I used to read Umair here, and then stopped because he stopped posting here. I'll have to resume.
As to "enlightenment", while the word is used in many ways I have personally experienced the textbook definition as explained by various Vedic sages and persons such as St. Francis of Assisi. The experiences have lasted hours, days, weeks, and in one case months.
It's always the same: I suddenly cease to identify with the mind and identify with the stillness within. This identification (some call it "non-identification") continues for the duration of the experience.
This simple shift has many consequences:
* Bliss is ever-present, in varying degrees, even in the presence of pain.
* Everything happens on automatic pilot. The mind thinks thoughts, the body takes actions, and I (in such times) am simply the Witness.
* The mysterious Vedic phrase, "He is asleep when he is awake, and awake when he is asleep", which has confounded scholars who have tried to analyse it intellectually, is crystal-clear in its truth. When the body gets tired, it lies down and the mind shuts off. There is simply awareness (i.e. being awake) without an object of awareness until the body resumes activity. During daily activities, the subjective experience is of Witnessing from a distance, as if in a dream (asleep).
I have reason to believe that there are at least two "higher" states of enlightenment, though I have not personally tasted either.
FWIW, my "tastes" of enlightenment have always been precipitated by a sense of one-pointed devotion to a magnificent vision of service, without regard for the small concerns of daily life. Three of them happened during sacramental medicinal journeys, taken with deep regard for set (clear, focused intention), setting (physical environment and companions), and--when appropriate--a sitter; an experienced guide.
I have reached a point where I actually don't care whether I "achieve" enlightenment in this life or not. My interest in it is twofold: (1) from that state, all actions will be of best service to the purpose, and (2) I will be as magnetic as possible to attract others to join me in serving that purpose; basically embodying the famous quote from When Harry Met Sally, "I'll have what (he's) having."
