There are some really amazing experiences that come from simply sitting in a spot on the floor and watching your breath. If you ever had any doubt before that your mind was very powerful, you won’t after you experience some of the things that happen when your consciousness is altered after the brain stops thinking thoughts.
This video is about an overwhelming, building, blissful sensation that occurs as the doorway opens to jhana. I have heard my mother, and others, telling me about their “born-again Christian” experience. It is probably the same thing… what happens with Christians is that they give over their cares, their worries, literally everything that is a problem – over to “god”. They relax and chant, praise you jesus – praise you father… I watched my mom do this over and over as the evangelical ministers had their shows on TV. To hear my mom explain her ecstatic experience, is for me – a jhana experience.
When it originally happened to me – I didn’t know what it was. I wasn’t Buddhist, I didn’t know what jhana was. I knew that strange experiences were already happening when the mind stopped… this was just another. The power of this experience is downright earth-shaking. It is the most powerful emotional experience you have ever had. I know that already, because I can’t imagine anything approaching this in the day-to-day life of me or anyone I ever knew. It isn’t orgasmic, it is different, and yet it is completely a mind experience. There’s no physical component, as there is with sexual orgasm.
It feels as if the bliss will overwhelm you – swallow you up and eliminate “you”. The “i” is in jeopardy… there is a complete relinquishing of your “self” – if you let go and let it happen as it will…
I wrote a post about it for another website, here: Happiness of Another Dimension.
Though I tried hard to explain it – of course it’s so impossible to put into words. It’s much more realistic to just go ahead and do it yourself…