The next Sûtra is Nirvacharavaisharadye adhyatma prasadaha, which means “the experience of the state of thoughtlessness, being in the undisturbed state of hollowness, brings to the fore the grace of the being”.

More and more experiences of the thoughtless state of mind brings on adhyatma prasadaha — Grace of the Divine Lord. The grace of the soul is thus manifested. The spiritual awakening or spiritual blossoming then takes place. Nirvichara vaisharadye means “mastery over the emptiness”. Grace of the being blossoms only when you become hollow.

Now, we come to the next Sûtra: Ritambhara tatra pragna, meaning “in that state the consciousness is full of intuitive knowledge”. Ritambara is that knowledge which is flawless, beyond time, steady, benevolent and full of truth.

This is different from Shrutanumanaprajnabhyamanyavishaya vishesharthavat , which means “it is a special knowledge different from what you have heard, inferred or understood intellectually”. This knowledge, which comes from the depth of the being, is different from that which you have read, which you have heard or which you guess through the intellectual sense. It is different from everything else and very special.

Tajjaha samskaroanyasamskara pratibandhi  is the next Sûtra, meaning “the impression born from the experience of the highest state of consciousness can wipe out other impressions which cause bondage”.

Impressions of that state of consciousness can wipe out all other impressions in the mind that are useless.

To some degree, this keeps happening to every one of us. When we first sit down to meditate, we erase something of the past. The more we meditate, the more hollow we beome and we end up feeling like completely different people.

What has happened? The state of your being has been removed, erased. The other samskaaras or the other impressions from the mind have been removed. The whole experience has made you new; it has renewed you.

Have you experienced this — a feeling where when you think of something you did in the past, you simply cannot believe it was you who did it. You tell yourself, that could not have been you. You do not feel connected to that person at all. Think of some of the things that you did 15 or 20 years ago. Go ahead, turn back time. Don’t you wonder — “Am I the same person? I did not do it. It was somebody else.” Why? This is because the samskara of your consciousness has been erased, those things of the past have been erased. This makes you a new person, every time, every day. This is pure knowledge. If someone holds on to you for something you did in the past, just laugh at them. This is because you are not the same person now. You see it as though somebody else did it.

Have you heard this story from Buddha’s life? Once Buddha was in an assembly when a man walked in looking furious. He thought Buddha was doing something wrong. He was a restless businessman and he had found that his children were spending hours with Buddha when they could have engaged themselves in business at that time, making more and more money. He felt that spending four hours of their day seated next to someone whose eyes were always closed was incredulous. This was what had upset the businessman.

So, with furiousness walked straight up to Buddha looked him the eye and spat. He was so angry, he could not find the words to exprss them that he merely spat at Budha. Buddha simply smiled. He showed no anger, though the disciples around him were angry. They would have liked to react but could not because Buddha was there. So, everybody was holding their lips and fists tight. After the businessman spat at Buddha and realised his action was not drawing a reaction, simply walked away in a huff.

Buddha did not react or say anything. He just smiled. And that was enough to shock the angry man. For the first time in his life, the man had met someone who would just smile when he spat on his face. That man could not sleep all night and his whole body underwent such a transformation. He was shivering, shaking. He felt as if the whole world had turned upside down. The next day he went and fell at Buddha’s feet and said, “Please forgive me. I did not know what I did.” To which Buddha replied, “I cannot excuse you!”

Everyone including the man and Buddha’s disciples were flabbergasted. Buddha then explained the reason for his statement. He said, “Why should I forgive you when you have done nothing wrong”.

The businessman looked a little more surprised and told Buddha that it was he who had wronged him by spitting on him. Buddha simply said, “Oh! That person is not there now. If I ever meet that person whom you spat on, I will tell him to excuse you. To this person who is here, you have done no wrong.” That is real compassion.

Compassion is not saying, “I forgive you.” Your forgiveness should be such that the person who is forgiven, does not even know that you are forgiving them. They should not even feel guilty about their mistake.

The most difficult things appear and sound difficult when they are removed from experience. But when it comes to oneself, the most difficult things look simple. When you read scriptures about Samadhi it appears very difficult. But I tell you, every individual experiences glimpses of Samadhi in life and that is why there is joy. Unfortunately, we don’t pinpoint or identify it and we don’t know how to maintain, retain it or recreate it.

Patanjali gives us a scientific step by step methodology of recreating this experience. It is not experience of the object but experience of the experiencer which is the self referral value of our own inner divinity.

Let us once again go through the four types of Samadhi which Patanjali Maharishi has mentioned. They are Savitarka Samadhi, Nirvitarka Samadhi, Savichara Samadhi and Nirvichara Samadhi.

Savitarka Samadhi is the Samadhi in which there is a dialogue or argument in one part of consciousness with the other part of the same consciousness. Here, there is a dialogue happening between the knower, known and knowing, meaning a dialogue with logical subtle reasoning happening within oneself.

Nirvitarka Samadhi is the one which has no dialogue where there is no reasoning.
Savichara Samadhi is the Samadhi in which there is some knowledge flowing. In this state of deep Samadhi some faint thoughts move through.

Nirvichara Samadhi is the one where there is no thought .This is a thoughtless state which is the experience of nothingness or just emptiness.

Now comes the question — why did Patanjali Maharishi make this distinction considering a dialogue cannot happen without words? This is due to reasoning where there is a little logic flowing through and you are trying to grasp something. Logic always has a tendency to grasp. Even in Samadhi there could be a slight tendency to grasp the experience and that is called Savitarka Samadhi, which is not a very deep Samadhi. In Nirvitarka Samadhi that desire to grasp is not there.

Our consciousness is much older than the stones. Our consciousness has impressions of so many life times. So, when we go deep in Samadhi, some faint thoughts or ideas that have no logic may arise. Just like in dreams you get thoughts and ideas which have no logic. Your experiences in dreams have no logic. Sometimes you don’t even need to have a language to understand the Vichara. It is just a feeling. A subtle or faint feeling arises and that is called Savichara and when there is no feeling or no trace of faint thought, it is Nirvichara Samadhi. These two samadhis take you deeper because they continue to exist in the subtlest levels of the consciousness.

For logic to come across, you need an object. If the mind has to understand or to reason, it needs an object. In fact it needs not just one object but many objects. But if the subject itself is the object it becomes self referral and that is called Nirvitarka Samadhi. In this state there is no dialogue where just the seer is left. But in this Samadhi there is subtle understanding about very subtle things. These subtle objects continue even to the primordial nature of the universe where you cannot even point your finger and say “this is this”. It takes you towards a realm of unknown beyond the logic. Subtle objects of perception continue even beyond identifications. That means it is the journey from the known to unknown. These four kinds of Samadhi can be only understood when we go deep into experience.

Many people experience things in meditation but they don’t know what to make of it. That is where Patanjali’s beautiful guidance becomes very valuable. Five different experiences of the senses — sight, smell, sound, taste and touch — these five modes of experience continue at a very subtle primordial nature. Though there is no object of touch, when you go deep in Samadhi, you can feel some sensations of touch, you can hear some sound or you can see some light. Though there is no thought, the experience is also considered as thought and these experiences continue till there is “shoonyatha” or nothingness.

So, in meditation don’t sit and wait for something. When you experience these things, do not try to hold on to it. This is what he mentions as “Sabeeja Samadhi”.

When you are experiencing bliss or a vastness of consciousness, there can be traces of sound or light or touch or fragrance. This is a common phenomenon when people get into meditation. From this, Sabeeja Samadhi we skilfully go to the Nirbeeja Samadhi where there is no duality. The purpose of Samadhi is not just Samadhi itself but “adhyatma prasada”, which means spiritual awakening or spiritual grace. Samadhi is one of the means to attain the grace of spirituality.

The next Sûtra is Smrutiparishuddhau swaroopashoonyevarthamatranirbhasa nirvitarka . Savitarka Samadhi is when there is an idea, a thought, while Nirvitarka Samadhi is when the intellect is purified and the memory becomes clear. You know, often your memory is clogged.

 

Try this simple exercise. Just ask anyone to narrate a movie they have seen five years ago. They will not be able to give you dialogues and you’ll probably find that the whole story is all mixed up. Simple things do not stay in your mind. Reliving memory itself is an exercise that is not very easy.

 

Go back to the past, you will find that you have a lot of things mixed up. What did you do in January three years ago? You know, you read the newspapers everyday spending a lot of time with it yet you probably will not remember most of what you have read. People do not really remember things. Our memory is short-lived.

 

But what happens when you sit down to meditate? All these old images keep coming up. Why do they come up? They come up to leave you and go. When they have all gone, the memory become pure and in that state you really become aware of who you are. How were you when you were a child? You were so blissful irrespective of what you had and what you didn’t have!

 

A child doesn’t need a reason to smile or laugh. That is an indication that memory is pure. When consciousness expands free from the clutches of memory, it’s what I call a pure memory. So, as you practise this type of Samadhi (Savitarka Samadhi), a moment comes where you are simply there where there is no hovering thoughts, ideas or feelings. That is when you experience moments of thoughtlessness. In that state, you just have the awareness of “I am’’ without any thought or feeling.

 

Glimpses of this Nirvitarka Samadhi you get in deep meditation. And as you continue the practise, it stabilises and becomes more and more obvious.

 

Ethayaiva savichara nirvichara cha sookshma vishaya vyakyaatha  is the next Sûtra.

 

Like Savitarka and Nirvitarka, there is Savichara and Nirvichara which is more subtle than Tarka. What is the difference between Tarka and Vichara? Tarka is the logic where your clear ideas are being spoken whereas faint feeling is also included in Vichara and that is why it is subtle.

 

Sookshma vishayatvam Chaalingaparyavasanam is the next Sûtra. This means that they continue for ever in the material or relative universe. Whenever you identify something that is its sign. As long as name and form are present, the relative material universe extends and as it extends to the subtler this continues.

 

Tha eva sabeeja samadhihi is the next Sûtra and it is called Sabeeja Samadhi. Here Patanjali Maharishi is taking you to the finer and finer aspects. This is difficult to understand if you don’t have an experience of quiet mind.