Note: For the complete lessons, with additions, see the AYP Easy Lessons for Ecstatic Living Books.

Lesson 283 - Is Enlightenment an Illusion?

From: Yogani
Date: Sun May 7, 2006  11:17 am

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: Why do we practice if it is all "OM" already? Can't we just realize that and be that?

A: Yes, it is all OM. Well, it is all stillness -- inner silence, which is beyond OM. We are not likely to experience that very much in this life if we aren't doing something concrete about the neurobiological discrepancy in our perception.

Intellect can't do it alone. More often, intellect is in the way, even when it thinks it is helping. In that sense the cognition of "enlightenment" may be the greatest illusion of them all. That helps explain the failures of so-called "enlightened" people. It seems the minute we put on the label, it is no longer that.

It is much simpler than that, I think… Joy, peace, love, compassion, energy, creativity, serving the evolutionary flow of life... These are qualities that really do emerge in people who regularly practice effective spiritual methods – deep meditation, spinal breathing, etc. Why give it a name like "enlightenment?" Well, we must, being a species that has a name for everything. But we do so at the risk of building a castle in the air. Sooner or later that castle will fall. As they say, "What goes up must come down."

As for the intellect, it does have an important role in the evolutionary process. The way we reason things out can inspire us to practice, or not. It is we who choose whether or not to do the things that are necessary to advance. That is the role of the intellect – it is in the choosing that we do. Also, if we have been meditating for some months or years, inner silence will be coming up, and then we have more options with intellect in relation to our "inner witness" which becomes increasingly available to us. We can then choose from that place within us that is the essence of wisdom itself. For an interesting exploration of this, see this topic in the AYP Forums called: "Self-Inquiry -- A Practice Between Our Meditations."

The guru is in you.

Note: For detailed instructions on building a balanced daily practice routine with self-pacing, and the evolutionary stages of enlightenment, see the Eight Limbs of Yoga Book.
For detailed discussion on self-inquiry in relation to the enlightenment process, see the AYP Self-Inquiry book.

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