False Enlightenment. There are many people running around saying that they are Enlightened,
they are not only claiming that they are enlightened but they also tell that thousands of his followers
are also enlightened. I think both of them are deluded. Enlightenment is a very very
difficult process, these people who claim that they are enlightened say that they are
able to observe their thoughts and that is Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Everybody is observing
their thoughts. There is no one who is not observing their thoughts. So just by observation
of thoughts no one becomes enlightened. Nirvikalpa Samadhi means there is no Vikalpa, Vikalpa
means thought, there is no thought and that is the condition of Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Thought
watching is certainly is not Enlightenment and then they also claim that hey! I have
also detached myself from all the senses. So I may go and indulge myself in whatever
I am doing since I am totally detached from the senses, I am totally enlightened. These
are clearly delusional thing. What they have to do is first they have to enquire what is
a thought? Because Patanjali himself says in the beginning of the Yoga Sutras that Yoga
is stopping the mind, Chitta Vritti Nirodha, so you should be able to stop the mind, so
that is the first step. It’s not even Enlightenment. So if you have all sorts of foolish thoughts,
or even intelligent thoughts for that matter going on in your mind, then you are not enlightened.
Enlightenment means the ability to control your thoughts, ability to have a thought or
not to have it and not to say that the thoughts will always come. That is ignorance, you are
a victim to the thought process, and you are not a master. An enlightened person is one
who is able to master his thought process and he would will it or not will it and that
is the most important thing. So what is the proof whether he is really enlightened or
not? The proof is that the body at that time will begin to change. It will glow. It will
start to glow in the beginning and then when you are completely enlightened, and there
will be no ignorant principle on the level of the body, on the level of the mind and
on the level of the soul resulting in the body turning into light and that is real Enlightenment.
There are many steps towards Enlightenment. Each one requires understanding the mind,
the thought process, the senses, the five senses, how they function, how they work with
the mind and how to get beyond them and you need fundamentally and primarily the grace
of God in order to experience this. It doesn’t simply come through the practice of meditation
or other austerities. Grace is very, very important.
