Since 1992, I have been experiencing Unity Consciousness States (Samadhi). Anything can trigger these states and they can last for varied lengths of time. My longest experience of Unity was six weeks in 1992. In 1994, it came once a week like clockwork, for seven hours at a time, until the end of 1995. It seemed to disappear again until 1998, only appearing for a brief few hours every few months. At the end of ’98, it reappeared more regularly. In 1998 and 1999 were what I called “in and out” of Unity years. In 2000 and the early months of 2001, I experienced the increase of Unity experiences, and am integrating them now to become a permanent state of being.
As I have said, almost anything can trigger Samadhi, Unity Consciousness. The chirping of birds in a tree, or a walk in nature. But the most common causes for me are deep meditation and Darshan with an Avatar. Darshan is when you look into the eyes of a Master. This can be done by looking at a picture of the Master, or by being in the Master’s direct presence.

During Darshan the Master activates an awakening in your soul.

They say that it takes only “one look, one touch” of one who is “there” to awaken you. It happens in a split second.

In the old days, the ancients would go up the mountain and they would fast and pray, or chant, or dance and sing, depriving themselves of sleep for many nights, in order to gain even a glimpse of the underlying Unity of all life, to realize their own True Nature.

They say that it takes much tapasya to reach enlightenment. Tapasya is the burning away of karma or dross through purifying devotional practices and actions. For example, Karma Yoga, which means action devoted to God. For some, many arduous hours are spent in hundreds of in-depth Yogic Practices. I am sure that in previous lifetimes all of this was played out for me. In this life, I was blessed with what I now know to be an activation of the memory of Unity Consciousness (Samadhi states) that I had attained in previous yogic lifetimes.

In 1992, my first meeting with an Avatar (an incarnation of the Divine) triggered these “memories” of Unity Consciousness (Samadhi). Since then, they have spontaneously occurred.

These states, although very blissful and ecstatic, took a hard toll on my body. While reading Paramahamsa Yogananda’s book, Autobiography of a Yogi, I recognized what was happening to me in 1994 and 1995 through my weekly experiences, as “Savikalpa Samadhi.” Paramahamsa Yogananda describes it as follows: “In the initial states of God-communion (sabikalpa samadhi) the devotee’s consciousness merges in the Cosmic Spirit; his life force is withdrawn from the body, which appears “dead” or motionless and rigid. The yogi is fully aware of his bodily condition of suspended animation. As he progresses to higher spiritual states (nirbikalpa samadhi) however, he communes with God without bodily fixation and in his ordinary waking consciousness, even in the midst of exacting worldly duties.” (Yogananda, 1950: 278)

“When there is duality because of ignorance, one sees all things as distinct from the Self,” Shankara, the great monist, has written. “When everything is known as the Self, not even an atom is seen as other than the SelfÉAs soon as knowledge of the Reality has sprung up, there can be no fruits of past actions to be experienced, owing to the unreality of the body, just as there can be no dream after the waking.” (Yogananda, 1950: 238)
When the first Unity experiences (samadhi) started in 1992 and I entered into the six-week episode, I had almost no awareness of the body. It was very difficult to bathe myself or eat, or to have any normal bodily functions, because I was not identified with the body but rather with Universal or Cosmic Self.

During the weekly Unity Consciousness (samadhi) states in 1994 and 1995, my breathing stopped, my heart stopped beating, and I went into suspended animation for seven hours at a time, while the Divine Light and the Divine Voice entered into my body and I merged into ecstatic bliss. I became one with the Universal or Cosmic Self. I was totally unpredictable and I never knew exactly on which day it would come. Initially I had no control over it, but later on I learned how to go into the state voluntarily. After one year, it stopped and changed again.

In 1998 and 1999 my “in and out” years, there were long periods where I thought it was gone. When the unity states (samadhi) became more regular again since 2000 and the first 3 months of 2001, the experience changed. As Yogananda said, it takes place now with less and less bodily fixation. The suspended animation is less and I am now able to walk, open my eyes, talk on the phone and write down the experiences while in it, and pass it on to others (darshan). The toll of the body gets less and less.

In past years, the days after the state “wore off” were always torturous. I used to experience a hangover type feeling, where the body felt burnt by the intensity of the light. I would describe it as a 2000-volt charge of electricity going through a 50-watt bulb. The body would fry. Sometimes I felt my organs were going to burst, as the light entered into me. At times, coming back into personality or individualized self again was unbearable. Occasionally I couldn’t get out of bed, or could hardly walk for three days after the experience.

And all along I went through all the experiences alone, unsupervised and often with nobody to talk to who could understand. For years I could not tell anyone. There was always the fear that somebody would find my body while I was in Unity consciousness (samadhi) and thinking that it was dead, would dispose of it.

I am now working towards stabilizing the God communion or deep absorption within the Self, into a permanent experience that can take place in the midst of daily worldly duties. Each time I have another Unity experience (samadhi), I am made new. I am given a new body, a lighter body. All the old stuff drops away and I become rich and smooth and renewed again. Each time I start all over again, with a new body, a new life.

When I am in the Unity State (samadhi) now, it appears that I can transfer it to others if they are open and receptive. They have to have faith or believe, but if there is doubt then they will block the transmission and it will interrupt the moment. The key on the part of the receiver is innocence.

If you’re innocent, you’re not analyzing, judging, doubting or being skeptical, and you can simply experience the moment. The experience itself is so simple. As soon as you bring mind into it, you lose it. As soon as you try to put it into a box, you’ve lost it.

You have to be free of concepts. Open and innocent like a child. Receptive and perceptive.

You cannot mood-make the experience. You can’t think it into being or pretend that it’s there. Mood making can be dangerous. Saying “I am God” if you are not experiencing it can be counter productive and dangerous for your ego.

When I am in Unity (samadhi), I am Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent. That means that all knowledge is available to me. The problem is, the moment that I try to speak it or write it, I lose its essence because it is formless and conceptless. So, my role is made very difficult in sharing this with humanity.

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