MAHARAJ: “Lightment” vs. Enlightenment, Part “W”

Today's Considerations

Maharaj was endorsing “lightment” over “Enlightenment” when he stopped recommending SELF-Inquiry and suggested that self-inquiry “is enough”; that is, when he stopped (1) endorsing what, for many seekers, ends up being a life-long search for (and identification with) “The Infinite Self,” “The Supreme Self,” “The Godhead” or “The Divine Nature”; “godliness"; "union with god" or with “That Which Is Most Divine," etc., etc., etc., and instead (2) recommended focusing on finding every false self which one is not but which nevertheless determine every thought and word and action.

When  he stopped with the bhajans and the singing and the dancing which he included when he was using a Hindu / non-dual version of the Ultimate Medicine; and when he quit with the spiritual / non-dual version of the Ultimate Medicine which he began using when Westerners started finding their way to the loft; and when he then began using a psychological / non-dual version of the Ultimate Medicine to address what he came to realize is actually at the root of the Ultimate Sickness – namely, the mind problem - then the critics came out in droves.

First the locals criticized him for not using Hinduism as much; then others from all around the globe criticized him when he abandoned the spiritual approach, saying (as reported in the book Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and His Evolution):

"The later books of Maharaj do not enjoy the same clarity as 'I Am That'. It seems that he himself got complicated or rather evolved himself or declined maybe as happens to many teachers"

and

"At first when he was still listening to his guru he was telling the truth, like he did in 'I AM THAT.' In his other talks, his ego made him start telling things he dreamed up on his own that were not true"

and

"He deteriorated from one of the great spiritual men of all times to one of the least spiritual people of all times."

Like the blind men trying to describe an elephant while each having access to only one part of the big picture, such critics are equally blind to why Maharaj changed his version of the Ultimate Medicine after he saw that the earlier versions were not working - and could never work – to address humanity’s real problems which are, ultimately, mental in nature.

Moreover, he understood that the role played by the physical component (the composite unity) involved in a search for the false was a requirement, saying, “On waking up the experience runs: ‘I am - the body - in the world.’ It may appear to arise in succession but in fact it is all simultaneous, a single idea of having a body in a world. Can there be the sense of ‘I am’ without being somebody or other?” (That could mean “some body” as well, and without that conscious-energy-housing body, no seeking, no finding, no anything can happen.)

He said, “Even to say that you are not the body is not quite true. In a way you are all the bodies, hearts and minds and much more.”

The issue associated with the body which is problematic?

Maharaj: “Being “attached.” To what? To the “body, feelings, thoughts, ideas, possessions, etc. All these self-identifications are misleading. Because of them you take yourself to be what you are not.”

If non-duality is understood, then the body is neither worshiped nor abused, but it certainly can be used, and used most effectively, during the manifestation.

If not attached to the body and what it wants (which can be quite abusive in its nature) but also not ignoring the body and what it presently needs, how is it to be dealt with then? The answer: From the position of the True Self (a.k.a., “Pure Witnessing”). Meaning?

Maharaj said: "You observe the heart feeling, the mind thinking, the body acting; the very act of perceiving shows that you are not what you perceive.” 

Then, the body’s basic needs will not be ignored, but emotions and feelings will not drive one’s actions; moreover, the nonsensical mind will stop generating nonsensical actions and eventually the mind will finally dissolve completely; at that point, one will then be truly free.

The major problems of the relative existence come when one obsesses, so Maharaj recommended that seekers stop obsessing over their bodies and stop obsessing over the desires and stop obsessing over SELF-Inquiry, and stop obsessing over . . . anything and everything.

Maharaj: “Once this obsession with the body goes, you will revert to your natural state, spontaneously and effortlessly.”

Here, this is made clear about “lightment”: “That earliest version of the manifested composite unity (which you still presently are) enjoyed a condition of ‘lightment,’ of being light, of being unburdened.” 

But, per Maharaj’s later methodology, it is also made clear that not only is lightment “enough,” but “light itself” is essential for the sane and proper functioning of the brain (the brain being that which is what takes charge when the nonsensical content of the mind is purged.)

To that end, both light and lightment are essential for a sane and sound and normal and natural existence. Why?

Consider Seasonal Affective Disorder. This was offered by some of the staff members at the Mayo Clinic: 

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that's related to changes in seasons and lower quantities of light. SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year. If you're like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody. Less often, SAD even causes depression in the spring or early summer.

Treatment for SAD may include light therapy (phototherapy), psychotherapy and medications.

Don't brush off that yearly feeling as simply a case of the "winter blues" or a seasonal funk that you have to tough out on your own. Take steps to keep your mood and motivation steady throughout the year.

See, the deprivation of light is a problem both mentally and physically. It is at the core of the distortion typifying those who think they have “Realized” when they have not, and it is often even at the core of depression and moodiness and suicidal thoughts and / or suicides.

Maharaj spoke of those who “think that they are being bathed in the full light of the noonday sun when they are actually still standing in the dull light of dawn.”

He explained that light is required to be freed from fear and distorted views and warped perspectives, such as when one enters a dark barn and is paralyzed by fear based in misunderstanding because a harmless coiled rope is mistaken for a dangerous snake. 

(Here, the point is also offered that many fail to see actual relative-existence-dangers because they mistake a dangerous snake for a harmless coiled rope, referencing the old “love is blind” adage which prevents persons from seeing the truth about the objects of their “love” clearly. Also, here, it is explained that “love it not blind, it is just color blind, so it prevents people from seeing red flags.”)

And understand that there is no correlation between (A) seeing clearly and having a clear perspective and functioning with unblocked consciousness and being wise and (B) being “intelligent” and having a great deal of accumulated knowledge, which Maharaj dismissed as nothing more than “learned ignorance.” 

Examples are offered after pointers, so take for example a most intelligent man who is allowing every aspect of his relative existence to be controlled by a most unintelligent wife who displays the traits of at least eight major personality disorders along with several serious psychoses which inspire her to fantasize about harming their children, all of which he is asleep to.

How ignorant can the so-called "intelligent" be? Well, he is intelligent, but he is ignorant of the fact that, like a maniacal surgeon, she has – over the years while he has been asleep – totally removed his backbone, so he surrenders and accedes to her every ignorant or insane whim, no matter how disastrous the relative results have been shown to be over and over.

Recently, his path and mine crossed again and he revealed one more area when ignorance trumps intelligence. He said that he and his wife and two children left on a trip and had traveled thirty minutes from home when she said that they had to go back because she forget “her blackout curtain.”

I said, “Okay, I’ll bite. What is 'her blackout curtain’?”

He: “It is a large light-blocking curtain that she special-ordered to cover the windows at night so that she can sleep in every morning. She leaves it up at the house but also takes it along to use in hotels, the guest bedrooms of friends and relatives, etc. But since she had made our son sleep in the same bed we’re in for over four years, and has made our daughter sleep in the same bed for nearly two years, all four of us have the light blocked out.”

F.: “Indeed, you most certainly do.”

He: “What’s that?”

F.: “Nothing, go ahead.”

He: “Well, I’m beginning to wonder if that might be having a negative effect on her?”

F.: "Uh, duh. You think? Read about the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder, see how many of those you can spot in her if you were to be totally objective and honest, and then ask as well, ‘What about our first born who has slept like that for four years? And what about the second born who has slept like that for nearly two years? And what about you who has slept like that for nearly two decades?'”

Site visitors are invited to consider this: a pointer offered via non-duality is to abide in the direct and full light. The problem with the masses? They abide in reflected light at best, but most often they are living in the dull light or - like the family above - in total darkness. That entire family has been abiding without any light at all, both in terms of perspective and in physical terms; moreover, that is the same way that masses abide in most cases. 

Maharaj made clear that to think one is standing in the noon day sun but is really standing in the dull light of dawn is to live in distortion and denial and is to be out of touch with reality. His point: many claiming to be in touch with Reality are totally out of touch with both reality and Reality.

When  Maharaj shifted from using a religious component in his compounded version of the Ultimate Medicine; and when he shifted from using a spiritual component in his compounded version of the Ultimate Medicine; and then when he shifted away from both of those and began offering a psychological version of the Ultimate Medicine, those blind to truth criticized him. What they did not understand was the truth behind this ancient Latin maxim:

“In regione caecorum Rex est luscus” 

 which means, 

“In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.”

Maybe Maharaj was not always seeing with two eyes (or with the third eye that some speak of, either); and maybe he was not always seeing perfectly clearly early on, mainly because he was adhering to his guru’s prescriptions long after he knew they were not relevant; and maybe Maharaj was not seeing clearly with both eyes when he modified his message to accommodate Western “Seekers of Spirituality”; but eventually, he focused clearly and saw clearly that the problems of humankind are centered in the mind, and he saw that neither the religious pointers nor the spiritual pointers which he had offered for years were addressing the actual problem.

Even seeing that with one eye left him seeing far clearer than the way the masses perceive (and, actually, misperceive) all; thus, in the land of the blind the one-eyed man really is king.

Here, a holistic approach is offered, including the proper role of the body; the silliness – and destruction of – dreaming up and imposing food laws; the efficacy (or lack of efficacy) of using religious and spiritual "stuff" to try to treat mental problems rooted in ignorance and insanity; and the advantage of understanding that light and “lightment” are enough, even if some touted version of “Enlightenment” is never sought or (supposedly) found. To that end, please consider:

There are three metabolic body types, and most on the planet fall equally into those groups, one-third functioning well enough on a vegetable-only food plan, one-third functioning well on a meat / protein food plan, and one-third requiring a combination of both of those food plans. To dream up food laws and to try to tell any person what he or she needs to eat and not eat without knowing that person’s metabolic body type is to prescribe a slow form of self-destruction or even suicide.

The body is required in order for humans to house the conscious-energy, so the body is required to house the unblocked consciousness that is necessary for a sane and sound existence.

Aspirin does not cure cancer; similarly, neither religion nor spirituality cure mental problems. At best they function like any other placebos. In fact, more often, it can be seen by those who view the historical evidence objectively that those "treatments" have actually aggravated humanity’s mental problems for thousands of years.

Both “lightment” and light are far more conducive to clear seeing and clear perspectives and sane and sound and wise abidance than so-called "Enlightenment" can ever be.

To be continued.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

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