Life of the Enlightened

There is always a curiosity about how life is for the enlightened? Once the highest truth is known, about the world and the self, how does one go about living? Will there be smile on the face all the time? Specifically what happens to the emotional aspect of a person after he becomes enlightened?

Emotions are thoughts. Anger is an anger thought. worry is a worry thought, surprise is a surprise thought. Thoughts arise in the mind based on information from the world. or from other thoughts already in memory. or a combination.

What is presented to me as information from the world is based on the past actions. Past or present actions are driven by preferences.

The physical body undergoes changes. though we try to control it in a good way, there is a limit. It takes a while to realise and accept the truth and start living with the body one has. If I am fat, it can be the result of so many things. The so called Gene, eating , exercising habits, etc.. no matter how fit and trim, or bad the body is the fact that it ages is inevitable. The improvements that one sees in the body by doing regular exercise, eating properly, etc.. are at the surface level. The physical body starts to age from the day one. also exercises can only strengthen so much. If a truck falls on me, even if I am Schwarzenegger I am done. The point is the apparent control we seem to have over the physical body is minuscule. The true reason for what happens to the physical body is that it is part of the experience. and all experiences are result of past actions. I can desire and work towards a lean and mean body, but whether it will be so or not cannot be forced.

The same with the mind. what the mind thinks? what thoughts arise int he mind? One may assume that these can be controlled. Thoughts result from sensory inputs and accumulated thoughts. I can neither prevent or force myself to a thought. Events presents itself. it is perceived by the senses, Thoughts occur in the mind. It is clear that I cannot control the events. they are due to my past. similarly I cannot control the thoughts. neither can I control my actions. Similar to taking care of the body I can attempt to take care of the mind, force only good thoughts, avoid bad thoughts, and so on. and it will result in an apparent mental fitness.

If a particular event occurs, the event creates a set of thoughts. some so intense it breaks me down. I cry. weep like a baby. (of course it appears based on the 'strength' of the mind), There is neither a need nor a possibility to change any of this. If the thoughts of some of the finest moments in my past haunt me and paralyzes my thoughts of present day, let it be so. just like the body is in constant action, mind is in constant action, it creates countless thoughts about current experiences, memories and also fantasizes and worries about the yet to unfold future. That is the job of the mind. so I should let it happily do its job.

The preferences decide what will be the action, action decide what events occur. The mind chooses to act based on its likes and searches for actions that leads to fulfilment of its desires. This it does assuming it gives happiness. when things don't go the way the mind wants to, then it feels unhappy. It opens the gates to a flood of thoughts. and so on..

The emotions, when it is about an object/person very close, or to which I am attached have the greatest strength. the thoughts are all the more violent and turbulent based on how close these are to me. It is like watching a roller-coaster verses Riding one. Its like playing a video game with a joystick which can give force-feed backs, which when I go bump a car in a racing game gives me a shock verses If I use a regular joystick. The fact that it is a game does not change.

Just like a physical fitness creates an apparent improvement in the "general" lifestyle , so will a mental fitness create an apparent improvement in the "general" lifestyle. But...No amount of physical fitness can save the body if a truck falls on it, similarly no amount of mental conditioning will save its breakdown on certain events.

So the important thing is, once the delusion that I am the body/mind is gone, and that this Ego is clearly a part of the world where 'I' do not belong, and all of the world is a creation of my own power of illusion, including this apparently overwhelmingly powerful mind, then it is clear to me there is nothing I "need" do to correct/change/improve. I am not the experiencer / experienced / experience. But I simply do so since that is the only way I can experience.

So, as long as the Truth is known, accepted completely beyond doubt and as long as the Truth is held steady, or remembered, there is nothing to worry.

Knowing which there is nothing else to be known

Knowing is possible only by the Ego. Knowing is getting knowledge. knowledge is a set of thoughts. A thought about a physical thing, A thought about a thought. etc.. The true self does not 'know', it simply 'Is'. When I identify with the Ego I see the thoughts, when there is absence of thoughts I identify with my true self.

There is this statement, "knowing which there is nothing else to be known". Similar to saying God knows everything. God is Omniscient.Can there really be such a thing?

Yes!. That thing is nothing but the ultimate truth which is 'The only reality is You' Well.. How does that make me know everything that can be known?Can it mean that I know all of biomedical engineering? can it mean I know all of Native American history? can it mean all the thoughts in the mind of my spouse? can it mean knowing about all the people in the world? How is it possible? so the original statement appears to be simply not true.
But we hear it over and over again.

Let us go step by step..

I am the only reality..

OK

The world is an illusion.

OK.

But there is an awful lot of things going on in this so called illusory world that I know not a single strand of. The answer lies hidden here. this thought that there is an awful lot of thing going on is unsubstantiated. what is the proof that there is an awful lot of things going on??

The fact is there is nothing going on, that you are not aware of. In other words if you do not know about a thing then that thing does not exist.

So does that mean I know the minds of each and every person??

Yes!

When a co-worker comes and tells you that she is excited about her new project , you know her mind.

Yes, but that's just one thought out of thousands of her thoughts.

that is the fallacy. There is no proof. You may think so by the appearances, but there are no other thoughts. It is an illusion that there have been several thoughts. the only thoughts are the ones that you are aware of.

So now you know, that similarly you know the minds of everyone! there is thought only as long as they make it known to you.


No I Know Shakespeare wrote several plays, I only read two of them.

What is the proof? there may only be news/stories that there are several that he wrote. the only ones he really wrote are the only ones you have read. the only acts inside of the plays are the only acts that you have read.Now physicists talk about complex mathematical models to describe Quantum mechanical nature of this universe. I know not a single bit of it. How can I claim that I know all that is known??!

There is no proof that there is such a thing as a detailed quantum mechanical description of the universe. It is an illusion appearing to exist. they may be true 'only' after you have read them, until then they do not exist. You give them the existence by knowing it. otherwise they do not exist. they may appear to exist.

I know there are more than 6 billion people in the planet. I do not know them all.

The only people that are existing are the people you know. You will give existence to 6 billion or more only after knowing them. Until then they are not there.
So, you know each and every person on the planet.

What does that mean? everything else does not exist but 'for' you. You give sentience , existence to everything.


So once you know the ultimate truth that you are the only reality, then there will be nothing else to be known.

what if the world is not an illusion?

Relative and absolute reality.

The distinct feeling of difference in the nature of reality of the world and Me is described as similar to the relationship between a dream and me. we say the world is an illusion. In a dream, I eat ice cream. I wake up. Who ate the ice cream? certainly not me. It appears that my dream-self ate it. But there is no way my dream-self could have known it, since it simply does not exist. I am the only person who knows it. But... I did not eat the ice cream! and hence nobody ate it. Similarly we say nobody experienced/experiences the world.

What if the world is not a dream. what is the basis to say world is a dream? Is just the temporariness/impermanent-ness alone qualify it to be a dream world? dream world is unreal not because it is impermanent. but because it is different order of reality. howsoever infinitesimal the life time is, how so ever infinitesimal the size is(subatomic particles, energy-matter transformation) there is an experience which we cannot deny. the body and everything in the world appears to be impermanent. does it mean it is unreal? it only means it is temporary. its life span is short. what if every cell/atom/particle gets replaced? it is still the same body/mind. the individuality is not lost. so we cannot say it is an illusion just on the basis of its temporariness. we cannot equate it just because of the impermanence of the body, or of anything in the world.

So is this world real?

Now the enjoy er comes into the picture. If I assume that this is 'the' real world, and I begin an enquiry on who am I..after negating everything to be 'me', hoping to find myself after going deeper and deeper, in search of the ultimate reality to be some mysterious magical thing, I realize that the fact of the matter is 'I' am nowhere to be found!!!

In this world I do not exist!! I simply cannot find me. As long as this world is real, I will not be able to find me anywhere. this is a great truth that just dawned on me. this gives great clarity. I do not exist in this world. but.... I know I exist!!


This world then is simply a different order of reality. and since I know I exist for sure, this world must be a lower order of reality and 'hence' an illusion similar to the dream. and even if for the sake of argument there are several such worlds existing, they all will be lower orders of reality since I will not be found in any of them, but I will still be existing.