How often have people said to me lately that they want to pay more attention to Ascension than they do but this-or-that aspect of their spiritual practice prevents them. Or that they love the Divine Mother (or Jesus or Krishna) but they aren’t attracted to the subject of Ascension, etc.

As I’ve said many times, I’m not a spiritual guide or teacher. I lack the qualifications to be so. But I do have opinions. So let me state my opinion on lightholding and Ascension.

If you’re genuinely a lightholder, if you love the Divine Mother or Jesus or Krishna, what need is there for you to feel you need to be somewhere else than being a lightholder or a lover of the Divine?

Sri Ramakrishna used to point out that it takes many, many lifetimes of spiritual practice before one reaches the point of having love for the Divine. Is it therefore such a small thing to experience love for the Divine? No, I think it a very large and wonderful thing.

If you’re immersed in spiritual practice, courting enlightenment, or lost in love for the Divine, what need is there to bother yourself about the fine points of Ascension? You’ll ascend without giving a thought to the matter. Just remember to say “yes” when that tidal wave of love sweeps over you.

If we agree that the purpose of life is to know our true identity as deeply as possible, to know that you are God, and I am God, and we all are God, then Ascension is simply one step on that pathway. But of far more consequence is developing love for God. That will carry you through many Ascensions.

It’s my opinion that a commitment to spiritual practice, a love for the Divine Mother, or a willingness to turn aside from all else that attracts is worth more than all knowledge of any kind whatsoever.

Remember what the basic spiritual movement is. The basic spiritual movement is to turn from the world to God. The basic spiritual movement is to discriminate between the Real and the unreal, detach yourself from the unreal, and devote yourself to the Real.

If you are in the process of doing that and wish to continue without distraction or changing commitment, who among the ascended masters would fault you for that?

Moreover, lightholders are lightworkers. They simply serve by pursuing enlightenment. To those who wonder why lightholders are not taking up the cause of Ascension, they are taking up a cause that supersedes Ascension – the cause of constant ascension called “enlightenment.” How could anyone be faulted for that?

I am a lightholder who took a lifetime out to serve as a lightworker. I miss the lightholder’s path. I chafe at being away from it as long as I’ve had to be. But I also know, and have been told by my sources, that I contracted to leave the metaphorical cave and serve Ascension this lifetime in this manner. But the lightholders have no less agreed to serve the cause of Ascension by anchoring the light.

So please relax on the matter of Ascension. As Sir Thomas More said before paying the ultimate price for his faith: “[God] will not refuse one who is so blithe to go to Him.”

Now let’s bring in SaLuSa, who tells us that “there is everything to gain and nothing to lose by following the path to Ascension. Indeed, you will gain so much that you will look back at lives on Earth, and wonder how you got through them.” (1)

Everything will be taken care of in the higher vibrations, he tells us.

“Be assured every aspect of your lives is taken care of when you live in the higher dimensions. All around you are wonderful energies that are uplifting, and bring you joy and happiness. Shall we jest a little, and say that you will never see sad or depressed Space Being. Our lives are one continual expression of the love that permeates our very being.” (2)

“How do you like the idea of being where no money changes hands, where there is no need for a health service or doctors for that matter? Where your lives are not run by how much time you have, where traveling is no longer a chore, and you can live in your dream house? This really gives you something to aim for, and makes the effort you put in to succeed so worthwhile.” (3)

All bad memories will subside once we ascend, he informs us.

“Memories of unpleasant experiences will eventually fade completely into the background of your consciousness, and in time be forgotten. Often the only thing that keeps them in your minds, is the pain and distress experienced, but once in the higher vibrations you will cease to bring them back.” (4)

He says that the Company of Heaven advises us to keep us looking straight ahead because it knows that that past will fade.

“We keep you looking straight ahead, as there will come a time when the past will have little influence over you. Once you have ascended and your consciousness levels greatly expanded, you will in effect disconnect from memories of being in the lower vibrations. They will no longer be of importance, but nevertheless the experience you gained will always be with you.” (5)

He adds that we’ll then be aware of the purpose of life, the journey that we are all on and that’s what we’ll share in common then.

“You are forever on a spiritual journey finding your way back to the Source, and that applies to all souls with no exception. So you can see that wherever you meet other souls, you will have a lot in common and not least of all that you originally came from the Source.” (6)

Speaking generally of life after Ascension, he says that:

“Since all your needs will be supplied, you will enjoy a level of happiness and satisfaction seldom felt at present.

“After Ascension your life style will change to one that no longer causes worries or stress. You will have all of your needs supplied, including suitable accommodation and medical care.” (7)

Families will still exist but under different conditions and for different ends.

“Families will still come together, and birth will always be planned and never happen accidentally. However, in the higher dimension, birth is quite different to your experience on Earth. A soul will join its family by arrangement in a semi-adult state, which is a holy event that is treated with great reverence and thanks.

“Parents are chosen for what they can give the newly arrived soul, who will have a clear life plan that the family will all know about in advance.

“There is so much that will change and your lifestyle will be much more rewarding, enjoyable and exceptionally pleasant.” (8)

Needed things can be created – and uncreated – at will.

“In time you want for nothing at all by creating for your needs. Humans become very attached to their material belongings but as with the passing of the physical body, you cannot take them with you.

“Yet in the Astral Realms, you can recreate by thought any item that whilst on Earth was to your personal liking. It follows that after Ascension you will not only be able to create, but have more extended skills than previously.

“Take for example your delight in dressing up, and know that you can ‘think’ into being whatever you wish and change it as often as you like. What can be created can also be ‘uncreated’ just as easily, so there is no waste. The higher you go, the creations become more perfect and radiate light all around. Colour and sound go hand in hand bringing an array of beauty and perfection not found on Earth at present.” (9)

All our old ways will be shown to be rather crude, he says.

“Bit by bit, you are learning about the new Earth, and how it will change your lives. You will realize that your old ways were rather crude, and not helped by the drive for profit. In the future all will have everything they need and money will not come into it. You will all work with one another, for the good of all…. So the mentality and desire to profit by taking from others, will not exist at those levels of consciousness.” (10)

He describes what we’ll find in the Fifth Dimension as the nearest thing to heaven that we can conceive of.

“The Golden Age will take you far, and if you have ever wondered what Heaven would be like it is the nearest you will get to it. The sheer harmony in all life will be so apparent, and it will be a joy to be alive and experience it. Since all your needs will be supplied, you will enjoy a level of happiness and satisfaction seldom felt at present.” (11)

The difference between life now and life then will be unimaginable.

The difference between what you are now to the new Being you will be, is going to be fantastic. At present it is difficult for you to imagine what it is like to have an a greater level of consciousness. Even now you are somewhat more aware than you were just 20 years or so previously. Many of you can vouch for such changes and they will continue, helped by the more powerful energies that are being beamed to Earth.” (12)

“Whatever you visualize as the beauty, joy and happiness of moving into a heavenly abode, we would say that you will still be overwhelmed by the sheer magnificence of everything. Wherever you go you are the focus of much love and attention by all life forms. You might believe that you have experienced love, but you are in for many surprises. It surrounds you, and you will literally feel as though you are walking on air.

“That is how it should be and is a most natural feature of the higher dimensions.” (13)

Life will smooth out. Knowing beforehand how everything works will aid us in adjusting, he says.

“For those of you who have found the path home, life suddenly becomes more smooth running, and problems no longer cause great strife, as you handle them with ease because of your understanding. Knowing how it all works helps you overcome any obstacles you encounter, and your ego continues to take a back seat without interfering.” (14)

All lower vibrations will “eventually” be transmuted, rather than being automatically transmuted upon Ascension.

“All that is of the lower vibrations will eventually be transmuted or disappear from your sight. That is how the Earth will be restored with all traces of pollution removed.

“A new Earth is to be born so that you can commence another stage in your evolution. It will be most comforting and bring back the joy and happiness that has been lacking in many peoples lives. The Light will shine out from all directions, and the consciousness levels of all forms of life will be raised up.” (15)

Oneness will be evident all around us.

“Oneness will be evident in many ways, and recognised as bringing all life together. Separation will no longer take place, and harmony and balance will be restored. The dark energies will have no place in such surroundings, and could not exist in such high levels of energy. So, Dear Ones, do not allow outer influences to interfere with your progress towards Ascension.” (16)

We’ll become godlike.

“You will be a different person by then and more godlike, and you will truly have become a Being of Light. All of the changes you will experience will be quite exhilarating and leave you in a blissful happy state. It will be the real you, as you were eons of time ago and therefore not feel strange at all. “ (17)

“As your consciousness levels rise up, so you will also take a step nearer to understanding how the new you will live in the future. It will be so different and have little resemblance to how you live now. Importantly there will be a better understanding of the creative power around you, and you will harmonise with it.

“By then you will have learnt how to correctly use such energies, and become an independent Galactic Being. You will also become a Christed Being able to fully express your Love and Light. Be assured that you are destined to be great Beings of Light, and will move nearer to that manifestation as you rise up through the higher dimensions.” (18)

And everyone we meet will also seem godlike.

“Each soul you meet would seem as a God to you, yet by that time you also shall be one. Were you not made in the image of God, so is it not natural that you would be recognized as one yourself? The real you bears little resemblance to what you are now, but we acknowledge that many of you are trying your hardest to lift yourself up, and achieve success by being ones that lives by the Light and Love.” (19)

“You will be like us which is why we can come together as One, and we will be no different to each other. You will return to your status as Masters, with all of the command and attributes that go with it.” (20)

When we reunite with our higher selves, we’ll become Christlike, with more Ascensions looking in our future.

“When you re-unite with your Higher Self you will have become a Galactic Being, with full creative powers. With it you will also have developed those necessary powers of control, and also carry such responsibilities with an outlook that seeks the best for all souls.

“Your high level of consciousness will heighten your sense of Oneness, and the grouping of souls with similar vibrations will occur. At such a high stage of evolution, you will have free choice as to which path to follow, although Ascension will continue to be an ongoing process.” (21)

It isn’t that what SaLuSa describes is abnormal; it’s that our present experiences in duality are abnormal; they were never intended to be permanent.

“When you reflect on what we have told you to expect in your future experiences, you will understand they are perfectly normal. It is your present life experiences that are peculiar to the third dimension and duality, and were never intended to be permanent. That is why the solar cycle was planned to complete in 2012, thus giving every soul the opportunity rise up out of it.” (22)

In a message posted today (Nov. 19, 2012), SaLuSa recognized that the Golden Age is almost upon us and hinted at the bliss that would soon become our everyday, normal state of being.

“Suddenly what you have dreamt of has approached near enough for you to get a feel of what it is like to experience the higher energies. Once experienced it is never forgotten as it is an ecstatic feeling of utter joy and happiness, peace and contentment. Imagine being in that state of bliss as normal from one day to another, and free of the lower emotions. It is your true way of living and why those of you who are ready will move out of duality. Some of you have always felt that something was missing from your lives, and now you have found out what it is.” (23)

When the changes that will bring in the Golden Age start, they will go ahead fast and furious.

“We know you cannot imagine such changes yet but they will come as you might say, fast and furious. There is no time to be lost, but then we are fully prepared for the tasks that lay ahead. They will commence with a whole flurry of activity, with one quickly following another.” (24)

There remains much to learn about this new life, he concludes.

“There is so much to learn about your future lives, and it is all beautiful, happy and most harmonious. In your wildest dreams you have been unable to capture the feeling of Oneness that exists in the higher dimensions. It is truly a heavenly existence where you want for nothing, because you have your own creative powers.” (25)

I’ll continue this look at what we can expect from Ascension and the Golden Age, not necessarily tomorrow, but as we go along in the final month before what I believe will be Ascension on Dec. 21 for the vast majority of Gaians. Some may ascend before. I understand that some may ascend after, spending time, as Archangel Michael said in An Hour with an Angel today (Nov. 19, 2012), on a hologram which resembles Earth while they complete their preparations.

Footnotes

(1) SaLuSa, July 22, 2011, athttp://www.treeofthegoldenlight.com/First_Contact/Channeled_Messages_by_Mike_Quinsey.htm

(2) SaLuSa, July 15, 2011.

(3) SaLuSa, June 29, 2011.

(4) SaLuSa, Nov. 16, 2012.

(5) SaLuSa, May 23, 2011.

(6) SaLuSa, May 23, 2011.

(7) SaLuSa, Sept. 21, 2012.

(8) SaLuSa, March 30, 2011.

(9) SaLuSa, Apr. 11, 2011.

(10) SaLuSa, Oct. 28, 2011.

(11) SaLuSa, Sept. 21, 2012.

(12) SaLuSa, Jan. 20, 2012.

(13) SaLuSa, July 22, 2011.

(14) SaLuSa, Feb. 3, 2012.

(15) SaLuSa, May 4, 2012.

(16) SaLuSa, May 4, 2012.

(17) SaLuSa, July 15, 2011.

(18) SaLuSa, Apr. 11, 2011.

(19) SaLuSa, July 22, 2011.

(20) SaLuSa, July 15, 2011.

(21) SaLuSa, March 30, 2011.

(22) SaLuSa, June 29, 2011.

(24) SaLuSa, Nov. 19, 2012.

(25) SaLuSa, July 15, 2011.

(24) SaLuSa, June 29, 2011.

Sri Ramana Maharshi

Some time ago I made a promise to the Divine Mother on An Hour with an Angel that, if she would confirm that Ascension was a level of enlightenment called Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi, I’d explain the concept to readers and listeners. I’d like to fulfill that promise here.

But I do warn readers that the articles in this series may be considered dense by some and are not intended for all readers. They’re intended for students of enlightenment (lightholders) who want an in-depth explanation of what the Fifth-Dimensional state is and means. So please feel free to leave this series aside and pass on to other articles if you wish.

Here is what the Divine Mother said about Ascension and Sahaja and what I promised her:

Steve Beckow: The last question is I’m trying to understand what level of enlightenment Ascension corresponds to. And I think it’s beyond the normal seventh-chakra enlightenment. I think it is what is called — and I’ll make this clear to readers — Sahaja Samadhi. Am I correct?

Divine Mother: Yes, it is beyond what you think of with your seven chakras. It is beyond, because what you are doing with the chakra system, even with the thirteen, we have emerged from the Third-dimensional realm, which is that reference point for the chakra system, into the new. So yes, you are correct, in this question and in this statement.

SB: Sorry, I am overwhelmed to hear you say that. It’s wonderful to have that confirmed. Thank you very much, Mother.

DM: It is wonderful for us as well, you know! … Now, you understand that most people – and yes, you will do a good job of explaining – have no conception of what this really means.

SB: Well, you know that I have a website that discusses Sahaja Samadhi at length. … If I take that material and present it to readers, would that be adequate?

DM: That will help. (1)

So now let me discuss as much as I know about Sahaja and as much as I think is advisable to say on the subject without overtaxing readers. My hope is that enough will be said to make clear to students of enlightenment where and how Ascension fits into spiritual evolution.

Let me first explain some of the terms used here.

Samadhi is the trance state in which enlightenment is experienced. We cover three stages of samadhi here. Savikalpa samadhi is samadhi with the experience of differences, awareness of the world, and expenditure of effort.

Nirvikalpa samadhi is the experience of samadhi without differences, awareness of the world, or effort. There are two stages of Nirvikalpa Samadhi. The first is Kevalya Nirvikalpa Samadhi, which is the effortless experience of God, without the experience of differences or awareness of the world and with a temporary heart opening.

And the second is Sahaja Nirvikalpa samadhi, which is the effortless experience of God, without the experience of differences or awareness of the world and with a permanent heart opening. At the point of Sahaja, we’re said to be liberated from life and death – not before.

With that let’s work our way up the kundalini tree of the body from Savikalpa to Sahaja.

Savikalpa Samadhi

Sri Ramana Maharshi is the most eloquent exponent of Sahaja Samadhi. Sri Ramakrishna also discusses it, but calls it vijnana. But here for simplicity’s sake (the subject being dense enough already) I’ll stay mostly with what Sri Ramana says on the subject.

The sage of Arunachala makes a distinction between two types of Samadhi or trance.

“Holding onto the Supreme State is Samadhi. When it is with effort due to mental disturbances, it is Savikalpa. When these disturbances are absent, it is Nirvikalpa.” (2)

Savikalpa Samadhi begins when the kundalini reaches the sixth or brow chakra. One of the distinctions between the two, he says, is that “Nirvikalpa is effortless, whereas Savikalpa is attended with effort.” (3)

Swami Vivekananda gives a second distinction between the two, based on the experience of duality or unity.

“There are two kinds of Samadhi. The one is called Savikalpa. In it one feels a trace of duality, of distinction between subject and object. The other kind is called Nirvikalpa. In that Samadhi one effaces, in the depths of meditation, all distinction between the knower and the goal of knowledge.” (4)

Another way of saying a trace of duality or awareness of the subject and object is to say that awareness of the world remains. Swami Saradananda distinguishes between the two on the basis of whether one remains aware of the world.

“During deep meditation, the experiences of the realm of ideas become so powerful in the mind of the devotee that he does not have the slightest knowledge of the external world for the time being. This condition of the devotee has been designated by the scriptures as Savikalpa Samadhi. …

“The whole of his mind goes forward with enthusiasm in the direction of the enjoyment of divine bliss, when once there arises the conviction that the enjoyment of that bliss becomes more intense if the mind can be made completely free from modifications. He then ascends to the highest plane in the realm of ideas [Nirvikalpa Samadhi] by the grace of the teacher and God, and establishes himself firmly in the non-dual knowledge and attains eternal peace.” (5)

So Savikalpa Samadhi sees us remain aware of the world, of differences, of subjects and objects. We see God but we sense that we cannot touch God. St. Paul described it as seeing through a glass darkly.

I have on other occasions said that Savikalpa Samadhi is usually the seeing of a light throughout creation. By “creation” I mean the realm of the phenomenal or the “world of things.” And the Divine Mother is also often called the Phenomenal. Therefore Savikalpa is represented as realization of God as the Mother, Shakti, or the Holy Spirit.

It could also take the form of a vision of the Personal God or an experience in consciousness while remaining aware of the world. It is accompanied by the opening of the Third Eye.

Tomorrow we’ll look at the Nirvikalpa stage of Samadhi where God is seen without awareness of the outside world and without awareness of differences.

Footnotes

(1) “The Divine Mother: Come to Me as I Come to You – Part ½,” Oct. 17, 2012, athttp://the2012scenario.com/2012/10/the-divine-mother-come-to-me-as-i-come-to-you-part-12/. The website is From Darkness Unto Lightand the particular page where this material can be found is

Paramahansa Ramakrishna

Nirvikalpa Samadhi

Sri Ramana distinguished Nirvikalpa from Savikalpa Samadhi in the following manner: “Holding onto the Supreme State isSamadhi. When it is with effort due to mental disturbances, it isSavikalpa. When these disturbances are absent, it is Nirvikalpa.”(1)

In Nirvikalpa Samadhi, there is no sense of a barrier between us and God. However, we also lose consciousness of the outer world and of differences. We cannot be said to “know” God in the Nirvikalpa state because we lose all awareness of ourselves and of knowing. The knower, knowing and the thing known become one. Another name for it is unitive consciousness.

Nirvikalpa Samadhi begins when the kundalini reaches the seventh or crown chakra but it continues until the kundaklini reaches the hridayam or spiritual heart. The first Nirvikalpa state is called by Sri Ramana Maharshi Kevalya Nirvikalpa Samadhi and the second Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

Nirvikalpa is “the state in which objects are absent,” Sri Ramana tells us. (2) It is “effortless,” he says, and what we are aware of is not the world of form but of “formless Consciousness.” (3) A.W. Chadwick, whose spiritual name is Sadhu Arunachala, tells us that Sri Ramana used to advise his students to “make an effort to be without effort.” (4) That being without effort is Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

Nirvikalpa Samadhi can be considered knowledge of the Holy Father rather than of the Divine Mother. I’ve called the world of form the Divine Mother, the Phenomenal, which is known in Savikalpa consciousness; I’ve called the “formless Consciousness” the Holy Father, the Transcendental, which is known in Nirvikalpa consciousness.

I have on other occasions said that Nirvikalpa Samadhi is usually the seeing of a light beyond creation. It can also be experienced as consciousness. But that’s as far as we can go in asserting what is seen or experienced in the Nirvikalpa state.

Paramahansa Ramakrishna compared it to a salt doll who wants to measure the depth of the ocean. As soon as it enters the ocean, it dissolves and no one knows what its experience may have been. Or he describes Savikalpa as a man seeing God from on top of a wall. The man is observed to gasp in astonishment. But in Nirvikalpa the man jumps down from the wall onto the other side and no one ever sees him again. Therefore there is no one to describe the experience. (5)

Sri Ramakrishna’s life was said to be an illustration of all the truths of the scriptures. At one point he attempted to remain conscious during Nirvikalpa Samadhi to describe to his devotees what it was like. But, like the salt doll or the man who jumped down from the wall, he could not report back.

“‘So long as [the Kundalini] does not reach the brain, I remain conscious, but the moment it does so, I am dead to the outside world. Even the functions of the eyes and the ears come to a stop, and speech is out of the question. Who should speak? The very distinction between “I” and “thou” vanishes.

“’Sometimes I think I shall tell you everything about what I see and feel when that mysterious power rises up through the spinal column. When it has come up to this, or even this (pointing to the heart and throat), somebody stops my mouth, as it were, and I am adrift.

“’I make up my mind to relate to you what I feel when the Kundalini goes beyond the throat, but as I think over it, up goes the mind at a bound, and there is an end to the matter.’ Many a time did the Master attempt to describe this state, but failed every time.

“One day he was determined to tell and went on until the power reached the throat. Then pointing to the sixth centre, opposite the junction of the eyebrows, he said, ‘When the mind reaches this point one catches a vision of the Paramatman and falls into Samadhi. Only a thin, transparent veil intervenes between the Jiva and the Paramatman. He then sees like this –’ and as he attempted to explain it in detail he fell into Samadhi.

“When his mind came down a little he tried again, and again he was immersed in Samadhi! After repeated attempts he said with tears in his eyes, ‘Well, I sincerely wish to tell you everything, but [the Divine Mother] won’t let me do so. She gagged me!’” (6)

Kevalya Nirvikalpa Samadhi, I believe (I’m not certain) can be considered the knowledge of Brahman or God and Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi the knowledge of Parabrahman or the Godhead.

Kevalya Nirvikalpa Samadhi

Kevalya Nirvikalpa Samadhi occurs when the kundalini reaches the seventh or brow chakra. Sadhu Arunachala described it this way:

“In [Kevalya] Nirvikalpa Samadhi one has attained to a state where the identity has been lost and sunk entirely in the highest Self. However long it may last it is only temporary, one must return eventually to one’s normal state of consciousness. One is unable to function in this state and so long as it lasts one is in a state of trance. It is usually preliminary to the final state.” (7)

The temporary and penultimnate state is Kevalya; the permanent and final state is Sahaja.

Sri Ramana Maharshi described Kevalya Nirvikalpa Samadhi in this way:

“The involution of the mind in the Self, but without its destruction, is Kevalya Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
“There are four obstacles in this, namely, vacillation of:

“i. mind
“ii. life breath or prana
“iii. body,
“iv. Drishti [i.e., gaze, but also point of view]

“In Kevalya Nirvikalpa Samadhi one is not free from vasanas [habit patterns of the mind] and does not, therefore, attain mukti.

“Only after the samskaras [impressions] have been destroyed can one attain salvation.” (8)

“Vacillations” in the mind, breath, body and gaze are the result of disturbances. Disturbances are the result of vasanas and samskaras, or latent tendencies and impressions in the mind. Their survival prevents the samadhi from being firm and one-pointed, and therefore permanent and natural. This is what distinguishes Kevalya from Sahaja and prevents liberation from the cycle of birth and death.

Some readers may recall that the Buddha, when he had finished studying with all the Hindu masters he could find, had experienced Kevalya Nirvikalpa Samadhi and observed that there was still movement in the mind (“vacillations”). He therefore began a practice of what later became known as Vipassana, during which he observed the movement in the mind until all vacillation ceased. He thereby moved from the Kevalya to the Sahaja state.

Given that liberation does not occur at Kevalya, it’s often referred to as being halfway up the mountain.

We’ll look in the next article at Sahaja as freedom from the vasanas and samskaras. Only after one is liberated from them can one be said to have attained mukti or liberation, such as we shall attain upon Ascension. When one considers how precious mukti was to terrestrial sages and how much effort it took to attain it, one can begin to understand how precious the opportunity is that’s before us to ascend.

Footnotes

(1) Sri Ramana Maharshi in Ramananda Swarnagiri, Crumbs from His Table.http://www.ramana-maharshi.org. Downloaded 10 September 2005, n.p.

(2) Ramana Maharshi in Ganapathi, Vasistha, ed., Sri Ramana Gita. Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanashramam, 1977, 27.

(3) Ramana Maharshi in S.S. Cohen, Guru Ramana. Memories and Notes. 6th edition. Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam, 1993, 82. [Hereafter GR.]

(4) Arunachala Swwami [A.W. Chadwick], A Sadhu’s Reminiscences of Ramana Maharshi.Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam, 1961, 54. [Hereafter SRRM.]

(5) On the salt doll, see Paramahansa Ramakrishna in Swami Nikhilananda, trans., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1978; c1942, 102-3, 281 and 257.

(6) Paramahansa Ramakrishna, in Anon., Life of Sri Ramakrishna. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1977; c1924, 107-8.

(7) Sadhu Arunachala [A.W. Chadwick], SRRM, 47-8.

(8) Ramana Maharshi, GR, 89.

The young Ramana

Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi

The Divine Mother has identified Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi as the level of enlightenment the vast majority of people reach upon Ascension (some go higher) so let’s now look at that stage of attainment.

Sri Ramama calls Sahaja our “original state” (1) and our “natural state of absorption in oneself without concepts” (2) On another occasion, he adds the stipulation that “remaining permanently in the primal state without effort is Sahaja.” (3)

Sri Ramana tells us that the difference between Kevalya and Sahaja is that in the former the state is reached because of a temporary opening of the heart and in the latter the state is reached because of a permanent opening of the heart.

“[The] Heart is the seat of Jnanam as well as of the granthi (knot of ignorance). It is represented in the physical body by a hole smaller than the smallest pin-point, which is always shut. When the mind drops down in Kevalya Nirvikalpa [Samadhi], it opens but shuts again after it. When Sahaja [Nirvikalpa Samadhi] is attained it opens for good.” (4)

So Sahaja is (a) our original or natural state (b) attained as a result of a permanent heart opening (c) of effortlessly (d) and permanently (e) residing in a state of absorption into the Self (f) without concept or any other movement of the mind.

Annamalei Swami tells us that for most people it takes long and continued practice to reach the state of Sahaja and that as long as there are breaks in our awareness of the Self we haven’t achieved it:

“If there are breaks in your Self-awareness, it means that you are not a jnani [enlightened sage] yet. Before one becomes established in the Self without any breaks, without any changes, one has to contact and enjoy the Self many times. By steady meditation and the continued practice of self-inquiry, one will finally become permanently established in the Self, without any breaks.” (5)

Sri Ramana was unique in that he did no spiritual practice before attaining Sahaja. As Sadhu Arunchala says:

“Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] attained Sahaja Samadhi directly without any intermediate state. Many people consider that Nirvikalpa Samadhi is final, and once having attained it they seek no further progress.” (6)

“His Self-Realization, attained in the upstairs room of his uncle’s house in Madurai, was final, there was no more to be done.” (7)

Arthur Osborne explained that, when most people attain Nirvikalpa Samadhi the vasanas kick in and cloud the mind of the seeker, causing him or her to lose the connection with the Self. But not in the case of Sri Ramana. He went directly to Sahaja without ever needing to pass though Kevaklya, making it almost unique in spiritual history.

“Such an experience of Identity does not always, or even normally, result in Liberation. It comes to a seeker but the inherent tendencies of the ego [ie., vasanas] cloud it over again. … The miracle was that in the Maharshi’s case there was no clouding over, no relapse into ignorance: he remained thenceforward in constant awareness of identity with the One Self.” (8)

Here is Sri Ramana’s entry into Sahaja:

“It was about six weeks before I left Madura for good that the great change in my life took place. It was quite sudden. I was sitting alone in a room on the first floor of my uncle’s house … [and] I just felt ‘I am going to die.’ …

“The shock of the fear of death drove my mind inward and I said to myself mentally, without actually framing the words: ‘Now death has come; what does it mean? What is it that is dying? This body dies.’ … But with the death of this body, am I dead? Is the body I? It is silent and inert but I feel the full force of my personality and even the voice of the ‘I’ within me, apart from it.

“’So I am Spirit transcending the body. The body dies but the Spirit that transcends it cannot be touched by death. That means I am the deathless Spirit.’

“All this was not dull thought; it flashed through me vividly as living truth which I perceived directly, almost without thought-process. ‘I’ was something very real, the only real thing about my present state, and all the conscious activity connected with my body was centred on that ‘I.’

“From that moment onwards the ‘I’ or Self focused attention on itself by a powerful fascination. Fear of death vanished once and for all. Absorption in the Self continued unbroken from that time on. Other thoughts might come and go like the various notes of music, but the ‘I’ continued.” (9)

Sri Ramana agrees with Annamalei Swami that “he alone is ‘liberated while alive’ (jivan mukta) whose wisdom is firm.” (10) “The state in which awareness is firm and one-pointed, even when objects are sensed, is called Sahaja,” Sri Ramana says. (11)

In Kevalya the state is not firm. Objects being sensed or vasanas arising, the seeker loses his or her absorption in the Self.

Thus it’s the permanence of Sahaja, or “firmness” and “one-pointedness” of absorption in the Self, that results in Mukti or liberation from the wheel of birth and rebirth. Sri Ramana says:

“Finding the Heart will be experienced as being the Heart. When this experience becomes permanent through constant practice, the much-desired Self-Realisation or Mukti is said at long last to have been achieved – the ‘I-am-the-body’ illusion has broken for ever.” (12)

On another occasion he tells us that “Sahaja Nirvikalpa is permanent and in it lies liberation from rebirths.” (13)

When I was a young man, Brahmajnana or Kevalya Nirvikalpa Samadhi was considered the ultimate state. Sadhu Arunachala identifies Sahjaja as the ultimate state.

But we now know that Sahaja is only Fifth-Dimensional enlightenment and that there are many, many states of enlightenment above it.

Sadhu Arunachala describes the situation as he sees it.

“Many people consider that [Kevalya] Nirvikalpa Samadhi is final, and once having attained it seek to progress no further.

“Sahaja Samadhi is the final and most blessed state, the goal of all Yogis. In this state the individual has become completely merged in the Supreme Self. His identity which became lost in Nirvikalpa Samadhi has become enlarged and is now the Supreme Self and knows itself as such.

“Trances are no longer necessary, a person can still carry on with the ordinary day to day business but he no longer identifies himself with the activities, but watches them like a dreamer watching a dream.

“There is no more to do, and no more to be attained. This is the Supreme State of Absolute Bliss. But in the words of Bhagavan, it is the SELF and it can be realized by one and all by Self-enquiry.” (14)

“His identity which became lost in Nirvikalpa Samadhi has become enlarged and is now the Supreme Self and knows itself as such.” In Kevalya, our identity is lost and we become aware of a second more real “identity”: that we are God. In Sahaja that new “identity” expands until we see that everything is God.

Sri Ramakrishna described the situation this way. He compared the man who achieved Kevalya to a person walking up the stairs to the roof. He leaves all behind and realizes at the top that he is God. But then he goes down the stairs and:

“The vijnani [the one who attains sahaja] … realizes that the steps are made of the same materials as the roof: bricks, lime, and brick-dust. That which is realized intuitively as Brahman, through the eliminating process of ‘Not this, not this,’ is then found to have become the universe and all its living beings. The vijnani sees that the Reality which is nirguna, without attributes, is also saguna, with attributes.” (15)

So at the roof he realized the One God as formless, without attributes (nirguna), transcendental. But by the time he reaches the ground again in Sahaja he has realized that everything, with or without attributes (saguna or nirguna), is God.

Once one has attained Sahaja, it doesn’t matter whether one is aware of the world or not; the Samadhi is permanent.

“What does it the matter whether the body-consciousness is lost or retained, provided one is holding on to that Pure Consciousness? Total absence of body-consciousness has the advantage of making the Samadhi more intense, although it makes no difference in the knowledge of the Supreme.” (16)

But “in both [cases] the Self is realized in its nakedness and the essence of bliss experienced,” Sri Ramana says. (17)

In Sahaja, our effort has won us freedom from effort. Sahaja is natural and permanent and hence effortless, Sri Ramana tells us:

“By repeated practice one can become accustomed to turning inwards and finding the Self. One must always and constantly make an effort, until one has permanently realized. Once the effort ceases, the state becomes natural and the Supreme takes possession of the person with an unbroken current. Until it has become permanently natural and your habitual state, know that you have not realized the Self, only glimpsed it.” (18)

Sri Ramana held that one could not realize Sahaja until he or she was free of vasanas: “Even though one practices kevala Nirvikalpa Samadhi for years together, if one has not rooted out the vasanas, he will not attain salvation.” (19)

But on another occasion he said that attachment was the cause of bondage and felt that some vasanas could be experienced safely even after Sahaja if we were not attached to them.

“Vasanas which do not obstruct Self-Realization remain [after Self-Realization]. In Yoga Vasistha two classes of vasanas are distinguished: those of enjoyment and those of bondage. The former remain even after Mukti is attained, but the latter are destroyed by it. Attachment is the cause of binding vasanas, but enjoyment without attachment does not bind and continues even in Sahaja.” (20)

Sahaja being mukti, the sage is free from karma. Because the one in the Sahaja state is free from karma, Sri Ramana calls it “ultimate”:

“As karma alone is responsible for the activity or inactivity of the sages, great souls have declared the state of Sahaja Nirvikalpa (the natural state without concepts) alone to be the ultimate state.” (21)

It is the ultimate state as far as freedom from birth and death is concerned but not it’s not the final state of all beings. That comes much, much later. The Fifth Dimension is by no means the ultimate destination.

In the concluding chapter, we’ll listen to some probable assertions from practitioners of other paths of the attainment of Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi or Ascension.

Footnotes

(1) Ramana Maharshi in Paul Brunton and Munagala Venkataramaiah. Conscious Immortality. Conversations with Sri Ramana Maharshi. Rev. ed. 1996. , n.p. [Hereafter CI.]

(2) Ramana Maharshi, Spiritual Instruction of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. Eighth Edition. Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam, 1974, Chapter 3, Question 4. [Hereafter SI.]

(3) Ramana Maharshi in S.S. Cohen, Guru Ramana. Memories and Notes. 6th edition. Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam, 1993, 89. [Hereafter GR.]

(4) Ramana Maharshi, GR, 96.

(5) Annamalei Swami in Berthold Madhukar Thompson, The Odyssey of Enlightenment. San Rafael: Wisdom Editions, 2003. 110.

(6) Sadhu Arunachala [A.W. Chadwick], A Sadhu’s Reminiscences of Ramana Maharshi.Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam, 1961, 47. [Hereafter SRRM.]

(7) Sadhu Arunachala [A.W. Chadwick] in SRRM, 17.

(8) Arthur Osborne, ed., The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi. http://www.ramana-maharshi.org . Downloaded 10 Sept. 2005, iii. Clearly Sri Ramana had done his work in other lifetimes and was here on a special mission.

(9) Ramana Maharshi in Arthur Osborne, ed., The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi.Tiruvannamali, 1979. , 1979 iii.

(10) Ramana Maharshi, Jewel Garland of Enquiry (Vichara Mani Malai). Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam, 1996; c1977. , 20.

(11) Ramana Maharshi in Ganapathi, Vasistha, ed., Sri Ramana Gita. Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanashramam, 1977, 27.

(12) Ramana Maharshi, GR, 95-6.

(13) Ramana Matarshi, GR, 88.

(14) Sadhu Arunachala [A.W. Chadwick], SRRM, 47-8.

(15) Paramahansa Ramakrishna in Swami Nikhilananda, trans., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1978; c1942, 103-4.

(16) Ramana Maharshi, GR, 88.

(17) Loc. cit.

(18) Ramana Maharshi, CI, n.p.

(19) Sri Ramana Maharshi in Rasmananda Swarnagiri, Crumbs from His Table.http://www.ramana-maharshi.org . Downloaded 10 September 2005, n.p.

(20) Ramana Maharshi, GR, 89.

(21) Ramana Maharshi, SI, Chapter 4, Question 6.