A student asks Shambhavi why enjoyment is the point of life and about God’s enjoyment. A podcast from Satsang with Shambhavi
Podcast First Words
Student: I was curious if you’d talk about enjoyment. That the point of life is enjoyment, and the enjoyment of God.
Shambhavi: It’s not enjoyment of God that Trika is talking about, except on the most absolute level. So it’s not really an enjoyment of an object that one believes is external to oneself. It’s an enjoyment of one’s own nature. So it’s contemplating and enjoying one’s own nature. And in order to have that enjoyment, you have to have an experience of one’s own nature. That’s the rub.
So if you take a step back from human life, you’ll notice that we seek enjoyment in a totally bizarre way. I mean it’s bizarre that we’re constantly seeking it in every aspect of our lives. That we become addicted to things that we find enjoyable. That we’re pain averse, and sadness averse, and loss averse.
Already you’re thinking—of course! But that’s not of course. All of those things are flavors that God is producing. One is not better than the other.
We produce all kinds of circumstances and objects for our own enjoyment. And the degree to which our everyday lives are in the pursuit of some kind of enjoyment is quite astounding, quite odd.
But if you look at it from the perspective that we’re reflections of the nature of God, then our maniacal enjoyment-seeking can be seen for what it really is, which is a limited version of God’s enjoyment of the nature of the self.
