8th Level of Astanga Yoga: Samadhi
From meditation arises samādhi, the trance of knowledge, the eighth degree of astanga yoga (sūtra 3.3):
tad eva artha mātra nirbhāsaṃ svarūpa śūnyam iva samādhiḥ.
The state of samādhi is as if (iva) in consciousness only the object of meditation (artha mātra) shines (nirbhāsaṃ) and the consciousness of its own form (svarūpa) is emptied (śūnyam).
It should be noted that the transition of stages six, seven and eight is fluent. The practitioner sits down for the concentration, from which automatically the meditation arises. In meditation, the practitioner already loses the feeling for his own meditation. When the concentration is very deep, the meditator does not even think about meditating.
And above all, the eighth stage, which also results automatically from meditation, happens practically by itself, so it can not be controlled by the practitioner himself (unless this would have reached a correspondingly high state of consciousness). Samadhi is the gift that the yogi receives through the grace of God (ātmā). With samādhi the yogi has reached the goal, yoga as a method has led him to yoga as a conscious state of unity.