Dear Mr. Swartz,

You don’t know me but I have been reading your site from time to time. It is very good. I read the ‘stages of enlightenment’ section in ‘What is Advaita Vedanta’ and I wonder if you could direct me to a scripture that talks about the difference between Self realization and enlightenment. It seems to be a subtle point and I wonder if it is only in your experience or if there is mention of it in the Vedas.

Sincerely,

Neil M

Dear Neil,

I’m happy that you find the site interesting. Yes, I can direct you to a well known Vedantic text that talks about the distinction between Self realization and enlightenment. As far as I know there is no Upanishad that discusses the issue directly but if you study the Upanishads you will find the idea of experience of the Self and knowledge of the Self throughout. Speaking of liberation in the language of experience is known as Yoga and speaking of liberation in the language of identity is called Vedanta. It is generally accepted by Vedantins that Yoga, the experience of subtle states of mind and the experience of the reflection of the Self in a pure mind, is useful for someone wishing to gain liberation because the mind must be clear and subtle if it is going to grasp the idea ‘I am limitless awareness and not this body/mind’…which is how Vedanta defines liberation. Yoga says that if you can clean the mind the Self ‘shines in all it’s glory’…to quote Patanjali, the foremost authority on Yoga. If the mind is pure it automatically hones in on the Self and begins to experience It. Self realization is fine and it should lead to direct knowledge or enlightenment unless the seeker stops inquiring when the mind is fixed on the Self in the belief that Self experience needs to be made permanent. Anyway, this is one of my pet issues and you probably have read about it on my website so there is no sense repeating it.

There is an important Vedantic text called Panchadasi by Vidyaranya Swami that lays out almost all the teachings of Vedanta in a very clear and organized way. The last twelve verses in the first chapter point out this distinction. I have copied them in below. Verses 53 to 61 talks about Yoga or meditation and the result of meditation, a ‘raincloud of dharma’…which amounts to burning up the vasanas. The text is very clear and there is no need to say anything about it.

At verse 63 the discussion of enlightenment (direct realization) begins with the word ‘then...’ This verse can use an explanation. As you can see from this verse indirect knowledge i.e. experience does not remove the final doubt about one’s nature. So how is this doubt removed?

When the mind is fixed on the Self for whatever reason, the thought “I am That’ arises in the mind. Up until this time the Self had always seemed to be an object. But at this moment there is an understanding that what is being experienced as ‘That’ is actually me, the Self. If the mind understands the significance of this thought and retains it as its primary identity that is what I call ‘enlightenment,’ (just to distinguish it from Self realization) although direct knowledge is probably better. Mind you, enlightenment means that Self knowledge sticks when the mind changes and the samadhi is lost. Enlightenment or direct knowledge does not depend on any particular state of mind and is independent of all states of mind, positive and negative. If the meditator tries to cling to his or her samadhi to make it permanent he or she will have to continue to struggle with experience until such time as it becomes clear that enlightenment is Self knowledge, not a discrete Self experience. This is not to say that experience is not the Self, only that the Self, like the direct knowledge of the Self, is free of experience.

Finally, there is one more issue that should be raised in this discussion. As you can see from reading the verses on Yoga below the value of samadhi is that it burns up the vasanas. However, this is not the only method for burning vasanas. Many people, perhaps most who gain Self knowledge, do not exhaust their vasanas by the practice of samadhi. The most common and most popular method is called Karma Yoga which is an attitude that one takes with reference to his or her actions and the results of action. Depending on the number of binding vasanas, a person who has practiced Karma Yoga in daily life for some time will have automatically burned up most binding vasanas and gained a contemplative mind. With this mind it is quite possible to gain the hard and fast understanding ‘I am limitless Awareness and not this body mind.’ I hope this is helpful.

James Swartz

“53. The discovery of the true significance of the identity of the individual Self and the limitless Self by contemplating the great sayings like ‘You are That’ is known as sravana. To come to the same conclusion through logical reasoning is called manana.

54.  When through sravana and manana the mind develops a hard and fast conviction of the nature of the Self it is called nididhyasana, unbroken meditation.

55.  When the mind gradually lets go of the idea of a meditator and an act of meditation and is merged in the Self alone and becomes steady like the flame of a lamp in a breezeless spot, it is called nirvikalpa samadhi.

56.  Though in samadhi there is no awareness of meditator and the object of meditation, the existence of the merged mind is inferred after coming out of the samadhi.

57.  The mind continues to be fixed in the Self in the state of samadhi as a result of an effort of will helped by the merits acquired in previous births and strong impressions (vasanas) created through the constant efforts to attain samadhi.

58.  Sri Krishna pointed out the same idea to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita when he compared the steady mind to the flame of a lamp in a breezeless spot.

59.  As a result of nirvikalpa samadhi millions of the results of actions accumulated in this beginningless world over past and present births (vasanas) are destroyed, and the dharma that is helpful to Self realization grows.

60.  The experts in Yoga call this samadhi ‘a rain cloud of dharma’ because it pours forth countless showers of the bliss of dharma.

61.  The entire network of desires is destroyed and the accumulated merits and demerits are fully rooted out by this samadhi.

62.  Then the great statement, ‘You are That’ frees one of all doubts about one’s nature and gives rises to direct realization of the Self…which previously was known indirectly.

63.  The knowledge of Brahman obtained indirectly from the Guru that teaches the meaning of ‘You are That’ burns up all vasanas in play before the attainment of Self knowledge.

64.  The direct realisation of the knowledge of the Self obtained from the Guru’s teaching of ‘You are That’ is like a scorching sun, dispelling the darkness of Self ignorance which is the root of transmigration.

65. Thus a person distinguishes the Self from the five sheaths, concentrates the mind on It according to scriptural injunctions, becomes free from the bonds of repeated births and deaths and immediately attains the supreme bliss.”