Time becomes very unreal;
it can stretch out as your mindfulness becomes
very quick and sharp. Sometimes when you get into deep
samadhi time disappears. Distortion of time starts
to happen at the beginning of this stage.

At this stage, when you experience something and because
you have the habit of sometimes thinking and noting using the name, you try to name it, but the moment you try to name it, it is not there anymore. So you feel that you cannot name things anymore, you can just see them; watch them without thinking, without doing anything. To the beginner, the teacher teaches to note everything: hearing, thinking, etc. When you get at this stage the moment you try to note, it is not there anymore. So you cannot note anymore, you give up the noting and you stay aware, looking deeply.

At this stage, you are just looking, seeing;
no noting anything as you cannot note anymore,
because noting is very slow and seeing is very fast.

At this stage, meditators sometimes experience very bright lights (obhasa) which are the sign of a very concentrated mind.

These bright lights could have different shapes and different colour. Sometimes a very bright star appears and quickly passes away, sometimes it appears from one side and it moves across and the meditator gets very interested. Sometimes he sees that bright

light moving, getting bigger like a moon. In samatha
meditation this kind of light can be experienced also. It is a sign of concentration and of energy in the mind.
Sometimes time appears to go very fast which means that your mind is working very fast. In between the mental processes, always at the end of the process there is a gap which is called bhavanga.

When a person has too many bhavanga, there is a big gap. In one
second for example if a person has many gaps in between, then in one second he can only experience a few things. If there are fewer gaps then he experiences more. When you experience more things it feels like time becomes slow. If you have studied quantum and relativity you'll understand it more easily.

When the mind works faster
you feel like time has slowed down, this is very real.
In another stage (of meditation) when
the mind goes beyond time and beyond phenomena,
at that moment you don't see arising and passing away,
for you time does not exist, timeless.

There is a kind of state where time becomes non existent.
Another aspect of this stage is that wisdom (nana) becomes
very clear, seeing mental process just as a pure mental process, not a being. You don't think about it, you just see it happening, it's just a process, not a being. Whenever you experience a physical process you see the same thing very clearly, without any doubt, without any thinking. You see it as just a natural process and you see arising and passing away very clearly, without effort, it is so simple and natural. Very clear sharp knowledge, clear wisdom, it is amazing. One is surprised that it is possible to see it so clearly. Mostly, we are very dull and cloudy, very confused, we don't see anything clearly. But at this stage of meditation without thinking, when we pay attention to something we see it very clearly as it is. We feel very happy and satisfied sometimes.

Piti, a lot of joy and interest, sometimes rapture arises all
over the body. The mind becomes so still that thinking stops, observing becomes very clear and insight knowledge becomes very sharp and clear. In that moment a kind of joy arises. But too
much joy makes the mind too agitated and this can become an impurity. That is why these states are called vipassanupakkilesa, the impurities of insight. By themselves they are not impurities.

If we pay attention and don't become attached to them,
we don't become proud of those states, and we don't have any wrong understanding of these experiences then they just arise and pass away, just phenomena.

But if we become attached to these states and
become proud of them, sometimes these states
can be misinterpreted for Nibbana; then it
becomes an impurity, wrong understanding.

Then passaddhi, tranquility; body and mind become very
cool, real cool, so much so that you feel like you are sitting in an air conditioned room, and sometimes you can feel drops of cool water on the body, even the body temperature can go down. In my monastery I have thermometer, blood pressure and blood pulse counter. So sometimes I just strap myself with these things
and try to measure the blood pressure, pulse and temperature, and really the temperature, pulse and pressure go down, which shows that the body metabolism slows down. Only the mind is very active but not with thinking.      

That shows that thinking uses more energy.
Worry also uses a lot of energy. If you don't think and
don't worry, the mind becomes very sharp using
the minimum amount of energy.

Sukkha, happiness, bliss are also experienced, as in that
moment the mind is not attached or thinking about anything, it feels very free and happy. This is like a paradox. How can a person feel so happy seeing everything is arising and passing away immediately?

You feel happy because you are totally detached.
Detachment brings real happiness.
Attachment is a burden.
Most people mainly feel that when
they get what they want then they feel happy.

Real happiness is, not wanting anything.
This is very hard to understand. If we don't practice meditation and just think about it, we would not believe it. At this stage you don't want anything at all. No desire for anything

u jotika.. A Map of the Journey.  For free distribution only.