SAMADHI (Union with the Divine)

 

Twelve Dhyanas make a Samadhi.  A Samadhi is about half an hour long.  If you can hold your focus on a word, mantra, object, image, name of God, or anything; that would be a, ‘Samadhi’.  You may even meditate on one of the chakras (energy centers) of your body; just visualize a candle flame at your heart, or forehead.

 

Samadhi is the final step in the eight-fold path of Yoga.  Samadhi means, ‘to bring together, to merge’.  ‘In the state of samadhi the body and senses are at rest, as if asleep, yet the faculty of mind and reason are alert, as if awake; one goes beyond consciousness.  During samadhi, we realize what it is to be an identity without differences, and how a liberated soul can enjoy pure awareness of this pure identity.  The conscious mind drops back into that unconscious oblivion from which it first emerged.

      

Thus, samadhi refers to union or true Yoga.  There is an ending to the separation that is created by the, ‘I’ and, ‘mine’ of our illusory perceptions of reality.  The mind does not distinguish between self and non-self, or between the object contemplated and the process of contemplation.  The mind and the intellect have stopped and there is only the experience of consciousness, truth and unutterable joy.

      

The achievement of samadhi is a difficult task.  For this reason the Yoga Sutra suggests the practice of asanas and pranayama as preparation for dharana, because these influence mental activities and create space in the crowded schedule of the mind.  Once dharana has occurred, dhyana and samadhi can follow.