Enlightenment – Guaranteed!!🔗

Today's subject is Enlightenment – Guaranteed!! In the previous chapter we saw, Enlightenment - It Is Possible!

The first thing that we need to understand is that enlightenment is possible. From time immemorial, there has been a conflict or fight among our sages. One group of sages says there is something called enlightenment. The other group says there is no such thing as enlightenment.

The people who say that there is something called enlightenment state the fact. People who say that there is no such thing as enlightenment state the truth. The first group gives the fact that there is something called enlightenment. The second group by saying there is

no enlightenment, creates a technique for enlightenment.

The concept that there is no enlightenment is a technique to make us enlightened. Just by having the idea that there is enlightenment, we tend to make enlightenment our goal. The moment we make it our goal we miss the goal. Anybody who makes enlightenment a goal always misses it. Enlightenment is not the goal. It is the very path itself.

Please understand, if we are not able to realize the truth when the Master speaks, if we do not feel the effect of his words the very moment the air that comes from him reaches our ears, we can forget about the words. When we carry this as a memory in our mind, we will always give it our own meaning.

When we start giving our meaning from the memory of the words we carry, we will create double trouble: first we will torture ourselves, and next, we will vomit these words on others and torture them.

I often tell my audience when I speak in Tamil (language spoken in southern India) that people who do not understand Tamil are lucky; they do not understand the meaning of the words I speak. Those who think they understand what I say actually do not understand. Their dictionary is different from mine and they distort my words. They misunderstand and misinterpret me with the filtered product of their minds. In the process of doing so, they lose the truth. Those who do not understand the words at least focus on the energy and are benefited.

From time immemorial in the Vedic system of India, the spiritual nerve center of the world, there have been two kinds of rishis or seers. One group continuously says that there is enlightenment; these are the descendants of Sankara. The other group says that there is no such thing as enlightenment; they are the descendents of Buddha. The former says poorna - complete; the latter group says shoonya - void. But both of them are leading to the same reality.

One group states the fact and the other group states the truth. We need to understand these two words, fact and truth. Fact is the idea stated as it is, plainly as we understand it. Truth is the word that we may not understand with our mind, but the moment we work with that word, suddenly something opens up in our being and we end up in the truth.

All the Hindu purana, the epics, are based on the truth and cannot be tested for factual accuracy. When Valmiki (author of the great epic Ramayana) talks about the population of monkeys in Kishkindha, it is factually impossible that so many monkeys lived in such a small place. Valmiki is talking about the truthful energy of the monkeys, not the factual number.

When Sankara says that there is enlightenment, poorna, he inspires you to work towards it. He creates tremendous inspiration. When the tremendous inspiration is created, automatically all other goals, all other ideas are dropped from your mind. The moment Buddha says it is shoonya, there is no such thing as enlightenment or poorna, there is no need for you to run, there is no need for you to search. Immediately, the tremendous energy which is created in you, in the name of search, starts falling into itself. It is directed towards itself. The moment the energy is directed towards itself, it becomes enlightenment!

Desire without object is enlightenment.

When you have some strong desire with object, you work towards that object. But if the object is removed and the same strong pull, desire and energy turns towards itself, you will realize yourself. When Masters say that there is nothing called enlightenment, they are breaking our goal-oriented mind and they are bringing us to this present moment.

Ramana Maharshi talks of this practice in India:

In the Indian villages they burn the dead bodies in the graveyard. When they burn the dead bodies, they use a stick. They use a bamboo stick to burn dead bodies so that the body doesn’t fall over to one side or the other. When the body is completely burnt they throw the stick also into the same fire and burn it.

In the same way when Sankara says there is enlightenment, he uses that word as a stick. With that stick he burns all other desires in you. Automatically the idea of enlightenment attracts you so much that all other desires are burnt. Finally this last desire, enlightenment, is also dropped in the same fire and it disappears. Then you are enlightened!

On the other side, when Buddha says there is no enlightenment he simply creates a space. He creates an inner void in which you can directly drop. Millions and millions of saints and rishis have come to this planet Earth. They can be categorized into these two groups, one group that says there is enlightenment and the other group that says there is no enlightenment.

Whether you believe it or not, masters from both the groups are leading to the same goal. I can give hundreds and hundreds of examples in the tradition of Sankara, including Madhva and Ramanuja. You may ask, ‘Madhva and Ramanuja are different. How can they all be in Sankara’s category?’ Whoever says there is the ultimate stage, whoever fixes the goal, all of them come under the category of Sankara including Madhva, Ramanuja, Ramakrishna, Chaitanya and Meera. All these masters talk about poorna. They are all in the tradition of Sankara.

In the other group, we can again give many examples: Buddha, Nagarjuna, Bodhidharma and all the Zen masters. Some masters state the fact while some masters state the truth. But both are leading us to the ultimate, which simply is enlightenment. I can say that because the word ‘enlightenment’ is loaded with too much meaning, the word is completely corrupted. Because of this, some masters have to say that this word cannot be used.

Whether we use that word or we do not use that word, the experience that we achieve in the end, the poorna or the ultimate bliss, does exist. It is possible to be in the state where we feel we are no longer bound by the body and mind; that stage does exist.

Whether we speak in the language of Sankara or in the language of Buddha, there is something which is beyond our body and mind. That is what I wanted to emphasize by the name of the discourse, 'Enlightenment

I am not giving you any false guarantees. Be very clear that I am speaking the truth. See, in the outer world, the big problem is, whenever you give something away, whatever you have will be reduced by the very act of giving away. It is not that people don't want to give. They want to give but they want to have for themselves as well.

The conflict between having and giving is the whole problem. That is why we cannot even criticize the people who go around making promises and guarantees which they don't intend to fulfill because each one has their own understanding. We cannot criticize any individual being; each one has his or her own idea.

See, if they give something that they have, they will have lesser than when they started. But let me be very clear: what I have will never be reduced even if I give it to another. This is the reason that I can continuously give. I cannot take pride that I continue to give because what I give is never diminished. When I share it, it only grows. It is the quality of the object that is being given, not the quality of me.

Let me be honest, it is because of the nature of what I am giving that I am constantly sharing. By sharing, it only grows. If I too had the same objects of the outer world, which would reduce when given to others, I don't know whether I would give them away or not!

If you were to come and ask me for this rudraksha mala (rosary made out of beads from rudraksha tree) that I am wearing, I don't know whether I will give it or not. But I can say one thing, what I am giving always grows. By sharing, it only expands, it only grows.

If you can realize these words, if you can understand these words that I am speaking, you may also have the same property - the one that expands by giving. You can have the wisdom or knowledge which will grow by sharing.

All that I request from you is to try and understand this concept this very moment. If you miss it, do not worry. However, do not carry the corpse; do not carry the dead words home. Try to forget everything after going home. I always create a lot of contradicting statements so that you will stop thinking about them. Either you understand now when the words are stated or you will never understand by carrying just the words home with you. You will only create one more philosophy.

When Sankara said that there is enlightenment, if the disciples had understood at that point, there would have been no need to create any books. Half of his disciples who did not understand took some notes and created books. Taking notes and creating books caused confusion. The whole problem is taking notes and creating books. When you take notes you can catch only the verbal language; you don't catch the body language.

Be very clear, verbal language is not going to help. Only body language is going to help. When I speak these words, it is the confidence radiated in my eyes, the honesty radiated in my body language that is going to work on you, not the words that I am speaking. If you want just the words that I am stating, there are hundreds of books written.

Once I went to the bookstore, Landmark. I did not publish a single book for the next three months. I felt that there is so much literature. When there are so many books already, what is the need for me to add more confusion!

When the disciples start taking notes and publishing books, the confusion starts. Then enlightenment becomes philosophy; it becomes a theory and it becomes a goal. People start working towards it and start creating more and more conflicts. Once that one conflict or one problem is created, immediately all the other problems are created.

Ashtavakra's words are so powerful that they are pure technology. There is no need for you to work on these words. These words are so powerful that they will simply work on you. Also, the words are so powerful that just listening to them can make the ultimate happen in you.

In Vedanta there are three steps: sravana, manana and nidhidhyasana - listening, contemplating and expressing the truth in your life. Sravana means listening, manana means contemplating, nidhidhyasana means expressing.

With Ashtavakra's concepts, you have only two steps. Just listen; you will automatically express! No manana, just sravana and then straightaway to nidhidhyasana. It is not possible for you to do manana with your mind given that it is completely polluted and corrupted. Any manana done with this mind will only create more and more trouble.

The mind is filled with fears, worries and sorrows. That is why when one person asked me, ‘If I drop the mind and I become enlightened, and I say I am working without mind, will it not become one more ego?’ This question is just like asking, ‘If my son gets married and then his mother-in-law comes and calls me, how will she address me? And what will the mother-in-law’s daughter-in-law or daughter-in-law’s mother-in-law be calling me? How should the relationship be? How should I talk to them?’

First have the son, then let him get married, then let the mother-in-law come and then you will see, naturally some sort of relationship will develop. Before anything happens, when you imagine too much and create too many hypothetical questions before anything has happened, it is because of your fear of entering into the experience.

When you are afraid to enter into the reality, when you are frightened to face the truth, you create hypothetical questions. Hypothetical questions are shields that you use to protect yourself from the truth. The mind which creates hypothetical questions is deeply centered on fear. When you are centered on fear, not only do you create problems for yourself, you create problems for others also.

A small story:

the bolt out, threw the plate away and then they felt very relaxed.

The guy asked, ‘Why are you asking me so many questions?’

When you are centered on fear, you create problems for yourself and create problems for others. Be very clear, anything done based on fear will only create more and more problems. When you are centered on fear, you are constantly creating hypothetical questions to shield yourself from the truth, from reality.

You are not more powerful than reality; you are not more powerful than the truth. Reality or truth forcefully takes the shield out of your hands. That is what you refer to as ‘depression’ or ‘feeling lonely’. Whatever you use as a shield, whatever you use to protect yourself from the truth, the truth will take it away from you.

Vivekananda says beautifully, ‘Renounce gracefully, otherwise it will be snatched from you. Relax gracefully, otherwise you will be made to rest. Either you go to the church or six people will carry you there. Don’t wait until six people carry you there.’ Understand, either you do it gracefully or simply the truth will make it happen for you.

Parashakti, Existence, the truth, is so powerful that you cannot work against it. You cannot do anything against reality. It is like some fish swim along with the current, while some fish always like to go against the current. There are some people who have only one word in their mind, ‘No’. Anything you say, their response would be, ‘No’. It is like when people get married, they start as ‘sona’ - gold.

Just after a few years, just one ‘I’ will enter, ‘suniye’ - listen. First it will start with sona and then it will end up in suniye! When you have this attitude, constantly you will say, ‘No’, ‘No’, ‘No’. It will be the standard response.

The mind that constantly says ‘no’ can never grasp anything. It can never see reality. You yourself don’t actually know why you are constantly saying ‘no’. Actually you feel that you are great when you say ‘no’ or when you criticize someone. It gives you a sense of importance.

Let me tell you a small story:

The master said, ‘Alright! I will give you one technique. Practice the technique for one week. Within a week the whole village will think that you are the most intelligent person. Be very clear that you will not become intelligent but the whole village will say that you are intelligent.’

The master said, ‘You need to do only one thing. Your response to anything should be to simply disagree and criticize. If somebody says this moon is beautiful, tell them, ‘Ha, what is there? Where is the beauty? Prove to me where the beauty is.’ If somebody says this rose is beautiful, ask them, ‘Where is the beauty? A rose is a rose; where is the beauty in it?’ If somebody says it is ugly, ask them, ‘What? It is so beautiful; where is the ugliness?’ Simply, disagree and criticize; whatever people say, criticize. Nothing else needs to be done.’

The master went up to him and asked, ‘How are you?’

This guy who had now become a guru asked, ‘Who are you?’

The master said, ‘I am the swami who came one week ago.’

The man had become so popular and the whole village had started respecting him. It is a simple technique; just start criticizing anything and everything.

The whole crowd will start respecting you as an intelligent being.

Please be very clear about the mind that says 'no'. People may respect you as an intelligent person. But inside, not only will you have a void but constantly you will also have confusion because you are trying to protect yourself from the truth.

The moment you start saying 'yes', the truth will come inside you and work on you and teach you. That is why I always tell people, 'Even though you may be exploited, try to say 'yes'.

You may say, 'Master, what is this? You are asking us to be fools.' I am not asking you to be fools. Be very clear, sometimes you are protecting yourself too much. Whenever you think that others are exploiting you, it is simply the result of your efforts to exploit them. When they don't allow you to exploit them, you say that they are exploiting you.

See, all the countries claim that their army is a defensive army. Then who is the offensive army? Similarly everybody claims their anger is just to defend themselves. Then who is really offending them?

Be very clear, that is the reason I tell you, either your mind will cheat you by allowing you to think that you are being exploited or someone else may cheat you by really exploiting you. Someone else may cheat you only once in a while; but your mind will cheat you all the time, all 24 hours in the day. If someone else cheats you a few times, you can count them, they are just a few in number. But if you let your mind cheat you, you are cheated for your whole life. It will swallow your whole life. Your whole life will be swallowed by your mind.

The attitude of saying 'no' will not let you protect yourself. It will constantly torture you inside. The weapon that you create to protect yourself will start killing you. Like the electric fence that you create to protect yourself may kill even you, it could kill you. You create this weapon of saying 'no' just to protect yourself. But it just kills you.

Listen with a complete, open attitude. Ashtavakra's words are so powerful they can work on you right away. It can do the miracle which Sankara calls enlightenment, what Buddha calls nirvana.