Tag: Stages of Samadhi in spiritual awakening

During a glimpse of Kundalini awakening, something extraordinary happened. I felt I became one with the object of my meditation. There was no separation — it was not just union; it was as if I myself had turned into the meditation image. In that moment, the distinction between subject and object vanished. What remained was a supreme state of bliss and pure consciousness. It wasn’t imagined. It wasn’t projected. It was immediate, total, and alive.
Intuitively, I lowered this experience down to the Ajna Chakra. I didn’t analyze it then, but now I feel it was an attempt to bring it back into a shareable form. Maybe it was a deep urge to express this mystery to the world. Had I not done that, I sense the mind — fatigued by subtle energetic thoughts — would have eventually extinguished itself. Then the same bliss would have continued, but in an entirely formless, non-experiential manner. That would have been Nirvikalpa Samadhi — the void-like, seedless state of pure awareness.
But here’s the subtle insight: in that formless state, the person is so inward, so silent, that communicating the truth becomes almost impossible. Words die in that vast stillness. Perhaps, by descending it slightly, I stayed within the domain where language still functions, where even though forms are virtual and inseparable from the self, they are at least relatable.
This made me reflect: total absorption — a term often reserved for Nirvikalpa Samadhi — feels very different from what is typically described as union in Savikalpa Samadhi. In Savikalpa, forms appear, but they are virtual, inseparable from the void-self. There is still an object, still a trace of duality, yet not in a separate sense. That subtle trace is what makes it different from Nirvikalpa, where not even a ripple remains.
Then I wondered — why is this direct void, this Nirvikalpa, not an easy shortcut? Why does the journey so often pass through Savikalpa first?
The answer emerged gradually. Savikalpa Samadhi may be the great purifier. It softens and dissolves the world’s cravings. It empties the mind of subtle noise while keeping a trace of reference. It’s like the bridge that burns itself — preparing you for that final formless leap.
And yet, some ancient methods, like Kevala Kumbhaka, hint that this leap can happen abruptly. In deep suspension of breath, when the inner movements halt, the formless state can arise. No image, no mantra, no thought — only presence. So yes, Nirvikalpa can come suddenly too. But such suddenness often comes after deep ripening.
This brought me back to Patanjali. His Yoga Sutras speak of Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, and finally Samadhi. I wondered: are these referring to Savikalpa or Nirvikalpa?
I began to see clearly. Patanjali’s stages guide the seeker toward Savikalpa Samadhi — especially in the beginning. These include forms of Sabija Samadhi — with a seed — where some object of focus remains. These are:
• Savitarka (with gross thoughts)
• Savichara (with subtle concepts)
• Sananda (with bliss)
• Sasmita (with the pure sense of ‘I am’)
Each step dissolves more, but they all carry a seed — a trace of reference.
Then, in the culminating verses, Patanjali hints at Nirbija Samadhi — seedless, supportless, formless. This is what Vedanta and nondual traditions call Nirvikalpa Samadhi. It is not something to be achieved by force. It happens when even the subtlest effort dissolves.
In that state, there is no Pranayama, yet breath is suspended (Kevala). No Dharana, yet nothing distracts. No Dhyana, yet there is unbroken Being. No Samadhi to be entered, because it IS. All supports have vanished.
I realized: these steps are not bypassed — they are transcended. They melt away naturally as the formless takes over.
But the most stunning clarity came from the very start of Patanjali’s text:
“Yogash chitta vritti nirodhah” — Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.
This is not about reaching some object of meditation. It is not even about union. It is about cessation — total stillness. This is not Savikalpa. This is Nirvikalpa.
The very aim, the true destination of Yoga, is not somewhere in between — it is that absolute stillness where the seer rests in his true form.
“Tada drashtuh svarupe avasthanam” — Then the seer abides in his own nature.
Savikalpa Samadhi plays its role. It refines, it clears, it prepares. It gives a taste of blissful union. But in the end, that too dissolves. Only silence remains.
This silence is not empty. It is not nothing. It is everything — without content. It is not dull. It is intensely alive, yet formless. And when that settles, sometimes it returns as Sahaja — the natural state, where even activity happens without breaking that inner stillness.
I haven’t reached that final state — not yet. But the glimpse and the insights keep unfolding. The more I let go of control, the more the truth reveals itself, not as knowledge, but as being.
Now I see: even the urge to share this, even this writing, may be part of that divine play — where the Self gently returns to tell its own story through the one who once believed he was seeking it.