Nirvana

What Is Nirvana

Nirvana, Spiritual Perfection, Liberation (from the karmic shackles of the material world) — these words mean one and the same thing: Mergence of a developed individual consciousness of man with the Consciousness which abides in the higher spatial dimensions.

There is a wrong interpretation of the term Nirvana — as one’s disappearance in the emptiness (void). No: it is one’s lower self that disappears in the emptiness, but one’s Higher Self merges into the Ocean of the Universal Primordial Consciousness, enriching It by this.

This truth was taught not only by Gautama Buddha but also by Krishna, Sathya Sai Baba, and by other Highest Spiritual Teachers of the mankind.

Below you can find some excerpts from well-known literary sources.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna distinguished two stages of Nirvana: Nirvana in Brahman and the Highest Nirvana (Nirvana in Ishvara):

“5:24. He who is happy within, who finds joy not in the outer, who is illuminated (by love) within — such a yogi is capable of cognizing the essence of Brahman and attaining the Nirvana in Brahman.

“5:25. The Nirvana in Brahman is attained by those rishis who got rid of vices, became free from duality, cognized Atman, and dedicated themselves to the good of all.

“5:26. Free from the worldly attractions and anger, dedicated to spiritual pursuits, having subdued thoughts and cognized Atman — they attain the Nirvana in Brahman.

“6:15. A yogi who is merged with Atman and controls the mind enters the Highest Nirvana and abides there in Me.”

(Bhagavad Gita (red.V.Antonov,).
 "Polus", Saint Petersburg, 2002)

The following excerpt is from the book by John Hislop My Baba and i dedicated to Avatar Sathya Sai Baba:

“Mediation can be likened to a boat that can help one to cross the violent sea of life and reach the other bank. The ‘other bank’ is Self-realization, God-realization, Liberation, Nirvana — all these words have the same meaning: merging of individual, separate with the Absolute.”

(Hislop J.S. — My Baba and I. Prasanthi Nilaym,
"Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust", 1985)

The last excerpt is from the book Tantric Mysticism of Tibet by John Blofeld:

“Imagine a boundless ocean inhabited by countless creatures. Every creature is filled with water of this ocean; every creature is made of substance that can either become dense or dissolve, depending on the outer conditions. In suitable conditions, it dissolves completely and the water that composes it becomes indistinguishable from the rest of the ocean. Yet, no drop of water ceases to exist, — it is separateness from the ocean that disappears… Nirvana is the state attained by the water in these creatures at the moment of their dissolution.”

(Blofeld J.E. — The Tantric Mysticism of Tibet.
"Dutton", N.Y., 1970)
 

Difference between Nirvana and Samadhi

The term Samadhi means contact of the consciousness of adept with the Consciousness of God in higher eons. Such first contacts give one new bright feeling of bliss.

In contrast to Samadhi, Nirvana is one’s stable Mergence with the Consciousness of God, when the feeling of localized “I” disappears. The term Nirvana means complete burning away, i.e. losing the individuality in Mergence with God. In this state, an individual consciousness, having expanded and dissolved in God, feels itself as God.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna speaks about Samadhi and about principal stages of Nirvana.

But in India, the term Nirvana became widely used by Buddhists since some time. Then this term along with Buddhism was “forced out” from India by Hindus. Instead of using the term Nirvana, Hindu schools started to expand the meaning of the term Samadhi by adding to it various prefixes (for example, nirvikalpa-samadhi). Various schools used these composite words, and because of this the meaning of term Samadhi became “diffused” and lost its unambiguity. Therefore, it makes sense to get back to accurate terminology introduced by God through Krishna.

So, in order to come from Samadhi (Contact) to Nirvana (Mergence) one has to have a large and strong individual consciousness, developed by preceding training. In addition to this, it has to be firmly established in the Divine subtlety.

We can become closer to Nirvana only by developing ourselves as a spiritual heart, which begins its growth from the anahata chakra.

One’s establishment in the state of Nirvana is not an instant act but the result of entering this state many times; the process of mastering this takes years.
 

See also:

• Bhagavad Gita

• Nirodhi