Savikalpa samadhi, literally samadhi with vikalpa, mental construct or distinction, names a grade of deep meditative absorption in which the meditator experiences a profound unity with the object of contemplation while some subtle trace of distinction, form, or mental modification still remains, distinguishing it from the more radical formlessness of nirvikalpa samadhi. In the vocabulary of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras this is generally aligned with samprajnata samadhi, samadhi with cognition, in which awareness, though extraordinarily concentrated and unified, still involves an object, however subtle, that the mind rests upon.
Advaita Vedanta commentators describe savikalpa samadhi as a genuine and valuable spiritual attainment, often accompanied by intense bliss and a powerful, transforming sense of unity with the divine or with ultimate reality, while nonetheless treating it as short of the tradition's highest goal, since a trace of subject-object structure, however subtle, is held to remain. Practitioners across yogic lineages describe savikalpa states as recognizable, repeatable stages within advanced meditation, reached before and building toward the more complete dissolution described in nirvikalpa samadhi.