From: dkarma@pro-nbs.acme.fred.org (Druta Karma)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Re: Enlightened Beings
Date: 2 Oct 92 15:41:31 GMT
Article-I.D.: ogicse.43576
Distribution: world
Organization: Pro-nbs.acme.fred.org -- San Diego, Ca (619) 571-0152

In <1992Oct1.155927.21308@qiclab.scn.rain.com>
farris@ruhets.rutgers.edu (Lorenzo Farris) writes:

>(Druta includes long quote of characteristics of enlightened being from
>Baghavad Gita, deleted for brevity.)
>Thank you very much for putting so much effort into typing in this
>passage.  But at best, all this can tell me is who is not enlightened.
>How can I determine the motivation for a being's actions.  I can well
>imagine situations in which someone looks like they are still caught
>up in Maya, yet the reasons for actions may well be grounded in
>enlightenment. Any actor will tell you that it is easier to act
>intelligent when you are not, then to play a real idiot when you are
>intelligent. How can we ever presume to know the ways of gods and
>enlightened beings?

Well, I would disagree that the description of the enlightened person can just
tell you who is not enlightened. A person manifesting the positive qualities
described in the passages I cited would certainly be a good candidate for an
enlightened person. This is not to downplay the seriousness of the questions
you are asking. It is therefore advised in the Vedas, of which I am a
follower, that a prospective disciple should examine the prospective guru
(enlightened person) for a considerable period of time before deciding to seek
knowledge from this particular person. This knowledge is confidential,
however, and cannot be received in the manner that knowledge is communicated
in mundane educational institutions. In the Gita it is said evam parampara
praptam--that this knowledge is received through disciplic succession. So
another tip-off to an enlightened person is that he has received his
enlightenment from another enlightened person in one of the authorized
disciplic successions. I would also say that the texts that describe
enlightenment, enlightened person, etc. are also important, and can play a
role in helping one determine what enlightenment is, how to get it and who
from. For me the first step was reading the Gita, where I learned something
about enlightenment and how it is to be attained. The whole description of
reality in the Gita (karma, reincarnation, the modes of material nature, etc.,
etc.) made an impression on me, and backed up the descriptions of
enlightenment and enlightened beings. My next step was associating with
persons on the path of enlightenment according to the Gita, which I started
doing in 1973 at the Krishna temple in Washington, D.C. 

Because of our latent impersonalism, it is hard for us to conceive that the
Absolute Truth is personal, and that our attainment of it may depend upon a
personal relationship, as between guru and disciple. In the Vedic texts, we
learn that the guru is the external manifestation of Supersoul, Paramatma. The
Supersoul resides along with each soul in its material body. The situation is
described as being like two birds in a tree. One bird is eating the fruits of
happiness and distress from the tree of the material body, and the other bird,
the eternal friend of the soul, is sitting there waiting and watching. If and
when the one bird gets tired of eating the fruits of material happiness and
distress, he may turn to the companion bird. And then the companion bird will
tell him the truth--he has nothing to do with the tree of the material body,
but has an eternal existence in the spiritual sky. So a lot depends on each of
us and indivdua souls. If we truly desire enlightenment, then Paramatma will
become manifest before us in the person of an enlightened being. This
enlightened being will match the description in the Gita and will say nothing
but what is in the Gita.  So from within we will know the enlightened person
when we hear or see that person, and this will be further confirmed by
observing the person in the light of the Gita and by seeing if the person is
in one of the authorized chains of enlightened beings. And the real test will
be that we shall feel ourselves becoming enlightened by our association with
that person. And if after some time we feel convinced of all this by internal
feeling and external means as well, then we should follow the advice of the
Gita and become a disciple of that person.  It is said however in the Vedas
that there are three kinds of enlightened teachers. The first is the one who
"shows the way or points toward enlightenment," the second is the one who
gives formal initiation into the path of enlightenment, and the third is the
one who gives instruction in enlightenment. One may find all three in one
person. There may be only one initiating guru, but there may be many
instructing gurus. 

Druta Karma
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