Was That Enlightenment?

[The Monk]

Hey Guys, to be honest with you I'm really confused right now, and not sure what to do with life, besides meditate. So yesterday, I was watching Leo's video have an enlightenment experience with the neti neti method. First I did it once,  and nothing (I knew the answer in my head was that I am nothing, because I listened to Rupert Spira) But I didn't experience it, so I felt like saying that I was enlightened then was me fooling myself.  I did it again, and nothing. I did it again whilst brushing my teeth before going to bed and asked myself what am I? I then felt like all the dots were connecting in my head I saw how I was just awareness and since I am awareness I will never die, since it will always be around and it is infinite, I thought I am everywhere, I am everything, I am everyone but no one. I am god, and before I was born I was always alive as well, as the awareness was always there. So then I looked at myself in the mirror and had a huge grin on my face. But then I was kind of saying to myself in my head shut up, when I asked myself am I enlightened? So what was this? I'm so clueless right now because I read about spiritual enlightenment happening to others and I heard they started crying and dancing with joy and screaming and falling to the ground? So I thought since I did none of that stuff, so surely I can't have had an enlightenment experience since mine was a bit underwhelming? This was all yesterday btw. But I've realized that I've also lost my anger issues and no longer tempted to watch porn. What did I have? I don't think it was enlightenment also because, I'm not filled with happiness and love like people like Sadhuguru and Rupert Spira are? I just feel normal and confused and a bit demotivated to go to the gym now that I have realized there is no I. I'd love some help  

@Nahm @Loreena @ajasatya @Shin I suppose you guys seem to have a fair amount of knowledge about this or may even have had a similar experience, so I'd love your help/suggestions in a confusing time like this.  

Edited September 12, 2017 by The Monk

[ajasatya]

@The Monk it seems like "you" have seen "it", meaning a moment of union. but that's not mastery yet.

Reality goes on. and Reality experiences Itself much better through a healthy body/mind.

don't come up with excuses to stop taking care of the body/mind. it's ok to lose motivation to go to the gym... it happened to me and then i started an assiduous practice of hatha yoga, which has nothing to do with narcissism.

[The Monk]

@ajasatya so what was this really? Just an insight? But an insight is also considered by people such as Leo as enlightenment? That's why I'm confused.

[ajasatya]

@The Monk there are i) direct experiences with insights, ii) direct experiences without insights and iii) insights without direct experiences.

only you can say accurately, but i think it was the first case.

just don't think you've arrived. the goal is to get to a state of infinite training, in which we're constantly working for our integral health: physical, emotional and mental.

it can transcend and we can start working for the integral health of those who live with us and even for the integral health of the planet. but achieve a solid state of physical, emotional and mental health first because that's the hardest part.

Edited September 12, 2017 by ajasatya

[Leo Gura]

@The Monk Sounds like you're still stuck at the level of intellect. You've got a million miles to go.

Real enlightenment will be like coming back from the grave. It will stun you into silence. Not all this monkey-mind. You will not need to come here asking what happened. You will understand the origin of all of reality.

Newbies commonly get tiny glimpses, but they are piddles compared to the real deal.

Back to the self-inquiry salt mines for you!

[The Monk]

@Leo Gura What do you suggest I do from here? My mind is telling me you already know everything, you have nothing more to gain, so give it up.  

[Nahm]

@The Monk sounds like an epiphany or revelation. (Just words of course) I'm a little confused, it sounds like you had a preferable experience on the path you want, and are framing it up in hindsight in a derogatory way. I suggest you hold appreciative thoughts when reflecting on your experience, I believe that brings more of the same. Your attention is the most powerful thing known to man. Know that you are headed right back to the infinite love you touched on - upon your death. Enjoy the hide and seek. Nothing should be so serious. Pragmatically speaking, the One, the Love, IS. It is you that adds to it, preventing an experience of it. Next time you are in a good state of mind, simply write on your wall, what you want in your life. See it multiple times a day. It will prime you and become. Don't try to will things or solve things. Letting go is the art for you to master.  The complexity is in what we add, the simplicity of the path is meditation, healthy eating, excercise, letting go / state of surrender (for me). Also, shrooms. Build the foundation first. 

Edited September 13, 2017 by Nahm

[The Monk]

 haha I love you guys <3 no homo, you're like the cavalry that comes to the rescue in my time of need.  well that was cheesy. But I suppose it's true.  Thanks for all the great advice, seems like I need to be silent and just continue along the path, since that's the emotionally difficult thing to do.

[cetus]

@The Monk Are you familiar with 'A glimpse of the ox's tail' in Zen?

https://jessicadavidson.co.uk/2015/10/12/ox-herding-pictures-first-glimpse/

[Moreira]

4 hours ago, The Monk said:

@Leo Gura What do you suggest I do from here? My mind is telling me you already know everything, you have nothing more to gain, so give it up.  

You experienced samadhi, the oneness, unity with the divine, and then you lose the fear of death. Oh I'm infinite! i dont need to know more. Now let me live my human experience with my ego, I'll have all the eternity to be pure awareness. That's why I dont pursue enlightenment, soon or later enlightenment will be revealed to me after death.

[Azrael]

As long as you have to ask, you are not there.

[krazzer]

@The Monk I have had the exact same experience as you. Not only the epifany, but also the confusion about if it was enlightenment or not. This is how I described it a day later. 

My ego blew it way out of proportion, and I thought I really nailed it. The first few days I felt really awesome, much awareness the whole time and just a blissful state most of the time. But as the days past this feeling faded but my ego rejected that I was losing this state, so I got really confused, I got sick and the weeks after I wasn't really a productive human being.

It took me a month or so to wrap my mind around the whole experience and everything. But now I can see things much more clearly. I am most definitely not enlightened, but I did reach some new level.

Just like yours the experience itself was not blissful, emotional or grandiose in any way. But still a big leap forward in the spiritual journey. 

So be happy you've had the experience, but take your time to integrate it, and move on. Keep meditating, keep self inquiring, keep them good habits going on, go to the gym (or start doing exercises in nature instead of surrounding yourself with ego driven buffed up guys).

[Nahm]

@The Monk I love you too. I can't wait for you to have the breakthrough where you shit your pants. 

[The Monk]

@Nahm ahahaah

[Shin]

On 12/09/2017 at 3:24 PM, The Monk said:

@Leo Gura What do you suggest I do from here? My mind is telling me you already know everything, you have nothing more to gain, so give it up.  

If your mind is telling you that you already know everything and there is nothing to do anymore, it is a big trap.

It's both true and false, but your mind will use this statement to go full inconscious again most of the time, backtracking on everything it can.

You have to trust your instinct/intuition, not what your mind says.

It's easy to know which is which, in the first case you have a deep sense of peace and you seem to be aligned with life, in the second you become agitated and full of doubt.

 

[Loreena]

All I can say....my words of wisdom I cling to lately :

Life is pointless.

Everything is nothing.

 

[Thomas Razzeto]

@The Monk

[All of this is just my opinion and I celebrate the fact that everyOne gets to choose what they want to believe and how they want to live their life. Hooray for that!]

Hi Monk,

Although there is no universally accepted definition of enlightenment, here are the two key criteria that I use:

1) Being fully awake to the correct understanding of your True Self as this One Divine Source-Awareness, the One Self that arises as all apparent selves and
2) Being completely free from all selfish or self-centered desires or tendencies.

These two aspects work together to automatically produce the unhindered flow of all the divine virtues such as loving kindness, compassion, peace, humility, generosity, patience, and the divine bliss that holds all human emotions. In this way, your personal consciousness (your soul) becomes a well-tuned instrument in the hands of God, sharing the fruit of enlightenment with everyOne, including yourself. So we see that being fully awake and being completely free leads to being entirely available for the sharing of the One Love of God, without any fear at all.

You can read more here:

What Is Enlightenment?
https://www.infinitelymystical.com/essays/what-is-enlightenment.html
8-pages

 

But perhaps a better place to start would be here:

The Loving Heart of Enlightenment
A summary overview of spiritual awakening in simple, clear English
https://www.infinitelymystical.com/essays/the-loving-heart-of-enlightenment.html
3-pages

Perhaps these will be of interest to you.

In truth, I honor your divine nature

Thomas Razzeto

Edited September 22, 2017 by Thomas Razzeto