Q. They complain that they still have as many vexations as they did before the experience. Did they truly experience enlightenment? Does it have any lasting effect?

Q. They complain that they still have as many vexations as they did before the experience. Did they truly experience enlightenment? Does it have any lasting effect?

A. People can have a variety of minor experiences before coming to realisation of the true-Self. They often mistake these for enlightenment. One of the most common sayings among such people is that they forgot enlightenment because they didn’t continue to practise after enlightenment. However, enlightenment, once attained, can neither be discarded, be forgotten nor be escaped from forever.

To attain enlightenment means to have our views of things, or the angle of our view of things changed. When your view is changed, your way of thinking is changed. When your way of thinking is changed, your acts are changed. When your acts are changed, your life is changed. In other words, if your view is changed, your life can’t but be changed, just as your life is changed when you’ve recovered from chronic illness after taking good medicine. Whatever experience you may have, you are not enlightened unless your view is changed, just as you can’t be said to have recovered from your illness if you still feel unwell no matter what experience you may have had after taking medicine.

©Boo Ahm
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