[Advaita-l] waking, dreaming, sleeping, as mutually supportive

[Ramesh Krishnamurthy]

Here is a relevant excerpt from the book "Yoga, Enlightenment &
Perfection of Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamigal". My comments in
[..]

Quote
-----------------------------
"A weary traveller may hear from a trustworthy person familiar with
the region that the water he is seeing in the desert is a mirage.
[Comment: This is equivalent to shravana]. He may then reason that
such should be the case. Yet his wanting to assuage his thirst may
impede his firmly realising that only desert sand stretches in front
of him. Were he to move on to a new position and the sun were to be
temporarily blocked by a thick layer of clouds, he might see just sand
where he once saw the mirage. He might begin to perceive the mirage
again a little later. Nonetheless, the temporary disappearance of the
mirage would highly facilitate his firmly realising the truth of what
he had been told and reflected upon [Comment: compare this with
shravana-manana]. The thorough vanishing of duality during samadhi
would, for Me, be helpful, like the temporary disappearance of the
mirage for this hypothetical traveller."

[Comment: The Acharya goes on to describe several instances of NS he
achieved over a period of 5 days in the year 1935. The first such
instance is described as follows:]

"Sitting in the siddhasana, I performed two cycles of pranayama
together with the jalandhara, uddiyana and mula bandha-s to promote
mental tranquility..........I felt myself expanding and becoming like
space. The sense of I nearly vanished and My mind entered savikalpa
samadhi.

The bliss was very great. However, with effort, I restrained Myself
from being overwhelmed by it and thought, "I am not the one
experiencing bliss but am bliss itself." In a trice, a sharp change
occurred. Awareness of the distinction of the concentrator,
concentration and the object of concentration completely disappeared.
No more was there any sense of individuality or of space, time and
objects. Only Brahman, of the nature of absolute existence, pure
consciousness and ultimate bliss, shone bereft of the superimposition
of even a trace of duality............Though the bliss of savikalpa
samadhi was by far greater than the joy of any worldly enjoyment, it
was nothing compared to the absolute non-dual bliss of nirvikalpa
samadhi"
----------------------------------
Unquote

Later, he makes two very interesting statements:

1. "That Brahman is all was as clear as a fruit in one's palm".
[comment: this is of course a commonly used metaphor]

2."I should not become attached to nirvikalpa samadhi under the
delusion that for its
duration I become one with Brahman". [comment: this is a clinching
statement to show that samadhi per se is not mukti. One is always
Brahman, irrespective of whether one is in samadhi or not. The clear
understanding of this is mukti. Samadhi, as illustrated above, can
help in gaining this understanding. But in itself it is neither
necessary nor sufficient.]

Thanks
Ramesh

2009/10/12 Michael Shepherd <michael at shepherd87.fsnet.co.uk>:
> Rameshji,
>
> Abhinava's book is out of print already. Could you offer a very brief account of the incident you mention ? Others might like to hear of it too.
>
> Michael
>