deep trance when human intelligence is fully connected with the source of the universe. Full engagement with the source means understanding the truth about ourselves and the universe wholeheartedly in all aspects without doubt or delusion. Samadhi starts with surrendering ourselves to the truth of who we really are and why we are here on earth by living our present life without judgment, preference, resentment, or anxiety. It is impossible to acknowledge or experience Samadhi without having pure awareness of our human body and human consciousness. In Hinduism, Samadhi is the state of the soul that the rebirth cycle closes permanently based on karma circulation or the law of cause and effect.
There are many controversial and disputable practices worldwide to experience Samadhi while alive. Nobody should make a judgment or claim about the various Samadhi pathways out there. Still, I disagree that the final moments of a human being’s life are judged by an individual’s final transcendent state of Samadhi. Everyone has the opportunity to be spiritually enlightened or peacefully evolved as long as they live a present life with unconditional love and unlimited compassion towards themselves and others. When you experience the state of Samadhi, you will give up all desires about Samadhi because your deep consciousness merges with your thoughts into one single conscious entity at that very moment.
I have to say that Samadhi opens the door of our eternal consciousness regardless of whether we are alive or dead. Understanding Samadhi certainly reduces the fear of death or the attachment to this material world. From my personal experience, the state of Samadhi is like you are riding in a purely static body while breathing becomes very slow or almost stopped. In other words, at Samadhi state, you are free with no weight, no thought, no desire, no needs, no blinking, and eventually with no breath. Samadhi is a beautiful state of relaxation or nothingness with zero regrets or resentments.
Samadhi is not the practicing of spiritual rituals through humanly designed tools or techniques. It is a personal experience that happens naturally through cherishing every present moment of life no matter what happens, without blaming yourself or others or trying too hard for more or recognition. Humans are far from reaching Samadhi because we quickly lose patience or suffer from frustration and anger.
Samadhi is not a dream. Assuming a mosquito bite in a lucid dream, you are in a Samadhi state if you do not want to wake up and open your eyes right away, and you do not want to remove the mosquito immediately with your hands. After experiencing a Samadhi state, you have no more burning desire to talk about it or share the experience with others and have no passion for delicious food or anything else in particular. You no longer feel lonely, insecure, or hateful after experiencing the Samadhi state of pure consciousness even if it is just once in a lifetime.
Samadhi represents the state of calmness or balance by finding total peace between the individual self and the rest of the universe. Samadhi is also the absolute harmonious consciousness among all human beings without separation or differentiation. You do not have to die to experience Samadhi; human beings can reach the state of Samadhi while the physical five senses are in pure alignment with the five elements of the universe; gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. Samadhi experience usually starts with Samatha, then to Vipassana through deep meditation.
Samatha meditation temporarily quarantines humans from the mental virus, and Vipassana introduced by Buddha can immunise us permanently from the deadly mental virus. Samadhi is the combined state of Samatha and Vipassana, based on the Buddha teachings, also called the Noble Eightfold Path.
To Be Continued.