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.

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 Nithyananda - Eternal Bliss.

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.

Bhaja Govindam 20

There are many ways to enlightenment.

Ritualistic approach such as puja, yoga, and pranayama take a lot of time, perhaps many births. Puja and Yoga happen at the physical layer of one's mind body system, while pranayama happens at the next level of pranic layer.

At the next subtler level is mantra japa; while a mantra initiated by a realized Master would be very effective, chanting a mantra as in mechanically chanting the Vedas, sahasranamas and ashtotras do not have much efficacy unless fully internalized. Mantra japas work at the mental layer, the third layer. When visualization is used as technique one can go up to the subtle etheric layer at best. Any form can only take a person up to the etheric layer. The most subtle and therefore the most powerful form of approach to enlightenment is dhyana, silent meditation, especially one initiated by a realized Master. Meditation upon the formless can take one to the final nirvanic layer, when one becomes one with the Universe. There is no surer way to enlightenment.

Attitude of the seeker determines the speed of progress. Surrender to the Master is essential for spiritual progress. Surrender has three levels. Initial surrender is that of the intellect, leading to understanding and acceptance of what the Master stands for and says. This is not too difficult for most seekers, who become the Master’s disciples. At the next level is devotion, surrender of emotions; the Master moves you in many ways; you can not bear to be without him and so on. At this level surrender to the form needs to be given up in favor of surrender to the formless. This is the block most devotees face. At the highest level is surrender of one’s senses to the Master.

A bank manager used to take all the cash to his home everyday and bring it back with him the next day morning. He did this for a month and could not do it any more. He found himself trembling all the way while driving back home and was not able to sleep at home with all the money in his custody. He finally wrote a letter to his boss asking to be relieved of the job explaining why. His boss told him that even if the money was lost, he would not be blamed and that he could continue with his job. The manager slept peacefully from that day onwards.

What is the difference in him now? He is doing the same job, but why is the fear and the sorrow not there any more? It is because responsibility has shifted to the higher authority, that's all. This is what Surrender is. Do your duty, leaving the responsibility to Existence.

You need not surrender to God or to any Guru. There is a Life Force conducting this world. It is this Life Force that is causing the breath that goes into you to come out and the food that you eat to digest in your system. Simply surrender to this Life Force. The work that you do in your lifetime for your survival is lesser than the work required to convert a handful of food into blood inside your body. A research was once conducted to simulate the conversion of 'one piece of bread into blood'. They found that the machinery required for it led the industry to extend to 3 kilometers!

Now do you understand the kind of mechanism inside you? Do you think that the Life Force that sustains this mechanism cannot sustain your life? It very well can. Only we don't have faith.

A seed has to surrender to the soil to blossom as a tree. It has to have faith in the soil and allow itself to die or to rupture in order to blossom as a tree. In the same way, we have to place our faith in Existence and surrender ourselves so that a new life, a life of Nithyananda (Eternal Bliss) with good health can blossom. How do we do it? Should we spend long hours at the temple? No. Every time you feel heavy in the heart or mind, just tell yourself that the Life Force that runs the world will take care of you also and move on, that's enough. You will see that all your depression and worries disappear and creativity blossoms in you. Surrender is your shortcut to God! It is the ultimate technique to merge with Existence.

Krishna tells Arjuna, as they walk: Arjuna, look, there is a green crow near that tree! Says Arjuna: yes, Krishna, I see that green crow. A little later Krishna says: Arjuna, look, look at that black crow! Responds Arjuna: yes, Krishna, I see the black crow. Krishna exclaims: Arjuna, you are an idiot, how can there be a green crow? Why did you say you saw a green crow? Says Arjuna without hesitation: Krishna, when you told me to look at that green crow, all I saw was that green crow.

This is surrender of senses, the most difficult to do. Your eyes see, your ears hear, your senses feel what the Master says, not what they experience. Truth is the Master, not the maya that one's senses see externally. When one reaches this level of surrender of senses to the Master, enlightenment follows naturally.

Sitting in front of the Master, drinking in his form, swaying to his energy, being immersed in his words are all easy. There is no effort involved in recognizing the divinity of a realized Master and accepting it. Merit in this is also limited. The enlightened Master is not on an election trip to get people vote as to whether he is enlightened. He knows, whether you and I know or not. All that the devotee does is doing himself a favor.

At the intellectual level, there is nothing impractical about what the Master says. All I say is practical. Just to understand and accept is not enough; you have to live those sayings. There in lies the problem.

The surrender I seek from you is not to my form but to my institution, the Dhyanapeetam. I shall live in those of you who live for Dhyanapeetam. All those of you who seek enlightenment actively and work for the movement of your own and others' enlightenment, will find me following you, whether you like it not, whether you wish for it or not; I shall dwell in your hearts.

Buddha created 10,000 enlightened disciples in the 40 years that he preached, without even a mike. Today, with the media support that I have, with the internet, TV, books and tapes, I should create at least 200,000 enlightened beings in my life time. The more active my movement is, the stronger Dhyanapeetam becomes, the stronger I am, and the longer my physical body would last. Just some years ago I used to say I would live to 42; now as the movement gains momentum I feel I shall live to 123!

A Master does not take birth to fulfill his karma. He is born out of compassion to uplift people. Longevity of his physical body is determined by the speed and intensity of his mission.

Buddha lived in his Dhammam and Sangam, more than his body. So do I. Only one third of my energy is in my body; the remaining two thirds are in my sayings and my institution. I live in my words and my institution; not in my body. The more powerfully you spread my sayings and the more powerful you make Dhyanapeetam, the more powerful you make me.

It’s important that I’m with you; far more important that you are physically with me or near me. When you look at me, when you listen to me, you are physically with me. When you speak my words, when you spread my mission, I am with you. This is the difference between how a monkey carries its infant and a cat does; the infant monkey clings to the mother; this is very fragile, as fragile as the infant’s strength. That’s what you do when you cling to me. Be like the cat; the mother carries the infant; there is no way she will let go; not even upon threat to her life; that’s the way I shall carry you when you speak my words and spread my mission. I shall live in you. I shall live in your words and actions.

When you look after Swami's work, Swami has no choice but to look after your welfare, both material and spiritual. Go and inspire people; that's the greatest service you can do to me and to yourself. The Ananda Sabha that you build must be in your Ananda Gandha! That's the greatest surrender you can make.

Being devoted completely to the lotus-feet of the Master, you, the disciple become released soon from the cycle of life and death process. By disciplining the senses and controlling the mind, you will behold the Deity that resides in your heart.

Bhaja Govindam 31

Grace Ramana said shall flow from the crimson Hill

That He became one with, many years ago

All He taught was to be still

And shed the I, one's ego.

Many times He said: Question deeply and submit fully

Neither question nor answer to me made sense

Struggle as I did meditating daily

Even as my ego formed a wall of defense.

Years later when I sat where He once taught in silence

Locked into his unseeing unfocussed brilliant eyes

Drilling through my Heart with his radiance

Leaving behind wisps of paradise.

Then I reached the Banyan tree

Where sat my Master, in form and formless

Setting with His grace my spirit free

Into that space of eternal bliss.

There is still much I need, to engage and disengage

For Now I am glad to bask in the Grace of my Sage.