Types of Samadhi

Sri Ramana Maharshi

V: I maintain that the physical body of the man immersed in samadhi as a result of the unbroken contemplation of the Self, may become motionless for that reason. It may be active or inactive. The mind established in such contemplation will not be affected by the movements of the body or the senses; nor is disturbance of the mind the forerunner of physical activity. Whereas another person asserts that physical activity certainly prevents samadhi or unbroken contemplation. What is Bhagavan's opinion? You are abiding proof of my statement.

B: Both of you are right: you refer to sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi and the other refers to kevala nirvikalpa samadhi. In the latter case the mind lies immersed in the light of the Self (whereas the mind lies in the darkness of ignorance in deep sleep); and the subject makes a distinction between samadhi and activity after waking up from samadhi. Moreover, activity of the body, of the sight, of the vital forces and of the mind and the cognizance of objects, all these are obstructions for one who seeks to realize kevala nirvikalpa samadhi.

In sahaja samadhi, however, the mind has resolved into the self and has been lost. The differences and obstructions mentioned above do not, therefore, exist here. The activities of such a being are like the feeding of a somnolent boy, perceptible to the onlooker but not to the subject. The traveler sleeping in the moving cart is not aware of the motion of the cart, because his mind is sunk in darkness. Whereas, the sahaja jnani remains unaware of his bodily activities because his mind is dead, having resolved into the ecstasy of chidananda (bliss of the Self).

Note: The distinction between sleep, kevala nirvikalpa samadhi and sahaja samadhi can be clearly put in a a tabular form as given by Sri Bhagavan:

The mind of the Sage who has realized the Self is wholly destroyed. It is dead. But to the onlooker, he may seem to possess a mind just like the layman. Hence the "I" in the Sage has merely an apparent 'objective reality'. In fact however, it has neither a subjective existence nor an objective reality.