How to Cultivate Savikalpa Samadhi through Self-Inquiry

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Samadhi is one's natural state. It is the under-current in all the three states (waking, dreaming, deep sleep). Per King Janaka in the text Tripura Rahasya, he mentions that nirvikalpa samadhi is a continuous experience of every being. It is only interrupted by thoughts and objects, and since one’s mind is always extroverted, one remains ignorant of this fact. 

Samadhi will be a natural occurrence if one persists with self-inquiry diligently and correctly. Please note: Samadhi can also be developed via objective meditation or with kundalini when absorbed in the ajna chakra. However, in this article, I will only be speaking of cultivating samadhi through nididhyasana (subjective meditation).  This type of meditation can also be complimented with Kundalini if harnessed with viveka (power of discrimination between awareness and everything non-self).

Per Panchadasi (an Advaita Vedanta text published in the 1300’s)

“The mind continues to be fixed in Paramatman in the state of samadhi as a result of the effort of will made prior to its achievement and helped by the merits of previous births and the strong impression created through constant efforts (at getting into samadhi).”

Before one can become firmly established in samadhi permanently (sahaj nirvikalpa, i.e. moksha), one must first perform self-inquiry (atma-vichara/nididhyasana) persistently until glimpses of the self are revealed. These intermittent glimpses is what is known as savikalpa samadhi. Savikalpa samadhi is when the mind becomes mingled with the attribute-less Brahman through persistent effort. 

Per Shankaracharya in the Sarvavedantasiddhantasara Sangraha:

“It is called samadhi because it is helpful in leading to the transcendent reality. It is called savikalpa which means modification, because there is still linger the three-fold-modifications of the knower, knowing and the known.”

This means before the mind can become totally and fully absorbed in the transcendental reality of Nirguna Brahman (permanent nirvikalpa samadhi), one must first come in contact with Brahman through savikalpa samadhi. When the mind commingles with Brahman, it will gradually dissolve and be graced with higher knowledge of Brahman (para-vidya). It is this higher knowledge that will burn the very seed of ignorance and lead one to moksha. 

In this article, I will provide some pointers as to how one can cultivate savikalpa samadhi through self-inquiry. Note: These are my own methods which have kept me in savikalpa samadhi intermittently throughout the day and night.  If you find value in these practices, feel free to leverage them, if not, throw them away. In addition, this will only work if one has developed a sufficient level of concentration and purification of the mind along with relentless effort of staying towards the self.

Self-inquiry is a long process of trial and error. To expedite this process, I will speak about the do's and dont's so that you can apply them before the inquiry. 

1. Get rid of the notion: “I am not this, I am that”

Before going into the inquiry, the intellectual knowledge of: “There is only Brahman” must be stable with absolute firm conviction. If conviction is firm, then one would not go into the inquiry thinking “I am not this, I am that”. This is a dualistic approach. There is only Brahman. This means there is nothing to attain or to achieve since you are not separate from the goal. You are already that. The inquiry itself is simply a process of negating everything to be established in what remains and is already present right now.  Though this doesn't mean if there is no goal, there is nothing to search for.  The search is to uncover that the goal wasn't attained but was already present the entire time! Note: This practice is not an intellectual negation but an intuitive one.

2. Give up Doership

Give up the notion that you are the one who is doing something, even the idea that “you as the body-mind is doing the inquiry”. For example, if my name is Bob, I cannot believe myself to be Bob doing an inquiry into Brahman while the inquiry is taking place. This means there needs to be complete self-surrender. That is the only possible way to do the inquiry. It will not work any other way since reality is non-dual. Therefore, surrender the identity as body-mind along with all thoughts, feelings and objective knowledge.  Go inward with effort but don't reinforce yourself to be a person who is performing the effort. Any hard volition will reaffirm the false identity. Remember: everything is Brahman. So meditation here should only be on the subject as the subject since there is only the subject. 

3. Withdraw every thought from objects

With every thought that comes, withdraw your attention from them. This also applies to external objects. Every sense object will initially come with some form of thought, emotion, feeling, sensation, pleasure etc. that you have given value due to vasanas. Give them up and do not accept them or allow them to multiply into other thoughts. Remain firm behind the thoughts that arise. Staying behind every thought that comes up. If you allow yourself to entertain a thought and identify with them, you are now a doer (thinker) and that thought will multiply and lead you to endless desires. It is only the doer who desires and sticks on to thoughts which are all rooted to the aham-vritti or the sense of “I am”. Stay behind this vritti and remain grounded there. Whatever action unfolds will be done by the will of god. This means the body-mind will still act but attention is placed behind the movement and behind the thinker. When thoughts are withdrawn, all objects will feel as if they are made up of the same dream substance (since your attention is elsewhere) and you will not give certain objects higher value than others. This is because vasanas are being burned and will increase the levels of indifference, dispassion, dissatisfaction and overall equanimity. 

4. There should be zero thoughts about Brahman

Self-inquiry is a very subtle inquiry into the extreme depths of the mind. It is a process of withdrawing from all objects/thoughts and turning attention towards the self. It is an intuitive process, not an intellectual one. This means there should be zero thoughts about Brahman or what you think Brahman is while doing the inquiry. If there is a thought about Brahman in your mind, whether it’s a picture, image, energy, love, light, etc., it is still bondage because you have objectified Brahman into something different. You are already Brahman, so why are you thinking about Brahman as if you are apart from it? 

5. Do not talk to yourself during the inquiry or your meditation will be broken and you will lose the precious momentum that you have built up to fructify into samadhi

In the beginning stages when there are thoughts, one may ask: "who are these thoughts known to?". But that will eventually need to be dropped. If in the back of your mind during the inquiry, you’re subtlety asking yourself: “ok, do I need to go deeper?” or “is this the source of I am? or “ok this is not me, I’m beyond this” —these are all thoughts! Not only are they thoughts, they are thoughts you are entertaining as a doer (ego). The self is not a doer. The inquiry itself is beyond this. If a thought comes up and is entertained, this means your meditation on Brahman or the inquiry itself is broken. Only when it stays unbroken for sometime, will samadhi unfold because of the momentum you have built up during the meditation. So do not ask yourself or tell yourself anything throughout the inquiry. Keep progressing with the inquiry and have faith that something profound will naturally happen on its own without you forcing, thinking or expecting something to happen. 

So how do you know if you’re in samadhi? Answer: an extreme profound presence, stillness and peace will separate your true identity from the false. Everything will now appear to be inside you.  You will no longer perceive objects as tangible things outside of you.

Prior to samadhi, the more the mind goes inward and turns towards the self, the more jnana from Brahman pours in, further enlightening the mind by revealing pure sattva. Sattva increases the transparency of the mind. When the mind is pure sattva, it is now “no-mind” because it has taken the form of Brahman (swarupa). It is now known to be turiya instead. This can only happen when one attends to the source of the ego continuously. This process will not just happen all at once - it is a gradual unfoldment. This gradual unfoldment when the mind begins to dissolve via direct contact with Brahman is savikalpa samadhi. 

Savikalpa samadhi is holding on to pure being with effort. The only thought here is the thought about god. This is not a regular thought like any other thought but the direct knowledge of Brahman (jnana) that co-exists with the purely alert sattvic mind. This doesn't mean the mind is separate from Brahman.  The mind IS Brahman.  However, since it is purely sattvic, attention remains fixed on its point of origin which allows itself to know it's true nature while strictly witnessing the appearance of duality within.  If one becomes more deeply absorbed in savikalpa samadhi, even if a thought arises, it will not break the samadhi because the fire of jnana burns the thought up immediately and diverts the mind and attention back to direct contact with Brahman. This also depends on how self-absorbed you are during samadhi and how long you have kept savikalpa in motion. 

It is also important to note that when you do reach a point in your inquiry into the self, meditation on Brahman becomes more intense as you build up momentum. You will feel as if you are losing consciousness of body and mind.  Prana will also build up in the head.  Do not get scared when this happens and forcefully break the momentum, you have to keep going. When meditation remains unbroken for some time, samadhi will begin to fructify. This samadhi needs to be held while you peform your daily activities. This is what will burn the vasanas (in seed form) as they are exposed to the knoweldge of Brahman (atma-jnanam).  During this time, the waking state will begin to feel like the dream state. This is because you begin to see through the illusion. It is this higher knowledge of Brahman that attracts one towards the Nirguna aspect of Brahman instead of the Saguna aspect where identification is solely with body-mind. All objects become valueless at this point and the unfoldment itself burns the very root of avidya (mind).  

The more you do this, the more it begins to happen on its own, even while sleeping and dreaming. When it becomes effortless in the waking state, there is nothing left to do. This is direct liberation (i.e. jivanmukti) 

Lastly, I would like to emphasize that effort is the most important part of all of this. It is very easy to let thoughts control you and succumb to duality with the entanglement of body-mind identification.  However, if one focuses on Brahman at all times, even if it’s a thought or through intellectual knowledge, those same thoughts will come to you in your dreams and during the intermediary states between waking and sleeping and will naturally burn ignorance. Similarly, if one remains in perpetual meditation (through samadhi from inquiry) throughout the waking state, that meditative state will also be carried with you into other states such as dreaming and in sleep which will burn the very root of avidya. It is also a huge incentive for one to make use of the interval between waking and sleeping for their inquiry as that is when the body-mind is most relaxed and not flooded with thoughts. If you hold on to the higher knowledge arising from the self and bring it with you to the waking state, you can get a taste of what an actual inquiry is like and apply that knowledge and experience again to enhance your future inquiry. You must always continue to leverage the higher knowledge you have gained so that you become more of a knower of Brahman until you firmly abide in truth permanently. 

Yoga Vashishta:

"Knowledge of truth, Lord, is the fire that burns up all hopes and desires as if they are dried blades of grass. That is what is known by the word samadhi – not simply remaining silent."