Moving Into Stillness

By Aruna

 

Once an initial awakening occurs, the next step is moving into stillness, aka deepening that awakening. This step requires no “doing” because it naturally occurs when one is truly awake. The key words in this last statement are “truly awake,” because many who believe themselves to be awake are not. The initial experience of an awakening only becomes a “true” awakening when all identification with the personal story is finished.

 

Signs of Being Awake

  1. There is no more desire for spiritual information or experiences
  2. There is no desire for anything to be different than it is.
  3. There is compassion, WITH detachment.
  4. The body/mind is peaceful no matter what.
  5. The mind is fully present with no concerns about past or future.
  6. Thoughts may come and go just like in meditation but there is no identification with them.
  7. There is awareness of “what is”, without any judgment.
  8. Happiness is constant, even in the most difficult circumstances.

 

Being Awake is NOT:

  1. Having “spiritual” experiences.
  2. A constant state of bliss
  3. Having “siddhis” –gifts i.e. (channeling, telepathy, clairvoyance, clairsentience, healing capabilities, levitating, being buried alive, breatharianism, manifesting objects, etc.).
  4. Being knowledgeable about spiritual matters
  5. Having kundalini experiences
  6. Being considered special
  7. Having perfect health
  8. Related to anything perceived by the senses
  9. Anything the ego/mind holds to be true

 

Any or all of these may be experienced by someone who is awake, but they can be experienced by anyone, awake or not. They are not relevant to awakened awareness.

 

In a “true awakening” there is the absolute realization that who you are is consciousness, and that everyone and everything perceived by the physical senses is that same consciousness. You “know”, without a doubt, that your mental chatter and all your mind and body memories are meaningless because they are part of an imaginary story that only exists in the ego/mind. And, you are no longer interested in this story that has kept you in an illusionary trance for lifetimes.

 

Enlightenment is a total disconnect from a personal story. First comes awakening - the realization that you are not the “person” you have “thought” yourself to be. And once an awakening occurs, the body must still release all the reactivity it has been holding that is connected to a “person’s” life story (including past lives and inter-dimensional lives). As this process proceeds, the ego/mind will continue its attempts to seduce you back into the dream and continue its control, until it is convinced that there is no one interested in its messages. Ordinary life experiences will trigger old patterns of reactivity so they can easily be released by feeling the emotions without thinking about the story (or stories) that gave birth to them.

 

BEWARE: A spiritual experience that could be a permanent awakening will remain an experience that happened to a “person” if the deepening process is shut down by re-identification. Re-identification with mind’s chatter cancels an initial awakening because we cannot live in two realities at the same time. Either we are awake – with no identification with a personal story, or we continue believing the dream that is still playing itself out in our mind. A dream seems very real to those who are still asleep. For those who are “truly awake”, a dream is clearly just a dream and there is no one interested or concerned about how that dream will play out. In a “TRUE awakening” all identification as a “person” (ego) is dissolved, never to interfere with “presence” again.

 

So if you have had an awakening experience that has revealed to you what awakened awareness is, why would you still be reading spiritual books, attending spiritual workshops or looking for more spiritual experiences? It can only be because you are not “truly awake” because you have re-identified yourself as “a person seeking enlightenment” instead of remaining “empty” so enlightenment can occur in a natural, ongoing process that takes care of itself.

 

Papaji used to say, “Your head is already in the tigers mouth’, meaning that once you get the inner calling to awaken it can occur at any time. Your mind does not determine when – your True Self awakens itself when the time is right. All we can do to prepare for this is TO BE QUIET.

 

Once awake, whatever happens to the body is ok because there is no “person” that wants things to be different. “Feeling good or not good” are equally acceptable. Emotions may come and go; thoughts may come and go; circumstances will come and go and even illness can come and go. You are awake if these things can happen without giving them a thought. Stillness of mind and heart in every situation is the awakened condition.