Myths & Facts of Enlightenment

Gita says that not even one in a thousand succeeds in getting enlightened [BG 7:3]. Due to the large section of people being ignorant of what enlightenment feels like, there are more myths of it than facts. If you and I have not seen a single lion right from our childhood, our discussion about lion described theoretically in a book written by a person who has actually seen a lion, will generate more myths than facts of a lion, isn’t it? This article considers five such popular myths and presents the facts.

MYTH:  An enlightened person will renounce all his worldly engagements after enlightenment.

FACT:  People quote Buddha, Shankara and Ramana among others to support their argument that during or after the process of spiritual enlightenment, the aspirant will renounce his/her worldly duties and possessions.

Bhagavad Gita discusses two types of enlightenment - realization of God in one’s individuated expanded Consciousness [BG 18:65] and realization of God in the universal Consciousness [BG 18:55]. If you choose the latter difficult type as your goal, then yes, you’ll have to leave your worldly possessions after a certain stage. But if you choose the former one, there is no need for renunciation. Aspirants who had the former one as their goal and renounced the family life and material possessions did it as a choice - there was absolutely no need for them to do so.

In this book the term enlightenment is exclusively used to denote the individuated-Consciousness-enlightenment.

In any case if you are immersed in family and professional activities like me, you can’t even imagine the universal-Consciousness-enlightenment as your goal. Hence, please be assured that there is absolutely no need for you to renounce your worldly life either during or after the process of enlightenment.

Having said that, I must add that after enlightenment, your indispensable compulsive attachment to the worldly possessions and activities are weakened to such an extent that it improves your capability of managing them without affecting the quality of your experiencing them. That’s what we need, isn’t it?

MYTH:  An enlightened person is God or almost so; for, she will know everything about everyone and can do anything for anyone.

FACT:  People believe that enlightened persons are omniscient and omnipotent going by the life events of Shirdi Sai Baba, Jesus Christ and others. As already stated universal-Consciousness-enlightenment is different from individuated-Consciousness-enlightenment. The latter doesn’t give you either omniscience or omnipotence.

By the way, do you know that people get some occult powers through means other than enlightenment process? Paranormal knowledge and powers are not necessarily signs of enlightenment.

What enlightenment really gives you is absolute Peace and absolute Happiness. Even when your heart, mind and body are ripped apart by negative emotions like hatred, anger and fear due to external events and circumstances, your inner core will always be at pleasant Peace supplied by Lord in your Self, just as you’ll feel pleasant Peace during dreamless deep sleep. By moving your identity from your body, mind and heart to Lord in your Self, which you can do in a jiffy after enlightenment, you can observe your heart, mind and body to control your negative emotions. This is the single biggest benefit of enlightenment which cannot be obtained by any other means. Enlightenment gives you the gift of Kingdom of pleasant Peace. It’s all yours - always.

MYTH:  When challenging events take place in the life of an enlightened, he will not at all be disturbed and will display no negative reaction like fear, anger or anxiety.

FACT:  Again this is a case of confusion between universal-Consciousness-enlightenment and individuated-Consciousness-enlightenment. If your kid needs, for an example, urgent medical attention and you are cold and unresponsive, what will your spouse think of you? Unfit for family life, isn’t it?

Even after enlightenment, your heart, mind and body will behave as they did before enlightenment during challenging life situations. But you can control your negative reactions to the tolerable limit due to your capability of switching over to your Consciousness. And of course, your inner being will be always at pleasant Peace even during challenging life situations.

Thus, after enlightenment, the quality of your life will improve a lot, yet, your regular experience of life will never be compromised. You can lead a normal family life, and social and professional life as well.

MYTH:  An enlightened person will wear special simple attire with no vibrant color, will grow a long beard (of course, in case of male), will live in a secluded mutt, possibly beg his food, talks only about God and sleeps on a floor.

FACT:  Once again this is a case of confusion between universal-Consciousness-enlightenment and individuated-Consciousness-enlightenment.

An enlightened person may wear any dress she chooses - not necessarily white or saffron colored ones only. She may lead a normal family, social and professional life. There is no need for her to found a non-profit organization. She may work as an employee under you in your organization enjoying wealth, power and pleasures. You cannot discover an enlightened by her outward appearance, but you talk to her on wide ranging issues - political, social, professional and family issues, and ask for her frank opinion. You’ll be stunned at her view points. You may not be able to accept or even understand some of her view points and solutions because she talks from the spiritual plane of unified Consciousness, whereas you are trying to understand from the material plane of divided heart, mind and body.

MYTH:  You have to abstain from sex to get enlightened.

FACT:  People think that indulgence in material pleasures like gratification of physical needs of the body will wean them off their spiritual pursuits, and so it should be dropped altogether.

Overindulgence in such pleasures will definitely slow down one’s spiritual pursuits - I don’t have a second opinion about it. But abstaining completely from them will make one crave for them. This is worse than overindulgence. You can’t learn anything while you are hungry.

Sex is not a taboo in the spiritual realm as some people think. After enlightenment you’ll know how to have sex with your spouse with more love and less lust. Your relationship with your spouse will improve a lot due to this and other Consciousness Principles you’d practice.

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~umasreedasan
https://www.wattpad.com/user/umasreedasan