Samādhi
Samādhi · sam-ā-dhi, “putting together, complete absorption”
Grammar: masculine noun, from sam (together) and ā with the root dhā (to place, to hold): “a putting together, a holding fast”.
Meaning: the word has two meanings in the Agni Purāṇa:
- In yoga, abiding in Brahman: the last limb of yoga, the dhyāna in which only the ātmā shines.
- In kāvya (poetry), a figure in which the poet lays the qualities of one thing on another.
In the scriptures:
Abiding in Brahman. In the yati-dharma, the dharma of the sannyāsī, Pushkara teaches: pratyāhāra is the restraint of the senses; dhyāna is the remembrance of Īśvara by sādhakas doing japa; dhāraṇā is fixing the mind firmly; and samādhi is abiding in Brahman (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 161).
Its measure. Agnideva gives the measures of the limbs of yoga: a dhāraṇā is twelve āyāmas, twelve dhāraṇās make a dhyāna, and if the mind is one-pointed (ekāgra) for the length of twelve dhyānas, that is samādhi (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 375).
The exposition of samādhi. A whole chapter of the Agni Purāṇa is given to samādhi. Agnideva teaches: the dhyāna in which consciousness (caitanya) is steady like a calm ocean, in which nothing other than the ātmā appears and only the ātmā shines, is samādhi. The yogi who, at the time of dhyāna, holds his citta on the one he meditates on and stays unmoving, like a lamp in a windless place, is called samādhistha, one established in samādhi. At that time he does not hear, does not smell, does not taste and does not know touch; knowing nothing, he is like a log of wood. One so absorbed in Īśvara is samādhistha, and the lamp in a windless place is given as its likeness (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 376).
For the yogi who meditates on Vishṇu, who is the form of the ātmā, many divine obstacles arise, and they are signs of siddhi: he is thrown down from above; pain arises in the ear; many kinds of dhātus are seen; great pain arises in the body; the devas tempt him with divine bhogas (enjoyments); kings offer him land and the wealthy offer wealth; all the śāstras beginning with the Vedas flash forth in him of themselves; he composes kāvya in whatever metre he likes; divine rasāyanas (elixirs), divine oshadhis (herbs), all the śilpas (crafts) and kalās (arts) come to him, and the daughters of the lords of the devas, and gifts such as pratibhā (brilliance). Bhagavān Vishṇu blesses the one who gives up all these like a blade of grass. The yogi who has the powers beginning with aṇimā should give jñāna to a śishya, enjoy bhogas as he wishes, give up the body through laya-yoga, and attain abiding in his own ātmā, which is full of knowledge and bliss, of the form of Brahman (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 376).
The contemplation at the start of samādhi. At the start of samādhi the yogi should contemplate thus: from Brahman came ākāśa, from ākāśa vāyu, from vāyu agni, from agni water, from water earth, and from them the subtle body arose; from the elements not yet compounded were born the compounded gross elements; and, thinking that the gross body was born so, he should contemplate it as dissolved back into that Brahman. Among the meditations “I am Brahman” that follow is “I am the form of jñāna, the Brahman that is the form of samādhi” (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 377).
The fruit. Yoga is the special union of the mind with Brahman through one’s own effort, and one who is unmoving in samādhi attains the Parabrahman (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 379). In the Ṛg-vidhāna, which Pushkara tells Paraśurāma, by japa of the ṛk beginning “Yenedam” one becomes established in samādhi (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 259).
Samādhi in kāvya. In the teaching of kāvya, when a poet who knows the ways of the world fully lays the qualities (dharmas) of the thing not under discussion (aprastuta) on the thing under discussion (prastuta), it is called samādhi (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 345).
Related terms: Yoga · Dhyāna · Dhāraṇā · Pratyāhāra · Brahman · Ātmā · Siddhi · Alaṅkāra
Sources
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 161, 259, 345, 375–377, 379