The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon
Savitark and Nirvitark Samapatti
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Kunal
Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah. Salutations to all the teachers.
“The day you teach the child the name of the bird, the child will never see that bird again.”
- Jiddu Krishnamurti
All of our perceptions are clouded by a curtain of thought.
We see a bird, and the mind rushes to name it, to categorize it, and to judge it. We see a person, and try to fit them into a box of our own making. We look at ourselves, and simplify what we see into a caricature that fits into the mental patterns that we are used to.
This is the specific problem that the first level of samaadhi - vitark samaadhi, helps us to solve.
As we discussed in depth last week, when we look at an object, three things appear in the mind, almost simultaneously:
Shabda (शब्द): Word
Artha (अर्थ) : Meaning
Jnana (ज्ञान): Idea
Shabda is the sound - mental or physical, that refers to the object.
Artha is the perception of the object itself.
Jnana is prior knowledge that we use to classify the object (e.g. this is a cow, or this is a bird, etc.)
Normally, since these three appear so close to each other in time, our attention is not fine-tuned enough to distinguish them. However, once the attention is sharpened sufficiently through meditation, we can increase the frame rate of our perceptions, and so be able to clearly discern between these three.
P: Why should we distinguish them?
If we don’t distinguish them, we often mistake the shabda and jnana for the artha. That is, we mistake the words and ideas about an object for the object itself.
Then, taking the words and ideas seriously, we start to live in a world of hollow illusions - a world of thought, rather than the world in front of us.
This generates feelings of dejection, sadness, hollowness, and meaninglessness.
P: This makes sense, but how do we know that word, meaning, and idea are different in the first place?
Jogi: In order to show that entities are different from each other, we must be able to demonstrate that they can exist without each other. A word can exist without meaning or idea, for example, if you do not know a language, a speaker of the language can say the word for “cow”, and it would not conjure up the image in your head, nor would it refer to any object.
P: But it would be referring to the object, no?
Jogi: No, because of your lack of knowledge of the language, the sound has lost its power to refer to the object.
P: Ok, what about meaning and idea?
Jogi: The cow can exist without any word to describe it, as a child might see a cow for the first time and not know what to call it. Additionally, since the child is seeing a cow for the first time, there is no pre-existing mental seed for the class “cow.”
As for idea - there is no cow in front of you right now, yet you know what a cow is. This knowledge exists regardless of the presence of a cow, or whether or not the word is uttered physically or mentally.
Therefore, since word, meaning, and idea can be demonstrated to exist separately, they are, in fact, different things.
Through meditation, we are able to hone our attention sufficiently so as to clearly distinguish between these three - word, meaning, and idea.
Since these three follow each other so closely in time, separating them from one another requires a particular degree of focus.
Once they are distinguished, however, word and idea can be dropped, with vairaagya, and the meaning - the object - stands alone. This type of perception is known as parapratyaksha, or “the higher perception.”
P: How does this relate to the levels of samaadhi?
Now that we have understood the distinction between word, meaning, and idea, we can begin to dive into the first level of samaadhi - vitark samaadhi, or “Conceptual Samaadhi.”
Note: Just like a map may show a mountain as a triangle, while the mountain itself is actually quite different thing from a shape on paper, these descriptions and definitions are just signifiers - do not confuse the shabda and jnana for the artha!
Recap: What is samaadhi anyway?
Samaadhi is the eighth and final limb of Yoga, and is defined as follows:
तद् एवार्थमात्रनिर्भासम् स्वरूपशून्यम् इव समाधि ॥Tad evaArthaMaatraNirbhaasam svaroopaShoonyam iva samaadhiSamaadhi is when that object [of Dhyaan] shines forth alone, as if [the mind] is devoid of its own form.
- Yoga Sutras, 3.3
More specifically, samaadhi is defined as the level of depth of meditation when the shabda and jnana have dropped away, and the artha (the object of focus, or the aalambanaa) stands alone.
Before this happens, a few other things happen first:
The breath starts to become so subtle that it is nearly impercepitble.
The attention is focused on the aalambanaa, to the exclusion of all other objects.
The distinction between observer, observing, and observed disappears.
Notice, these two “side-effects” or “signposts” of approaching samaadhi are sequential.
That is, first, the breath begins to become still, mirroring the stilling of the otherwise moving mind.
Then, attention becomes focused narrowly on the aalambanaa. This happens during dhyaan.
Finally, after some time, the distinction between observer, observing, and observed begins to weaken, and eventually disappears altogether.
This third phenomenon is like a dividing line between dhyaan and samaadhi.
In dhyaan, we still have a subtle sense of “I am watching my breath”, “I am repeating my mantra”, or “I am meditating.” This feeling of doership, or kartrittva, requires a separation (in thought) of observer, observing, and observed.
In samaadhi, however, there is no distinction between these three, and as a result, there is no feeling of “I am in samaadhi.”
In this sense, samaadhi is similar to deep sleep, where there is no sense that “I am sleeping.” To contrast it from deep sleep, which is tamasic in nature, samaadhi is a highly sattvic state - more “awake” than normal wakefulness.
P: Ok I get the concept of samaadhi - the state where word and idea drop away, and the object alone shines. But what is this term samapatti, and how is it different from samaadhi?
Samaadhi is a general term for the state of mind where the vrittis in the mind have been stilled, and the object shines alone without word or idea.
Samapatti, on the other hand, is the particular state of mind where attention is completely absorbed in an object, and is defined by the level of subtlety of the object. In samapatti, the vrittis may still be present, but are so weak that the mind is like a transparent crystal, and completely takes on the form of the object presented to it.
Not all samapattis are samaadhi.
For example, savitark and savichaar samapatti are not technically samaadhi, since word, meaning, and idea are all present in the mind - even though they are weak (although they are commonly lumped into samaadhi by many commentators, both traditional and modern).
However, every stage of samaadhi involves the mind being in a state of samapatti.
Vitark Samaadhi: Samaadhi on gross objects
The word vitark, literally means “reasoning”, “deliberation”, or “opinion.” Specifically, it refers to meditative absorption on the gross level of an object.
For example, if the breath is your aalambanaa, vitarka samaadhi is when the mind is:
Focused on the breath, to the exclusion of all other objects.
The curtain of thought between Awareness and the object is no longer present.
The distinction between observer, observing, and observed has disappeared.
Vitark samaadhi can be split into two samapattis:
Savitark samapatti (सवितर्क समापत्ति): Samapatti with opinion
Nirvitark samapatti (निर्वितर्क समापत्ति): Samapatti without opinion
Savitark Samapatti
तत्र शब्दार्थज्ञानविकल्पैः संकीर्णा सवितर्का समापत्तिः॥Tatra shabdAarthaGyaanaVikalpaih sankeernaah savitarkaa samapattihThere, Savitarka Samapatti is when word, meaning, and idea are intermingled as vikalpas.
- Yoga Sutra, 1.42
The first samapatti is called savitark - “with concept”, or “with opinion.”
Here, the word “vitark” refers to the word and idea that arises alongside the appearance of an object. For example, take a look at this image, and carefully notice the ripples in your mind:
Without opening your mouth, and without having to read a description, notice the subtle form of the word “cow”, and a subtle classification of the object of perception in the image into the class “cow” within the mind.
As discussed last week, the subtle word that appears in the mind is shabda, and the fact that the classification occurred is a sign that you have prior knowledge - aka jnana - of the class “cow.”
This mixture of word, meaning, and idea is our natural state of perception - loka-pratyaksha. This mixture is a type of confusion - we confuse the word and idea for the object itself, rather than seeing the object as it is.
This confusion is known as sankeerna.
Since this is our normal state of perception, when we initially focus on an object in meditation, the word and idea naturally arise in the mind, whether we want them to or not.
P: What about if I were to focus on an unfamiliar object?
Jogi: In this case, you would generate a mental referent for the object, even if it is as simple as the word “this.” Additionally, the moment you see an object, knowledge, or jnana, is generated in the mind, which is how you recognise it as the same object in the following moment. Without jnana we would not have a concept of object permanence.
When the mind has become as clear as a crystal, without the curtain of any other thoughts or distractions, and the distinction between observer, observing, and observed has disappeared, while the subtle shabda and jnana are still present (ie. the confusion of word and idea with object is still there) this state is known as savitark samapatti.
Technically speaking, since shabda and jnana are still present, savitark samapatti is not samaadhi, although it is often classified in this way. It is, in a sense, a state between dhyaan and samaadhi, similar to how the threshold of a door is neither “inside” or “outside.”
In savitark samapatti, the movement of time is still felt - that is, you will have a rough idea of how much time passed while you were in the state. Additionally, the feeling of space is still perceptible - that is, you know where the object of focus is in space - whether it is near, far, up, down, etc.
This is important to note, because in most of the following states, the sense of time and space disappear, and so noting the presence or absence of time and space can be helpful to determine the level of samapatti you are (or were) in.
Nirvitarka Samapatti
स्मृतिपरिशुद्धौ स्वरूपशून्येवार्थमात्रनिर्भासा निर्वितर्का ॥SmritiParishuddhau SvaroopaShoonyaEvaArthaMaatraNirbhaasaa Nirvitarkaa[When the] memory is purified, [the mind] is devoid of its own form, and the object shines by itself, [it is] Nirvitarka.
- Yoga Sutra, 1.43
This next samapatti is a continuation of the former. That is, savitark samapatti deepens into nirvitark samapatti.
P: Can I just jump straight to nirvitark samapatti?
Jogi: Just as when going from one town to another, you must pass the towns along the way, when going from where you are to a given samapatti, you must first pass through the samapattis that come before it.
Here, just like in savitark samapatti, the object of focus is still a gross object like the breath, a mantra, a flame, etc.
The difference, however, is that shabda and jnana - word and idea - drop away. In this way, the object shines alone, and the mind becomes completely transparent, without the veil of words and concepts clouding perception.
In order for this to happen, memory must become inactive.
P: Why?
Word and idea arise from memory. You know the word “cow” because you heard it previously, and you know how to classify the object into the category “cow”, because you have seen other cows before. In this way, all conceptual knowledge arises from memory.
In order for word and idea to drop away, therefore, the memory must become inactive in the moment of perception. That is, it is as if you are seeing the object for the first time - with completely fresh eyes.
When this happens, it feels like you have no memory of the past that brought you to the moment of meditation - you are just here, right now, and there is nothing else. To be precise, even the “you” that is meditating disappears. In this way, the object shines alone - no meditator, no word, no concept.
Since memory drops away, time, space, and causation also disappear.
P: Why?
Time, space, and causation all depend on memory.
Time is a measure of difference, which requires at least two distinct states to have meaning. However, only one state of time truly exists (since past and future exist only conceptually, in memory and imagination respectively).
Space is the same way - in order have any sort of spatial cognition, there must be memory of having moved through space, of distinction between one location and another. Space is not directly perceptible - it is inferred - and inference requires memory. In this way, when memory is inactive, the feeling of space also drops away.
Causation also requires memory to function, since causation involves the classification of a constantly shifting reality into “events”, and then linking those events together in time. Since time and conceptual classification both require memory to function, when memory becomes inactive, the feeling of causation also disappears.
Practically speaking, this means that in nirvitark samapatti, you cannot tell if it has been five minutes or five hours.
This state can induce a great sense of fear, and as a result, a resistance can arise. This resistance is the main blocker to deepening from savitark to nirvitark samapatti. The fear arises from a feeling that “I” will no longer exist, since we closely tie our identities, in concept, with our memory. If memory starts to fade, even momentarily, fear arises. This fear is the fifth klesha - abhinivesha, and so the way to deal with it is to focus on it with the power of dhyaan until it dissipates.
Alternatively, Ishvarpranidhaan, or surrender to Ishvar also helps to alleviate this fear. For more on the concept of Ishvar, take a look at this article:
Parapratyaksha: The source of all teachings
Since perception in nirvitark samapatti is not filtered through the veil of names and concepts, it is known as parapratyaksha, or “the higher perception.” Specifically, the object is seen as it is, without any prior judgements or preconceived notions about it.
Parapratyaksha is the source from which logic and soteriological teachings such as Yoga and Vedanta sprout.
The reason for this is that normally, we feel ourselves to be bound to the body and the mind due to avidya, which manifests in the form of names and concepts. One of these concepts is the idea of “self” as the body-mind, which, if taken seriously, leads to all the suffering that we experience.
When we see that words and concepts can be dropped away, even at the gross level, it becomes evident that there is a way to escape the cycle of suffering.
Yogis who arrive at this level of samapatti through practice can use this type of perception to share their experience with others. However, in order to do so, they must resort to words and concepts, thus bringing in the possibility of error and miscommunication.
It is for this reason that Yoga prioritises direct experience over scriptural teachings.
Teachings help to point us in the right direction, but ultimately all words generate concepts, and Reality is beyond concept.
“The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon.”
- Gautam Buddha
Until next time:
Continue your practice of dhaaranaa, and notice what you did differently on the days that it deepens into dhyaan or samaadhi.
Notice the sensations of time, space, and causation. How do you know when time has passed? How do you know how much time has passed?
Notice whether your perceptions are coloured by name and concept. What kinds of decisions do you make that are based on taking name and concept more seriously than the object itself?
Take notes to find patterns!
Ask your questions here!
Next time: Vichaar Samaadhi: Diving into the subtle elements