vivekachUdAmani

[Srinivas Sista]

> On Fri, 29 Jan 1999, Harsha (Dr. Harsh K. Luthar) wrote:
>
> > In Yoga, they say that when Shakti Joins
> > Shiva at Sahasarara, this union results in liberation, and at death of the
> > body the Prana exits through the Sahasarara resulting in Maha Samadhi. The
> > exit through the Sahasarara is meant to be a sign of the final Mukti.

For all practical purposes. But if we have to split hairs, here is the
trajectory:

        Those jeevas go to the Brahma loka and attain final liberation at
        the end of the Kalpa. However, they do not return to any other lower
        worlds. Hence they are said to have been liberated from the `round'
        of birth and death.

> > However, on the path of Jnana, the pranas do not exit but are absorbed into
> > the Heart that is the Self. How do we reconcile these two seemingly
> > divergent explanations?

This is the absolute and unconditional liberation!
There are no lokas, no kalpas, no ...(whatever one can come up with).
You may want to refer to the incidents when
1. Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi's mother passed away
2. A lady who is a yoga adept passed away when in yoga Samadhi
   (I am not sure, but my guess is that this is the nirvikalpa samadhi)

Bhagavan explicitly told her(2.) not to go into these samadhi states.
But she continued.

Standard warning applies:
After reading this there may be a tendency to look down upon the former
method. It is well known that the trajectories taken by different jeevas
are different and postulating one as superior to the other is not
recommended.

regards,
Srinivas Sista.

>
>  namaskAram:
>   I do not know much about the Yogic references to Maha Samadhi you
> make, so my answer will not be complete. I request list members to
> coorect me if I am wrong.
>
>  I believe that when HH quotes the Sruti and says that the prAnas
> acquire laya here itself, he probably does not mean that the mukta
> stops breathing. The physical manifestation continues to function
> as though nothing has happened; that is, the gross body cannot
> break the laws of day to existence and just cannot stop the
> function of breathing! The only difference would be that, there
> would be no "death" in the sense we understand it to be.
>
>
> Vaidya.
>

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