Does Enlightenment occurs Suddenly and Unexpectedly?

[Pheena]

You ask: "Does this enlightenment happening occur suddenly and unexpectedly?"

Both things can be said. It cannot be predicted, so it happens suddenly. Nobody can say when it will happen. My own disciples go on asking me, "When? Give the date, the day, the month, the year!" And I have to go on lying to them. I go on saying, "Soon!" Soon doesn't mean anything. And soon is a beautiful word, because I need never change it. Whenever you ask I will say, "Soon!"

The happening is unpredictable because it is so vast a phenomenon. And it is not mechanical, it is not mathematical, so you cannot conclude about it. And it is very mysterious; when it has happened, only then you know that it has happened. So in a sense, because it is unpredictable it is always sudden. Even you don't know when it will happen. Suddenly one day when it has happened you become aware that it has happened. Not even a single moment before will you be aware that this is going to happen. You will become aware only when it has happened already. Then you will feel that you are no more the same, the man who was there has disappeared and a new man is there in his place—somebody new. You are unacquainted, you cannot recognize yourself. There has been a gap, the old continuity has been broken and something new has come into its place.

Even your master cannot predict it. He may become aware that something is going to happen, but he cannot predict it. There are problems—because even the prediction will change the whole situation. This is the problem, even the prediction will change it. If I become aware that something is going to happen to you tomorrow morning, I cannot say it because that will change the whole situation. If I say, "Tomorrow morning this is going to happen," you will become tense and you will start expecting and you will start waiting. You will not be able to sleep in the night. Then the whole thing is finished, then it is not going to happen tomorrow morning.

Even if your master becomes aware…because there are signs that show that something is going to happen. Your master can see that you are pregnant, he can feel, but it is not such a fixed affair that within nine months the child will be born. You may take nine years, you may take nine lives, you may not take even nine days; even nine moments may be enough. It depends, and it depends on such multidimensional things that nothing can be said. And if something is said, the very assertion will change the whole situation. So the master has to wait, just watch and not say anything.

In this sense it is sudden, but in another sense it is not sudden, because you have to make efforts for it, you have to prepare. You have to prepare the ground, you have to open the doors. The guest may come suddenly, but if your doors are closed he may come and go back. So you have to open the doors, you have to clean the house, you have to prepare food for the guest—you have to be ready. You have to watch and wait at the door—any moment the guest can come. vedant09

Two days ago a lady came to me and said, "I am well advanced in years and am nearing death. When will I attain enlightenment? Please hurry and do something lest I die." I told her to come for meditation for a few days; then we would see what is to be done.

She said, "I do not want to be bothered with meditation. Do something so that I may attain enlightenment."

Now this lady is searching to get something without paying for it. Such a search is dangerous. You gain nothing by it; on the contrary you lose. The meditator should not harbor any such expectations. One receives what one is ready for. You should trust that this is so. mirac206

Many people come to me and ask, "How to know that such and such a person is really enlightened?" Where is the necessity for you to know whether a person is really enlightened or not? If you can stay aware of whether you are enlightened or not, that is enough. Even if the other has become enlightened, this in itself does not make you enlightened. If the other has not become enlightened, this does not bring any hindrance to your enlightenment.

But why do we think in this manner? There are reasons for it. We want to make sure that nobody has attained to nonattachment. That gives us a sort of relief. Then there is no harm…if I have not attained to nonattachment then there is no harm, nobody else has attained it either! This gives a consolation to the mind, a support to the mind, that I am fine as I am because nobody has ever attained, and neither have I.

This is why our mind is never willing to accept that anybody has attained to nonattachment. We try to find all kinds of loopholes to show that the person has not yet attained. If somebody has attained to nonattachment it creates an inner discomfort within us. That discomfort is that if somebody else has attained, it only means that I can also attain but am unable to do so—and this creates anxiety and guilt. Hence nobody in this world accepts the other as right. It has nothing to do with the other, but in not accepting anybody as right it becomes easier to accept one's own evils. finger12

Meditation means dehypnotization. The process looks just the same.

Many people come to me and they say, "Whatsoever is being done here, is it not hypnosis?" It is dehypnosis. The process is the same, but the dimension is reversed. You can hypnotize yourself—that is going further from yourself towards the object. You can dehypnotize yourself—that is going back from the object towards oneself. When you are centered in some object, you are hypnotized. When you are centered in yourself, you are dehypnotized. When you are yourself, you are beyond hypnosis. thou27

In the old days, particularly in the East, hypnosis was used in every ashram. The master used it in every way to help you, because consciously you may take years to do a particular thing but in hypnosis, through hypnosis, within seconds it can be done. Unnecessary effort can be saved. But only masters were allowed to hypnotize. Hypnosis remained a secret science in the East; it was not used publicly because there are possibilities of misusing it. vedant09