Yoga Mail

By Sri Kumar.S

The Path of Spiritual Enlightenment

According to Vedic physics, humans are born with intrinsic conscious elements embedded in the body. The units of consciousness within the bodies of all species are indestructible. These individual units are qualitatively identical with each other, yet display a certain range of powers and abilities based on the particular characteristics of the physical form they inhabit. During the enlightenment process, the imperishable conscious units transmigrate from the lower to higher chakras, which is from Muladhara to Sahasrara. Through the ancient process of yoga (specifically Kriya Yoga), one can easily obtain this aptitude.

The space inside our universe is multi-dimensional. There are 64 main dimensions and each dimension is further divided into many sub-dimensions. Since the inhabitants of earth can perceive 3 dimensions (height, width and depth), our senses have no access to many other realms of reality.

When a being obtains enlightenment through his practice, he becomes a yogi. He can access many other dimensions and perform unusual activities. A yogi can achieve 8 mystical perfections (Anima, Mahima, Laghima, Garima, Prapti, Prakamya, Vashitvam, Ishitvam). Each perfection gives him access to 8 additional dimensions. Thus by achieving all 8 perfections, a yogi obtains access to all the 64 (8×8) dimensions making his body unaffected by space-time bound physical laws.

Biological Transformation and Effects of Enlightenment

By construing the heading, we may think that this part will talk about the list of do’s and don’ts in enlightenment like in many books and what philosophers speak. It’s such a great idea to be measuring “enlightenment” against some standard. Let’s start with the obvious facts; there is no standard of enlightenment to measure anyone by. It does not exist. Instead, each and every one of us has our own standard of what enlightenment means for us and how to get there.

Our path is our own creation and no one will be able to tell if we are on the right path. It will not be a “Yes/No” conversation. It will be a speechless energy manifestation process. The path is never a straight line and there will be times when we wonder if we are on the right path. All that is required to succeed in the right path is DETERMINATION!

Reference: Verse 337 of Bogar Karpam / Thirumoolar’s Thirumanthiram

The Necessity of Guru for Enlightenment

Guru – Although in modern-day terminology this word is used without a second thought; in the true sense of the divine tradition, the word “Guru” has the highest reverence and cannot just be applied to ANYONE and EVERYONE, but only to an enlightened soul whose purpose is to create a connection between the disciple and the Supreme Consciousness; or in other words introduce the disciple to his/her own true nature, which is the Supreme Being itself.

Guru is a physical representation, who is the gatekeeper of a celestial check-point as mentioned in the first part of this article. In the Vedic tradition, the spiritual Guru is said to be more important than God. God is everywhere, but it is the guru who opens the disciple’s eyes to the existence of God. The Guru is the doorway to one’s own experience of the divine. He is the mirror that helps us to recognise the truth that is already within us. The moment we realise the truth, the mirror disappears from our vision.

The need of a physical Guru for enlightenment is sufficiently explained in the above paragraph. Let’s go one step deeper to understand and realise his presence in other forms in our life. Life itself can be a wonderful Guru, if we know how to learn from it. If we can hear with utter clarity the voice of our own being, we don’t need an external Guru. We don’t have to surrender to anyone outside. Just surrender to our own highest consciousness. The Guru is not really an individual. So don’t get caught in a Guru-personality. He can be in any form to initiate our enlightenment venture. Therefore our real guru is our own inner-self. The outer guru exists only to guide us to the experience of the inner guru. The guru exists both outside and within us. From the outside, he gives you a push inside, so that our extroverted mind begins to look within. And from inside, he starts pulling us, so that no matter what the distractions, we stay in our own inner space.

Reference: Sri Adi Sankara & H.H Swami Haridhos Giri / Guru Heritage (Guru Parambarai)