This obsession with jhana is doing a lot of harm.
– It is not that jhanas are bad. If one gets to jhanas easily, that is fine, but one still needs to be aware of the “anicca nature” of any jhana. It can become a distraction.
– Not only us, but ANY living being (any animal, any “hell being”) has cultivated even the highest jhanas in the past. What is there to show for that now?
One should TRY TO cultivate jhanas AFTER getting magga phala. It is even better to wait until one gets to the Anagami stage (but sometimes Ariya jhanas come with the Anagami stage, depending on the person). Otherwise, there is a risk of “getting stuck” in jhanas.
– Many people who have attained jhanas believe they are Ariya jhana, but most of them don’t have Ariya jhana. As I have explained, even one with the FIRST Ariya jhana would be an Anagami. Most of the people that I know who believe they have Ariya jhanas still have kama raga. But they are under the illusion that they have Ariya jhana. That is a very bad outcome.
P.S. What one needs to do is not to “keep wishing” to have something that belongs to “this world”. It is the opposite of what one needs to be doing (wishing and working towards Nibbana, to be free of this world). One needs to understand Buddha Dhamma (Paticca Samuppada) and realize the unfruitfulness AND dangers of wishing for things in this world (those are abhisankhara). That includes wishing for jhanas.
– Of course, if one has anariya jhana and KNOWS THAT and ALSO KNOWS how not to get “stuck”, that is fine.