Vismaya: From Sacred Surprise to Natural Wonder

The Journey from Momentary Amazement to Effortless Awakening

Vismaya. It means wonder, amazement, or sacred surprise. But this isn't ordinary surprise—it's the kind of gentle awe that arises when we suddenly see reality with fresh eyes through our meditation practice.

The post weaves together several key Sanskrit concepts including darshan (sacred seeing), prasada (grace-clarity), abhyasa (dedicated practice), and sahaja (the natural state) to show how surprise, wonder, and clarity naturally emerge from committed meditation practice.

What is Vismaya?

Let me share a personal experience that captures the essence of vismaya. I had been practicing meditation for years without any dramatic revelations. I often felt frustrated about the usual wandering thoughts and restless mind.

One ordinary Thursday morning, I sat down for my regular twenty-minute practice. As I settled into watching my breath, something shifted. Not a blinding flash of enlightenment or mystical vision, but something far more subtle and profound. I suddenly became amazed by the simple fact that breathing was happening at all. Not that I was breathing, but that breath was moving through me completely by itself, without any effort or decision on my part.

I sat there for the remaining fifteen minutes in quiet astonishment, not at anything extraordinary, but at the ordinary miracle I had overlooked thousands of times before. I opened my eyes with an overwhelming emotion of a gentle wonder at the simple mystery of being alive and understanding being a witness, Patanjali's sutra teaches us.

This is vismaya—the sacred surprise that emerges naturally from dedicated practice. It's not about dramatic experiences or mystical states. It's about suddenly seeing with fresh eyes what was always present but never truly noticed. One of my dear student of 74 said the other day “ Savitha, why didnt I know about all of this before?” To that I said “ it was always there but you were going on 180-mile speed and missed noticing, and now that you have begun to see, you cannot NOT notice what Jiddu Krishnamurthy calls choiceless awareness. 

Unlike everyday surprise, which can be jarring or shocking, vismaya comes with a sense of reverence and deep recognition. It's as if consciousness is gently tapping you on the shoulder, saying "Look at this! Isn't this extraordinary?" And what's being revealed was always there—you're just seeing it clearly for the first time.

The ancient texts describe vismaya as one of the fundamental emotions of spiritual awakening. It keeps our practice alive and prevents meditation from becoming mechanical or routine. Each time we sit, there's potential for fresh discovery, for being surprised by the depths of our own being.

The Journey: How Vismaya Unfolds

When we first begin meditating, vismaya often arrives as distinct moments of wonder scattered throughout our practice. Perhaps we're amazed by a sudden stillness in the mind, or surprised by a wave of inexplicable peace. These experiences feel special, almost like gifts from somewhere beyond our ordinary understanding. Ans they are gifts.. you cannot really manifest them.. We call it prasada.

As practice deepens, these moments begin to multiply. We start to notice the extraordinary within the ordinary—how beautiful the breath actually is, how vast the silence between sounds, how mysterious it is that thoughts simply appear and disappear. What once seemed mundane becomes infused with subtle magic.

The ancient teachers understood that this growing capacity for wonder was actually purifying our perception. Through consistent practice, the mental filters that normally limit our seeing begin to dissolve. We start experiencing what the tradition calls new drishti—a completely fresh way of seeing.

This isn't about having dramatic mystical experiences. Often, the deepest vismaya comes through the simplest recognitions: suddenly being amazed that you exist at all, or feeling wonder at the aliveness present in this very moment. These quiet revelations can be more transformative than any fireworks of spiritual experience.

The Transition: When Wonder Becomes Natural

As meditation practice matures over months and years, something beautiful begins to happen. The moments of vismaya start connecting, like dots forming a continuous line. What began as occasional surprises gradually becomes a more steady sense of wonder about life itself.

We're moving from seeking special experiences to recognizing the specialness of ordinary experience. The breath we've taken thousands of times suddenly seems miraculous. The sounds we hear every day become fascinating rather than merely functional.

The practice itself evolves during this phase. Instead of trying to achieve particular states or insights, we learn to sit with genuine openness to whatever wants to emerge. This receptive quality creates the perfect conditions for consciousness to surprise us in new ways.

We begin to understand that vismaya isn't something we create through effort—it's something we uncover by removing the barriers to natural wonder. Like cleaning a window to let more light through, consistent practice clears away the mental habits that obscure our capacity for amazement. In other words, we allow the right brain to shine through logic and intellect. 

Sahaja: The Natural State

Eventually, for those who persist in practice, vismaya ripens into something the tradition calls sahaja—the natural state. In sahaja, wonder is no longer an occasional visitor but our baseline way of being. We don't have to work to feel amazed by existence; amazement has become our natural response to being alive.

This doesn't mean we're constantly overwhelmed by wonder. Rather, there's a gentle, steady appreciation that colors all experience. Washing dishes becomes quietly extraordinary. Walking down a familiar street reveals new beauty. Conversations with loved ones carry an undercurrent of amazement at the mystery of connection and wanting to truly understand them.

In sahaja, the surprise element of vismaya transforms into what we might call "eternal wonder"—not wonder at specific things, but wonder at the sheer fact of awareness itself. How remarkable that there is experience happening at all! This fundamental amazement becomes a doorway into recognizing our deepest nature.

The beautiful thing about sahaja is its ordinariness. It's not a elevated state we enter and leave, but a natural way of being that feels completely normal once established. We realize this capacity for wonder was always present—practice simply removed what was covering it. In fact, Sahaja , in common everyday Indian conversation, translates to “just like that “..

Living from Wonder

When sahaja stabilizes, it naturally begins to influence every aspect of life. Problems that once seemed solid and unchangeable may reveal new possibilities when seen through eyes of wonder. Relationships deepen as we encounter others with genuine freshness. Even difficult experiences become opportunities to be amazed by consciousness's ability to hold everything.

This is perhaps the greatest surprise of the spiritual path: discovering that what we sought through all our seeking was never actually hidden. The wonder, the clarity, the peace we hoped to find through meditation was always present, simply waiting to be noticed with innocent attention. The extraordinary is always hidden in plain sight within the ordinary. Vismaya is our natural capacity to recognize this. Sahaja is what happens when this recognition becomes effortless and continuous.

The Simple Practice

How do we cultivate this journey from vismaya to sahaja? The path is surprisingly simple:

Sit regularly with genuine openness to being surprised. Approach each meditation as if encountering consciousness for the first time. Let yourself be amazed by simple things—breath, aliveness, the space of awareness itself.

Don't try to manufacture wonder or create special experiences. Instead, gently indulge in natural amazement—judgment, expectation, the need to understand everything immediately will be sidelined. Wonder emerges naturally when we create space for it.

Remember that this journey unfolds in its own time. Some days vismaya will be vivid and obvious. Other days it may be so subtle you barely notice it. 

The Endless Beginning

The most beautiful aspect of this path is that it never ends. Even in sahaja, there are always new depths of wonder to discover, new ways to be surprised by the mystery of being conscious. Every moment offers an opportunity to encounter existence with fresh eyes.

Perhaps the ultimate vismaya is recognizing that we are both the one who wonders and that which is wondered at. We are the awareness marveling at awareness, consciousness delighting in consciousness. This recognition, when it comes, always arrives as the gentlest surprise—like remembering something we never actually forgot.

In this way, the journey from vismaya to sahaja is really the journey home to what we've always been: pure wonder wondering at itself, expressing as this moment, this breath, this awareness, reading these very words.

PS: I have compiled this using the understanding from Patanjali's yoga sutras, Jiddu Krishnamurthy's lectures, and Mandukaya Upanishad..