The Spirit Of Spirituality: The Nature Of A Self-Enlightened Individual

Friday, May 3, 2013

The Nature Of A Self-Enlightened Individual

This is one of the articles in a book I have written on spirituality. The book is available on Amazon.com.

The Spirit Of Spirituality

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I have written several articles in which I have used the word, self-enlightenment. I am sure most people would be curious to know the nature of a self-enlightened person. How can one recognize such a person? Do they have horns or do they have a halo around them or do they put a board around their neck? I invite you to explore with me this fascinating topic and together let us see how to recognize a self-enlightened individual.

Let me start with a warning. Such individuals are not easy to find. Just as a Kohinoor diamond is once in a life time, such individuals are rarer than that. There is a Krishna much before Christ, a Buddha before Christ, Christ himself and some of the Major Prophets who were self-realized and devoted themselves to enable others to be the same. But before we despair that we may not meet any, remember that each of the great masters was on this earth and someone had seen them, but many may not have recognized them as great souls. So, luck willing, we will meet such an individual and will recognize him as one too!

First things first, what is enlightenment? It is that awareness of the true nature of one self and that as all my readers will know by now, is that our true nature is Divinity or infinite happiness. So, an enlightened person is one who is aware of his true self. Wow, I tell myself, I know my nature is divine. So, am I enlightened? Well, I am bookishly aware of my true nature. But that does not make me enlightened. Just by studying everything about space, I do not become an astronaut. Similarly, just by reading and understanding the true nature of oneself, a person does not become self-enlightened. Just as the proof of the pudding is in the eating, the true test of self-enlightenment is the nature and behavior of the individual in worldly situations.

Let me tell a story. There was this saintly person who we shall call as Swami. Swami came to a village and was resting on a compound. Struck by his radiant face, people came and touched his feet and bowed in reverence. Swami just acknowledged with a smile. Soon the village headman came and gave him a room in his own house. Swami just acknowledged with a smile. The village headman had a daughter who was in love with a man whom the village headman hated. One day there was loud shouting at the headman’s house and the reason was that the daughter said she was pregnant as an unwed mother. The headman thrashed her and asked who the father was. The girl blurted out Swami. The headman’s fury turned to Swami, whom he thrashed and threw on the road. Swami just acknowledged with a smile. A few days passed and then the boy overcome by guilt admitted that he was the father. The village headman went to Swami, apologized and again gave him a house to live in. Swami just acknowledged with a smile.

The main thing to note is that Swami always retained his calm composure in every situation. He did not get elated or proud when people bowed to him nor did he feel dejected when he was insulted and thrown out. This ability to keep a calm disposition in any event is the hallmark of a realized person.

The question that arises is, how can they achieve this? As I have explained earlier, once a man achieves the status of enlightenment, this world is like an illusion or a dream. Imagine being in a dream and knowing it is a dream. Then nothing happening in the dream can disturb us. Even if Miss World accepted my proposal to date or if Mr. Ugly decided to beat me up, I would stay calm, knowing this is only a dream.

Does this mean that after enlightenment there is no suffering? There is physical, emotional and intellectual events that are disturbing. But the enlightened person will not associate himself with the body, mind and intellect. Next is a question of karma. What happens to all the accumulated karmic influences after enlightenment. They just vanish because now they do not have anything to attach to. Karmic impact happens only when there is an ego. For an enlightened person, there is no ego and hence all the past karmic influences do not matter anymore. This is similar to the impact of debt on a man. Once the man dies, the debt is gone hoping he does not have a family! Similarly all debt of karma vanishes on death of the ego and there is no rebirth after that. It is pure endless bliss after that and that is the state of the realized person.

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.

1. My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality