Finding the Joy Within – A Pilgrimage to Babaji’s Cave

The object of meditation is not just to find the stillness within. We all know the sacred command from Psalms in the Bible, ‘Be still and know that I am God‘. The ultimate goal of meditation is to stay in that stillness, so that we can touch the ever-present joy within.

Let me share a recent experience.

We were a group of meditators preparing for a visit to Babaji’s Cave, a pilgrimage destination near Ranikhet. One needs some preparation for the
trek, but more than that, the pilgrim needs to connect inwardly with the Divine.

As the group meditated, a stillness stole into my heart and mind. There was a great sense of peace that seemed to envelop me and fill the room, including in it everyone in the meditating group. Added to the sense of peace was a sense of power and expectancy.

After a while, I left the hall, still carrying the peace within me. The sun shone brightly on the whole valley, and the distant Himalayan peaks glowed as they stood huge and majestic under a clear blue sky.

Leafs green with vitality and flowers radiant with their bright colours drew life and energy from the sun, which seemed to be consciously nourishing them. All of a sudden, I was acutely and definitely aware of the love that flows in nature. This quality of all-pervading love was strongly palpable in the air. I felt and was conscious of a sense of awe at the magnitude of this gentle, powerful, and nourishing love, and the wonderful harmony of co-existence in nature.

Even where there is disharmony, as with the food chain of the natural world, it tends toward harmony of a longer, God’s eternal, rhythm.

In nature, there is nothing superfluous or out of place. Every little elemental detail blends perfectly and fits to create a bigger masterpiece. I was filled with indescribable joy and harmony– I could hardly contain it and be sober.

Realization of Universal Truths

The experience made me realise a few truths I’d like to share.

Just as with peace, love and light, to experience joy, one has to make some effort after feeling stillness, to retain it and hold it in the heart.

My guru Paramhansa Yoganandaji says, we should be “in the world but not of the world”. Once we touch stillness, if we can hold it and just “be,” joy can well up and manifest in your being. We don’t have to do anything actively, it will bubble up naturally. As our hearts fill with joy we feel so much love for everyone around, including not only people, but trees, animals, and creatures of all kinds.

The more we can be calm, the more joy we are able to experience. The joy bubbles up in our hearts as from a fountain in a pool, and splashes everything near it. Everything seems permeated with joy.

The idea that we are each souls that form a part of the infinite, eternal Satchidanandam, or Cosmic Spirit, can become something immediate to us. Our own true nature as Satchidanandam (true or everlasting conscious bliss) becomes revealed to us. It’s a state of being in which there is no conflict, no doubt, no awareness of any separateness within ourselves, or from anyone or anything else.

In Divine Joy,
Rashmi