Category Archives: Enlightenment

Renunciation – The Last Step

Buddhism, Enlightenment, Fourth Way, Meditation, On Knowing Oneself,

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The most debated topic when it comes to spirituality is renunciation. No wonder, there are many misconceptions about it.

Renunciation, the way it is understood by most people, is the act of leaving home and family life in order to pursue the spiritual life – to live the life of a wandering hermit in search of the ultimate truth. The central question is whether it is necessary to renounce worldly life in order to achieve enlightenment.

Before we enter the debate on the pros and cons of renunciation, we must understand some basics about enlightenment. Enlightenment is the same for all human beings. In fact self-realization is about discovering your true self, beyond the illusory person that you think you are. So the question is about the approach – whether leaving family is going to help you to achieve that.

Let’s pause for a moment and reflect on the situation. We know that we have to be born in a family setting. No human being is born without a mother and a father and if he has grown up to get enlightened, then we can be sure, he or she has spent significant time in the care of the family and society. If there was no family, no society, then there would be no enlightened individuals also.

Society at times or rather at all times is a place full of chaos, where every individual is seeking his self-centered happiness and does not hesitate to harm others and cheat others to get what he wants.  Children are prepared through education to get ready to enter the society and sustain its existence. Customs of marriage and rituals of coming of age are all significant for the sustenance of the society.

One cannot force anyone to exit the society, except as an outcast for breaking some of the agreements of the society. So by default, everyone is condemned to live in the society despite its cruelties. All one can do is to further one’s own goals, hoping one gets through life without serious incidents. The whole desire for enlightenment has no place in this structure. Society does not encourage the seeking for truth. Its existence depends on the illusion of progress and civilization.

A PRACTICAL SOLUTION

When an individual who perceives these illusions promoted by the society, he tries to understand what is going on. He comes across other individuals who talk of a true life, self-realization, etc and he is intrigued. He tries to find answers in the society but quickly comes to the conclusion that nobody knows anything about it.

His mind is boiling with the question and he is not finding any outlet because he has to fulfill the responsibilities of his life. He cannot focus on anything unless he gets an answer and therefore needs time and space to go within to explore. However, life has no mercy. It is unrelenting in its demands for survival and sustenance of the family and societal institutions.

Therefore, the only practical way out for a person is to renounce the family and go off to live alone in search of the truth. This has been happening in India throughout history. All those who had this inner calling have promptly renounced their worldly life and went into the forest. Whether they were successful in their search or not is another question.

The search for one’s true self requires meditation for long periods so if you are sitting and doing nothing while at home, other people will think you are lazy and a shirker. They do not appreciate the inner calling of the person. On the other hand, if you are in the forest, away from the home life, then  there is no one to disturb you in your meditation. You have voluntarily retired from all responsibilities so you can focus singlemindedly on your goal.

The Buddha used to say that going from the home to the homeless life was the fastest way to self-realization. Hundreds and thousands of young men left their homes to join the Buddha’s Sangha. Even today, many people leave their homes and join a spiritual order, whether Buddhism or Christianity or Hinduism.

Point to note is that if a person is leaving home just to avoid the arduous responsibilities, then that is not the right renunciation. It is right renunciation only when the individual’s intention is to realize his true self. Only then is the renunciation a practical choice because there is no other way to live in the society and seek the higher reality.

So the question naturally arises. Is enlightenment impossible without this renunciation of worldly life? It is not impossible. There have been many cases of family people getting enlightened by hearing the teachings of masters.

In fact Gurdjieff actively promoted the fourth way, a way of self-realization while living the ordinary life. He was of the opinion that the situation one finds oneself in in one’s life is the most appropriate situation to start the struggle against sleep in order to awaken.

The truth about awakening is one of conditions. If a man is living in conditions that are conducive to enlightenment, then it will happen whether he is living at home or in the forest. And if the conditions are not suitable, then awakening will give him a slip even if he has renounced worldly life.

THE MIDDLE WAY

So is there a middle way between renouncing and not renouncing? Yes, definitely there is a way for the intelligent person who knows the conditions to be created. These conditions include first and foremost unobstructed time and space for meditation. If a man is able to organize this time wherein he is able to devote time to meditation with the sincere aim of awakening, then he will be in a much better position than a man who has renounced the world and is living troubled with the thought of where to get his next meal in the forest.

True renunciation is the renunciation of the idea of ‘I’. This can be done anywhere. The only problem of living in the society is that others remind you of being you all too often for you to practice the inner renunciation of ‘I’. However, for a person who is able to maintain self-awareness in all his worldly interactions, he will not be troubled. Within his mind, he has renounced while he is still performing ‘self’-less actions in the world outside.

If at some time, the awakened person wants to really change his way of life and live away from society, then the outer renunciation is only a formality. True renunciation has already happened when the person stopped identifying himself with his body and mind.

Therefore, it can be said that renunciation is the last obvious step rather than the first courageous step.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Blindness Metaphor

Enlightenment, Metaphors,

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Enlightenment is a sometimes equated to a blind man being able to see. Let us understand what this means.

We see many things with our eyes. We can see the tree across the road, we can see the bird flying in the sky and we can see people around us. What is it that we cannot see? Does enlightenment seeing something more than what normal people are able to see?

There are two perspectives from which we can understand blindness. First is inability to see the big picture. We usually consider everything we see as separate from us. We do not perceive the unity of everything. We – plants, trees, animals, humans – are all immersed in the earth’s atmosphere. We all breathe the same air and it is one whole single system. If all the trees disappeared one day, we will not have oxygen to breathe. If one species disappears, it leads to the disappearance of other connected species. Because we do not see this interconnectedness, we are blind to that extent. We do not understand the consequences of our actions and continue to take actions which harm us, even if that is not our intention.

The second perspective is inability to see the small picture. We think all the things around us are static. They do change but only gradually over a long time. But that is not the case in reality. Everything is changing very very rapidly all the time. We simply cannot perceive it. The growth of a flower, the decay of our brain, the movement of clouds, everything is happening, changing at every moment. We think we meet the same person everyday but that is not the case. So when the person behaves differently, we get a shock. We are not prepared for the change because we do not see that change happening in front of us.

Both these limitations of our perspectives makes us blind even if we are able to see everything. When our mind accepts that things are changing all the time and everything is connected to everything else, it is alert in every situation. It begins to see what it could not see earlier.

The Waking Up Metaphor

Enlightenment, Metaphors,

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The experience of enlightenment is many times compared to waking up from sleep. There are some similarities but it is not wholly so. But the metaphor is very good for understanding.

When we are sleeping, we see dreams and in the dreams what we see is experienced as quite real. Sometimes, we are running from some danger, sometimes we see snakes, sometimes we are riding a horse, sometimes we see our friends, sometimes have sex, sometimes eat food and it is experienced as real. We can wake up perspiring from a dream. We can even have conversations with people in our dreams. It all seems so real at the moment and we are immersed in it.

But the moment we wake up, the dream is gone. We cannot deny our experience. The dream was definitely real. It really happened whether it was because of the jiggling of our brain cells or some nerves doing a dance, whatever it was, it did happen. Yet, from the perspective of our waking life, it did not happen. You fell down from a cliff in your dream but you woke up in your bed. So you did not fall down and hurt yourself.

This is a similar to what happens in enlightenment but not entirely. When enlightenment strikes you, you feel like you have woken up from a dream. Whatever is your story in life – where you were born, where you studied, whom you married, and what jobs you did all seem like a dream. They did happen for sure. You can still see your wife or the window and the cars on the road. Yet there is a definite sense in which they are not wife, window, road and cars. They are definitely not that.

The whole story of your life suddenly seems like a dream. Were you really born, did you study, did you get married, did you just come back from office? You can see the evidence surely but question the story, the interpretation.

From the perspective of enlightenment, you can see colors, hear sounds, feel objects but you are not bothered whether people call it a green color or say it is the sound of a plane or say the cushion is soft. It is as it is. It could not be otherwise.

Therefore enlightenment is called waking up. To this extent it is fine. But the difference is in the fact that you are still talking to people, walking around your home, driving your car, drinking coffee and watching TV. People speak to you and you speak to them. So the dream is still on, you are in it yet you realize it is as it is. You don’t get caught in the dream and take it seriously. You see other people sleep walking, sleep talking, living in their dreams and therefore a natural compassion develops towards them.

How to wake up? Watch yourself and see how you are going about in your life – the way you talk, the way you do things, the way your work, your habits, your internal justifications, your thoughts, your reactions to people and things, your likes and dislikes. These are all in your dream. If you are able to see yourself dream-living like this, you will surely wake up.

Enlightenment – What, Why, How?

Enlightenment

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Enlightenment is the birthright of all human beings. It can be understood, attained or experienced by all those with a sincere wish for it. Every human being must seek it, strive for it and experience it. It gives the basis from which to live life. Enlightenment cannot be given by one to another. It is not to be found in words, phrases, or mantras. It is not to be found in rituals or specific practices like meditation. It does not have a preference for age, gender, designation or wealth of the seeker. Enlightenment has no recipe.

Enlightenment cannot be understood in isolation. Setting the context is important. In our busy lives, we do not get the time, neither do we wish to devote ourselves to knowing more about ourselves and the phenomenon of life and death. There are various influences we are subjected to in our daily lives – family, company, society, media, neighborhood, international affairs, environment, human behavior of all kinds, spirituality, science, religion, books, music and also our own thoughts. In this kichdi, how do you separate the spice from the rice and dal?

If one is naturally inclined towards deeply understanding life and one’s place in the universe then one must create the space and time for the inquiry. The objective is not to adopt any specific line of thinking. It is not about letting go of somethings and forcibly pushing any beliefs down one’s throat. The objective is more to understand the field in which we are playing the game of life.

Hearing and reading about enlightenment is just the starting point. To make any progress, one must be able to grapple with it, turn it over in one’s mind, evaluate one’s own understanding of life, and see the motivations behind one’s actions. When one gives a serious look at his life, at the human condition or at the feasibility of enlightenment, many questions arise in the mind.

How to attain enlightenment, which guru is best, which path is easiest, is it really worth spending the time and effort and so on.

Luckily there are ready answers available from a variety of sources, ancient to modern. But these answers do not help much. It is like eating a full dinner yet feeling hungry at the end. But that is not what is happening. The answers are at best the description of the food items like what nutrients are contained in it. Reading these answers is not going to fill your stomach. You will have to eat the food.

HOW TO INQUIRE?

Inquiry takes place when you raise a serious question but not seek an instant answer. It takes place when you hear answers but do not accept any particular one and close your inquiry. You know that all the answers are not going to satisfy you. So you watch, observe and listen. Watching, observing and listening is the process of eating food. Once food goes in the stomach, it does its work automatically. Similarly once you start observing and listening, understanding will happen.

Some important themes that can be taken up for inquiry are the following. These themes are found to be more conducive in bringing about an insight.

  • Self
  • Time
  • Things
  • Concepts
  • Fear
  • Love
  • Death
  • Purpose

Everything that is needed for enlightenment is available within you. Clues, hints, and explanations have been left by those who have been enlightened in all ages. Read, refer, observe, listen, think, contemplate, chew on it with your mind, evaluate it in your daily life.

Life is short and busy. Death is certain sooner or later. Why die without discovering the great mystery of who you really are? Don’t wait for tomorrow.

MAY YOU GET ENLIGHTENED!

Enlightenment 101

Enlightenment

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The chief difficulty in speaking about enlightenment is the inherent impotence of language to describe it. People have used many words, have spoken about it, have written books on it but neither words nor paragraphs or even whole books can ever describe enlightenment. This is the first quality of enlightenment which must be understood for further discussions about this topic.

So what exactly is enlightenment? Who is it for?
What is in it for me? Tell me why I should be interested in it?
If I get enlightened, how can I expect my life to change?
What should I do to get enlightened?
If it is such a good thing, why is it not taught in schools and colleges?
Why should I believe what you say about enlightenment?

All these are good questions which I expect any rational person to ask when told about the possibility of enlightenment. So here we come to the second quality. Enlightenment is a purely personal experience (1). There are no standards for measuring or confirming enlightenment (2). Neither is enlightenment a matter of belief and faith. It is the very opposite of that. To begin to understand enlightenment, it is essential to approach the topic without any preconceived conclusions and with the attitude of testing it’s implications in one’s own life. After all, enlightenment means the lighting the inner lamp with which you can see for yourself and not depend blindly on another person’s explanation.

WHAT IS ENLIGHTENMENT?

Enlightenment, Awakening or Self Realization has always been associated with saints and sages – those who left the worldly life and dedicated themselves to spiritual practices, meditation, attaining higher consciousness and to the service of people. It has always been thought that enlightenment is not for the common man. It has been considered to be at odds with living in the world. To attain enlightenment, you need to put in superhuman efforts at the cost of your family and a comfortable life. Those who express an inclination towards the spiritual are treated as different people, even thought of as abnormal people. Families will do everything to keep their sons and daughters from seeking enlightenment.

To a large extent, such attitudes are warranted. People who seek enlightenment usually behave as if they are special and many times make a show of being unattached to material things, stop supporting their families or display extreme devotion to their particular brand of philosophy. Some of them may dress weirdly or speak weirdly. So the rest of the world thinks they are not normal and want to run away from them and whatever they symbolize which is enlightenment.

So what is it about enlightenment that makes it such a scary thing to some people and such a desirable thing for some others? Why is it that some people will do everything to run away from it? Why is it that some people will give up everything to attain it?

Enlightenment is an instantaneous experience – an AHA moment – that happens. It is an experience of another dimension, not the linear dimension that we are used to in our daily lives. While those who have experienced it hesitate to describe it because of a loss of words for it, many describe it as a feeling of being one with everything, having dissolved all distinctions.

For enlightenment to happen, conditions have to be right. Conditions can be created but it does not guarantee enlightenment. In that sense, the mystery surrounding enlightenment is valid. But a lot many things have to be understood and a lot many understandings have to be thrown away before a person can be ready for experiencing enlightenment.

Enlightenment is a difficult subject to talk about. However, the difficulty lies in not realizing that it is not a concept but an experience. For human beings, I say that enlightenment is their birthright. It is an event with far greater significance and impact than graduation or marriage or parenthood. It’s significance simply cannot be compared. It is literally like dying or being born again. It is the natural evolution of human being’s psyche.

WHO IS IT FOR?

Enlightenment is the sole purpose of human birth. Anyone with a sincere wish for it can understand and experience enlightenment. Every human being must inquire into it, seek it, strive for it and experience it. Enlightenment gives the basis from which to live life. It answers all of life’s questions on happiness, sadness, struggle, love, beauty, knowledge and god.

Consider this analogy. A tree brings forth leaves, flowers and fruits. While the leaves are many, the fruits and flowers are few. We grow a tree for the fruits, not the leaves. The leaves have their function which is essential, without which the fruits and flowers will not appear at all. Yet, the fruits define the tree (3). Fruits are the highest level of evolution in the tree because they have the power to create a new tree. Similarly, enlightened people are like the fruits of humanity. Enlightenment is the sole purpose of being born a human being. We can live the life of ordinary leaves, taking in carbon dioxide and giving out oxygen, which is essential for the survival of the tree. Yet the possibility of becoming a delicious fruit or a fragrant flower is there for everyone.

Here we come across the third quality of enlightenment. It cannot be given by one to another. It is a matter of self-realization. It is right when they say that there are many ways to enlightenment. To be precise there are as many ways as there are people. Each gets enlightened in his particular way, from his or her own conditions.

Age does not matter. Enlightenment can happen in youth or old age. Gender does not matter. Enlightenment can happen to males or females. Class does not matter. The rich can be enlightened and the poor can also be enlightened. The only requirement is a sincere desire for it.

Enlightenment is not to be considered as a remedy for life’s problems. It is not an escape route or a cure. It is rather an insight which makes you live life with proper understanding. So only a genuine desire to understand life, not influenced by any ulterior motive, can bring you to it.

WHAT IS IN IT FOR ME?

The possibility of enlightenment exists for everyone but not everyone is attracted to it naturally. No one can force another to strive for enlightenment. The desire for enlightenment arises from within not from external influences. The world might attract you to tasty food, fine clothing, lavish apartments and flashy cars but seeking for enlightenment begins through a deep dissatisfaction with the worldly experience. The search for enlightenment does not begin by wanting to have the serenity or peacefulness of a sage or the apparently magical powers of a saint or even the simple everyday happiness of an enlightened person. So the answer to the question – what is in it for me? – will never create a desire in you for enlightenment.

However, there is one way of answering that question that, if you are listening and are sensitive to your own experience, can create that desire. That answer being that the world is an illusion and all the seeking after worldly objects and pleasures is in fact an invitation to suffering (4). So if you want to seek genuine happiness and live a genuinely satisfactory life, then you must seek enlightenment (5).

The only important concern that needs to be addressed is whether it is possible to get enlightened if you sincerely seek for it. And the answer is an big resounding YEAH! When and how is not guaranteed but possibility is definite. Is it worth it? Yes. You are going to die anyway. Why not discover everything about life and death before you die? One meaning of enlightenment is also going beyond life and death – the possibility of immortality (6)

Keeping aside these esoteric ramifications, in order to be more practical, let me put forward some benefits of enlightenmentPossibility of getting a direct life changing experience of your true self

  • Access to the inner compass to navigate the course of your own life
  • Intelligence to think for yourself in any situation
  • Emotional stability to weather any happening in life
  • Infinite source spring of happiness
  • Genuine power to make a difference in the lives of others

WHAT SHOULD I DO?

Although enlightenment is open to all, there are some eligibility criteria. Firstly, we must appreciate that enlightenment is not introduced to us by our parents, teachers, friends and society. We come to it through an inner urge, keen observation, study and reflection. An individual feels compelled to understand and strive for it only when he realizes the limitations of all that he knows, all that he thinks. The fact is that most people do not come across the concept of enlightenment and even those few who do get in touch with it, are not able to persevere till they reach the summit. There are many things that pull them back or distract them or they misunderstand the whole thing.

Enlightenment will not appeal to those who

  • Are happy about what they are doing in life
  • Are trying to be successful in life
  • Accept what they have been told about themselves and life
  • Have found meaning in some religion, business, social or charitable activity

Enlightenment will appeal to those who

  • Do not understand life
  • Are not happy with what they get in life, including money, pleasure, sex, comfort and entertainment
  • Want to discover the true meaning of the whole of life unconditionally
  • Do not mind going against their friends, family, society in order to find what they truly want
  • Do not find meaning in the rat race and are willing to move away from it without regrets

Enlightenment is not something you study like a chartered accountancy course. There is no certificate or degree to be earned (7). It is its own reward. It has to be done for its own sake. The only thing you need to ask yourself at every step is why you are seeking enlightenment. If there is a motive, then it won’t happen. If you find there is genuinely no motive and that you simply wish to know the truth as it is, then you have a good chance.

FOOTNOTES

  1. After enlightenment, the notion of personal experience undergoes a dramatic change in understanding.
  2. Although Zen masters do follow the practice of confirming enlightenment, it is only notional
  3. Every analogy has exceptions. There are many plants and trees which are valued for their leaves and not fruits.
  4. Worldly comfort is not negated in any way. It has its place and value. However, it does not produce genuine happiness which is born of insight and understanding.
  5. By seeking enlightenment, it means to inquire deeply into the nature of existence, to seek the absolute truth about things
  6. All this must be understood in the right sense else there is every chance of being misunderstood. An enlightened person does not get anything out of enlightenment
  7. In fact, you lose whatever you thought you had.