What does Awakening mean (in your opinion)?

[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

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Amazing Shivani!

Yes, that’s as good a depiction as any, minus I’d say the initial darkness being as vibrant completeness aliveness as one with Oneness ... no oppressive feeling at all. The visions of adepts or beings is if we wish to, request to see them in form. The lights appear as involuntary manifestation and has varied from engagement to engagement with the recent being a shining white star but all of this without any pain or discomfort ... in fact, quite to the contrary, an ineffable blissful joyousness and of course the playful but veiled secret dialogue with the Creator as well which I’m sure would be unique for each consciousness.

As for the time duration, it probably varies but on an average mine was for say 3 hours which seemed like 10 minutes.

It’s true that no validations are needed and no comparisons may be pertinent, while when back to form, the magnetic resonation stays for a day or two.

The matter about a) permanence and b) enabeability to choose to engage ... are perhaps, as you say, ‘work in progress’ which we may leave to the Universe.

Thanks for sharing your beautiful experience

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Thank you very kindly and also, thanks for sharing your experience as well. There are similarities and differences, but I believe that overall, the end result is the same.

Again i ask,why be long winded?

[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by Elabr8Aspie

Again i ask,why be long winded?

If you would like to give an example as to how NOT to be "long winded" because I don't understand what you mean by the term, I shall see if I can oblige, but if you have Attention Deficit Disorder, I will see if I can simplify it for you.

I am enlightened because I SAY SO and I couldn't care less if anybody else either agrees OR disagrees with me because it makes no difference to the fact that I AM.

The End.

[muffin]

Originally Posted by Shivani Devi

The End.

Good afternoon Shivani Devi

Haven't you heard it's a never ending story

[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by muffin

Good afternoon Shivani Devi

Haven't you heard it's a never ending story

While the story itself may not end, at some point, the telling of it must.

[muffin]

Originally Posted by Shivani Devi

While the story itself may not end, at some point, the telling of it must.

We each show it, day in day out, be it art, music, poetry, the written word, friendship, love, there are so many different ways it can do your head in.

It doesn't all fall on deaf ears

[django]

There is initial awakening to the fact that there is a deeper reality going on which we will usually suddenly be aware of, and then there is an ultimate awakening where a greater Truth is known regarding the energy body, human spiritual potential, the meaning of life etc.

Most spiritual seekers are awakened on the first level, but to awaken on the second level is very rare. I have noticed that a lot of people are satisfied with their achievement and consider themselves awakened, but I set the bar very high and expect no ego, miraculous healing abilities, great wisdom and compassion, so to me no one is fully awakened, though I accept it is possible. If it's all just in someone's head I'm pretty cynical about it.

[vijay mehra]

Originally Posted by Shivani Devi

When you say "what is YOUR version", you are quite correct because the ultimate spiritual state, Nirvikalpa (Nirbija) Samadhi is beyond perception and therefore cannot be spoken of in words.

One must descend back down into the Throat Chakra (Vishuddhi Chakra) and IF they are very "spiritually skilled" get to dwell in the Heart Chakra (Anahata) and have both centres of communication and unconditional love operating both dependently and also independently, so as not to get caught up in Dvaita thus creating even more samskaras again.

As Patanjali one said: Chitti Vritti Nirodha. It is the cessation of associations with the fluctuations of consciousness.

Thus, I exist as the observer of my own actions and I get to consciously choose WHEN and HOW to react, instead of responding emotionally without intellect - However, BHAKTI YOGA being the ONLY exception to this rule, of course.

My "definition" of enlightenment? Allow me to get practical.

It is when you are so full of Divine Grace, that you are totally and completely satisfied, happy and wanting nothing more...not EVEN others to experience it.

Somehow, empathy goes to that same place EGO does...Now, exactly where and when was that again? (be back in a few hours...going to Astrally explore the Multiverse at a quantum, fractal level and then, work my way back).

Enlightened is being able to shrug off criticism like water off a duck's back.

"I KNOW I am not what they are believing about me, so why should I get upset about what another actually believes about me when it is NOT true? or should I educate them and then follow it up with a Shaktipat transmission?...Nope, they aren't quite ready for that yet" (...goes and reads the Akashic Records for a while and then discusses their contents with the Goetia and the Great White Brotherhood).

I could go on... Maybe later I will.

I totally agree with you. The experience of Oneness will always be different for each soul. Also it is impossible to describe such experience in words bcoz words come from the mind while the ONENESS Experience is just an Experience beyond everything that human mind has learnt or experienced in the current life.

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by janielee

Thanks everyone, does anyone have an experience or version that correlates to any spiritual tradition's teachings?

I understand that many have had very lofty experiences - and appreciate the sharing - but is this enlightenment?

In early December 1986 I had left my job in IT in London and moved into my parents’ house while they were living abroad. I lived on my own, with no commitments of any sort, so I had plenty of free time.

I had been practising Shabd Yoga (meditation on Inner Light & Sound) for over seven years, including many longer meditations of several days. In recent weeks I had been having various interesting experiences in meditation, and one Sunday afternoon I felt a strong impulse to sit down and meditate for enlightenment. I had no idea what to do or how long it might take, but I was willing just to sit and meditate until something happened.

So I sat down to meditate with a commitment and focus I had rarely felt before, just concentrating on the inner Sound and inner Light. The inner Sound was very loud and the inner Light was very bright, and my meditation was filled with energy. I meditated into the evening and went to bed.

I spent much of the Monday in meditation. The Light and Sound were very powerful, and energy continued to flow through me. At one stage I decided to have a bath, and my consciousness was flowing out into the bathroom walls; I could not tell where I ended and the walls began.

I continued my meditation into the evening. My chakras felt aligned, and the Sound current filled my whole body. It felt as if the entire range of sound was flowing through my spine, from the deepest sound at the base of my spine, to the finest sound at my throat. My head was empty, beyond all sound, and the energy continued to flow. The Light was golden-white and brilliant, and I gazed upon it, every part of me striving to surrender. I had no thought except to lose myself in that Light, when suddenly the Light dissolved. There was just space and emptiness. The flow of energy which had been so strong suddenly ceased. Everything was still and peaceful. I don’t know how long I sat there, resting in the stillness, but then I began to wonder what had happened to all that energy. Eventually I came out of meditation and turned on the light, as the room was now dark.

I was the Self and the Self was everywhere. I was the walls, the carpet, the furniture, the space between it all. I speak of “I”, but there was no personal identity. There was one Being pervading everything, and I was that one Being. Individualised consciousness was present, localised in the physical body, gazing out at the Self, but my body was just another physical object sitting in this one Being. Nothing limited me, nothing interrupted me, I was complete Being. I went downstairs to make a cup of tea, and I was not moving; instead my body was moving in the stillness that was the Self.

I woke up the next morning, and the Self was still present, I was still everywhere. After some more meditation, I went for a walk outside. I was the pavement and the houses and the trees and the sky and the clouds. I was the cars as they drove through the one Being that was me. I was everyone I saw, just various physical bodies within this one Being. There was only the Self which existed without limits.

And this has been my daily reality since December 1986. The Self never changes, it never goes away. The mind is still present, with all its limitations. Emotions are still present, with all their highs and lows. My personality is still there, with all its strengths and weaknesses. But behind it all, unchanging, always present, there is limitless Being.

It is a very natural state of Being. The Self is limitless, and knowing ourselves to be limitless is the most natural and effortless thing in the world. It requires more effort to maintain the illusion of being limited, because that is a denial of our natural state.

After the above realisations the world seemed curiously flat. Because the Self was equally present in everything, nothing was nearer or further away – in the absence of separation my sense of distance had disappeared. However, the mind is a clever thing, and gradually it restored a sense of expected distance, but the non-separation remains.

Travelling in a car was also interesting, especially as a passenger. My body was still, and the Self was still, but there would be all this scenery moving within the stillness. And I could see that I was already at the end of the road, but my body had to move through the Self to get to where I already was.

What to make of all this? I hesitate to give it any label, because labels do not explain anything. I dislike the term enlightenment because everyone has their own idea of what enlightenment means. But for me there is One thing everywhere, and that is the Self, unmoving, unchanging, unlimited.

Is it the end of the spiritual journey? I regard it as the end of one stage of the journey, and also the start of a new stage.

Apologies if this was long-winded. I share it because I was inspired to take up meditation by reading Yogananda's descriptions of what was possible. If the above can happen for me then it can happen for anyone.

Peace.

The void and the Light
This is my plight
I say the void was alright
But the Light was out of sight
I fail to find the words of Light
ascending/awakening/enlightening a movement in form.

The Light I call Love and the Love I call God/Creator/Source.

Love many,trust few,paddle your own canoe.