We will continue our exploration of God’s nature in Part Two of this chapter. In Part One, it was explained that in Hinduism our wise gurus have thought us that there are three unique Aspects of God. The Aspects of God are Paramatma, Parashakti and Parabrahman. We learnt that Paramatma is the Personal God who creates, loves and cares for His creation. We also learnt that Paramatma can take on various human-like or animal-like forms to communicate or relate to His or Her devotees. In Part Two we will explore God’s nature as Parashakti and Parabrahman. The experience of these two Aspects of God, are crucial achievements in our spiritual evolution toward moksha.

In this part about God you will find the sanskrit word samadhi appearing quite often. Samadhi is the term for two meditative states that are related to Parashakti and Parabrahman that are the goals of yoga practice. The states of samadhi occur when the awareness of the meditator, becomes so attuned to God consciousness that the meditator's awareness merges in undifferentiated union with God. When a meditator achieves the state of samadhi, he realizes his unity or oneness with God and the process of enlightenment begins to take hold in his life. 

When we think of God as Pure Love, Pure Light or Divine Consciousness, we are relating to God as Parashakti. Parashakti literally means great power. Parashakti is the underlying divine energy that supports and sustains the existence of the spiritual and physical universes. My guru taught that if Parashakti did not exist, Creation would vanish. As Parashakti God is All-Pervasive, meaning existing everywhere. Parashakti is also the most basic element or the substratum of Creation. Therefore from the Hindu point of view, the supporting base of all creation, from the profound to the mundane is Parashakti. This is why Hindus believe that the universe is ultimately divine. 

Scientists also concur after having extensively researched the most basic structure of the atom, that its underlying structure is energy. This energy forms a continuous field that interconnects throughout the entire universe. Scientists have also discovered through experiments in quantum physics that this field possesses an intelligence that is yet to be explained by science. Biologists too have discovered a mysterious field that connects the consciousness of animals, plants and even elements that they have named the Morphogenetic Field or the M-field for short.

Hindu gurus also define Parashakti as Satchitananda. Satchitananda is the nature of God's All-Pervasive Presence. It is comprised of three words; Sat–means truth, Chit–means divine consciousness and Ananda–means bliss or love. In short Sat-Chit-Ananda is Truth-Consciousness-Bliss. Thus Parashakti is God's loving, Omniscient and all-pervasive sustaining Presence that envelopes the entire universe and flows through all beings within it.

As a form of God, Parashakti is amorphous. Parashakti does not appear in human-like forms as Paramatma. Parashakti does not conform to any shape. Instead the forms of Parashakti include the Divine Light, Pure Sound as the sound of the mantra Aum and feelings such as love, spiritual bliss or peace. Parashakti is also known as God’s Divine Mind. It is through Parashakti that God is aware, simultaneously, of happenings in His entire Creation. Through Parashakti, God can also appear in as many places in the universe simultaneously as Paramatma to relate to His devotees. 

Insight: Learn more about Parashakti's forms.

From a more personal point of view, Parashakti forms the core of our soul. Parashakti gives life and brilliance to our soul which in turn provides the life force for our physical body. The source of the impulses that make our heart beat and make us take a breath is Parashakti. Thus we are intimately connected to God as Parashakti with every breath we take and every beat of the heart. My guru would say, “God is closer to you than your breath.” Very often he would give his disciples courage by affirming, “There is only one thing that All-Mighty God cannot do. That is to take Himself out of you. He is the Life of your life.”

We experience Parashakti mainly through mystical means. The depth of this experience is attained through the meditative state of samadhi, known as savikalpa samadhi. In the state of samadhi we may experience Parashakti as Pure Consciousness, Pure Love, All-Pervasive Consciousness or the Divine Light of Intelligence. However the experience of Parashakti is not limited to the depth of the meditative samadhi experience. Parashakti can also be experienced when we are in worship or while performing charity. 

Insight: Learn more about the many ways of experiencing Parashakti.

Mystery. This is how God Realized gurus often describe Parabrahman. Parabrahman, the deepest and ultimate Aspect of God lies beyond Creation itself. This, the Third Aspect of God is defined as God transcending time, form and space. Parbrahman exists beyond any spiritual perception, intellectual definition or the physical senses. Therefore it is impossible to adequetly explain this Aspect of God that is also known as God’s Unmanifest Reality. However despite its indescribable nature, Parabrahman can be experienced through the state of samadhi. This experience is known as nirvikalpa samadhi.

In a talk titled 'The Self-God', my guru gave this instruction to his devotees to give them an inkling of what it would be like to experience Parabrahman. He instructed, “If you visualize above you–nothing; below you–nothing; the right of you–nothing. If you visualize in front of you–nothing; in back of you–nothing; and dissolve yourself into that nothingness, that would be the best way you could explain the realization of the Self. And yet that nothingness would not be the absence of something like the inside of an empty box which would be a void. That nothingness is the fullness of everything, the power, the sustaining power of the existence that appears to be everything.”

Gurudeva often used the word he coined, Self-God as another name for Parabrahman, since Parabrahman methphorically lies deep within the Parashakti core of our soul. The word Self indicates that Parabrahman is at the ultimate root of our existence. Thus despite Parabrahman being aloof or transcendent, we are still mysteriously and intimately connected to our Self-God. 

Insight: Learn more about the mysteries surrounding Parambrahman.

To experience Parabrahman the devotee’s awareness must penetrate deep into the core of his or her soul through meditation. Parabrahman is a purely meditative experience; and among all meditative experiences Parabrahman is the most difficult to achieve. It is an experience that is usually, though not necessarily, reserved for the most disciplined and dedicated meditators, the renunciates; and one that requires the careful guidance of a fully enlightened guru. The experience of Parabrahman is required for the soul to attain total enlightenment and moksha. It is therefore the destiny of all souls on Earth to experience Parabrahman in one life or another. 

We cannot relate to Parabrahman with our mind or heart; so transcendent is Parabrahman. However Parabrahman is represented in worship as the Shivalingam. The Shivalingam conforms to neither human-like nor animal-like forms. A Shivalingam, is usually an oval stone placed on a circular base. This image of God symbolizes God’s transcendent and formless Aspect of Parabrahman. 

Insight: Learn more about the Shivalingam and its Place in Worship.

The three Aspects of God create three unique types of experiences we can have of God. Of the three Aspects, Parabrahman and Parashakti are experienced through the meditative states of samadhi. Sage Patanjali, the ancient mystic, described and named two states of samadhi in his renowned Scripture, the Patanjali Yoga Sutras. He named the state of samadhi in Parashakti, savikalpa samadhi; and the state of samadhi in Parabrahman, nirvikalpa samadhi.

Savikalpa or nirvikalpa samadhis are experiences from the union of our awareness with God as Parashakti or Parabrahman. In such states of union we claim that we are one with God. These unions happen within our soul–that is, when in meditation, our awareness penetrates into the core of our being to the most fundamental level of our existence. This part of our soul is eternally in union with God. After we have the experiences of samadhi we realize this reality of our oneness with God. The knowledge gained from these realizations makes us enlightened. 

In both states of samadhi our awareness merges with God and we lose ourselves. It is as if our personality and sense of individuality vanishes (temporarily) and we become filled and thrilled by Divinity. Savikalpa samadhi is an experience that is intensely peaceful and blissful as it is experiencing union with God as Parashakti who is Pure Love, Pure Energy and Pure Consciousness. Nirvikalpa samadhi, is an experience that defies any description as it is the experience of God as Parabrahman who is beyond time, form and space. A meditator only knows that he or she has achieved nirvikalpa samadhi after the fact, by identifying the aftermath of the experience with the help of his or her guru. It is quite esoteric.

There is an hierarchy to both these samadhis. Savikalpa samadhi is easier to achieve compared to nirvikalpa samadhi. Savikalpa samadhi is also not exclusively limited to a purely meditative experience. There are many non-meditative ways one can achieve savikalpa samadhi, as described in the  Insight: Learn more about the many ways of experiencing Parashakti.

Nirvikalpa samadhi, however can only be experienced by one who is a true master of meditation. To achieve nirvikalpa samadhi the meditator must first acquire the mastery of maintaining savikalpa samadhi. The guidance of an enlightened guru is necessary to attain and maintain both types of samadhi, especially nirvikalpa samadhi.

The experiences of Parashakti and Paramatma through the samadhis are called monistic experiences since through these experiences we realize our inherent unity or oneness with God. The experience of Paramatma–the First Aspect of God, however, is not a samadhi experience. This is because the experience of Paramatma is a dualistic experience. Dualism is the opposite of monism. The dualistic experience of God means that we experience God as a Person apart from us. It is through this dualistic experience that we are able to or pray to God, request assistance from God and receive blessings, protection and Grace from God. 

Paramatma can appear to us as a physical person. You may have experienced the facial expressions of the deity in the temple changing during the puja ceremony. When you read stories of saints it is common in these stories for God to appear in some form to give blessings or play a role in the saint's life. 

Insight: Examples of how God appeared to Saints.

Occasionally in the temple or the home shrine when a devotee is in deep prayer a flower on the deity might fall. This sign is generally accepted as an answer of approval to a request in the devotees prayer. This may be a seemingly coincidental event, but it is an experience of Paramatma effecting the physical plane for the benefit of the devotee. Then, you have God appearing in visions during sleep and meditations. These are all some ways a devotee might experience Paramatma. 

When we are in the temple and feeling the spiritual vibrations that emanates from its shrines we are experiencing Paramatma. We feel the vibrations coming into us and effecting us spiritually from the deity to us. Where as in samadhi we experience the vibrations coming from deep within ourselves and effecting us all through to our physical being. This is the main difference between the monistic and dualistic experiences of God. There are of course no limits as to how God may appear to a devotee, or even a 'non-devotee'. Experiences wary from one person to another and some even have elements of dualistic and monistic experiences combined. 

An aspect of any experience of God is that they are awe inspiring. It is common place in Hindu writings of saints and sages, in their biographies or poems, to write of their yearning to see the Holy Form of God; and then to describe the immense joy and fulfillment they feel after receiving the Grace of having seen God. There is no criteria for who can or cannot seek God. Anyone can see or at least feel God. One just needs to cultivate this desire through devotion and knowing that it is possible (to experience God).