Whenever the gestalt changes you attain a glimpse. That glimpse is satori. It is not final, you will lose it again. You will not become a buddha by satori; that’s why I say it is a samadhi and yet not a samadhi. It is an ocean in a teacup. Ocean, yes, and yet not the ocean — samadhi in a capsule. It gives you a glimpse, an opening… as if you are moving in a dark night, in a forest, lost; you don’t know where you are moving, where the path is, whether you are moving in the right direction or not — and then suddenly there is lightning. In a moment you see everything! Then the light disappears. You cannot read in lightning, because it lasts only a moment. You cannot sit under the sky and start reading in lightning. No, it is not a constant flow.
Samadhi is such that you can read in its light. Satori is like lightning — you can see a glimpse of the whole, all that is there, and then it disappears. But you will not be the same again. It is not final enlightenment, but a great step towards it. Now you know. You have had a glimpse, now you can search for more of it. You have tasted it, now buddhas will become meaningful. Now if Zengen meets Dogo again he will not hit him, he will fall at his feet and ask for his forgiveness. Now he will weep millions of tears, because now he will say, ‘What compassion Dogo had, that he allowed me to hit him; that he said, “Okay, you go ahead. Beat away!”‘ If he meets Dogo again, Zengen will not be the same. He has now tasted something which has changed him. He has not attained the final thing — the final thing will be coming — but he has got the sample.
Satori is the sample of Patanjali’s samadhi. And it is beautiful that the sample is possible, because unless you taste it how can you move towards it? Unless you smell it a little, how can you be attracted and pulled towards it? The glimpse will become a magnetic force. You will never be the same again. You will know something is there and ‘whether I find it or not — that is up to me.’ But trust will arise. Satori gives trust and starts a movement, a vital movement in you, towards the final enlightenment that is samadhi.
