From Darkness to Light

From Spiritual Evolution

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FDL Bibliography
Ed. Steve Beckow
The cross-cultural dictionary of enlightenment that follows draws on the words of saints and sages from all
centuries and paths. It demonstrates that, while they may use different terms, all the masters of enlightenment
are talking about the same thing. Behind all religions and spiritual paths is a perennial philosophy or ancient
wisdom that reflects the Divine Plan for life, discussed in these pages.
Three themes are pursued here. The first is that enlightenment is the purpose of life. All the masters cited here
agree that, if we do a hundred things in life and do not realize God, it is as if we had done nothing. Realizing
God, knowing our own true nature, liberating ourselves from the cycle of birth and death are all ways of
speaking about the same thing enlightenment, the goal and purpose of life.
The second theme is that there are three levels of reality that we are to know or realize fully to complete this
human round of existence. They are known to different religions by different names. Christians call them the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Hindus call them Brahman, Atman, and Shakti. (1) They could be described as the
Transcendental, the Transcendental in the Phenomenal, and the Phenomenal.
We are to scale the ladder of realization from knowledge of the Child of God, as I prefer to call It, to knowledge
of God the Mother, to knowledge of God the Father. But we must know the Father in two senses, the second
sense being of further reach than the first. The first sense is to know that "I am God" (Kevalya Nirvikalpa
Samadhi, Brahmajnana). The second sense is to know that "God is everything" (Sahaja [or permanent]
Nirvikalpa Samadhi, Vijnana). Upon reaching Sahaja, and not before, the heart (or hridayam) opens
permanently and we are liberated from the physical round of birth and death.
The third theme is that enlightenment goes on so far down the road, taking us to domains higher than the
human, that we may as well say that enlightenment is endless. It is certainly endless as far as we are capable of
seeing. While some years ago, I considered Brahmajnana to be full and complete enlightenment, I am now
aware of so many levels beyond it that my mind cannot form a picture of what beings are like who have scaled
the loftier peaks. It may be more useful to speak about Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi as a goal and to take another
look from there.
The fact that enlightenment is virtually endless can lead to some difficulties in communication. Some writers
will use the same word "enlightenment" to refer to events located at different places on the spectrum of
illumination. Some may call "spiritual awakening" enlightenment; some may use the term to refer to "baptism
by the Holy Ghost"; some to Brahmajnana; others to Sahaja or to the higher level of Nirvana. The one word is
used to fit all events, a practice that is not accurate and blurs useful distinctions.

As an unenlightened being, I am not in a place to edit the texts of the masters so as to favour one overall
representational scheme of enlightenment. But leaving their teachings as they are does run the risk of causing
some confusion on the reader's part. Until an enlightened sage or company of sages standardizes the use of
terms in this area of spirituality, I am obliged to risk confusion and favour fidelity.
A second difficulty is that some may refer to the same event by different names. I suspect, though I do not know
for certain, that the following names all refer to the same stage of enlightenment: Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi,
Vijnana, Turiyatita, and the experience of No-Self. Only a sage could clarify the situation. I invite the large
number of sages incarnated on the Earth at the present time to turn their attention to the subject of the levels of
enlightenment and assist us to obtain consistency in the area.
All abbreviations of titles are fully cited in the Bibliography.
You are welcome to borrow from these pages freely. No attribution is necessary. My only aim here is to have
enlightenment be understood. If you take this material and write your own book with it, I am happy.
Blessings,
Steve Beckow
Footnotes
(1) Note that the Christian Trinity is not equivalent to the Hindu Trimurthy of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva,
which is a personification of the gunas of rajas, sattwa, and thamas and, hence, a subset of Shakti. See Swami
Ramakrishnananda, God and Divine Incarnations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1986, 107. See also
"Religious Reunification, at http://goldenageofgaia.com/spiritual-essays/cross-cultural-spirituality/religiousreunification/
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FDL Bibliography
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