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joseph
117 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 30 2015 : 6:48:59 PM
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Hey. Got a question for those of you who have had sublime or blissful experiences - preferably prolonged experiences - during meditation. When you came out of it how did you feel, during the time coming out and for the remainder of the day? I recently read the chapter in Autobiography of a Yogi entitled An Experience in Cosmic Consciousness, and Yogananda describes an 'almost unbearable' disappointment when the experience was over, when, in his own words the 'infinite immensity was lost'.
It seems that to have sublime experiences like that is as much a bad thing as good, because you have to come down from it, you have to carry on with your life.
It got me thinking, was this a type of overload he was experiencing, and also, if an average meditator felt that they had a chance of having the same experience, would they be better to avoid it? I get the impression that it was premature for him at the time. |
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jonesboy
USA
594 Posts |
Posted - Aug 30 2015 : 8:45:44 PM
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Hi Joseph,
You have to understand those feelings were his attachments his yearning. Instead of feeling so bad you probably will feel extremely blessed.
When you reach the point of having such experiences life is pretty good. In Yoganandas case he had a guru introduce him to levels of silence or provide the energy for experiences described in the book.
The goal is to not desire them, if you want it, it will not happen. Meditation is about letting go. We need to let go off desire for experiences, sensations and the fear of them as well.
Trust yourself.
All the best,
Tom |
Edited by - jonesboy on Aug 30 2015 8:48:30 PM |
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joseph
117 Posts |
Posted - Aug 31 2015 : 10:20:08 AM
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Hey Tom, cheers for the reply.
quote:
We need to let go off desire for experiences, sensations and the fear of them as well.
While I concur, it seems that to progress to higher levels of experience is a normal human desire, but if the experience comes on one suddenly and powerfully, it can be destructive in the long run. I'm thinking it's best to not have such a vision, if one had the choice. Maybe that's just my opinion  |
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sunyata
USA
1507 Posts |
Posted - Aug 31 2015 : 11:26:51 AM
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Great advice from jonesboy as always.
quote:
While I concur, it seems that to progress to higher levels of experience is a normal human desire, but if the experience comes on one suddenly and powerfully, it can be destructive in the long run. I'm thinking it's best to not have such a vision, if one had the choice. Maybe that's just my opinion
Hi Joseph,
Very valid point. Having gone through a spontaneous awakening myself, it took me years to assimilate. There was a lot of suffering then. But after reading through numerous accounts of people meditating for decades and only then having that experience puffed up my "spiritual" ego a bit. Yes, it is easier to gradually awaken with daily practices. But I think we really don't have a choice between gradual awakening and spontaneous awakening.
Sunyata |
Edited by - sunyata on Aug 31 2015 1:32:56 PM |
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Charliedog
1625 Posts |
Posted - Aug 31 2015 : 11:51:06 AM
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Hi Joseph,
It took me years to balance after spontaneous awakening. Most and for all because I didn't have an idea what was happening with me. Still I am very grateful for it, because in that period I learned what real love means, and despite the chaos that was overwhelming and the most beautiful I ever experienced. Once the path of yoga was found there were many experiences, but I can tell that the desire for more was the hardest to let go. Like Sunyata, I do believe that all is happening, we do not have a choice in this. We do have a choice to practice, and with practice we progress.
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joseph
117 Posts |
Posted - Aug 31 2015 : 5:53:44 PM
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Thanks Sunyata, Charliedog
What was the nature of your spontaneous awakening, was it due to stress. What were the symptoms? The experiences I had in mind with the original post are not like what happen to most people but they are much deeper, such as happened to Yogananda and Gopi Krishna. Gopi's consciousness expanded massively during a routine meditation and there was little warning. The actual expansion was rapid.
What is essential I think, would be to remain in control at each moment so we can decide whether we want to continue, going deeper into it, or we want to withdraw and come back to our senses and the familiar world. Then we would stand a better chance of coming back down and continuing with our lives as if nothing much had happened.
Again thanks for sharing. This forum is very helpful. |
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jonesboy
USA
594 Posts |
Posted - Aug 31 2015 : 10:19:27 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by joseph
Hey Tom, cheers for the reply.
quote:
We need to let go off desire for experiences, sensations and the fear of them as well.
While I concur, it seems that to progress to higher levels of experience is a normal human desire, but if the experience comes on one suddenly and powerfully, it can be destructive in the long run. I'm thinking it's best to not have such a vision, if one had the choice. Maybe that's just my opinion
Hi Joseph,
Bhakti is a normal thing. It is a good thing and one does need it to keep going. Nothing wrong with it at all.
What I am saying is if you desire ecstatic energy experiences in or out of practice with a driving desire you won't. You won't have visions or anything else if you desire for it.
Control is even worse and the fastest way of not ever experiencing anything ever.
You are holding onto fear. That holding on is your obstructions.
You are holding on to a thought, you are beyond it all.
Just let go. |
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Charliedog
1625 Posts |
Posted - Sep 01 2015 : 03:51:09 AM
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Hi Joseph,
quote:
What was the nature of your spontaneous awakening, was it due to stress. What were the symptoms? The experiences I had in mind with the original post are not like what happen to most people but they are much deeper, such as happened to Yogananda and Gopi Krishna. Gopi's consciousness expanded massively during a routine meditation and there was little warning. The actual expansion was rapid.
My life was perfect, but I was unhappy, I was wearing all kind of masks. I did what I thought everyone was expecting from me. There was no energy left in my, I was exhausted and I had neck and shoulder problems. I went to a manual/physiotherapist and received therapy for that. The therapist confronted me again, (he did that every time) with myself, my perfectionism, my disconnection with my body. He was hurting me physically and mentally, but I did not feel anything. Then he stopped and sat himself opposite of me, told me that he hurt me, and that I did not react on anything he did. I gazed in his eyes and then BOOM. Kundalini was there, everywhere. That was the moment my life changed. It felt like I sat there for hours gazing into his eyes, then I went outside. My life was changed, It was if I felt and saw for the first time. Walking home, my consciousness was expanded, I saw my whole life in seconds, especially all I did wrong, guilt, what to do, where to go, how further. Like balloons in comicstrips. Chaos allover. At the same time fearlessness arose, I saw the beauty of live, the colors, and there was so much love, I was only ecstatic bliss.
I walked home but had not the feeling that I touched the ground.
I have had two lifes one before that day, and one after.
A few months later yoga came into my life, balancing started, my whole life changed, step by step. Not an overnight happening, not easy, it took years to find out for myself what happened, to balance.
For myself I wrote books full with experiences, because I wanted to keep them, they are so beautiful. It helped me, I can say writing helped me the most of everything, to understand myself, who I am. I know now who I am, I Am. I am happy. I am love, I am everything and everything is me and in me. Last winter I burned the books.....
The inner Journey is the most beautiful and the most challenging.
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sunyata
USA
1507 Posts |
Posted - Sep 01 2015 : 10:24:18 AM
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Hi Joseph,
It was spontaneous but I feel that I was on this journey since birth. At this point in my journey, I don’t see a difference between spiritual and non spiritual. Everyone is on their spiritual journey. Yogani always mentions not to go after experiences. This has been a realization as well. Experiences never last. Experiences can give you the boost/push to start your sadhana. That’s how it was for me. I went through all the experiences mentioned in the books. Also, wanting to have certain experiences is also a blockage.Doing your practices and letting everything go is the key.
quote:
I recently read the chapter in Autobiography of a Yogi entitled An Experience in Cosmic Consciousness, and Yogananda describes an 'almost unbearable' disappointment when the experience was over, when, in his own words the 'infinite immensity was lost'.
This is very true untill you have the inner silence. It was the case for me as well. I was in this high states for months and then crashed in the dumps. Had I been practicing deep meditation before that, it would have been different. Hence Deep Meditation and Spinal Breathing are the keys to developing inner silence and esctatic conductivity. When you have both , you are able to handle the lows better. The lows stop getting lower and rise up. They start to not phase you as much.
quote:
What is essential I think, would be to remain in control at each moment so we can decide whether we want to continue, going deeper into it, or we want to withdraw and come back to our senses and the familiar world.
During the awakening, I laughed so hard when the realization dawned that I was not in control. Infact, there is no "I". It was such a relief. Yes, we can self-pace when we overload but that's about it.
I want to share what I’ve learned in the past five years after the awakening. It does not matter how amazing experiences you have or how much spiritually you have progressed. If you cannot bring this to your daily life, it’s useless. If you are a jerk in day to day life, what’s the point of all the different Samadhis, states you have experienced. So I sit down to clean the muck in this body mind everyday.
Sunyata
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Edited by - sunyata on Sep 01 2015 10:29:02 AM |
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joseph
117 Posts |
Posted - Sep 01 2015 : 12:43:27 PM
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Beautiful!
It's dawning on me that this is what sets Yoga aside from every other endeavor. The fact that we can't control it, we don't know where we're going, and we shouldn't have goals in the first place. |
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Blanche
USA
859 Posts |
Posted - Sep 05 2015 : 1:54:51 PM
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Hi Joseph!
I would like to add a couple of things to the beautiful answers regarding "loosing the high" of a spiritual experience. I think this "coming down" is a common happening on the spiritual path.
Also, it seems to me that people who got spiritually "high" due to an external factor, be it a guru or drugs or just a spontaneous awakening, are more likely to go through this yo-yo process, of highs and lows, very frustrating, marked by suffering when the high experience passes, as you noticed.
What is to be done? Well, getting involved with the practices, such as the AYP System, is a good way to get into the driving seat of your spiritual awakening.
The practice makes you prone to "accidents" - spiritual awakenings, and as they come, they tend to go deeper and be more stable.
When you are low, you know that all you need to do is go back to practices. No fuss, no expectations of outside interventions. With practice, you do not as much as "get high" as you "are high." You handle more and more energy and insight. Eventually, you get to see yourself and the world in a very different way. You also realize that who you are is always there, you are That, you have always been That - so how come you can loss this? It is always there. You are That all the time.
So maybe the question is not how to get to the "high" as how to find what it is "blocking" it, what it is "erasing" it. It seems to me now that "losing the high state" might have to do with the mind.
One has to figure out how the mind works to find out how the mind is "blocking" the view of who we are and what the reality is.
On another note, you wonder if it is better to avoid the blissful experiences. Some years ago, reading again and again the warnings of the "trap" of blissful experiences on the path, I spent some months avoiding them.
Every time bliss poured in meditation, I would back off. Started the mantra again. Started the meditation again.
Guess what? It did not work. I could never get very far. It seems that the body has to be "blissed out" to drop.
There are wonderful states on the path in which one would like to stay forever - and I think they are the trap, because one cannot hold on anything, nothing is forever - the only way is to continue on the path.
The guru is in you!
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Edited by - Blanche on Sep 06 2015 10:31:46 AM |
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Dogboy
USA
2197 Posts |
Posted - Sep 05 2015 : 2:35:10 PM
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On another note, you wonder if it is better to avoid the blissful experiences. Some years ago, reading again and again the warnings of the "trap" of blissful experiences on the path, I spent some months avoiding them. Every time bliss poured in meditation, I would back off. Started the mantra again. Started the meditation again. Guess what? It did not work. I could never get very far. It seems that the body has to be "blissed out" to drop. There are wonderful states on the path in which one would like to stay forever - and I think they are the trap, because one cannot hold on anything, nothing is forever - the only way is to continue on the path.
Blanche makes an important observation here. Your practice will wring out all ranges of sensation, and you need to witness both the pleasant and unpleasant, be with it fully without avoiding or hoarding, just be and then, as the song says, let it be. This is how the journey is meant to unfold, and how your temple is built. |
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Question on trance state, samadhi, etc
