Hi Lord Shandor and Babayada,
Thank you for your replies which have given me much to ponder.
Lord Shandor
,' I have never had any mystical experiences that caused me to start looking for answers. I have always had an innate desire to find it and it did not require a catalyst ' -
This I think, describes awakening but not enlightenment as I believe it to be. Can you truly say that you, or anyone you know is enlightened? or would you say that you are an awakened seeker?
If you read or listen to those who are avatars they almost all were first awakened seekers who then had a sudden life changing experience which in many cases made them withdraw from the world for a period of time and which completely changed their perspective. Some say it is like being re-born.
What Kalki says is that all teachings are useless if you are seeking enlightenment because they only create another concept for the mind to hang onto. Teachings can follow enlightenment but no teaching can produce it. No amount of effort can get you there.
There are as many different kinds of enlightenment as there are people but the common thread is awakening of the true self and the permanent dissolution of conflict and suffering. The entire framework of past conditioning disappears as do expectations of the future. This is often accompanied by states of cosmic consciousness and bliss, profound perceptual changes, sharpened senses and the sense of separate identity dissolves. Thoughts still flow through the mind but do not emanate from the mind.
Realise there are things you can do to prepare yourself but it is by grace and grace alone. It happens not through effort or study but in surrendering to divine intervention or grace which provides the change in cosciousness & DNA.
Baba,
The theory that you propose is a valid one, we can change the our ideas , concepts and beliefs, and fulfill our basic needs but that does not mean that our inner nature has changed. I think enlightenment is the change in our inner nature (soul) and some of us not only want but need that change.
Love and light
Faune
