Living enlightenment is Awakening of the non-mechanical parts of the brain
When you are centered in sattva, positive energy, you have a clear understanding of the jeeva, the self. You have the clear understanding of how to relate with the jagat, the world. Because of the clarity of the self and the world, naturally you will fall into the source, Ishwara, god.
The very understanding will give you clarity. That clarity will automatically awaken the non-mechanical parts of your brain. When that awakening happens, a chaos will start happening in your routine. Your routine will start getting re-arranged by itself. Just cooperate with it. That is what I call 'living enlightenment'. Cooperating with the awakening that happens in you is what I call being a disciple or living enlightenment.
Living enlightenment is Living the great Truths
'Living enlightenment' is the right word. When you are living these great truths you are enlightened, that's all.
You are supposed to live the truths. Living the great truths in your life is enlightenment. Enlightenment does not mean you will leave your body and die. No! You will live in a center that is beyond the five senses, but with the five senses. Only your center will be shifted. The cognitive shift will happen within you. This is what I call jeevan mukti, living enlightenment.
Ego Vs Enlightenment
Your ego is not powerful enough to take away your enlightenment! Understand, your ego is not so powerful that it can take away your enlightenment.
You need to stop thinking that you have an ego. Even your ego is not as big as you think. You are not as big as you always think! So even your ego cannot take away your enlightenment.
Whether you believe it or not, experience it or not, you are eternal Consciousness.
Your logic is also not as strong as you think. I always tell people, your ignorance is not so strong as to take enlightenment away from you. Even in your ignorance or ego you are not that big a person, and that is the truth!
People ask me, 'If a master wants, whether a disciple is qualified or not, can he give him enlightenment?'
An enlightened master can enlighten anybody just by one touch – not even touch, just a thought is enough. Nothing else is necessary. He can liberate anybody.
The greatest happening on planet earth is an un-enlightened being sitting with an enlightened being and becoming enlightened.
The master can simply download the software of an enlightened physiology into anyone. When you are completely open, the software of an enlightened physiology can be downloaded into your system. Your body learns that it can be better than what it is now. Your bio-memory learns the lesson of the possibility of a better existence.
A small story from the life of the enlightened master Buddha:
Buddha was once asked, 'Why don't you give enlightenment to everybody?' He said, 'Please ask in the village who wants enlightenment. Bring them to me and I shall give it to them.'
The man went through the whole village that day asking who wanted enlightenment.
He came back to Buddha in the evening with a sad face. Buddha asked him, 'What happened? Nobody wants enlightenment, is it?'
The man replied a little cheerfully, 'No, no, two people want enlightenment.' Buddha replied, 'Ok, get them right now. I will give them enlightenment.'
The man replied in a low voice, 'No, they don't want to come here. If you send it to where they are, they will take it!'
Nobody really wants enlightenment in the real sense! They just want it as a utility or to keep in their showcase! Understand, god gives you the freedom to be in bondage also. Enlightenment can never be forced on you. If it is forced, even freedom will become bondage.
There are two things: qualification and wanting.
There is no qualification needed for enlightenment, but the deep feeling, the deep yearning that 'I want it', should be there.
Please be very clear, I also had ALL the problems that you are having like not being able to trust Existence or not being able to trust myself. All I can say is, there is no qualification for enlightenment. For somebody to become enlightened, they do not need any qualification.
Enlightenment can be had by giving yourself to Existence. Giving yourself is not equal in value to what you receive. Even if you give your life, it is nothing more in effort or value than buying a lottery ticket.
After it happens, you will understand that the whole thing is nothing but the pure grace and blessing of Existence. The result or the transformation will be so big, so great that you can't think of a reason why you were chosen for it, why it was showered on you! No qualification is necessary, but the deep need, the seeking is necessary. Fulfillment is always a gift. To receive a gift, there is no such thing as being worthy.
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa used to say, 'Suppose you are living in poverty, dying with no food or clothes. But somehow you know that there is a lot of wealth kept locked in the next room. Even if you take it nobody will know. Will you be able to sleep restfully now? Either you will try to open the door or you will break down the door. Unless you have that wealth under your control, you will not be able to sleep.'
In the same way, you should know that you are in spiritual poverty right now. You should know that inside you there is a room in which there is immense wealth that is kept under lock and key. That knowledge, that attitude, that intensity, that mood is a basic necessity. With that, the seeking can simply transform your whole life.
Your dedication is powerful enough to lead you to enlightenment.
Actually, enlightenment is practically like cooking. Something has to be added, something has to be removed. You have to add the intense seeking. Whatever is unnecessary, like restlessness, etc, will come out automatically, and enlightenment will happen!
Enlightened society
During the vedic times in Bharat, the whole life, the whole society was based on enlightenment, where seventy percent of the people were enlightened and the remaining thirty percent were seeking, working towards enlightenment.
Arts, sciences, education, lifestyle and every sphere of life, every action was directed towards the ultimate experience of enlightenment. Classical dances like Bharatanatyam, traditional vocal and instrumental music, traditional architecture of temples and sculptures, classical paintings and art forms, the science of languages like Sanskrit, the sciences of astrology and vaastu, the unique gurukul system of education, traditional ceremonies right from birth through marriage to death – every single activity in every dimension of life was an expression of the enlightenment of the great seers, as well as a means to get enlightened.
There can be nothing more than the enlightenment experience on planet earth. No philosophy, no system, no theory, no ideology, stands, survives, or thrives for more than one generation if it does not have an enlightened base or the base or inspiration from an enlightened being.
In ancient Bharat, there were at least 3000 kings ruling at different times. Not a single king or kingdom that was not guided by an enlightened master was able to flourish. Even today if you go to South Hindu villages, you will see huge temples built of stone installed by enlightened masters. But the palaces that were constructed by the same kings for themselves no longer exist.
Understand, the same king and the same architect who built the temples to hold the enlightened energy, also built the palaces for the king to live in. One might think the king would have used better material for his own palace! But today, if you see, the temples are still standing while the palaces have disappeared with time.
In my own village Tiruvannamalai in South Bharat, the village in which I was born and brought up, we have a temple that has twenty five acres of built up area. The palace built by the same king who built the temple is not there. It is in ruins. But the temple built by him is still alive because the enlightened master's energy is there.
The biggest service you can do in your life, the best use you can make of your life is to keep this science of enlightenment alive on planet earth. Planet earth is alive today in spite of all the atomic weapons we have piled up, all the depletion of forests, minerals, and natural resources. It is so because of the presence of enlightened masters. As long as there are enlightened masters on planet earth, planet earth can never be destroyed!