3.

3 Common myths about enlightenment

 No mind – Empty mind

o If you are awake and your mind is stopped, who is aware of the mind not
thinking?
o With or without thought, I, Awareness am present. If I’m aware when it is
stopped and when it is thinking, I am not hidden by thoughts, nor am I
revealed by no thought.
 No ego – Ego death
o Ego cannot kill itself because it is not conscious.
o What is self knowledge in relation to ego?
 Ego is me but I am not the ego. Identical to ego death because it
moves the ego from the center of consciousness to the periphery.
Self knowledge is the best of both worlds because it allows you to
live freely as the ego without suffering the results of actions.
o Self knowledge renders one likes and dislikes non binding.
 Nirvana
o Nirvana means a desireless state. = enlightened person, one without desires
o Desire for something means a fear of not getting it. Desire to keep
something means a fear of losing it.
o When, except during sleep, do you not want something?
o Ignorance is the cause, Desire is the effect. Why not try eliminate the root
cause, ignorance?
o As long as desires do not violate universal values (dharma), they re not an
issue.
 The now
o No time in a non dual reality
o Can only experience past and future as a thought in awareness and it is
experienced now (present)
o If you say you’re not in the now all it means is that you’re paying attention to
a thought which represents either the past or the future.
o When I am out, I want to be in, effort is required but awarenesss cannot be
gained by an action.
o Mindullness training is very useful for gaining mastery over the mind, a
relatively calm mind is one of the qualifications for Vedanta.
 Experience of oneness
o No need to experience oneness with yourself, because you’re already
experiencing oneness with yourself and everything. = reality is non dual.
o All objects are just awareness with a name and form
o I suffer because I have identified with the thought of separation. I should
enquire into the thought of separation and see if it’s true.
 Transcendental state
 Mind is capable of a wide variety of states = and states change
because they are in the dream of duality.
 Self is non dual. It is the one that witnesses the different states of
mind.
  Mind reachers a clear state it is able to reflect the self so purely that
intense bliss is experienced
 Easy to mistake enlightenment for never ending bliss
 Easy to get attached to these states
 Mind keeps on changing = you can’t control your mental state
because the factors that govern it are under your control.
 Enlightenment is the hard and fast knowledge “I am whole, complete,
ordinary, unchanging awareness”
 Enlightenment as eternal bliss
o Blissfull states end
o Bliss and peace is bought about by an absence of suffering, not because it
belongs to awareness.
o Constant feeling of happiness is also possible bu application of self
knowledge and yogas
 Fulfilment of all desires
o What ddoes change is your interpretation of experience
 Likes and dislikes no longer interpret your experience = start to
interpret your experience form the pov of the self.