Enlightenment - the Ultimate Goal of Human Life!

Human mind is unsteady and wanders faster than light. It falls prey to evil elements faster as they provide quick temporary benefits. Then grief arises from pleasure and from pleasure comes fear.

One, who is free from pleasure, is free from grief, fear & happiness. Such qualities are needed to reach the highest stage. These qualities are needed along with the right knowledge to get enlightenment & to liberate oneself from the cycle of birth and death.

I am not writing this article to offend, to hurt anyone; but on the occasion of Buddha Purnima/ Buddha Jayanti. I am writing my thoughts and my understanding of the chosen subject.

I believe opinions, arguments and discussions must be part of any society but its real objective must be to progress in life, it must lead us to the right direction. My discussions revolve around spirituality. And we all must do discussions with dignity and peacefully.

This subject is the most dear subject I have ever come across in my life. This is what I want everyone to achieve in life as soon as possible without delay. I wish, hope and firmly believe after you will read you will make an effort towards it. And even if not at least you will understand this subject thoroughly. In future you will love to share with others.

This subject is full of adventure and curiosity as this is the journey of a human being reaching the highest level as immortal souls’ inside the human body. And despite being an adventurous, courageous journey we need to stay calm and peaceful.

Enlightenment means nirvana and later this stage will lead us towards moksha. Nirvana means a stage where the subject has reached a blissful, delightful & peaceful stage. It is a transcendent, mystic & magnificent state in which there is neither suffering nor any desire left and the subject is released from the effects of past & present karma/action.

Enlightenment is not a group effort, although in-group we can practice and learn from others but ultimately one gets Enlightened due to his/ her personal efforts.

It is a stage when the subject can clearly see that there is no difference between him/her and the rest of the universe. Subject can clearly understand why such a thing is happening in the whole universe including on the earth. It’s reason, cause, effect and how to liberate from this.

To make you easily understand; when I say enlightenment it means the stage of clarification; it is the highest stage of awakening. Which means after reaching this stage the subject's doubt related to life, death and beyond gets clarified. Such persons are known as awakening souls.

As per Buddhism, such persons are known as Buddha; Buddha means a person who is awake i.e “jo jag gaya hai”. Buddha means someone who realizes his own true self. As per Jain religion, such holy souls are known as Tirthankar. In Jain religion, there are 24 Tirthankars. Lord Mahavira is the last one (not the first one as many believe). After attaining enlightenment, that’s how Vardhamana became Lord Mahavira; that’s how Siddhartha became Lord Buddha.

To reach Enlightenment, to reach Nirvana first one needs to open up his/ her mind. He/ she must be of peaceful, compassionate & of honest nature. This is the first and foremost requirement.

Now I will share my further thoughts based on the teaching of a few holy enlightened souls’ from our history. These findings are based on the teaching of some enlightened soul’s i.e Lord Mahavira, Guru Nanak, Swami Vivekananda and Lord Buddha.

Remember to open your mind (first priority), stay calm & read peacefully.

Revered Guru Nanak Ji once said: “ultimately, in the eyes of God, it is not religion that determines a person's merits, but one's actions”.

Nanak Ji once said, “see the light within”.

Same way Lord Mahavira said “soul is the central point of spiritual discipline”

Swami Vivekananda, another high spiritual leader said “you have to grow from inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul”.

Lord Buddha said “atma deepo bhava” which means - be your own light or be a light unto yourself.

Then there are three specific ways which can help you to reach this goal.

These are

1. By right thought/intention

2. By right speech/words

3. By right action / karma

Rest prayer, God name, ritual or holy books are only guides and secondary in nature. If you do then it’s good if not then also it’s ok.

And right thought, right speech and right action will come only through right knowledge. And you gain the right knowledge only through experience. Only your own soul can reveal and give the right knowledge. Lord Mahavira, Guru Nanak, Swami Vivekananda and Lord Buddha gained this knowledge through meditation.

Here I like to share one story related to Buddha’s life which gives some insight into the importance of karma/action in our life.

Once one highly knowledgeable priest asked the compassionate Lord Buddha “are all these prescribed rituals, prayers, holy books or God names are not worthy for us to provide us moksha from life and death”?

In return Buddha – awakened one asked one question to the priest. What are the ways through which a river can be crossed? Knowledgeable priest replied there are three ways, one through using a boat, next by swimming and third by walking if the river is not so deep. So Buddha said for any one of these methods you prescribed, did you really require the name of God, ritual, holy book or prayer? Only you yourself are required to push yourself by trusting in yourself in your Karma.

Your own right thought, right speech and right Karma/ action decides whether you have qualified or not to reach the stage of enlightenment. May we all strive hard to reach the impossible. And happy Buddha Purnima to all. He is the one in human history who clearly said doors for Moksha is open to all, even for common men and women.

Buddha practised very difficult meditation to reach that stage. He is one of the few people in human history who reached the enlightenment stage on this auspicious day. And I am so delighted to know he took birth, got enlightenment and died on the same day.

He lived for almost 80 years, served humanity without any prejudices and today 535 million people follow Buddhism. Most of the teaching of Buddha is so simple to understand. What makes him different is that he never claimed he is God, or an angel or even the messenger of God. And it’s true that Lord Buddha is the light of Asia and the world. Maybe another thousand years will pass, then maybe someone like Lord Buddha will be born again. Love you always.

Buddham saranam gacchami, I go to the Buddha for refuge.

Dhammam saranam gacchami, I go to the Dhamma for refuge

Sangham saranam gacchami, I go to the Sangha for refuge.