By Kiara Windrider (March 2007)

Enlightenment is the ability to see reality as it is, without the layers of interference and interpretation imposed by the mind. It is a simple neurobiological event, and can happen in an instant. Paradoxically, in the moment of your enlightenment, you also discover that you have always already been enlightened! It is our natural state!

The bio-circuitry of a human being was designed in such a way that after developing a self at around age 3 we would return naturally to a state of unified existence at around age 18. Unfortunately, something went awry, and we experienced a Fall within our evolution as a biological species.

Nature demanded that there always be a select few throughout our subsequent history who maintained this morphogenetic field of the natural enlightened state. Historical figures such as the Buddha, Lao Tzu, Jesus, and many others exemplified this. Now, however, we have come to a time when humanity is once again being prepared to return to our natural state as a collective species. The time has come now for each of us to be restored to our natural enlightened state!

Enlightenment has nothing to do with how long you have been on a spiritual path, nor with what your religious beliefs are. You do not even need to believe in God or have any concepts about the soul. Enlightenment does not depend on knowing the right teachings or mantras. It has nothing to do with how many lifetimes you have meditated, or even with how ‘good’ a person you are.

There is nothing you can ‘do’ to get enlightened. Enlightenment cannot be achieved through your own efforts any more than a drowning person can yank himself out by his own hair. We are in a prison of the mind, and the key is on the other side. The mind cannot deactivate itself. It can only happen by grace.

Humanity is ready now. Each of us has spent lifetimes preparing for this. We have all done our sadhana, or whatever we thought was required, and it is time now to enter the Golden Age together. The question is not if we will get enlightened, but when.

If you know you are not enlightened, and you become aware of the cravings and aversions generated by the illusion of self, then you become open to grace. When you see clearly the nature of the mind, and the extent of your conditioning, and when you become tired of the resulting suffering – all the incessant comparing, judging, efforting, and blaming – then grace can begin to flow in. Understanding this as a mental concept isn’t enough. It must be felt and experienced.

As we enter the Golden Age we are becoming increasingly receptive to the light of divine grace. If you are on a spiritual path, you can visualize this grace as a descent of light emanating from your higher self, mediated through a guru, or descending directly from God. If you tend to have a more scientific perspective, you can visualize this grace as gamma ray frequencies emanating from the galactic center that are in the process of radically changing our psychological frameworks and even our cellular biology.

One means to receive this grace is through a hands-on transmission. There are many techniques evolving around the world that make this receptivity to divine grace more tangible. In South India there is an avatar known as Bhagavan who has been teaching people how to give ‘deeksha’, a transfer of power that serves as a kind of spiritual initiation’. It usually consists of a ceremony in which someone who is trained for this transmission places their hands upon your head in a state of divine union, and become a channel for cosmic energies in order to reorganize your neuro-circuitry.

A golden ball of divine grace descends through the crown chakra, and the kundalini channels get activated. Certain areas in the brain get shut down, other areas get energized, initiating a process in which the entire brain and nervous system is reorganized.

Ilahinoor is a similar process, where states of divine union can be transferred directly to another person. Whereas the Deeksha has its origins in the Hindu tradition, in the case of Ilahinoor the receiver and transmitter both attune directly to an ancient morphogenetic field of oneness that has its origins more in the Egyptian and Sufi traditions. I have a sense that the technique taught by Eric Perle known as Re-connection may also serve a similar purpose.

Whatever we may call these divine energies, their task is to punch through the wall of concepts set up by the mind. The winds of heaven can then blow through. In the words of Carlos Castaneda, we open up to the world of the ‘nagual’, our ‘assemblage point’ shifts, and we are free.

In the current species of humanity, the brain is designed in such a way as to serve as a receptor station for a certain band of frequencies corresponding to the Collective Mind. Deeksha or Ilahinoor serves to loosen up the receptor sites within the brain from this band of frequencies, and simultaneously to dissolve the feedback loops of consciousness that create the sense of separate identity which we have referred to as the lower self. The brain then becomes sensitive to a wide range of frequencies emanating within the Universal Mind.

To be enlightened is to access our souls directly, rather than through the interference of the mind. Unfortunately, for many people on the spiritual path, even though we have had direct experience of our souls from time to time, our conception of the soul is not very different from our conception of self. It is a ‘higher’ self, but it is still a separate fixed self. This conception can be a limitation.

The enlightened yogis of ancient India, when they spoke of their inner divinity as the ‘Atman’, understood that there was no such thing as a fixed individual soul. The individual is holographically related to the whole. The Atman is one in essence with ‘Brahman’, the universal field of consciousness that is constantly moving through each expression of creation. “Tat twam asi,” say the yogis, “I am That!”

What happens when ilahinoor or deeksha is given? Some may immediately go into a peak experience of bliss, deep silence, or cosmic consciousness. This may or may not be permanent. If it isn’t, this first peak experience is followed by other peak experiences over the following days and weeks, until a permanent enlightened state establishes itself.

For others, there may not be an immediate felt response, and it may take hours, days, or weeks before they start noticing a change. Regardless, once the deeksha or ilahinoor is received, the seed of awakening has been planted, and the energies will continue working with you in accordance with your own soul’s purpose and the readiness of your physical body to bring the seed into fruition.

The first thing that often comes up for people is an acute sensitivity to the nature of the mind, and the patterns that have ruled our lives so long. It can be a shocking and painful experience when we first begin to look at it, but necessary if we are to break free. We begin to realize the inherent self-centeredness of the mind. If a person has done some self-examination and emotional clearing beforehand, or already ‘hit bottom’, that can help. Grace only flows when you recognize your illusions. As long as you think you can make it on your own, its flow will be impeded.

Once the transmission is received, the process continues under the guidance of your higher self. This has nothing to do with how deserving you think yourself to be, or with any concepts of spirituality you may be holding, or with making any kinds of efforts towards it.

As Bhagavan puts it, once the train pulls out from the station, will you get to your destination any faster by constantly running around back and forth inside the train? Please realize that spiritual awakening has nothing to do with the mind or the contents of the mind. It has everything to do with the brain, and the deeksha/ilahinoor is an intelligent force which is programmed to do whatever is necessary to create the neurobiological shift necessary to get there!

Many people, after they receive these transmissions, still feel that somehow they can help the process along by doing the right meditations, thinking the right thoughts, or somehow bringing the mind under control. All these things can help, yes, but can also become an obstruction if they become a dogma or a formula. Other people get obsessed with fears about blocking the process through their doubts, fears, or feelings of unworthiness. It is important to realize that there is nothing you can do either to help or to obstruct the process, except simply to witness the process itself.

In other words, if a ‘blocked’ personality shows up, simply step back and watch the way it works. There might be a fear that you will be the last person on Earth to become enlightened, that you have too many mental blocks, that your heart isn’t open enough, that you haven’t done enough emotional clearing, that there is something wrong with you physically, that you are too old, too unworthy, too traumatized, or whatever your own personal story might be.

Just watch this personality as if you were watching a movie. Notice how attached it is to he drama of its own suffering. Notice how it sustains itself through its traumas and dramas, even the drama of planning its own enlightenment. Notice how it feeds itself by pretending to hate itself. Notice how its idea of being blocked itself becomes the block. Notice how it wants to analyze itself to death before it is ready to surrender. Notice how it hears only what it wants to hear so it can forever prove itself right.

You may want to make a list of these escape routes of the mind. Give these ‘negative’ personalities a voice, and describe in detail all the fears, doubts, blocks, manipulations, denials, and dysfunctional habit patterns that you can think of. Then let it all go. Once it is down on paper you may find that they no longer have as much power over you. Once you can see clearly, the seeing itself is the liberation. Once you realize that there is nothing you can do to change yourself, then surrender can happen, and grace can flow.

For some people, even the act of surrender is associated with a great effort. Well, then, surrender even your efforts to surrender. Simply ask for grace and then be silent. Once this ‘you’ who is so intent on understanding, changing, or healing itself surrenders, enlightenment can happen easily. The neurological shift takes place and you return to your natural state of oneness. It is as simple as that.

It is important to understand what enlightenment is not. It is not about losing your mind, or even changing the nature of your mind. The same mind continues to exist, although you notice that you now have a different relationship with it. Nor is enlightenment equated with cosmic bliss, instant clairvoyant abilities, or high spiritual states. All these may accompany or follow enlightenment at some point, but it is not what enlightenment is about. Enlightenment is simply ‘throwing a switch’ in the neurobiological structures of your brain, and thereby dissolving the sense of a separate self. It is not about changing the contents of the mind, but seeing the mind for what it is. In this very seeing, all conflict and suffering dissolves, and you experience freedom.

The difference is primarily internal. An enlightened person can still make mistakes, still experience disappointments, still have difficulty with relationships, still experience limitations, and still be bad tempered, except that he will no longer be identified with these characteristics. It is not required that an enlightened person will always have a radiant aura or always be cheerful.

In fact, there will be times when an enlightened person will need to exhibit anger where she would normally be a doormat, or do something quite contrary to an established social or moral code because he is no longer bound by the conditioned identities and learned responses of the old order. An enlightened person discovers joy in being true to himself. He finds no need to pretend anymore, although to an unenlightened consciousness he or she might well be perceived as a rebel or a troublemaker!

Enlightenment is to peel off the layers of interpretation from a given event. To the enlightened person, life becomes a very ordinary thing. You walk, and you are walking. You eat, and you are eating. Enlightenment is not about having extraordinary experiences so much as recognizing that each ordinary moment is extraordinary in itself. Before, there were a thousand interpretations in the mind for everything you experienced. Now, there is only the experience.

It is also important to distinguish between enlightenment experiences and the state of enlightenment. Enlightenment experiences are peak experiences or high energy experiences. You may go into a peak experience after a transmission. You may already have had several peak experiences through the course of your life. The kundalini energies within your body rise up to the top of the head, unite with the cosmic energies, and you experience bliss, unconditional love, or cosmic consciousness. You may see celestial visions, even journey into higher ‘lokas’, or heavenly realms.

Peak experiences cannot be sustained beyond a few hours or at most a few days. The cosmic energies coursing through your nervous system would burn you out and short-circuit the human body, at least in our current level of human evolution. These enlightened states, ultimately lead to the alteration of neurobiological pathways within the brain, resulting in the dissolving of a fixated self.