What do you mean when you say that you are enlightened?

"Normal" people see divisions in life because they have to break the world into fragments because they know, at least subconsciously, that their understanding of life is incomplete. They have a narrow scope on life so they cannot truly understand their ignorance.

The enlightened people realize that there are no divisions at all; they see everything as whole because they realize that these opposites are just parts of a greater part and that a greater scope of understanding is required to unify them. In understanding the world as the whole, they clearly see that they truly know nothing in the great scheme of things, that they truly see their ignorance. This is the prime difference between an enlightened and unelightened person.

Anyone who knows of truth is enlightened, for even in falsehood you may find truth. I know others who find a need to add a connection to the Divine, while others say you must have completed this task, but to these I say that is only a value of the enlightenment, and not a measure of being able to reason. Any Life that can respond to Love is enlightened! Of course this is also the same rule of thumb I use to measure if something has a Soul, and looking at it that way, My Truth is that every soul or any part of any soul is enlightened, some are just more so than others! I'm sure this will differ from most others Truth, and just think, 100 years ago this Truth would have gotten me burned at the stake as a HERETIC... come to think of it, there are many places it will still cost me my life, but there in lies the question, does it cost me my Soul?

ME!

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The only thing I can say that I'm enlightened about is that I can never know. That's enough for me to know, that going into the unknown is the only thing I need to do. The rest will take care of itself.

The difference between a normal and an enlightened person is not much in my book - i would say both are fooling themselves. Probably it's easier to relate to the normal person in an earthly real way and have a genuine conversation, versus the elevated, in the clouds view of the enlightened one.

Betsy

Enlightened traditionally refers to someone who is more aware of reality ,which, ironically, often is that they are able to see how trivial certain matters are that normal men become consumed with...they understand reality better by realizing that reality is an illusion.

Unfortunately, enlightenment, beyond being a shorthand for sophistication or spiritual intellect, is an incredibly difficult goal to attain (nearly impossible, if not completely). The few people who have attained such a state may be the ones that are presently messianic figures in major world religions...the only men to ever attain the highest limits of wisdom...

Enlightenment to me is the conscious knowledge of the truth.

To be enlightened is to be able to see that anything and everything leads to that ultimate truth, this very knowledge is the difference between an enlightened and a normal person. Because this knowledge itself opens up the third eye and lets the view of the world around us change for the better.

And I persay cant call myself enlightened because am still a learner, its for enlightened souls at higher levels than me to see me walking the path and its them who can say if I am enlightened or not.

Thanks

If anyone should come upon a person who claims to be enlightened (and as you know, Sri Shanky, there are legions of them in the world today), he should run screaming in the opposite direction and considered that he is enlightened for having done so.

However, I believe that a person who can be defined as "enlightened" is one who sees through the veil of human conditioning and understands the nature and root of the kleshas, thus, he is full of humility and compassion. He is clear and present, thus, he has true volition. He knows that all meaning is provisional and that the only purpose of life is to be alive in the realm of experience for the time allotted, thus he is grateful and because he is grateful, he is joyful as well. Having approached satchidananda in this way, he therefore, must be "enlightened."

Edit:

The “kleshas” are the “poisons” or “veils” that keep a person in the wheel of phenomenological existence and enslaved to its vicissitudes. In the Yoga Sutras, they are defined as ignorance (nihilism, lack of gnosis, the inability to discriminate between the "real" and the unreal because of conditioned mental projections), egoism (identification with the ego-personality, which is like a mask and is the product of habits and conditioning), aversion (to the subjectively disagreeable), attachment (to the subjectively enjoyable), clinging to life (clinging to materiality and its ephemeral hopes, desires, expectations, etc.). In Buddhism, the kleshas are defined as desire (or attachment), aversion, ignorance, pride, and envy.

Enlightenment is man's emergence from self imposed immaturity ("Unmündigkeit", translated here as the phrase "immaturity and dependence" can also be read as "nonage") for which he himself was responsible. Immaturity and dependence are the inability to use one's own intellect without the direction of another. One is responsible for this immaturity and dependence, if its cause is not a lack of intelligence, but a lack of determination and courage to think without the direction of another. Sapere aude! Dare to know!.

In Zhuan Falun, Enlightenment does not equate with being clever. Instead, enlightenment means the ability to let go human attachments and various desires on the path of cultivation in order to achieve consummation. Li teaches that through cultivation practice one will constantly move up and one’s gong will also constantly grow until the final step in cultivation practice when he or she can see the truth of different dimensions, the forms of existence of different matter and different time-spaces, and the truth of our universe.

Enlightenment cannot be defined & has nothing to do with knowledge or the intellect. Enlightenment is a state of being, it can only be experienced. A normal person may speak of & seek enlightenment, an enlightened one will stop seeking, let go of everything they call knowledge, and they will just Be what they finally realize they have always truely been. The Truth is all are enlightened, they just have amnesia.

Blessings!

The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment.

http://freespace.virgin.net/sarah.peter.nelson/laz...

"Sat Sangatvay Nir Sangatvam---Nir Sangatvay nir Mohatvam---Nir Mohatvay Niscahalatvam--Nis chalatvay Jeevan Mukthihi."-

Sat +Sangam=The individual Soul (after a lot of Abyaasa and Saadhana) try to identify with the Universal Soul(Ultimate Reality)(Brahma Vichaaram(enquiry about Brahmam)>>Brahma Gjnaanam(aquisition of knowlwedge to the extent possible)>>Brahmaanandha Anubhuthi=experiencing the bliss of realisation/union)

Nir+ Sangatvam= very ,very gradually withdrawing(lest,it will result in psychic aberration) from Abhimaanam(attachment to worldly things)--"Urvaaruhamiva Bhandhanaath mrthyor Mukshiya Maam Mrthaat"=like ripe cucumber slowly leaving the stalk holding it to the creeper of the plant-disconnecting from the vicious cycle of birth and death.

Nir+mohatvam=that will releive the individual soul from greed ,lust,the feeling of "I"/Mine(Aham Kaaram)

Nis chalatvam =the happiness or soroow shall not affect the soul('easily said than done!!!)

Jeevan Mukthihi= that individual becomes a "Jeevan muktha even while Alive-Brahmaanandha Anubhuthi is "Enlightenment"---In my assessment(other's may vary) Maharishi sri.Ramana and sri.Paramahamsa Ramakrishna came very close to Nis calatvam in 20 th century.

In bhagavad geetha lord sri.krishna says in one word "Sthithapragjna"