alert tranquility
Samadhi occupies a pivotal position in the depth-psychology corpus as the terminal state of meditative absorption — the condition in which ordinary ego-consciousness is either radically attenuated or dissolved entirely in the encounter with a ground of being that transcends the subject-object duality. The literature surveyed here reveals several distinct lines of interpretation that do not resolve into a single consensus. Aurobindo treats samadhi as a graduated interior trance indispensable for accessing the supramental, while insisting that for integral yoga it presents a structural liability: the thread of ordinary consciousness, severed in absorption, must eventually be reintegrated rather than merely transcended. Bryant's philological commentary on Patanjali tracks the term through a precise technical taxonomy — vitarka, vicara, ananda, and asmita stages — mapping the progressive withdrawal from gross objects toward the witnessing purusha. Spiegelman, reading the concept through a Jungian lens, renders samadhi as the state in which 'the ego is practically dissolved,' a formulation that opens productive dialogue between Sanskrit phenomenology and analytical psychology. Easwaran anchors the term in devotional-practical terms, presenting samadhi as the experiential confirmation of non-dual identity — permanent when stabilized, transforming the meditator's relationship to action and world. Suzuki situates a cognate concept within the Buddhist fourfold dhyana sequence, emphasizing the equilibrium of samatha and vipassana as its functional precondition. Across these positions the central tension is consistent: whether samadhi is a temporary withdrawal that serves reintegration, or the definitive goal in itself.
The greatest value of the dream-state of Samadhi lies, however, not in these more outward things, but in its power to open up easily higher ranges and powers of thought, emotion, will by which the soul grows in height, range and self-mastery.
Aurobindo argues that samadhi's primary value is not esoteric or phenomenal but developmental — it progressively unlocks higher psychological registers unavailable to waking consciousness.
, The Synthesis of Yoga, 1948thesis
There is a complete difference between Samadhi and normal sleep, between the dream-state of Yoga and the physical state of dream. The latter belongs to the physical mind; in the former the mind proper and subtle is at work liberated from the immixture of the physical mentality.
Aurobindo draws an ontological boundary between samadhi and ordinary dream-sleep, affirming that in samadhi the subtle mind operates free from the distortions of the physical mental apparatus.
, The Synthesis of Yoga, 1948thesis
in the third stage, ananda-samadhi, the yogi transfers awareness from the objects of the senses, grahya, to the organs of the senses themselves, grahana (the instruments of grasping).
Bryant, following Vacaspati Misra, maps a precise interior topology of samadhi in which successive stages withdraw awareness from gross objects through sense-instruments toward pure witnessing consciousness.
, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary, 2009thesis
The state of samadhi as, psychologically viewed, considered as 'a mental condition in which the ego is practically dissolved,' or a state in which 'a withdrawal of the centre of psychic gravity from ego-consciousness' is taking place.
Spiegelman translates samadhi into Jungian analytic language, equating it with the dissolution or decentering of the ego — a psychological reformulation that enables cross-traditional dialogue.
, Buddhism and Jungian Psychology, 1985thesis
Finally, in the tremendous climax of meditation called samadhi, all separateness goes; we are back inside the seed, the Self, from which everything else has sprung. Afterwards we learn to make this great journey at will, until samadhi becomes permanent and continuous.
Easwaran presents samadhi as the experiential collapse of the subject-object division and insists it must become a stabilized, continuous condition rather than an occasional peak state.
, Essence of the Upanishads: A Key to Indian Spiritualitythesis
The Buddhist way to deliverance, therefore, consisted in threefold discipline: moral rules (sila) tranquillization (samadhi), and wisdom (prajna). By Sila one's conduct is regulated externally, by Samadhi quietu—
Suzuki situates samadhi structurally within the Buddhist tripartite path as the mediating discipline between ethical conduct and liberating wisdom.
, Essays in Zen Buddhism (First Series), 1949thesis
In this there takes place a fully adjusted equilibrium between Samatha and Vipasayana; that is, between tranquillization or cessation and contemplation.
Suzuki describes the culminating dhyana stage as an equilibrium between calming and insight functions, with samadhi implicitly naming the integrative condition in which both are mutually sustaining.
, Essays in Zen Buddhism (First Series), 1949supporting
Sri Krishna describes those who will not see samadhi. Those who say there is nothing other than this world, who say there is no God, no other life than eating, drinking, making merry, and dying – such people will not attain samadhi.
Easwaran uses the Gita's negative portrait of those barred from samadhi to establish it as the experiential correlate of genuine metaphysical conviction — inaccessible to a purely materialist orientation.
, The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living: A Verse-by-Verse Commentary, 1975supporting
the Shakti meets the Purusha in the brahmarandhra in a deep samadhi of union. Put less symbolically, in more philosophical though perhaps less profound language, this means that the real energy of our being is lying asleep and inconscient in the depths of our vital system, and is awakened by the practice of Pranayama.
Aurobindo links samadhi explicitly to the culmination of kundalini ascent, offering both symbolic and philosophical registers for understanding the absorption state as the meeting of Shakti and Purusha.
, The Synthesis of Yoga, 1948supporting
One should contemplate the activities of Lord Visnu and become absorbed (samadhana) in that way. By these and other processes, alert, and with controlled breath, one should gradually fix one's mind.
Bryant's textual commentary presents samadhi as the culminating absorption achievable through the systematic progression of asana, pranayama, pratyahara, and dharana directed toward a theistic object.
, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary, 2009supporting
CHAPTER I: MEDITATIVE ABSORPTION prathama samadhi-padah I.1 atha yoganusasanam Now, the teachings of yoga [are presented]. I.2 yogas citta-vrtti-nirodhah Yoga is the stilling of the changing states of the mind.
Bryant's translation frames the entire first chapter of the Yoga Sutras under the heading of samadhi, establishing the stilling of mental modifications as the formal definition of yoga itself.
, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary, 2009supporting
It is first of all necessary to apply oneself to the practice of sitting cross-legged in samadhi. Once sam—
Watts records a Ch'an debate about whether the formal practice of seated samadhi is prerequisite to insight, gesturing at the Zen ambivalence toward structured absorption as a method.
, The Way of Zen, 1957supporting
The second stage of meditation is called dhyana, from which the Japanese get their word for meditation, zen. In this stage we make an even more astonishing experiential discovery: we are not the mind either.
Easwaran situates dhyana as the penultimate stage preceding samadhi, using it to illustrate the progressive de-identification from mind and body that culminates in absorption.
, The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living: A Verse-by-Verse Commentary, 1975aside
There are many different forms of yoga, but all of them pursue the same goal. Here I will only mention that besides the purely psychic exercises there is also a form called hatha yoga, a sort of gymnastics consisting chiefly of breathing exercises and special body postures.
Jung acknowledges yoga's common goal of controlling the kleshas without naming samadhi explicitly, providing the broader psychological framing within which Jungian-Buddhist comparisons of the term operate.
, Psychology and Religion: West and East, 1958aside