Samadhi is a term that occurs in some religions, in some wisdom traditions and in some practices, it is enough to mention yoga, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikkism and Tantrism.

And yet it is not a concept that is so easy to explain, especially in its variegated details. Literally it means "gathering together", that is, integrating all the parts of the being, all the rays of consciousness into a single bundle, and is considered the pinnacle of the concentration process, the state in which concentration results when performed correctly. and to the end.

But why are there so different descriptions of the state of Samadhi? Maybe there are different types? Let's try to orient ourselves.

The origins of the concept of Samadhi

We find for the first time a description of the Samadhi in the Maitrayaniya Upanishad, a text dating back to the first millennium before Christ. Here this state of consciousness is connected to some meditative practices typical of a certain tantric yoga (awakening of the kundalini) but with a final purpose typical of vendantic yoga, or liberation of the self from the world of matter .

Since then many Yogic schools have integrated the concept of Samadhi, linking it to some form of exit from the threefold lower world made of matter, life and mind, to project itself into Sacchidananda, or into the triple superior world made of Sat (pure existence), Cit (pure consciousness) and Ananda (pure bliss).

How Samadhi works

However, every way to reach any kind of Samadhi begins by withdrawing the mind from the outer objects and therefore from the senses, to turn it within the being .

This is the first step of detachment from the external world and of contact with the interior world at the same time. Slowly even the vital energies have to do the same and slowly withdraw from the body, pouring into it just enough to keep it alive, like a vegetable, while everything else burns inwardly to raise the flame of kundalini.

Through these two fuels, it is possible to emerge in a state of transcendental consciousness, or to emerge in higher worlds. When that happens, the body falls into what in the West we simply call trance.

However, there are various types of Samadhi. First of all, the types of Samadhi are divided into Samprajnata and Nirvikalpa, or the deep meditation that includes an object and meditation without an object, pure in itself. Both ways lead to four different levels of transcendental Samadhi.

The 4 levels of transcendental Samadhi

The first is the Sushupta, or the one linked to the state of deep sleep devoid of dreams . It is a very intense type of Samadhi, through which one gets completely detached from the external world and allows oneself to be absorbed by transcendence without bothering to create "bridges" of conscience through which to bring back into the world of multiplicity and relativity, what one does it is experienced beyond, which remains only as a subliminal transformative background track.

Often the Sushupta Samadhi is considered the Samadhi par excellence, but only because the other forms are difficult to obtain except through a long discipline.

In fact, the next step is the Swapna Samadhi or state in interiorization of sleep with dreams . It implies having created the aforementioned "bridges" that allow us to portray "here" from the trance of visions, words, images, concepts, and therefore be aware of them and be able to share them, as we do with the content of a dream, that although it loses its consistency once awakened, it remains real in the memory.

A third type of advanced estrangement Samadhi is the Jagrat Samadhi, or Samadhi of waking . This means being able to connect with the absolute and live its reality without having to go into a trance but continuing to live in a right way, with part of the senses turned towards the external world.

This implies having reached a state of consciousness in which the inner and outer reality are two faces of the same unity. Finally, we mention the Mahasamadhi, or the ability to leave the body definitively according to its own tendency to immerse itself in the absolute not only by withdrawing the senses from the body, but life itself. Two famous yogis who have used the latter extreme form of Samadhi are Paramahansa Yogananda and Swami Vivekananda.