Sri Ramana Maharshi
I want to write an essay on Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi, partly because I promised the Divine Mother I would, partly for my own clarity. I’m going to need to get spiritually technical; specifically, to use some Sanskrit terms.
I’d advise anyone who doesn’t want to follow an intellectual conversation to skip this post and go on to the next.
Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi means the following. “Sahaja” means “natural.” “Nirvikalpa” means “without concepts.” “Samadhi” means “a state of fixed concentration, trance.” Functionally it refers to a full and permanent heart opening, beyond the third-dimensional chakra system, as we shall see below. (1)
My knowledge of Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi for the most part comes from Sri Ramana Maharshi.
Sri Ramana was the first person I consciously heard say:
“The yogis say that the current rising up to sahasrara (brain) [Seventh Chakra] ends there. That experience is not complete. For jnana, they must come to the Heart. Hridayam (Heart) [actually heart aperture] is the alpha and omega.” (2)
In other words, seventh-chakra enlightenment or Brahmajnana is not enough. The cycle is not complete. We do not move from Third/Fourth Dimensionality to Fifth after attaining it.
This came as a great revelation to someone who grew up in a spiritual culture that considered seventh-chakra enlightenment as the end of this cycle and liberation or moksha. Now I was hearing that it was not.
For liberation to happen, the spiritual seeker must come again to the heart, which then permanently and fully opens in Sahaja Samadhi. Sri Ramana tells us:
“Great souls have declared the state of sahaja nirvikalpa (the natural state without concepts) alone to be the ultimate state. (3)
“The Sahaja Nirvikalpa is permanent and in it lies liberation from rebirths.” (4)
“ In kevalya nirvikalpa samadhi [seventh-chakra enlightenment] one is not free from vasanas [core issues] and does not, therefore, attain mukti. Only after the samskaras [impressions] have been destroyed [in Sahaja] can one attain salvation.” (5)
And how is Sahaja attained? Sahaja is attained when the heart fully and permanently opens, as Sri Ramana discusses here:
“Heart is the seat of Jnanam as well as of the granthi (knot of ignorance). It is represented in the physical body by a hole smaller than the smallest pin-point [hridayam], which is always shut.
“When the mind drops down in Kevalya Nirvikalpa [samadhi], it opens but shuts again after it. When Sahaja is attained it opens for good. (6)
As to the process, for that you’d have to read a spiritual master. I’d recommend Sri Ramana. Search on “Ramana” here: https://goldengaiadb.com/index.php?title=FDL_Bibliography
Have I sought validation of these assertions? Yes, I have. I asked the Divine Mother about Sahaja being the culminating experience of Ascension and she agreed that it was and that the third-dimensiopnal chakra system was nor final or permanent.
Steve Beckow: I’m trying to understand what level of enlightenment Ascension corresponds to. And I think it’s beyond the normal seventh-chakra enlightenment. I think it is what is called — and I’ll make this clear to readers — sahaja samadhi. Am I correct?
Divine Mother: Yes, it is beyond what you think of with your seven chakras. … We have emerged from the Third-Dimensional realm, which is that reference point for the chakra system, into the new. So yes, you are correct, in this question and in this statement.
SB: It’s wonderful to have that confirmed. Thank you very much, Mother. (7)
So, for there to be complete clarity on the event that will signal we’re home, it’ll be experiencing a full and permanent heart opening. It’ll be being swept clean by a tsunami of love and immersed in an Ocean of Love, one that does not subside, forever and ever.
Look again at the photograph of Sri Ramana. It’ll be like that.
Footnotes
(1) The highest level of enlightenment in the third-dimensional chakra system occurs when the kundalini enters the Sahasrar or crown chakra. That enlightenment is called Brahmajnana or God-Realiation.
Sahaja is beyond the third-dimensional chakra system. The kundalini opens the heart completely, which is liberation from the Third/Fourth Dimension.
(2) Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi. Three Volumes in One. Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanashram, 2010, 65-6.)
(3) Sri Ramana Maharshi, Spiritual Instruction of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. Eighth Edition. Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam, 1974, Chapter 4, Question 6.
(4) Ramana Maharshi in S.S. Cohen, Guru Ramana. Memories and Notes. 6th edition. Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam, 1993, 88.
(5) Sri Ramana Maharshi in Ramananda Swarnagiri, Crumbs from His Table. https://www.ramana-maharshi.org. Downloaded 10 September 2005, n.p.
(6) Ramana Maharshi in S.S. Cohen, Guru Ramana. Memories and Notes. 6th edition. Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam, 1993, 96.
(7) “The Divine Mother: Come to Me as I Come to You – Part 1/2,” Oct. 17, 2012, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/2012/10/17/the-divine-mother-come-to-me-as-i-come-to-you-part-12/.