Liberation
(Samadhi): Achieving Lasting Bliss
All sense of separation dissolves when
individual consciousness merges with Universal
Consciousness. This union is liberation.
Sutra iii.3
We have traveled far along the path of True Yoga and now are near the end of our journey. Like those who trek to the summit of a majestic mountain, through integration of the practices of the Eight Limbs of Yoga, we receive a higher perspective on life. Although spiritual progress is subtle and everyone experiences their evolution in different ways and times, we know we are getting closer to our destination when we feel a daily conviction to overcome anything that stands in our way of lasting happiness. Obstacles presented by our karma or the ego no longer discourage us and our efforts remain diligent. We are sure that our progress toward sustainable joy is happening with each hurdle we surmount.
Time to Ignite
Like a stove burner filled with grease and dirt that will not ignite, the light of our soul is blocked by ego-centered living. Bad habits, negative thoughts, identification with the sense of a separate self, all keep us in a less-than-joyful experience. However, the tests of life are never meant to stop us but rather to make us look away from our egoistic belief in self-sufficiency and toward the true Source of all strength and wisdom. We choose which charts the course for our lives, the ego or the Soul.
As long as we are identified with the body, mind, and emotions, we remain in ignorance (Avidya) of our infinite power and beauty. When we are being dictated by the ego, we feel limitation, frustration, and a longing to be free. The self-centered consciousness of “I, me, mine” keeps us from the brilliance of our soul. We suffer while the Divine Self waits patiently for us to clean up the mess we have made and prepare ourselves to be vessels of Divine Light. We are sparks of this Divine Source of Light and it is time to ignite.
Happiness Is a Choice
Intuitively we sense the freedom that awaits us. We innately want to go home to abide in our natural state of love and peace, even more so on days that we feel trapped in challenge and delusion. In fact, it is the very reason we constantly seek happiness.
The moment we see through the illusions of false happiness centered in the desires and attachments of human life, we open to a new reality. A vast world of love and joy exists already within and around us. We do not have to create it. We just have to remove the veil of ignorance that hides it. This requires a dauntless will to place the ego in service to the soul, allowing little self to be absorbed into the Divine Self. There is no loss or lack in this movement, rather an expanding enthusiasm for all that is.
The Sutras indicate that if for just one moment we release all thought and merge into complete awareness of our true nature, we will be overcome with joy. Sustaining this awareness, we could then inhabit our limited human body with an awareness of our infinite nature and not be frustrated by this transitory experience. When consciousness realizes that it is not really trapped by the temporal, then it can relax within the experience and enjoy the hidden joy in everything. To tap into this infinity within is why we study, live ethically, practice Asana, meditate, and seek Self-awareness. The entire teaching of the Eight Limbs of Yoga points to this bliss.
Being versus Doing
The more devotedly we practice the Eight Limbs of Yoga, the quicker we overcome the ego and brighten into the awareness of our true blissful nature. Yet we have come to the end of the limbs that can be “practiced” per se. Instruction in effort ends at the sixth limb of concentration (Dharana). At this point, being replaces doing. The last of the Eight Limbs of Yoga is not a practice that we manage, but rather the result of continuous practice of all the other limbs and a gift of grace when we are ready to receive it. The Sutras describe how deep concentration naturally merges into meditation, which then spontaneously leads to liberation (Samadhi), the full union with pure Consciousness.
Although attainable, Samadhi is considered indescribable in its fullest measure. Because the identity of small self disappears, there is nothing left to describe and define its experience, no more observer to describe the experience of what is observed. The Sutras say the instrument of seeing (i.e., the body) is no longer confused with the seer (i.e., the Self).
Masters who have entered the boundless expansion of Samadhi have given us some partial descriptions of this state of being so that we can have a reference point. In Samadhi, they say, there is no more need for effort, no more resistance, no more sorrow, no more attachment, and no more pain. Unending joy, pure peace, a selfless desire to serve others, intuitive wisdom, unconditional love, and compassion, and a constant flow of energy are ever-present. In this state of awareness, joy flows from the inner fountain of the realized soul rather than through the fulfillment of fleeting outer desires. Tapped into this unending reservoir of happiness, one radiates it in every direction, magnetizing people who are drawn to the light of joy and showering them with blessings. Infinite Consciousness is aware of and inherent in all things manifest and unmanifest.
Satchitananda
The Vedas describe Infinite Consciousness as sat-chit-ananda. Sat means “ever existing.” Chit means “ever conscious.” Ananda means “ever-new joy.” Satchitananda encompasses all the names and images we can imagine for the One: Source of Everything, Divine Spirit, Sustainer of Life, Eternal Guiding Principle, Divine Consciousness, Inner Light, Supreme Consciousness, Divine Self, the Light Within, Supreme Self, Divine Truth, Iswara, God, the Indweller, Beloved, Infinite One, Animating Principle, Universal Consciousness, the Oneness, Ever Blissful Light Within, or Love. What we call it is not as important as full surrender to it. Only in this way is Samadhi attained.
To do this, we must release any intellectual, social, or religious concepts we have, so that we can clearly experience It from within, in meditation where It reveals Itself to us directly. We invite this revelation by humbly offering our individual ego self back to It in loving devotion.
Levels of Samadhi
To touch this state of being through the dedicated practice of the Eight Limbs is entirely within our reach and liberation is possible in this lifetime. Momentary realizations of Self that happen spontaneously during deep meditation are called Savikalpa Samadhi. Although these moments of expanded awareness are blissful, they are often unsustained and consciousness returns to its belief in separation and limitation, the resumption of “I” consciousness.
The more we practice, the more we will maintain this state of consciousness in meditation and in daily life, and the happier we will feel regardless of outer circumstances.
Eventually, the time comes for each soul when all Karma has been fully and finally released, and mastery has been attained over the transitory experience of human life. Willingness is rewarded with assurance and we lose nothing but gain everything. All masculine and feminine qualities integrate within us and we continue to operate our beautiful, individual vessels but now in complete harmony and without the perception of separateness that causes suffering. By merging individual consciousness with Divine Consciousness, we live in the world but not of it. We have entered the union that is True Yoga, where our consciousness remains forever liberated in Nirvikalpa Samadhi, or full enlightenment.
Feeling the Love
At its root, all desire is the longing of the soul to be reunited with Source. Although pain and suffering may be the initial impulses that compel us to start this journey home, only love will take us all the way. Love is the greatest motivator of all.
When we recognize all our outer strivings toward happiness as our soul’s longing to be reunited with its Source, falling into love with the One is effortless. The more we relate everything back to the Divine, recognizing one love flowing through an infinite number of forms, the more we open to a greater experience of love. The ubiquitous, non-personalized love shines through all beings and we feel perpetually connected to it, intimately and at all times, not just through friends and family but throughout creation. There is no more “I” to love “you.” Rather, love becomes our state of being, in which we recognize ourselves and others as love and the whole world as the Beloved. What we call happiness is just the tiniest little experience of that state, momentarily shining through human consciousness.
The reunion of individual consciousness with Universal Consciousness that is the goal of the Eight Limbs of Yoga is possible for all of us through diligent effort and deep devotion. No obstacle can stand in our way if we determine to succeed. Yoga is a spiritual science and the purpose of it is to prove our boundless nature. We must know personal communion with the Divine through our own consciousness. No other way will satisfy, and excuses for delay are invalid. Even tiny steps in this direction bring a substantial increase in our daily happiness levels and ability to withstand life’s inevitable challenges.
Eventually an opening occurs in our hearts and minds. As the soul reawakens to its immortal nature, gaining mastery over the vehicles of body and mind rather than being limited by them, an enduring peace, coupled with an ever-increasing sense of bliss (Samadhi) are our constant companions. Life becomes a joyful game played with the abiding assurance in the unity and perfection of all creation rather than an exercise in endurance and survival. We no longer walk in fear or uncertainty for we are connected to the power that creates and sustains us. We feel a greater ease and lightness of being throughout each day and all that it brings. When trials come, we see life as a school and we rise in our consciousness to a higher, broader viewpoint.
Our practice of meditation anchors us in contact with Divine Love and enables us to give understanding, forgiveness, and goodwill to others. All of our relationships improve. We have reached the inner wellspring of happiness that everyone desires.
Only Joy
“Every saint who has penetrated to the core of reality has testified that a divine universal plan exists and that it is beautiful and full of joy,” wrote Paramahansa Yogananda in Autobiography of a Yogi. 11
The gift and blessing of the Yoga Sutras is that they give us clear guidance on how to follow the saints and prove this Truth. When Samadhi is entered and individual consciousness unites with Divine Consciousness, a joy is known that is millions of times more beautiful, more vast, and more enduring than any earthly pleasure we can imagine. From Joy we have come. In Joy we live, move, and have our being. And into sacred Joy we will melt again. By holding onto this, no matter what life brings, we have the key to security, freedom, perpetual happiness, and true spiritual fulfillment.
Daily Practice
Remain consistent with all of the practices of the Eight Limbs. Trust the process of spiritual evolution that they bring. Whether you touch the bliss of Samadhi momentarily or become a master of enlightenment in this lifetime, from here on it is simply joy.
Questions for Further Reflection
Take a moment with your journal now to answer the following questions. Or find a quiet pause sometime today to remember the freedom and transcendence that awaits and contemplate these thoughts further.
Affirmations to Post and Remember
Affirmations solidify beliefs in our subconscious minds, creating a foundation from which we can then manifest positive change in our outer lives. Repeat these often with strong intensity and full faith.
11. Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi (Los Angeles: Self Realization Fellowship, 1998), 420.