so..what is enlightenment?
full awakening, liberation and mukti
according to
meher baba, baba hari dass,
shri atmananda (krishna menon) , ramana maharish,
swami krishananda, and swami sivananda
meher baba
nirvana is that state where apparently "God Is Not". This is the only state where "God Is Not" and *Consciousness Is*. This experience of the first stage of fana is what Buddha emphasized, but later on it was misinterpreted as Buddha having emphasized that there was no God. The reality, however, is that God Is; but in the absolute vacuum state of the first stage of fana only consciousness remains, experiencing absolute vacuum.
as it can never happen for God not to exist, in the state of nirvana God plays the part of consciousness itself, which consciousness is sometimes termed super-consciousness or mahachaitanya.
the second stage of fana follows this nirvana state and the "I am God" state is experienced consciously.
however, it is only in some cases that the first stage of fana is immediately followed by the second staged of fana called fana-fillah, where the annihilated false and limited ego or "I" is replaced by the real and infinite, unlimited "I" on which the super-consciousness now becomes automatically focussed. Simultaneously the absolute vacuum is automatically filled by the experience of the Infinite..
the super-consciousness of God in the man state, as man, now fixed and focussed on the unlimited "I", spontaneously identifies man with God the Infinite. Simultaneouly with the identification, the super-consciousness of God the Infinite experiences the "I am God" state. This is the Goal.
Attainment of the goal is to attain the nirvikalpa samadhi. from the book god speaks
these are from my guru baba hari dass
Q: How would you describe enlightenment?
A: First you have to understand ignorance. As long as the Self appears in the mind and acts like the mind, that is ignorance. When the mind separates and the Self alone is known as supreme energy, that is enlightenment. In short, we can say knowledge of the Self is enlightenment.
Baba Hari Dass
The limits of the human mind reach up to the main energy, which is the Supreme. But we can’t see up while we are looking down. To see up we have to stop looking down. The higher consciousness, or God or Self (any name can be given), is separate from the lower consciousness, or mind, world, etc... Yoga means union. Union comes after separation. The separation here is between higher consciousness and lower consciousness, or say the Self and the mind, or God and creation. We mistake the lower consciousness for higher consciousness, The mind for the Self, the world for God. So we don’t see any separation and never think of union.
there are 7 stages in yoga sadhana
1. desire for enlightenment
2. attempts to get enlightenment
3. acquiring one-pointedness JIVA STAGE
4. self-realization
5. total non-attachment
6. absolute non-perception of objects DEVA STAGE
7. complete isolation GOD
from the book *Silence Speaks* from the chalkboard of baba hari dass
shri atmananda
Thoughts, feelings etc. are like pictures on the wall of Atma. Their presence and absence must both vanish, if you want to see the background Atma in its Reality
802. WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE EGO AND LIBERATION?
It is the whole ego that seeks liberation and strives for it. When it is directed towards the ultimate Reality, the material part automatically drops away and the Consciousness part alone remains over as the real ‘I’-principle. This is liberation.
932. WHAT DO I SEEK BY LIBERATION?
Your own individuality, which is that changeless principle in you.
this is from ramana maharshi
in the sixteenth paragraph of Nāṉ Yār? (Who am I?) Sri Ramana gave a very simple and clear definition of liberation (mukti):
Knowing one’s own real self (yathārtha svarūpa) [by] investigating who is oneself who is in bondage, alone is liberation.
For the reasons I explained above, this definition applies not only to liberation but equally well to enlightenment and nirvāṇa. We are now bound by self-ignorance, so what will liberate us, enlighten us and extinguish the ego or false personal self that we now seem to be is only a perfectly clear experience of our own real self.
t
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swami krishananda
Visitor:What will we feel toward other people at the time of liberation?
Swamiji: There are no other people at that time. They do not exist. You will merge into That. You will not see them also, at that time. They will not be visible to your eyes because just as you don't see dream objects in waking, this also will vanish there. The whole world will disappear.
Visitor:For a person who has attained it...
Swamiji: Attained what?
Visitor:Attained salvation.
Swamiji: Then he will not see the world at that time. The world will not be visible at all, just as you cannot see the dream objects when you are in waking.
Visitor:So, the moment you are liberated...
Swamiji: It is finished. You will behold only Universal Existence. You will not see people at that time, just as you do not see dream people. In dream you saw some people. Where are they, just now? You do not bother about them. They don't exist at all. This will happen to this world also, at that time. It will vanish like dream objects. They will merge into the Universal Mind. The question itself will not arise.
But this process ends by a miracle, as it were. We must call it a miracle, because nobody knows how it takes place. It may be through the effort of ours, by the practice of yoga; or it may be by the grace of God, or by some mystery. Ultimately, it is a kind of mystery. Nobody knows how it happens. Then, immediately, there is a sudden scudding of all the clouds and we feel as if we have come back to ourselves. That is Infinity coming back to itself. Nobody can explain what that experience is, because language is very inadequate. We suddenly feel filled up with an infinite content in ourselves. That apparent process of one’s coming back to one’s own Self is really the dharma-megha samadhi which looks like a nectarine shower poured upon oneself. This is the penultimate condition of kaivalya, or moksha. When this condition settles down in itself, there is not even a shower of rain afterwards. Everything is calm, quiet, and is eternally substantiating in its own pristine original condition. Then the purusha has nothing to do with anything outside it. There is no other extraneous activity through the vrittis of the mind because the mind has ceased to be.
This existence of the purusha in itself, independently, absolutely, is called kaivalya moksha. Kaivalya means oneness. In Sanskrit, kevala means absolutely independent, absolutely one – single; and kaivalya is the condition of being alone. Moksha is liberation, or freedom. The freedom that is attained by oneself being absolutely alone, in one’s own universal nature – that is called kaivalya moksha. It is towards this end that the consciousness is driven by the experience of dharma-megha samadhi. swami krishananda
Swami Sivananda,
turiya is the fourth state of consciousness in which the individual rests in Satchidanandam (“ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new bliss”). The individual has attained nirvikalpa samadhi or final liberation from ego consciousness and is united with infinite spirit.
Kaivalya by Swami Sivananda
1, I have known all that was to be known and nothing further remains to know. The dissatisfied state of mind has disappeared. All doubts vanish.
2, Nothing can give me any pain.
3, By attaining Kaivalya, I have attained everything and nothing more remains. (Here he is an Aptakama).
4, I have fulfilled all my duties now. (Here he is a Krita-kritya). My mind is at complete rest. All distractions have vanished. (Here the freedom of the mind is threefold).
5, The Gunas have all dropped away, like stones from the mountain-top, never to rise up again.
6, I am what I am, ever free. I am established in my Self. I am all bliss and knowledge.
7, I have no connections. I am Kevala Purusha.
1. WHAT IS KAIVALYA
Kaivalya (perfect independence) comes when the Gunas (qualities), devoid of motive, become latent. Or the power of consciousness gets established in its own nature.
NOTES
The Gunas act for the enjoyment of the Purusha. As soon as the Purusha realises His own native state of isolation, the Gunas, having fulfilled the object, cease to act. Their effects, the various modifications of Gunas, get Laya or involution. They merge into their causes. Nothing remains for the Purusha to cognise. This does not mean that the universe has come to an end. The world continues to exist as usual for those who have not attained Kaivalya. The Indriyas are drawn into the mind, the mind into the Mahat, and the Mahat into the Purusha.
2. MEANS FOR KAIVALYA
On the equality of purity between Purusha and Sattva comes Kaivalya (perfect independence).
NOTES
Perfection is attained when the intellect becomes as pure as the Atman itself. When the soul realises that it is absolutely independent and it does not depend on anything else in this world, this highest knowledge, Kaivalya, Isolation or perfect independence comes in. The soul feels that it is ever free, unchanging, immortal, beginningless, endless, infinite, beyond time, space and causation, full of bliss, peace and knowledge. When the intellect or Sattva is rendered as pure as the Purusha, when it loses all consciousness of action on its own part, then its purity is said to be equal to that of the Purusha. The intellect or Sattva is annihilated. Purusha only remains free in His native, pristine divine glory. 'Sattva' means here intellect. Purusha is reflected in intellect. Sattva is the cause for knowledge and Ahamkara. The intellect attains the same state as that of Purusha when it becomes absolutely pure and when it remains motionless and when all its functions and activities stop completely. In Sutra II-25 another means for Kaivalya is given.
3. PURUSHA COGNISES THROUGH INTELLECT
Though the seer is pure intelligence only, he cognises ideas through intellect.
NOTES
The Purusha is an embodiment of intelligence. He is ever pure and eternally free. He is always the silent witness of the play of Prakriti. Through intellect, the Purusha appears as if seeing, although really he never sees or does anything.
The qualities of intellect are superimposed on the Purusha. Just as the real colour of the flower appears on the transparent crystal, so also the qualities of Buddhi appear on the Purusha. Hence, the Purusha appears to be happy or miserable.
4. KNOWABLE IS FOR THE PURUSHA
For His (Purusha's) purpose only is the existence of the knowable (the object of experience).
NOTES
If the Purusha were not, the being of Prakriti could never have been as stated in Sutra II-18. Just as the cows allow the milk to flow freely to the calf, so also this Prakriti places all her products before the Purusha for his enjoyment, experience and emancipation.
5. PRADHANA IS NOT DESTROYED
Even though destroyed to him, whose purpose has been fulfilled, it (Pradhana) is not yet destroyed, because it is common to others.
NOTES
According to the Sankhya and Raja Yoga philosophy, even if one becomes a Mukta, the Pradhana and its modifications exist for others.
6. SAMYOGA EXPLAINED
The junction is the cause for the recognition of the powers of nature and its Lord.
NOTES
The Purusha unites with the Buddhi and enjoys the different objects. This is the cause for human sufferings. Ignorance is the cause for this conjunction. This Prakriti and Purusha are united from time immemorial. If this union is separated, the Purusha recognises his original, divine glory. The original conjunction is the union of Purusha with the Buddhi. Through Buddhi, he is united with body.
He mistakes this perishable body for the real Purusha. Through this body, he gets united with wife, children, relatives and friends. The whole Samsara has started now. Disconnect yourself from the Prakriti and become a Mukta Purusha. This is the essential teaching of Raja Yoga.
7. MIND IS NOT PURUSHA
The perception of the mind as Purusha ceases for the man of discrimination.
NOTES
Just as the existence of seeds is inferred from the blades of grass shooting forth in the rainy season, so also it is rightly inferred that he whose tears flow (Asrupatha) and whose hairs stand on end (Pulaka) when he hears the name of God or Moksha, has surely a store of Karma tending to liberation, as the seed of the recognition of the distinction is already there. The perception of mind ceases to appear as Purusha.
8. DISCRIMINATION IS SEVENFOLD
His (the Yogi of unbroken discrimination) discrimination is sevenfold at the final stage.
NOTES
The Yogi gets the knowledge in seven grades one after another. The seven grades are the seven Jnana Bhumikas. The first four relate to the objective side and the next three to the subjective side. In each Bhumika, he has the followings feelings:
1, I have known all that was to be known and nothing further remains to know. The dissatisfied state of mind has disappeared. All doubts vanish.
2, Nothing can give me any pain.
3, By attaining Kaivalya, I have attained everything and nothing more remains. (Here he is an Aptakama).
4, I have fulfilled all my duties now. (Here he is a Krita-kritya). My mind is at complete rest. All distractions have vanished. (Here the freedom of the mind is threefold).
5, The Gunas have all dropped away, like stones from the mountain-top, never to rise up again.
6, I am what I am, ever free. I am established in my Self. I am all bliss and knowledge.
7, I have no connections. I am Kevala Purusha.
These are the seven stages of knowledge or feelings of the Yogi in the seven Jnana Bhumikas.