Question:

I am deeply interested to understand the meaning of “Enlightenment”.

Answer:

Interest in knowing something is called curiosity. It is not sufficient to help one attain the highest possible goal for a human called ‘Awakening’. So what you understand will only be intellectual at the moment. Once you start walking the path, you might hit self-realization experientially. So if you have not yet started the path yet, start now dear.

Question:

So far I was of the opinion that Enlightenment refers to knowing everything that is possible and considered as the knowledge (Facts and Truth). That includes natural science, social science, philosophy, medicine, human nature, existence or non-existence of God, virtues, relationship to living and non-living things and fundamental nature of universe and correlation to each other. Is my understanding correct?

Answer:

Let me change the word from Enlightenment to Awakening for ease of understanding. Awakening is the self-realization of ‘Who am I?’ It is not the process of learning dear. It is the process of un-learning and shedding all that you know, until you lose everything, including the idea of what you thought you were, including the concept of ‘I’.

Question:

I thought Enlightenment is the act of optimizing the use of that knowledge by sharing, living harmoniously by caring, respecting, nurturing everything in the universe.

Answer:

That is not the goal of Awakening dear. That happens naturally as a by-product……just like when plants produce carbohydrates [for their own food] by photosynthesis, but oxygen is naturally and automatically released as a by-product… this oxygen helps every living being survive on this planet.

…just like when a farmer harvests grain [for food], but straw is naturally and automatically produced as a by-product… this straw is used by animals as well as humans in numerous ways.

Question:

I thought Enlightenment is the process where a person must give away all vices.

Answer:

Actually, vices give up on him because while walking the path to Awakening, he automatically realizes that the generation of even a single negative defilement in the mind disturbs his own peace. He dwells in the peace of his own nature so fully, so completely, that there is no more room for negativity and after a while even positivity.

His pendulum stops swinging between negative & positive, he attains a totally neutral, balanced, centered field. Rumi said, “Out beyond ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing, there is a field. I will meet you there.”

Question:

I thought Enlightenment is the process where one must keep control on materialistic needs to live with very minimum basic necessities required to survive, even so to share thoughts or pass on knowledge to others freely without any materialistic or monetary gain in return.

Answer:

Materialism gives up on him In that field beyond the 2 opposites, there is absolute fullness. This fullness is too full there is no room for material there.

Question:

I thought the purpose of Enlightenment is to spread Peace and facilitate the transformation of society towards a new, non-violent, co-existent way of lifestyle.

Answer:

Again another by-product that happens in some cases naturally and automatically if at all.

Question:

Could you tell me as to why a need arises for an Enlightened being to share his knowledge? Does something happen after full awakening that an enlightened being has to share the truth with whoever comes in their presence? Does every enlightened being have a purpose in awakening the human species or participate in this ascension process?

Answer:

No, not every enlightened being participates in this process because not all Enlightened beings come out and teach or preach or lead. There are many silent types who just chop wood and carry water like they always did. You must have heard the saying, ‘Before Enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After Enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.’

Question:

Does an enlightened being have the power to enlighten someone else rapidly or do you still have to clear all your karmic baggage while on the spiritual path and enlightenment will happen in its divine timing?

Answer:

An Enlightened person cannot bring about anybody else’s Enlightenment. Siddhartha Gautama could work only on himself and bring about only one person’s enlightenment, HIS OWN. Then only was he called ‘Buddha’ – the Awakened one. He could not even bring about his own brother Ananda’s Enlightenment. Ananda had to awaken on his own by his own Purushartha after overcoming his own attachments.

Understand that only YOU can awaken yourself, it’s a personal process. Even if someone else pushes you, if you are not ripe yet, you will not awaken.

An Enlightened person can definitely show you the path, that compassion of his is what is called ‘Grace’. But you will have to walk on it by yourself. Nobody can walk the path for you…Nobody!

Question:

I went through horrible Karma despite having a lot of wisdom or so I thought. At the times when it’s needed, where does this wisdom go? Can an Enlightened one bless me to erase the bad times?

Answer:

That’s a delusion that someone else can erase your current bad karma [Prarabdha]. However, they can definitely help you in the following limited ways:

1] He can give you some spiritual advice on how to walk the spiritual path so that you get mentally strengthened to be non-reactive by the time you have to face another karma in the future.

But only your sincerity in walking the spiritual path will diminish the effect of your future Karma, not anything else.

2] He can ease your restlessness by calming you down by sending vibrations of harmony that he himself experiences. Vibrations are truly experiential.  You yourself know the difference in the feelings you experience when walking into a temple versus walking into a casino.

Again, this effect of borrowed harmony is temporary. And you have experienced that yourself. Otherwise, you should have already been Enlightened by now. Are you?

Question:

So if I have to walk the path to Awakening myself, how will I know which is the right path for me? Who is the right teacher?

Answer:

If you are truly sincere about the path, your gut will give you signs of the right path.

1] You will be compelled from within to walk that path. Your intellect can say otherwise though. You must learn to hear the inner voice even though it is feeble. Is just listening to it sufficient? No. You must follow your gut and dive yourself into self-research at the same time. Self -research about how to reach the state of ‘No-mind’ permanently not temporarily.

2] Based on your research that points towards the Right teacher who teaches you how to reach the permanent state of ‘No-Mind’ , you must start walking the path. Don’t expect that your teacher is going to touch your head with a magic wand, and you will get awakened. That happens only in Harry Potter books. You make every effort to understand how to reach NO MIND. Every other teaching other than that is Hog-wash.

Question:

I am inspired to do some Self-research. Can you give me one clue on how to reach ‘No-Mind’?

Answer:

Find the GAP. The gap in between 2 thoughts… The gap in between the breaths… All techniques whether Vedic, Bodhic, Advaita-Vedantic/Vichara path, etc all point toward the same teaching of ‘Becoming a Witness to Reality’.

The only way you can be a witness is when you establish yourself in the Shunyata that you first encounter in the GAP. Filter out all other teachings as hogwash and focus on just finding the GAP. Get your foot into the door first!

Again, don’t believe me blindly. Start your self-research now!

#Non-Duality