From beyond the Abyss (VII:): Mahamudra

May all adepts attain the City of Pyramids

Maitripa’s Essential Mahamudra Verses

To innermost bliss, I pay homage!

Were I to explain Mahamudra, I would say—
All phenomena? Your own mind!
If you look outside for meaning, you’ll get confused.
Phenomena are like a dream, empty of true nature,

And mind is merely the flux of awareness,
No self-nature: just energy flow.
No true nature: just like the sky.
All phenomena are alike, sky-like.

That’s Mahamudra, as we call it.
It doesn’t have an identity to show;
For that reason, the nature of mind
Is itself the very state of Mahamudra
(Which is not made up, and does not change).
If you realize this basic reality
You recognize all that comes up, all that goes on,
as Mahamudra,
The all-pervading dharma-body.

Rest in the true nature, free of fabrication.
Meditate without searching for dharma-body—
It is devoid of thought.
If your mind searches, your meditation will be confused.

Because it’s like space, or like a magical show,
There is neither meditation or non-meditation,
How could you be separate or inseparable?
That’s how a yogi sees it!

Then, aware of all good and bad stuff as the basic reality,
You become liberated.
Neurotic emotions are great awareness,
They’re to a yogi as trees are to a fire—FUEL!

What are notions of going or staying?
Or, for that matter, “meditating” in solitude?
If you don’t get this,
You free yourself only on the surface.

But if you do get it, what can ever fetter you?
Abide in an undistracted state.
Trying to adjust body and mind won’t produce meditation.
Trying to apply techniques won’t produce meditation either.

See, nothing is ultimately established.
Know what appears to have no intrinsic nature.
Appearances perceived: reality’s realm, self-liberated.
Thought that perceives: spacious awareness, self-liberated.
Non-duality, sameness [of perceiver and perceived]: the dharma-body.

Like a wide stream flowing non-stop,
Whatever the phase, it has meaning
And is forever the awakened state—
Great bliss without samsaric reference.

All phenomena are empty of intrinsic nature
And the mind that clings to emptiness dissolves in its own ground.
Freedom from conceptual activity
Is the path of all the Adepts.

I’ve put together these lines
That they may last for aeons to come.
By this virtue, may all beings without exception
Abide in the great state of Mahamudra.

- Maitripa

I am alone

"I am alone. There is no God where I am."

Liber AL II-23

After Abyss (I.)

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law

There are important realizations to be integrated into life after the so called crossing of the Abyss (as per Qabalah). And in the present blog I'd like to elaborate upon this rather important subject.

Formless Divinity is what I would call the truly transpersonal stage of awareness. I say stage, not a state. If we look at modern transpersonal psychology, the transpersonal stages are three: the Subtle (Briah), the Causal (Aziluth) and the Nondual (above Aziluth). Anyone can have an insight into any state at any level of her/his current development. States (fleeting insights) are free, stages (permanent attainments) are earned, Ken Wilber says. I agree fully.

And after crossing the Abyss (see this blog >>), the identifications with various God-forms (including Ishta Deva or HGA) are "left behind", so to speak, only to realize permanent identification and spontaneous nature of Being Her (Binah) and, in due time, Him (Chokmah).

There are various levels (not types) of mystical experiences, called samadhi. Samadhi is a Sanskrit word meaning One (sama) with the Absolute (adi).

I experienced first samadhi back in 1993 and I have been entering laya and sabikalpa samadhi states (see below) at will since around 2007. It is like bliss on demand, nothing ever touches you, for you are one with the One, a mere witness, completely free...and alone.

Anyway, some of the levels of samadhi I would like to describe are:

• Laya samadhi
  It can be had during walking, dancing, making love, running. It is an entry point, as it were, for the truly spiritual or transpersonal stages of consciousness.
  Effort is needed for attainment of this level of samadhi.

• Sabikalpa samadhi
  It is a direct experience of the Absolute at the Subtle or Causal levels (Briah or Aziluth). It is an experience limited by time. I like to refer to this level of samadhi as Saguna samadhi (samadhi with form. Form in this context translates to transpersonal forms of God/Goddesses, of course). At this level, the so called Bhava (rapture) samadhi may be experienced as well.
  
  Effort is still needed for attainment of this level of samadhi, even if only a little shift in attention is employed.
  
  As I shared above, I used to enter Sabikalpa samadhi for years, at will, anytime, anywhere.
  
  "In sabikalpa samadhi the devotee has spiritually progressed to a state of inward divine union, but cannot maintain his cosmic consciousness except in the immobile trance-state. By continuous meditation, he reaches the superior state of nirbikalpa samadhi, where he moves freely in the world and performs his outward duties without any loss of God-realization.”
  - Paramhansa Yogananda

• Kevala Nirbikalpa Samadhi 

This is a direct experience of the Causal level (Aziluth), and is on the other side of the Abyss. It is the so called Nirguna samadhi, a formless Oneness with the Absolute. 

In this experience, all movement in awareness ceases, and all that is left is only the Absolute Self. And it is or was one of the most important experiences of my life. 

Such an experience eradicates the apparent and illusory separateness of the Soul and Godhead, Creator and Creation, Nirvana and Samsara, Unmanifested and Manifested, Yogamaya and Mahamaya, Khabs and Khu - Absolute and "relative" merge into One, forever.

Grace is needed for attainment of this level of samadhi, and after the attainment has occurred, no effort in needed anymore, ever. This is attainment of Binah, or complete and permanent identification with and surrender to, the One Goddess or God (moving on to Chokmah) and beyond them both.

It is efortless and silent awareness, present even now.

Sahaja Nirbikalpa Samadhi
This is the final stage, the ultimate experience that equals to Great Liberation, moksha, the end of the Great Work, and is in fact the attainment of Kether as per Qabalah.

Sri Ramana Maharshi;

“In yoga the term samādhi refers to some kind of trance and there are various kinds of samādhi. But the samādhi I speak of is different. It is sahaja samādhi. From here you have samadhana [steadiness] and you remain calm and composed even while you are active. You realize that you are moved by the deeper real Self within. You have no worries, no anxieties, no cares, for you come to realize that there is nothing belonging to you. You know that everything is done by something with which you are in conscious union.”

Anatta and Sunyata insights
After attainment of the "I am" presence, the Causal self, the Absolute Self, or the Kether as per Qabalah, there are still possible realizations to be had.

We must leave the Vedanta teachings behind, however, and embark upon the Buddhist teachings on anatta and sunyata. These experiences are way beyond even the Causal self or the Kether as per Qabalah. And they are liberating as hell.

I will write more about anatta and sunyata, total identity collapse and about nirodha-samapatti as well, in the next blog in the After Abyss series.

Love is the law, love under will.

See the next blog post: After Abyss II.: Changless Reality >>

See the next blog post in the After Abyss series: After Abyss (III.): total identity collapse >>