What is Transformation and What is Enlightenment?

IExcerpt from a video of Maitreya DadashreejiI (full video contains more than this question)I

Question:

You talk about transformation. This begs the question: what is enlightenment and what is transformation?

Maitreya Dadashreeji:

Enlightenment is a spiritual state that people have experienced. In the past, people have experienced enlightenment. It is difficult to experience it in the present times. Enlightenment is a state of being completely free within (jeevan mukta).  It is a biological and physical state. It is hard to explain but there is a distance between ‘you’ and ‘your mind’. You don’t do anything according to the will or desires of your mind. You function as a witness (sakshi) to everything around you. What does it mean to ‘be a witness’? It is a spiritual practice in which you just watch life, like when you are in a movie theater. There you watch things happening on the screen but you cannot change the story or the movie’s narrative. You can’t add a song or change characters. Similarly, in an enlightened state, you just watch and witness the movie of your life. There is a distance between you and your life’s events.

Please understand that the mind doesn’t cease to be. Thoughts in the mind continue to flow. Always remember, mind will not stop working. During sleep, the mind gets switched off for some time.  But in this entire creation, the mind never stops functioning.

Therefore, if you are trying to run away from your thoughts and mind:  it will never work. To free yourself from your thoughts is an erroneous endeavor! Don’t even attempt it!

The mind will always be there. As a witness you will see a distance between you and the mind. You will physically experience it. There is a shift at the biological level.

Some people experience it for a few moments and then the state ends. This is an enlightened state. In the past, we’ve had a lot of enlightened beings. During Krishna’s time we had Arjuna, the Pandavas,  and even the Kauravas ( in the Indian Epic the Mahabharata the Pandavas stood for Dharma or righteousness  and were force to fight their own cousins the Pandavas who were blinded by greed for the kingdom).   They were all enlightened beings. Ravana was also enlightened (In the Indian Epic the Rayamana, Ravana kidnapped Rama’s bride Sita starting the story). Rama was more than enlightened.

Although Ravana was enlightened, he had no control over his mind. Where his mind was there the actions were! He could not control or change his thinking. This is the state of enlightenment. Now with transformation, the purest state ( amrit avastha). This is mentioned in the Vedas but there is no written explanation. In transformation you flow with the mind. You and the mind are not separate. You remain with the mind and you cleanse the mind ( shuddhi).  Ravana’s enlightened mind could not become transformed like Rama’s mind was.

Only transformation does this (gives that highest state where you are with the cleansed mind). When we talk of Gautama Buddha, some say he was enlightened, but no, he actually went beyond enlightenment. He reached the purest state (amrit avastha). His mind was completely transformed; it was pure! When you look at your mind now, you see both purity and impurity. Good and bad. In ‘amrit avastha” (that purest state)  the mind is completely pure. Mind becomes divine! This is what we are working towards. People think we can’t transform or change the mind. They follow the path of enlightenment. You can pursue and practice being a witness but you won’t experience any change. Whatever happens, happens effortlessly, but you’re not making any effort.  You seeing Dadashreeji is just happening.

There is no effort on your part. There is a distance between Dadashreeji and you. You are in a natural state, sitting and just watching what is happening. You cannot change anything in creation when you are enlightened. Being in this state of enlightenment you don’t even have the desire to change anything. The mind is so fearful that it gravitates towards being a witness to everything. What we say is, there is no need to run away from your mind. Move from the mind being your enemy to making the mind your friend. When you do this all of creation gets transformed! In today’s time, enlightenment is not a solution. It is not a solution to solve current problems. The only solution is transformation.

Once you are in “amrit avastha’ (that purest state), you can change creation (shristhi, and help others). This IS the path and we are here for this transformation. Let that mind get transformed. How does the mind get transformed? It gets transformed once you get connected to your Divine! Once you connect with the positive Divine energy within you and once that energy goes to the mind: the mind automatically becomes pure. When you’re sitting here you can feel how your mind becomes Divine (daivic)!

The mind becomes steady and pure.  Your mind will be completely transformed when the Divine manifests in your mind. We worship an external form of Divine just so that our mind becomes pure! Any form of the Divine that you can relate to will help you move  towards transformation. Being a witness is a spiritual practice for enlightenment alone. These things may seem trivial but no one teaches them with clarity. No one has this understanding. Also, it isn’t written in any books.

When you are with a realized master or a spiritual guide who has attained this amrit avastha (that purest state), they can take you by your hand and lead you there.  While your knowledge remains limited to books, you will never experience the truth. Your truth is entirely dependent on you. Your spiritual truth depends entirely on your internal world. We only go towards that truth; your truth.

We don’t beat around the bush when we say this. Go straight to the source within. Also, you need not run away from your actions (karmas). No need to run here and there! Just reach within yourself; find the Source! You really can’t run away from your karmas because sooner or later karmas catch up with you. Even highly accomplished spiritual masters cannot run away from their karmas. You are accountable for your actions. Even a manifestation of the divine (as an avatara) has is accountable for their actions: be it Ramji, Krishna, or Buddha. All of them had to settle their own karmic accounts. That’s the system, there is no getting away from it. You may get away for some time, a year or two perhaps. You may even use trickery but eventually you’ll get caught. It’s like when you use GPS on your mobile device, everyone can tell where you are and you can be tracked. Similarly, you have an internal GPS in the form of your heartbeat.

Wherever you go your heartbeat acts like a GPS tracking device. You may disguise yourself or change your name and identity, but sooner or later you will get caught. Why? Because your heartbeat within does not have a name or identity. The heartbeat has a vibration, a frequency, so even if you hide in a cave, you’ll still get caught! No one can can free themselves from being accountable for their actions, not even Rama or Krishna. So let things go on the way they will. Just flow with it.

By running away from situations you will only multiply your problems further.  Running away is exhausting and will tire you out.  And when you’re tired your problems will increase.

So it is best is not to run.Let things go on.Just flow with it!!

Full video highlight available here🔗

https://youtu.be/1D_YKtSRUUM?si=NRN9F-2dRy6OsPkg