Mahasamadhi

[Shanmugam]

@MarkusSweden thank you.. I still feel like I am the happiest person on earth. It was also a comment I received from a couple of my friends quite unexpectedly...  I had to become the salesman again but there was a huge difference. I just enjoyed whatever I chose to do, including making sales. But I left my old job because I couldn't pretend anymore that I am also running in a rat race ...  . On September 1st, 2016, I left that job. I work in a different company now in my hometown, where I do content writing and chat support. I don't have to talk at work anymore. :). The salary that I am getting now is not even 50% of the salary that I was getting back then. Almost every person that I come across who gets to know about my salary at my previous job can't stop questioning me why I left my old job. According to any typical person, it would be a huge mistake but for me, I know I did the right thing.

Just a week before, one complete stranger started talking to me on the bus and was asking questions about my career. When I told him about the difference in salary, he started talking non-stop for 30 minutes until I got off the bus, giving me advice and telling me how I have wasted my life.  . He said he was very concerned about me. I just smiled, listened to him for 30 minutes and just said 'ok'. Of course, this is how any typical person who is keen on career, personal development and making money would advise. But there is no way to explain to him that none of that really matters to me.

But I know that sometimes people may get freaked out when they hear this. Because, for them, their story is still important to them. And many people who are spiritual seekers initially want to have the cake and also eat it.  That is not going to happen. But it is not a matter of worry anyway. Once a person is realized, he would look at his own past and laugh about it. So, if someone asks whether enlightenment is really worth it, I would want to emphasize that it is the only thing which is actually worth it. There is a sense of authenticity, a sense of being free and liberated, being complete and fulfilled, being innocent and guilt-free in the experience of pure non-dual reality, which is the most valuable thing in the world. No wonder Jesus said 'The Kingdom of God is within you' 

[Monkey-man]

So one master today told me that sometimes he experiences sudden samadhis which are something like and probably is mahasamadhis, that feels like he is just out of body somewhere, but then he comes backs after several minutes or hours. It’s not final mahasamdhi, but no different from that, only diff is that it continues for several minutes or hours and might come suddenly without signals.

so probably that can explain it. I think what Sadhguru meant by difficulty of staying in the body is that enlightened person might sometimes experience sudden hits of mahasamadhi that are not up to him. This is not final leaving but feels just like that. It’s like body is becoming left, but that process stops once you able to come back. That’s actually one reason (that master’s theory) why many of enlightened gurus like Ramana, Osho, and Krishnamurti and many others died from cancer and other long-term deceases. During that samadhis your body starts slowly dying (that’s also what that master’s body seem to feel like after he comes back from samadhi). So initial awakenings and realisations can actually have very healthy effect on body and mind, they can even cure cancer and there are such cases. Coz these are quite natural states for living organism. But that permanently  infinite enlightenment which great gurus had might actually kick your health in the butt because your body simply isn’t prepared for that kind of stuff, see even Sadhguru who is trained yogi struggled with that. You probably need to be very prepared physically. Although it might not be the case for everyone, I dunno. 

Interesting thing is that I don’t think that Osho, Sadhguru and defo that master of mine and many other great teachers had the final enlightenment which Buddha talked about. They all certainly had some big big unbounded oneness and nothingness enlightenment, but  it’s probably wasn’t the final one coz Buddha said (or at least Buddhism says) that his teachers had this unbounded infinite space and consciousness and yet it wasn’t the final thing. So what can that imply is that mahasamadhi probably can be possible long prior the final final enlightenment. And maybe not. But that master of mine certainly isn’t in  Buddhahood, yet his stage is already quite a burden for his body’s health because of this sudden strikes, although it’s not a problem for him, his energy or his happiness coz he clearly sees that he isn’t the body. However, after the initial awakenings, where he saw that he isn’t his self-image, his lung cancer has been cured without treatment (that’s no joke). When thought and emotion isn’t fixated on the place of decease, organism have capacity to cure itself, you just don’t need to interrupt it with your ego. But again this seems to not be enough when you are unbounded oneness, that’s something brain and body can’t understand, I guess from this misunderstanding sudden unexpected mahasamadhi can happen.

 

Edited February 6, 2018 by Monkey-man

[Nobody11]

Hello @BeyondForm, I am no authority so make your own decision about the following words.

When I was 16 I took mushrooms and had an experience with mahasamadhi. When they kicked in, my clothes felt so constraining that I removed most of them and went outside where, apparently, I assumed a meditative state in the standing position for what would eventually be several hours. The only movements were minor muscle adjustments such that my skeleton was perfectly balanced with minimal effort. The mosquitoes were terrible that day, but in this state they didn't touch me and I knew that they wouldn't. It was extremely peaceful and it was obvious that "everything is energy" (the extent of my vocabulary at the time). The state deepened and it felt like my awareness was a knot that I was slowly but deliberately untangling. Once the knot was undone there was only a string -- a binary option of life or death. It was clearly presented to me: this string is your awareness, you could end it and this body would be die but your awareness would continue beyond this realm. My childhood was extremely difficult and there was much suffering and it was clear this was a wonderful blessing. However, my friend came to mind, who was also taking mushrooms, and we were at his house while his parents were gone. It was clear that if I went through with it, he would have to live with the mess in 3d reality which would have a significant impact on his life. I also thought of my family. It was not an easy decision, but I decided to remain. There has been many hundreds of instances since that I have regretted this decision!

A decade or more later I would learn that this experience would lines up precisely with how I understand Raja Yoga (e.g. Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, Yogananda's writings, etc) and the concept of mahasamadhi.

So here's what this vessel says in response to your post: Mahasamadhi won't happen by acciden; if it happens by accident, it's not mahasamadhi. It is a choice, an action, that your consciousness will see available to it. It cannot happen unconsciously, because IT IS consciousness. It is not like swimming so far from shore that you fail to save enough energy to return home. The default state is for you to be "pulled" back to your body. Your exertion (to bring about the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind) is what is "pushing" you out of your body. If you push it far enough (quiet the mind enough) you will see the option of not continuing the body has become available. 

Every few years I search around for perhaps another who has stood on the precipice of mahasamadhi in such a fashion. The closest story I've found is the one about Ram Dass' student (also appears in this thread), which brought me much joy. And regret :). This time around I found your post (5 years late, but better late than never).