Table of Contents
Core Teaching Summary
- Experiences are a Trap: Chasing temporary spiritual visions, blissful trances, or awakening experiences reinforces the ego by requiring an “experiencer” and an “experienced” object.
- The Triputi Must Fall: True realization is non-dual; it completely transcends the triad of the seer, the seen, and the process of seeing (triputi).
- Temporary vs. Permanent: Trance-like states (Kevala Nirvikalpa Samadhi) only temporarily submerge the mind. The ultimate goal is Sahaja Samadhi—the effortless, permanent destruction of the mind while functioning normally in the world.
- Wakeful Sleep: The highest state is not a blinding flash of cosmic consciousness, but Jagrat-Sushupti, where one is fully awake to the Self but entirely unaffected by the phenomenal world.
- Actionless Action: Seekers must abandon the pursuit of a catatonic, “log-like” state and instead live like a lotus leaf in water—engaged in daily duties but completely untouched by the illusion.
The Trap of Chasing Spiritual Experiences
Imagine deeply enjoying a breathtaking sunset or losing yourself in the climax of a captivating movie. For a few fleeting moments, your anxieties vanish, and you feel a profound sense of peace. Yet, the sun eventually sets, the movie ends, and the heavy, familiar burdens of the mind immediately rush back in.
This universal human experience of chasing temporary emotional relief perfectly mirrors the spiritual seeker’s obsession with chasing fleeting mystical states. In the pursuit of truth, seekers often mistake temporary meditative absorption—like a bucket lowered into a well, only to be pulled back out into the mundane world—for the ultimate goal. In Advaita Vedanta, this temporary state of absorption is known as Kevala Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
While peaceful, it is a dangerous trap for the ego. The true role of samadhi or awakening experiences in Advaita is not to provide temporary relief for the individual soul, but to permanently destroy it. The ultimate objective is to transition from these temporary, effort-driven meditative states into Sahaja Samadhi—a permanent, natural state of unbroken Self-awareness maintained effortlessly while actively engaging in daily life.
The Illusion of the “Triputi”
The masters are uncompromising: chasing spiritual experiences, visions, or trance states is an exercise in ignorance. Any “experience” inherently requires a triad: an experiencer (the ego), an object being experienced (the vision or feeling of bliss), and the act of experiencing.
This triad is known as the triputi. Because Advaita teaches that absolute Reality is strictly non-dual (One without a second), the very presence of this triad proves that the seeker is still firmly trapped within the realm of illusion. If you can say, “I had a profound awakening experience,” the separate “I” is still alive and claiming ownership.
“When you set out to experience the ‘Atman’, what you experience is not different from what you are. You cannot know about ‘Atman’ by intellect. It is beyond mind and intellect… The processes like, knowing, experiencing, becoming that and other such actions or emotions cannot be present in a state of only one with out a second.” – Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj
Temporary Trance vs. Permanent Reality
To effectively destroy the ego, seekers must clearly distinguish between a mind that is merely quieted and a mind that is entirely dead. Beginners often reach a state of intense concentration where they lose body consciousness and experience the “Light of the Self.”
However, in Kevala Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the latent mental tendencies (vasanas) are not destroyed; they are simply dormant. When the trance inevitably ends, the ego returns with all its former desires and attachments. Conversely, Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi is the permanent, natural state of the realized sage (Jnani). In this state, the mind is utterly eradicated.
“In kevala nirvikalpa the mind is alive but plunged in light… it is like a bucket with a rope tied to it and dropped into the water in a well. It can be drawn out by the other end of the rope. In sahaja the mind is dead, resolved into the Self. It is like a river discharged into the ocean and its identity lost. A river cannot be redirected from the ocean.” – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Demystifying the Void and the Trance
During intense meditation, seekers often hit a state of “nothingness” or a blank void and mistakenly declare this to be ultimate liberation. The masters bluntly clarify that this void is merely the causal body—the very root of ignorance. The seeker must push beyond this zero-point to the witnessing awareness that is actually conscious of the void.
Furthermore, equating self-realization with a catatonic, “log-like” trance is a severe misunderstanding of the teachings. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj ruthlessly strips away the mystical baggage associated with prolonged trance states, pointing seekers back to the eternal background of pure awareness.
“You may achieve samadhi for a day or a month, but when you return to normal the consciousness is not different. You think you have achieved samadhi, but that which thinks this is already there… During samadhi that knowingness ‘I Am’ is held in abeyance… nothing is lost.” – Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Practical Integration in Daily Life
The true master does not retreat into a cave to avoid the world; they remain anchored in the Absolute while functioning flawlessly within the illusion. The masters describe this ultimate awakening not as a blinding flash of cosmic energy, but as Jagrat-Sushupti (wakeful sleep).
In this state, the sage is fully awake to the eternal Atman but completely “asleep” to the false differences, anxieties, and desires of the phenomenal world. If a seeker experiences visions of gods or celestial lights during their practice, the strict instruction is to immediately ignore them. Visions are objective phenomena; the seeker must turn inward and ask, “To whom do these visions appear?”
“True sakshatkara does not involve a three-part process like seer, seen and seeing process. Real sakshatkara is without the three-fold division of seer, the seen and the process of seeing — when one remains as one is (which is being the Atman) through the process of jnana and continuously experiencing ananda.” – Sri Ganapatrao Maharaj
The Lotus Leaf Technique
To practically integrate the truth of samadhi into daily life, the seeker must live like a lotus leaf in water. The leaf rests in the water and is surrounded by it, but if you pour water on top, it rolls right off without making the leaf wet.
You must engage in the world and play your assigned role efficiently, but entirely refuse to take the “touch” of the illusion. This means carrying out your worldly duties without any egoic involvement or desire for the fruits of your actions. Sri Ranjit Maharaj simplifies this profound truth flawlessly:
“This is the ‘true samadhi.’ Sama means ‘As I am’ and dhi means ‘before.’ You are That but you persist in saying ‘I am the doer.’ This Ignorance can be overcome by understanding only. Forget everything, because nothing exists. In this way everything disappears… If in the waking state you understand that although I do something, I do nothing, then you are Reality at that moment.” – Sri Ranjit Maharaj