15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
All that needs to be known about enlightenment - a text book, July 12, 2004
This review is from: SCIENCE OF ENLIGHTENMENT (Hardcover)
This is a practical and comprehensive treatment of various issues involved with the idea of Enlightenment. The author has attempted to remove the mystery and explain the phenomenon of Enlightenment to pave the way for true understanding. This a MUST read for everyone, not just a 'spiritual seeker'.
The subject matter is covered in 10 chapters ('Me' and the 'Other', Suffering, Spiritual Knowledge and its Pursuit, Enlightenment, Liberation, The Guru, Death and After, What should 'I' do ?, Karma, Bhakti an Jnana Marga, God). The Appendix where the author discusses about 'karma', 'nirvikalpa samadhi vs sahaja sthiti (samadhi), meditative techniques is excellent. In the Questions and Answers the author addresses the questions such as outward appearance of a sage, whether the world is an illusion, the inverted asvattha tree of life depicted in Bhagavad Gita 15 th chapter, is very revealing, and helpful.
Here is a selection of paragraphs from the book.
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page 5
"Symbolic thinking gives him the ability to symbolise and conceptualise 'himself' as a separate entity over and above the body-mind, and the fear of future death and annihilation gives him the incentive and reason to thus conceptualise. And so in his rejection of death, is born the idea of the separate soul or ego, which is considered to have existed as a separate entity even before the birth of that body-mind, and which will survive after its disintegration."
"Enlightenment is defined as the intutive understanding that one is not a separate entity."
Page 12
"Also, the essence of bhakti or devotion, whether in Christianity (the teaching 'Thy will be done') or in Hinduism (self-surrender) implies ultimately, not that there is a separate entity who is perpetually to accept the Lord's will over his own, but rather that there is no separate, autonomous, independent entity apart from God to have any will of his own. Surrender does not mean constantly subjugating or subordinating our will to His, but rather understanding once for all that there is no separate 'we' to have any such separate will."
Page 17
"The 'I' is such a label. It is the label for a particular body-mind complex, and it is mistakenly taken to be a separate entity by itself, over and above, and apart from the body-mind, whose label it is. This is how the fictitious entity is born - this is the genesis of separateness, scientifically explained."
page 25
"'Within' the One Consciousness there are the myriad body-mind units. The 'one' unitary Consciousness operates through the brains of these units, which it uses as instruments of sentience. Thus we are all points of awareness, perception and expression of that One Universal Consciousness."
page 39
"For as long as it is the entity which wishes to eliminate itself, it cannot. And as long as there is any 'wishing' or any question of 'achievement', the entity is involved, and there can be no 'success' in the endeavor. By no amount of mental gymnastics or contortionism can the entity achieve its own dissolution."
"It is only when there is a totally different type of seeing or perception, when there is no 'wish' to change, when there remains no question of 'achievement' or 'success', that it is seen very clearly that there really never was an entity ever."
page 40
"The disappearance of (the illusion of) the entity cannot be 'achieved' because any achieving is done by the entity itself. It can only happen."
page 72
"In fact, it is the self-image that we perceive as the fictitious, illusory, phantom 'me'. The 'me' is thus a mental image which we carry, and is nothing but a conglomerate of past psychological experiences etched in our minds as memory - 'nothing but a bag of edited memories'."
page 90
"In short, developing so-called 'purity' (strange though it may sound) is not a precondition to Enlightenment. In fact, it is the other way around. An unenlightened person can never hope to be really 'pure' - rather, it is Enlightenment alone which can make a person totally 'pure'. This is because the root cause of the 'impurity' is the 'me'. When that disappears, 'purity' naturally follows."
page 134
"The guru cannot therefore grant true knowledge, for true knowledge, by its very bature cannot be given or received. He can only give conceptual knowledge."
page 165
"Enlightenment is an event which is spontaneous, unpredictable, and causeless. Causeless because it cannot be the effect of any specific cause. It it were, then it would have been predictably achieved by invoking that cause. The intuitive understanding which constitutes Enlightenment cannot be learnt or 'had' from another person, however great or illumined. Nor can it be brought about or induced by any particular effort, method or technique. Therefore the only thing to be 'done' is to try and understand the situation intellectually."
page 168
"The question 'Who am I' ? actually consists in bringing ourselves face to face with the fact that there is really no 'I' (as a separate, independent, autonomous entity, apart from the Universal Self). It is rather meant to confront us with the truth that whatever doubts, questions, desires or ideas we may have, since there is in fact no 'I' for whom these questions would have been relevant, that is the point we should rather pay attention to and appreciate (rather than try to address each individual question, doubt, etc.)"
page 170
"Once, the fact, that there is no I is deeply understood, the very realisation that there is nothing to be actively done or achieved, itself gives a tremendous sense of relief and peace, and results in the spontaneous dropping away of all conventional me-based (purposeful) spiritual efforts. Thus, the shedding of me-based efforts occurs before enlightenment, upon the intellectual understanding. Indeed, it is this which creates a suitable environment for Enlightenment to occur, and it is an essential prerequisite, indeed a sine qua non, for the occurrence of Enlightenment."
page 200
"But truly total surrender is not possible for the unenlightened, for total surrender is itself Enlightenment."
page 266
"Sahaja sthiti is nothing spectacular, it is not superconsciousness. It is simple everyday living but without the feeling that one is a separate entity with a separate consciousness."
page 267
"Many people believe that sahaja sthiti cannot be realised without going through active meditative techniqes, However, this is patently wrong. Sahaja sthiti can be realised directly. In fact it is to be realised directly. Active techniques can prove to be a real diversion and distraction, and deepen or strengthen the illusion that one is a separate ego-entity. The only active technique that could be useful is Self-enquiry because this directly attacks (or questions) the root illusion. All other techniques proceed on the assumption that this illusion is reality."
***
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book in a miilion, April 2, 2000
This review is from: SCIENCE OF ENLIGHTENMENT (Hardcover)
No single book can be said to contain everything about a subject or to say the last word on it, but this book comes remarkably close to that ideal with regard to the subject of spirituality.
In this most remarkable book, the author gives a sound, common-sense and scientifically valid explanation for all things spiritual which are otherwise often made out to be great mysteries, and clearly defines Enlightenment and Liberation in understandable terms. He describes the Liberated person in great detail, and shows how the Enlightened person can and does live in the everyday practical world, and does not have to withdraw from it. In fact, as the book shows, he operates in the everyday world with optimum efficiency. The special beauty of the book is that the author does not simply state this or make claims, he demonstrates the medical theory on which it is based, and deriving systematically from this also shows how this coincides absolutely with the teachings of various traditions like Christian mysticism, Buddhism including Zen, Sufism, and the teachings of modern day acknowledged mystics like Ramana Maharshi, J.Krishnamurti, and Anthony de Mello. The author seems to have done all the homework for the seeker and all that the seeker has to do is to read this book - perhaps again and again.
Most important, the book is not about theory alone, but has a whole chapter on the million dollar question posed finally by every seeker - it is entitled "What should I do?" Here Dr.Trasi brilliantly reconciles the seeming contradiction between conventional teachings exhorting the seeker to more and more spiritual effort, and the teachings of other traditions which emphasize spontaneity and effortlessness. In another chapter, this is further beautifully reconciled with the traditional Hindu paths of karma (works), bhakti (devotion) and jnana (knowledge).
A Who's Who is very thoughtfully provided at the end, and the Glossary is exhaustive and specially illuminating. The Appendix is a feature by itself and the section on Questions and Answers puts paid to any remaining doubts a reader may still have. Everything is backed by references - and yet the book bears the clear stamp of an author who has actually seen for himself.
To me, the most significant achievement of this book is that it brings down Enlightenment / Liberation from its distant holy pedestal, and shows clearly that it is not some esoteric, mysterious, rare state only meant for spiritual Goliaths, but instead a simple and practical state within the capacity of every average man or woman.
The book is a real eye-opener and I would most strongly recommend it to everyone with even a passing interest in the subject. I only wish that I had read this book much earlier in life - I would have been spared a lot of time, money, effort and heartburn.
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