enlightenment

Long ago i read stories on enlightenment on how it took couple of arduous years for Budhdha to attain enlightenment - it took thousands of years of practise for Vishwamitra to get enlightened. So, i discarded it as a goal unattainable. In 2000, my wife told me that one could get enlightenment without a lot of effort. This is what her Guru had told her. I dismissed it as nonsensical talk then. Over a period of time, i could sense a lot of struggle in my life despite the fact that i was having a good family, good relationships and good material comforts. I started to investigate it a little further and discovered that i really had a terrible mind, that it is not letting me be calm - all the time making stirring noises. I wanted to find out if there is any solution to this. I tried physical exercise, meditation, reading books but nothing helped me to my satisfaction. Then i thought why not i try from my wife's Guru. So, i went to Oneness University founded by Sri Amma and Bhagawan. I attended atleast 5 courses ranging from 3 days to 15 days. After each course, i found a profound shift in my mindset. I found myself very calm. I could stay with my emotions. I can confound fear to a certain extent. I discovered my emotional faultlines. I found what i lacked in my relationships. Then one day it came as a big realization to me that enlightenment indeed is possible. I am fairly confident now, that enlightenment can happen. All you need to do is to know yourself and accept it; then seek for enlightenment {from whom? i sought my Guru Sri Amma and Bhagawan, you could seek it from your God or Guru}.

Accepting oneself is the key- I would broadly say these would be the steps.
a) Discovering our resistance to events, thoughts, emotions, conditions - all kinds of resistances and identifying those in relation to yourself. Ex.. I had to meet my goal. I cannot work on it, because i have some resistance to it. When i look at it, the resistance could be because of a fear of failure. My self is not able to take fear of failure.
b) Knowing that we get these kind of thoughts .. jealousy, laziness, craving, selfishness, fear.
d) Knowing that you cannot do anything about these.
e) Finally you would be able to accept yourself as you are - this is either a total liberation from your old conditioning, or a deep awareness of your conditioning.

After the acceptance phase, enlightenment is a matter of happening. I can safely say that self acceptance itself is an exhilarating experience. I just feel enlightenment is around the corner. Even if i don't get it, i would have led a life of growth, purpose and fun.

astronomy for all

As is the norm, every day my daughter would ask me to narrate to her a new story. I did come across a small story from our puranas and i narrated it to her, the gist of the contents are as follows..
"Dhruv a small boy of about 5 years, yearns to sit on the lap of his father. But his step mother who doesn't like that idea as she wants her own son to inherit his father's lap tells him that he is not very fortunate since he is not born to her. Frustrated Dhruv goes to his actual mother and asks her what to do. She tells him to go find out Lord Narayana and He would grant him all the boons. Dhruv ultimately realizes Lord Narayana and the Lord would grant him many boons one of which is that Dhruv would become a star and live forever ".
Last week my daughter came up to me and asked for the Pole star to be shown in the sky. I just came from office with all the mess i read on the internet and my initial answer to her was, please don't bother me "i am tired". But she wouldn't listen. Then i had to go upstairs and i look at the sky for the first time in years. I don't know which star is which. As all children think, my daughter thought i am a great guy. In order not to disappoint her i told her the sky is not pretty clear and we can't see. She wasn't convinced. She looked up and said there are so many stars out there, you can't show me the pole star. Then i did what all people of my ilk would do, took resort to google and searched for the pole star. It said, it is some distance from the big dipper. Now i had to show her the big dipper and why it is called big dipper.. then explain to her where the pole star is. While all this happened, i lost my patience and shouted at her "enough is enough it is getting cold.. go and study".
Latter in the night i started introspecting. I realized i never studied anything expecting one day my kids would come to me for answers. All along i studied for myself, for my own satisfaction. Look at me, i cannot spend enough time with my daughter peacefully, fully listen to her questions, and affectionately answer them. My desire was to be right about the facts but what that poor girl wanted was to be right about feelings. I don't want another life, but should my karmic actions force me to have one, i would rather be a small-time villager.