We saw that Dhyana (meditation) is the continuous flow of mental processes toward the object of meditation. This process leads gradually to a blissful identification (co-penetration of the object of meditation with the practitioner's own being). This is the highest state, called samadhi. In samadhi the mind, continuously and to the exclusion of all other objects, assumes the nature and becomes one with the object.

 

In samadhi, only the object awareness remains, as if the consciousness of individuality disappears. Actually, the individuality of the practitioner does not disappear (it would be impossible !), but the practitioner's consciousness blissfully identifies with the object of meditation. In samadhi, the mind and consciousness of the yogin become one with the object.

 

There is no more awareness of mental functioning (the mind apparently enters into a state of void, emptiness). There is no more awareness of personal individuality as being separate form the object. Now, the practitioner feels that there is no more difference between "object" and "me." This dichotomy is now impossible.

 

"As salt being dissolved in water becomes one with it, so when atma (the Supreme Self) and Mind become one, it is called samadhi."
Hatha Yoga Pradipika, IV, 5

"The equality and oneness of the Essential Self (atma) and the Cosmic Self (param atma) is called samadhi, to describe which is beyond the power of speech, being known by self-experience alone."
Hatha Yoga Pradipika, IV, 7, 32

"[Samadhi is] that form of dhyana in which it is neither 'here' nor 'not here', in which there is illumination and stillness as of some great ocean, and which is the Great Void (shunya) Itself."
Kularnava Tantra, IX, 9

The triangle of meditation

During dhyana (meditation), there is awareness about the knower (the practitioner of meditation), the known (the object of meditation) and the knowledge that arises in mind about the object of meditation. These three are distinct:

The triangle absorbed in a point

In samadhi, knower, known and knowledge fuse, merge one into another, become one.

Samadhi is an intuitive cognition referring to what is directly present, it is he immediacy of the replicative experience, the non-intermediateness of perception. This means that here perception is realized somehow without using any of the intermediary channels (like, for example, the senses, the mind, the intellect, etc.), and this is why this experience is perceived as identity.

Samadhi is a state of undifferentiated identity with the object to be known, a self-detaching immersion into its meaning. In this state, the yogin experiences that state of consciousness in which he perceives the undifferentiatedly unique substratum of all things, creatures and worlds. The part is discovered to be the whole, every unit is present in any other units, everything is a part of the fullness of which the experiencer represents an epitome. The yogin who has brought this process to its completion is able to recognize the underlying and essentially unconcealed reality of the Cosmic Consciousness that composes the most intimate status of every apparently finite objects. Here the triad of knower, known and the process of knowing has been transcended. The knower (the yogin in samadhi) turns away from the object and doubles back on himself. In so doing, he creates a situation in which the object of knowing is the knower himself, and the process of knowing is also simply the knower himself. This state is sometimes described as "void" or "emptiness" (shunya) because of the contrast with the apparent fullness of objectivity (represented by the duality object-subject) that precedes it. It is a process of progressively stripping away the outer attributes and characteristics of the object of meditation until the yogin is simply left with the sheer existential essence of that object.

This process of rediscovery of the undifferentiated unique substratum of everything that exists is a major feature of the attainment of liberation and spiritual enlightenment. No longer do finite objects appear as separate and limited structures; rather, the Consciousness out of which all things are composed surfaces and becomes visible as the true Reality of perceived objects.

"He, who has this understanding (viz., that the Universe is identical with the Self), regards the whole world as a play (of the Divine), and thus being ever united (with the Universal Consciousness) is, without doubt, liberated when alive (jivanmukta)."
Spanda Karika II, 5

A radical transformation of the perception of the external world follows. The content of the conscious entrance into samadhi is Ananda -- unspeakable bliss. The practitioner comes into identity with the most interiorized consciousness of the Supreme. The reality of samadhi must be personally experienced. It is not enough to be told about it or to attempt to imagine it (it would be impossible, anyway!). The truth of this statement without the direct experimentation of it is only a quarter of truth.