Mahasamadhi: Computational Tanatology and Altered State Dynamics in a Fully Realised Neuromorphic Antahkarana

This paper introduces Mahasamadhi, a computational study of simulated dying in a neuromorphic model of the Antahkarana — a four-population spiking neural network encoding fear, wisdom, intellect, and attention alongside a metabolic energy budget, designed to investigate what happens to neural complexity as a system crosses the death threshold.

Across 498 experimental runs and two targeted ablations, the study reports five primary findings: a universal fear-surge threshold occurring at Prana 0.224 ± 0.029 confirmed across 441 independent observations, an invariant collapse order of intellect → attention → wisdom across all tested conditions, non-confirmation of a pre-registered consciousness-surge criterion in its strict form, a synergistic complexity effect in which 81.2% of simulated dying-while-altered runs exceed the psychedelic-only complexity peak, and evidence that collapse timing is metabolically determined rather than architecturally shaped.

This work is the first entry in the Mahasamadhi Series on computational tanatology, establishing empirical constants — including the universal Bhaya collapse threshold and the invariant Buddhi–Manas–Vairagya collapse sequence — that subsequent studies in the series will treat as anchored reference points.

All experimental code, run logs, and four annotated videos are openly available alongside this record.

Series: Mahasamadhi Series — computational tanatology. Study of a fully realised neuromorphic Antahkarana approaching and crossing the death threshold. Five confirmed findings including universal Bhaya collapse threshold and invariant collapse order.

Links: GitHub Repository (private — to request access: email research@nexuslearninglabs.in with subject Code Access Request — Mahasamadhi and your research context)  |  Interactive Dashboard  |  FAQ  |  Full Series Index — venky2099.github.io

Nexus Learning Labs, Bengaluru · UDYAM-KR-02-0122422 · BHASKAR IN-0526-9452JS
ORCID: 0000-0002-3315-7907 · VAIRAGYA_DECAY_RATE = 0.002315 (embedded in all canonical hyperparameters)
Canary: MayaNexusVS2026NLL_Bengaluru_Narasimha