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

Today's Considerations

Some questions received yesterday reveal a need for additional clarification regarding the “unconditional happiness” which a child can enjoy (A) as a result of having no mind and no beliefs and (B) as a result of just being, just resting in “the non-dual, no-concept I AM.” The clarification: The words “unconditional” and uninterrupted” have completely different meanings. They do not mean the exact same thing.

“Unconditional” is defined as “not limited by or dependent upon any specific conditions; not reliant upon any particular circumstances; not contingent upon any persons or places or things or special happenings; complete; and unqualified.”

“Uninterrupted” is defined as “without a break in continuity; unending and unalterable; and absolutely stable and undeviating.”

A child unburdened by a mind with concepts, idea, notions (that is, "beliefs") stored therein and simply resting in the IS-ness has the opportunity to enjoy unconditional happiness but not uninterrupted happiness. Coming to the full, non-dual understanding does not guarantee exemption from the slings and arrows and challenges which will mark any and every relative existence. 

With the child, hunger can come, so happiness can go. A diaper can become uncomfortable because of wetness, so happiness can go. Extremes in the environment can come (including temperatures, excessive noise levels, nearby fighting and shouting, etc.), so happiness can go.

Challenges can come throughout “the adult years” as well. But what the no-knowing state allows freedom from – for a no-knowing child or a "realized" adult - is the instability referenced in the non-dual pointer, “A dual-minded person is unstable in all ways.” Feelings will come to “the realized” and they will be witnessed as they rise and fall but they will not trigger emotion-based overreactions which are generated by the hidden agendas of ego-states / personalities. That accommodates stability, and stability is the prerequisite for restoration to sanity and peace and happiness (or just contentment, and that is enough).

Neither “the realized adult” nor “the no-knowing child” will be subjected to the instability - and the frustrations - which come as a result of concept-and-belief-based judging; being picky; being perfectionistic; demanding but not receiving love from all; wanting to build and maintain a false public image in order to gain respect and admiration from the public at large;  

wanting to escape or avoid or dissociate from reality; wanting to be respected for one’s accumulated knowledge; wanting to be taken care of by someone else because of a sense of entitlement and dependency and co-dependency; wanting to escape all relative challenges and trials and tribulations; wanting to be in control and have others do exactly what they are told; and never having to be bothered by anyone or anything.

All of those misery-and-suffering-generating concepts / beliefs - which interrupt one’s happiness and peace - are rooted in the many hidden, subconscious agendas of false identities / personalities / roles / personas / stage characters which persons play as well as in all of the other concepts and ideas and notions and perceptions (a.k.a., “beliefs”) which become stored in the mind via programming, conditioning, domestication,  acculturation, indoctrination and brainwashing.

Yet neither “the few realized adults” nor “the millions of not-yet-knowing children" (who have not yet been taught thousands of nonsensical beliefs) are guaranteed uninterrupted happiness,

but

they are guaranteed the opportunity to enjoy unconditional happiness or contentment or a sense of ease.

However, neither “a realized adult” nor “a no-knowing child” nor the masses are guaranteed uninterrupted happiness or joy or bliss, either now or “later.”

In this book

these questions and pointers among others are considered:

How many seekers are frustrated by not having attained bliss? How many seekers think that they have failed or that their teacher has failed when what they believe to be bliss does not manifest or when they think that bliss comes on occasion but does not remain? How many are frustrated that their goal to become "perfectly spiritual, and thereby perfectly blissful" has not been attained?

Those are the thoughts and beliefs of seekers who are at what Maharaj called "the kindergarten level of spirituality."
 
He said, "No ambition is spiritual. All ambitions are for the sake of the 'I am'. The ambitions of the so-called Yogis are preposterous. A man's desire for a woman is innocence itself compared to the lusting for an everlasting personal bliss. The mind is a cheat. The more pious it seems, the worse the betrayal."
 
Regularly, seekers who speak of "the darkness" and of "higher levels of consciousness" are told that there is no darkness and that there are no levels of consciousness. The so-called "darkness" in which the non-Realized live is not really darkness but is merely an absence of light caused by the blockages that have accumulated, and the consciousness is merely consciousness (but it is either blocked from seeing accurately and from seeing truth or it is not).
 
When so many blockages accumulate, then the light cannot penetrate and all seems dark, but that absence of witnessing via the light does not mean that the light is not there. It is simply not observable because of a separation from the source of the light - either because the light has been blocked or because there is nothing available to reflect the light.
 
The higher level of understanding in regards to this topic is that (1) not only is "no ambition spiritual," nothing is spiritual; and (2) not only is "the mind a cheat" but the "mind" is actually as much an illusion as the darkness.
 
If the seeker would "find bliss," then the seeker must know what bliss is and what bliss is not. If one that is in kindergarten is sent to the store to buy the materials needed to build a "what-cha-ma-call-it," the kindergarten-age-child will not have the slightest clue about what he is seeking and neither will anyone else that he asks to help with finding everything required to build a "what-cha-ma-call-it."
 
The reason that most never "find bliss" is that they are just as mistaken about what bliss is and about what bliss is not as persons are mistaken about what "the world" is and what it is not. This book offers a clarification.

Here, there is no suggestion that, if adults accept Maharaj’s invitation and “move back along the same path by which they came (except in the reverse order),” they will be guaranteed uninterrupted happiness or joy or even bliss. What is guaranteed, if seekers take the steps required to return to the "The Child Ignorance Stage" or "The Child No-Knowing State,” is this: they will have an opportunity to enjoy once more the unconditional unhappiness which came on occasion during their pre-programming, pre-conditioning days.

If a seeker

a. never find the “True Self” or some “Infinite Self” or some “Special Self” or a state of “God-ness,” 

but 

b. does realize all that one is not, 

then

c. the relative existence can be guaranteed to happen in a far-lighter fashion, even if one is not deemed to be “Fully Enlightened.”

The “non-realized” never have enough; the “Super Seeker” never finds enough; but the wise come to understand that “Lightment” as opposed to “Full Enlightenment” is enough.

Again:

 

To be continued.

Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

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