Master's experiences in samādhi

Master's experiences in samādhi

AMRITA: "Sir, how do you feel in samādhi?"

MASTER: "You may have heard that the cockroach, by intently meditating on the Bhramara, is transformed into a Bhramara. Do you know how I feel then? I feel like a fish released from a pot into the water of the Ganges."

AMRITA: "Don't you feel at that time even a trace of ego?"

MASTER: "Yes, generally a little of it remains. However hard you may rub a grain of gold against a grindstone, still a bit of it always remains. Or again, take the case of a big fire; the ego is like one of its sparks. In samādhi I lose outer consciousness completely; but God generally keeps a little trace of ego in me for the enjoyment of divine communion. Enjoyment is possible only when 'I' and 'you' remain.

"Again, sometimes God effaces even that trace of 'I'. Then one experiences jada samādhi or nirvikalpa samādhi. That experience cannot be described. A salt doll went to measure the depth of the ocean, but before it had gone far into the water it melted away. It became entirely one with the water of the ocean. Then who was to come back and tell the ocean's depth?"

THE GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA,8-24

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Q: To what extent we can be attached to our body?

Guruji: Once when I was on tour, I saw that there was an advertisement for the cemetery there on the road.

Do you know what the advertisement said? It said, 'Beautiful and scenic burial ground with panoramic views. Book your place now!' What would a corpse have to do with seeing panoramic views after death?

In foreign countries, there is a great amount of marketing done even for cremation and burials. It is so surprising. People there actually go ahead and make bookings for themselves in advance, so that they do not miss out in the end.

They even give instructions as to what clothes should they be buried in, what colour they should be and so on. They write all this in their will. This is the most unfortunate extent of attachment one can have to the physical body. Just let go!

Someone or the other will surely cremate you after you die. Why think so much about this? It is sheer madness, I tell you. If you really have to become so madly attached to something, get attached to the Divine who has created everything, rather than getting attached to the things He has created.

Such attachment only creates fear. This fear in turn brings misery and sorrow, which in turn bring dejection and disappointment. Then one goes on regretting endlessly about the past. They think, 'I should not have left that job', or, 'I should have chosen that other girl for marriage when I had the chance', and so on.

Om Namah Shivay