Samadhi and Different Levels of Experience

Feb 22, 2005, 12.00am IST
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev.

What are the different kinds of samadhi? How does going into a samadhi for a long duration help one to evolve?



Samadhis or deep meditation techniques have been classified into eight forms. These, in turn, have been broadly categorised as savikalpa and nirvikalpa samadhis — one with attributes or qualities and the other, without.

With Isha Yoga, people go into different types of samadhis. Samadhi is a state of equanimity where the intellect goes beyond its normal function of discrimination, freeing one from the physical body. In such a state, there is a space between what is you and your body. These samadhis by themselves have no great significance in terms of realisation. Experiencing a certain type of samadhi does not mean you are released from Existence. It is just a new level of experience.

Somebody may go into a certain level of samadhi and stay there for years because it is enjoyable. There is no space or time. There are no bodily problems. He has broken the physical and psychological barriers to some extent. But this is only temporary. The moment he comes out, again he gets hungry, he has to sleep, and again everything comes back.

Compared to a man who is sober, a man who is slightly drunk has a different level of experience, but he has to come down at some point. All samadhis are a way of getting high without any external chemicals. They open up a new dimension for you, without leaving any great transformation behind.

You have not moved into another reality. In the same reality, your level of experiences has deepened. You have experienced the same things in a little deeper sense. You have not become free from the mind.

A person who comes out after meditating for 12 years may not be a realised being, but he could be getting closer. When you go into another reality and stay there for long hours or long years, the grip of this reality is broken on you. Now you have come to an experiential understanding that this is not it. Not just an intellectual understanding, you have seen experientially that this is not it. That is the whole purpose of long meditations. But most realised beings never went into samadhi states.


Gautama never sat for 12 years in one place, unlike some of his disciples. He did not find it necessary. He practised and experienced all the eight kinds of samadhis before his enlightenment and he discarded them. He said, "This is not it". This is not going to take you any closer to realisation. It is just moving into a higher level of experience and you could get further entangled, because it is more beautiful than the current reality. If the goal is set, if you've made realisation the top priority in your life, then everything else which doesn't take you one step closer is meaningless. If you are climbing Mount Everest, you will not take one step sideways, because every ounce of energy is needed to reach the top. Now, if you have to transcend your own consciousness, you need every ounce of what you have and it's not enough.


We have created powerful consecrated spaces where experiencing samadhi states comes very naturally. There are samadhis that are very pleasant, blissful, and ecstatic and there are samadhis that are beyond this. Those who go into samadhi states beyond pleasant or unpleasant, or nirvikalpa, have minimal contact with their bodies. The smallest disturbance, like a sound or a pinprick, would dislodge them from their body. These states are maintained for certain periods to establish the distinction between you and the body. It is a significant step in one's spiritual evolution, but still not the ultimate.