Bhagavan what is enlightenment?

Q: What is the omniscient statement. Who is the experiencer behind every experience? Bhagavan: "The greatest contribution of India is that the exeriencer, the experienced and the experiencing are one and the same. It is an illusion to see the division of the experiencer and as separate as the object being experienced and the act of experiencing. Once you are enlightened, you would see that it is the mind, which is creating this strife, you would see that the observer, the observed and the process of observing is one and the same. There is no one observing the tree, what is there is merely the experience of the tree. There is nobody looking at the tree, you are inseperable from the the experience of the tree, that is why we say " Thou art that" However that does not belong to the realm of the mind, that has to be experienced."

Q: Every culture of the world, has produced its own varieties of sages and saints, there is widespread confusion among seekers - as to what is enlightenment and whether enlightenment is one single state of consciousness or are there different states of consciousness.
Bhagavan: "There are various ways to talk about oneness or enlightenment. If you are a neuroscientist, you would say it is the shutting down of the parietal lobes, if you a psychologist, you would say it is the loss of the sense of self, if you are a philosopher, you would say the sense of separation is gone, a mystic would say I am experiencing reality as it is, a spiritual person would say I am experiencing unity consciousness. With regards to the next part of the question, as to whether there is one state of consciousness common to mankind. It is not so. There are different states for different people. For some people it is like a noisy generator that comes to a halt, there is an immense silence, a silence that is not the opposite of noise, such a person would say" I am silence", yet another would be a total witness, a witness to thought and life at large. Others would land in a state of such love and compassion that there is no separation whatsoever. Another person would experience causeless love and limitless joy. Yet another would experience cosmic consciousness. Whatever the experience, the common dominator of personal suffering - problems would still be there but it would not affect you anymore because there is no person there cannot be personal suffering - you would nevertheless sense the suffering of the world but remember all this is talk which is not much use, you have to get there and I would get you there."

Q: Would you please clarify to us the meaning of the word oneness?
Bhagavan: "There are several degrees of oneness. Let us first look at oneness within ourselves. Right now, you are not an individual, you are divided within. You are a crowd inside. You are the son or daughter of so and so, the father, husband or friend of so and so, you are the employer or employee of so and so - there are so many beings inside you that are all the time talking - and again there is the conscious and the unconscious self, your authentic and inauthentic self - all having a dialogue all the time. You are that dialogue. When the dialogue shuts down, you become all one inside. Alone means all one. There is no division. At the next level you would find oneness with all human beings, at the third level, you would discover you are one with the earth, tree, water, sky. When you are one with nature, you would discover you and the universe are one. Ultimately you would discover you are one with god, you would discover you are God. I intend to take you step by step to the final oneness."
Q: Bhagavan, you speak about Oneness. What exactly is Oneness?
Bhagavan: "Man suffers alienation from his fellow human beings, nature and God; worse still from himself. To avoid this misery he has created varied forms of escape like going out to parties, reading books, watching television, gossiping etc. He has become an expert of managing suffering. Unless this fundamental issue is handled, there cannot be a massive transformation in the way we live and the way we experience life. That is why, inspite of the French revolution, the American Revolution, the Russian revolution and many others, the world has not made any progress in terms of peace and happiness. The root cause is that man is divided within and without. When this sense of division vanishes all problems in the world - religious, social, economical, political - would dissolve. Oneness starts basically inside oneself; this can be affected through a process of individuation. Man is divided within and he is a stranger unto himself. We do not love ourselves in the first place let alone loving others. We are constantly divided between the good and the bad, the right and the wrong, the perfect and the imperfect, the should-be and the should-not-be. When we achieve Oneness at a fundamental level, this conflict ceases. Then there is an inner silence, which remains undisturbed by external factors. This silence is not the opposite of noise. That is inner Oneness. This Oneness then extends to the world at large, to nature and finally with God. The ultimate vision of the Oneness Movement is to make man one with God."

Q: Apart from the teachings and sadhanas (spiritual practices), what is your message in this path of Mukti (liberation)?
Bhagavan: "See, basically my teaching is this. Though you have been taught some sadhanas and some teachings, as far as Mukti is concerned no sadhana or any teaching will take you to Mukti. That is why I insist that all sadhanas and teachings must ultimately be dumped into the waste paper basket. They just will not help you when Mukti is concerned. They can prepare you for it. It can be any teaching of Ramana Maharshi, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Buddha's teaching; any teaching for that matter will not take you to Mukti. Ramakrishna's disciples did not become enlightened, or Ramana Maharshi's disciples… Buddha's disciples did not become enlightened. So teachings can't give you enlightenment, no technique or sadhana can give you enlightenment. That must be understood very clearly through the yajna (course) you have attended. At best what can happen is; there can be a pursuit of enlightenment, a temptation to achieve Mukti and some clarity. I always maintain that psychology and philosophy, any teaching will fall under these categories. They will at best help to bring about transformation within the mind. That's all. Like we can rearrange the furniture in this room; but they'll still remain. So, we can do some kind of a decoration inside. We can bring some kind of happiness, get over some problems, adjust and readjust. Sadhanas can take you deeper and deeper into you consciousness but going deep into your consciousness is not Mukti. Rearranging your mental structure and framework, having improved relationship, better success in the world… all this is not Mukti. Mukti is to be completely free of the mind itself. That, no teaching, no technique can give you. It is because it is not a psychological process; it is not a philosophical process; it is not a meditative process. It is a neurobiological phenomenon. Fundamental changes must occur in your physical brain. That is why I tell you, do not follow any teaching. Then you become a 2nd hand human being. If you try to follow a Jesus Christ, you will become a 2nd hand human being. Jesus Christ could love the whole humanity. Can you love like Him ? Jesus Christ says *”love thy neighbour as thyself”. You can’t do it. He can do it because his brain is wired differently. But if you try to talk like Jesus Christ, you had it. Ramakrishna can be jumping in ecstasy and dancing away. Unless your kundalini is awakened you can’t do that. If you try to copy Ramakrishna you become a 2nd hand human being. His brain wiring is different. Ramana can ask “who am I”. If you do the same you will go mad and end up in the mental asylum! That's why I say, in one sense these are anti-teachings. You become a second hand human being. You develop conflict within yourself. You are something. You want to be something else; a Christ or a Ramana or a Sri Aurobindo. What not! You can read all their books, you can do all that, but you will not move an inch. Maybe you will get some clarity. Maybe you will feel nice. “Ah, I'm doing this sadhana”… you'll fell more secure. These benefits are there. But they will not take you to Mukti. Very often they induce conflict because you can only be yourself. How can you be something else? However much you try how could you be something else? You cannot become that other. This is the illusion from which we must become free. So, what I am telling you is ‘”Whatever you are, just accept that. When you accept it, there is no conflict. When there is no conflict there is plenty of energy. When you have energy, you see what is going on inside, you get joy. This is why, when all of you go back home, please fully experience that pain. Physical pain itself will become bliss. Sincerely experience all psychological pain. If you fully experience, it becomes joy. Don't try to escape. If you try to escape from pain, you are putting it under that carpet. After sometime it starts stinking. That is what most people are doing. They never confront their pain. Somebody dies in you family, you loose your job, some other problem, but you don't experience the pain. You run away from the pain through television, movies, going to a friend's house, doing some puja (spiritual clearing ceremony). This is what is called SORROW MANAGEMENT. It is good up to a point but certainly it will not rid you of pain. So, what you must learn is how to confront this pain. What I am telling is like this; Suppose a tiger enters this room, most of you would climb up the fan and hang on there! What I am telling is that “hanging from the fan is really pain because the tiger is here and you are hanging on there”. I am telling, “come down from the fan and let the tiger eat you”. If you are eaten the pain is gone. Allow the pain to eat you. The pain is the tiger. See what happens. It will become joy. Suppose there is intense jealousy in you. Jealousy itself is pain. You know how painful it is. So instead of saying “I will try to be non-jealous, kind and loving”; all this is false. You are you. You have jealousy, violence, hatred… all the doshas are there inside you. So confront it. I am not telling you be that or this. No! Be what you are. This is the purpose of this particular yajna that you have attended, to help you discover who you are like Ramana “who am I”, but his discovery is something else. Your discovery will be one that you are a Ravana! All the useless things in the world are inside you. That will be your discovery. That does not take much time. But people don't like that. You would like to have a nice image about yourself. It is all nicely covered up but if you dig you will se only rubbish. So confront that rubbish. If it is there; then accept it. How can you run away from it? It is painful, but behold and suddenly there will be joy. Where there is joy there will be no dosha. A happy man cannot cause pain to others. Only an unhappy man or wife will cause pain to husband or wife. Unhappy children will cause pain to their parents, unhappy employees will cause pain to employer. UNHAPPY PEOPLE SPREAD MISERY. Happy people cannot cause pain. If people are happy they cannot do anything wrong. They are happy therefore they cannot do anything wrong. It is unhappy people who land into trouble, who become ultimately thieves, criminals etc. So the basic thing is there must be a minimum of happiness and true happiness comes when you confront yourself. You are always saying “I am afraid of that person”. That is not true. Basically you are afraid of yourself. If you loose fear of yourself you loose fear of everything else including Veerapan! If a Buddha were there he would simply go and talk to Veerapan. Like he went and spoke to Aungulimai (a thief in the forest), since he had no fear. You are afraid of yourself because you do not love yourself. On the other hand you say, “I must overcome my fear, I must love somebody.” You do not love your self, that is the situation. So, as you go inside yourself you will discover who you are. So, accept. Once you start accepting, you start loving yourself. You will find there is a tremendous job that can be achieved in 21 days of practice. This is easy if it is difficult I do not talk about it. 21 days of practice and you will find it is like breathing. It is very natural and easy to go deep into your self, to discover and to accept, to love yourself and convert suffering into joy. If you do that your family will be excellent. The moment you see your husband or wife you will go into joy. When he or she sees you there will be joy. Your homes will become temples. That is when you are ready for Mukti. Mukti as I told you is a neurological phenomenon. Nobody has by following any teaching ever become enlightened, since they have been thinking it is a psychological or philosophical process. Ramana did not have any teaching. He had his death experience and he was there. For Buddha it was light. Only thing is he does not subsequently acknowledge what that light had done to him. Not through the teachings. Teachings are within the mind. Becoming free from the mind is enlightenment. That is when you are truly free." Q: What exactly is Mukthi (Enlightenment) Bhagavan? Bhagavan: "Mukthi could be defined in various ways. My general definition for Mukthi is - The liberation of the senses. Now when you see anything, you do not see without the interference of the mind. When you can see without the mind's interference, that is Mukthi. If you can hear without the mind interfering, that is Mukthi. The same applies to smell, touch and even thought. Thought can also be observed without your getting involved in the thought. Now what's happening is, when you are thinking, you think you are thinking. But it is actually possible to notice thoughts flow as though they were independent of you. This is a physical reality - actually you can observe the thoughts. Any kind of thought would be flowing into you and going out of you. When you can observe this flow of thoughts through you, this is the state of Mukthi. That is the complete liberation of the senses from the control of the mind. It's only such a being which is actually living. Wherever the mind is in control, you are not actually living. When the mind is not there, then you are actually living. That's why, when people ask me - what is the purpose of life, my answer is - "if you are living you won't ask that question". The purpose of life is to live. What does that mean? It means to live the life of the senses. The senses must be independent and free of the mind. Now what's happening is, you are not at all experiencing reality. Reality to you is what is flowing through the senses. Now, all the time you are interpreting all the data that is coming into you. You look at a tree and you say - big tree, mango tree, green tree, this, that etc. All the time comments are going on. When you sit down to eat food, you are not eating food. You start worrying about your family, about your office or comment on the food itself. The food is not being experienced. That's why I have said in the Mahavakyas, "when you experience the reality as it is, then you will just experience bliss". You will realize that this whole creation is perfect. It's the most beautiful thing. You are already in heaven. You have made it into a hell. So the whole attempt of this movement is to help you experience reality as it is. When that happens you will discover unconditional love and unconditional joy. You feel connected with everything and everybody. You do not feel that you are a separate individual. You do not live for yourself anymore. Because, `yourself' has become 'everybody'. You live for the sake of humanity, which is not a concept or an imaginary thing. This is a day-to-day reality, once you become enlightened. Thousands of people have already got into these states. This is the state I shall give you when you come to me."