January 25, 2021

Bhoga and moksha are, in the Tantrik view, the two main aspects of life. Bhoga refers to the experience of embodiment in the phenomenal, sensual world and moksha is the transcendent aspect where we come into union with the One. With the emphasis on embodiment, this tradition is not an aesthetic one that demands renunciation of the body with its pleasures and pains. Instead, the sensory world is embraced. Bhoga is referencing the experience of life and the divine enjoyment of that experience.

Via the senses, we open up to the world of preference. We find things we like and dislike. We find moments of pleasure and moments of pain. Overly invested in this, we can chase after and cling to the sensory experiences that are pleasurable and avert from or avoid those which are unpleasant, uncomfortable and painful. Constriction in our range of experience is the result.

This tradition suggests that we dive deep into the pure experience. Here, the senses offer a rich world to be tasted, smelt, explored. In exploring the full range of tastes, without getting caught up in our mind’s categorizing of the experience as pleasurable or painful, we can touch into an underlying enjoyment. This enjoyment is the not the ordinary joy that is fleeting and based on the sensual experience. Rather, it is the quiet willingness to experience it all, recognizing the aliveness that comes from no longer blocking off aspects of life experience. We can “enjoy” the moment of sadness, knowing it will pass. We can build aliveness as we embrace the moments of “happiness.” Perhaps, it is the deep desire to have this full landscape of experience that pulls us into form.

This enjoyment is without attachment to pleasure and holds a willingness to experience discomfort and pain. Without attachment and aversion, we are freed up to be curious, to investigate and to open to all the sensual and sensory aspects of life. Considering the aliveness that is the reward, it is hard to understand what holds us back. Perhaps there is a fear that we will lose ourselves in the experience and, while that is the intention of spiritual practice, is still holds uncertainty that confines us. To give total permission for the full experience of life, we must hold clearly to the aliveness the enjoyment of life enhances.

It is also important to recognize here that non-dual Tantra recognizes that not everyone is interested in spiritual awakening. Individuals may be pulled to seek out simply an enjoyable life, and the One is satisfied with that. Her desire to experience diversity in all its many possibilities allows for the revelling in embodiment as an end in itself. Seeking after pleasure is satisfying until it is not and then the sensory experience can be a vehicle for knowing to arise.