“Q: When I came to your energy field, I felt the strong surge of energy…”

Q: When I came to your energy field, I felt the strong surge of energy shot up to my sahasrara chakra; is this a sign of Enlightenment is near?

SWAMIJI: This may be the sign you are near the person who is Enlightened. I don’t know whether your Enlightenment itself is near or! First I want you to understand, we are always near to Enlightenment, that is the important thing. We are always near to the Enlightenment. It’s a very foolish idea, wrong idea, to think somebody is closer to Enlightenment, somebody is far away from Enlightenment.

There is only two categories, either you are enlightened or not, that’s all! You may be any close, even if you are 99.9% enlightened; you are not! Either complete or No. It’s like a water becomes steam at the 100th degree, but till 99 degree, it is only water, never steam, never steam, never steam. Understand? 100th degree, if it become steam, either it is steam or water. Even if it is hot water, it can be used to put off the fire; Means, it is going to carry the quality of water. It may be hot water, but it is going to have the quality of the water.

People ask Me, ’Then what about the clarity and awareness and growth we feel when we come around you, when we practice spiritual practices, when we live around you?’ Understand, Enlightenment is not continuity of yourself, can never be development of yourself, No! Enlightenment is quantum leap, it is never continuity. If you are feeling some growth, development, clarity, inner healing; these all OK, gives you like a, you are on the right track, that’s all. But nothing more than that.

When you see a sign board, ‘Los Angeles 100 miles’. It’s only a good sign, you are on the right track; That’s all. But it does not mean you arrived. So this near and distance, this is one of the big problem; we always want somebody to give us some consoling words. Understand? If you are expecting some consoling word, somebody to come and give you some words. Be very clear, people who expect consoling words will always be cheated by teachers. They will miss Masters. They will catch hold of teachers. Teachers will be giving you very consoling, very...kind of a...relaxing words, understand! It’s like a they are supporting you and you supporting them. But Master, unfortunately doesn't need your support. So, he will be straight away telling the truth. That is where the difficulty will start.

There is no such thing as 99.9% enlightened. Or very close to Enlightenment or very near to Enlightenment. No! Either you are or you are not. Understand, sometime, even the spiritual growth understanding before Enlightenment is accepted and appreciated, just for the sake of Dharma, not based on the scale of moksha. You need to understand these two scale: Dharma and Moksha. Dharna is accepted because that keeps a socially peaceful

But the lakshya, or the ideal is not just the peaceful society, the idea or the aim, goal is to give a new conscious breakthrough to the humanity. Understand! My goal is not just a peaceful society, No. My goal is beyond. To give a breakthrough or a quantum leap to the human consciousness. It is time we take quantum leap, because we spent too much time just being human beings. After the evolution from monkey to human beings. The next jump, I think we have delayed too much. It is time we take the quantum leap. So quantum leap in the consciousness is the real goal. Sometime the growth, spiritual growth, was accepted, acknowledged, respected; just for the sake of keeping peace in the society.

When you live and grow in dharma, you will have more peace inside you and around you. Just for that sake it is accepted. But, that is not enough. Maybe for the people who lost taste in life, who lost taste in excitement, who lost taste in exploring new things. For them, what to do? Alright! Eat, repeat sometime Rama, Krishna, Govinda, lie down, rest, at least don’t disturb others; Ok! More or less dharma, but that is not the ultimate goal. The goal is exploring in the inner Consciousness. Continuously doing more and more research and development. Understand, don’t even bother whether you are growing spiritually or not. Just go towards moksha, dharma will automatically happen in your life. If your goal itself is dharma, you will never be able to achieve. It’s like a, if your goal is sky, you may be able to jump up to a height of a tree. If your goal itself is only to the height of the tree, you will not even move from the ground.

Only a person who is excited about moksha, only who is inspired about seeking, who is passionate about doing research in the inner field, inner space; you will see without any effort, dharma follows him. He doesn’t have to follow dharma, dharma will follow him. So neither bother nor think, ‘are you growing spiritually! Are you going near Enlightenment! What is your growth?’ You don’t have to stop and take record and accounts about your past. As long as you are stopping and taking record or accounts about your past. Be very clear, still the clear breakthrough has not happened. Clear breakthrough has not happened. When a clear breakthrough, the quantum leap happens, you don’t need, you will not be able to check whether you have grown, how much you have grown, what is your scale, nothing. You will not be able to do anything.

Actually, the Enlightenment, not only is not a continuity of you, after the quantum leap, you’ll be totally different species, different being. Your body may be looking like human being, but your whole inner space will be totally different. Your way of living will become totally different. So that is the Lakshya, that is the goal. Forget about all other small things.