Samadhi – A Taste of “That Which is Not”
When one has crossed the boundary and tasted “that which is not,” Sadhguru says, this is called samadhi.
When one has crossed the boundary and tasted “that which is not,” Sadhguru says, this is called samadhi.
Sadhguru: The existence is made of “that which is” and “that which is not”. “That which is” has form, shape, qualities, beauty. “That which is not” has none of these things, but it is free. Here and there, “that which is not” spurts into “that which is”. And as “that which is” becomes more conscious, it will long to become “that which is not”. Though one enjoys the form, qualities, attributes and beauty attached to it, the longing to get to a state of utter freedom of being is unavoidable and inevitable. It is just a question of time, and the bondage of time and space also is only the hallucination of “that which is”. “That which is not” neither perceives time nor space because it is boundless and eternal, not shackled by the limitations of time and space.
When this longing to become liberated from the very basic process of existence rises, the mind and the fearful nature of emotion can only perceive this as self-annihilation. For a thinking mind, spiritual process is nothing but willful suicide. But this is not suicide – it is much more than that. Suicide is a very poor way of wanting to end oneself. I say poor because it remains unsuccessful. It does not work. But in this culture, there are those who are experts at doing it the way it really works – this is a spiritual process.
The Meaning of Samadhi
In India, the word “samadhi” in common usage refers to a grave or a tombstone. When someone is buried in a place and some kind of monument is set on top of that, that is referred to as a samadhi. But “samadhi” also refers to the highest state of human consciousness that one can attain to.
When one dies and he is buried, that place will be given the name of that person. But when one attains to a certain state in a particular place, the name of the place will be given to the person. That is why you see many yogis named after a certain place. This is how Sri Palani Swami got his name, because he sat in a state of samadhi in a place called Palani. People just called him Palani Swami because he never introduced himself to anyone. He never told them what his name was because he did not carry one. Because he attained in that place, people called him Palani Swami. Any number of yogis and sages have names like this.
The word “samadhi” comes from sama and dhi. Sama means equanimity, dhi means buddhi. If you arrive at an equanimous state of intellect, it is known as samadhi. When your intellect is functioning, you are able to discriminate between one thing and the other. The discrimination that this is one object and that is another object is possible only because the intellect functions.
The moment you transcend the intellect, this discrimination does not exist. Everything becomes one whole – which is the way it is in reality. In this state, there is no time and space. You may think someone has been in samadhi for three days, but for him, it was just a few moments – it just passes off like that. He has transcended the duality of what is and what is not. He has crossed the boundary and tasted that which is not – that which has no form, shape, attributes, qualities – nothing.
The whole existence, the many forms of creation, are present only as long as the intellect is there. The moment you dissolve your intellect, everything dissolves into one.
