Yoga Philosophy Part XI: Enlightenment
Enlightenment – Freedom from the cycle
“If you think you are enlightened, go and spend a week with your family.” Ram Dass
Prayer for enlightenment
Asatoma satgamaya
Tamasoma jyothirgamaya
Mrithyorma amritamgamaya
Om shanti, shanti, shanti
Lead us from ignorance to truth,
From darkness to light
And from death to eternity
Let peace prevail everywhere.
Moksha or Nirvana
A number of different terms describe enlightenment. Many of us have heard about nirvana, moksha, liberation and samadhi. Are all of them the same? The deeper we delve into philosophical levels in Vedic scriptures, the more terms we encounter describing different levels of enlightenment. All of them refer to freedom from samsara. Moksha is common in Hinduism, nirvana in Buddhism. Samadhi is the last limb of the eight limbs of Ashtanga yoga. This also translates to enlightenment; however, some theories assert it is technically not the true liberation.
The different aspects of yoga must be practiced step by step, then the impurities are destroyed, giving rise to spiritual illumination which results in true, deeper awareness of reality.
Swami Satyananda Saraswati
Dedication to spiritual practice
Enlightenment happens when there is an understanding that no self, no ego or no individual person exist, therefore everything is experienced as one. There are tools to help practitioners find the way. For example, the practice of meditation, yoga, Hinduism, Buddhism, or any unselfish spiritual practice of body and mind. According to Buddhist practice, one needs to dedicate themselves in one practice by one teacher only. However, not all traditions are that strict. According to these, any spiritual practice can lead to enlightenment when the practitioner is disciplined. In a commentary of Yoga Sutras by Måns Broo, he says anyone can reach enlightenment regardless of the tradition one follows, belief in one God or several gods, or devotion to religious practice. In addition, nationality, religion or country have no impact on this possibility
Yoga and Separation
Dedicated spiritual practice reveals the True Self. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (2:28) speaks of the necessity of yoga practice.
“By the practice of the parts of yoga impurity diminishes until the rise of spiritual knowledge culminates in awareness of reality”.
Swami Satyananda Saraswati
True awareness of reality is not based on mental or intellectual knowledge. It is the deep awareness experiencing the purusha liberating from prakriti. When the true awareness is rising, it decreases and finally destructs the impurities of the mind. In other words, “with the awareness of reality the avidya and prakriti disappears and therefore; yoga is not joining, it is disjoining” – Swami Satyananda Saraswati.
Samadhi
Samadhi is the last of the eight limbs that Patanjali describes in the yoga sutras; Buddhism also uses this term. In this state, the practitioner becomes one with the experienced object. The practitioner is not aware of the surroundings, instead becoming a part of them.
Different subtle levels of samadhi
Firstly, Savikalpa Samadhi. The practitioner experiences a feeling of bliss, absorbing into it with closed senses. The practitioner is still aware of the experience, so the mind is still active as there is someone who experiences.
Secondly, Nirvikalpa Samadhi. In this state, practitioner can consciously leave the body and join to the cosmic stream from which the universe is made of. A person in this state has no breath or pulse. Nothing is needed in this “breathless state.” The nature of reality, Satchitananda, is experienced.
Satchitananda is the Sanskrit term for the true nature of all existence. It refers also to God and Brahman, which in Yoga Philosophy means “the God within us”, instead of a separate God.
Sat – The Unchanging Truth
Chit – Consciousness, understanding
Ananda – Bliss
Revealing the Buddha Nature
Both yoga and Buddhist traditions assert we are all enlightened beings, but the thinking mind prevents us from seeing our True Self. That concealed state is present in us all the time; Buddhism refers to this as the Buddha Nature.
“No words can describe it, no example can point to it, Samsara does not make it worse, Nirvana does not make it better, it has never been born, it has never ceased, it has never been liberated, it has never been deluded, it has never existed, it has never been nonexistent, it has no limits at all, it does not fall into any kind of category.”
Dudjom Rinpoche
Bringing the mind home
How does the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying describe enlightenment?
Enlightenment is real. In enlightenment you don’t become a Buddha; you slowly cease to be deluded.
“Spiritual truth is not something elaborate and esoteric, it is in fact a common sense. When you realize the nature of mind, layers of confusion peel away. (…) Being a Buddha is not about being an omnipotent superman, but being at last a true human being (…)Our true nature and the nature of all beings is not something extraordinary. The irony is that it is so called ordinary world that is extraordinary hallucination of the deluded vision of samsara. It is this “extraordinary” vision that blinds us to the “ordinary”, natural, inherent nature of mind.”
Non-attachment in practice
Yoga practice has no goals and aspirations. The results of meditation and asanas will be slowly visible with dedicated, ego-less and repeated practice. The practitioner needs to be aware if there are any signs of attachments for the practice or its results. One needs to let go of all ‘good results’ that are gained so far.
The more we practice, the more there will be mind-blowing experiences. There are small signs appearing slowly: experiencing the absence of thoughts, a realization that ignorance temporarily died or a sign that desire temporarily dissolved and so on. A practitioner may also experience different physical sensations; such as lightness of body and mind and sharpness of senses.
“By themselves they are good experiences but if you get attached to them they become obstacles. Experiences are not realization in themselves; but if you remain free of attachment to them, they become what they really are, that is, materials for realization”. Sogyal Rinpoche
Once a practitioner experiences positive results, there might be also negative sensations, as the basement of the mind gets cleaned layer by layer. These negative experiences might feel misleading, as we often might take them as bad signs. Sogyal Rinpoche recommends, when these sensations appear, instead of reacting with aversion, try to recognize them what they truly are; merely illusions by maya.
“The realization of the true nature of the experience liberates you from the harm or danger of the experience itself, and as a result even a negative experience can become a source of great blessing and accomplishment (…) What we are here to learn, in both meditation and in life, is to be free of attachment to good experiences and free from aversion for the negative ones (…) Meditation is the greatest gift you can give to yourself in this lifetime. Meditation is the road to the enlightenment”. –Sogyal Rinpoche
His teacher, Dudjom Rinpoche, told him: “Don’ t get too excited. In the end it’s neither good nor bad”.
Yoga Philosophy series by Anni Rainio
-
- Is there afterlife?
- What makes life suffering
- Reincarnation vs. Rebirth
- Do our present actions affect our future life?
- Transcending the fear of death
- How to find life purpose
- Acting from compassion
- Process of dying according to Tibetan Buddhism
- Process of dying – Perspectives from Hindu philosophies
- Breaking the cycle of samsara
- Enlightenment
Recommended readings on life, death, and the afterlife
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
Share the Light
If you enjoyed this article, leave us a comment below, we love discussions! Share it some of your friends and start a discussion amongst yourselves!
Join us for a yoga retreat or yoga teacher training at Doron Yoga & Zen Center in Guatemala.
About the Author
This blog post is written by Anni Rainio, Doron Yoga Teacher -alumni, who is doing her 300h yoga teacher studies at Doron Yoga & Zen Center. She wrote a thesis about process of dying and rebirth from the yogic and Buddhist perspectives. This series of Yoga Philosophy blog texts are giving tastes of her theoretical studies. Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts either here or to annirainio@gmail.com.
Check out Anni’s website: www.annirainio.com
No Comments