SAMADHI
- A SCIENTIFIC PHENOMENON?
Since
ages human creed has always tried to explore the cause of the
life and how to make it happy. The ancient philosophy of Yoga,
developed by various sages and yogis, has successfully established
some key aspects related to the whole shebang.
Quite a lot theories put forth and experimental results obtained
by the modern scientific community are in well agreement with
the abovementioned aspects. What follows is an attempt to explore
such correlations.
Ishavasya
Upanishad starts with the mystic syllables of peace:
OM
POORNAMADAH POORNAMIDAM POORNAAT POORNAMUDACHYATE; POORNASYA
POORNAMAADAAYA POORNAMEVA AVASHISHYATE.
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih
Meaning:
This is full. From full, the full is taken, the full has come.
If full is removed from full, the full alone remains.
Om peace, peace, peace.[1]
(“Poorna” = Complete or Full.)
This
explains one of the key principles of physics, Conservation
of Energy. The word POORNA is nothing but the ultimate principle
or the energy source of creation. The word Yog has been derived
from a Sanskrit word ‘Yuj’, means union. The union
of life energy of an individual with the Poorna.
Sage Patanjali has elaborated eight dimensions of yoga in his
Yogsutras as Yam (Observances), Niyama (Abstinences), Asana
(Postures), Pranayam (Breath controlling), Pratyahar (Withdrawal
of senses), Dharana (Determination), Dhyan (Meditation) and
Samadhi (Self realization or Nirvana per Buddhist philosophy).
According
to Sage Patanjali the Samadhi has three different categories
Savikalpa, Asamprajnyata and Nirvikalpa or Sanjeevan.
Savikalpa is an interface of trans meditation and higher awareness
state, Asamprajnyata. In Savikalpa one can experience Vitarka
(Guessing), Vichara (Thought), Anand (Bliss) and Asmita (Self
awareness).[2]
Results
obtained by various researchers on effects of meditation on
human brain can be explained on the basis of Savikalpa.
In one of the experiments Buddhist monks, at a significantly
higher state of meditation, were asked to impose thoughts related
to compassion and in-situ medical imaging was performed. It
was found that the left hemisphere was much prominent. This
proves that at the interface stage thinking, self-awareness
and guessing were active. [3]
Another study showed that at the further higher state of meditation,
different lobes of brain slowed down and the thalamus stopped
signals from reaching to the lobes. This maybe considered as
a step forward to the Asamprajnyata from Savikalpa. According
to sage Patanjali Asamprajnyata is a higher awareness state
with absence of gross awareness. [4]
The
Nirvikalpa or Sanjivan Samadhi is well explained by the greatest
yogi, Dhnyaneshwar. In his treatise, Bhavarthadeepika or Dhnyaneshwari,
Dhnyaneshwar has emphatically talked about relation between
higher awareness and light or pure energy in the form of electromagnetic
radiation. In the book ‘Swara Yoga’, Swami Muktibodhananda
has clearly elaborated the correlation between electromagnetic
radiations and consciousness on the basis of explanations given
by the all time great physicist, Albert Einstein [5]. Yoga is
often considered as a journey from body to mind and from mind
to soul or spirit or life energy. In other words Yoga is a journey
from gross material energy to more refined form of the energy.
This phenomenon of journey from gross material energy to more
refined energy is apparently quite similar to the Bose-Einstein
condensation. Noble prizewinner scientists have experimentally
verified the Bose-Einstein condensation [6].
In
the experiment they conducted on the atoms of an alkali metal,
the atoms got transferred into symmetric wave functions and
interference pattern was observed at the absolute zero temperature
(-273 deg. cent). Can it be compared with the higher three dimensions
of the Ashtanga Yoga, Dharna, Dhyan and Samadhi? The alkali
atoms were slowed down using a magnetic trap ( Dharana: Slowing
down the fluctuations of mind and focusing it on the goal of
self realization) and brought closer (Dhyan: Bringing one self
closer to the ultimate principle) and ultimately the atoms were
merged into each other forming light (Samadhi: Merging into
the ultimate principle or Purna). Is it the reason, why Yogis
perform their higher meditation practices at the serene and
chilled areas in the Himalayas?
AUM
SHANTI !!
References:
[1] Swami Satyananda Saraswati in Nine Principle Upnishadas,
Yoga Publication Trust, Munger, Bihar, India.
[2]
Swami Satyananda Saraswati in Kundalini Tantra, Yoga Publication
Trust, Munger, Bihar, India.
[3] Newton Curt, Technology Review (An MIT Enterprises), 2004.
[4] Stein Joel, Time Magazine, Vol.162 No.5, August 2003.
[5] Swami Muktibodhananda in ‘Swara Yoga –The Tantric
Science of Brain Breathing’, Yoga Publication Trust, Munger,
Bihar, India.
[6] Advanced Information on the Noble Prize in Physics 2001,
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
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