Signs of an Enlightened Person?
Questioner: Acharya Ji, if someone is behaving in a certain way, like he always remains peaceful, meditative, joyful and never shows anger etc. By observing these patterns, can we tell whether the person is enlightened or not?
Acharya Prashant: Totally depends; ultimately that person has to answer this.
You can pay an actor sufficient money to enact all these roles. Is he liberated? And he’ll perform these roles to perfection. He’ll display tremendous resilience, angerlessness, patience, diligence, virtue. In fact, he will be more peaceful than peace itself. He will be more meditative than a Buddha.
Only the fellow can tell whether he is liberated. As long as there is somebody asking this question within, “Am I liberated?” Chances are, you are not. You have to be liberated from this question; the questioner itself, the bugger who keeps clamouring for liberation.
The question “Am I liberated?” is similar to the question “Am I not?” Had you not been there, who would ask this question? “I am liberated” is the same as saying “I am not;” I don’t exist. If you don’t exist, who is claiming liberation?
I often recall the days when we were kids. So, there would be these huge quilts, and on cold, silent, wintery nights four, five or six kids, all maximum 1.5 feet tall, would sneak inside these quilts just to have a little fun, some thrill. And the eldest of them would switch off the lights, and then from beneath the quilts one would say, “Main mar gaya!” and the other five would start shivering; “Oh my god, he’s dead!”
Then one would say, “Main nahi hoon!” and the other five would start scrambling, “Where is he gone! He’s not there!” So, it’s all very kiddish to say, “I am not.” You are not, when you are not even there to say whether you are, or you are not.
A guest has not arrived, will he say, “I have arrived?” Will he say, “I have not arrived?” He has just not arrived; he is just not there. Neither would he say, “I am there.” nor would he say, “I am not there.”
