The workshop was conducted in two sessions, which happened over two consecutive Saturdays. The first session began with a collective sharing and downpour of aspirations, showing the readiness of the participants to do the inner work. Dr. Yogesh explained that the purpose of sharing the aspirations in the beginning of the session was to awaken and form a community at an occult level in which we are all connected. He said that keeping videos on during these online sessions is a subtle and an occult way of opening ourselves to the energies of Grace and the descent of its Force. He then explained the essence of Ananda, which was insightful and aspiring for the participants.
Ananda is not the joyful experience of the ego that we feel when somebody praises us. Ananda is ‘Power’ to change things at a very deep level. It is ‘Shakti’, a descent of the Force which is already there within us. We do not create it.
Dr. Yogesh shared that the aim of this workshop was to create an atmosphere during the sessions in which the Divine can guide us towards our psychic state of consciousness, the Anandamaya state of being. It is also important to stay in that state for as long as possible because as much as this diving down into the Ananda is important, so is the diving back to the surface-level state, to keep the flow of Ananda, the psychic alive and transform the body, the mind, the vital slowly, step-by-step. With that understanding and awareness, the participants engaged in the guided meditation on the mantric lines from Savitri
“All that denies must be torn out and slain, And crushed the many longings for whose sake We lose the One for whom our lives were made.”
Through the meditation, the participants were intuitively led into a phase of inner purification to become detached from the surface. The essence of the meditation was to direct the participants to -
- Visualise the presence of the Divine in their heart and make the whole being transparent to Her and reject all our ambitions and desires that don't come from the Divine and offer it for purification.
- Our only identity is that, ‘I am a soul, an instrument of the Divine, a pure flame of consciousness’. Everything else is a mixture and impure.
- The only definition of good is that which comes from the Divine, everything else is an obstacle. All the desires including the sexual desires must be sublimated, refined and offered to the Divine. Food should never become our obsession or weakness. We must take it like a Prasad.
- To visualise our whole being as a Golden Flame of Consciousness. The Divine Mother’s flame is within us, it is the presence around us.
The second session started with Dr. Yogesh giving clarity about a few important points related to these sessions such as
- During these sessions, what really transpires at a deeper level is something extraordinarily rare, beautiful and special.
- This revelation becomes possible only due to the active presence, support and guidance of the Divine Mother and of the Supramental Force in the earth's atmosphere.
- The work done in these sessions is very closely aligned with Integral Yoga, the preparation for the divine life in a divine body.
Ananda is the basis of who we are, at our core. In our daily life, we seem to be far away from this essential experience of bliss within. We keep looking for it in our relationships, seeking love, recognition, praise, etc. from the people around us. We might at times get a momentary glimpse of satisfaction in our surface-level relationships and interactions but never a lasting experience. Our Psychic being is the source of Ananda and we need a consistent will to reject everything that becomes an obstacle in the way of this realisation of our true nature.
We all face a similar dilemma in life, wherein we all have faith in our inner inward journey and yet, at the same time, we carry so many doubts related to it. Our real work is to dissolve these doubts which act as inner walls and distractions in our journey within. These walls will start to break if we do not give them so much importance and stop indulging in these confusions, worries, obstacles.
The highlight of the session was the guided meditation in which Dr. Yogesh urged the participants to observe, share and offer to the Divine Mother anything and everything within, that is acting like a wall in their lives.
The essence of the meditation was to guide and help the participants to:
- Detach from the surface-personality of personal and professional roles and get in touch with the huge powerful Sun-like Presence of psychic-being, knocking in our heart to let it shine, expand, destroy and dissolve everything that is not divine.
- Allow the golden vibrations of psychic being, Delight and Ananda to penetrate our heart, lungs, liver, stomach, flow down through the stomach into the small intestine, large intestines, kidneys, towards the back side of your abdomen, in the tissues of our kidney and bring love, gratitude to these parts. Feel this Delight flowing through your spine.
- Feel the Golden Presence in our entire being surrounding us like a beautiful strong envelope.
- Bring the Divine Mother's presence in the heart and establish it there forever. This is the Grace of the Divine Mother offering us this experience of the highest psychic vibrations infusing the cells of our body.
At the end of the meditation, the participants expressed their gratitude for the powerful presence, deep silence, gentle warm glow and spreading of light, peace and cleansing experience permeating in every part of the body
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“This workshop gave me a glimpse of the state of Ananda.”