Happy are those who have reached the state of enlightenment and bliss. There is a longing within each one of us to reach this ultimate state of happiness that wealth and pleasure cannot bring. Some of us realize this true meaning of happiness and go after that happiness while others preoccupied and busy with other useless endeavors of life reach the end without even catching a glimpse of this true state of happiness. It is even wrong to equate enlightenment with happiness; it is much more than happiness, a state of absolute bliss.
How do we reach the state of enlightenment? Are there any techniques that we need to follow to reach this stage? How long will it take to become enlightened? We can go on and on with questions regarding enlightenment. Unfortunately, we do not have all the answers we need. Enlightenment is not a skill that we acquire; it is a state that we need to reach. Many have tried to comprehend and explain this state and no one has ever managed explain fully what it means to be enlightenment. Few attempts are closer to the truth and others are far away from the mark.
It can be considered a spiritual awakening that happens within and it can happen any time to any individual. There are no courses that you can attend to become enlightened as it is not an intellectual state. It eludes all definition and all efforts to achieve it. Eckhart Tolle in his book "A New Earth" identifies three keys to enlightenment. According to him there are three keys to enlightenment and they are non-attachment, non-judgment and non-resistance. Non-attachment is one of the principles taught by Buddha of 6th century B.C. who was considered to have attained enlightenment after 12 years of struggle. Enlightenment is like a butterfly, the more you run after it the faster it evades you. But you stand still in one place without any agitation and you will find this butterfly landing on your shoulder. The same can be considered to be true for enlightenment.
How does enlightenment help anyone? What does it do? We will be able to explain this with the words of Thomas Jefferson who said, "Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppression of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day."
Eckhart Tolle, in his book “A New Earth” also tells a story of a king who wanted to gain equanimity and serenity, in the story he tells, a wise man gives the king a ring with the inscription, “This too will pass”. The sage instructs the king to wear the ring and asks him to read the inscription before calling anything good or bad and he promised the king that it will bring him peace. Probably, the words of the enlightened sage summarize how one who has reached enlightenment would feel about events and different happenings of life. Nothing in this world lasts, neither that which is good nor that which is bad. If that is so, then there is no reason to wail and complain about bad things and unpleasant things of life because it will pass away and so will the good things of life. So there is not need to be over excited about them because they too will not last.
Not all of us can be indifferent to the events of life and it is a lifetime endeavor.
