Is it possible to go into a complete thoughtless state while meditating?
Question:
When meditating, I sometime get down to a very relaxed clear state, where I feel only peace (there really isn’t any word for it though) but there are usually one or two thoughts that remain there. The thoughts are always knowledge based, and sometimes completely new to me (for instance many points in Ashtavakra and even Upanishad have come to me in meditation before I heard the knowledge in person) my question is, is this really meditation? Will a thought always remain? Or is it possible to go into a completely blank state? And if this was possible, I may not even know it right? For instance today, I meditated for what I thought was 10 minutes and it ended up being 25. But I don’t remember losing consciousness, I still had at least one thought or feeling in my mind and body. But could it be like taking anesthesia before surgery? It’s like no time has passed when you wake up? But there is no recollection of where you go either?
Answer:
The most important thing to understand is that you do not lose consciousness in meditation. You reach the highest level of consciousness which is beyond time, therefore one does not know how long one was meditating. Only when we lose ourselves in the scenery do we become unconscious of ourselves (the seer). This is the true meaning of being conscious 🙂 In the Patanjali course last year, we learnt the different types of meditation or samadhi. Here they are:
1) Savitarka Samadhi is the Samadhi in which there is a dialogue or argument in one part of consciousness with the other part of the same consciousness. Here, there is a dialogue happening between the know-er, known and knowing, meaning a dialogue with logical subtle reasoning happening within oneself.
2) Nirvitarka Samadhi is the one which has no dialogue where there is no reasoning but it is still not complete emptiness.
3) Savichara Samadhi is the Samadhi in which some faint thoughts move through but are not logical. It could be an image or smell, or some sound.
4) Nirvichara Samadhi is the one where there is no thought. This is a thoughtless state which is the experience of nothingness or just emptiness.
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I want to ask when I meditate I remain conscious but sometime in the middle I become completely blank which I am not able to connect whether it is unconsciousness or consciousness and then I after I become aware of myself I feel complete in myself. I feel I am rejuvinated. So my question is ” Is it deep sleep or meditation beyond time?
Don’t analyze so much Devanshu. The entire practice is for moving from ‘mind’ to ‘no-mind’. Just be with the experience of silence rather than jumping into the noise of words.