Is there anything new to be said about enlightenment, after so many books have been written, so many sites, so many wanderful and deep thoughts, different points of view,bright and clever remarks...My answer is yes. I believe that forever will be something new to be told about anything in this World. Evolution is eternal as Universe is. If subject is not changing then our point of view does or our way we are treating and using that subject. Spiritual achievement have many uses, it depends on what you want from it. Immortality, power, wisdom, answers? to see god, or to become one! to become better person, to shine with good vibrations, to help the world? Someone wants glory, money or only good health? Or maybe you are just modest and want all of these?
So first question must be: what is enlightenment? About this many have been told, and all are agree that there is no final answer. Meaning of this word in English is to bring a light into something, so there is now light where darkness was, knowledge where was ignorance, understanding where doubt was, confidence where was fear, eternity where was time passing..Trouble is in English this expression has wide area of possible meanings, so it adress all things in life that could be enlightened not only your spirit. Hence enlightenment is the name for famous intellectual movement in France in 18th century when greatest minds from that time made victory of reason over religious prejudices. So this is kind of intellectual enlightenment, different in many aspects from nirvana. There exist even an organization with same name: "what is enlightenment" - wie.org, dedicated to this question. But if they haven`t realized it yet, hardly that they ever will. In my native language Serbo-Croatian we have two different words: one for intellectual and other for spiritual enlightenment. It doesn`t neccessarily means that Serbs are especially spiritual people more then others, it only shows better connection with old indo-aryan languages. From recently very often on the west is in use the expression "enlightened soul". This probably should mark a person who pay more attention on spiritual then on material, who shines always with positive vibrations, trying never to let "negative feelings" as hate and anger growing inside their soul. So it must be pointed out about what enlightenment we are talking about - intellectual, spiritual or some other..yes there are and other kinds of enlightments, for example they talking about political one, social... also there is Evolutionary enlightenment so needed in this poluted planet we are living it. But none of them can`t be compared with such radical methaphisycal and existential changes brought by spiritual enlightenment. Only it can change us in deepest structure of our being, only then we are transformed in our roots.
First, it is state of mind. Second it is state of consciousness. And last but most important it is our new way of existance. They talking about losing an ego. What it is really means? They talking about unspeakable, umpossible to tell, well all feelings are impossible to describe. You can only resemble it by using something more common and known. Like "ocanic feeling", "unlimited self", "no boundaries between you and world" ..that`s all fine and it is true, but it doesent help you a lot in getting there faster. In fact it can even slow you down, becouse immagine something you are not familiar with can lead you in wrong direction. Yes, your individual personality is falling apart, your self is spread all around, you become connected with everything. Sounds wanderful isn`t it? Only question is: are you ready for sucrificies? Is this your destiny? My answer is-it is worth of trying. There is nothing you can lose if you don`t make it, you can always get back to ordinary state of existance. But once you have made it, there is no turn back! The way you see thing the way you feel things will be subject of drastic changes, irreversible changes. Everybody alone has to calculate for him/herself. One is certain..in this material world death is reality, in enlightened world death is impossible. When you are stepping out of time, you are entering the eternity. Becoming eternal and unlimited self is point of spirituality. After, you may come back here to help the World with new wisdom from heart of Universe, or you can stay forever in peace of mind. Your choice. Good thing with enlightenment is - you have freedom of choice.
When you can`t define what something is then you should explain what something is NOT! There are many confusions about enlightenment on the west, many misbeliefs and wrong expectations which on the end produce betrayed hopes.
Enlightenment is not:
-way to happy and joyful life (it happenes only at beginning, later you come to peace of mind)
-way to physical immortality
-way to paradise (this belongs to religion not to spirituality)
-tool with which you can change humanity, change society and create a better world (you are then out of game so how could you change anything?)
-tool for self-realization (if you want to realize your hidden potentials use one of life-success schools, all you can reach with enlightenment is your abstract self which however doesen`t get involved in real life)
-way to succes in life (except if you want to make business of it, but hardly that such idea can come to a mind of one truly enlightened person)
-way to superpowers (they are all lost after enlightenment)
-to become a god (this happenes only temporarily to some rare persons and brings great risk of becoming un-enlightened)
-to control destiny (but you can accept it easier like one wiseguy)
-way to wisdom (most enlightened persons became even more stupid after, remember - mind is temporarily destroyed, but you can use enlightenment as a tool for real wisdom! about this more later)
hi, Eclipse --
man, you are the fount of great questions! I'm so enjoying these!
for what it's worth, I've got a few ideas:
'enlightenment' per se -- at its most basic level, means knowing yourself -- knowing who you really are. as I understand it, that's not a big deal.
there are different stages of enlightenment, and many potential pitfalls along the way.
some stages:
satchitananda -- blissful knowing of the self
brahmananda -- knowing that 'everything is That' -- ie, feeling perpetually connected with everything that lives, grass blades, animals, insects, other people, etc.
chinmayananda -- knowing that "That is all there is" -- understanding (by knowing, not intellectualizing, but Realized) the play of form and divine light, karmas and dharmas, so thoroughly that you literally could see a tiger eating your own mother and you'd be divinely enjoying the whole scene. a kind of supreme understanding/detachment from the illusion.
nityananda -- eternal bliss, no matter what is happening around or to you. the most difficult stage of enlightenment to attain and maintain.
I think true 'enlighenment' comes when a person knows what their dharma (soul mission, what they came here to do) is, and they're flowing with huge divine love and truth, and peace.
you made really beautiful points above -- one of them I totally disagree with, based on my own experiences -- enlightened beings can of course have supernatural powers (whether or not they choose to show them or not depends on their deal with god, like a contract).
Jesus was enlightened and demonstrated many miracles.
Buddha was enlightened and had siddhic abilities (supernatural) -- chose NOT to demonstrate them, he didn't want to confuse his students.
Babaji is enlightened and has demonstrated many miracles.
Yogananda's guru, Yukteswar, and his guru, Lahiri Mahasaya, were enlightened and demonstrated miracles.
Ammachi is enlightened and demonstrates miracles.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is enlightened and demonstrates miracles.
Shirdi Sai Baba was enlightened and demonstrated miracles.
there are lists and lists, but the point is, enlightenment doesn't mean not demonstrating miracles as a ticket to enlightenment. miraculous abilities are not in temselves a barrier to gaining enlightenment -- in fact, if used properly and under the guidance of a real spiritual master, they're a short-cut way to self-Realization.
the tricky point about this (and there are many) is that people who can demonstrate supernatural abilities are not necessarily enlightened. many siddhis (supernatural capacities) can be won easily, if someone knows the right formula and practices it, without enlightenment ever entering the equation. you can see the recipe for disaster that can create, because of course someone who's not enlightened is probably not going to use their supernatural abilities in a divine way and is, sooner or later, going to crash and burn.
Alx
[send green star]
[
accepted]
Birth then Enlightenment January 24, 2006 12:57 PM
Enlightenment means literally being filled with light. A synonym is Illumination. The nature of the universe is light. We are beings of light.
I began to see the light that is normally hidden from the senses first as many pulsating dots of light in a horizontal wave on the wall of my room.
The conscious realization that I am a divine being was given to me in 1999. I never before had such an intense feeling of peace and joy as in that moment.
I remember that I was sitting, and my senses closed to the outer world and I began a process of introspection, journeying through seven concentric levels of my being (I remember counting them as I passed through each one) until I was left with a glowing sphere of divine love. I think this is what is meant by the permanent atom or the divine spark. Later I understood that this was a holon which is both particular to my individual being and the totality of existence. Normally when we think of encompassing the entirety of the cosmos we think of going outwards equally in all directions, but the spiritual reality works in the opposite way.
After that experience I was entirely different. I felt infinitely joyful and loving to everybody in the world, and I embodied the intention.
I've been investigating what my experience signifies every since.
For example, where does the light I first saw come from? Zoroastrians believed the light literally comes out of the eyes and illuminates what you see. Science says our eyes receive light that is "out there".
Also, aren't we interconnected with all life in the universe? In what way then? Could it be that the literal reality is that we are actually by the act of imagining all life in the universe, we are creating strings of light connecting us with each and every being everywhere and perhaps even everywhen who are themselves light? Modern science is in the process of corroborating this with the realization that everything is vibration and founding a new paradigm based on the realization that everything is vibration and light. Some people see sound. Remember that we're only wired into this particular way of perceiving reality. How might disembodieded awareness be able to perceive?
Also, the alchemists and mystics of old drew diagrams with a person in the center and concentric circles around them representing the whole universe. People talk about bridging the inner and outerworlds, which would be represented by a circle inside the individual.
In the aura diagrams in the book Hands of Light, there is the immediate energy field around the body and then there is a distinct level around that which is referred to as a macro level of the aura.
I came to understand that whatever I experienced in my divine awakening was a resonance with the macrocosm, the great everything with my being.
We are energy balls flowing in the great stream of being. Our vibration, our intention, connects us with events that to the unaccustomed seem random. Yet things in the outer environment appear with such frequency in synchronicity with the ruminations of our consciousness that it becomes clear that something amazing is happening. For example, a course of thinking continues from a thought to another and some detail reminds you of a friend whom you don't see too often, and then you see that person an instant later? Did you enter that stream of thought because you were going to see that person? Investigating these issues with clarity can bring tremendous clarity to our consciousness.
Also enters the issue of the power of the mind on reality. Its fun to experiment on yourself unstuffing your nose for example by poking a hole through the clog with your mind to allow for the passage of air and actually feeling it happen. There are beings who develop this ability tremendously and can do things that are like miracles to us, curing people of terrible afflictions or manifesting a flower out of thin air. On the other hand, as our collective human reality is becoming enlightened, we and the earth are ascending in vibration, less dense and more subtle, thought manifests quicker until in our enlightened reality, which I pray will be absolute in scope and for everyone, thought manifests instantaneously!
Now I hope that the already present realization of the importance of our thoughts and how they actually create reality reinforces the sense of responsibility in aligning ourselves with positive thoughtstreams. Saturate every atom of our being with peaceful intention, every photon in our light body with love, and fill your heart with joy! The importance of this is an incredibly powerful fact, and until we are permanently resonating with the perfection we need to remind ourselves repeatedly to fill our minds with life sustaining intention.
What about dealing w/ problems? Learn to observe w/o amplifying it. Improve the situation!
Where is the midpoint between causing an event with the mind and perceiving one before it happens?
Take morphogenetic fields, where say one person cracks a puzzle that has been around for some years, and suddenly the next day a dozen people independently solve it because the information energy is "ïn the air." Like the two guys who invented calculus on the same day but one was able to prove that he finished formulating it first so he took the credit. But isn't it possible that the other guy actually initiated thinking about the specific thing first and the other was picking up on his thoughts?
The way to actualize peace is to live from a cooperation with the ultimate best for everyone and away from the dominance of rationality masking egocentric obsession. Realizing that "Ï" am everything and everyone: what I do to myself I do to everyone and what I do to anybody I do to myself, on a mystical level.
enlightening our personalities and seeing the Feast July 03, 2007 5:05 AM
[This is adapted from a similar post]
Plights of Personality
Where, what, who how are we one, with bifocals separately staring into one eye, pupil rings seen in sleep, momentarily awakening, surprised by a silver shiver inspirational goose-bumps straightening tangled mirrors inside minds of time connecting warps and woofs, for water waves above our globe, ancestors branched in palms touching each other almost like hand shakes adding up precious psalms for plights of insight, in the lights of our personality. (written by Scot Aaron for this Post)
I have an academic degree in World Religions and spent years travelingto learn more. Beyond Freud's coining a use of Id and Ego or Western Buddhists often referring to Ego in negative sense when disgussing the foundational 4 Nobel Truths, we can consider the beauty of our personalities.
(Buddha's Noble Truths 1-4) Life is dukkha, "suffering." Suffering stems from Attachment (Skt. trsna, "thirst" often qualified as Ego). End suffering by ending thirst or "Ego." The way to Nirvana, "Enlightenment" is Buddha's 8 Fold Path. Preparing for Unknowns (from my photo taken at Angkor Wat)
Again, through my studies of Eastern Religion, especially Buddhism, Ego is often implied as negative quality... something to get rid of. Then again this Enlightenment State of Nirvana or Moksa seemed to be major mystery to try and understand.
[I
know we could take the Albert/Ram Dass "Be Here Now" approach. In this
book he basically compares LSD trips to Buddhist/Hindu realizations.
Associate Consciousness to Awareness and ask where you are when you
awake ... or when are you awaken?
There are plenty of Gurus figures to show the way (their way or the ways of thier traditions)... by the way, a great book discribing his autobiographical experience of Enlightenment is Swami Muktananda's Play of Consciousness.]
After understanding Eastern viewpoints and Western interpretations of "Liberation," along with living more years of my Life, I realize how valuable and utterly precious the personality can be. And we share our experiences... Beyond fulfillment from astrological Sun Signs and spiritual growth by applying and transforming planetary conjunctions, is the Feast of Consciousness. [Maybe only poetry, art, whispers, and the unspeakable can hint of such magnificence?]
Let me say this, the FEAST encompasses climatic realizations in our major religions. The celebration of Life realizes Wholeness. When you experience God, you Know. In recollection, we Realize that we are One, and share personalities in an appreciation of goodness and integrity.
[The earliest Hindu Vedic Scriptures state Tat Tvam Asi,
“That Thou Art.” Accordingly, humans exist to Realize/Awaken their
inner connection with God/Existence and share this embodiment.
According to Eastern thought, all energies recycle/reincarnate to
realize alignments of karma/dharma with embodiments of God/Existence.
In Christian thought, people can become “joint heirs” with Christ
(Romans 8:17). After tasting from the tree of knowledge of Good and
Evil, the Bible states: And the LORD God said, “The
man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not
be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life
and eat and live forever. … [where was placed] a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way." (Genesis 3:22, 24)]
Our Stars scintillate, seeming to "flash back and forth" for our flaming sword. Take your "personalities" and the ever encompassing Spirit for Exponential Blessings and Growth, Scot Aaron
[send green star]
[
accepted]
Thank you for your longing on enlightenment. Only purpose of human life is to be enlightened, and the result will be the journey towards our origin, kingdom of god, home of the master or simply home. Home of the soul is the level or stage of absolute peace.
We (The soul) are made of light, which are the parts of God. And when we see the light and hear the sound by our inner eye and inner ears and practicing this every day (Meditation on light and sound) we ensure a permanent bond with our origin (The sound or The Word, in Bible). It was also called heavenly music, shabd or sound current.
This was the teachings of all past Masters and the present ones. They taught the disciples how to meditate on light and sound; by the way of oral explanation and invisible transmission (Initiation). Living Master is a must for connection with the sound. To step into the spiritual worlds, we need a good guide who knows the place inside out, who has the authority over the powers of the levels from physical to all the way to our home.
It is good to see things and have other experiences, but if we want to prepare ourselves to go home, it is wise to find someone who knows the subject, like if we want to learn something new, or something we have forgotten we find an expert or a teacher to show us how to, and there is always a few living Masters available to every generation. God is generous and will not want any of us to be lost, thus sending messengers or sometimes coming Hirmself to help us.
IF WE ARE HUMBLE AND HAVE FAITH WE WILL BE SHOWN HOW TO GET BACK HOME. WE WILL GET ENLIGHTMENT THROUGH INITIATION BY AN ENLIGHTENED MASTER AND UNDERSTAND THAT WE ARE GOD, OR AT LEAST CHILDREN OF GOD.
Every now and then i must repeat basic rules of the game. Advertising is not allowed!
Guru Nanak was hell of a guy, and his succedor guru Singh was good guy too, but i personally think that Yoga of Sound is not best choice for Westerns. You could find aat least a better topic then this one here dear .... for your advertising on guru yoga of spiritual masters of Sikh`s. Other thing worthy of mention is that guru is not a must for your enlightenment. Look at me. I had no teacher, and i did it better then all of teachers.
And on the end -we don`t want to go home. We want to stay here forever! But since we can`t we create some other worlds, like home or god. If death wouldn`t exist nobody would have a need for Enlightenment. Nobody would like to become "free" if we could live forever. And that is the best answer on the question from above - what is Enlightenment. It is our only way to deal with death and not to lie ourselves. Enligthenment is the only real and true answer on eternal question about end of human existance.
You did not ask ‘what is enlightenment for western people?’
I thought that enlightenment belongs to all and posted my comments.
I apologise if it sounded like an advertisement.
If we want enlightenment or we are enlightened we are automatically should be very open minded.
According to my understanding Sound is mentioned in Bible. St John says that the Word was with God and Word was God. The word is the vibration of universe. Everything comes from Word and goes back to Word or Sound. Some scientists are working on this subject already, for example, the string theory.
You also said “Look at me. I had no teacher, and I did it better then all of teachers.” That is very good. But we can never compare ourselves with others (especially enlightened Master) if we never had the chance to know them. I can also cannot comment on you because I do not know you.
According to my experience the enlightenment means SEEING THE LIGHT by YOUR THIRD (VISDOM EYE.) And then HEARING the SOUND with YOUR INNER EARS. It is as real as seeing with your external eyes and hearing with your external ears. This happens to ALL; White, Yellow, Brown, Black, and so on.) If one is sincere and humble.
And, living forever; do you mean with this mortal body? I can only tell you that that is only an illusion. Physical things (like our body) will be created and die. We (humans) used to live longer when we followed the Law of Universe, but these days this is not the case. You as a SOUL live forever.
But I can safely say that when your body dies, or you come out of your body you carry on seeing and hearing. This is also from my own experience, of course by the Grace of God. As Jesus Christ said that it was not Him but the Father does it. So even the Son of God Himself is being humble and not accepting credit. Everything occurs by God's Grace.
I cannot explain over and over my rules for every newbee here again - please read "Defining our rules" in our archive. It clearly states that i shall not allow representation of some other`s idea except of your own. If you have your own original teaching- you are free to advertize it here, just start a new topic for it, and everything is just fine. Advertizing your master`s teaching or school to witch you beling will not be permitted. You can certainly have your own group for this purpose.
Word enligthenment is very unhappy chosen word for spiritual deliberation since it can have in enlgish language whole bounch of meanings. In Serbian language we have two words for enlightenment - one for intellectual and one for spiritual, and in India there are even more. What we mean by enligth. here is state of mind when we enligth some question, some riddle which we feel us ultimate for our existance. For this purpose we must become a question. Then we must become an answer. In enlightened state - we 'feel' we 'know' the answer but there is no way we can tell it.
Off course -enlightment does not belong to any nation specially but.. it is hard to immagine some Indian guy who is traveling to USA to find enlightenment and use for that purpose some method created on west. That would be the day!Most of memers here are from west, and whole care2 is on the end made and created for west. And last but not less important is that due to spiritual sanctions implemented by me for west countries - readhing the ultimate truth and power will be much harder for people from that area then ever before. Why I did it, you can look for in Spirituality group, in topic from March 2006.
Light in 6th chakra? Yes it is Sant Math -or whatever? teacher of Yoga of Sound, definatelly, and there was some guy - guru Singh? if i recall properly.. Problem with this school which I through it away just soon as i read it, is that they know only for 6 chakras; don`t you know for 7th chakra where light becomes emtpiness, and all what exist is it light or dark, hate or love, become one in nothingness? that is something what you should see.
I really hate that association made from bible -in beginning there was a word (sound) and that what yoga of sound does. That are completely two different things, and there is really no justified connection between jewish religion and Sikh`s universal mysticism. Hummility is not a virtue here, so rellax and be cool. I constantly encourage people to show their real nature which is mean and violent, and discourage acting and pretending. Be who you are and dont afraid. Miserable is that guru who teach you to pretend. I like to see fair fight, strong attitudes and rebelious spirit.
Expirience is good thing but it is chaning, so wait just a little before you give some ultimate judgement about anything. Who knows what Christ would be thinking about all these if he had lived a little longer? BTW, was that guy enlightened? No, if we see enligthenment as deliberation, like they do in India. No, if we see enligthenment like rational mystical wisdom with witch we can understand laws of Universe. So, deliberation is just first condition for Real Enlightenment, and then you should activate your mind again and use it in one new and different way to understand things are happening around us which we call Creation.
Yes, you are right saying that, with experience we can not claim to find the ultimate, God’s creation is said to be endless. Important thing is to progress with a safe method. There are, and have been various methods to reach enlightenment. And some went, but not entirely, on their own, but had very hard time. They stated that they reached to a state of nothingness but they did not know beyond. Real beauty is hiding just behind the nothingness. People who truly reach that state do not argue or debate any more. They may, if situation arises, tell others the Way to reach there. Of course people will try to create arguments or long debates instead of sincerely trying, thus missing the opportunity to master the method and progress.
When we just read books and do not want to consult (This is one of the meanings of being humble) the living True Teacher (Of course if we can find one), there is a possibility of being lost.
Further on the subject of being humble; meaning may be slightly misunderstood. If you truly investigate, even in physical life, truly powerful, or truly superior beings are really humble. Those who violent, mean or aggressive are the ones live in fear; they are simply cowards. They are under the influence of negative power. These beings create misunderstanding by playing mind games, they run away and try to undermine simple solutions and simple truths, and they try to complicate things by their lack of understanding and by their ego. So these attitudes are not our true nature (This is my opinion/understanding). I have been analysing some of these people, who have been in my life, and they are the ones who pretend to know everything, but the sad fact is that they cannot even solve simple problems because of their egoistic aggressiveness. So I am writing these not only my Guru tells me, but I also experience and analyse real life situations. So I hope you will not protest that I am advertising a Guru.
You, most probably meant that we must show rock solid resistance against negative power. To me, that is the fighting spirit. We must defeat the negative with True Love. That is what the True Teacher teaches to His/Her disciples. Pretending and acting do not help the true practitioner, but make us fall.
Humble compassion and love is the greatest quality which we inherit from our Father. If we truly exercise this then we can claim to have reached somewhere.
On the subject of past True Gurus; as I mentioned before we cannot or should not comment on somebody with whom we never lived with. True knowledge (Number of chakras, etc) of any Master cannot be 100% known by just reading books. Spiritual knowledge cannot be put on paper. That is why the Living Master is important. Can you learn, even a mundane trade or skill, by just reading the book of the dead qualified person? But if you work with the one you will get it in no time. How can we expect to safely learn such an important subject of the spiritual world by just reading books? This is illogical. And also to really understand a Real Teacher you must aim to reach to their level.
It has been a great privilege to communicate with you. I truly wish every success and contentment in your life. I also congratulate you for your brave and sincere efforts to find higher truths about your real self as this is the real purpose of this life.
Why everybody must to be part of some school, some path, some master`s circle.. why can`t you find something for yourself? alone but not lonely. there are invisible teachers, as well, and Universe is the greatest teacher of all.
So buddy - you are not the first one here who things that can give us a lesson, and spread great wisdom of your teaching, which is in your opinion highest achievement of all - 1st among equal?! Others are good but you are the best? maybe.. but who cares anyway? You mean (reading between the lines) that being polite critc is better then rude criticism? Here - in my group, no! I appreciate open fight even more. SO - if i become humbble and come on my knees in front of your teacher -which is off course you - yourself, maybe i shall learn something? and even become closer to the highest wisdom?? Mine!!! We are fascinated and delighted. But maybe, just maybe, i`ve already been there..
I felt pretty boring in that state of mind, and i wanted to come back here, so i can fight and argue, and be viiolent and mean again!! mmmm what a pleasure!! To be FREEEEEEE!!!! not a smilinig plant sutisfied with everything! is that God`s higher plan for us? off course not. Freedom is freedom of choice - and is there any choice in that state of existane? No.
So you can see that my Enlightenment is different for spiritual Enlightenment. It was not hard for me to achieve taht kind of ENlightenment, it was much harder to get back here and live a life. Much much harder.. but if i could choose again, i would choose the same. In this moment of history, old spiritual enlightenment is of no use any more. We need to be usefull, to be able to help this Earth, in action not just meditating and be happy. Today we need animals not plants. We need practical wisdom, and real Enlightenment. With wich we can understand, what is going on? Why the World is like this? why it is happening what is happening, why people are doing what they are doing, where we are going?
Sorry for not being much fascinated with your teaching but we have already seen that before for many times.. i can`t be patronizing you, you must grow up and see what is really happening around. New times are coming new enlightenment is coming along. Spiritual enlightenment is one magnificient great state of childhood.. and this one is an effort to grow up to become an active part of Universe.
Thanks for your comments.
But I would prefer that you would not feel great sorrow, as the word ‘sorrow’ exist just because we have only garbage (suffering) in our computer (the mortal organ called brain). But I feel great love and respect for you because you are here, and trying. I hope you read my words carefully, not with your mind but with your heart.
I am sorry if I said something wrong. But I feel great, and free with help of an enlightened being. And similarly you feel great with your own efforts. What is wrong to share these under this topic? I cannot see anything wrong with that.
I thought that we could UNITE our POSITIVE sides rather than negative. If a person or a teacher is saying, doing, and teaching a simple and safe method to enlighten others we have the right to respect and tell others about this person. This should not hurt any other enlightened being. On the contrary he or she would fill with joy knowing that others also trying and doing it. Is that not so?
On the issue of helping the planet; obviously you had not done your homework as what our teacher urging us to do, and She also does it in a big way. I did not want to advertise Her but you forced me to do it. On Her television station She, continuously urges the world what to do. www.suprememastertv.com.
Simple people can do things very quickly to save the world. We are the consumers and can make changes. One can become vegetarian and vegan to bring meat industry on its knees, for example. Use less water, electricity, car journeys (if you have enough money for a new car then buy green one, etc). I tried to let you know that we are not the type to sit on our bottoms all the time; only two and a half hour a day, and can meditate anywhere (most of the time). I also care for my mother who, at the age of 87, needs my help desperately. I go under my friends’ cars on the streets of London to repair them if they are in trouble, and they can wake me up any time. I do not just spend time on this computer! Anyway I have to go now.
Again I am happy that people like yourself and others care about spiritual issues. Without you these truths will not be known easily.
God Bless
[send green star]
[
accepted]
My great sorrow for you, comes from my deepest heart. For you and all the others trapped in nice world of delusions which lead usually to nowhere. There is nothing wrong in what you said, but whole your attitude is wrong. Let me accept your game for a moment and you`ll see it with your own eyes.
-Thanx you Garabet for your brave effort to present us the eternal truth, however you should be more modest and accept that i am the only owner of ultimate truth and that only trough me you can reach there. I compliment your trying to become a seeker, to find a way to the truth, but since you`re a begginer on my scale of ranking - nothing more then confused passinger in wonderland - -much below me (or my teacher) i`ll be happy to show you the way. Just come humbly on your knees and admit that you are not in MY state of mind (so you are not truly enlightened) and you SHOULD be in My state of mind if you want me to consider you for an Enligthened person!"
So, how this rubbish sounds like? ha. These same you can read on thousend of sites and spirituals forums and most likely you`ll get one of these answers if you try to start a conversation with some of this "Enlightened" gurus.
Eclipse, This discussion seems interesting to me. You seem to be stating that your way is more authentic and genuine then other paths.
Your "enlightenment" is true, while the "enlightenment" of others is false. In addition, you seem to have a "rule" of posting, "I shall not allow representation of some other's idea except of your own." Of course, being that this is your group, I suppose you can enforce any restriction or limitation to the thoughts that others express that you choose. However, I would contend that this only stifles the ongoing discussion. I'm always happy to learn of other perspectives and I am free to pick and choose the ideas of others that resonate with me (free-will).
You seem to present yourself as having the distinct talent of "judging" whose path is more authentic. You hold yourself out as teaching a new enlightenment, "New times are coming new enlightenment is coming along." I must admit, I am always open to "new" thoughts but have yet to find anything new "under the sun."
However, as I read your posts I fail to see what makes your perspective different from those paths advocated by the "masters" of the past traditions. You state, "So you can see that my enlightenment is different for spirtual enlightenment. It was not hard for me to achieve that kind of enlightenment." So in the spirit of this irresistible discussion what makes your "enlightenment" so completely different from all others?
What are the basic elements of your path that would help me to find my way? I am very interested to know.
Yes, it`s a good question. But first i must expose some basix of enlightenment in order to destroy some misbeliefs which exist on spiritual markets on the west. Second - i don`t pretend to be original by any cost. In this moment of history it was given to me to reach for something more. Necessity of this moment made me do it, not my desire. I shall explain the very nature of new enlightenment in some of new and old threads how much uman words will allow mew to do it. In point don`t be confused - Nirvana or emptiness - i felt it like all others in history felt it -the same like others. But - use of that expirience -understanding which it gives you, and it`s potential to change things in the world - is where my achievement differs from the others. This spirituality is practical, this mysticism is operational.
Ok. let`s get back to the subject: what is Enlightenment?
Enlightenment is freedom. So be it! Become free if you want, if you can, become who you really are! Be aware of your true nature whatever it may be. Be conscious of you eternal multiple personality who is everchanging and always the same.
"You should, you must".. don`t exist in FREEDOM! You should not feel that way, you should not do that.. how to say you are free if you act someone`s role? How to be a whole and behave like a part?
Don`t believe people who tell you how you should feel, how you should think, how you hsould behave. Is that Enlightenment? Not even close. - That is spiritual way of life, and nothing more. Among many ways of life- way of fight, way of army, way of politic.. also exist and this ways. But it is not the only not the best. It is just one more among many others amnog God`s wy, just one more colour on the palette. Spiritual way of life is good for me and i like it. But all other ways exist right now and they all make humanity. If you think that they shouldn`t exist, you first must know why do they exist! ANd the truth cannot be reached by ideology. You must be open to learn why these exist like it exist, you must be ready for suprises! so open your mind. Don`t come with prepared patterns, 'you should, you must' this is good -that is bad'... maybe is not so simple how you think it is. And it may be even more simple..
Spiritual people do not care for this world. In nirvana there is no love and light, nor hate or dark. It is emptiness full of SELF. They are absolutely un-interested for your problems. They can only tell you: world is an illusion and your suffering comes from being attached to that illusion and only way to save yourself is to reach nirvana and free from all connections.
Luckily i am half-west so i avoided this illusion of illusion, but i must admit.. it was very good in state of nirvana.
Seeing light is not like to be enlightened. Love and peace are not more important then war and hate. If you love nature then you must hate polluters, right? Everybody keeps telling you - your real nature is love and peace, you should be full of forgivness and compassion... and ithat is best way to keep you out of the game. My real nature is my real nature, not what others tells me it is. Be who you are, and don`t afraid of it. If you are full of hate then god must have some reason for it, there must be some duty for you in this world.
Who told you that enlightened people must be like this or like that? Who told you that some particular way of behaviour is more "enlightened" then the other? WHO told you that your 'real' nature is peace and forgivness? On the contrary, you are full of hate, desire for revenge and let it live! negativness is same as positivness. That pretending of love&light very often gives unnatural behaviour and cannot last for long, and if does- it gives no results in this world; what is easy to understand, god doesn`t want that. God is everything and you must be everything else you are not living your life to the fullest, you are not living in accordance with god`s nature. It is oxymoron -contradiction in terms -if you are one with everything then you have all possible ways of behaviour in you. If you are a whole how can you choose some part of the whole to be more privilegued then the others? Some tantra teachers say that even killers can become enlightened, it has nothing to do with that, and it is true. Everything else is only metter of your beliefs, of your ideology. You don`t know nothing about it becouse you are not enlightened so don`t give us a lessons, please. Wait untill you reach there and then tell us about it.
Enlightened man do not play a role as you people from west usually think. Freedom means freedom not playing a role in your movie. If they are acting as they are expected to be, to become popular or to reach more students and money, or to feel as famous saviours, then it is all just one more Muppet Show. That kind of teachers are greater slaves then you are, and they can never set you free. If you have read not only what you like to read but everything what is important to read, you should learn that east masters used to be very rude and agressive behaviour. They behaved spontanously and not chematic, not much 'spiritual' as you call it today. Why do you think that Zen masters have that long stick beside them? Oh yeah, some of you really need it, trust me!
I agree with your concept of detaching from the teacher and going your own way. Besides, the teacher can only point to enlightenment, since it is an experience of unique proportions.
However, I do believe that love is paramount to seeking that Source/God "within" and I do not feel that the "teacher" should terroroize his students as, in my opinion, this can only serve to present an obstruct what is "within."
In addition, the idea you present that all human qualities have value to the seeker does not seem to resonate with me. Currently, I tend to believe that hate and fear must be discarded for the seeker to SEE the goal.
Nevertheless, I do find many of the opinions expressed in this group to have the "mark" of Higher Thinking.
Moment of Enlightenment is when your SELF is united in direct contact with your SELF without world standing between them. In that moment man see self as an Abstract SELF without shape, or definition. It is eternal, all around existing without boundaries, untouched by the world around you. You see, your self is learning about itSELF only trough impressions comming from your senses, and your mind wich transfoms them and make conclusions. There are emotions which is created by your reaction of your material status formed by recognizing your self as a physical body.
Nirvana is highest high of spiritual Enlightenment if we define spirituality as overhelming boundaries of material world. All connections with world with mind and yourself are destroyed, temporarily or permanently, and this person enjoy eternal bliss of victory over world suffer. But Enlightenment may be more then Nirvana if we define enlightenment as enlightening something what we didn`t know before. In spiritual Enlightenment we finally see our spiritual self as immortal, unlimited and always happy. For people who only seek to avoid death of their mortal body it is quite enough. Trouble is that mind turned off in that condition and connections to the world are cutted in both direction -that person cannot be touched by pain of the world but also canno act or do anything to the world. They usually don`t understand some basic things around us, even sexuality or couse of wars. Somebody - like Buddha or Rammana Maharsi stay in that state forever.
Second phase is Enlightenment of life. In that condition your mind is activating again and you can understand human troubles and even you can feel pain as humans do, but you know that there is something behind it, that is not exactly real. In this state world is not illusion nor for real either. That mystics can understan human action much better then they are able to see, they can act in accordance with general plan with using the events from their life. it may seem that they do not do nothing special or extraordinary but they know how even some simple things from their life can influence events on a large scale. It is so, becouse their self is connected to the world in one harmonical relationship. THis people do ACT but not create. They are support of evolution - like Qutub in sufism. Hermetist from west know much about it, and Sai Baba and Meher Baba are examples on the east. Also all zen teachers are in that state, as we know zen was big step forward from Buddhism hence their masters lived ordinary life but with much deeper understanding of everything what is going around them.
In third phase rational mind is united and enlightened with Universal mind. Expirience of Elightenment is here used to understand General plan, to be active part of god`s will, and also to become creator of the future. After holistic life here we have the holistic mind. His emotions are not his - they are from everywhere. His thoughts are not only his, they are thoughts of the World. Very very rare people gets here, becouse of the need for one special combination of qualities requested for this task. it requries great scientific knowledge which is seen on different way then scientist do. It is used on different way either - on holistic way. Also it requires to be familiar with all the culture, politics, everything what is happening - whatever mystic touch with his eye or his mind will transform and will never be the same again. He influences flew of the history, changes direction of future, re-arrange patterns of world, he is an active connection between world and god in both directions. By all that -he understands what he is doing, being always aware of consequences of his acts and from the others and know how to use it in harmony with god`s plan for general benefit. He is living evolution - the Evolution lives trough him - which is the final goal of total enlightenment.
What is this? www.suprememastertv.com You came to me with this? You want to sell us that "Instant Enlightenment" in our Hall of Wisdom? People who had much more serious projects didn`t dare to teach us. You should learn some basics of Enlightenment buddy before you begin with selling wisdom here. Obviously your 'teacher' was not able to show you or at least explain you deep meaning of Enlightenment. Some of that instant masters even know what realization really is, but don`t want to talk about it to their studenst otherwise they would have to explain that their realization is not the real one. One day, when your master become enlightened she can come here to share her expirience with us.
In meantime i am not going to spend a second of my time to read this, i`ve already wasted lot of my time on such beatifully dressed products when i was on the beginning of the road. It`s all the same: enlightened being who is guiding us to a better future, to show us path of light and save the world with meditation, love and peace, and positive vibration.. yeah, right. Very nice. And what use of that? If situation in the world wouldn`t be so serious it would be amusings. Leave that Love&Light stuff to womens buddy, we have a serious job to do.
Look some more at L&L wisdom: "don`t use my politness against me" (?!?!?) how for heaven i can use your politness against you? Do you expect from others to respond you the same for your kindness? If that so then your L&L philosophy is kind of trade.. you do it to me i`ll do it for you. If you really beileve that it is the right way then why do you expect reward for it?
Yes buddy, you are doing many good things, i know, and you deserve better karma for doing that. And that`s the reason i am telling you all this. Otherwise i wouldn`t spned so much efforts on writing all these. It`s good to be vegeterian and most people here already are. But that won`t change the world. Vegeterians exists for thousends of years and always in same percentage. Majority in World will continue to eat meat, and we must accept that in some strange way it is a part of god`s plan. We can change that only if we create a new more spiritual and more intelligent kind of life then human race is.
Enlightenment has that power and has that wisdom to create and change. Not only yourself, but also this planet and whole Universe. It is very important however to see things realistically, to learn laws in structure of Universe and therefore to achieve a perfect balance between spiritual and material.
Dear Mike, is it possible that you haven`t been able to see an irony in my reply to Garabeth? it was simple case like that. On the contrary -not me, they are neglecting achievements of the others even before they have a chance to know them, on polite but arrogant way - they say come humbly everyone to receive my eternal wisdom. But what if somebody already has a greater wisdom? Are they ready to believe it? no.
I never said that enlightenment of the others is false, just that commercial enlightenment is not enlightenment at all, if your wish is finding answers on eternal questions. Everybody will find a teacher which respond to his needs. If you are looking for someone to be just nice to you and treats you with respect.. well you can find for your money who you want: psychiatrists, gurus, emotional couch, teachers of life..etc. But if you want a true wisdom then you will see that goal is more important then your pride. You can believe to who you want but somebody on the end must have a right to decide and history will show who had right.
Off course every master has a system where his/her teaching is compared with the others and in that hierarchy (surprisingly!?) his teaching is always number one, higher then the others, final and greatest achievement in history, waited from everybody on earth on Messiah to disclose it to the world..
However, we see that after so many Messiah nothing is changing in the world and even becomes worse and worse, now all existance is threatened by human greed. We can see that such enlightened masters are of no use for advancement of the evolution. All that was just a food for their ego, and from Christ to Satyananda, there were not meany people who really wanted to find something practical in Enlightenment. Even if price would be loosing their big ego or status of messiah. I don`t see anyone as final answer or the only carrier of the truth. We are more like pieces of the puzzle in eternal riddle of Universe. Everyone contributes to the Evolution as meany as our potentials and character let us.
If you are part of this eternal game then Immortality is part of it, and you can act in the world without fear of loosing enlightenment, although traditional masters would see thinking and acting in the world as sign of "de-realization". My way unites true spiritual enlightenment with creative partipation in material world.
Immortal soul belongs to religion not to spirituality. SPIRITuality seek to find eternal SPIRIT, and to build one non-material spiritual body wich can last longer then our physical body lasts. But i am critic also to spiritualy enlightened people (altough you must know that there are never more then 10 living in the world) as ones who avoid to face reality.You see after Love&Light ideology they still cannot explain what is happening in the world and why the world is like this. They are in wanderfull state of immortality, they are free from desires, but that`s the very reason why they cannot be of any use to this world.
In one word: they are untouchable for the world, but the same, world cannot be touched by them.
I agree that there are many who tend to advocate for their own enlightened state and who, by my estimation, are clearly not as they proclaim. Yet, who am I to claim they are not what they say? Am I what I say I am? Although I would like to think I am, I do tend to doubt it.
Eclipse, in all honesty, I read parts of your message throughout these postings and I am amazed at your clarity and resonate with much that you teach, yet I read other parts and I feel somewhat angry at your methods of extending that message. But, I suppose that is my issue and not yours.
And, again, who am I to tell you how to extend your message. You will resonate with some and others will turn away no matter the message. I suppose this is relative to each individual who studies your message.
For me, I experience both a desire to turn away and I desire to learn what you teach.
However, I do wonder if your message was less antagonistic to other paths, whether they be correct or incorrect, You might attain more adherents and thus more discourse would occur within this group.
Maybe if you allowed others to present various other paths there could be more gentle nudge from you in what you feel is a more "appropriate" direction. It really makes no difference any way since, in my opinion, no one will ever GET what they are not ready to receive and in that no "enlightened master" can influence.
But I do understand that you must teach in the way you determine effective, regardless of my opinion of your methods.
I tried to pass as much information as I can. That was my aim, and I thought that was also your aim to have views on or ways to enlightenment. When anyone introduces another method it may look like competitor to you. It does not need to be like that if we are aiming similar or same targets.
I honestly accept the responds you give. I debate this issue, with everybody because it is important and I do not expect only good responds, but information is passed. When we feel good with something that we find, it is our duty to tell others.
We believe to save the world in this way and I wish that you can also do what you can in your way, as long as the world benefits, it does not matter who does in what way.
God Bless
This post was modified from its original form on 01 Mar, 13:18