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Samadhi
Meditation has many meanings to many people. In Advaita Vedanta it consists of three parts: Dharana, Dhyana, and Samyama. These stand for Concentration, Contemplation and Union. Very simply it is the concentration of your intellect until conscious thought ceases, such that the meditator experiences oneness. Which of course begs the question as to what is this “oneness.” Before answering “oneness,” several other terms require definition.
I Do Therefore I Am
I had a close friend who once who created a business card, which in place of some occupation, vocation, or title, simply said, “Human.” People often identify themselves as their actions. This leads to the fear of death, for when action ceases you are dead. Meditation seeks to prove to you that you are immortal, for something exists when you cease action.
I Think Therefore I Am
Seeker: “Ha, I am not my actions, I am my thoughts!”
Respondent: “By this logic, you again die when you stop thinking.”
Seeker: “”
In deep meditation, the Seeker commits neither action, nor thought. The consciousness that remains then resides in awareness. This awareness is the natural state of all beings.
I Am Therefore I Am
So the process at a high-level is:
- Concentrate: Learn to concentrate one’s intellect upon one object alone.
- Contemplate: Understand every aspect of that object.
- Samyama: Become one with that object such that you are aware of all of it.
Samadhi is when you perform all at once to reach metaphysical union with all that is, thus realizing your own immortality through direct perception.
Summary
Meditation is the practice of slowly retreating from body consciousness to emotional consciousness to intellectual consciousness, to awareness. It allows the Seeker to experience immortality directly, to see the person they thought of as themselves as an object.
This process allows one to be objective about the entirety of reality-timeless and immortal. However though, Seekers must remember to return as life happens in the here and now, not some far off place. This is where our Yoga differs from many others. We unify body, mind, intellect, and your waking life.