Bliss (Ananda)
Mystical experience is what matters on the spiritual path!
All our efforts, beliefs, philosophy, virtues and practices of every kind are worth little if they do not lead us to mystical experience.
Mystical experience is meeting the Spirit and its light (MahaPrakasha, see Abhinavagupta).
While driving I heard a very beautiful prayer on the radio station RCF, and it touched me…
It invited us to reflect on meeting the absolute and on what our refuge is…
Of course RCF (a French-speaking Christian radio station) offers Christ as the absolute refuge, and above all our attitude of “obedience” to our father, God.
The idea is very beautiful, and I asked myself what I take refuge in during my life.
What, sincerely, deep in my being, would find enough strength, so that in the face of events like illness, suffering, the loss of loved ones, I could truly call upon it so that, like a house built on rock, I could let these storms pass in bliss?
Once again it was the taste of the divine light that came to me. This amrita is so strong that I can find nothing much stronger beyond it…
But there, in that moment, at the wheel, or even now as I write these words, if I dive deep within, can I reach for the sensation of the absolute, something that instantly overwhelms me?
My breath freezes, the energy flares up, the fire in the sushumna appears and the heart joins the dance. At times the state becomes very powerful, very real. It does not last; I circle around it, sometimes I skim the divine fire a little more closely, and sometimes I enter it for a few seconds.
But I notice that between “me”, a limited consciousness, and this absolute deep within me, in my transcendence, there are obstructions…
That is already a fundamental step!
Being able to intuit the absolute!
That is, much more than imagining it: having a perfect intuition of it in the heart so that it reveals itself. Then truly becoming aware of the real nature of the obstructions on this path towards the light between me and the Self…
I perceive, for example, that heavy digestion creates agitation, a weakness that drains energy and prevents me from going into the absolute; or a fear, a doubt, a desire, desires, a trace of anger, a feeling of unease. In short, plenty of things can obstruct this “ascent” towards the absolute, and to “get through” I must set all these states aside or purify them. “Purification” can mean eating less, doing NadiShodana and postures, or plenty of other things, such as praying, loving…
I also notice “energies” that do not seem to be mine, and I think they are more or less ill-intentioned thoughts from other people, which also become obstacles.
All this shows me that the mind holds a multitude of things that clutter me, but that if my fervour and faith in the light are strong and renewed as often as possible at every moment of my life, I manage to rise above them quickly.
This is my point: I think we need to work on one facet of our being, polishing it all the time, to keep bliss (Ananda) within us. Whatever events life may bring, more or less difficult or favourable, we must find within us an unshakeable faith in something (divine Light, guide, master, religion, practice) that can instantly allow us to “reconnect” with bliss, and use everything that happens to us to feed this burning fire that constantly smoulders within us.
Then all the practices we do can hang on a single thread that links them all, allowing us, day after day, moment after moment, to strengthen our deep bliss and keep in contact with the Self, so that when the time comes the practice leads me into the mystical experience of meeting the light, and its ever-fresh taste.
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