Wishful Thinking There are those who believe that if they’re not experiencing giddiness or euphoria, they could not be Self-realized. Their idea is that enlightenment ought to provide at least the thrill of a roller coaster ride, only just more persistently. Ecstasy is a product created in an illicit lab, it’s not a reward for awakening from self-centeredness. There is, indeed with Self-realization, a feeling of relief or release, a relaxation of tension, and a sense of peacefulness: because now there is no “self” to fret over, no “others” to chronically react to, nor even a “God” to be petulantly judged by. There is a placid state of contentment for which the word “bliss,” misleadingly, comes nearest to describing. This bliss is more accurately defined as equilibrium, a recognition that all things are equal in their sameness of ultimate, or absolute, nature. In the Sanskrit scriptures, the word is ananda, and it is clearly a consequence of Self-realization. The constant abiding in ananda is what is known as Sahaja Samadhi, the perception of “no self.” As Ramana states: “There is no difference between the enlightened and the unenlightened in their conduct: the difference lies only in their perception. The unenlightened identifies himself with the ego…whereas the ego of the enlightened has been lost… “To realize bliss, one realizes the Self…. Self-realization is bliss; it is realizing the Self as the limitless…. The ego is lost, and bliss remains…. Thus the Self is realized,
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