Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali

Author(s): Prabhavnanda Swami, Christopher Isherwood
Publisher: Ramkrishna Math Madras

Page 65

YOGA AND ITS AIMS
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conception of a personal God, there is Brahman, the Ground, the central Reality of which these figures are only partial, individual projections. When we become united with Brahman, we are united with That which was manifested in Christ and hidden within our unregenerate selves, but which is eternally present in all of us. And this union is the state of nirvikalpa samadhi.
The lower stages of samadhi all contain a vestige of the sense of duality; it is still “I” who am meditating upon “my” Ideal; there is a separation between us. And it is natural that even the great saint finds it painful to surrender this intense, personal love for his Ideal in order to achieve final, impersonal union. In describing how he first reached nirvikalpa samadhi, Sri Ramakrishna said: "Every time I gathered my mind together, I came face to face with the blissful form of Divine Mother. However much I tried to free my mind from consciousness of Mother, I didn't have the will to go beyond. But at last, collecting all the strength of my will, I cut Mother's form to pieces with the sword of discrimination, and at once my mind became "seedless," and I reached nirvikalpa. It was beyond all expression.”
Nirvikalpa samadhi has been described by Shankara as follows:
There is a continuous consciousness of the unity of Atman and Brahman. There is no longer any identification of the Atman with its coverings. All sense of duality is obliterated. There is pure, unified consciousness. The man who is well established in this consciousness is said to be illumined.
A man is said to be free even in this life when he is established in illumination. His bliss is unending. He almost forgets this world of appearances.
Even though his mind is dissolved in Brahman, he is fully awake, free from the ignorance of waking life. He is fully conscious, but free from any craving. Such a man is said to be free even in this life.