Nirvikalpa

Nirvikalpa is a Sanskrit adjective with the general sense of "not admitting an alternative", formed by applying the contra-existential prepositional prefix िनह् ("away, without, not") to the term िवकल्प ("alternative, variant thought or conception").

Usage

In Hinduism, when used as a technical term in Raja Yoga, the phrase nirvikalpa samādhi refers to a particular type of samādhi that Heinrich Zimmer distinguises from other states as follows:

Nirvikalpa samādhi, on the other hand, absorption without self-consciousness, is a mergence of the mental activity (cittavṛtti) in the Self, to such a degree, or in such a way, that the distinction (vikalpa) of knower, act of knowing, and object known becomes dissolved — as waves vanish in water, and as foam vanishes into the sea. The difference to the other samadhis is that there is no return from this samadhi into lower states of consciousness. Therefore this is the only true final Enlightenment.

Paramahansa Yogananda describes this degree of samadhi as follows:

In the most advanced state [of samadhi], nirvikalpa samadhi, the soul realizes itself and Spirit as one. The ego consciousness, the soul consciousness, and the ocean of Spirit are seen all existing together. It is the state of simultaneously watching the ocean of Spirit and the waves of creation. The individual no longer sees himself as a "John Smith" related to a particular environment; he realizes that the ocean of Spirit has become not only the wave of John Smith but also the waves of all ofter lives. In nirvikalpa the soul is simultaneously conscious of Spirit within and creation without. The divine man in the nirvikalpa state may even engage in performance of his material duties with no loss of inner God-union.

Maharshi Mahesh Yogi beautifully describes how meditation develops the state of "nirvikalpa samadhi" in his translation of verse 39, Chapter 4 the Bhagavad-Gita

Meditation takes the mind to transcendental Self-consciousness, and a natural and balanced activity infuses the transcendental divine nature into the mind, where it is not lost even when the mind is engaged in the field of activity. In this way Self-consciousness grows to cosmic consciousness - Atmananda to Brahmananda, savikalpa to nirvikalpa - and eventually this state of Yoga, cosmic consciousness, attains its fulfillment in God-consciousness; the first ray of enlightenment reaches its full glory.

Nirvikalpaka yoga is a technical term in the philosophical system of Kashmir Shaivism, in which there is a complete identification of the "I" and Shiva, in which the very concepts of name and form disappear and Shiva alone is experienced as the real Self. In that system, this experience occurs when there is complete cessation of all thought-constructs.

In Buddhist philosophy, the technical term nirvikalpa-jñāna is translated by Edward Conze as "undifferentiated cognition". Conze notes that only the actual experience of nirvikalpa-jñāna can prove the reports given of it in scriptures. He describes the term as used in Buddhist context as follows:

The "undiscriminate cognition" knows first the unreality of all objects, then realizes that without them also the knowledge itself falls to the ground, and finally directly intuits the supreme reality. Great efforts are made to maintain the paradoxical nature of this gnosis. Though without concepts, judgements and discrimination, it is nevertheless not just mere thoughtlessness. It is neither a cognition nor a non-cognition; its basis is neither thought nor non-thought.... There is here no duality of subject and object. The cognition is not different from that which is cognized, but completely identical with it.

A different sense in Buddhist usage occurs in the Sanskrit expression nirvikalpayati (Pali: nibbikappa) that means "makes free from uncertainty (or false discrimination) = distinguishes, considers carefully.

See also

• Samadhi
• Religious ecstasy
• Nondualism
• Savikalpa
• Turiya

References

• Arya, Usharbudh (1986), Yoga-Sūtras of Patañjali (Volume 1 ed.), Honesdale, Pennsylvania: The Himilayan International Institute, ISBN 0-89389-092-8

• Conze, Edward (1962), Buddhist Thought In India (First Ann Arbor Edition, The University of Michigan Press 1967 ed.), George Allen & Unwin Ltd., ISBN 0-472-06129-1

• Edgerton, Franklin (1953), Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary (Reprint, Two-volume ed.), Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-0997-1

• Singh, Jaideva (1979), Śiva Sūtras (Reprint ed.), Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-0407-4

• Zimmer, Heinrich (1951), Philosophies of India (Ninth Bollingen Paperback, 1989 ed.), Princeton: Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-01758-1

External links

• Comans, Michael. "The Question of the Importance of Samadhi in Modern and Classical Advaita Vedanta- Notes: 19", realization.org, 1993
• The Method of Early Advaita Vedanta p.141-4 on Nirvikalpa Samadhi