Yes.
Like so many others on a spiritual path are doing, you can become enlightened.
Spiritual enlightenment is real. It is not an airy-fairy, unattainable concept. It is a process that begins when you realize your true nature through a direct experience of reality.
More and more ordinary people worldwide have mystical experiences propelling them into spiritual awakenings that bring them enlightenment.
However, there’s a significant lack of knowledge and many misconceptions about true enlightenment. Let’s examine what the process of becoming enlightened really is.
How to discover Spiritual enlightenment inside you
When you realize the true nature of the Divine through having a direct experience of the Divine, your spiritual journey through the enlightenment process BEGINS.
Realizing and going ever deeper into the emptiness inside of you is where you die and discover the Divine. After your first conscious experience of enlightenment, you must continue to purify yourself and grow your ability to focus and remain in an enlightened state for longer and longer periods.
This is the process of becoming fully enlightened.
Hinduism uses the term God to describe the Divine while Tibetan Buddhists use terms like ‘primordial mind’ or ‘luminous and pure mind’. Both describe the same phenomenon, which is called ‘Christ realization’ in New Age.
First, let’s examine three verses from the Bhagavad-Gita that describe God very clearly.
Next, we will look at the Buddhist four stages of true enlightenment. As you go through the four stages, the Divine light and emptiness purify you, dissolving away everything that separates you from having a complete experience of God — from becoming God.
Generally, people are considered enlightened when they begin the process of becoming God, which is experiencing that they are the brilliant Divine light that shines out of the emptiness inside of them.
This Divine light shines out of the emptiness that is the foundation of the entire universe. For one who has entered fully into that light, there is nowhere that the light does not exist. It is both inside and outside the person.
And for that person, there is no longer an inside or outside. There is only the Divine light shining out of the emptiness that is everywhere.
For those who are able to reach the most advanced stages of this purification process while they’re still in their physical bodies, the physical body becomes weightless before disappearing completely, dissolving away into Divine light.
The Final Thoughts section at the end contains the most important advice.
Bhagavad Gita on the nature of God
Hopefully, reading the small extract below will incite you to consume the rest of the most widely read Hindu Scripture. The commentaries in this version are especially good.
https://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/chapter/2/verse/14
Chapter 2 Verse 14
Translation
BG 2.14: O son of Kunti, the contact between the senses and the sense objects gives rise to fleeting perceptions of happiness and distress. These are non-permanent, and come and go like the winter and summer seasons. O descendent of Bharat, one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.
Commentary
The human body houses five senses—the senses of sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing—and these, in contact with their objects of perception, give rise to sensations of happiness and distress. None of these sensations is permanent. They come and go like the changing seasons. Although cool water provides pleasure in the summer, the same water gives distress in the winter. Thus, both the perceptions of happiness and distress experienced through the senses are transitory. If we permit ourselves to be affected by them, we will sway like a pendulum from side to side. A person of discrimination should practice to tolerate both the feelings of happiness and distress without being disturbed by them.
The technique of Vipassanā, which is the primary technique of self-realization in Buddhism, is based on this principle of tolerance of sense perceptions. Its practice helps eliminate desire, which, as stated in the four noble truths (the truth of suffering, the truth of the origin of suffering, the truth of the cessation of suffering, and the truth of the path leading to the cessation), is the cause of all suffering. This is not surprising considering that Buddhist philosophy is a subset of the vast Vedic philosophy.
You achieve this balance, this ability to be unaffected by anything that your senses perceive around you, by always being fully present in that Divine light shining out of the emptiness in you.
You become fully immersed in the blissful love and peace that being in a Divine state brings.
Chapter 2 Verse 15
Translation
BG 2.15: O Arjun, noblest amongst men, that person who is not affected by happiness and distress, and remains steady in both, becomes eligible for liberation.
Commentary
In the previous verse, Shree Krishna explained that both the sensations of happiness and distress are fleeting. He now encourages Arjun to rise above these dualities through discrimination. In order to develop this discrimination, we first need to understand the answers to two important questions: 1) Why do we aspire for happiness? 2) Why doesn’t material happiness satisfy us?
The answer to the first question is very simple. God is an ocean of infinite bliss, and we souls are his tiny parts. This basically means that we are tiny fragments of an infinite ocean of bliss. Swami Vivekananda would address people by saying, “O ye children of immortal bliss.” Just as a child is drawn to his or her mother, each part is naturally drawn toward its whole. Similarly, being infinitesimal parts of the ocean of bliss, we souls too are drawn to this bliss. Hence, everything we do in the world is for the sake of happiness. We all may have different views regarding where happiness lies or what form it might take, but all living beings seek nothing apart from it. This answers the first question.
Now, let’s understand the answer to the second question. The soul, being a tiny part of God, is divine in nature like God himself. Hence the happiness that the soul seeks is also divine. Such happiness must possess the following three characteristics:
It must be infinite in extent.
It must be permanent.
It must be ever-fresh.
Such is the happiness of God, which is described as sat-chit-ānand, or eternal-sentient-ocean of bliss. However, the happiness we experience from the contact of the senses with their objects is the reverse; it is temporary, finite, and insentient. Thus, the material happiness that we perceive through the body can never satisfy the divine soul.
With this discrimination, we must practice to tolerate the perception of material happiness. Similarly, we must tolerate the sensation of material distress. (This second aspect is discussed in detail in many future verses, such as 2.48, 5.20, etc.) Only then will we rise above these dualities and the material energy will no longer bind us.
Chapter 2 Verse 16
Translation
BG 2.16: Of the transient there is no endurance, and of the eternal there is no cessation. This has verily been observed by the seers of the truth, after studying the nature of both.
Commentary
According to the Śhwetāśhvatar Upaniṣhad, there are three entities in existence: All these Ved mantras state that these three entities—God, the individual soul, and Maya—are all eternal.
1. Bhoktā bhogyaṁ preritāraṁ cha matvā sarvaṁ proktaṁ trividhaṁ brahmametat (1.12) [v13]
God is everlasting. Thus he is sat (eternally existing). Hence, a name for him in the Vedas is sat-chit-ānand (eternal-full of knowledge-ocean of bliss).
2. Kṣharaṁ pradhānamamṛitākṣharaṁ haraḥ kṣharātmānāvīśhate deva ekaḥ (1.10) [v14]
The soul is imperishable, and hence it is sat. However, the body will cease to exist one day, and hence it is asat (temporary). The soul is also sat-chit-ānand, but it is also aṇu (tiny). Hence the soul is aṇu sat, aṇu chit, and aṇu ānand.
3. Sanyuktametatkṣharamakṣharaṁ cha vyaktāvyaktaṁ bharate viśhvamīśhaḥ (1.8) [v15]
The entity Maya from which the world has been made is eternal, or sat. However, all material objects we see around us came into existence and will be destroyed with time. Thus, they can all be termed as asat, or temporary. So while the world itself is asat, it is only the entity Maya that is sat.
When we say that the world is asat, this should not be confused with mithyā. Asat (temporary) does not mean mithyā (non-existent). Some philosophers claim that the world is mithyā, or “non-existent.” They assert that it is only the ignorance within us that is making us perceive the world, and once we are situated in brahma-jñāna (knowledge of the Supreme) the world will cease to exist. However, if this were true, then the world should no longer have remained for the God-realized Saints. Since they had destroyed their ignorance, the world should have stopped existing for them. Why then did these Saints write books even after attaining the state of God-realization? Where did the paper and pen come from? The fact that brahma-jñānīs use the objects of the world proves that the world exists even for them. Besides, even brahma-jñānīs need food to nourish their bodies. The Vedic scriptures state: paśhvādibhiśhchāviśheṣhat [v16] “Even God-realized Saints feels hungry, just as animals do, and need to eat food.” If the world does not exist for them, then how and why should they eat?
Further, the Taittirīya Upaniṣhad repeatedly informs us that God is all-pervading in the world: so ’kāmayata bahu syāṁ prajāyeyeti sa tapo ’tapyata sa tapastaptvā idaṁsarvamasṛijata yadidaṁ kiṁ cha tatsṛiṣhtvā tadevānuprāviṣhat tadanupraviśhya sachcha tyachchābhavat niruktaṁ chāniruktaṁ cha nilayanaṁ chānilaynaṁ cha vijñānaṁ chāvijñānaṁ cha satyaṁ chānṛitam cha satyamabhavat yadidaṁ kiṁ cha tatsatyamityāchakṣhate tadapyeṣha śhloko bhavati (2.6.4) [v17]
This Vedic mantra states that God not only created the world, but also permeates every atom of it. If God is truly all-pervading in this world, then how can the world have no existence? To say that the world is mithyā is to contradict the fact that God pervades the world. In this verse, Shree Krishna explains that the world does exist, but it is fleeting. Thus, he calls it as asat, or “temporary.” He does not call it mithyā, or “non-existent.”
The misconception that the world is a nonexistent illusion has created a huge problem in Hinduism — especially in the Advaita and New Advaita philosophies that have been taken up by most Western practitioners of Vedic philosophy.
The Western followers of Ramana Maharshi in particular get into difficulties here when they don’t examine the scriptures closely enough.
They start thinking that if the world and their own bodies are an illusion that doesn’t exist, then nothing is real anyway so what’s the point in doing any practice?
This is an extreme example, but perhaps it will enable you to see where this line of reasoning can take you.
The philosophy of Kasmiri Saivism, and that of many of the more discerning Advaita practitioners, corrects this false line of reasoning by agreeing with the commentary above.
Yogiraj explains the 12 Hindu levels of consciouseness
Four Buddhist stages of enlightenment
After your first realization, which may come some time after your spiritual awakening, the four stages of true enlightenment are:
Stage I: Stream Enterer
You have entered into the brilliant light that comes out of the emptiness inside of you, the brilliant light that is everywhere in the universe.
You will have no more than seven rebirths which can happen either in this world or in the upper realms.
At this first stage, challenging life issues, emotional experiences, and even mental health crises can arise for those who haven’t yet done the hard work of cleaning up their karma in past lives and for those who have created difficult karma for themselves in this life.
When the brilliant light floods through them, they suddenly become able to see their own faults, and the faults of everyone around them very clearly. This can be quite painful and may require a long period of self-healing.
To become a stream-enterer, you have overcome, or dissolved away, the first three fetters (blocks).
Fetter 1: Identity View
This means seeing yourself as being an individual separate from God and all other individuals. You lose this identity view when you have the direct experience of oneness with God.
Fetter 2: Attachment to Rites and Rituals
For the unrealized layman, rites and rituals are a very big, and important, part of practicing both religion. The rites and rituals of spiritual belief systems serve to bring the still ignorant mind into a closer relationship with the Divine.
When you experience becoming the Divine and begin your enlightenment journey, you personally no longer need the rites and rituals, but those who have not yet had your direct experience still find them useful.
Rituals are especially helpful for the unenlightened if a realized person is presiding over the ritual and making the connection to the Divine for the yet unrealized minds that are present.
Fetter 3: Doubt About the Teachings
All doubt vanishes in the presence of the Divine luminous light. Having had the experience, you now know with all certainty as opposed to those still trapped in ritual who have only spiritual beliefs and spiritual teachers.
Stage II: Once Returner
You only need to be reborn once more as a physical being. The remainder of your births will be in the upper realms.
You have greatly reduced the influence of fetters four and five described below. This brings ever-increasing stability to your life. The struggle of the first level is left behind for the most part. at this stage, others may begin to recognize you as an enlightened person, but your path to enlightenment is not finished.
Fetter 4: Sensual Desire
Sensual desire was covered very well in the commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita chapter 2 verses 14 and 15 above.
Fetter 5: Ill Will
Ill will means having any thoughts or feelings of malice towards any other being. Pure Divine love replaces ill will.
Stage III: Non-Returner
You only have one birth remaining, and that will be in an upper realm. Upper realms in spiritual enlightenment are places like Tuscita Heaven, the Buddha Pure Lands, or the upper lokas described in Hinduism.
You have eliminated completely the influence of fetters four and five that you weakened in the previous Stage II.
You have only the influence of the five upper fetters left to remove from your spiritual life.
Fetter 6: Attachment to the Four Meditative Absorptions Having Form (Rupa Jhana)
This is desire to be born again in a physical body.
Fetter 7: Attachment to the Four Formless Absorptions (Arupa Jhana)
This is desire to be born again in a nonphysical body, an energy body.
Fetter 8: Conceit
Conceit is another word for pride.
Fetter 9: Restlessness
Without restlessness, you become completely settled in the Divine. You have quite simply become Divine with no disturbances whatsoever.
Fetter 10: Ignorance
Freedom from ignorance brings complete knowledge of all phenomenon. Practicing to gain this knowledge is what the beings of blue light who gather around holy places in India like Arunachala, Brahamarishi Hills, and Vashita Guha are doing.
Stage IV: Arahant
Your spiritual awakening process is finished. You are completely free of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth and have attained true spiritual enlightnment.
You have gained freedom from the first five fetters, also called the lower fetters, and the five upper fetters as well.
Arahant is the highest level that a human can aspire to. The level of Buddhahood is reserved for a person who has attained complete spiritual enlightenment on his own. Everyone practicing today has the example of the Buddha to follow.
Some Saints who reach this level keep one small desire that attaches them to the physical world so that they can remain here and continue teaching.
And many Buddhists take the Bodhisattva vow. They vow to remain in some form — physical or energetic — until all sentient beings have attained spiritual enlightenment.
Notice the word ‘attachment’ in the description of fetters six and seven. Giving up your attachment to a physical or energy body does not mean that you will not be born again in one of those forms.
Giving up attachment means giving up desire. Once desire is gone, you gain many choices.
Many completely realized beings remain in the universe in energy form, or choose to be born again in a physical body, so that they can continue helping other beings gain their freedom.
This is readily observable when you study the lives of Christ, Tibetan Rinpoches and some of the Indian Saints. These people were born enlightened because they chose to come back and help those of us who have not yet gained our freedom from moksha, which is the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.
Your progression through the four stages of enlightenment
There are two paths to spiritual enlightenment — slow but sure and the fast track.
The slow but sure path — you become free of fetters at each stage
Becoming free of each of the fetters listed above enables you to progress to the next stage in the path to enlightenment.
What usually happens is that you suddenly gain a stage of enlightenment through what might seem like a miraculous event. The mystical experience may be:
- A blessing from your spiritual teacher or a sudden insight
- As you’re reading a spiritual book
- A result of visiting a holy place where other enlightened practitioners have done their work
- A vision in meditation
You then stay at that stage as you work on dissolving away the fetters that keep you in that stage.
Then, one blissful day, you suddenly have the next breakthrough experience that takes you to the next level where you have to do your hard work again to release the fetters that are keeping you at that level.
It’s like ascending to a plateau only to have to struggle across it and ascend to the next plateau until you’ve reached the final level.
The process of self-purification is the process of becoming completely realized (enlightened). You purify all of your blocks (fetters).
Two very important points are:
1. Most of us are working on weakening all fetters as we progress, but the fetters usually disappear in the order listed.
2. You can be in one of the three lower stages of enlightenment but getting flashes from higher levels.
The fast path — you’ve failed at this every time you’ve died
Tibetan Buddhists point out that during the process of dying every person experiences the Divine light. If your mind and emotions are stable enough to stay in the light, you gain full and true enlightenment immediately.
All remaining fetters are dissolved, granting you liberation.
Knowing this incites me to strengthen my practice so that I will be able to recognize and remain in the Divine light as I go through the process of dying.
Obviously, the circumstances you die in become very important here. Your chances of recognizing and staying in the pure and luminous light improve greatly if you die in a very peaceful state and have a spiritual guru guiding your conscious experience of the death process.
If you’re interested in the Tibetan Buddhist version, you can study Dzogchen which is the “natural state of the innately luminous and pure mind.” This is a wonderful description of that lovely Divine light that shines out of emptiness.
Much of the information in this section was drawn from a Wikipedia article that you can read here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stages_of_enlightenment
Final Thoughts
There is a state beyond the brilliant light that you’ll experience.
Yogiraj calls it Lightless Light. Read about it in his wonderful book ‘Wings to Freedom’ available on Amazon.
Tibetan Buddhists call it Dharmakaya or clear light
While it is useful to know where you are on your spiritual path, before you get too involved in trying to sort out which state you’re in and which state you might be going into, please apply the words of wisdom that KVS gave to me.
When I attempted to question my meditation teacher at Ramana Maharishi’s ashram about the different states of consciousness, he admonished me quite severely.
KVS said, “Samadhi this; Samadhi that. Just remember that state you went into after your ego died in emptiness. Keep going deeper into that. That’s the only thing of importance.”
So all that is necessary is realizing the emptiness inside of you. Then you just keep going into it. This is where you find enlightenment.
Realizing the emptiness is the first major milestone. Then you keep going into that emptiness until your ego dies and you discover the Divine light.
You can watch Rick Archer interview many people living in various states of enlightenment on Batgap.com.