Levels of Realizations (Awakenings):
In Buddhism the four stages of enlightenment are Sotāpanna, Sakadāgāmi, Anāgāmi, and Arahant. The oldest Buddhist texts portray the Buddha as referring to people who are at one of these four stages as noble people (ariya-puggala) and the community of such persons as the noble sangha (ariya-sangha).
Self-realization is not just one final level of realization as many books and people try to convey. It actually has many different levels of depth. Below a list of the different levels people can find themselves in.
| Body / mind | This is what most people belief they are if you ask them for the first time the question: "who are you?" Answers like their name, their job function or a loop such as I am myself are frequent answers. All answers are pointing to the body or mind, who the body is, what it does and what it has. I am a crippled man or I am a father for example. For those who go a bit deeper, answers like I am because I can think (identified with the mind) are common. This is not a state of awakening or self-realization as the self has not been found yet. But it can be worse like in Schizophrenia or other mental disorders where the identification becomes completely illusionary, beyond the already illusionary body / mind identification. |
| Spiritual being | With self-inquiry there comes a point where you realize that all the things you can perceive is not who you really is. All the answers to the question "who are you" are exterior to who you really are, such as a feeling or thought or emotion or even knowledge. Like the sun who tries to find out who he is by looking around himself and seeing the planets he gives light and saying I am that planet. Out of body experiences and past life memories can trigger this realization as well. |
| Oneness / God realization | Realizing you are not the body or mind but a spiritual being, one can go deeper and inquire into who you really are as a spiritual being. All the answers to this question again dissolve and you find that this separate soul or spiritual being does not exist and you merge with the universe. You are everything. |
| Nirvana / Moksha | The realization that everything is I, the opposite of oneness and you are no more. The awareness arises that everything is who you are and when you fully experience yourself it dissolves in silence as well. It is the end of the cycle of dying and rebirth and nobody dies and nobody is born. Time is who you are. |
| Enlightenment / Suddha Deham | Enlightenment has often been mixed with the first step of Self-realization, realizing you are the sun and not the planets. But if you look more carefully into the Bon tradition of Buddhism or Lord Murugan in the Tamil tradition you find that enlightenment goes a lot deeper. Vallalar, a famous Tamil Saint who reached the highest level of realization / Awakening in 1874 described the “Principle of Light” as being the most effective way of producing Enlightenment (Suddha Deham). In one of his poems he expresses that it is necessary to think incessantly on God, until one be melted / merged with the Divine Love. Then the crying happens unexpectedly and praises are sung to God, being produced in the disciple a smooth internal heat (kundalini). Without knowing this secret, the yogis have come carrying out ascetic practices with the only purpose of producing this heat (shuddi ushanam). When this universal Love and this sacred Heat are realized, body and soul are prepared for the descent of the Grace in the shape of Light. When this happens, the material body constituted of impure elements is transformed into a “Body of Pure Light” that emits a golden brightness - Enlightenment, Suddha Deham. |
Ja lu phowa chenpo / |
This divine light starts to change the body and starts to reverse the age and shrinks the body until the point where only light remains... More info from Vallalar about Enlightenment and beyond here. |
Another great explanation comes from Sri Bhagavan. He puts them in 8 levels.
Sri Bhagavan :
We have been talking about Awakening since a long time and more since 2012 when a lot of people got awakened. In India we call it as the process of Mukti. Outside India, we call it as the Journey of Awakening. There is no difference at all. In 2012, a lot of people got mukti or awakening.
You should understand that people are in different levels of growth. These levels of growth depend on the programming that happens during conception, when you are in the womb, during delivery, 6 hours after delivery and so on. People are different. There are different levels of growth - Some are in first, second, third or tenth standards, colleges and post graduations too. You can be in different levels. People are not the same. That is why we have to talk different things to different people.
Some people like to simply hear songs and dance happily. They do not want to burden themselves with Gnana( knowledge) They do not want any strain on their brain. They too keep growing. There are those who do not want rituals. They prefer Teachings and contemplation. Some people want both - the rituals and the Teachings and transformation. That is why we say there are 25 varieties of people. Buddha could see everything as a process of Awakening.
We have to talk different things to different people. Initially when we spoke about Mukti, people were not showing interest. They were more interested in getting solutions to their problems, how to be successful, etc. They were not interested in Mukti. Many confused Mukti with Moksha and asked why we were talking about Mukti while they were alive. They thought they can get Mukti only after death. There was a lot of confusion and we had to explain that Mukti is different from Moksha and Mukti can be experienced while they are alive.
Mukti, as we see, is different from moksha but there were no takers for this. 8 people came for this program and only one was serious. Others came because we called them. They had not come to a level where they were interested in these things. These People were not even conscious of themselves. They were stuffed inside with too much knowledge that they were Atmans, great people. They could not understand when we told them that they were nothing but rubbish or septic tanks. We have always been saying that you were only septic tanks. No Atmans, atleast not now. They had no self - knowledge.
Tejasa, [25.06.19 12:39]
Some people accepted that they were rubbish. But they were not willing to see it. They simply said that they were septic tanks and accepted it but could not see it.
Who you are? You are one with a strong self - highly self-centered, selfish. There is nothing but self-centredness in you in everything. This is what you have to see in your every word, thought and action. The self and the Mind is filled with survival insticts. The Mind and the self came for this only. Your parents, society, school, books - all teach you basic instincts of survival. All you did was for this survival. Being kind was also self-centered. You are NOT a Mukta. Only a Mukta can do it without self-centredness. You know only fear, worry, comparison, anger, hurt, hatred. You read many books that contain the wrong things. If someone is saying : 'i am Atman; Aham Brahmasmi', it is their Truth. 'I am Atman' makes no sense to you. You read something about their states and start craving for it.
People go to different destinations like Chennai, Bombay, Delhi. The paths to these destinations are different. If you want to go to Delhi you cannot take the path to Bombay; or if you are going to Bombay you cannot take a train to Calcutta. The destinations are different. That is why we say there are as many paths as there are as many people. (Seven billion people will have 7 billion different paths). Deeksha helps you to find your path. That is the beauty of Deeksha. It is so far reaching. It creates a variety of Muktas.
So you are not who you are. Look into yourself. You are full of pain. Your life is meaningless. You have no goal, no vision. Somehow you spend your day. In the name of responsibility, all the time you are escaping because you are a septic tank, rubbish. You go to this Teacher or that Teacher or some movie, or for something exciting.
We are trying to make you conscious of all these Mind games and its age old psychological needs. We say do not judge yourself, just see that you are in a rubbish pit. Don't condemn. Please become non-judgemental. Just become conscious. Some are sleeping still. Not even aware of a self. In another country where we conducted a process a man of 45 was totally shocked to know he had a self. When we asked, he said he did not know that he had a 'self'.
Many of you are not conscious of the Mind going on inside you. You see a girl and say 'i love you'. You do not know that you love her only out of self-centredness. When you say 'i love you' there is only self-centredness. The ACTUALITY, reality is self-centredness only. You are concerned only about your survival. If we remove the Mind/self, you will collapse. If we remove the Mind, your survival instinct has collapsed. If that collapses, you collapse. We want you to see that.
If you can see that 'i am jealousying, angrying - that is the right word, though English does not have these words like that. And you should almost see these things LIVE without condemning. You will know that you are in a cesspool of the same mind that your forefathers had; an ancient mind. Only the body has changed. The pleasures, jealousy, fear, are the same. Same mind, same brain and same stuff. The cupboard is the same. What you have filled in that cupboard is different. What you are inside is the same. The same fear, the same comparison, jealousy, everything is same. Just see it is the same without condemning it as good, bad, etc. See as though you see the sunrise or sunset.
1. First level of Awakening : Bhagavad dharma
When you become Conscious, we call you awakened. Now you do not know what you are. You are thinking you are Atman, Brahman into which water cannot enter, light cannot cut, etc. If Ramana talked about it, he knew what he was talking. You are not Ramana. You are Veerappan.
You may be reading so much of all that stuff. But you can be conscious that you are Unique. Ramana can be an inspiration, but you are not Ramana or Aurobindo. Their brains were different.
Tejasa, [25.06.19 12:39]
Enlightenment is beautiful. But all enlightened people are not same. It is not that all enlightened people will go together, hold hands and dance together. Buddha and Mahaveer differed.
So we want you to become yourself. You will never become anyone else. A drumstick is a drumstick. It cannot become a ladiesfinger. Beauty is when you become yourself. If you try to become like Ramana you will not be yourself. You are unique and the beauty is in you being yourself.
So the first step is to become Conscious. Then we go from there.
2. Second level of Awakening : SEEING (Hindu Awakening) :
A Conscious Being is an Awakened Being. The first step of Mukti is Awakening. It is witnessing and not identifying that Mind.
You will be able to see your own Mind. The mind has so many personalities. One of them will be the Witness Personality. This witness personality will witness and not judge or condemn. When you see a Taj Mahal, it is Taj Mahal. It is not your Taj Mahal.
You will see the Mind and how it is generating fear. Even as you become conscious, you become happy. The muck is there. Become conscious. Even as you become conscious, everything will start working favourably for you. Thus an awakened person is SEEING or witnessing.
The mind is a typical monkey. It can be controlled only to some extent. It cannot be controlled totally. But you can witness it. We call this SEEING. TO SEE is to BE FREE. The mind is no more hurting you as you do not identify with it. You no more sleep. You are Awake. Seeing is the key. Seeing is to be free.
3rd Level of Awakening : CONSCIOUS BEING (BHAGAVAD DHARMA
AWAKENING)
The next level of Awakening/ Enlightenment (Mukti) is Being. When you are talking of Conscious Being, this is Bhagavad Dharma Awakening. When the witness personality emerges in Level-1, it is Hindu Awakening. When you are a Concious Being, it is Bhagavad Dharma Awakening.
When you are a Conscious Being, the Mind becomes silent but you are still witnessing. But there are no more comments. Only the sensory organs are working. Cricket is going on. But there is no commentary or a commentator. Here the world is different. It is all BEING. Someone slaps you. There is just physical pain. No psychological suffering. Pain is there, but no commentary. That commentary is suffering. There is no commentary - why did he hit me, i will get back to it later, etc. Ramana had cancer. He had physical pain, but no psychological suffering.
4. BUDDHA AWAKENING :
When you see a tree, it is just a tree. No comments like a mango tree or an apple tree. When you are speaking, you are just speaking. Only the sounds are there. When you are seeing, you are only seeing. When you are listening you are only listening. This also is witnessing. But this is not a personality. The Consciousness is Witnessing now. There is tremendous joy. It is not a witnessing personality. A WITNESS CONSCIOUS has emerged.
This is Buddhist Enlightenment. If you are thinking, only thinking is there. If you are seeing, only seeing is there. When you are listening only listening is there. Thought comes and goes. Another thought comes and goes. There is no thinker. Thought does not go in circles. As it does not go in circles, there is no centre. No thinker. A snake comes. There is no fear. A tiger comes; there is no fear. That is why Ramana did not fear tiger or cheetah or whatever it was. He told others not to come close because the tiger will attack them. BUT If YOU see a tiger you should run away. If you try to be like Ramana, you will end up in the tiger's belly.
So the first level of Awakening is becoming CONSCIOUS . The next level is SEEING . And the third level is BEING.
5th Level of Awakening :
The ONENESS BEING or Hindu Enlightenment or Tatvamasi
When your Self gets disjointed, you become a Oneness Being. Even now it is disjointed only. But it appears as though it is joined. The senses become slow and disjointed. This is the Hindu Enlightenment.
Tejasa, [25.06.19 12:39]
In the Buddha Awakening the self is not gone. It is dependently arising and ceasing. And the conscious is witnessing.
In the Hindu Enlightenment, the self is gone. You find you do not have a self. Thought is very slow and you lose it. You become. childlike. There is no conditioning. There is no social Conditioning. There is no social Conditioning like the rich-poor, good-bad, Pakistan -India, Muslim - Hindu, etc. Society has Conditioning. You are that Conditioning. The psychological self is dependent on the biological self that is brought by this Conditioning. By the liberation of the senses, this Conditioning is broken. At that level, the self is gone. You are everything that you see - the sun, the moon, the tree - TATVAMASI leading to Ahambrahmaasmi. You have become everything. It is a real. Everything is real. It is not a mystical experience. It is a REAL LIVING CONDITION. Mystical experiences come out of the mind's projection. The mind is the manufacturer of mystical experiences. You will discover what you want to discover. Mystical experience is your projection. If you want to see Vishnu, you will see Vishnu. If you want to see Yama, you will see Yama. If you want to see Indira and the dancing girls, you would see them and they are true to some extent. But it is a projection of your Mind and its Conditioning.
Liberation of senses is not a mystical experience. You can actually feel everything going on inside your body. You can actually feel the blood flowing through you. The senses should get liberated. That is the purpose of your life. Most of you live a mediocre life like a cockroach. Not worth. Lives are wasted. We are seeing if something can be done. Senses can be totally disjointed.
6the Level of Awakening - LIGHT BEING:
Next automatically you become a Light Being. This is Bhagavan Dharma.
You can become Light or choose to be physical. Normally this happens after death. But now you can become Light before death. The ecstacy and joy is far more.
We are talking only what is possible. And in all that, Iham (Igam) is taken care of. You will not become a Fakir. May be you will need some help. But it will be taken care of. We will see it later.
7th Level of Awakening - SPACE BEING :
As a space Being you can appear in many places. A Buddhist named Padmasambhava appeared in many places and did all the talks. Ramalinga Swamigal gave darshan in many places. Once there was a huge crowd and they did not have the present camera and technology. So he appeared as Space Being in many places to give darshan.
As Light Being, you appear in one place. And there is only One Being. But you can become a Space Being and appear in many places. This is also Bhagavad Dharma
You are taken to greater depth more and more as you awaken more and more to become Light Beings and Space Beings. You can appear to many people.
8. MERGING WITH PARAMJYOTI
After death you will enter the Paramjyoti.
Seeing Paramjyoti is different. Becoming one with Paramjyoti is different. It will happen. Some devotees have this experience too. I do not want to talk about it now. Ultimate Awakening is going into Paramjyoti.
So this is the Journey into Awakening. First you become Conscious,u then See, and become a Conscious Being, Oneness Being with disjointed senses, Light Being and Space Being, and merge with the Compassionate Light, Paramjyoti.