[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Topic for Discussion: What is Nirvikalpaka Samaadhi?

[kuntimaddi sadananda]

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On Fri, 3/4/16, balagopal ramakrishnan rbalpal at yahoo.co.in [advaitin] <advaitin at yahoogroups.com> wrote:


2)Some say it is object-less awareness - Is that possible?

No. One can only turn one's 'attention' to the already experiencing 'awareness'. It is understanding the 'vrutti' of understanding itself ! It's the 'SUBJECT' himSELF ! - NOT an object
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Balagopalji - PraNAms

When they say it is object-less awareness, they are not objectifying it - They imply - going beyond the mind where there is no subject-object duality - by eliminating all thoughts, which are objectifyable entities - Hence a thought-less state - where three is no object - yet awareness -some say it is similar to gap or silence between two thoughts where I alone am there. Some think that (as per Ramana Maharshi's teaching also) if you have no more thoughts (as thoughts are centered on objectifiable entities) there is only conscious entity the self without any notion of subject-object duality. Hence the idea is to stop thinking and reach a state of absence of any thought and be aware of that state - That constitute the object-less awareness. The question posed is, is it possible, and is it required for self-realization. This comes from Patanjali yoga - chitta vRitti nirodhaH. Question is - Is that what is needed for self-realization? 

By the by I saw your post  in the advaital list also.
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3)What exactly means nirvikalpaka samaadhi - Is that required for self-realization.

SELF stands already realized. Experiences, including the 'nirvikalpaka samaadhi' are not negated, but are not considered as 'SELF realisation' as every vrutti is 'dvaitam' - a division of 'experiencer' and 'experienced'; whereas 'brahman' is 'akartha' and 'abhoktha'.


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Nirvikalpaka samaadhi has been discussed extensively even by Vidyaranya. Vikalapa is thought - hence nirvikalapa samaadhi is same thing stated above - a thought less state of mind - that is one explanation coming from Pataangali yoga - or is it something different as per advaita. That is the question. 

I know Subbuji had discussed this once somewhere - may be he can also throw some light on that. 

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Hari Om!
Sada