"I" Is Forever the Same

 

Aatma Shakti: Swamiji, I would like to ask you to explain, please, what is samaadhi?

Swamiji: Samaadhi is a word that Sanskrit scholars, or Sage Patanjali, while writing his thesis, [laughter] have used. Why did he do it? Because everybody can identify with the intellect, mind, or ego sense. Every human being, who has grown up and studied something, knows that eyes are there, ears are there, other senses are there, and the sensible aspect, or sense mind is there. The mind is able to know and decide, so the mind becomes, as if, two parts of the same knowing. He [the mind] knows the things through the eyes or ears or the senses, and he does the work of deciding what is good and what is not good—but for whom?

There is one fellow, or one part sitting over there in the mind, with the mind, over the mind—that is I. So I is a human being who is the very mind and intellect and senses. But on the level of I it functions differently. Such as, your head is a head, but under the forehead the eyes function differently from the ears, which are also below the head. And your nose functions differently, although the head is one. Your mouth functions differently, though your head is one. In this way, I is one, but it functions for knowing with the mind, as if it is a tool in the hands of I. And the intellect decides: good or bad, suitable or not suitable; so it becomes a second part of the same I, but it is its own tool. It is like the elephant that Gagan has described whose trunk goes forward, and the trunk curls back down, but it is one trunk. So I goes for knowing, I goes for deciding, I goes with the senses coming into contact with things. But when the senses are working, then conflict is naturally there because the eyes would like to see a flower. And in the valley drums are being beaten, so the ears would like to go towards that Dusshera [a local fair] and they want to be with the musicians. So even in one head the struggle is there. This struggle is found to be there with what instrument? That is buddhi, the intellect. This intellect is there with the eyes and it is there with the ears. There it decides among sounds and among forms, and with the nose it has smell—it decides with the sense of smell what is good and what is not. And the mouth, with the sense of taste, decides which taste is good and which taste is not good—for I.

We have studied this functioning and have therefore concluded that as long as this intellect works with the sense of duality, it stands for ears, it stands for eyes, it stands for this, it stands for that; and this is all pulling and pushing the I. So I then decides, "Well look, enough of this intellect! Would it not be good that you take rest and be sam?" At that time the eyes are closed, the ears are closed, the nose is practically closed, and the tongue is closed. Everything is settled, and when it is settled the intellect has no way to function in a dualistic form, deciding what to do and what not to do. But then, it still has to function, because it is knowingness. So then I orders the intellect to begin to watch the knowingness, which is Me. It is Me who knows what is there and what is not there. When the intellect watches Me, which is always Me, whether in deep sleep, dream, waking state, or in other thinking states—or in places, whether Canada or in India—it is always the same I or Me. So then the intellect watches the sameness. That is samaadhi, and the result is that a man becomes easy, peaceful; so he either wants to sleep, or wants to go to samaadhi.

In the other two states, the dream or the waking state, he’s afraid of nightmares, he’s afraid of fear or of frightening things, all kinds of things; so many sages and saints and scientists thought to take resort in the samaadhi state. This means that as long as you are in samaadhi you are sitting with closed eyes, and your ears are neutral, and there, for two minutes, three minutes, four minutes, your thinking goes on but you are not worried. And even if you are worried, you are thinking, "What’s it to me?" Your hair keeps on growing and in one year it becomes so long, but you never test it, as to which day it has become longer. In this way, the thoughts keep coming and going, and you never know how many thoughts have come and gone, but you remain in samaadhi.

But then, when you again come in the waking state and you become the intellect of the previous kind, you are again drawn either to deep sleep, to meditation, or to samaadhi. The purpose of your incarnation as a human body is not fulfilled, because you are still tormented whenever you are out of samaadhi. When you are out of deep sleep, you are again tormented. Maybe not tormented, but you are not all right! If somebody comes you are thinking, where should they stay, where should I do their dinner? ... You are in samaadhi, you did samaadhi and meditation, and you had your deep sleep, but still, in the waking state you are thinking about pros and cons. …Why is it that everyone in the waking state is busy pleasing someone, or avoiding displeasure? Or, they are buying pleasing things and avoiding the rotten things at home—or daily calling the plumber to fix up the bathroom because the ball-cock is not working and the flush is not working and then the geyser is not working [laughter] and then the electricity is not working when you need a heater. So all the time, in the waking state, you are doing some action that doesn’t please you. However hard you try, there’s always some upsetting. So then you want to be a plumber, you want to be an electrician, you want to be the house constructor—you want to be everything, thinking, "I’ll take care of it myself." But while working on the electricity and trying to fix up the geyser you get a shock. …this is the human predicament.

I said that meditation will evolve you from this state of affairs onwards. So you thought, "Well, what would be the way?" And I said, "samaadhi." So you immediately adopted samaadhi and you did not read how a person gets to samaadhi. He has to travel from toes, to legs, to knees, and then stomach, and chest, and then neck, and then chin, and then eyes, and then he goes to the forehead—he has to travel. There are eight parts. You didn’t do yam, niyam, pranayaam, aasan, pratyahaar, dhaarana, dhyaan, because it was too much work for you. But sitting is very easy, so then you sit down and say, "Well, this suits me." Then you say, "I’m a gyaani, I’m a knowledgeable man, and I don’t want to work with my hands doing this and that—it creates problems for me, therefore I would like to get into samaadhi. And what will I do? I’ll train my intellect. I’ll make it all right. I’ll purify it. I’ll expand it." And fourteen years, fifteen years, twenty years have passed and it is not trained. [laughter] You go to Canada and you are upset, you come to India, you are upset, you go to the Taj Mahal and Agra, you are upset…everywhere upsetting goes on. Then you thought, "Well, it’s all ridiculous, so start laughing!" That is where I say, in the waking state that works: love and laughing. They are pretty close—love and laugh. And if you can be happy in the waking state, in any way, whatever you do, whatever you eat, drink, or any action that you do, but you remain happy—then you are already in samaadhi. Because that which you get out of samaadhi, you are getting out of your action, out of your thinking, out of your knowledge.

In this way, I described samaadhi, I described intellect, and I described mind—I described You. And the description is, that I is forever the same. But the intellect, mind, and senses change, so the consciousness changes. As heat is sometimes scorching, sometimes it is less, sometimes you need it, and sometimes you don’t need it. And in the same way, regarding winter, or cold—sometimes it is more, sometimes less. All this is changing. That I is not changing, and if your intellect has come to know this fact, that is samaadhi. That remains always sam.

As human beings we begin finding out about everything that we do, but we have never tried to find out where the I is. So then, you should find out sometime. Think about it, study it, concentrate, contemplate and meditate. Have some time—be in the forest, be at home, be in the hotel, be in the room, anywhere that you are; but you have the tool, the instrument with you, and there I is. …and I give you the information that you, which means I, is forever pure, free, and without mistakes. No ups and no downs are in that—it is just even—under all circumstances it is the same. …You have practiced it, and you like samaadhi people…those who are aware of samaadhi, you like them, and I’m the most aware of your intellect, mind, and samaadhi. Not only that—I live it, I explained it, and that is what you need—and that’s what will happen for all of you, that you will be those pioneers, those ambassadors who will be able to convey the fourth state of awareness.

December 10, 2004