Lesson 120 - Q&A – “Getting enlightenment”

From: Yogani
Date: Mon Feb 16, 2004 0:37pm

New Members: It is recommended you read from the beginning of the web
archive, as previous lessons are prerequisite to this one. The first
lesson is, "Why This Discussion?"

Q: The main aim of my remaining life is to make all possible efforts
to get liberation from the cycle of birth & death in this life time
only. I know that I have many weaknesses yet to overcome but still I
wish to make all possible efforts to get rid of them & make this soul
merged with the supreme soul during this life time. Is it possible or
not? For this if I have to undergo more vigorous practices for a
longer time I wish to do that also, that is, spinal breathing and
meditation for a longer time or any other practices. Kindly guide.

A: Yes, I understand that you don't want to waste a minute to get
enlightenment. Yes, absolutely! I have felt the same way since taking
up practices in this life many years ago. You should continue with
practices to your capacity using self-pacing, being careful not to
overdo. If there is strain, then it is too much. We all have to go at
our own pace, or progress gets stymied. I will do my best to see that
everything you need will be here in the lessons. Everything but a
purified nervous system. That you have to do yourself, swept along by
your bhakti, your love of truth and God, which is God alive in you.

Keep in mind that "getting enlightenment" is an ego strategy, and not
likely to be completed in this life if it continues like that on the
basis of "getting." This does not remove the necessity for practices
to achieve progress. But getting enlightenment is a letting go. A
paradox. Not letting go of practices necessarily, but letting go of
something. Letting go of our need to "get it." How can we let go of
the thing we need so desperately? How can we let go of the very thing
we have been cultivating – intense desire for God?

It is a strange thing. Somewhere along the line we stop trying
to "get" enlightenment and find ourselves "giving" ourselves to it.
We may be doing everything the same -- practices, bhakti, service,
and all that. Maybe even more practices – yes, definitely more
practices. The nervous system wants to do them as it opens. But
something changes. Maybe it is in the rise of kundalini, and we no
longer feel in charge. It is easy to give in to a powerful divine
process happening automatically inside, even while continuing
aggressive practices. As the ego is dissolving to become pure bliss
consciousness it still craves enlightenment and struggles to do more
to "get it!" Then, magically, our need to "get" turns into a need
to "give." This is an important turning point that has its foundation
in practices and rising bhakti. It is a maturing that occurs in our
nervous system as it becomes purified.

I think the most effective strategy is for day-by-day. It is a higher
path to take. Never mind enlightenment somewhere down the road. Is it
good today? Is today better than yesterday, last week, and last year?
That is something real and concrete. Enlightenment may be next year,
or a hundred lifetimes from now. Who knows? How we feel today, and
what we can do to feel better tomorrow -- that is not so nebulous. It
is real, while enlightenment, salvation, or whatever, is out in the
imagination somewhere.

The future isn't real. Today is real. It is misery to want a thing in
the future, keeping it out there, out of reach. The future never
comes. It is maya (illusion). On the other hand, it is bliss to want
what we are having today that this good, and tasting it being more
already tomorrow. That is why I have said, "Do something nice for
someone today." That is more enlightenment than we can find anywhere
in our imagination of the future. If there is enlightenment, it is to
be found today. It is a fine point. As long as we do practices for
the future, enlightenment will remain in the future. If we do
practices for happiness today and tomorrow, then enlightenment is
suddenly much closer. Then we can relax a little and breathe. The
relaxing and breathing is the enlightenment itself coming up.

Will we ever experience enlightenment in the future? No. We never
will. We can only experience it in the present. That means today.

What does this mean in relation to our practices? Remember that
meditation is going inward when we sit, and then going out into daily
activity to engage the blissful silence we have gained. If we
meditate all day we will have lots of silence. If we don't engage our
silence in meaningful activity, we will not get full enlightenment.
Maybe only the first stage – unending inner silence. That's not bad,
but not the whole thing. Enlightenment is the union of inner and
outer. If we are all inner and no outer, we will not be in yoga. We
must move to all inner and all outer -- two fullnesses. Then we are
becoming it.

I have been doing all this writing here for months. Why? Well, it is
a good thing that needs to be done for sure. Many agree with that.
From my perspective, it is going out with my inner silence into many
lives, and that is helping me expand tremendously inside. The more I
give away, the more I am filling up with ecstatic bliss. I am a very
selfish person doing all this transmission of knowledge. Yet, my self
is becoming more and more in everyone. Your joy is my joy. You can do
the same thing in your life. Do your sitting practices, however much
and whatever kind you find is good for you, and then go do something
good for someone. That is rising enlightenment.

If we don't share it, we don't get it. It can happen today. Don't
worry about enlightenment in the future. Claim enlightenment today by
doing practices and then giving away your silence and your bliss to
others. Whatever good feelings practices bring to you, give them away
in daily activity. That is enlightenment coming up right now. All we
have to do is say, "Yes" to the flow of divine love going out, and it
will surge out through us like an endless river of ecstatic bliss.

Then we will be laughing like joyous innocent children all the time.
That is what we are when all the obstructions and holding on are
gone.

Getting enlightenment is giving it away. Getting enlightenment is
letting it go.

The guru is in you.

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