Enlightenment Among Humans
A hermit was meditating by a river when a young man interrupted him. “Master, I wish to become your disciple,” said the man.
“Why?” replied the hermit.
The young man thought for a moment.
“Because I want to find God.” The master jumped up, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, dragged him into the river, and plunged his head under the water. After holding him there for a minute, with him kicking and struggling to free himself, the master finally pulled him up out of the river. The young man coughed up water and gasped to get his breath. When he eventually quieted down, the master spoke.
“Tell me, what you wanted most of all when you were under water.” “Air!” answered the man. “Very well,” said the master.
“Go home and come back to me when you want God as much as you just wanted air.”
Just like in this story one needs to really want to be enlightened as much as wanting air to breath. The desire, the intention, will open up the path for you and what your being will need to experience in order to achieve enlightenment will come forth.
Enlightenment is different for each one of us. But the desire to achieve it comes from the same thought: to know God, to know our own true nature, to be awakened. This desire or intention is a deep seed in the human consciousness, and once that seed germinates it will bloom into the latent potential within us and the path to enlightenment is opened. Once you start walking on that path, there is no wrong or right. It is what it is, and whatever experience you have is meant to take your being closer to the realization of who you are because ultimately we want the answer to a very important question: Who Am I? That was my question when I started on the path to enlightenment.
You can start with this very simple exercise: sit in meditation, breath in, breath out, rhythmically, just observing your breath for a while, and then say to yourself “Who Am I?” continue to breath in and out rhythmically and watch your thoughts, let them pass, and then ask the question again. Continue like this for the entire meditation. Breath, ask the question, observe and listen to that voice within. Do this exercise for at least 21 days. You will start to feel, sense and know a deeper sense of who you truly are.
“Just as the mere name of food does not satisfy the appetite of a hungry person but he must eat food, so also a man who would learn about the Voidness (i.e. Universal Awareness) must meditate so as to realize it, not just learn of its definition.” Milarepa
You can read books about enlightenment, attend different workshops, dress in white all day long, wear beads and be vegan, but that doesn’t mean you are enlightened. You actually have to meditate and put into action your thoughts and your knowledge about enlightenment so you can feel it and know it deep inside of you. No other soul can make you enlightened; all they can do is to be a catalyst for your awakening.
There are no short cuts to enlightenment. Enlightenment is of the moment – an opening to infinite intelligence. It can only be accomplished by the self, for the self.
According to RA, ( in the book “The law of One”) , all of these are just techniques. This is not the heart. Let us remember that we are all one. This is the great learning and teaching. In this unity lies love and light. This is the fundamental teaching of all planes of existence in materialization: unity, love, light and joy. Then the next level of teachings is in meditation and service. Here are 4 simple exercises that RA gives us:
Exercise 1: Realize that the moment contains love. That is the lesson for this 3rd density. Consciously see that love is awareness and in understanding distortions.
Exercise 2: The Universe is one being. When you view another, see the Creator.
Exercise 3: Gaze within a mirror. See the Creator.
Exercise 4: Gaze at the Creation, which lies around the mind/body/spirit of each entity.
See the Creator.
The foundation of these exercises is meditation, contemplation or prayer. With this attitude these exercises can be processed.
I will end with another beautiful story about enlightenment that for me says it all.
Buddha was gathered together with his disciples one morning, when a man came up to him.
‘Does God exist?’ he asked.
‘He does,’ replied Buddha.
After lunch, another man came up to him.
‘Does God exist?’ he asked.
‘No, he doesn’t,’ said Buddha.
Later that afternoon, a third man asked the same question: ‘Does God exist?’
‘That’s for you to decide,’ replied Buddha.
As soon as the man had gone, one of his disciples remarked angrily:
‘But that’s absurd, Master! How can you possibly give such different answers to the same question?’
‘Because they are all different people, and each one of them will reach God by his own path. The first man will believe what I say. The second will do everything he can to prove me wrong. The third will only believe in what he is allowed to choose for himself.’
So whatever you do in your life, do it in unity, with love and joy, so that the light inside of you shines on your path to enlightenment!
RAluca Heim is a graduate of the Faculty of Psychology (2003), with a Masters in Communication Management and Human Resources (2005), Trainer (2010), Basic Training in Integrative Psychotherapy and Personal Development (2011) in Bucharest, Romania, within the Integrative Psychotherapy Association (Erskine School). Since 2011 she has taught Drunvalo’s Awakening the Illuminated Heart workshops as well as her own workshop entitled Heart Coherence & Mental Imagery©. Living in Santa Fe, NM since 2013 she is also a certified hypnotherapist and may be reached by contacting 505.9032795 /ralucaheim@yahoo.com, www.hypnotherapydiscoveryou.com