Love and Emotions

[Naman]

Is there any place for love n emotions in life of an accomplished mystic ? I m feeling these emotions of love towards people which i never wud allow cause i think it will change into attachment if i keep going with it. I m not sure if its wise to cherish those feelings or not ? Will it effect the depth of meditation i m able to reach or drag me down from the level im on ? Can some experienced accomplished person guide me on this please?

[stugandolf]

Consider the possibility that your heart chakra is stuck... Stu

Is there any place for love n emotions in life of an accomplished mystic ? I m feeling these emotions of love towards people which i never wud allow cause i think it will change into attachment if i keep going with it. I m not sure if its wise to cherish those feelings or not ? Will it effect the depth of meditation i m able to reach or drag me down from the level im on ? Can some experienced accomplished person guide me on this please?

[Jhanananda]

Is there any place for love n emotions in life of an accomplished mystic ? I m feeling these emotions of love towards people which i never wud allow cause i think it will change into attachment if i keep going with it. I m not sure if its wise to cherish those feelings or not ? Will it effect the depth of meditation i m able to reach or drag me down from the level im on ? Can some experienced accomplished person guide me on this please?

When the heart chakra opens, then we feel love for all.  If we focus it upon one person, then it become attachment.  Attachment (craving and covetousness) is one of the greatest obstacles of the mystic, so if one can avoid it, then we will be free, free, free, thank god almighty! Free at last.

[Naman]

Thanks for the replies.

[Frederick]

Quite. I found this useful as well. I just realized that attachment can be an aspect of greed, and I'm working on this now, accordingly.

Universal love is where I need to focus on as well. Will do.

[Jhanananda]

Correct, follinge.

[Naman]

I needed one clarification. When you say love everyone, do u mean that start loving everyone with the "emotion" of love or is it just that u become open hearted to everyone...
Cause what i used to believe in that u can love people n not get attached to them, feel dependent or incomplete without them. But Now this is the 3or 4th time i tried doing it n it failed, whenever i tried being with people n loving them emotionally for long, it almost always turns attachment on and it brings feelings of lonliness from childhood(i thot i was over them but no!). Now im not even able to discern whether its real emotion of love or attachment in first place. Is it just my inability to keep attachment at bay ? Or is it that u cant love anyone with emotion n not get attached even if u do it for long , being a mystic ?

[Naman]

Correct, follinge.

How long it took for you to be free of old Tendencies (of attachment and fear ) completely, never to feel back again? And u have mentioned that u were an accomplished mystic in past life then from where these tendencies come back up again in rebirth, when u have already exhausted them in previous birth ??

[Jhanananda]

I needed one clarification. When you say love everyone, do u mean that start loving everyone with the "emotion" of love or is it just that u become open hearted to everyone...

It has been my experience that through deep meditation I feel a deep sense of love toward all creatures.  I find this love is not based upon attachment, craving or covetousness.

Cause what i used to believe in that u can love people n not get attached to them, feel dependent or incomplete without them. But Now this is the 3or 4th time i tried doing it n it failed, whenever i tried being with people n loving them emotionally for long, it almost always turns attachment on and it brings feelings of lonliness from childhood(i thot i was over them but no!). Now im not even able to discern whether its real emotion of love or attachment in first place. Is it just my inability to keep attachment at bay ? Or is it that u cant love anyone with emotion n not get attached even if u do it for long , being a mystic ?

I find humans have trouble distinguishing between love and attachment.  Whereas, when I have equanimity, then there is no attachment in me.

How long it took for you to be free of old Tendencies (of attachment and fear ) completely, never to feel back again? And u have mentioned that u were an accomplished mystic in past life then from where these tendencies come back up again in rebirth, when u have already exhausted them in previous birth ??

While I developed skill with deep meditation; nonetheless, I did not completely understand its significance until about 16 years ago, because I had assumed that meditation teachers today understood the deep meditation experience.  However, when I found myself marginalized within the global contemplative community is when I realized that most people who teach meditation know almost nothing about deep meditation.  Thus it was not until about 16 years ago, when I finally found myself completely free of clinging, craving, covetousness, and attachment.

[Naman]

I have one more question. Like i have read a saint tell that u shud not fight much with ur instincts, for example sexual.. U keep doing ur mediation practice and slowly it will drop away on its own. Till that time u sin intelligently. So is this true cause i always had this tendency of dropping things altogether which caused me much trouble,disturbance but the habits wud go in their own time eventually. I m not sure if i were doing both my practice n those addictions together, wud the addictions have really dropped away on its own ?? Im more interested in knwing whether this principle is applicable to attachment also. How was it for u ? Were u fighting the attachment all along so as to make it go away forever or it eventually got dropped on its own with time ?
I have also read about some saints where in adulthood they were trying hard to get rid of something or someone but they cudnt either due to their own strong desires or due to circumstances so they later just accepted it and that this was how it was supposed to go, strong destiny so to speak. And if you dont mind me asking , How did u end up in a marriage or relationship u were talking abt and if there was any attachemnt , did u fight to drop it off ?
These questions will help me get clarity in my case, only if i knew whats suppsoed to happen this sudden choas in my otherwise very silent mind i cud have done away with.

[Jhanananda]

I found as long as I struggled with my addictive behaviors the more the addictive behaviors won.  Whereas, the more time I spent in deep meditation, especially to the 4th level, the less my addictive behaviors had control of me.

[Naman]

Not fighting wud mean that we can give in to it when it overwhelms us ? While keep going on with regular meditation., have i understood right?

[Jhanananda]

This seems reasonable to me.  Another way of looking at it is, whenever we succumb to addiction, then we rise up and recover, and restore our self in deep meditation, then the addictions are reduced until they are no more.

[Frederick]

Hey, off topic, but yesterday, I was listening to a meditation talk from a well known Buddhist monk who said that if one gets a good feeling, do NOT go with that, but come back to the breath.

Pretty sure that's 100% wrong. I even experienced deeper tranquility and concentration when I drop the breath and focus on the pleasant aspects.

As to the love comments, I, too, noticed that I could have universal love w/o attachment, in meditation. Some of this spills over to everyday life. I think I need more of this. Haha.

[Jhanananda]

Good to hear from you, follinge.  Now you see what we are up against.