|
Enlightenment
We come
across the word ‘Enlightenment’ on every spiritual website, in nearly every
magazine looking into spiritual issues, it is the single aim of some main
Religions and from what we hear about it, it would seem to be the ultimate
state of mind for many of us who look for some peace in this busy world of
questions and struggles. But what is it?
Firstly we
know Buddhism centres on achieving this state, the word Buddha meaning
‘Enlightened One’. When asked who or what he was, The Buddha is said to have
replied simply “I am awake!” Requiring a lifetime of practice and inner
devotion and the learning of ancient stories and traditions, many believe
one must live as a Buddhist to even come close to understanding the
teachings; and yet the Buddha himself is reported to have said simply “To
find a Buddha, you have to see you own nature. Whoever sees his own nature
is a Buddha...”
Likewise the
Bhagavad-Gita, the holy book of the Hindus, describes Krishna teaching
Arjuna about the realisation of ‘The Supreme Personality’. Krishna stated
the following: “Just fix your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me
always, without a doubt…I
am the Supersoul, seated in the hearts of all living entities. I am the
beginning, the middle and the end of all beings… By becoming fixed in this
knowledge, one can attain to the transcendental nature like My own.”
The Bible is
more familiar to many of us in the west, but when taught at school of its
contents, the true meanings of some of the important teachings are usually
overlooked such as “the kingdom of God is within you…
ye shall know
that I [am] in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
…I and the
Father are one. …'I
am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but
through Me”
We can see
here the obvious constant through all of these teachings, that there is the
realisation one can have that all is indeed within one’s own awareness,
one’s own being, and one can realise or become the living truth, the
Supersoul or Supreme Personality or The Enlightened One. And more
importantly this experience is available to all, and not just those who live
in monasteries or give away all their belongings.
And how do we
do this? What great feat must we perform or penance must we endure in order
to become what has been called ‘God-Realised’ and to be released from the
suffering of the world?
The above
teachings describe simply going within, within one’s own nature to the part
of yourself which you refer to as ‘I’; hence this has also been called
‘Self-Realisation’. In this space there is often very little feeling, which
is why it is so hard to remain in it for any length of time, but it is here
in this place that a person begins to feel complete, aware that all they
need is right here and now and they need nothing beyond what they are
experiencing, whatever this may be.
As time
passes and situations come and go, and the more the person practices holding
onto this place where they are aware that they exist, the more they come to
see that this space is all that exists. They see all else comes out of this
strange stillness which they call ‘I’, and which appears to be within their
own body. In this place ‘I’ come to know that all that I experience is
within my own being, but more than this, my own being is not just the body
with its arms and legs which I live through here, but the entire experience
is within my own mind, my consciousness. The body I have is indeed within
this, but also are all the trees, the birds, the cars, buildings, people,
animals, in fact everything I experience is within this being I call ‘I’.
Nothing exists without my being here, and I have nowhere else to go. When I
am not, there is nothing left to be or be known. I am indeed God-Realised. I
am The Living Truth, The Supersoul, The Supreme Personality, The Buddha, but
not because I am special, but because ‘I am awake’.
“Whoever sees
his own nature is a Buddha" “They are flawless like Brahman, and thus they
are already situated in Brahman." "Be still, and know that I am God… the
kingdom of God is within you". You can see these teachings are not so
different, and they are also not beyond your reach in the sense of
Self-Knowledge. The fact is they are all about you, about your own truth
which is within you. There is no need to keep debating and wondering what it
is or what’s it all about. Simply to practice being aware of where you are
and of what you are feeling is enough to put you in touch with your self,
the source of all existence, and here you too can find Enlightenment. It was
here all the time.
Nick
Roach |