A basic doubt - Enquiry & Ecstasy

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

I have a pretty basic question on the path of

Enquiry and my experience of it. While the practice of

enquiry allows the light of the Self manifest itself

brighter in us, does it give us an experience of the

waves & waves of ecstatic bliss that the light of the

Self is usually accompanied with? Since as per

Bhagavan himself, the Self and Joy/Happiness are

synonymous, shouldn’t a deeper experience of the Self

be accompanied by raptures of joy?

 

Let me give you the example of Sri Ramakrishna

Paramahamsa. It has been well recorded that when he

went into Samadhi, he used to lose himself in the

ecstatic bliss of the Self so much that he would reel

like a drunkard and be unable to even walk properly.

Since the Self is synonymous with joy, it seems to

follow directly that when one is able to allow this

Self to shine bright through saadhana, waves of joy

should accompany this. Many, many mystics in history

have experienced this too, like Sri Ramakrishna

Paramahamsa.

 

My practice of meditation has not strictly been

through the ‘holding onto the I-thought’ technique.

Since from a young age I have been taught to chant

mantras, something I’m used to, I rather try to follow

Bhagavan’s instructions to Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni

on the meaning of Tapas (penance).

 

Bhagavan had more or less broken his years of

silence in Tiruvannamalai through the words that he

used to graciously teach Kavyakantha, “Repeating a

mantra and tracing out the source from which the

mantra-sound emanates is tapas”. These words had

struck me tremendously when I read them first, and

from that day I have been practicing meditation in

this manner, which I feel is the same as tracing out

the source of ‘I’. Since the Self is the source of the

‘I’ thought and is also the source of the first

animation, the first sound, I feel that to trace the

source of the sound is the same as tracing the source

of the ‘I’-thought.

 

When I am regular in this practice and have good

sessions of meditation, I see many changes. The world

seems to take on a fresh, blissful look, I feel a lot

more love for people, and the symptoms of Bhakti

(love/devotion) as spoken of in the scriptures – tears

of bliss, hair standing on end etc – start happening

to me. Even music transports me to new worlds of joy

after such good sessions of meditation.

 

Hence my experience is that this form of ‘tracing

the source of the sound’ meditation does transport me

to waves of bliss and joy in its wake – however this

bliss and joy have never come to me DURING the

meditation per se. They have always come to me after

coming out of the meditation, but never during the

meditation. I do feel a sense of ‘being’ and what can

I say – a deep, deep resonance – during the

meditation, but I have never felt ecstatic during the

meditation – that has always been when I’m out of

it...

 

Am I missing something here? Is my experience in

line with what others have experienced/read about? I

got this doubt because it seems natural to me that if

one is slowly eliminating the chatter of the mind and

allowing the light of the Self to shine, one should

feel the ecstatic joy that is synonymous with the Self

(even as many mystics have). But during my meditation

as such, I have never felt those waves of joy that I

have felt during other times of a

meditative/introspective phase of my life.

 

I hope my question and the words I use are clear.

I would request other seekers in this group to share

their experiences/readings on this so that I can, for

myself, try to understand where I stand. May Ramanar

speak to me through you!

 

In Sundara-Ramanar,

Akhil

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

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Dear Akhil,

 

As you inquire, you gain Self-knowledge, and previously held ideas

(ignorance) naturally falls of. With this comes increasing (what I

think of as) inner peace.

 

For me the increasing inner peace increases the desire for liberation

and intensifies practice.

 

I have not had much in the way of blissful moments in practice

(though there have been moments). This is fine. For whom is this

bless anyway? It is important in practice to look to Being, and not

to seek ANY objective result.

 

Increasing inner peace is a sign that the inquiry is progressing.

Keep seeking to know just who you, in reality, are. What is it within

you that is ALWAYS THERE?

 

Keep the inquiry going until it is constant inquiry. (Constant

inquiry can not be any mental function? Who inquires?)

 

Not two,

Richard

 

RamanaMaharshi, Akhil Krishna

<akhil_all_alone> wrote:

>

> Dear Friends,

>

> I have a pretty basic question on the path of

> Enquiry and my experience of it. ...

> In Sundara-Ramanar,

> Akhil

[Guest guest]

Will members kindly edit their posts as a courtesy to members on Digest Mode

and/or still using Dial-Up connections and have to pay for their time to

download the mail. This message has been trimmed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

 

Yes, to paraphase Sri Bhagavan, unalloyed happiness is the true nature of

the self........

 

I fall back on the name myself often, although I leave it off when some

mental connection or dhyan flows from it.

 

....tom:) 'go team!'

 

-

"Akhil Krishna" <akhil_all_alone

<RamanaMaharshi>

Sunday, September 04, 2005 3:49 AM

[RamanaMaharshi] A basic doubt - Enquiry & Ecstasy

 

 

>

> Dear Friends,

>

> I have a pretty basic question on the path of

> Enquiry and my experience of it. While the practice of

> enquiry allows the light of the Self manifest itself

> brighter in us, does it give us an experience of the

> waves & waves of ecstatic bliss that the light of the

> Self is usually accompanied with? Since as per

> Bhagavan himself, the Self and Joy/Happiness are

> synonymous, shouldn't a deeper experience of the Self

> be accompanied by raptures of joy?

>

> Let me give you the example of Sri Ramakrishna

> Paramahamsa......I would request other seekers in this group to share

> their experiences/readings on this so that I can, for

> myself, try to understand where I stand. May Ramanar

> speak to me through you!

>

> In Sundara-Ramanar,

> Akhil

[Guest guest]

Dear Akhil,

 

I can't help but feel that Richard's response to you has really touched the

nub of it, at least in my understanding. So often Ramana seems to meet

the devotee's question with 'find out who it is to whom these questions and

experiences arise.' Keep up the inquiry.

 

Warm regards,

 

Peter

 

====================================

 

Keep the inquiry going until it is constant inquiry. (Constant

inquiry can not be any mental function? Who inquires?)

 

Not two,

Richard

 

RamanaMaharshi, Akhil Krishna

<akhil_all_alone> wrote:

>

> Dear Friends,

>

> I have a pretty basic question on the path of

> Enquiry and my experience of it. ...

> In Sundara-Ramanar,

> Akhil