[Advaita-l] Vikalpa, Savikalpa, and Nirvikalpa

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

> >
> Samadhi is also experience of some person in Jagrat. Some people joke
> to say Samadhi is Sushupti. But in both cases it will also have Ajnana
> in it because all three Jagrat, Svapna and Sushupti are in Ajnana
> only. How can Jnana come in Samadhi? Some people can take drugs and
> have wonderful hallucinations. But it is also Ajnana only.
> 

How can jnAna come in samAdhi, you ask? How indeed can jnAna come in
any avasthA whatsoever? Please ponder over it before responding.
 
Talking of yoga-nidrA does not mean samAdhi is the same as sushupti. If
your understanding of samAdhi is to liken it to a drug induced hallucination,
then I can only say you have a really long way to go before you even begin to
talk about any Indian philosophy. I'm sure this sounds offensive, but I have no
choice but to be sharp in my remarks here.
 
Simply put, yoga is an integral and enormous component of almost all Indian
knowledge systems and philosophies, no matter what the points of agreement
and departure may be. There is yogAcAra buddhism; there is yoga in jaina
thought; there is yoga even in the very text of the nyAyasUtra (yogAc ca
adhyAtma vidhy upAyaiH - 4.2.46); and the brahma sUtra and the gItA talk
of dhyAna and samAdhi in numerous places.
 
The knee-jerk antipathy I sometimes see towards any and all mention of yoga
practices and terminology is nothing short of colossal ignorance. 
 
Regards,
Vidyasankar