आत्म दर्शन समाधि
Divine Way to Atma Darshan Samadhi
“The infection of God’s love is so deep here that I want to carry the possibility of everyone meeting God—independent of their spiritual background, their practices, or even whether they are interested or not.”
What This Is
“Samadhi is nothing but the dissolution of the mind to allow us to remain in God’s presence. So all that we’ve been talking about all this time with open and empty is exactly the same thing.”
What follows is a practice—simple, devotional, open to all—drawn from the Jesus Prayer tradition and made available across every path: Krishna, Ram, Shiva, Kali, Allah, Satguru. It uses prayerful breath to dissolve the mind and carry us from the surface of thought into the depths of God’s presence.
Laya literally means dissolution or stillness. This practice begins there—with a rhythm of spiritually activated prayers to bring the mind to rest. From that stillness, love arises. From that love, God is apparent.
The Prayer
Choose the name that lives in your heart. The full prayer has three lines. Each line is one breath.
Example — Krishna
1Hare Krishna, incarnation of God
2have mercy on me, a sinner
3bless my heart with the light of Atma
On “a sinner”
“It really puts us in a place of humility, which is very important. The spiritual ego is the most dangerous invention in this world.”
“Fundamentally the sin is to live in reliance through our own thoughts, through our own mind, rather than through God’s grace.”
“On one hand You are full of wonder, beauty, love, knowledge, all-pervasive reality; on the other hand, what is left of me? This means an idea of separation, a need to live separate from God.”
The same prayer adapts to every name. Choose the one that resonates with your heart. Each is a doorway to the same unfathomable God.
Ram
Ram Ji, incarnation of God, have mercy on me, a sinner, bless my heart with the light of Atma.
Krishna
Hare Krishna, incarnation of God, have mercy on me, a sinner, bless my heart with the light of Atma.
Jesus
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner, bless my heart with the light of spirit.
Allah
Ya Allah, God Almighty, have mercy on me, a sinner, bless my heart with Your Noor.
Shiva
Om Namah Shivaya, Supreme God’s house, have mercy on me, a sinner, bless my heart with the light of Atma.
Durga
Jai Maa Durga, essence of God, have mercy on me, a sinner, bless my heart with the light of Atma.
Kali
Jai Maa Kali, God’s fierce love, have mercy on me, a sinner, bless my heart with the light of Atma.
Satguru
Om Satguru, God’s holy presence, have mercy on me, a sinner, bless my heart with the light of Atma.
The Breath
“You don’t have to breathe in any particular way. . . . When you’re breathing in, chant ‘Hare Krishna.’ When you’re breathing out, remember ‘incarnation of God.’”
Three breaths of prayer, then a fourth breath of the shield word alone. No special technique. Simply chant inwardly with the natural rhythm of your breathing.
Breath 1
IN“Hare Krishna”
OUT“incarnation of God”
Breath 2
IN“have mercy on me”
OUT“a sinner”
Breath 3
IN“bless my heart”
OUT“with the light of Atma”
Breath 4 — Shield Word
INKrishna · Krishna · Krishna · Krishna
OUTKrishna · Krishna · Krishna
“At least ten times you can repeat the prayer. After that, something just takes a life of its own.”
The Shield Word
“When the mind distracts you, just say Ram. That becomes your shield for your sadhana, for your samadhi.”
“Use one syllable as much as possible so that becomes your arrow prayer, your shield word.” If your prayer is to Krishna, it will be Krishna seven times—four on the in-breath, three on the out-breath. For Ram, it will be Ram. For Jesus, it will be Jesus. Whenever the mind pulls you away, return to this single word.
The Four Depths
Each stage is complete in itself, and yet there is a great beauty in the unfolding. Don’t rush. It is not a competition. It is all for love of God.
Laya Samadhi
“As you settle into the rhythm of the prayer, the chanting, you will notice that your mind starts to dissolve. You are effortlessly open and empty.”
Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Ch. IV
Bhava Samadhi
“Soon you will find the presence of an unconditional love in your heart. When that love for God is apparent, you can leave the words of the prayer and just stay with that love.”
“To be in the unborn, to be open and empty, to be in the no-mind anchored just by this love, is going from Laya Samadhi to Bhava Samadhi.”
Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
Savikalpa Samadhi
“You cannot find ‘me’ there. The hearing of the world may continue, even sight may continue, but nothing is holding on to anything.”
“All day you can do your work, everything can happen, but there is no ‘me.’ Your mind is no longer activated. You live like a sage at this point.”
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 1:17
Nirvikalpa Samadhi
“The world vanishes. The body vanishes within your being. Only awareness, the absolute reality, the Self remains.”
“This is the highest possibility in the human condition, to come to the purest self-recognition. Purest self-recognition is not even beingness. You recognize that which is in the sleep state, but you recognize that in the waking state. That is the highest enlightenment.”
“It is the light so strong that even the light of Consciousness is born within it. It’s self-effulgent but not pure perceptions. It is the only uncreated.”
Yoga Sutras 1:18; Vivekachudamani
Grace
“What is being asked of you is just prayerful breath for some time and then just allowing the love of God to take us over. Everything else is Grace.”
“Keep your eyes on God alone. Otherwise, those could end up becoming distractions for many lifetimes.”
Scripture References
Laya — Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Chapter IV
“When the thoughts and activities are destroyed, then the Laya stage is produced, to describe which is beyond the power of speech, being known by self-experience alone.” — IV.32
“Laya is simply the forgetting of the objects of senses when the desires do not rise into existence again.” — IV.33
Bhava — Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
Real bhava can only be said to occur when the relationship with the Divine is so established that it remains fixed in consciousness at all times—“whether eating, drinking, sitting, or sleeping.”
Savikalpa — Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 1:17
vitarka-vicārānandāsmitā-rūpānugamāt saṃprajñātaḥ
“Samprajnata samadhi is accompanied by reasoning, reflection, bliss, and a sense of pure being.”
Nirvikalpa — Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 1:18
virāma-pratyayābhyāsa-pūrvaḥ saṃskāra-śeṣo ’nyaḥ
“The other samadhi arises through the practice of cessation, in which only latent impressions remain.”
Nirvikalpa — Vivekachudamani of Adi Shankaracharya
“When the Atman, the One without a second, is realised by means of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, then the heart’s knot of ignorance is totally destroyed.” — v. 353
“Reflection should be considered a hundred times superior to hearing, and meditation a hundred thousand times superior even to reflection, but Nirvikalpa Samadhi is infinite in its results.” — v. 364
“By Nirvikalpa Samadhi the truth of Brahman is clearly and definitely realised, but not otherwise, for then the mind, being unstable by nature, is apt to be mixed up with other perceptions.” — v. 365
The Sanctum
राम जी
Ram Ji, incarnation of God
have mercy on me, a sinner
bless my heart with the light of Atma
“Samadhi is nothing but the dissolution of the mind to allow us to remain in God’s presence.”
“Fundamentally the sin is to live in reliance through our own thoughts, through our own mind, rather than through God’s grace.”
“This is the highest possibility in the human condition, to come to the purest self-recognition. Purest self-recognition is not even beingness. You recognize that which is in the sleep state, but you recognize that in the waking state. That is the highest enlightenment.”
Right now it may seem like a lot of steps, but actually what is being asked of you is just prayerful breath for some time and then just allowing the love of God to take us over. Everything else is Grace.
Terms
The Self; the divine presence within every person
Direct seeing or vision; encountering the sacred firsthand
Absorption; the mind dissolving into stillness and presence
Dissolution; gradual melting away of mental activity
Spiritual feeling; devotional love that arises spontaneously
Without attributes; the unfathomable aspect of God
With attributes; God as personal and relatable
Divine action that cannot be produced by personal effort