Enlightenment
Who does not want to be enlightened? Who does not want to be another Buddha?
All of us wish we are transformed. Yet, the wish remains a wish, because the moment the opportunity arrives to convert the wish into reality, most of us draw back, fearful of what the transformation may bring to us.
Enlightenment is not for the fearful. It is for the few who struggle without relenting, with an urgent urge, with a desperation borne out of a passion from the deepest recesses of one's spirit. When the struggle becomes that desperate when there is no other support system that sustains us, when it is a free fall into the unknown, then enlightenment happens.
Enlightenment is not surrender. When we decide to surrender we always surrender to a known entity in whom we have tremendous faith and trust. When we go past that stage when that faith and trust is breached, and we start questioning the validity of those who have thus far blindly believed in; then the struggle is truly desperate and we are ready to be enlightened. There is nothing to hold us back, and we are ready to begin another journey.
I reached a point in my quest when I started questioning the teachings and beliefs of my masters, Bhagwan Ramana and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. I felt that they were liars and what ever they had said that they had experienced was all false. There was no place for me to turn to. I had reached a point of no return and no future.
Then it happened. In a flash I grasped what my masters had said, it was all true, and I was now part of that Truth.
Enlightenment is never an evolution. It is never gradual. It is sudden, instantaneous and irreversible. It happens when nothing else seems to work. You need to reach desperation before you become enlightened.
Enlightenment is not a goal. It is the beginning o f another journey. It is a gateway, not a resting place.
Enlightenment happens when the mind is empty, never when it is full and overflowing.
Once there was a very learned American scholar who went in search of enlightenment. He was referred to a Zen Master. The Master asked him to sit for a cup of tea, and started pouring the tea into a small cup. He kept pouring and the cup overflowed. Asked the Scholar, "What are you doing? Can't see that the cup is full and nothing can go in?"
Said the wise Master: 'Of course, your mind too is full; therefore nothing can go in. Empty your mind and come back.'
I say to those who come for my meditation classes, 'leave your shoes and your mind at the door, before you come in.'
Only then is there even a possibility for you understand the Truth.
All our questions come from words (from the manipuraka chakra or the navel center). To answer them, we seek words again. Words can never solve words, like how blood cannot clean blood. In asking or answering questions, people simply want to either show that they are knowledgeable or that they are seekers – their 'seeker ego' surfaces.
One man came to the ashram and had a long conversation with me. He went back and told everyone that I am a very good orator. Trust me; I did not speak to him at all. He spoke all the time and I simply listened. He is happy that I heard him, that's all! When your wife comes to you with a problem, don't give her any solution. Just listen to her problem; she wants somebody to listen to her, that's all. She knows the solution herself. She simply wants attention. It is the same with males too. No one wants answers.
Anu! Try to pick up that book. Just try to pick up the book. Don't pick it up but try to pick it up! This is exactly how people try to get enlightened. They keep attempting to get enlightened. These seekers are actually deceiving themselves. Either they should pick up or drop it. There is nothing called trying to pick up. You are cheating yourself when you say, 'I am trying.' You are actually playing, but it is a costly game. In the end you will say, 'I was a seeker throughout my life.'
Sastras talk of the goal. Stotras are an expression of the experience. Sastras say that the goal is there. Stotras say, "Oh, so beautiful the goal is!" Sastras say, "Go to the mountain." Stotras sing the beauty of nature from the mountain top. But how to reach the mountain? This link is given by Shiva – as the ultimate enlightenment meditation, as a wonderful book - The Vignanabairava Tantra. Tantra means technique. It was given by Shiva to His consort Ishwari, to clear Her doubts. It doesn't belong to any religion, creed, caste or sect. It is simply techniques to reach the Ultimate. Anyone who wants inner light can get through it a life solution. It connects the sastras and stotras. It fulfils the sastras and stotras. It gives ultimate fulfilment. It is the technique that leads you to the Ultimate Being. Here only one question is asked and that is - How? By answering this question, it puts you directly into the Experience where the questions and the questioner dissolve into the Experience or Eternal Bliss!
Amongst the spiritual seekers, there are the window shoppers! They go from Master to Master seeking. Going from Master to Master is not wrong, but not learning from any Master is what is wrong! I always tell people to go to as many gardens, pluck flowers and make a beautiful garland. Many people go to many gardens, but they don't pluck any flowers from any garden. They just want to satisfy themselves that they are seekers. They want to have spirituality as a showcase item in their homes.
As long as your questions have not become a quest and your urge has not become urgent, you cannot call yourself a seeker. Enlightenment should become a basic necessity in you; only then the real alchemy will start happening. In order to clear your doubts, a deep passive waiting without knowing what is going to happen is required. This is what passive surrender is; it is total surrender.
Two types of people come to me. The first category of people are those who have a problem and think they know the solution, but want my support and help to get the solution. In the second category of people are the ones who have a problem ,they don't know the solution and they request my help to get the solution. The former think that they have buddhi (intelligence) but not shakthi (powers). The latter understand that they have neither shakthi nor buddhi. The moment you think that God has powers but no intelligence you start guiding Him! When you guide, it only means that your ego is not mature enough to fully surrender. If you know the solutions for your problems, why are you still suffering? They tell me a problem and give the solution along with it! When you start believing that God has got powers, religion starts. When you start believing that He has got intelligence, spirituality starts. With the former, you do all the rituals to bribe Him to get His powers.
The moment you decide to wait forever, things will simply start happening. When you are in a hurry for the lotus to bloom, you open out its petals. Can this be called 'lotus flowering?' No! You need to give it some space and it will happen. You have to wait till you decide to wait! The moment you decide to wait, you don't have to wait anymore.
People ask me, 'Swamiji, I decided to wait but it is not happening!' How can you say that you have decided to wait when you are already asking the second half of the statement! An utter, clear and total decision to wait is what the basic necessity to become enlightened is.
Either have the urgency or forget the urge itself. Don't play the in-between game. You will end up in depression. As long as the blood is hot, you will pull along; the moment the blood becomes cool, you will fall into depression, because all along you were playing the game of 'hide and seeking', not real seeking. You were on a mud horse while entering the river. Be very clear - see if you are really seeking or playing the game of 'hide and seeking'. The deep quest has to happen in you for it to become a tremendous waiting - for Enlightenment!
Enlightenment is nothing but breaking all our conditionings and getting in touch with the innocence that we have lost in the process of growing up. The path to Enlightenment or to the Divine is not difficult like how it is made out to be. First of all, the Divine is not a goal as is understood by most of us. If we look at it as a goal, we are in effect robbing it of its joy. The path itself is Divine!
There are several meditation techniques to fall in tune with the Divine. One such technique is Dance, in the literal sense of the word and even otherwise! Quantum physics has proven that the atom is made up of elements that are static and moving at the same time. A picture taken of this phenomenon reveals the resemblance it bears to the dancing deity - Nataraja. The whole of Cosmos is actually dancing with joy! Enjoying and celebrating every moment! Only man is still holding on to his prestige and ego, which are nothing but the labels stuck on him by society. Dance is the ultimate technique to break free of the ego, to break free from the identity that man holds close to his heart. Dance is the outward expression of the inner joy when you fall into the joyous path. Just like when you clap your hands and the birds fly off from the trees, so also, when you sing and dance in the name of the Divine, your karmas (past unfulfilled actions) fly away from you; you are liberated from them.
Children need not be taught to dance, they already are that way! Their inner intelligence knows how to balance their Energy on the centre of their Being and that is why they are so joyful all the time. But we are unable to handle them in that state and so we suppress them and make them dull.
Society tries you to put you either on the path of fear or on the path of greed. When in fear, you walk your way to God; when in greed, you drive or run your way to God; when in joy or bliss, you dance your way to God! The path becomes ecstatic. Every moment and every breath becomes a joyful meditation. Don't forego the path for the goal! Music and dance are the simplest meditation techniques that take you to the state of Eternal Bliss.
bhagavadgita kincitadhita gangajialalavakanika pita, sakritaapi yena murari-samarca kriyate tasya yamena na carca
He, who has studied the Bhagavadgita even a little, he who has drunk a drop of the Ganga water, and he who has performed the worship of the Destroyer of the demon Mura, Krishna, at least once, he will have no quarrel with Yama, the lord of death.