In our day-to-day life, while carrying out every action, we are always aware of our own existence as it is deeply ingrained in us. This awareness of us is through our 5 senses, mind and intellect. Accordingly all events occur or are experienced in relation to this awareness itself. In spiritual terms we call this existence the little ‘i’. On the other hand we call the soul (ātmā) or the God within us the big ‘I’.
As we start to do spiritual practice we begin to perceive a higher power, i.e. God working in our lives. As we progress spiritually there is an increase in this awareness of God in our lives and around us. There is also a reduced focus on our own existence or the small ‘i’.
Spiritual emotion (bhāv) is replacement of the ‘i’ in one’s life by the awareness of the existence of God or the Guru (the Teaching principle of God) with equal intensity. An intense awareness of the existence of God or the Guru in any form when carrying out day-to-day life activities based on this feeling and experiencing life based on this background is referred to as spiritual emotion towards God or the Guru.
When one is in a state of spiritual emotion, one’s sub-conscious mind merges with God for that time. The mind and intellect take a back seat and one is able to experience greater communion with God. Hence in this state the person does not have any thoughts or doubts about spirituality or God.
Spiritual emotion is a state experienced in the Path of Devotion (Bhaktiyoga) and Path of Guru’s grace (Gurukrupāyoga).
The following is a drawing based on subtle-knowledge of a person with spiritual emotion. This drawing based on subtle-knowledge is created by a seeker of SSRF with highly developed sixth sense of vision.
