Transcending the Mind, Abiding in Pure Awareness – The Psychology of Samadhi: 4
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11 ماه پیش
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Patanjali's extraordinary eight-step (ashtanga) method
Patanjali's extraordinary eight-step (ashtanga) method of meditation can lead you to the state of samadhi. His ancient teachings become much more accessible with the help of modern psychology and personal insights gained through decades of practice.''
Psychology of Meditation playlist: Psychology of Samadhi – Based on Pata...
0:00 Effortless Meditation through Dharana & Dhyana
6:41 Ego: Karta (doer) and Bhokta (experiencer)
14:23 Bhokta, Experiencer of Silence
21:11 Conclusion & Advice for Practice
Samadhi, which is ultimate goal of yogic meditation, is utterly unlike the preceding seven angas or limbs of yoga taught by rishi Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras. Those angas, especially dharana, concentration, and dhyana, meditation, have to be practiced with tremendous effort to completely prepare your mind to reach samadhi. But you can't actually practice samadhi. It's the state you arrive at through your diligent practice of all seven preceding angas.
Patanjali defines dhyana as an unbroken flow of identical thoughts or vrittis towards your alambana, your chosen object of meditation. When that flow becomes deeply established in your mind, it will continue spontaneously, without any effort at all. For example, instead of deliberately reciting om, om, om you'll be able to effortlessly observe that repetition in your mind as it continues spontaneously. This transition, from deliberate repetition to spontaneous, effortless, repetition, is the result of the momentum gained through intense practice of dharana and dhyana.
According to psychologists, certain kinds of intense activity can produce a similar state of spontaneous, effortless action. They call it entrainment of the mind or the state of flow. Athletes call it, "being in the zone." Musicians aptly call it, "getting into the groove."
An alambana is a tool you use to quiet and concentrate your mind. When your mind is fully concentrated, you have let go of your alambana. Then, when the flow of identical vrittis comes to an end, the practice of dhyana can effortlessly and seamlessly lead to the state of samadhi.
For meditators, it's important to distinguish two different aspects of the ego, the ahankara. When you feel like the doer or agent of some kind of activity, that is the karta, the doer. On the other hand, when you feel like you're merely an observer or experiencer of something, that is the bhokta, the experiencer. Your ego can produce the feeling of being a doer, an experiencer, or both. Both eventually fade away in the state of samadhi.
In samadhi, as Patanjali himself says, tada drashtuh svarupe avasthanam, you then abide in your true nature as pure consciousness. That is the state of kaivalya, onlyness, when your true nature alone remains.
Swami Tadatmananda is a traditionally-trained teacher of Advaita Vedanta, meditation, and Sanskrit. For more information, please see: https://www.arshabodha.org/
Psychology of Meditation playlist: Psychology of Samadhi – Based on Pata...
0:00 Effortless Meditation through Dharana & Dhyana
6:41 Ego: Karta (doer) and Bhokta (experiencer)
14:23 Bhokta, Experiencer of Silence
21:11 Conclusion & Advice for Practice
Samadhi, which is ultimate goal of yogic meditation, is utterly unlike the preceding seven angas or limbs of yoga taught by rishi Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras. Those angas, especially dharana, concentration, and dhyana, meditation, have to be practiced with tremendous effort to completely prepare your mind to reach samadhi. But you can't actually practice samadhi. It's the state you arrive at through your diligent practice of all seven preceding angas.
Patanjali defines dhyana as an unbroken flow of identical thoughts or vrittis towards your alambana, your chosen object of meditation. When that flow becomes deeply established in your mind, it will continue spontaneously, without any effort at all. For example, instead of deliberately reciting om, om, om you'll be able to effortlessly observe that repetition in your mind as it continues spontaneously. This transition, from deliberate repetition to spontaneous, effortless, repetition, is the result of the momentum gained through intense practice of dharana and dhyana.
According to psychologists, certain kinds of intense activity can produce a similar state of spontaneous, effortless action. They call it entrainment of the mind or the state of flow. Athletes call it, "being in the zone." Musicians aptly call it, "getting into the groove."
An alambana is a tool you use to quiet and concentrate your mind. When your mind is fully concentrated, you have let go of your alambana. Then, when the flow of identical vrittis comes to an end, the practice of dhyana can effortlessly and seamlessly lead to the state of samadhi.
For meditators, it's important to distinguish two different aspects of the ego, the ahankara. When you feel like the doer or agent of some kind of activity, that is the karta, the doer. On the other hand, when you feel like you're merely an observer or experiencer of something, that is the bhokta, the experiencer. Your ego can produce the feeling of being a doer, an experiencer, or both. Both eventually fade away in the state of samadhi.
In samadhi, as Patanjali himself says, tada drashtuh svarupe avasthanam, you then abide in your true nature as pure consciousness. That is the state of kaivalya, onlyness, when your true nature alone remains.
Swami Tadatmananda is a traditionally-trained teacher of Advaita Vedanta, meditation, and Sanskrit. For more information, please see: https://www.arshabodha.org/
11 ماه پیش
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