You are listening to JoyChats ... your podcasting channel for ... explorations in Consciousness, ... Silence, ... Self Realization, ... Self Discovery, ... The Mystery. Enlightenment is a big topic ... I normally hesitate using the word ... or even...
You are listening to JoyChats ... your podcasting channel for ... explorations in Consciousness, ... Silence, ... Self Realization, ... Self Discovery, ... The Mystery.
Enlightenment is a big topic ... I normally hesitate using the word ... or even defining it because it is easy to get caught in the definitions debate of why what how etc ... nonetheless let's explore a little ...
Download Reflections on Enlightenment | Pop-up ViewerPresumably the pursuit of the spiritual seeker is to get enlightenment ... which apparently is the state of ... "all knowing, omni present, free from suffering, or transcendent Divine experience."
The commonly held belief or view is that one is normally not enlightened ... which is why the notion of seeking exists ... and that is why we have so many seekers because they are seeking enlightenment ... seeking nirvana ...
So let's start with that and assume that hypothetically on Aug 3rd one is not enlightened ... and then through whatever means, one attains enlightenment after some period say on Aug 30th ... and this attainment is of course transcendent omni presence ... then the question arises who/what was present, on Aug 3rd, when one was not enlightened? ... How could that which is omni presence not be present on Aug 3rd or Aug 4th or 10th or 20th or 29th?
If indeed enlightenment is "That which is always here" then how can anything or any act "bring" it to someone? .... how can any action or set of actions help one attain it ? ... I suggest that these questions merit further reflection.
Here's one of the stories re Ramana Maharishi and enlightenment. He simply posed the question "Who is not enlightened?" to the one stating that he or she is not enlightened. And naturally he posed the reverse question "Who is enlightened"" to the one claiming he or she is enlightened. Again, on the surface this may seem dismissive or simplistic but ... I suggest one ponder this further and ... discover for oneself the gem within this simple yet profound story.
In my RumiTime episode of this week I mentioned that Rumi was utterly grief stricken when Shams was gone and ... he searched for Shams everywhere ... Rumi searched for that ecstatic love of The Divine ... for that sohbet he so enjoyed in the Friendship ... and yet one day he finally realized that no seeking was necessary ... that he was already That which he was seeking ... and That which he was seeking was here all the time .. everywhere ... in every form ... It is no wonder that he spent the rest of his life uttering poems that say this in countless ways ...
If enlightenment is not here then where else because here is what is always present .... and here is all we have. This moment ... this very ordinary moment is also Divine just like that extra ordinary moment of some miraculous phenomenon or ecstatic awakening!
Like Rumi says ... "Why even look for God ... He is not lost ... He is right here ... closer than your own breath."
Or as Nirmala so exquisitely says:
there is no need for profound utterances or
deep truths
here is an ordinary evening
why spoil it with dramatic overstatements
the silence amidst the noise
the gem at the core
of every experience
is polished by simple attention
into shining magnificence
The Rumi poem is a paraphrased one from "A Garden Beyond Paradise, The Mystical Poetry of Rumi, Translated by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva." The original poem translation was an episode on RumiTime in April.
The Nirmala poem is from Gifts with No Giver, a love affair with truth, Poems by Nirmala. This book is available for free download from Nirmala's website: endless-satsang.com.
You may also enjoy our other channel ... RumiTime re mystical poetry readings from Rumi, Kabir, Nirmala, Hafez (Hafiz), and others.