As Sadhguru conducts more and more sathsangs for public – the target audience largely are folks that don’t do any spiritual practice daily. And he even directly addresses those folks quite often. If someone asks him any Q about their Isha practices, he only answers it for those folks who are doing Shambhavi! What about us – the ones who have been doing the advanced Isha practices regularly?

I have been becoming a little sceptical about how relevant this content is for me. Me, who has unusual intensity and regular daily practices and conscious sadhana processes on all the time. And have had Sadhguru as a guiding light & present experience within me since over a decade.

Thus, I start off many of these sathsangs sceptically because as usual Sadhguru will remain within the gambit of “public”.

But sometimes….. things get too intense. It is almost like there is a switch… and He flips it ON…. and there is a crazy strong pull to Him.

My fellow Isha friends who aren’t the silent type (like me) go crazy, screaming and rolling. And now, we can even hear that crowd on the online webcast.

While, there is a lot I could talk about on this topic and my experiences on this – these would have varying degrees of relevance to you, the reader. However, in this blog post, I am sharing a specific incident that happened very recently.

Emotional Release

In a recent strong Sadhguru sathsang experience, I remained aware through a major emotional release.

With various spiritual paths, one salient aspect is that we develop a bit of distance with our thoughts and emotions. And so, through this strong emotional release, I remained similarly aware and thoughtful.

What makes people – often adult, rooted, stable – burst out in emotional volleys / lose their control / experience inner upheaval?

Or are they not so “adult, rooted and stable” which we earlier considered? Were we always a mental drama? With a psychological jing bang going on all the time, and at times we are identified, at times separate and aware.

Often after such experiences of emotional release there have been a trail of thoughts that followed it. Thoughts of confusion, doubt and self-reproach. What is this emotional reaction anyway?

However, this time I remained simply aware and calm.

And was left with just one thought,

Considering that we are all so emotional creatures. What spiritual path can there be which doesn’t shake our very emotional innards? Would the spirituality only remain on surface if the path / Guru didn’t touch the very core of our being – which at this time we are saying is emotional?

Bhakti being a powerful path. And debatably, it is said in Kali yuga, most of us are still best fit for bhakti rather than other margas. An emotional upheaval can be a great way to experience and understand our emotional strength.

We thought we were a calm, placid river. A water source for others. A smooth sailing for boats and what not.

And here we sit in a sathsang, with a bearded fellow going on and on about something…. And all of a sudden there is a moment, and that placid river just becomes an ocean tempest…..

Where did this whole emotional material come from! We cry / scream like there is no tomorrow.

In an unbearable anguish, as if all the world’s gonna end… And on top of that remaining aware of it all in a small way within. Aware and balanced.

So powerful. It’s a strength we will need to harness if we truly mean to move beyond our petty realities.

What Happens After?

I don’t know what others do… especially the rolling and screaming ones… but from what I have understood, we don’t need to lose all sense of our surroundings and purpose in these moments. We can simply get up after this experience/meditation is over and carry on with our stuff.

This time also, I sat and pondered if there was some action that needs to follow this kind of an experience.

But since I was unusually quiet in the mind this time (usually there has been a trail of unnecessary thoughts) – I figured there is no need to force think or force fit a logical action point.

If a natural action needs to arise, it will. If not. Not. That’s all.

By and large, most of us who go through such volleys, do find our way to the ashram and try out a fully dedicated life there. But then, many of us are outside again. And so… this experience of mine is after a lot of rollercoaster rides with the organization. Probably my response to such an emotional experience in my newbie days with Isha was very different.

Now, I can simply say….

Life is good. ❤️

I think I may have had an uncommonly strong emotional cleansing this time. 😇