Spiritual enlightenment. Enlightenment

Gautama Siddhartha is considered the main spiritual mentor - a man who exchanged a carefree life in a luxurious palace for beggarly wanderings in search of truth.

The thirty-year-old monk chose the pseudonym Buddha, the enlightened and awakened one. He sought to achieve a state of enlightenment of consciousness because he could not come to terms with the difficulties and trials that befall the common man. Buddha could not accept the fact that every person encounters illnesses in his life, grows old over time, and the most important thing is that he has to.

After he left a wealthy and comfortable life, the Buddha deliberately practiced ascetic practices for a long time, exhausting himself with hunger and cold. However, he could not achieve humility and peace of mind. When Gautama almost died from exhaustion (he was miraculously saved by local residents), he realized the first truth. It lies in the fact that you should not rush to extremes: in everything you must adhere to the principle of the golden mean.

The name Siddhartha, which his parents gave him, means “one who achieves the goal.” Indeed, Gautama once decided that he would not move until he achieved enlightenment.

He settled down under a huge tree, and after several days of calm contemplation of the surrounding nature, a state of enlightenment came to him. Before his eyes the creation and structure of the Universe took place, the secrets and laws of human existence were revealed. After Buddha became a wise man, he began to preach a new religion and gained many followers.

Principles of an Enlightened Person

The Buddha encouraged his disciples to individually search for the path to enlightenment and awareness of the truth. However, he described a “righteous path” that will help you quickly achieve a state of peace, dispassion and bliss.

To do this, a person must give up criticism and bad thoughts, do good deeds and come to terms with the idea that suffering is inevitable in everyone’s life. An enlightened person can end suffering by entering a state of dispassion and detachment.

Meditation helps a religious person to clear the mind of unnecessary thoughts. When passions fade away and attachments to people, values ​​and comfort disappear, a person becomes calm and serene. In this state, he achieves spiritual enlightenment - a lifetime state of peace and grace, and truths are also revealed to him.

Different religious movements and philosophical schools have different understandings of this difficult issue. They contain people’s attempts to understand what a person is and why he exists on this planet.

What is enlightenment?

In everyday life, enlightenment is understood as revelations that a person has received, a different view or a new understanding of familiar things. In philosophical schools and spiritual practices this phenomenon has a different meaning. In them, enlightenment is directly linked to the meaning of life, so it receives a primary role in the life of every person. From this point of view, enlightenment is going beyond the ordinary, realizing oneself as part of the universe, higher wisdom, higher existence.

Enlightenment in Christianity

The concept of enlightenment in Christianity differs significantly from the interpretation of this concept in Eastern practices. Enlightenment in Orthodoxy is an attempt to understand the Divine essence, to get as close to God as possible and to fulfill His will. Enlightened men of faith include the following saints: John Chrysostom, Simeon the New Theologian, Sergius of Radonezh, etc. Thanks to a deep understanding of the will of God and humility, these saints were able to achieve enlightenment, which manifested itself in the form of healing the sick, resurrecting the dead and other miracles.

Enlightenment in Christianity is inseparable from baptism and is associated with the cleansing of a person from all sinful things and the filling of his essence with Divine love. According to Orthodox spiritual fathers, only the Almighty knows when a person is ready to become enlightened. In this matter, one must completely rely on God and not try to achieve this on one’s own. The fact that a person has become enlightened can be recognized by his actions: they will be humble and aimed at benefiting people.

Enlightenment in Buddhism

Unlike the understanding of enlightenment in Christianity, enlightenment in Buddhism is associated with the individual. According to the Buddhist tradition, this state is accompanied by a feeling of unimaginable happiness, next to which ordinary earthly happiness is felt as suffering. The state of enlightenment is difficult to describe in human language, so it is spoken of only through parables or metaphors.

Buddha Shakyamuni's enlightenment was the first in the history of Buddhism. Shakyamuni was able to achieve liberation and go beyond the usual world. The Buddha's main strength on the path of enlightenment was meditation. It helps to translate spiritual thinking from logical understanding into personal experience. In addition to meditation, Shakyamuni pointed out the importance of such methods as knowledge and behavior for enlightenment.

Enlightenment in Islam

As in other religions, at the center of Islam is enlightenment - fana. Allah himself chooses the person on whom he will bring enlightenment. The criterion for readiness for fana is a person’s desire to reach a new stage of his development and readiness for this. A person’s heart, open to the influence of Allah, allows a new world into itself. An enlightened person with whom he is ready to serve people, and super-love for all living things.

Enlightenment myth or reality?

Enlightenment from a scientific point of view is the discovery of something new or a different perspective on familiar things. From this position, enlightenment has nothing supernatural in itself and is a normal work of our mind. In spiritual practices, enlightenment has a different meaning and content. It is associated with higher powers and helps people find and realize their purpose on this planet.

Enlightenment is a reality for many religious people who devote themselves to serving God and people. Using the example of enlightened spiritual teachers, you can learn to expand the scope of your consciousness and open your heart to the influence of higher powers. For people who are not interested in the spiritual side of life, enlightenment may seem like a myth. This view may be due to conservative thinking and lack of knowledge regarding this issue.

Psychology of Enlightenment

The path to enlightenment often begins with dissatisfaction with life and one's place in it. Reading smart books, psychological lectures and seminars on self-development, conversations with wise people can help a person get closer to answering questions, but all this is just the beginning of the journey. A personal constant search for one’s life vector one day leads a person’s brain to a new understanding. The road to enlightenment often takes a long time, and sometimes a lifetime. The reward of this path is a renewed mind and harmony with the world.

Enlightenment or schizophrenia?

No matter how strange it may seem, spiritual enlightenment and schizophrenia have three similar features:

1. Depersonalization- getting rid of one's own self.
2. Derealization– perception of the surrounding world as unreal, blurry.
3. Mental anesthesia– reduction in the strength of emotional experiences.

To differentiate between these two phenomena, the following components should be analyzed:

1. Cause. The cause of schizophrenia is often negative. The reason for enlightenment is the desire to make the world a better place, to become a more spiritual person.
2. Vote. With schizophrenia, a person hears voices calling for aggressive or inappropriate actions. An enlightened person hears a voice from above calling for good or improvement.
3. Mission. In schizophrenia, a person's interests revolve around his own self, even if the patient sees himself as someone else. An enlightened person strives to help others.

Signs of enlightenment

Buddhists say that it is impossible to describe in words what happens at the moment of enlightenment. This is due to the fact that the emotions and feelings experienced during the process of enlightenment are incomparable to the emotions we are used to. Among the signs of enlightenment are the following:

• spiritual priorities begin to dominate over material ones;
• periodically altered consciousnesses appear, in which new truths or their depth are revealed to a person;
• unusual abilities for creation, creation, and healing appear;
• character changes, bad habits appear, go away;
• an enlightened person sees divine wisdom in everything.

How to achieve enlightenment?

A person who wants to achieve enlightenment must go through the following steps:

1. Wishing for enlightenment with all my heart. To do this, enlightenment of consciousness should be made a top priority.
2. Trust in the matter of enlightenment to higher powers. Only God knows when a person is close to enlightenment.
3. Try to give your life under the control of divine forces. Draw closer to God through humility and deepening contact through prayer or meditation.
4. Engage in self-development, work on your character. A pure heart helps one to be more receptive to the influence of the Spirit.

Paths to human enlightenment

Spiritual teachers of various religious movements believe that enlightenment techniques are only a tool that does not provide any guarantee of success. Enlightenment is individual, it comes unexpectedly and has no exact reason. The following techniques can help you find a direct path to enlightenment:

• prayer;
• fast;
• relaxation;
• meditation;
• self-knowledge techniques;
• purification of consciousness;
• yoga nidra technique;
• getting rid of the negativity of the past;
• repetition of the names of God.

How to live after enlightenment?

Enlightened people are not transferred from this sinful planet to another. They have to continue to live among the same environment in the same area. Only a few spiritual teachers who have achieved enlightenment go to desert areas, but often this is done only for a while. The mission of enlightened people is to bring new knowledge and a new understanding of life to the world. After enlightenment, new abilities may open up that need to be used to help other people.

Enlightened people note that after their spiritual experience, it becomes much easier for them to live in this world. Their Ego and desires cease to control all actions. All necessary things are done without laziness and apathy. Life becomes more harmonious and understandable. A person stops worrying and being nervous, as he begins to realize the essence of his life and his mission.

Books about enlightenment

Many books have been written about enlightenment and how to achieve it. They all help you find your personal path in this matter and rise to a new level of your development. The top 5 best books about enlightenment include:

1. Hawkins D. “From despair to enlightenment. Evolution of Consciousness". The book describes practical methods on how to come to an awareness of the meaning of your existence.
2. Eckhart Tolle "The Power of Now". In this book, a person who has gone through the path of enlightenment talks in simple and interesting language about the path to enlightenment he followed and what awareness of life includes.
3. Jed McKenna "Spiritual Enlightenment: A Nasty Thing". The book debunks many of the myths that have grown up around enlightenment. The author tries to help people seeking awareness find the right path and start moving along it.
4. Nisargadatta Maharaj "I Am That". The author pushes a person to think about his true purpose. It makes you look deep into yourself and realize the need to study your inner world.
5. Valery Prosvet “Enlightenment in half an hour”. The author invites readers to pay attention inward and engage in self-development. To do this, the book describes various techniques, methods of self-knowledge and work on oneself.

Children: , .
Orthodox theory of personality: , .
Passions, their essence and ways to overcome: , .
Diseases and their origin. Ways to overcome: , .
The connection between sins, passions and illnesses: , .
Repentance, its essence. The main sins of our time: , .
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov. "About the beauty": , .
Asceticism, prayer (essence and varieties). Jesus Prayer: , .
About salvation in the world: ; .
Freemasonry and globalism: , .

Lecture text.

« The first people knew God personally<…>and constantly communicated with Him. The Lord commanded people to cultivate paradise, give names to animals and every creature, and also dominate the entire material world. Everything was allowed to man except one thing. It was impossible to eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which was located in the middle of paradise. “If you break this commandment,” the Lord warned, “you will become mortal.” People believed God, knowing that only goodness, only love always comes from Him, and did not violate this commandment» .
Someone may have a question: “Why did God create this tree with forbidden fruits in paradise? Isn’t God himself the cause of temptation?” This can be answered as follows. God is love and He does not tempt anyone. As it is said: “... God is not tempted by evil and He Himself does not tempt anyone, but everyone is tempted by being carried away and deceived by his own lust.» James 1:13-14. The whole point was that Adam, having a lot, did not have one thing: the experimental knowledge of what he is without God. The fact that God was always there was familiar and natural to Adam. Adam did not know the absence of the Lord or disobedience to His will. He didn't know what it was. And therefore, having free will, he could have stumbled. God's prohibition should become a lesson for Adam in obedience to God. This trust and obedience made it possible for Adam to exist sinlessly in paradise. According to the interpretation of a number of Church Fathers, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil can be considered a kind of prototype of God himself, who knows everything. Eating from the tree without the permission of the Lord meant trying to take the place of God . The act is unacceptable and atheistic, which Satan once decided on. He, out of envy of the high destiny prepared by God for man, seduces Eve with a seductive lie: “taste and be like gods.”

« The devil, a once powerful but later fallen angel, was terribly jealous of people's closeness to God. He wanted people to listen and obey him, and not the Creator of the world. And so he came up with a way to seduce the first people. Taking the form of a serpent, the evil one appeared to Eve and began to tempt her with cunning and tricky questions. “Is it true that the Lord did not allow you to eat from the trees of paradise? - he asked, knowing full well that he was telling a lie. “No,” said Eve, “we can eat from all the trees, except one.” From it, as the Lord said, if we eat it, we will die.” “You will not die,” the devil lied, “but you yourself will become like God, for you will know what good is and what evil is.”
The fallen spirit deceived people. He knew that they would become mortal, that through disobedience to God they would fall away from Him and become creatures subject to the devil. This is what he wanted. But he tempted people with knowledge! Learn something new! Become gods without God! How often do we hear a similar call today.
And Eve was deceived... Doubt about the righteousness of God crept into her soul: “God is hiding something from me. Doesn't want to give me any knowledge. Then I’ll take them myself.” She picked the fruit and ate it. Then she gave it to Adam, and he ate. But instead of becoming like God, they became mortal, fell under the power of the devil, saw their nakedness, and felt ashamed. And they hid from God between the trees of paradise. God gave man the opportunity to repent in order to return to his former dignity, but the man turned out to be stubborn in sin. Adam began to blame the violation of the commandment not only on Eve, but also on God Himself: The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate. Eve blamed the serpent for everything: The serpent deceived me, and I ate» .
Look, what is characteristic of modern man is self-justification. Everyone is to blame but me. Alarm clock, bosses, transport, but not me. Self-justification, lack of repentance. Expose your sin, see it, admit it, repent of it and not do it again. No! Self-justification. This is a property that is inherent in a person from his great-great parents.
« Having eaten the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve learned from their own experience what good is and what evil is. It turned out that goodness is life with God, happiness, peace, joy, absence of illnesses, sorrows and immortality. Evil is life without God, suffering, illness and death. But the bitterness of evil and the tragedy of its consequences were gradually recognized, therefore, at the moment of the Fall, the first people did not want to repent of the sin they had committed, but were engaged in self-justification". They did not yet understand the consequences of the Fall.

What happened as a result of original sin? - As a result of original sin, the whole person, his entire personality, underwent the most severe changes. According to Saint Theophan the Recluse: “ God is everywhere and contains everything, but He enters into free creatures when they surrender themselves to Him. When they are contained within themselves, then He does not violate their autocracy, but, preserving and containing them, does not enter inside. So our ancestors were left alone. If they had repented sooner, perhaps God would have returned to them, but they persisted, and in the face of obvious accusations, neither Adam nor Eve admitted that they were guilty. A trial followed and punishment by expulsion from paradise. Then they came to their senses, but it was already too late. It was necessary to bear the imposed punishment, and for them, our entire family» .
The Fall had a heavy and terrible impact on the entire nature of man. And the destructive effect of this fall is so global that it changed our entire world, incl. flora and fauna. All living things that did not know death began to experience the influence of fallen man and his self-will. Why did this happen? Man was the crown of all material creations of God. Man was endowed with dominion over all material creations and man had to spiritualize matter and lead it to God. And as a result of his fall, the fall of all matter occurred. Man stood, as it were, at the top of all matter, was a spiritual-material being, and as a result of changes in him, everything material, the whole world, underwent the greatest changes. Chaos destroyed harmony. Beauty began to be destroyed by ugliness. Health and immortality were replaced by disease and death. Already the son of Adam and Eve - Cain became a murderer - shed the blood of his brother. And then people got used to killing thousands of their own kind, they learned to kill them in torment and torture, they began to kill them with an evil word, and denunciation, and slander.
« At the beginning, man was created in such a way that his spirit, having communication with God, was enlightened and, in turn, enlightened the soul with the assimilated Divine grace. The enlightened soul permeated the entire body with grace, subordinating it to the laws of the spirit. The spirit was to the soul what the soul was to the body. The human body, sanctified by Divine grace and led by the spirit, knew no disease and was immortal.
As a result of the Fall, the wonderful harmony of spirit, soul and body was destroyed. The human spirit has lost the opportunity to communicate with God and has lost its inner strength. The soul stopped living at the expense of the spirit and turned to the carnal interests of the body. The body, having lost spiritual enlightenment, became mortal and susceptible to disease.
After the Fall, the primacy of the spiritual mind in man was lost. Feelings and desires, not restrained by the mind, began to give actions the character of malice, pettiness and selfishness» .
To understand better what happened to the human soul as a result of the Fall, let's carefully look at the following diagram.

Changes in the powers of the human soul after the Fall.

Thought power (mind, reason) Left to oneself and receiving no beneficial influences from the spiritual mind. A tendency to fantasies (imagining something that does not actually exist) has appeared, and therefore a person has a distorted picture of the world. The human mind is busy considering particulars and is not able to holistically embrace life.

Strength is desirable (desires, will) Desires are directed towards sensory worldly objects and intensify, turning into lusts. The will has lost the power to suppress harmful obscene desires, “man will not remain in honor; he will become like animals that perish.”

Irritable force (feelings, emotions) The single feeling of the soul (aspiration for heavenly beauties) split into two: pleasure and pain. The first became the basis of all human passions, the second gave rise to anger, sadness, melancholy, despair and fear.

After the fall of the first people, not only the body, but also the soul became subject to the action of sin. As Saint Gregory Palamas wrote back in the 14th century: “ The soul is tripartite and is contemplated in three forces: thinking, irritable and desirable. She is sick with all of them..." . Collapsed chastity human. Chastity, in the broad sense of the word, is the harmony of the subordination of all the forces of the soul. The mind accepts, reflects and chooses. The will acts. Feelings in accordance with the will and mind help and bring joy from this. Now everything in a person is fragmented. You can think one thing, but desire something completely different, and your will can be paralyzed and not act at all. The Apostle Paul says about this: “ Poor man I am! who will deliver me from this body of death?» Rom.7:24; " For I don’t understand what I’m doing: because I don’t do what I want, but what I hate, I do. If I do what I do not want, then I agree with the law that it is good, and therefore it is no longer I who do it, but the sin living in me. » Rom.7:17. This is the most terrible thing - the loss of chastity.
One of the most common problems of the modern world, especially in developed countries, has become psychological the problem of people losing the meaning of life . Having a fairly high level of well-being, people do not know why they live. This is accompanied by acute emotional experiences that push people to drunkenness, drug addiction, or even suicide. Let me give you an example. In the society for counteracting drug addiction and alcoholism in which I work, one hundred percent of the drug addicts surveyed have no meaning in life. To put it in the language of psychology, they have no long-term prospects. Those. they don’t know why they live, what they live for, where they live. It's the same with alcoholics. Complete lack of meaning in life. It’s the same with fornicators - a complete lack of meaning in life. I live for pleasure, the meaning of life is to receive pleasure, i.e. hedonic attitudes. How can you enjoy it? - Here, alcohol, women, men... etc. and so on.
Often people withdraw into themselves, and the mind begins to work idle, wishful thinking, living in their own imaginary world, divorced from reality. Moreover, several such little worlds can form in the mind of such a person, which often contradict each other and conflict with themselves. A person lives in some fictitious virtual reality. In its extreme form, this is expressed in schizophrenia (from ancient Greek σχίζω - split and φρήν - mind, reason, i.e. division, splitting of the mind). It must be said that modern medicine has still not learned to treat this disease and, by and large, does not even understand its deep spiritual roots. Medicine is only interested in ensuring that the patient is not aggressive towards other people and does not commit criminal offenses.
From a Christian point of view, the mind was the most dominant force of the soul, and in the current state the main thing. What the mind can do is turn to God with prayer for its purification and enlightenment.
After the Fall, the main diseases of the will were its incorrect direction and, in general, its insufficient development in God. The most important psychological problem of our time is lack of will - the so-called abulia . When a person does not strive for anything on his own, but, as they say, goes with the flow. Such people do not have an active rejection of evil; because of indifference and callousness, a lot of evil happens in the world. At the extreme stage of its development, abulia reaches the point where a person seems to turn into a plant. He doesn’t move, doesn’t eat until he’s fed... etc. and so on. Very often we began to see this in modern children: when you don’t want anything, don’t need anything, you want to have fun, watch cartoons, or hang out on the computer... etc. This is how abulia manifests itself in full - the lack of will and ability to put effort into something. I’m lazy to study, lazy to work, and this laziness’s evil shadow is always with me every day, as one poet wrote.
The feelings of modern man are no less disturbed than all the other forces of the soul. Modern experts: psychologists and even psychiatrists are sounding the alarm about the increasing number of people with unmotivated fears, anxiety, and depression. The latter is even called the scourge of the twenty-first century, since in the West it is a very common disease. At the same time, medicinal forms of influence - antidepressants do not lead to a solution to the problem, but only temporarily alleviate the situation. And this is understandable, because depression is a kind of signal from the soul about trouble, about its disastrous spiritual state. And, of course, treatment must begin with the treatment of the soul, with the treatment of the spirit. And when the syndromes, the main causes of these mental illnesses are not eliminated, and only the symptoms are treated, then, naturally, the disease does not go away, it can change forms, it can be driven inside, it will always be with the person. And the further we go, the stronger these diseases will be in a godless, atheistic society. Because, first of all, these are diseases of the spirit.
As a psychologist, I can testify: a lot of people come to me with problems of correcting their spiritual order, but their roots lie precisely in the spiritual area. That is why, when they go to psychiatrists of an atheistic school or to psychologists of various schools who are alien to the Orthodox understanding of man, they cannot help them. With the help of various trainings and psychotechnics, they can switch, take the course of the disease in a different direction, give external relief, and then it returns in one form or another. Doesn't work. Because its root lies in the spiritual part of man. Until this problem is solved, no mental problems will be solved. And then, what’s most interesting, mental illness leads to illness in the body. There is a whole area of ​​medicine that I have also been working on for many years, called psychosomatics. Those. Just like diseases of the body, diseases of the organs follow from diseases of the psyche. And mental changes, in turn, are caused by changes in the realm of the spirit. Thus, diseases in the realm of the spirit lead not only to mental illnesses, but also to many diseases of the physical level.
An important task in the life of an Orthodox Christian is the acquisition of chastity .
« Chastity should be understood as the integrity of man as the image of God, a state in which the spirit, soul and body are in pristine harmony: the soul, enlightened by the spirit, rules the body. A chaste person does what his God-enlightened mind tells him, he is not in constant dependence on carnal needs and is not a slave to his bad habits and desires.
But chastity in this broad sense of the word is not given to a person from birth, since a person, being a continuation of his parents, carries within himself a disposition towards those passions and vices that were characteristic of his ancestors. Chastity can be cultivated in a person in the course of life if he puts effort into it. The beginnings of chastity, namely the disposition to goodness, are an integral part of the image of God in man, but their development largely depends on the person himself, on the nature of his upbringing, the influence of the environment in which he lives, and on much more.
So, chastity is cultivated in a person in the process of his spiritual life and, naturally, has different levels. Innate, natural for a normal person is physical chastity. It manifests itself in a feeling of shame of one’s physical nudity, in modesty and restraint in communicating with the opposite sex, in bashfulness and modesty in words, gestures and body movements. This feeling must be preserved in oneself in every possible way and supported and developed in others. Natural chastity can develop into a higher, spiritual chastity and serve the development of the likeness of God in man» .
Today, we see that even a person’s physical chastity is being dealt a terrible blow. Films, advertisements where sexual instinct is emphasized. Sex education in school, which tries to corrupt the child, deprive him of chastity, etc. All this leads to the fact that people, if they do not protect themselves and do not cultivate and strengthen natural, bodily chastity in themselves and in their children, then they lose it, and having lost it, they receive obstacles to acquiring chastity in the full sense of the word .
« If a person, infected by someone else’s bad example and improper upbringing, destroys his natural chastity and acts “like everyone else,” then gradually the sense of purpose will leave his soul and the spiritual perfection of such a person will be impossible.". A simple example. Alcohol and drug addicts have been coming to us for treatment for 15 years now. In adult drug addicts (over 18 years of age), the fall occurred as follows: first, they lost physical chastity, fell into prodigal sin, and then, as a rule, they became involved in drug addiction.
« The beginning of spiritual chastity is also the unity of thoughts, words and deeds. A person should always say what he thinks and act accordingly with his way of thinking. You cannot think one thing, say another, and act in a third way. This is hypocrisy - a sin that destroys a person’s soul. A person who does this will never become chaste.
“Chastity is the comprehensive name of all virtues” St. John Climacus» .

In various spiritual and esoteric circles, these two phenomena - enlightenment and spiritual awakening - are often confused, interpreted differently, identified and generally not understood. Because you can understand this only in one case - by truly experiencing it.

Any explanations are only descriptions, concepts, and they do not convey the Truth, but only point to it in one way or another, from one side or another. It's like a road sign with the name of a city written on it and an arrow showing where it is. Or it can be compared to a map, which shows the outline of a city in a two-dimensional plane. Many spiritual seekers equate a pointer with what it points to, or a map with territory. Because of this, disagreements, confusion and pointless disputes arise.

In this article, I will try to describe in simple words the difference between spiritual awakening and enlightenment, listing the main signs and symptoms of both, based on my experience. Just keep in mind that this text is just another description, just one pointer, not the Truth. Truth cannot be conveyed in words; no one has ever been able to do this, and never will be able to. Just look in the direction the words point, you should discover the Supreme Reality for yourself.

Source of material - http://pro-svet.at.ua/index/0-146.

What is the difference between enlightenment and spiritual awakening?

I speak solely from my experience. You don't have to believe it, just take it as my point of view and explore for yourself. In my book “Enlightenment in Half an Hour” I insist on exactly this - don't trust anyone or anything, research for yourself. I can only show the direction to the Truth, but you will have to go yourself.

Spiritual Awakening Happens First, this is a much more common phenomenon than enlightenment. Spiritual awakening occurs in various religions, spiritual (and non-spiritual) practices, in various systems of self-improvement and self-knowledge. And sometimes it happens outside of practice, completely unexpectedly and for no apparent reason. There are many descriptions of the signs and symptoms of spiritual awakening, and they are all so different that in general it seems somehow confusing, contradictory and doubtful. I have highlighted the most general points, the most important, universal ones, which I will share here.

Spiritual awakening is awakening from the illusion of being a body-mind-person. There is a realization that I am not a body, not a mind, not a person. This disidentification can happen instantly, or it can last for years until this understanding becomes absolutely clear and obvious.

In spiritual circles they say that spiritual awakening is the awareness of one's spiritual nature. I would say more simply - this is awareness of one’s non-material nature. The word “spirituality” is associated with a lot of misunderstandings, distortions and downright incorrect interpretations. Therefore, I would suggest going beyond religious terminology and calling it awareness of oneself as Consciousness.

The moment (or period) of spiritual awakening can be accompanied by various vivid and unusual experiences, “special effects” and insights, and their range is very wide. This could be the experience of light, divine sounds, visions of angels or Gods, a feeling of overwhelming love, ecstasy, a sense of unity, etc. In my case, it was an exit from the body in the waking state, when I began to see not through my eyes, but in some other, incomprehensible way. This was accompanied by an indescribable “WOW!”, and confirmed what I was already almost sure of - that I am not a body, but a consciousness. Everyone has their own special effects, but the common denominator of spiritual awakening is only one - awareness of oneself as consciousness, not matter.

After spiritual awakening, you already know from your experience that a person is basically consciousness, and the body-mind-personality is just temporary clothing. Identification with these external things disappears. More precisely, this identification is recognized as an illusion. But this is not enlightenment yet. At this level there is still some duality of “I” and “others”, even if these others are also spiritual beings, albeit in shells.

When enlightenment occurs, the illusion of duality (multiplicity) ceases to be perceived as reality. This is even more difficult to explain in words. Yes, there is the appearance of different people, objects, phenomena and events, but at the same time there is an understanding of advaita, awareness of non-duality. And this can also be accompanied by various special effects.

By the way, about special effects. These are side things. You shouldn't rely on them at all. All of these signs and symptoms described online represent a wide range of experiences and are not necessarily associated with spiritual awakening or enlightenment. I periodically come across beautiful stories on the Internet like “Oh, I had such and such an experience, so I am awakening (or awakened, or enlightened).” Most often these are beautiful fairy tales that are so pleasing to the ego. I am giving a simple and reliable criterion for spiritual awakening is awareness of oneself as consciousness, and not as something material. All other criteria can be misleading, and for a long time.

Let's return to enlightenment.

What are the main signs of enlightenment?

After enlightenment, habitual thoughts may still arise that divide the Indivisible into separate parts, but there is an awareness that this division is conditional, artificial, and unreal. The mind is no longer deceived.

Enlightenment is the realization of the Truth, after which all questions dissolve and disappear. And all the answers, concepts, understandings accumulated on the spiritual path cease to matter. Enlightenment is the end of the search. The end of personality. End of illusions. This is sat-chit-ananda - eternity-consciousness-bliss. But life goes on.

Life after enlightenment is like watching a movie in which you are no longer identified with the main character, although you feel him; rather, you are the very space in which this entire film of life unfolds. And this film, in some incomprehensible way, “consists” of the same material as “you.” I call this material the word “consciousness”.

Everything is Consciousness. And just because consciousness takes one form or another, it does not cease to be consciousness. This is the same consciousness.

It's incomprehensible. This cannot be understood with the mind. And this cannot be explained in words.

And only when the mind calms down and stops creating false divisions into “I” and “not me” can sudden enlightenment occur - the realization of Advaita, non-duality.

I wish everyone a quick and joyful spiritual awakening!

Enlightenment is the main goal in most spiritual and esoteric teachings.

Enlightenment is the highest insight, awareness of the essence of life as such. Enlightenment eliminates ignorance, illusions of the mind, expands consciousness, and frees one from psychological suffering. A more detailed description is further discussed using examples of direct and indirect methods of achieving enlightenment.

Direct Methods for Achieving Enlightenment

These are the best, simple, instant methods. Direct methods eliminate the buffer of mental understanding, thinking and theorizing. Direct methods of enlightenment are not associated with training in schools, sects, seminars, gurus, teachers and mentors. These are all mind games. Direct methods are for those who are one hundred percent honest with themselves. Next, in order, is a description of direct methods of enlightenment.

Awareness of the present implies a direct perception of life here and now. When an ordinary person becomes familiar with this method of enlightenment, he begins to imagine what he is doing, or has just done. This is a deviation from the method.

Present awareness is the continuous, natural perception of what is right now. This is not a search for something, but if one is present, it is an awareness of the search as one of the lines of the drawing of the present moment. Ideally, the object of perception really becomes the present moment itself between the past and the future.

We can conditionally say that being in the present moment, being real is a property of our Higher Self. If you are aware of the present, the focus of identification shifts to.

If awareness of the present moment occurs continuously, life “collapses” into itself, and you see that now there is an endless presence in weightless eternity, where something happens beyond the limits of the future and the past. Now there is existence itself, the boundless space of consciousness. This is the primary basis of everything. This being is awareness itself and life as such. All perceived objects and forms occur in it as something deeply secondary and equivalent.

Acceptance of the present- essentially the same as awareness of the present, but with the help of a fine line of “letting” into your consciousness what is right now. The psyche closes the mind from most sensations, which ultimately form the subconscious.

Acceptance of the present is a full disclosure of everything that is here and now. At the same time, one’s own consciousness is felt as a pure vessel and conductor of all phenomena. Ideally, you realize everything as a single inseparable phenomenon. And if resistance remains somewhere, it dissolves. Everything just happens.

Enlightenment is total acceptance. Even if something feels like an obstacle, it is just another step on the path.

Relaxation in natural presence- essentially the same as awareness and acceptance of the present. On the other hand, this is another fine line in understanding life. Rejection of the present closes one from awareness of the present. This rejection arises due to tension at all levels of the psyche. Tension is eliminated by relaxation. And this is not a dream, but a cessation of resistance to the present.

In this case, all bodily sensations are perceived as compactions in the emptiness of the space of consciousness. Important . Acceptance and relaxation are two facets of the same process of enlightenment.

Defocusing consciousness– another facet of enlightenment. Everyday attention is focused by the mind in intense illusions of the past and future. The most subtle focusing of the mind creates a habitual self-identity - ours. It is experienced in the back of the head, throat and at a deep level in the chest area. Defocusing leads to the dissolution of these tense clots of psychic energy. And then painful tensions and “malicious fidgetiness of the mind” pass.

First, you feel how, in the presence of the familiar “I,” a sense of space appears, against the background of which tensions flounder. Then, as you defocus, the habitual “I”, which seemed like something impenetrably dense and solid, begins to create a gap through which the refined energy of consciousness leaks. Total defocus is identical to complete relaxation, acceptance, disidentification and enlightenment.

Viewer's awareness of life– the subtlest “movement” with which you shift the focus of attention from the world of forms and sensations to the viewer himself, who perceives life. Being, awareness, observation, presence - all this is a description of his essence, his only property, which is expressed in limited words in many aspects.

Smell, touch, taste, sight and hearing are instruments of perception. Who uses these tools? Where do these five threads of perception of life fit together? The one who looks at life right now is the eternal viewer of life. He is always there. Forms change. Enlightenment is the awareness of one's essence as a continuous free presence.

Exposing choice– another facet of enlightenment. Personality is a set of choices passing through consciousness in the present. Choice is born from rejection of the present. The personality is tense in the present, so it avoids it, choosing an illusory future.

Dedication– another one facet of enlightenment. You give everything you have. Not in a material sense, but in an essential sense. Self-giving occurs inactively, without effort and effort, in relaxation. We can say that this method of enlightenment is the edge of relaxation, in which you let go of your grip on what is happening here and now.

Contemplation of the present. As a rule, it begins with concentrating attention on any object. The method differs from the “spectator's awareness of life” in its emphasis on contemplation as such. The essence of this method of enlightenment is to make the process of contemplation basic and continuous. Then the focus of self-awareness shifts to the Higher Self. Perception as such is a property of the Higher Self. When you contemplate what is, the higher “I” is, as it were, “activated.” Enlightenment is a manifestation of the contemplative principle of life. This is the true one. Ideally, contemplation of an object occurs without, as something extremely natural.

Awareness of who you are- Ramana Maharshi's method of enlightenment. The method is based on the question: “Who am I?” You ask a question once, with a clear understanding of the meaning of this question. Then you shift your attention to the feeling “I am.” If “I” exists, then it can somehow be felt. What is "I"? Who am I"? A verbal answer means nothing. You need to experience who you really are. Comprehension of the “I” is comprehension of reality.

All these methods are different facets of the same process. Because of their unique experiences, different paths to enlightenment are available to different people.

Indirect methods of achieving enlightenment

These methods are usually associated with changes in energy, cleansing the mind, preparing the body and psyche for clear consciousness. The division into direct and indirect methods is conditional. Sometimes direct methods become indirect, and indirect methods become direct, depending on the readiness of consciousness.

Energy boost is the experience of awakening stagnant energy. It can be caused by energy exercises, and in particularly successful cases it removes mental blocks, clears the mind and enlightens consciousness. This includes the practices of Kriya Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, working with energy and other esoteric practices.

Shaktipat, or diksha- spiritual dedication. Typically given by a mentor, guru, or master. In especially successful cases, it gives an instant expansion of consciousness and enlightenment. More often it gives the experience of insight, which sows the “seed” of enlightenment. If the initiate conserves energy, the seed sprouts and over time the lotus of consciousness opens and blossoms.

Middle way. Buddha preached. In my understanding, this path to enlightenment is an intuitive, relaxed finding of balance in every new moment of life. Castaneda's Don Juan figuratively spoke of how a man of knowledge goes through life “lightly touching everything.” This path helps life. Don't stress, don't sleep, let reality happen. At the same time, paradoxically, you gain the ability to make efforts that a vain and tense mind is simply not capable of.

Not doing- Carlos Castaneda's method of enlightenment. Perception of the world is a subtle effort in consciousness. You make the world in your mind habitual. - this is the cessation of the “effort” to. Then familiar phenomena reveal their essence. You begin to feel what is happening as a play of energy. And on a more subtle level - as pure consciousness.

Super Effort– method of enlightenment by George Gurdjieff. This is one of the most difficult methods on the edge of life and death. Gurdjieff said that in the human body there is something like household batteries. When their energy is spent, the person collapses. But if at this time you make a jerk, a super effort, then your consciousness switches to a deep, almost inexhaustible source of energy, and you continue to move.

When mortal fatigue sets in, you make another jerk and from the deep source of energy, switch to the causal source. At the same time, the hyper-subtle consciousness is activated. The method is extremely dangerous for independent practice.

Suffering. They temper and develop the soul. Everyone knows this. Suffering is one of the main incentives for true detachment. Detachment from temporary phenomena leads to truth and enlightenment. Many saints underwent conscious suffering in order to cultivate spiritual qualities.

In no case do I encourage you to suffer. We can limit ourselves to the understanding that what we have already experienced was not useless.

Humiliation. One of the powerful incentives for the surrender of the ego and... Humiliation and pride go hand in hand. Neurotic self-identification is based on this pendulum. Again, I don’t urge you to humiliate yourself - it’s enough to treat your own person more simply: and not get ahead of yourself, embellishing reality.

Confession, recapitulation, journaling, psychotherapy are effective methods of clearing the mind. Secular memoirs don’t count. To work for enlightenment, you need to sincerely speak out all your own fears, highlight everything that has been suppressed, and.

Reflections on the beyond: about God, about eternity and infinity, about love, about the true “I” - it is also considered one of the methods of clarifying consciousness and enlightenment. If a reflector tries to feel the topic of his thoughts, his attention is torn away from theories and touches these deep layers of life in practice.

Karma yoga– this is work without expecting a result. The mind is calculating, and doing something for others without personal gain loosens the ego's grip. Ideally, karma yoga is performed with complete immersion of consciousness in the present moment, without goals in the future. Contemplation of the present is one of the direct methods of enlightenment. Contemplation in motion is the highest aerobatics in the practice of enlightenment. True karma yoga is, as Swami Vivekananda said, bringing the goal and the means together.

Unconditional love considered the best method of spiritual transformation and enlightenment. This method opens, . Unconditional love knows no insincerity or deception. This is the love of life itself. Ideally, on this path you are immersed in bliss, and leaving all divisions, you surrender to this experience without a trace.

Doubts

There is an opinion that enlightenment is impossible to achieve. Some say that enlightenment must be earned, or “received” from a master. But then it comes to what methods exist for this “receipt”. As a rule, it all comes down to donating your resources and time to schools, where the sufferers find themselves dependent on, after serving for many years, they seem to have a chance to become enlightened.

Another option is to pay a lot of money for initiation, and then, if the mind does not go beyond the mind, again, there is a chance to become enlightened “for free.”

Some say that enlightenment simply “happens” beyond methods and practices. Of course it is. But before this, a person goes through some kind of path. And most often this is the path that is called spiritual. It doesn’t matter how, it doesn’t matter in a past or present life. The path includes everything that happens.

Someone says that everyone is already enlightened: there is nothing to strive for, nothing to achieve. But what are these words worth? Why not? A righteous life, or a practical life, is no worse than an ordinary life, filled with contradictions and vanity.

Others say that enlightenment is only available to Buddhas, who come once every millennium, or even less often, and mere mortals cannot see the truth. This is how the voice of doubt in oneself and one’s strengths sounds, the voice of a mind that is in the shackles of concepts.

People tend to believe that the more seriously they take life, the closer this perception is to reality. However, this seriousness also consists of emotions that project subjective pictures of the mind onto a reality that has nothing in common with these projections.

In this article, expressing a subjective opinion, I argue that enlightenment is achieved, and for this there are suitable methods. Let everything be relative and achievement illusory. But there is nothing else to talk about.

I understand that in order to cover the stated topic, it is still necessary to be a member of the world association of enlightened masters, which I am not. Therefore, here, as elsewhere, I act cunningly, and in no case do I insist on the final truth of words and the effectiveness of “methods”.

Let everyone believe their own experience and make sure that there is truth. Let everyone personally verify that he/she IS. Some will need schools and teachers, some will need personal hard practice, some will need a simple introduction to the topic and a direct look at what is here and now.