What is Enlightenment?

We hear from realized men about the state or experience of enlightenment. Knitted with each realized person’s religious background, sentiment, and faith, enlightenment is expressed, described, and understood differently by every individual.

Consciousness is a constant in every being since all are aware of themselves and their surroundings. But if every being is conscious, what sets them apart? Though consciousness is present in all living beings, the deciding factor is their tendencies. Most creatures are driven by a singular motive—food. We see animals constantly searching, sniffing, and scavenging, their existence revolving around the pursuit of sustenance. This fundamental tendency is what keeps nature functioning; without it, life would cease due to scarcity.

Another profound urge ingrained in living beings is copulation. To sustain and extend generations, evolution has instilled an intense drive to reproduce. Were this tendency absent, life would have ended on the first day. It is solely because of this urge that life has thrived on Earth.

These two dominant tendencies—hunger and reproduction—govern all living beings. The mind and body, as nature’s gifts, are wired to ensure that the senses of hunger and lust remain paramount. When deprived of food, a being’s consciousness is entirely consumed by hunger, with no room for any other thought. The same holds for copulation—when the drive is unfulfilled, the being becomes a zombified version of itself, its awareness narrowed to a singular focus: lust.

Even in a state of satisfaction, where food is abundant and mating needs are met, the consciousness of a goat and a human remains vastly different. The goat’s awareness is still ruled by its rooted desires. A man, though governed by the same instincts, possesses the ability to detach from them with conscious effort. With a shift in focus, he can break free from their reign, if only temporarily.

Humans are nature’s most evolved creation, yet we too are bound by these tendencies. Why, then, could nature not evolve beyond them—creating beings free from desire, absorbed in pure consciousness without the veil of instinct? The answer lies in nature’s fundamental rule: life must sustain itself, and for that, food and reproduction are necessary. But this comes at a cost—the governance of these tendencies over our being. They act as a veil, a barrier that dams the full flow of consciousness.

Consciousness, as we know it, emerges from the intricate synchronicity of mind and body, a subject I have explored in another article. The difference between a man and a dog is not the presence of consciousness but the degree to which it is obscured by tendencies. If we were to strip away all instincts from both, what would remain is pure, undiluted consciousness. This reveals a profound truth: the underlying consciousness in all beings is the same.

Consider two glass panes—both dirty, but one slightly cleaner than the other. The cleaner one (human consciousness) is closer to its original, pristine state than the dirtier one (animal consciousness). But in essence, both are the same glass.

Religious men, saints, and enlightened beings have performed austerities and penance for years. Why? To dissolve the veils of lust, hunger, anger, greed, desire, ego, and revenge. As these tendencies fade, the floodgates of consciousness open, revealing its full brilliance. In the stages leading to enlightenment, one lapses into states of super-consciousness, feeling the interconnectedness of all things—the drop of water merging with the pond, the spider delicately moving its eight legs, the raindrop kissing the earth.

In the golden hour of enlightenment, one transcends the limitations of the body and merges with the consciousness of the entire universe. They feel no separation between themselves and the rock, the river, the tiny crawling insect—they are everything, and everything is them. In that moment, they realize they were never the person they believed themselves to be. They were simply consciousness in a body.

In the highest state of enlightenment, the body is shed, for the body is limited while pure consciousness is infinite. The drop merges into the ocean. Those enlightened beings who remain do so out of divine will—not fully dissolving into the universal consciousness so that others may find their way to the truth.