body. All “knowledge” and all “consciousness”
merge into an undifferentiated awareness that is
absorbed in being itself. This does not mean that
the person cannot and does not exist and act in the
world as before. It merely implies that that person’s
awareness is no longer in any way affected or per-
turbed by that worldly reality. The yogi is then in
the “isolated state” (kaivalya) and functions on a
level beyond ordinary categories.
Further reading: Swami Hariharananda Aranya, Yoga
Philosophy of Patanjali: Containing His Yoga Aphorisms
with Vyas’s Commentary in Sanskrit and Translation with
Annotations Including Many Suggestions for the Practice
of Yoga. Translated into English by P. N. Mukherji
(Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983); Sri
Chinmoy, The Summits of God-life: Samadhi and Siddhi
(Jamaica, N.Y.: Agni Press, 1974); Ian Whicher, Cogni-
tive Samadhi in the Yoga Sutras (Chennai: Adyar Library
and Research Centre, 1997).
Sama Veda
Sama Veda, or “VEDA of the sung chants,” is one
of the three original Vedas that form the founda-
tion of Hindu tradition (a fourth Veda was added
sometime later). Most of its hymns are devoted
to the god SOMA. This god was invoked in many
Vedic rituals and was particularly honored by
the preparation of a psychedelic substance that
took the same name as the god: Soma. The
honoring of the god and the preparation of the
drug were the particular realm of the Sama Vedic
priests.
Any public Vedic ritual required the recitation
of passages from the Sama Veda. Many public rites
also required the consumption of the Soma drug.
The priests of the Sama Veda were known for their
sonorous chanting, which is considered the origin
of Indian music.
Further reading: Barend Faddegon, Studies on the
Samaveda (Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1951); S. V.
Ganapati, trans., Sama Veda (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass,
1992); G. H. Tarlekar, Saman Chants, in Theory and
Present Practice (Delhi: Sri Satguru, 1995).Sambanthar ( Jnanasambanthar)
(c. 570–670 C.E.) Tamil Shaivite poet-saint
Sambanthar (he connected to God through divine
wisdom) is among the trio of most prominent
Tamil SHAIVITE saints whose hymns appear in the
central liturgical and literary text of the Tamil
Shaivas, the TEVARAM.
Born to a BRAHMIN family in Cirkali, Tamil
Nadu, near the famous Shaivite shrine of CHID-
AMBARAM, Sambanthar was a child prodigy; it was
said that he began composing hymns in praise of
SHIVA when he was just a child. He is said to have
mastered Vedic learning at age three and received
by a miracle the ability to compose sacred poetry
from Shiva himself.
While still quite young Sambanthar com-
pleted four great pilgrimages to shrines of the
Tamil region, accompanied by other devotees. A
minstrel who accompanied him on these jour-
neys set his hymns to music—or, most likely,
simply recorded the melodies that the young
saint spontaneously sang; they are still sung by
devotees today.
Sambanthar’s hymns frequently condemn the
Buddhists and Jains (see JAINISM). He is said to
have converted the Pandyan king of Madurai from
JAINISM to Shaivism. Many miracles are associated
with his life. Legend says that when his parents,
at last, arranged his marriage, Shiva appeared as a
great blaze of light and invited the saint to merge
with him. The wedding party and bride joined the
saint in final union with God, before his marriage
could be finalized.Further reading: A. Kandiah, Mystic Love in the Tevaram
(Colombo: A. Kaniah, 1987); Indira Viswanathan Peter-
son, Poems to Siva: The Hymns of the Tamil Saints
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1989); P. S.
Somasundaram, Tirujnanasambandhar: Philosophy and
Religion (Madras: Vani Patippakam, 1986).K 378 Sama Veda