The idea of "enlightenment" is growing popular but holds a danger for the spiritual seeker: why advaita is the highest stage of the path, not its starting point, and why a Guru is needed.
"Enlightenment"
Lately the idea of "enlightenment" has been gaining popularity in the world. This trend holds a potential danger for the spiritual seeker. "Enlightenment" here means a state of mind in which a person feels they have "understood everything." Most often a person begins to consider themselves "enlightened" after a spiritual experience that they have fixed upon and that keeps them in bliss. They become convinced that this is the final goal of spiritual practice, that this is the supreme Consciousness, God.
But in fact they have only glimpsed a facet of reality that is new to them, and at the same time they have stopped moving on, living in the past.
The person forms a limited concept of the supreme Consciousness, and, following it, rejects all others.
The world's religions describe the phenomenon of "enlightenment." In Christianity it is called "falling into spiritual delusion" (prelest).
In the yogic tradition there is no deliberate striving for "enlightenment," for the acquisition of spiritual experiences and sensations, for possessing absolute knowledge. Yogis strive to love all expressions of the supreme Consciousness and wish to please It. They reason like this: "I want to be the way You want to see me."
In essence there is no difference between "I want to be enlightened" and "I want a Mercedes." Both thoughts contain one and the same tendency: acquiring something to satisfy egoism and ambition, which runs counter to spirituality. The spiritual path goes "against the grain": here the idea of selfish achievement is rejected entirely, and the idea of love and devotion is cultivated.
Advaita and its danger for the spiritual seeker
Advaita is the highest stage of the spiritual path. To attain it, one must pass through certain preceding stages. The first of them is the shákta stage. The spiritual seeker gains strength and overcomes fear, and all the base tendencies fall away, such as lust, envy, pride, blind attachment, greed, anger, shame, doubt, hatred, hypocrisy and others. The next stage is vaeśńava. At this stage a person experiences bliss, because there is no longer anything or anyone to fight, since everything around is the supreme Consciousness and Its energy. Higher states are liilánanda and nityánanda, and the very highest is advaita, the stage of union with the supreme Consciousness.
So where does the danger lie for a spiritual seeker who has started on the spiritual path, or is only about to set out on it, if they begin to think they are at the stage of advaita right now?
In the fact that they are deluded. To reach the stage of advaita, a person travels a long and difficult road spanning several lives, during which they do spiritual practice (sádhaná). Sometimes, having traveled this road, a person realizes that practices no longer matter to them; they always were and still are in unity with the supreme Consciousness. And for one who has reached the true state of advaita, the danger is that when they announce their "enlightenment" to their disciples and everyone around, they stop moving forward toward God.
There are people in whom a genuine spiritual thirst has awakened, but there are also those who want spirituality and yet make no attempt to change themselves, wishing to keep their habits and ambitions. So when such a person hears from a master at the stage of advaita that spiritual practices, the principles of Five principles for how we treat the world: not harming, truthfulness, not stealing, keeping the mind on the Supreme, not living beyond need. and Five principles for shaping oneself: cleanliness, contentment, service despite hardship, uplifting study, keeping the Supreme as life’s goal., discipline and self-control do not matter, they are charmed by this idea. And it becomes an excuse to do nothing, just to live, to concentrate on the here and now, on the present moment. In that case the person gains no spirituality at all; it remains only at the level of a mental concept. Of course, being inspired by the ideas of the "here and now" is not harmful in itself; it is one of Shiva's teachings. But it must not become an excuse to abandon spiritual practice. To be fully imbued with the ideas of advaita, we must start with the simplest thing, the basics: spiritual practice.
Another idea that is dangerous for the spiritual seeker, voiced by masters at the stage of advaita, is that you should listen to yourself, to your inner "I," and follow it.
People looking for easy paths may interpret this thought as a rejection of mentorship, of the Guru's guidance. Listening to your "I" is very important, but without the guidance of an experienced mentor it is practically impossible to tell what the inner "I" is saying apart from the voice of the ego.
Three things must come together for a person to reach a true conclusion and make the right decision: the voice of the inner "I" (the voice of conscience), the words of the Guru, and life experience.
People begin to listen to themselves, but they hear their own ambitions, fears and desires. They like this, because no effort is needed. They stay in their comfort zone, in their A reaction of a past action waiting in the mind to be lived through; what people often call fate.. Choosing the spiritual path is always hard, and attempts to make that choice meet great inner resistance from the ego. The ego serves the self-preservation of the personality, and for this it needs some object. Spirituality, too, can serve as such an object. That is why, without an experienced mentor, a person has practically nothing to hold on to and no way to go beyond their own mind and break its chains.
The importance of the Guru on the spiritual path
The Guru comes to those who thirst for spirituality and in whom the desire for liberation has formed. Every spiritual seeker needs a Guru to advance on the spiritual path. Most people find this idea hard to accept, because the Guru gives a sequence of actions, and the person must carry them out exactly as the Guru said in order to achieve results. Only when a spiritual seeker has realized that they cannot advance further on the spiritual path by themselves are they ready to accept a Guru. This readiness means that the person can no longer live by their own mind and has the wish to live by the cosmic mind.
It happens that after meeting a mentor a person turns away from them, because difficulties begin to arise in moving along the spiritual path. A true master will "break" the ego of the disciple, removing their bad habits and the negative tendencies of their mind. The stronger the Guru, the greater their ability to influence the disciple and straighten out their mind. People often look for easier paths.
Real, genuine masters never speak of their "enlightenment," because there is no need to. For a realized Guru the universe is an open book: whatever they think of is known to them, because they are one with the supreme Consciousness. A realized master has no inner enemies, and the inner fetters are under control.
If someone proclaims themselves an "enlightened" master, they do so only to raise their own authority. That is, they lack the strength to make themselves known through their actions. Sometimes such masters even resort to displays of occult powers. Such behavior shows that the person is acting from the ego and will plant selfish ideas in the minds of their disciples and followers. We need to avoid such teachers and not fall for claims of their enlightenment.
A true Guru is guided by the following principle:
all beings must be inspired to follow the spiritual path
A true Guru sets an example with their own life and gives the right message to their followers. Spiritual seekers rightly understand everything they need to understand and learn. A realized master has no ambitions and no desire to be "enlightened."
All ideas of attaining enlightenment are an expression of human egoism.