Samarasa Explained

Samarasa (Sanskrit Devanagari: समरास; IAST: samarāsa; synonymous with IAST: ekarāsa;^[1] ; ^[2]) is literally "one-taste"^[3] "one-flavour" or "same-taste" and means equipoise in feelings, non-discriminating or the mind at rest.

In Buddhism

Nalanda Translation Committee (1982: p. 223) render a work on Marpa, the famed Tibetan Yogi and define samarasa as:

...equal taste (S: samarasa; T: ro-mnyam) The yogic practices and visualization exercises of Buddhist tantra are extremely complex, but underlying them is a single experience of things as they are. This realization or state of mind is sometimes called equal taste, meaning that all extremes of good and bad, awake and sleep, and so on have the same fundamental nature of emptiness and mind itself.^[4]

Dzogchen

Vajranatha (1996: p. 332) in his glossary of The Golden Letters, an annexure to his translation of, and commentary upon, the 'Three Statements' of Garab Dorje, defines thus:

• ro-gcig: single taste, single flavour, the state of being a single taste, ekarasa
• ro-snyoms: same taste, the process of making everything into the same taste, samarasa^[5]

In Hinduism

Samarasa is one of four principal keywords and teachings of the Natha Tradition, the other three being 'svecchachara' (Sanskrit: स्वेच्छाचार), 'sama' (Sanskrit: सम), and 'sahaja' (Sanskrit: सहज).^[6]

Shri Gurudev Mahendranath (1911 - 1991), founder of the International Nath Order,^[7] wrote:

Further reading

• Web site: Mahendranath . Shri Gurudev . Ecstasy, Equipoise, and Eternity . 2023-05-03.
• Web site: Mahendranath . Shri Gurudev . The Pathless Path to Immortality . 2023-05-03.

Notes and References

1. Dharma Dictionary (December, 2005). 'ro gcig'. Source: http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/ro_gcig (accessed: Friday April 16, 2010)
2. Gtsaṅ-smyon He-ru-ka (author), Nalanda Translation Committee (translators) (1982). The life of Marpa the translator: seeing accomplishes all, Volume 1982. Biographies of the Ngetön lineage series. Taylor & Francis., . Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=Xuo9AAAAIAAJ&dq=samar%C4%81sa+one+taste&pg=PA223 (accessed: Friday April 16, 2010), p.223
3. Child, Louise (2007). Tantric Buddhism and altered states of consciousness: Durkheim, emotional energy and visions of the consort. Ashgate new critical thinking in religion, theology, and biblical studies. Ashgate Publishing., 9780754658047. Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=zOuxJqF2l9AC&dq=samar%C4%81sa+one+taste&pg=PA30 (accessed: Friday April 16, 2010), p.30
4. [Gtsaṅ-smyon He-ru-ka]
5. Reynolds, John Myrdhin (1996). The Golden Letters. Ithaca, NY, USA: Snow Lion., p.332
6. International Nath Order (August, 2009). 'Samarasa'. Source: http://internationalnathorder.org/wiki/Samarasa (Friday April 16, 2010)
7. International Nath Order (March, 2008). "Shri Gurudev Mahendranath." Source: Web site: Shri Gurudev Mahendranath - International Nath Order . 2010-04-16 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110726182647/http://internationalnathorder.org/wiki/Shri_Gurudev_Mahendranath . 2011-07-26 . (accessed: Friday April 16, 2010)