Samadhi occupies a pivotal position in the depth-psychology corpus as the supreme consummation of contemplative discipline — variously a state of unitive absorption, epistemic transparency, and ontological liberation. Within the Patañjalian framework, as rigorously expounded by Bryant, samadhi constitutes not a single condition but a graduated series of absorptions: from the object-engaged samprajñāta stages (vitarka, vicāra, ānanda, asmitā) through to the objectless asamprajñāta or nirbīja-samadhi, which alone yields the eternal kaivalya of puruṣa. The term itself derives from the verbal root samādhī, meaning to place or fix together, signifying a collected unification of consciousness. Suzuki situates samadhi as the middle term of the Buddhist threefold discipline — śīla, samādhi, prajñā — where it mediates between moral conduct and liberative wisdom. Easwaran, writing from a Vedantic-practical standpoint, treats samadhi as the experiential climax of meditation in which the practitioner transcends identification with body and mind alike, entering a state of pure being beyond temporal flux. Singh’s Kashmir Śaiva commentary opens samadhi to musical and somatic triggers, radically pluralizing its conditions of entry. Jung, by contrast, approaches the state obliquely, treating it as a psychic analogue to the transcendent function — a dissolution of subject-object polarity with significant but cautious resonance for Western psychology. Across these voices, the central tension is soteriological: whether samadhi is the final goal or a transformative gateway to engaged, embodied existence.
Only through the clear, unobstructed insight of samādhi can one fully grasp the viśeṣa, particularity, of an object, its subtle substructure of distinct atoms and essences.
Bryant argues that samadhi uniquely surpasses ordinary perception and inference by granting direct access to the subtle, atomically particular nature of objects.
, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary, 2009thesis
in the third stage, ānanda-samādhi, the yogī transfers awareness from the objects of the senses, grāhya, to the organs of the senses themselves, grahaṇa (the instruments of grasping).
Bryant maps the four stages of samprajñāta-samādhi by tracking the progressive interiorization of awareness from gross objects through sense-organs to ego and finally to pure I-am-ness.
, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary, 2009thesis
This fourth stage is still within the realm of prakṛti, however, still at a stage of samprajñāta-samādhi… Only realization of the puruṣa by means of the asamprajñāta-samādhi is eternal.
Bryant distinguishes the highest supported samadhi from nirbīja-samadhi, insisting that only the latter constitutes irreversible liberation of puruṣa from prakṛti.
, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary, 2009thesis
Only realization of the puruṣa by means of the asamprajñāta-samādhi is eternal. Otherwise, sooner or later,
Bryant underscores the ontological finality of asamprajñāta-samadhi, contrasting its permanence with all intermediate absorptions that remain vulnerable to the reactivation of saṃskāras.
, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary, 2009thesis
The term samādadhyān is used here (and another form of this verb is used in the next line), from the same stem samādhī, from which the noun samādhi, the final limb of Patañjali’s system, is derived.
Bryant establishes the etymological root of samadhi as a verbal form connoting the act of fixing or placing together, anchoring the term’s technical usage in Patañjali’s eight-limbed system.
, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary, 2009supporting
This is kaivalya or asamprajñāta-samādhi.
Bryant equates the final liberative state of kaivalya with asamprajñāta-samadhi, identifying them as a single condition of complete puruṣa-autonomy beyond all prakṛtic support.
, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary, 2009supporting
The Buddhist way to deliverance, therefore, consisted in threefold discipline: moral rules (śīla) tranquillization (samādhi), and wisdom (prajñā). By Śīla one’s conduct is regulated externally, by Samādhi quietu
Suzuki positions samadhi as the medial, inward-stabilizing term of the Buddhist threefold path, bridging external moral conduct and the liberative wisdom of prajñā.
, Essays in Zen Buddhism (First Series), 1949thesis
when that collective way is being functioned, there you have scope to enter in samādhi. DEVOTEE: But elsewhere here it said that the yogi can enter in samādhi through perceiving that sound, which is not a sound in any s
Singh’s commentary presents samadhi as accessible through concentrated absorption in a collective sonic field, pluralizing the entry-conditions for the state within Kashmir Śaiva practice.
, Vijnana Bhairava: The Manual for Self-Realization, 1979supporting
if even a single ray of desire slips away from the focus of your meditation, you cannot enter samadhi. When Gandhi says that this requires the patience of a man trying to empty the sea with a blade of grass, I can attest to it with my own experience.
Easwaran emphasizes the absolute undividedness of attention required for samadhi, framing its attainment as practically demanding the complete extinction of desire.
, The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living: A Verse-by-Verse Commentary, 1975supporting
In the climax of meditation called samadhi we rise above physical consciousness completely, once and for all, to realize that this body is only an instrument which has been given us to use for the benefit of all.
Easwaran presents samadhi as the definitive transcendence of bodily identification, reorienting its fruits not toward world-withdrawal but toward compassionate, universal service.
, The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living: A Verse-by-Verse Commentary, 1975supporting
In the supreme climax of meditation called samadhi, we see the Lord in everyone, because we see the indivisible unity which is the divine principle of existence.
Easwaran characterizes samadhi as the perceptual realization of divine unity in all beings, grounding the state in a theistic and ethical vision of non-separateness.
, The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living: A Verse-by-Verse Commentary, 1975supporting
Pratiprasava Return to the original state; when the yogī’s mind has fulfilled its purpose (nirbīja-samādhi), it dissolves back into prakṛti.
Bryant’s glossary entry on pratiprasava clarifies that nirbīja-samadhi marks the point at which citta, having accomplished its purpose, returns to its unmanifest source.
, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary, 2009supporting
once we get this perspective in dhyana, we can lie down on our backs
Easwaran situates dhyana as the penultimate stage preceding samadhi, using experiential language to differentiate the progressive interiorization of meditative practice.
, The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living: A Verse-by-Verse Commentary, 1975aside