You cannot be with the Lord just by thinking you are divinely enlightened. You must improve yourself - you must perfect yourself. (...) You can never know Him except through humbleness, wisdom, and devotion. Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.162.
There is no more liberating action than sincerely to give kindness in return for unkindness. Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.189.
Every spiritually enlightened teacher tries to enable many devotees to commune with God. Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, P.234.
"The day I became enlightened" simply means the day I realized that there is nothing to achieve. There is nowhere to go. There is nothing to be done. We are already divine and we are already perfect - as we are. No improvement is needed. (...) God never creates anybody imperfect. Osho, Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic, P.66.
(...) enlightenment happens in silence. (...) And whatsoever you do, the words are going to destroy something of that silence. Osho, Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic, P.67.
Enlightenment is a very individual process. (...) Every person passes through different phases, because every person in many lives has gathered different kind of conditionings. Osho, Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic, P.69.
(...) every enlightened person will have a deep silence - almost tangible. In his presence, those who are open, receptive, will become silent. He will have a tremendous contentment, whatever happens makes no difference to his contentment. Osho, Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic, P.81.
Everybody cannot be a genius - those are given qualities from birth. But everybody can be enlightened (...) Osho, Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic, P.122.
Instead of remaining trapped in this very limited, conditioned existence, we can become one with the universe, immense and unconditioned. In rediscovering this truth, the Buddha liberated all sentient beings, not just himself, because he cleared the way for every person to realize that he or she, too, is intrinsically a buddha (or, as some schools prefer to express it, capable of being enlightened). When the awakening came to him, it reentered human consciousness after untold ages of being entirely forgotten. Jack Maguire. (2001). Essential Buddhism. P.14.
Enlightenment lies beyond the conditions of our phenomenal universe: the realm of time and space, life and death, this and that. To become enlightened is, therefore, to go beyond everyday mind, to see the totality from which all these conditions arise, and to realize our essential oneness with it. Jack Maguire. (2001). Essential Buddhism. P.77.
(...) Chris Pauling, (...) distinguishes between "capital -E" Enlightenement, representing the totally transformational awakening that Shakyamuni had, and "small-e" enlightenment, reflecting the evolved consciousness of a person who can - and repeatedly does - see beyond the limits of the self and the everyday world (...). Jack Maguire. (2001). Essential Buddhism. P.85.
Last update: 2006/08/16
See the related subjects: Alertness, Awakenings, Contemplation, Emptiness, Meditation, Reality, Transcendence, Wisdom