Chapter 14 Nature of Enlightenment

Enlightenment is a beginning without an end. Meditation is entering the inner world. This journey has no end. "No end" means the door is open and remains open until the door itself becomes the universe. Meditation blooms like a flower, continuing to bloom until the flower itself becomes the universe. This journey has no end; it has a beginning, but it never ends. Enlightenment has no degrees of depth. Once you are enlightened, you are enlightened. It's like jumping into the ocean. You jump in, you become one with it, just as a drop of water falls into the sea and becomes one with it. But that doesn't mean you've already understood the entire ocean.

That moment is total: the moment of abandoning the self, the moment of eliminating the self, the moment of selflessness is total; it is complete. As far as you are concerned, it is perfect. But for the ocean, for that divinity, it is only a beginning, and there will be no end.

Remember this: ignorance has no beginning, but it has an end. You can't know where your ignorance began; you keep finding it there, and you're always stuck in the mire of ignorance. You never know where it started; there was no beginning.

Ignorance has no beginning but an end. Enlightenment has a beginning but no end. Yet these two become one, they are one. The beginning of enlightenment and the end of ignorance are the same point. It is the same point, a dangerous point with two faces: one facing the beginningless ignorance, and the other facing the beginningless enlightenment.

So you have attained enlightenment, but you have never truly reached it. You have come to it, you have fallen into it, you have become one with it, but there is still a vast unknown existing. That is the beauty of enlightenment, that is the mystery of enlightenment.

If enlightenment meant knowing everything, then there would be no mystery; if everything were known, the whole thing would be ugly, there would be no mystery, and everything would be dead. Therefore, enlightenment is not "knowing" in this sense; it's not a suicidal kind of "knowing." It's an entry point into a greater mystery. "Knowing" means you already know there is a mystery, you are aware of the mystery. It doesn't mean you've solved the mystery; it doesn't mean there's a mathematical formula that makes everything clear. Rather, the knowing of enlightenment means you've reached the point where the mystery becomes the ultimate purpose. You already know it's the ultimate mystery, you already know it's a mystery, and now it's become so mysterious that you no longer expect to solve it. Now, you no longer hold any hope.

However, it is not despair, it is not disappointment; it is simply the realization of the nature of mystery. Mystery is so inexplicable; mystery is so such that any attempt to find its solution is absurd; mystery is so such that any attempt to arrive at a solution through intellect is meaningless. You have reached the end of thought. Now, there is no more thought; knowing begins.

But this is something different from scientific "knowing." The word "science" means to know, but this knowledge makes the mystery no longer a mystery. Religious knowledge is the opposite; it doesn't unravel the mysteries of reality, but rather makes everything that was previously known mysterious again, even things you were once certain of, absolutely certain of. Now even the door is gone. In a sense, everything becomes doorless—endless, unsolvable.

It must be recognized in this sense: it is the unique mystery of participating in existence; it is saying "yes" to the mystery of life. Reason, that is, the theory of reason, no longer exists; you confront it directly. This is an existential encounter, not through the mind, but through you, you as a whole. Now you can feel it from every place: from your body, your eyes, your hands, your heart. The whole personality comes into contact with the whole mystery.

This is just the beginning. There will never be an end, because an end would mean the loss of mystery. This is the beginning of enlightenment. Enlightenment has no end, but this is the beginning. You can imagine the end of ignorance; but this state of mental enlightenment has no end; now you have jumped into a bottomless abyss.

- A beginning without an end

Enlightenment has a beginning but no end. That moment is total: the moment of abandoning the self, the moment of eliminating the self, the moment of selflessness is total; it is complete. For you, it is perfect. But for the ocean, for that divinity, it is only a beginning, and there will be no end.

- Continuous state of awareness

Enlightenment means you have reached the point where the mystery becomes the ultimate purpose. You know it is the ultimate mystery, you know it is a mystery, and now it has become so mysterious that you no longer expect to unravel it. This is an existential encounter, not through the mind, but through you, you as a whole. Now you can feel it from every place: from your body, your eyes, your hands, your heart. The whole personality has come into contact with the whole mystery.

- Not the goal, but the beginning

Enlightenment is not "knowing" in this sense; it is not a suicidal kind of "knowing." It is an entrance into a greater mystery. This is just the beginning. There will never be an end, because an end would mean the loss of mystery. This is the beginning of enlightenment.

You can imagine it from many perspectives. If one reaches this state of mind through Kundalini, it will be an endless blooming. The 1000 petals of Sahasra don't actually refer to 1000; "1000" simply means the maximum number, implying that the petals blooming in Kundalini are infinite, they will keep blooming, endlessly. So, you will know the first bloom, but there will be no last, because it has no end. One can reach this point through Kundalini, or through other means. Kundalini is not essential.

Those who attain enlightenment through other means also reach the same point, but the name will be different, the symbolism will be different. Your imagination of it will also be different, because what is happening cannot be described, and what is described is not entirely what is happening. Description is just a metaphor; description is metaphorical. You can say enlightenment is like a flower blooming, even though there is no flower there. But the feeling is like you are a flower beginning to bloom—that feeling of blooming. But another person will have a different imagination. He might say, "It's like the opening of a door, a door to infinity, a door that is always open." So, one can use anything.