Looking Inward For Enlightenment

Before we delve into the topic looking inward for enlightenment, we need to have comprehensive answers and understanding of what is Enlightenment? What is inward? And why need we look inward for Enlightenment?

‘Looking inward for enlightenment’ is the most common term. All the sages, saints, religious gurus, spiritual leaders have been narrating this very statement again and again, for years nay generations. Enlightenment has been explained as the blissful state enjoying ultimate peace of mind. Meditation has been promoted as a medium to achieve this state and there are several types of meditations. Many therapeutic effects and psychic powers have been numbered as the benefits of Enlightenment. But, when we look at the faces and life styles of all those spiritual leaders, saints, sages and religious gurus, a question pops up in our mind. Have they really experienced Enlightenment? Are the enlightened? I am not saying that they have not really experienced the enlightenment in their lives ever, but most of them seem to have not really adopted in their life.

How do we recognize an enlightened person then? The face of an enlightened person should shine beyond the dark circles of worries and fears on their face, there forehead should be free of those multiple crossing-lines of selfishness and cunningness. Their presence should reflect a cool breeze and their aura should soothe the surroundings. Their voice should reflect the smoothness of their tongue and their eyes remain unstrained. They feel filled with joy and happiness oozing from inside and need nothing from outer world to achieve that. They have full control over their thoughts, mind, and body. No fear, No worry, No wants, No wishes. That is essentially the joy of looking inward for enlightenment.

This is what all Enlightenment means. If you can find anyone with all those identifications, take him as Enlightened. He need not be wearing saffron clothes, long hair, or shaved head, or may not even be wearing any garb of spirituality, but still he may have succeeded practicing the Enlightenment in his life. He can be busy in business affairs, driving car, dancing in a party or even having sex with his partner, he can stay enlightened. He may look you involved in worldly affairs but he is not. He is living the life without really involving in it. He is enjoying his involvement with the Super Self.

Enlightenment is the blissful state when we feel joyful from inside. We do not need a reason to experience joy but our sub-conscious mind generates it from inside out. Being excessively engaged in worldly affairs we have just forgotten the existence of sub-conscious mind and its applications. We are just using our body and physical or conscious mind to deal with worldly affairs while the sub-conscious mind, the Super Self that we are borne with, is lying unused. In order to awaken our subconscious mind, we need to settle down the upheavals in our conscious mind and set it on back seat. We need to give lead to sub-conscious mind. You do not need to make any external effort to awaken that sub-conscious mind as it is already there. You need to lower the pressure or clamour of your conscious mind to experience, feel and listen to that sub-conscious mind.

To do that, you need to stop the inflow and outflow of thoughts. You need to stop the process it is doing. And that is why you are asked to practice meditation, wherein you learn to control thoughts. Once you have controlled your thoughts and there is no activity in it, your subconscious mind gets up. Your conscious mind deals with the outer world, likewise sub-conscious mind deals with the inner world. It takes you to the journey of self. When your conscious mind is not active, your body experiences an ultimate relax. Your nerves are loosing all the tensions and relaxing, your bones, muscles, nerves, vessels, cells everything finds an opportunity to calm down. This is the situation when new cells generate in the body at their most and your whole body starts shining with a new sheen, as calm and serene as if a new borne baby. You feel no weight in your body and float like a quill feather in the sky of eternal joy. This is the ultimate state when you feel enlightened. A process related more to looking inward for enlightenment.

In order to achieve that blissful state, you need a regular and disciplined practice. Once you have learnt how to control your conscious mind and how to activate your sub-conscious powers, you can practice that in day to day living, too. Once mastered, you can feel enlightened even when embroiled into the mess of worldly affair.

This is the brief account of what enlightenment is and why you need to look inward for enlightenment. More active your sub-conscious mind gets, better gets your understanding of the Enlightenment.

Picture- AntonioA