How to achieve enlightenment?
Finally a post aiming at a topic that is most fascinating for believers and non-believers, followers and non-followers, practitioners and non-practitioners.
Enlightenment is looked upon as the end of all troubles by majority of mass. Hence there is a craze among people to achieve enlightenment.
Enlightenment is the state of pure and complete knowledge. This is a state where a person can see and understand everything without getting deluded by its appearance and modes of nature.
Enlightenment enables you to understand things in their true perspective but one must understand that it is not the end of sufferings. Sufferings that come to a person due to his ignorance are obviously cut off after getting enlightened but sufferings that are already assigned for him as a result of his own past activities will surely come to the person. The difference will be that this time the person even enjoys those sufferings.
Another big myth associated with enlightenment is that it can be achieved by some simple and short methods. Yes, enlightenment can be achieved by regular practice and many in the past have also done the same but there is no shortcut.
Enlightenment brings very big changes in your complete biological and psychological states. These changes cannot happen overnight. But the rate of these changes can be accelerated. And this is what this article is going to explain.
Enlightenment helps you do your work more smoothly and makes a person even more efficient. An enlightened person can use his body and other resources available to him to their fullest. Generally people do not use even 10% of their brain but an enlightened person can use even 100% of it.
For an enlightened person everything that is a mystery for others become crystal clear as a mirror. The person becomes able to travel across boundaries of time and space with his subtler body.
Extraordinary and supernatural powers can be acquired by regular practice like predicting future, wonderful memory, telepathy, materialization at more than one place at a single time, awareness of activities at distant places and all around him and much more.
These powers are derived by an enlightened person by the cosmic energy source, the all pervading God Himself.
Being in complete knowledge an enlightened person never exhibits his extraordinary capabilities to the world and uses his energy to work in parallel with the laws of spiritual world silently.
Above statements may look very fascinating and sometimes unreal too but its trueness can be checked by practicing following things properly.
Also one must know that keeping these fascinating powers as the goal one cannot achieve it. These just come to the person when the person becomes disinterested in them.
Once a person gets enlightened he gets also tuned with the nature and his activities become automated. Many a times it is also observed that the person is observed as an insane by the world. In any way, an enlightened person’s activities become more and more helpful for the society. The enlightened person transcends the level of discriminating between gold and soil. For him everything bears same importance. There remains no boundary or limit of his activities. He works freely on the will of the Supreme.
Enlightenment can be achieved by numerous ways but you need to prepare yourself to hold vital mental and biological changes.
So, now you know a lot about enlightenment but not all. I want you to know more about it by your own experience.
First requirement for enlightenment is craving. Yes, craving. An intense longing is very important for enlightenment.
Now, what should be the longing for? Should it be for money? Should it be for fame? It should not be for anything material. But this longing should be for the Truth. This longing should be for the discovery of own self.
A person starting in this path must understand that this complete cosmos is a very big network of cause and effects.
Everything has a reason and that reason too has one. Everything however different it may look has same origin. Things have gone through various levels of transformations under the influence of modes of nature and this is the reason why they look and feel different.
As an earthen pot as well as a skyscraper all are made of mud similarly everything in this world has one common final Origin, the Reason of all reasons.
A person should long to understand this Origin. Science is trying to achieve the same but its rate of progress is slow, since it uses only some information provided only.
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| The Enlightenment |
If the same effort is done by a person with full dedication and use of all his senses, i.e., eyes, ears, tongue, skin, nose, mind and intellect, one can unravel this secret in no time.
One should keep asking to himself, who am I? Where have I come from? Why am I here? What is the goal of my life? What is the use of this life? What will happen to me after this life ends? And so on.
One should keep on thinking about the changes that one observes all around him. One should realize that nothing that he sees all around is permanent.
One should understand that as the law of gravitation alone is the basis of complete Newtonian Mechanics, similarly there is only One Ultimate Truth, The Knowledge from which all other forms of knowledge have originated. The Knowledge, knowing which one does not have anything left to know. The Knowledge that itself manifest in all different forms to answer all questions that emerge in mind.
Seeker of this Ultimate Truth is considered the superior most seekers, and he alone can achieve enlightenment. One should long for that Ultimate Truth.
Now, I present steps to achieve this longing. There are two important part of the process of inculcating this intense longing in the mind.
The first one is renunciation. Renunciation is very much misunderstood and defamed word. I have already written many articles to explain the true meaning of it.
Renunciation means non-attachment. You have to close your eyes and sit for few minutes observing your thoughts. The first thought that emerges into your mind is the thing you are most attached with. Attachments do not allow us to move ahead in this path. They pull us back. Try to create distance from that thing or activity, friend circle, place, movie, hobby or anything you are attached with.
A very useful method of bringing renunciation in life is practicing a routine. Make a daily routine specifying some time to all your necessary works and stick to it.
Always give some time to examine your attachments by the above mentioned way and then try to detach yourself from it.
The only purpose of this is to allow you to work for anything without getting disturbed by useless thoughts.
Next important thing is purity. I have written articles on purity and bringing it in your life also. Purify yourself so that your body start emitting sweet fragrance without using any cosmetic or deodorant.
Establish yourself in all good qualities such as daily bath, brushing twice, daily meditation and introspection, less talking, being in good companionship and reading good books.
Keep some distance from television, loud music and such things that put some impact on your mind.
Remember that food is not just what you eat but it is everything that you feed into yourself. It may be through sight, through sound, through smell, touch or any other means.
It is not that you just read all this things and jump to the next step saying that you will take care of these things. I want you to practice above mentioned things for some time at least for few weeks and then go to the next step.
Next step is building awareness. You are searching to your questions. The answer may come to you in any possible form, in any degree of intensity. You must be receptive enough to receive your answers. For this you have to train yourself being calm both externally and internally. Make yourself an observer. Just observe things going on all around you like an audience. As if you are not going to be affected by anything. Also be aware of everything, do not pull yourself away from things. Be in the midst of everything, observe minute changes even, and read everything, every happening. Notice plants growing and flower blossoming, see the interactions between butterflies and be aware for nothing escaping from your attention.
With continuous practice of renunciation, purity and awareness for few weeks you will be able to prepare your body to receive answers to your questions.
I want to remind you again, your practice and hard work should not be aimed at anything other than the answer to your most important question that you consider are linked to all your troubles. Never think of anything else like supernatural powers or enlightenment.
Now it is the time to take the final step. In this step we mediate to invite our answers to fall upon us.
Sit straight in any comfortable posture. Comfortable posture is one in which you can sit without moving for more than one hour. Keep your backbone straight. This is very important. Keep your backbone straight in the start of the meditation session and your backbone may acquire another curved shape later. During meditation do not try to erect it again or you will break the continuity of meditation. Now, close your eyes gently. Right from now, start feeling that you have no body. This means that you must be ready to fully avoid any change in your posture. Do not move your pupils, tongue, and limbs anything. Act as if you are not in charge of your body.
Watch out your breath. Visualize yourself with your arms opened out towards sky waiting for your Divine Truth to fall upon you. Offer a humble prayer with the act of surrender to the Supreme power in charge of this whole cosmos.
After sometime (at least 15 minutes in starting and may go up to 8 hours after years of practice) open your eyes gently and keep sitting fixing your gaze at something comfortable to look upon for few minutes. Then leave the seat slowly and try to maintain the stillness felt during the meditation till your next meditation.
Practice this meditation twice a day at least. Keep practicing and observing changes in you.
This practice is very powerful and sure to take you to enlightenment. After some months of honest practice you will have some experiences that some call mystic, some frightful, some exciting and some wonderful. But, don not stop practice and neither get overwhelmed by these experiences. Keep on practicing and your questions will be answered, making you enlightened.
Remember, renunciation, purity and awareness is very important requirements without which the benefits of meditation are greatly reduced.
If you have any question please feel free to contact me with the same. I will be glad to serve you with satisfactory and enlightening answers.
Thanks for reading this extra long post.
