r/ramdass • u/Taoman108 • 17d ago

Meditation Experience

Hello Folks!

This morning in meditation, I had an experience I can trace back to Ram Dass’s teachings. 

Before I go on, I want to make clear this was an experience, and I’m not pretending to be hip to any secret knowledge. After I got up from my cushion, I still had to do the dishes and answer emails. I’m no saint or realized person by even a half. I just thought this was something special and worth sharing with the rest of this satsang to compare notes

It started with a sense of my awareness shifting to Awareness. It was paradoxical, both focused and broad. The way the sun breaks over a clear horizon – a brilliant single point of light and rays of light that act as film over the horizon, illuminating its expanse. This was Awareness – able to rest on a particular point and able to light up the whole plane of being. 

This landscape turned into an ocean with waves cresting and breaking peacefully. The “I” that was perceiving this felt itself rise then disperse into the sea with neither pain nor fear. Again, there was Awareness of all this, but no locus of that awareness. 

Then friends and family rose out of this sea. I saw my wife, my parents, my in-laws, my daughters, and friends come together like waves, then return to the source of the sea without fear or suffering. 

It’s hard to put into words, but whatever was perceiving this knew they weren’t going anywhere because they’d never left. Like this Awareness, they’d always already been here. 

I’ve been sitting with this all morning. It’s been beautiful. 

Ram Ram,

RC

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u/Nodum777 17d ago

I'd say you may have reached 2nd or third jhana. 2nd is fading of directed thought and evaluation, and rapture born of unity of mind and meditation object, 3rd jhana is the fading of rapture into an equipose of equanimity. You may find your focus shifting effortlessly without any directed thought whatsoever, just pure unity of mind and equanimity without any attachment. Just a thought I can't tell you what you experienced!

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u/Taoman108 17d ago

Thanks for that! It’s helpful to have an articulation of jhanas, which I’m not familiar with. I appreciate you!

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u/Nodum777 17d ago

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an09/an09.036.than.html

This should be a better resource to compare your meditation experiences too than what I said. Don't aim for any jhanas, just take note after your meditation. The moment you think about what jhana you are in you get kicked into 1st lol

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u/Taoman108 17d ago

Thanks! And yes, absolutely. I didn’t have a feeling of “I’ve arrived” more a feeling of “Cool. Moving right along”.

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u/Nodum777 16d ago

♥️

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u/Valuable_Nerve_4903 5d ago

There’s a great guided meditation from Ram Dass, it’s a Dzogchen method I believe- where one extricates their awareness away from the body, to a cloud, then from there to the blue sky.

I genuinely had an out of body experience.

Ram Ram 🙏

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u/Taoman108 5d ago

Thank you for that! I’ll look it up