Surpass Any Guru With Samadhi & Wild Bouts of Drunken Love

When I first read about the state of consciousness called Samadhi wherein the enlightened seeker enters into perfect oneness with the Divine and gains wisdom and expanded creative power, like every other seeker, I wondered how I might attain such an elevated state of being. I was by that stage of my seeking, becoming very comfortable with my burgeoning spiritual awakening and the many incredible experiences that I was having. I had come to understand that those experiences had come about effortlessly because of my natural proclivity to see my search for truth as an adventure that would simply unfold by itself in response to my expectancy, rather than a tedious path of fixed rules. I believed that would find the truth, and that the truth would be amazing.  From the outset of my spiritual path, I not only believed, but intuited, that everything that we seek to discover. is already available to us, and the secret was first accepting that fact and then expecting the reality to appear. Added to this, I happen to have the unrealistic expectation, that the process will be easy. I believe that this way of looking at life and solving it’s conundrums, is mockingly referred to, as “magical thinking.

Being an autodidact in the truest sense of the word an well as an intuitive, my first reaction after reading a collection of the best expert-sanctioned thoughts on the various levels of Samadhi and to “how to attain ultimate Samadhi,”  was “Oh no, I ‘m not going to be able to do this:”  Knowing that I have deep-seated issues that renders me being incapable of following directions exactly when my inner voice insists of having it’s say. I knew that if I even so much as attempted to follow the guidance that was being shared, I was doomed to failure. I also know and respect that most spiritual teachers who share, their wisdom and experience, do so with the desire to help others. However since not everyone learns in the same way or has the same needs and life experiences, how can there be only one way to accomplish such an important marker, or any other, along the spiritual path?.” For example can a person who is desirous to learn and achieve, but who has no hope of meeting a teacher perhaps because his home is a prison cell, or the Sahara Dessert, still succeed?. How short sighted would The Source, God or The Universe be, to have entrusted essential life-altering knowledge to just a few humans?. Who benefits the most if uncovering the truth is so difficult as to be almost impossible unless one has access to a Guru?.Isn’t this the equivalent of Catholicism and for that matter every religion that is created to put distance between the God inside of human beings by proclaiming that God is an external punishing being?.  

My further understanding of Samadhi and finding a more direct and effortless path to achieving it, as usual was serendipitous as usual and just what I expected: First believe it and then you will see it or know it, has been my mantra and deep belief along my spiritual path of seeking the truth. It happened that some non specific browsing linked me to author and scholar, Daniel Ladinsky’s book: “The Gift” in which he translates some of the poems of the Sufi Poet Hafez, or Hafiz as he is more commonly known.  I was enthralled. Hafiz’s poems saved me from having to consider the sanctioned methods of entering into Samadhi, not that I had really contemplated any of those paths. His poems appeal both to my love of language and to the importance of not taking myself too seriously. His eloquent prose describes the abandoning of the self that one feels on encountering the Divine, in a state akin to drunken love. Perfectly illustrating the feeling that the seeker experiences when he or she meets the Divine after a successful search: when at last the secret is revealed, and the seeker becomes giddy with joy and incredulity and the overwhelming desire to just be in the presence of the Divine beloved. Hafiz uses the metaphors of wine and lovers both of which are quite apt . As Hafiz himself writes; “ We are People who need to love, because Love is the soul's life, Love is simply creation's greatest joy.”

Love as a spiritual path is unparalleled. Love breaks down walls that the conscious mind is ignorant of. Love effectively tears down the veil that keeps humans blinded and renders the path effortless as it opens the door to the soul. Love is about unlimited potential and never says no. Love for the Divine istranslates to more love for others, the planet and for the self. Love seeks only happiness for the object of it’s affection. Love is energy or force just as gravity or radio waves, or X-rays. All of the cosmic energies, forces, or rays that exist, do so independent of human existence, or motivation.  As humans we may be subject to these forces in varying degrees. The easy example being gravity.  Everyone knows that gravity is not easily removed from our lives for good reason. Radio waves and X-rays on the other hand, has less obvious direct affects than gravity does,  though in our modern world that is changing rapidly. The point that I am making and that I wish the reader to understand, is that love exists as a force that is independent of whether or not an individual or even a group of humans connects to it and feels it. Love is so much more than the romantic or even the feelings of brotherly and familial affection that humans associate with it. All those feelings are valid and we experience them in order to feel connection and support. Love produces chemical and hormonal changes in the human body which affects the function and well-being of that body. And in it’s finer form at higher vibrations, love allows for the interactions between the physical body and it’s non physical counterpart and that which is called the soul, and higher consciousness in a chain reaction.  Love is potent desire and desire is a motivating force that is capable of both action and movement. Just as X-rays can travel through the atmosphere and through matter and bodies, so can love. And since love has the highest vibration, it achieves it’s aims, easier, quicker and much more elegantly.

Growing up with a deep-seated dislike and dismissal of all authority and specifically religion and the Bible, there were nevertheless several Bible verses that pierced my rebellious little soul, the moment that I became aware of them. These can be found in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians in the 13th chapter that speaks about love. The word charity was substituted for the word love. Something in me exalted love far above anything that I had ever been told about it. Now even though I could not have explained this initially, and or even knew that I knew, I resolved to go forward with a conscious feeling of, and a desire be in a state of love. I also added my usual mantra of “the truth will find me and I will learn and experience all that I desire.” I instinctively knew that what I was seeking was also seeking me, so I figured that we would eventually meet up.   And so yet again, I proved that the Divine Source or consciousness, is exceedingly indulgent when given the chance. I also discovered that The Divine, is always way ahead of the game and has a wickedly funny and playful sense of humor. Which can fill the observant seeker, with awe and amusement, both the kind that causes happy laughter or quiet internal chuckling.

When I was a high school student, one of the very unenlightened subjects that it was thought necessary for young women in the British Education System, was something called Home Economics. The plan was that young girls would learn how to become proper young ladies skilled in the fine art of housekeeping, this included cookery lessons and sewing garments.  The curriculum called for the female students to first sew an apron in the ‘home economics’ class which would be later used in cookery classes, thereby killing two birds with one stone. First we would learn how to sew and then we would learn how to cook; brilliant!.  The male students were sent off to woodworking. Even back then, I could not fathom why anyone would have decided that these were appropriate skills to acquire in high school and so force students to spend valuable time learning them. With my rebellious streak, I was appalled and having been given no choice in the matter, so I developed an oversized intense dislike for the idea. I rebelled as best as I knew how, by refusing to participate. It was perhaps one of my earliest decisions to go my own way and challenge those who I was expected to obediently follow as wiser souls and a teachers.

I tuned out for the entire term, (equivalent of a semester) where the hated apron was being painstakingly made by each student under the teacher's slow dictator-styled malignant tutelage.  However I had a plan: I would sew my own apron at home just before the final class and take it in just in time to receive my grade. I had never sewn anything before in my life, but at home my mother had a a fancy sewing machine that I intended to use to carry out my plan.  Despite my youth or maybe because of it, the thought of failure never crossed my mind for even a single second. My lack of experience using a sewing machine was simply a minor detail. I felt that I could and that was all that mattered.

The Best Teachers....

Continuously challenge their students to surpass them

Naturally I accomplished my goal of making the hated apron with a little help from my mother who had been kept in the dark about my plan and the sudden need to have the apron made in one evening. The outcome,  was absolute perfection and I arrived at my next Home Economic Class extremely proud and eager to show off my handiwork to the teacher after weeks and weeks of my made-up excuses of why I never had the obligatory material that I was supposed to bring to the class at the start of the semester. The teacher was not amused. And after expressing her utter disdain and disbelief that I had completed the apron assignment by myself she gave me a failing grade. I learned a very important lesson then; that the world expected and preferred those who followed the rules. And that the rules, based only on rational thinking, were often in place to support whatever power structure was in place. The rules, parading as rational thinking ran counter current to magical thinking. And as much as I love rational thinking,  I knew that magical thinking had absolute inherent power that the unschooled in it’s ways, do not suspect. I resolved to keep following my own instinct or path, using that same magical thinking that told me that I could sew a perfect apron on my first attempt.

I recount the story of the apron to illustrate that finding my own different path to Samadhi was already natural to my way of thinking and even a part of my DNA. My decision to make love the path that I chose, was naturally backed up by my unconventional practice of magical thinking. This is the way that I approach those things that I desire to accomplish when I lack experience or obvious knowledge and learning. First I apply rational thinking and follow up with a good dose of magical thinking to fill in the blanks. Once I think that I can do what needs to be done, everything just falls into place to allow me to succeed. This is a naturally risky way of doing things to to left-brain dependent thinking, thinking but actually perfect for seeking the truth from a spiritual standpoint. Though I have humorously called this way of thinking "magical.” It is in essence about letting go and trusting. The need to let go with purpose, is a gargantuan stumbling block for many spiritual seekers. This even though seeking for spiritual answers to life’s puzzling questions, is akin to seeking the supernatural and it’s ways of working.

Humanity has been carefully, powerfully at times subtlety taught to ignore and even disparage right brain thinking. after all, who wants to be considered odd, a kook or any other disparaging adjective?.  Higher consciousness has never received those all important memos for well-meaning but confused humans, so it allows those willing to trust in it’s unseen power a fast track to accomplishment. Attaining perfect Samadhi is just one of many excellent reasons to go with right brain thinking. Rational thought has it’s legitimate place in the affairs of humans. Magical thinking,  which can be understood as a blend of wishful thinking, belief and expectancy, is unbeatable for producing miraculous results. And just like synchronicity, magical thinking allows us to believe in those things that we cannot really explain, and then once we believe and achieve the desired outcome, the explanation becomes irrelevant.  

The inner workings of Source never fails to amuse and surprise. The Universe seems to be often engaged in a humorous, conspicuous conspiratorial winks back at me. I had taken up a path of spiritual seeking through the synchronicity with numbers.  How often can anyone see the same numbers 11:11 or !0:10 , 111 or any other similar sets of numbers before realizing that more than co-incidence is at work?. And what should be surmised from such very specific coincidences?.  The saying that this looks like a duck applies. As a follow up to my high school deep dislike of being forced to learn, and also refusing to learn subjects which were to my mind limiting based on gender, it turned out that I had a natural ability for all things creative including sewing and cooking. As it turned out, there was never a need for me to learn either. I have accomplished both at exceedingly high skill levels in spite of my refusal to formally learn both. My confusion is that some part of me knew it was unnecessary to learn what I already knew. Years later as a young woman, when I first moved to France and was initially unable to speak the language, I communicated through food by cooking and baking. And within a short space of time, I had unintentionally launched myself into the local lore. Even though I had made no effort to learn back in high school, or for that matter from my mother or anyone else, to my surprise, I was an excellent cook. Friends clamored incessantly for the sweet and tasty creations that came out of my kitchen and encouraged me to open a restaurant, which I did. At the time, I was probably more surprised than anyone that I of all people could improve on Classical French Cuisine. My secret teacher was of course, magical thinking; simply believing that I could. Here Source exhibited it’s devious sense of humor. Remember than it will always bend the rules if you play along. So with my refusal to follow the conventional spiritual rules and magical thinking in full force, I was ready for the experience of Samadhi

Samadhi is described as that meditative state of one pointed oneness achieved usually through meditation or yoga. In Samadhi, the mind becomes absolutely still and fused as in a trance, with The Divine or Higher Consciousness in the present moment. All awareness of time and the everyday self disappears. That is a summary of the consistent description that everyone can easily find online or in books. I will come back to this later with some further observations of my own to add to the description of Samadhi.  My method of what I needed to do so that I too could achieve Samadhi, mirrors one of the core truths of transcendentalism which posits that;  “There is inherent goodness of people and nature. And that society and its institutions have corrupted the purity of the individual.” The movement emphasizes subjective intuition over objective empiricism. Adherents believe that individuals are capable of generating completely original insights with as little attention and deference to past masters as possible.” extract from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Among many in the Spiritual Community,  Samadhi is purported to be one of those proof of enlightenment, or that one is at least of the right path. and making great progress. It is the stuff that Gurus and the gifted, know how to achieve after time spent, sometimes years, in devoted practice.

HOW TO ATTAIN SAMHADHI

Step 1 In order to attain Samadhi, there must first be the belief that it is something that you are capable of attaining. Then you must consciously turn your attention to the nothingness behind your closed eyes and think of it as the place of potential and power. This act of turning inward to acknowledge what you initially cannot see, touch or feel that allows you to have the results you seek. My exhortation that you should use ‘magical thinking’ is not meant to suggest that you should not view enlightenment as an important achievement in your life, but rather an entreaty to give your right brain a chance to assist you. Cease doing and questioning and just let go and stick with that position long enough for it to bring the changes or answers that you seek. While meditating if you experience flashes of inner light in your head, this is no cause for concern just accept them and remain calm with your attention turned inwards. Luckily you will always be able to hear in the form of thoughts or your inner voice that becomes increasingly clearer to your conscious mind. This process is intuition and the more you pay attention and follow it’s promptings, the clearer and more effective it becomes. Just a quick observation, speech is unnecessary outside of the human norm. Communicating via thoughts and transmitted feelings or emotions is far more effective. The state of Samadhi is the internal space where the seeker meets The Divine, or consciousness. It is best described as going into the void, a place of peace, power and knowing. In order to achieve Samadhi it is also necessary to be able to relax profoundly and let go. The seeker must give up the urge to make something happen and focus instead on going into that state of love and deep relaxation. It is in deep relaxation that the necessary brain waves changes take place.

Step 2 Lighten up!. Being a spiritually evolved human in no way demands that you take yourself seriously all the time. There is a time and place for sobriety. The game of Life can either be fun or it can be tortuous if that is what you think it should be. It will also takes as long as you imagine or accept that it should take.  If you have ever been in a great treasure hunt as a child, then you know the feeling of excitement as you set out to find the treasures hidden in unexpected places with tantalizing clues to help you in your search. That is the feeling you should embody, suffused with your determination to get to the end of the hunt and find the ultimate prize. The feelings of Joy and excitement are the antithesis of doubt and fear. Those feelings are also the perfect jumping off point to feelings of love for The Divine and

Step 3. Love. Make love your beginning and end. It is much easier to get to love when you are already feeling joy and excitement, than when you are deep in doubt and fear. Strong emotions are the engine to your thoughts and beliefs when you want to manifest anything, whether that thing is physical or spiritual. If you have never read, or have not read for a long time the works of Hafiz on love,  such as; The gift,  or The subject Tonight is Love.,” then I urge you to start reading these joyful humorous poems and allow yourself to be thrilled and uplifted. What Hafiz accomplished in his writings cannot be overstated. With his poetic songs about the love of the creator for his beloved earth and human creations, as well as from one whose eyes and heart have opened, to give this same love back to the creator and the earth.  It is impossible not be inspired and hopeful that the truth is indeed love. As Hafiz pours out his joy into his songs of love he allows the seeker to see that the beloved and The Divine are in a rapturous dance of love and light. Like lovers each enamored with the other. Other writers may inspire, but Hafiz heals with his ability to infuse words with light so that we who read, can grasp the otherwise intangible nature of God, and in so doing, understand ourselves

Step 4 Learn a deep relaxation technique. This is actually one of the best perhaps unrecognized secret to easily meditate deeply. Now this might seem to some as if it should be the first step, and it could be, so change the order if doing so, works better for you. I am often surprised to find that meditation is presented as a poorly explained mystical ability that the meditator achieves by stumbling on the right enigmatic and unknownrecipe. The ability to meditate deeply, in fact owes a great deal to be able to first relax and then maintain a focus on mindlessness. Should you have difficulties quieting your mind, then place your focus on being relaxed and meditative . You will soon find yourself in the state of mind that you want to be . This is the same one that opens the connection to your higher consciousness, aka the Source.

Step 5 Learn a technique that teaches you how to maintain focus in a narrow pointed way . At the start of my spiritual journey, I had learned both and lo and behold both of these learned abilities paid off in spades. I have spoken about my first miserable attempts to meditate until I followed some simple exercises that allowed me to maintain a focus of no thought. Within a very short space of time, I went from not being able to sit still without my mind galloping like a spooked horse every time I attempted to get quiet and go within, to suddenly finding myself (my consciousness)  outside of my body and failing to see or feel myself breathing. Whenever this occurred I was filled with a profound feeling of peace and bliss. I loved the feeling and looked forward to entering into that state on a daily basis. On one occasion, as I sat in silent bliss, two full hours had gone by when I finally opened my eyes again and reluctantly wandered back into present reality, even though I had imagined that I had only been mediating for about thirty minutes or so. I had achieved Samadhi long before I decided to set out in search of it. The Divine Source was at play again and way ahead of me.

WHAT DEEP STATES OF SAMADHI FEELS LIKE
When meditating the longer that I am in that state of oneness with consciousness allowing my breathing to slow down or cease, the more likely that the state will deepen into other altered states of being. On those occasions when it seems as if I am about to start breathing deeply in order to make up for having had my breathing suspended for a time, or when I do actually taking a breath, both the urge to breathe deeply and my actual breathing quickly disappears again without any effort on my part. Many times while this is happening, I have observed myself very closely and noted to myself that am definitely not holding my breath. I am simply not breathing and it feels as if breathing is just not necessary. I know that outside of this deeply meditative state I am unable to consciously hold my breath more than a minute or two and then even for such a short time, I become quickly aware that the effort is strenuous. Yet In Samadhi, this state of breathlessness precedes the connection with my own essence or pure Consciousness. In the state of Samadhi what never ceases to amaze me is that while my awareness registers my lack of breath, my attention to this fact, does not provoke my breathing to return. I have observed myself for many minutes at a time without my body being disturbed by a single breath. And to my frequent surprise, being aware of not breathing does not provoke a return to regular breathing or disturb the profound state of peacefulness. And as I stated earlier, not everyone learns in the same way, because when I initially followed the advice to meditate that espoused focusing on the breath, that did not work for me no matter how diligently I applied myself.

While I am in Samadhi, I begin to lose all perception of different areas of my physical body usually beginning with my limbs. This feels quite literally as if the part of my body in question, has disappeared. The opposite to the feeling that we all have about any part of our bodies. This feeling is so complete that I also lose the touch and awareness of the part of furniture that my limbs or trunk was in contact with before the ‘disappearance’ started.. The occurs because in it’s pure state, consciousness does not need the body.  In fact to experience more of consciousness, is to withdraw within the self in a disappearing act of the physical self. Where my breathing is concerned, it slows or ceases for the exact same reason; consciousness is independent of our human breath or need to breathe. I believe that in this profound connection with consciousness, the body is temporarily in a state of suspension and it is consciousness that is then regarding the seeker as the seeker regards it. There then exists the possibility of going off on an adventure to explore the many layers of reality and the universe.
 

This is an extraordinary feeling of heightened awareness and knowing; a realization of being more than my body. It is the moment when there is no more me, when I am consciousness.  And when the state deepens even further, sometimes it is parts of or even all of my body or face that also disappears. With time, I have come to realize that this is a stage of heightened ability to create and manifest. Since being in Samadhi takes the conscious awareness of the everyday denser dimension that we live and have our being in. This earthly dimension requires more focus, and often repetition to create and manifest, While altered states whether Samadhi or projected consciousness, create and manifest more easily, even instantly The physical as well as psychic changes encountered in Samadhi, continue when the state is maintained, to unimaginable stages. Then the concept of not being the body becomes a stunning reality.

I have provided a guided mediation with includes deep relaxation to be followed after the accompanying written focusing techniques have been mastered.  I share these here on this site as well as on You Tube in the hope that it will help others experience the state of deep Samadhi. Give some time and attention to the focusing exercises always in a state acceptance that you too will “get it.” then add it to the guided meditation. It is important to let go and allow the process to take place and progress on it’s own. Everyone knows how much children enjoy being held by their outstretched arms and spun around by a parent in a dizzying free wheeling merry go around. Children instinctively know how to let go and trust that their parent will take care of them. Become as a child as you seek to grow and progress on your path. The Divine is a pretty awesome, loving and competent teacher.

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