Return to Samadhi

Looking at the meaning of Samadhi

- Devdutt Pattanaik

Samadhi commonly refers to the tomb of a holy man, or a place where his relics are stored, or a place where he was cremated, for example Gandhi Samadhi. Traditionally, while most Hindus were cremated, a saint’s dead body is buried, and the burial site becomes a holy shrine.

Many Hindus believe that a holy man does not die, but is able to voluntarily liberate, through Yogic practices, his life-force (Jiva-atma) from the mortal flesh (Deha) so that it unites with the cosmic infinite life-force (Param-atma).

So, at a very young age, in the thirteenth century, we are told that the saint Dyaneshwara, who wrote the first regional work on the Gita, took Samadhi. The historian D. D. Kosami referred to this as ritual suicide, annoying many devotees who refused to see Samadhi as suicide.

The idea of voluntarily killing oneself, or setting free one’s