Index9 YogasYogaReal YogaGreat YogisWhy Yoga?What Is Yoga?YantraWordThe PortalWhoConsciousnessKarmaMeditationHealthSicknessSattwicDietFoodSpiritMotivationsKriya YogaSnowflakesWaterMindNo–MindGeneticsYogAurasCuriousityEasterAumFieldMounaReincarnationKashmirCultsLyingPlantsVegGuruChantAtralTerminologyMIlkTipsThe No–Mind State
How to arrive at The Portal of the Hridian Center, or the No–Mind state?
It looks rather cold when seen in print — this No–Mind state — much like the misunderstanding that Nirguna has, as meaning the Void. It is nothing like that. It is not empty in the sense that you have ceased to exist. It is more than words can describe, as it is the place where you finally exist for ever, experiencing a Bliss unimaginable, and being Conscious of that for ever.
This Samadhi State of Consciousness though is without attributes, so therefore it is non–relatable. What good can that be you may well ask. If it is non–relatable then it could also be another Illusion, equal to any other Illusion that one faces in this best of all possible worlds
(Voltaire).
One wonders then is it just another promise, like the Christians promise heaven? So much to be accepted on Faith, passed on by Elders of a church or some ancient teaching. This is the nice thing about Yoga. It is scientific.
It works all the time, when the right formulae are put together.
Meditation will put anyone in the Theta Wave State of Mind. Science has proven this. Mind you, science can also give you a drug that will do the same thing, so why spend hours meditating when we could be pacified by taking a mind altering drug to arrive at that State?
Perhaps if was readily available there would be fewer Yogis than there are.
The real thing to ponder here is does Samadhi exist at all. Could it not be some Trance State that some few people have triggered into, and further extol its beauty and truth only to enable their own self–interest to be gratified?
Has everyone, since the beginning of time, been taken in by this promise of the great Samadhi State? I think not. For those of you that have followed my discussions on these subjects will by now, realize that through practise of Yogic techniques, certain describable results will occur. Honing the body through Hatha Yoga gives you energy and flexibility and a natural sense of well being. Understanding Gnana Yoga, even if only intellectually, gives one a clear picture for the direction one must take. Understanding Yantra Yoga will allow one to see how they can waste so much time practicing the wrong Yoga for themselves, and utilizing the clarity of the Cycles can make their life so much easier in their pursuit of experiencing Satchitananda.
So how do we go about discovering this No–Mind State. As I have explained before, meditation is one way, but is fraught with all manner of pitfalls, some being centering one's attention on a Mantram (Mantra), some on a visual ideal, and still, all those thoughts that keep bombarding the unsuspecting concentrator breaking his attempts to transcend this forest of thought monkeys
.
The term
thought monkeyrefers a restless and/or unfocused mind that jumps from one thought to another, much like how a monkey jumps from one tree to another.This metaphor is rooted in Buddhist teachings and symbolizes the challenges of maintaining focus, concentration and stillness.
Many do breathing programs — Pranayama prior to meditating — then go into Mudric posturing, and finally with all the ways of meditating there are, finally settle into a peaceful state — sometimes a sleep — sometimes lost in a vision and sometimes a trance.
Yet we know, if Patanjali is correct, that ALL mental fluctuations must cease, therefore the continuation of meditations that use objects, sounds or visions or any outside prop, will not do the trick, as what happens is we return to same spell binding vision that got us that far in the first place. Mantras become self–starting and repetitive, and even though they are said to have magical vibratory powers to allow one to transcend, you will find the mind is caught in the groove of the Mantra and that Mantra becomes a Samskara (mental impression) so indelibly fixed, that it itself is terribly difficult to get rid of.
We know our Mind to some degree as we are Conscious of this and that, so just what are we Conscious of when there is no mind to be Conscious?
I can only relate to you once again the only experience that many of you can relate to. I have found that some don't know what I am talking about when I use this allegory to explain the experience of Satchitananda, but just try an imagine the following if your memory holds true for you:
When you first fell in love, and in the embrace of that lover, when passions ran to their proverbial extremes, both partners climaxing together in a great sexual explosion, something magical happened. Something that cannot be explained. Cannot be put in to words. YOU LOST YOUR OWN IDENTITY INTO THAT OF YOUR LOVED ONE IN THAT MOMENT. Self disappeared, and SELF Appeared. The Bliss and Joy of that proverbial moment must be repeated, and so it is, but alas in most cases, that supreme Bliss is lost and just the sexual climax is enjoyed, amongst other things of course.
It is that moment when you lost yourself in another, that is comparable to the experience of Samadhi, which of course lasts for hours and in the final stages of Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi, is retained all the time. So you can imagine then why a Yogi wishes to keep repeating his Samadhic experience, until he has advanced to the highest stage of it.
So that is what we are going to discuss today. The technique of being able to practise getting in to the No–Mind State, where you as the ego self, ceases to exist because you have united with your true SELF — the Atman.
The one technique is this and can be practiced whenever you have a spare moment during the day or night.
Watch your thoughts — just watch them. Try and see the spaces in between them. It is difficult. It is not like looking at the printed page and seeing the spaces between the words. On the printed page you can extend the the space like this and then center your attention into that space where nothing exists, but in the Mind or the spoken word spaces are very close together.
Well then when you are quiet and very concentrated, slow down your thinking, and then JUMP into the space you see in your mind's eye. Keep slowing the thought process down. It is You after all which is doing the thinking. You do have control over this.
I say it is You who have control over your thinking, but not over what You think. In this area, it becomes very important also, to investigate what and how You think, and just where your thoughts have come from.
You will find that things
you say to people everyday, all the time, are the same old same old variations on a theme. It is like putting on a record on a turntable. Right now your turntable is like a jukebox that has had its mechanism broken and records are flying on and off your turntable all the time. Some people can't even get to sleep because their juke–box mind has lost control of itself.
But slowly, by practicing, watching these records and by fixing your turntable so that it only plays records when you want to play them, you will find a stillness of mind that you never believed possible. It is in this stillness with full awareness of the stillness that you can experience Samadhi.
If your experience has any attributable thought attached to it — sleep, visions, lights etc, it is not Samadhi. If on the other hand you experience that exquisite, supreme Bliss of being lost into the other, then that is Samadhi. Only You will know it, and only You can judge it. You judge it by the attributable experience You had. If it is relatable then You were not in Samadhi. Just like your sexual climax. That cannot be explained either, for You, the observer self were lost in the SELF itself. Yet you know what you had. That is Gnosis — True Knowledge. It needs nothing to substantiate it. You do not have to prove it. You just know. Only then were You truly awake.
Now that is one way. The other is my technique of meditation, which is quite unique from all methods. A little more difficult to get started, but much better to attain this same state, in the end. Read Meditation on the Light article to learn more.
Both practices, watching the spaces between thoughts, which comes from Krishnamurti, and my meditation should be practiced.
Once all the other Yogas have brought you to this point of understanding, You will be able to drop off the rest and concentrate your time into just these two, because for those of you that are serious about Yoga, this is where it is at, in the Stillness and in the Silence.
License
Articles by Swami Harinanda and Yogi Karmananda are © 2026 and are licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Most images do not qualify for use under this license. The 9 Planes of Reality
image is, however our own
image and thus qualifies.
Some images are used under a Creative Commons License and can also be used as long as you follow their license agreement.
Music has been used with permission and may be used if you qualify and abide by the licensing requirements.
Send Message
The Real Yoga
website is designed to be a self–study website. But, feel free
to send us a message — but do make sure your email is correct.
Respecting Your Privacy
No spying. No cookies. No Google. No advertising. No tracking. No joking — well, maybe a few jokes.
Say yes to 100% free! Two thumbs up!
Index9 YogasYogaReal YogaGreat YogisWhy Yoga?What Is Yoga?YantraWordThe PortalWhoConsciousnessKarmaMeditationHealthSicknessSattwicDietFoodSpiritMotivationsKriya YogaSnowflakesWaterMindNo–MindGeneticsYogAurasCuriousityEasterAumFieldMounaReincarnationKashmirCultsLyingPlantsVegGuruChantAtralTerminologyMIlkTipsSelf Realization