YOGA SUTRAS: Sutra 1.18 “Inner Stillness”

 

 

 

Asamprajnata samadhi is cessation of mentation (nirvikalpa) attained by supreme detachment (para-vairagya) leaving only latent impressions (samskaras).

Through the discipline of meditation practice, we progress through increasingly subtle objects of focus. Asamprajnata samadhi is the subject void of object. This is a radical leap from contemplating some object, to a thought-free awareness: consciousness, conscious of itself, shining.

Let us look more closely at the Sanskrit term “nirvikalpa.” The root “kalpa” means passage of time, or a day of Brahman, which is a little more than eight trillion years. Vikalpa is thus “change over time.” Nirvikalpa means literally “no change over time;” however, in common usage it usually translates as “thought-free meditation.” Applying the transliteration to common usage we see that the experience of nirvikalpa will be that of unchanging stillness free of pertubation from chitta vritti or samskara. This is an important point because this sutra says that in asamprajnata samadhi, samskaras remain.

There are two levels to asamprajnata samadhi: the first is that the yogin will pass in and out of states of nirvikalpa where latent impressions will arise unbidden. After a long period of practice of para-vairagya, samskaras are as burnt seeds, never bearing fruit in the mind again. This is the second stage of asamprajnata samadhi also called kaivalya: liberation.

Para-vairagya is a practice of indifference to arising thoughts, while absorbed in the unchanging self-luminescence of pure awareness. Over time, vrittis, due to lack of interest, simply no longer arise leaving natural, persistent inner stillness. This is something we can apply to our own daily meditation: losing interest in whatever disturbs the stillness. This is difficult if we are interested enough in a thought to become involved with it, thus falling back into duality. We have to inspect our interest in arising thoughts and let go of our interest in them. Here we come to true detachment. Letting go of outer attachment is just practice for the real thing. Liberation is attained by the supreme detachment to interest in the inner flotsam and jetsam. This is not a practice to leave for later.

Dennis Hill

From: Yoga Sutras: The Means to Liberation