Acharya Shree, what is samadhi?
Samadhi is a blissful state of consciousness. And samadhi is a Sanskrit word.
Samadhi is the last step of yoga system, is the 8th step. And itself samadhi has 8 steps also. So it is far away to go when you begin your journey and when you are on the path of the spiritual journey.
It means you have a long way to go and that the ultimate is samadhi.
Samadhi is the highest state of consciousness. When somebody reaches on the highest state of consciousness, it means body doesn't function there.
Your thoughts diminishes. Your mind dissolve. Mind, body, and your thoughts, if they are not there it means that person reaches the highest state of consciousness.
And samadhi is the ultimate to reach somewhere. And in samadhi all the karma begins to dissolve - but in that state of consciousness.
Because it is the highest state of consciousness. If a person reaches on that highest state of consciousness. And the symptoms of samadhi is they begin to have experience of glimpses.
They have glimpses. It is called in Zen system in Japan, satori. Satori means the glimpses of samadhi.
Glimpses of samadhi maybe comes 5 seconds or sometimes 2 seconds. It is like you are tasting the highest state of consciousness like somebody tastes a drop of the ocean and it tastes like salty.
No matter where you taste now the ocean it will be salty. The bliss, the satori, the glimpses of the samadhi is like a drop of the ocean kind of.
You taste it but now you want it more, but it slips from your hand. It goes away.
So you need to practice a lot when you reach all these, when you cross these all the seven steps of yoga: yama, niyama, asaana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, and dhyana.
Dhyana means meditation, seventh one. 8th one is samadhi. Samadhi belongs to your soul. It doesn't belong to your mind, thoughts, or body.
So it is just pure state of consciousness. If a person stay or achieve that state of consciousness, pure consciousness... I'm using the word pure just because of language.
Consciousness is pure actually. But because I want to remind you that it is the purest state of consciousness.
It is just language. Consciousness itself is purest. But if you can, the way you can reach on that state, if there is no blockages in between, the body is the biggest blockage.
Thoughts are the biggest blockage and mind is the even biggest blockage. So you need to forget all those things. Mind is forgotten, thoughts are forgotten, and body is also fully forgotten.
And it is possible because we forget body when we are asleep at night or during the day whenever. So when they are asleep, fall asleep fully, body is forgotten. Maybe mind is not forgotten.
Maybe thoughts are not forgotten. But yes, just think about it. You are awake, but you are not with the body. You are awake, but thoughts are not bothering you.
You are awake, but also your mind helping you is not on the way. And these three things are not on the way. Then it is easy to realize that purest state of consciousness what I'm talking about.
And that is samadhi. Samadhi is the ultimate, ultimate goal to reach. Because ultimate goal I am talking, it is not really even goal. It is just I am again using the words.
Because that is the ultimate. Once you reach it, once you do it, it is like it is always with you, but you don't know it.
It is like the things, the diamonds is in your hand, but you don't know the value it is diamond. Maybe you are thinking this is a piece of rock.
Unless you are knowledgeable about it. So the consciousness is always with you. You are not separate from the consciousness. The samadhi is consciousness - just to realize this is the diamond.
I am holding since many years, many lives. But I am not considering that this is the diamond. Considering because someone has to tell you or you realize by yourself.
So there is only two way to reach that state of consciousness, to samadhi. That you, either someone guide you or you realize by yourself, by spiritual practices.
So samadhi is the, belongs to your spirit, your soul. It is called samaadhi. It is a blissful state.
It is a blissful state. Once you achieve that blissful state, it never goes away. It is like once you become a gold, you can not become again steel, or the silver, or in that no matter how many chemicals you use.
Gold is the purest state of the iron. So the same way the purest state of consciousness is samadhi. So that is supposed to be the ultimate, samadhi is....can happen.
Samadhi can not be achieved actually by efforts, no. It is effortlessness state. It is like you are not even doing anything. It happens, this state happens in not-doing state.
It is non-doing. It is state of, highest state of consciousness when I say, it means you are not doing anything there. It is non-doing.
Samadhi is non-doing state. It is hard to be there. But it is not impossible. You just practice in the beginning, and after that it can happen.