Spiritual Enlightenment

Author(s): Yogindu Deva, A N Upadhye
Publisher: Radiant Publishers

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- Spiritual Enlightenment
the technical details which we find in works like Jnanarnava, Yogashastra, Tattvanushasan, etc. To achieve such a meditation in which Atman is realized as Paramatman the steadiness of mind is absolutely necessary: there should be no delusion, no attachment for pleasant feelings and no aversion from unpleasant ones. The mind, speech and body should cease to function, and the Atman should be concentrated on himself. In this course two stages are noted: Siddhahood and Arhatship. A soul may reach the condition of a Siddha by destroying all the Karmas at once, and majority of souls are destined for this. The Tirthankara devotes some of his time for preaching the religious doctrines, while Siddha has minded his own business of spiritual realization; the former thus is of greater benefit to the society. The difference between these two types of self-realized souls somewhat corresponds to that between activistic and quitistic tendencies of mystics.
8. Some Aspects of Mysticism
It is not easy to define mysticism exactly in plain terms. First, to a great extent, it denotes an attitude of mind which involves a direct, immediate, first-hand, intuitive apprehension of God. It is the direct experience of the mutual response between the human and the divine indicating the identity of the human souls and the ultimate reality. Therein the individual experiences a type of consciousness of perfect personality. In the mystical experience the individual is 'liberated and exalted with a sense of having found what it has always sought and flooded with joy'. Secondly, mysticism, if it is to be appreciated as a consistent whole, needs for its background a metaphysical structure containing a spirit capable of enjoying itself as intelligence and bliss and identifying itself with or evolving into some higher personality, whether a personal or an impersonal Absolute. Thirdly, if mysticism forms a part of a metaphysico-religious system, then the religious system must chalk out a mystic course of attaining identity between the