In order to attain samadhi in meditation, you first have to understand what keeps you from attaining Savikalpa samadhi.
At the level of unconsciousness, which is to say, the level of being identified with your thinking, you are a victim of your thoughts.
Your thoughts and emotions control you and ultimately create your world. Every thought you think becomes your reality.
So if the thought arises "I am not good enough." Then you identify with that thought. You become the "I" in that sentence. You experience the stress and unhappiness around it. You take it on personally and become that thought.
But in meditation, at the level of awareness, you have the choice of whether you identify with the thoughts or you let them go and remain as the witness.
With awareness, when the thought arises "I am not good enough," you can see the thought arising and let it go. And then it will not affect you in the least. It will not be personal. You will remain as the witness in a perfect state of peace.
Thoughts arise by themselves. In meditation, we are not looking to control thoughts any more than we are looking to control the rain. So allow the thoughts to come but watch them.
If your attention is strong enough in meditation that you are aware of the thought arising, then you are at choice. You can choose to let go of the thought.
You are aware of the thought arising and you instantly let it go. You never identify with it. You recognize it as a thought without ever making it personal and you let it go.
And this is no easy task because you are attached to identifying with thoughts in the same way a drunk is attached to drinking.
So say he decides to stop drinking.
He walks by the bar the first time and the desire is too strong and he has to go in for a drink.
The second time he walks by the bar, he wants to go in but he does not give in to the desire. And without that drink there is much upheaval, emotional, physical and mental.
But the next time he walks by the bar, it is easier to pass by.
Each time, less upheaval, less desire, more freedom.
And after a while, he passes by the bar and has no interest in going in.
He can't even imagine why anyone would want to go in there on such a beautiful day and drink such awful tasting stuff.
It is the same with your thoughts and entering samadhi.
If you get to the level of attention where you can see the thought arising, then you can choose to let it go.
It maybe hard at first, there maybe much upheaval. It may feel like you have just lost your security blanket.
But with every thought you let go, it is easier to let the next one go and remain as the witness.
The thought arises about cookies, and you really want to imagine eating the cookie, but you let it go.
And it hurts a little, not having the pleasure of imagining that cookie.
But with practice, very quickly the bliss of witnessing the thought will far outweigh the tiny pleasure and stress you get for imagining the cookie.
And then when witnessing becomes your natural experience, you enter samadhi.
In Savikalpa samadhi, you will experience the thoughts arising as energy out of energy and disappearing back into energy.
And in Savikalpa samadhi, you will no longer feel any desire to identify with thoughts. It is like the bond between you and thoughts has been broken. In samadhi, the idea of a 'me' as a person with problems and desires has been transcended and you exist in your pure state of awareness.
You will experience everything as energy. You will be immersed in a peace beyond what could be imagined. As though every cell has been reset to its natural vibration of bliss.
To enter into Savikalpa Samadhi some form of Shakti (Spiritual energy) is usually needed. Usually this Shakti is given through an enlightened master. But if you check out the link below, you will discover how you can experience this Shakti simply by listening to a unique CD.
