What is Enlightenment?
What do we really mean when we talk of Enlightenment? Is it not the bloom of life for a true seeker of spirituality? The life itself comes to a full circle the moment one reaches the stage of Enlightenment. Seeking Enlightenment in the present age (the metallic age aka Kali Yuga in Hinduism is more of a curiosity than the faint hope of being able to achieve it within the present lifetime.
Truly speaking even spiritual stalwarts like Swami Vivekananda, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Aurobindo Ghosh and many others in the line failed to reach the stage of Enlightenment. The reason is fair and simple... some like Swami Vivekananda never desired reaching the stage of Enlightenment in their lifetime whereas both Rabindra Nath Tagore and Aurobindo Ghosh attempted but failed in their mission. They have category stated in their literary works that they did not reach the stage of Enlightenment.
What is it while proceeding on the path of Enlightenment that is difficult to achieve? Even when it was possible for Swami Vivekananda to have gained Enlightenment under the guidance of his spiritual master and a god realized soul Swami Ramakrishna Paramhansa, he did not exercise the option! Why?
Enlightenment (in other words self-realization) is the culmination of all we know as spirituality. There is nothing beyond having reached the stage of Enlightenment that is left to be achieved by a human being. Having reached the Mount Everest, Edmund Hillary became quite depressed for he realized that the goal of his life had come to an end. There was no further to go anywhere? The moment one comes across the final goal of his life... it is all over for life itself. Probably, life loses its meaning.
Is it not true that the essence of life is while pursuing our goal? And one who gains Enlightenment merges his identity with the larger whole... the God Almighty himself. Having lost our identity of life it becomes difficult for a human being to be able to recognize one as a friend, a relative, a teacher and even your parents. For an enlightened person it is not difficult to maintain the relationship but while living in the society it becomes difficult to maintain the balance between the spiritual end of life one has achieved and the relationship with the physical world.
A flower having bloomed loses its meaning... it is no more related with the plant which gave it life and also everything which the bud needed to have flowered into a full-blown. The identity, the ego, the self lost its meaning the moment the bud bloomed into a beautiful flower. As long as the society, the community felt the sweet fragrance of the flower... it got recognition and the moment came the time to wither out and die... none cared! Life moves on and does not wait for anybody.
The essence of life lies in moving on and on until one gains Enlightenment. And this Enlightenment is the stage when one is totally liberated forever from everything we call as the materialistic world. Materialism is a phenomenon of the physical world. On the contrary, Enlightenment dwells in the absolute truth of our life. It is only related to our true inner self... our soul (the true self of us). And the moment our soul realizes and reaches its final potential... the need for the body vanishes.
Every enlightened soul has to abandon the body for ever... the cycle of life and birth ceases for this enlightened person. If I say that only two persons have gained Enlightenment in the last 150 years out of the 6000 million people residing on mother earth... then Swami Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharishi Ramana were truly blessed by God Almighty to have gained Enlightenment even when the society presently is passing through such a bad phase on the materialistic plane. Everything presently is measured in terms of materialistic achievements.
In the present times a spiritually enlightened soul residing in the deep dense forests of the Himalayas would not find as much public appreciation as the likes of Bill Gates... One who shall not be able to carry the wealth one manages onto the next life but always seems to cling on until the last moment of life arrives. The false hope one maintains that money can buy one the best in life in the present and the afterlife is an absolute misnomer. We fail to remember that it is only the likes of Madame Curie who shall gain a special status in the next life for the ones like Madame Curie come once in thousand years... those who dedicate everything one could have called their own to the mankind at large. They truly live for the society until the last breath and it is for that they shall be repaid by God in the next life.
Even though Madame Curie may not have gained Enlightenment... but chances are that these thinkers and true philosophers of life would gain Enlightenment a few lives from now on. A true enlightened person lives like a true trustee believing in the fact that everything belongs to God and one is only a maintainer on his behalf. It would not be in the interest of the trustee to look forward to materialistic riches in life. Every true trustee would do whatever possible within his means to work for uplifting the society.
I again repeat that every god realized soul loses everything in the materialistic world. It simply means our true self, the real self of us who exists within us as our soul... the moment it reaches its pristine purity, the dross having completely removed... the physical body losing its meaning... and one truly gains Enlightenment.
Vijay Kumar... The Man who Realized God in 1993 explains the inner meaning of Enlightenment. subscribe free Newsletter "Spiritual Secrets Unveiled" - Explore hidden cosmic truths- Tread the unchartered territory of enlightenment
shuttle from Midway Glen Ellyn ..'O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom... Read More
We shamans are a strange breed.....often we tend to isolate... Read More
It is so obvious that God works and thinks on... Read More
I love rivers. I have for many years lived away... Read More
Some may ask why in a disaster some people are... Read More
Almost every spiritual and religious teaching exhorts its followers to... Read More
For the last 35 years, I have been working with... Read More
One of the first issues people on the spiritual path... Read More
Love...it's a deep emotion. Sometimes we say it in jest... Read More
The dictionary defines the word forgive as: [to pardon, as... Read More
In our fast paced society we often want everything done... Read More
My fiancee' and I frequent a restaurant in L.A. called... Read More
A lot of times when I am reading people on... Read More
Many of you already own several lucky charms or talismans.... Read More
I'm weary of saying No to my children. Not just... Read More
I have studied many of the great Religions, Quantum Physics,... Read More
CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA: Of course we may never know the real... Read More
For it is written in Bible in chapter 2 Peter... Read More
There is power in meanings of the old images and... Read More
How many of us rush blindly through our days, fall... Read More
Billy Graham once said, "Being a Christian is more than... Read More
Michael Shermer speaks with the energy and passion of an... Read More
There is no incident in the life of Moses which... Read More
We, a group of ordinary people who believe in Jesus... Read More
Back in the days of the old law of Moses,... Read More
shuttle from O'Hare North Chicago ..Even though our lives progressively moves forward on occasion it... Read More
God rides a Harley, God drives truck, God is a... Read More
"They're crazy!" That's what they're saying about us. The majority... Read More
Some people go to physics and spiritual readers for advice... Read More
Over the past number of years, while going through my... Read More
The following fragment was found in Qumran along with the... Read More
This question, "what is grace" plagued me more into knowing... Read More
God made humans in his image but these days very... Read More
Natural laws exist that serve to maintain order in the... Read More
Imagine the Bible is a sharp and deadly double-edged sword,... Read More
Spiritual growth is the process of inner awakening, and becoming... Read More
An etheric body, also known as the aura, surrounds every... Read More
As you will see I the Scripture verse I will... Read More
Aristotle referred to happiness as the most we can achieve.... Read More
Why do we have an Ego?Almost all spiritual guides say... Read More
So I met a friend recently and we went to... Read More
Spiritual stuff is a hard sell Roy and one of... Read More
What does the story of your life say about you?... Read More
Ever wonder what happened to the family dinner hour? Or... Read More
Worldwide extensive research is being published related to the mind-body... Read More
Of the many individuals who were touched through the ministry... Read More
I do not want curiosity seekers, who come for a... Read More
On Shamans and Shamanism ... Shaman, a Tungus (Siberian) word,... Read More
We as human beings consider ourselves the most intelligent species... Read More
Can two walk together unless they have agreed to do... Read More
Spirituality |