Samadhi

Total union and the unfolding of enlightenment

When kundalini shakti reaches sahasrara, that is known as union between Shiva and Shkati, as sahasrara is said to be the abode of higher consciousness or Shiva.

Union between Shiva and Shakti marks the beginning of a great experience. When this union takes place, the moment of self-realization or samadhi begins.

At this point the individual man dies. I don't mean that physical death occurs; it is death of the mundane awareness or individual awareness. It is death of the experience of name and form. At this time you don't remember the 'I', the 'you' or the 'they'.

The experience, the experienced and the experiencer are one and the same. The seer, seeing and and seen are merged as a unified whole. In other words, there is no multiple or dual awareness. There is only single awareness.

When Shiva and Shakti unite, nothing remains, there is absolute silence. Shakti does not remain Shakti and Shiva is no more Shiva, both are mingled into one and they can no longer be identified as two different forces.

Every mystical and religious system of the world has its own way of describing this experience. Some have called it nirvana, others - samadhi, kaivalya, self-realization, enlightenment, communion, heaven and so on.

And if you read the religious and mystical poems and scriptures of the many cultures and traditions, you will find ample descriptions of sahasrara. However, you have to read them with a different state of consciousness to understand the esoteric symbology and terminology.

Extracted from the book Kundalini Tantra by Swami Sivananda Saraswati