The feeling associated with non-dual knowledge is self-confident bliss. The feelings associated with duality, i.e. arise from the false idea that the that convinces the Self it is separate, incomplete and inadequate. All these feelings…fear, desire, guilt, anger, pride, etc. are negative when they are compared to ever-present experience of self-satisfied bliss.
Vedanta contends that your true nature is undying bliss. Trust or faith in the words of scripture, after dedicated Self inquiry along scriptural lines, is perhaps the most important qualification for liberation from Self ignorance (moksa.)
There is nothing right or wrong with feelings per se, but the point of that satsang was to recommend inquiry into one’s beliefs, feelings, and emotions before one develops the belief that they are real. Feelings are indicators of your self-knowledge. So, if a negative feeling arises in you, you should not assume that there is something wrong with you, you should look at the feeling in light of the teaching that the self is anandam, bliss, and dismiss it as a untrue statement about what you are. If you say you are angry or depressed, for instance, you are ignorant of your nature because you have superimposed the feeling of anger on the self, which is free of all feelings.
If you have a positive feeling, you should investigate the source, and you will find that it is caused by sattva, which is a pure reflection of the bliss of the self. A self-actualized person experiences a natural steady current of bliss in which feelings, mostly positive and occasionally negative, appear as insubstantial momentary images; they are known to be completely unreal. Negative feelings are proxies for self-ignorance. If you think you know what you are and you experience negative feelings, you need to think twice, or as many times as necessary, about the transitory, unreal nature of all experiences. Nididyasana (mediatation/contemplation) is for the removal of negative thoughts and feelings once the knowledge, “I am unborn existence shining as consciousness” is steady.
It is self-ignorance in the form of rajas and tamas – duality – that precedes the cognitive process. So, when a child starts to become aware of its thoughts and feelings, it will predictably experience a lot of negative emotions unless it was born with a predominance of sattva, in which case it will have a basically sunny outlook. I have just finished my latest book The Yoga of the Three Energies, which will be in the shop later today or perhaps tomorrow. It deals with this topic. Maybe you don’t understand the sixth and seventh steps of enlightenment (see Inquiry into Existence). Nididhyasana takes you through stage six to stage seven, tripti, perfect satisfaction.
