❓ QUESTION:
Integrating personal perception with the perception of the universal body represents the next evolutionary step in developing the sense of being everything once that state has stabilized. How does this relate to the 118 types of samadhi, and what constitutes the subsequent phase? Is it a deeper integration of the personal and the universal, perhaps accompanied by new capabilities?
❗️ RESPONSE from lee:
I doubt that samadhi actually has 118 distinct types that can be perceived by a single person. Given the definition of the state itself, this is already quite strange.
According to the classical understanding found in Shiva’s texts, there are three levels of immersion into samadhi.
Stripped of all mystique, samadhi is simply a state of Wholeness. In other words, it is Unity with the Source. Alternative interpretations are merely misleading, overcomplicating a fundamentally simple process. After all, why would one need 118 types of Unity if Unity is, by its very nature, One?
The first level involves halting the polarization of the mind, which causes ego-driven judgment to dissolve.
The second level is the transition into a total realization that "We are One."
The third level is "I Am One," where even the concept of "we" vanishes, along with subjects and objects as independent entities. What remains is "I am the Source," or simply "I Am."
There is a direct logic to these levels of immersion, and they are devoid of contrived "special states." This is pure knowledge without any decorative packaging. This reflects how Shiva originally taught, before various schools devised their own methods to prepare practitioners for the perception of this information.
It is true that various Vedic texts mention different paths, techniques, and states encountered along this journey. However, these are ultimately matters of how to manage the mind during the stage of realizing Unity.
