How To Become Enlightened
By Leo Gura - May 25, 2015 | 190 Comments
The exact step by step process revealed!
Thomas says: Leo,
I was struggling with the translation of a precifer, is it like a other word for receiver?
I have read a books from Brandon Bays that comes up with those methods to actually start to crack your mind but i never experienced it like your words dude! great job again on conceptualize the matter to understandable concepts.
chris says: how was that not valid
chris says: Oh your site doesn’t like aster-exes I’m guessing
I’ve seen I me u us Have You seen this? when I seen this I withdrew . It was too much at the time, and I’ve never really returned to it. yes I am all that is was and ever will be. I am the center of my universe . I don’t know where to go from there? Have I missed some truth ? How can you help?
I’D like to thank -you one way or another for your videos they are a great help in learning how to live life in a better way
frank says: Leo i’ve watched all your enlightenment videos and it is now a month that I have only it in my head but still i’m unable to decide if i really want to become enlightened. Why’s that? How to overcome this fear/indecisiveness? And another question this work can be done keeping up my mission statement in which i could put in to become enlightened? Thanks
Brent says: Frank, Leo has mentioned in other videos that this is the way the ego protects its current structure. That’s why it is very hard for people to have open minds sometimes because they think that their whole worldview will be shaken and they’ll have to make big paradigm shifts and how they live their life.
The way to overcome this is to ask yourself what the ego is hiding when it is fearful in pursuing something objectively.
Leo, this video had me sitting with COMPLETE attention, listening to your rap on enlightenment. I just started working with a Gurjdeiff group and these are the folks that have been pursuing enlightenment for years. So grateful for your directions and I have already begun moving towards this goal. Great video! Will be watching for your next installment.
Marjorie says: WOW! I’m speechless, i’m with you all the way. Wow!
Thank you for everything.
Noego Ross says: Dear mentor,
First off thank you for everything. Even though you don’t know my girlfriend and i you have been in our thoughts as well as our lives many times. We can’t wait to see you once you have achieved what you are seeking. hope you still plan on being a shepherd cause everybody needs a little Leo in their life. This is the first time i have wrote you and it will break my heart if you don’t write me back. we love you. can i come over…… I’m just messing with ya. ha ha . but i will live if your too busy to write me back. anyways you shifted my perception once again with this video. its been awhile since you have done that. I’m glad you still can make an epic video. another reason why I’m writing you is to ask you what you think of spirit science. They have some pretty mind blowing videos as well wouldn’t you agree………….. ha ha . bye.
Maria Madalina says: Dear Leo, thanks again for this deep topic, thanks for sharing, exactly your thouths your perception, your process of becoming whatever this is ! Not many people are doing that, you are helping a lot of us, of course a lot who wants to understand something, those people who want to apply awareness. I think what you are trying to show us here is that we are only the fiction of our mind. This is very interesting to think like this, because after all is a way of thinking, because like this you will get more easier through suffering for example, you understnad that is no suffering…the process of what u are talking about is in fact a process, when you look back and realize that yesterday you were not thinking like you are thinking today, yesterday you didn’t believe in paradoxes… and you realize you are just a fiction of your mind ! Btw: in romanian, Gura your name, means mouth ! Interesting how with your mouth you open people minds ! Interesting how your name was chosen he he
Ariana says: Leo. What sort of meditation do you do because it strikes me that what you’re drawing our attention to here mirrors what I have experienced on a Vipassana insight meditation retreat. It’s a 10 day silent retreat where you do mindfulness meditation, paying attention only to your beath initially and then to body sensations.
I didn’t achieve enlightenment when I did it before because I didn’t truly give myself over to the experience of it. But I’m going again. The teaching matches all of what you are teaching here. And it’s a fantastic opportunity to use the time to explore some of the questions you are raising. I shall be going again later in the year and intend to be open to experiencing what there is to experience.
Leo Gura says: Vipassana is a classic practice. I don’t do it though at home. I mostly focus on watching and releasing thoughts, as my How To Meditate video explains.
Ariana says: I don’t do the whole Vipassana thing at home. I mainly try and stay connected to my breath and observe thoughts and sensations and sounds as they arise. But I think doing a 10 day Vipassana silent meditation retreat is a fast track to enlightenment for those who are ready . And it’s a great kick start to developing one’s own meditation practise. Not for the faint hearted but readily accessible to all. And you can just offer a donation,not even nothing, if you can’t afford to pay. It’s very generous.
Khin says: Mr. Leo… Everything you are talking about is Vipassana. You should read some book about REAL Vipassana practice. I practice Vipassana and it is exactly the same as you said in all of your videos. Even the experiences were the same. The meditation methods were also the same. The “do nothing” technique, the “watching mind”, the “who am I” asking.. OMG… You said everything I learned when I was 15. I feel like you’re my teacher (The Buddhist monk and he is now in Burma) sitting in front of me and teaching me. I’d like to see you so much. I will never ever get tired of listen those kind of stuffs. I’d been to many places where people teach Buddha’s teaching but I’ve never seen someone teaching about the REAL enlightenment path in U.S. until I saw your video, it was like winning lottery. there’s no way I’ll be able to see you so I’ll just be waiting your videos about enlightenment.
Leo Gura says: To be accurate, Vipassana is one path, of many, towards enlightenment. All paths towards enlightenment share many commonalities. And yes, I do talk about techniques adapted from Vipassana. But that does not mean enlightenment = Vipassana.
Ariana says: If you’re interested in doing a Vipassana retreat, check out
dhamma.org.
It’s an amazing experience. And tough. Sitting still for 10 days from 4.30 am to 9 pm, with only a few breaks, is no walk in the park. The mind plays havoc to begin with. But then…. It’s worth it.
Also google Vipassana and enlightenment to read an interview with Goenka who brought Vipassana to the west.
Don’t be put off by the Buddhist connection. It’s secular and anyone can go.
Huge respect to the Buddha though, from where this all emanates.
UnleashThEnergy says: Time doesn’t exist either. Isn’t time also a perception? So why should present time matter either? That’s also not real either. Shouldn’t we also jailbreak time?
My own thought was always that it all exists together(or doesn’t exist). Past, future, present all happen at the same time!
Leo Gura says: That’s right. But time isn’t a perception. Time is a concept, a thought.
There is the Absolute Now. Which is none other than reality happening right now. It’s never happened anytime else, although thoughts surely would have us believe otherwise.
Galina says: Dear Leo,
I have one question: If I never had my childhood, if it is only illusion, past and future do not exist how come that the body getting older? Because it seems surely like a liner process.
I am thinking about it all day and watching videos and still I do not understand. If Present Moment is everything I have it should be frozen.
Leo Gura says: Hehe, no, the present moment shouldn’t be frozen. You are still thinking about it as a point on a timeline. There is no timeline at all! The Absolute Now is NOT a point on a timeline. It is simply what reality is. Time, including past, future, and even the ordinary understanding of present, are all conceptualizations. They are ideas in the mind which are couched inside of the Absolute Now. Check for yourself. Have you ever experienced anything but this moment right now? If you look carefully, you’ll realize the answer is No. Anything you think of that happened in the past, is actually happening right now in your mind. And anything you think of that will happen in the future, is actually happening right now in your mind. So past and future are literally fictions occurring in the present! Pretty cool stuff, eh?
Chris daykin says: Ok, I understand what you’re saying (I think) my question is : why? You say the benefits of enlightenment far outweigh the effort to get there. So what is is the benefit? Peace, happiness, prosperity? Escape from mind viruses? Once you come to the realization that you are nothing .. how does this help you in a world of … well, false reality … I suppose it enables you to say, douse yourself with gas and light your self on fire in protest .. if you wanted to … because you don’t actually exist anyway … I’m just curious what you believe the benefit is.
Thanks
frank says: Watch the spiritual enlightenment-intro video and also the enlightenment FAQ part 2, all the benefits are explained veri well
Leo Gura says: What if benefit and value are illusions? Who is seeking to be benefited? Does such an entity exist?
Chris daykin says: Ok that was a non-answer … Why the fuck would I spend 40 years becoming enlightened if there is no benefit and or only to find out that there is no one to gain any benefit … seems like an exercise in futility … and you said the benefit outweighs the effort … just asking for a little clarification .. not some esoteric mumbo jumbo … “it’s a riddle wrapped in an inigma” – btw no worries, I’m not upset and you don’t have to answer .. I was on a path to enlightenment long before I discovered your videos … what else is there to do … living in this phony material world of illusion certainly hasn’t brought much peace to my journey
Chris daykin says: Lol … ok the answer is … “don’t skip the previous videos – dumb ass” (as Frank previously pointed out)
frank says: Chris if it’s any consolation, neither I liked Leo’s answer! At the world there is need of much more, not of this rhetoric shit!!!
Chris daykin says: Unfortunately we still live in a “world of 10,000 things” and as enlightened as you may become, there are still bills to pay. Sounds like “enlightenment” is more or less the idea that consciousness is basically an accident, that we are all living a shared delusion that is based on the stories we _tell ourselves … there is no “higher intelligence” in the universe and in reality life or death doesn’t matter.
So fuck it, not reason for morality.
Even before I started my journey of self development, I believed we came from cosmic energy and that’s where we return. I resist believing life is an accident and serves no higher purpose. If we are nothing and everything – we are something.
UnleashThEnergy says: Ego asks for benefit. Also it’s ego that creates all the suffering. The selfishness comes from ego and it causes all the problems.
When you become enlightened, you will see reality. Reality isn’t about benefits or sufferings. Reality is just is. It’s only happiness. There will be no suffering.
If you wanna call it a benefit, do it! But it’s an egoic question anyway. You won’t ask it anymore when you become enlightened.
Chris daykin says: Seems to me Ego is going by the name “unleashThEnergy” – “reality is only happiness and no suffering”, really? I think you mean death … if reality is death, why is there life? And I’m pretty sure “egoic” is not a word.
Leo Gura says: You have much to learn, Grasshopper.
Chris daykin says: No doubt, i dont pretend to have all the answers, and I enjoy the journey, so thats fine.
Kin says: Hi Chris….
I don’t know if you like knowing the truth, the actual world, but if you realize the fact that there is no you or I or no entity exists, the very first benefit is you won’t be depressed by any situation in your life. Because you realized you don’t really own your body or your mind (thoughts). No you! And being enlightened is the greatest achievement of all because you will always be in peace. Well… You see, humans want happiness. They think they will be happy if they get this or that such as house, cars, degrees or popularity. So they exhaust themselves trying for those materials and statuses thinking of getting happiness. But are those people really happy?! No…! They need more and more. This after that. Now you are also asking to have that kind of happiness, the benefits. Because in our lives we always do things in order to get something back. We do things with desire, needs, and greed. People will be depressed, unhappy and worried thinking and imagining all those things that doesn’t even exist or exist anymore in the present. Enlightenment is realizing what’s real and what’s not real. I know it’s really hard to feel that body, those senses, and thoughts as you don’t own them or you don’t have complete control of it. But when someone say there is no You, don’t try to answer it yet. Be curious! You don’t have to believe it, agree it but just simply remember that Leo said there is no you then search into yourself while watching Leo’s videos.
Beside…hi Mr. Leo, you should do another long video of guided meditation. I love them.
Adrian says: Leo, the videos just keeping better. But can we open our eyes yet?! Haha!
Joe says: Man this is crazy I’ve got a little story
As a kid I was really introverted and deep and I remember pretty clearly, just wondering and questioning with myself about who I am, and am I what others see me as?, am I like my self image?, am I my body? am I my thoughts? am I my feelings?. and then I remember having this crazy moment of realization which must of been like a glimpse of enlightenment and it felt really meaningful and so deep i couldn’t comprehend or try and explain it. And then it just went and I was trying to get back to that state but it never happened. And over the years its just been confused and faded in my mind and I kind of turned it into a half understood idea which was making me feel depressed and overly laid back as though everything normal people worry or strive for was shallow and pointless. and then I came to a conclusion that there was something wrong with me and its really caused me a lot of pain,anxiety and depression. but after watching this i and your other videos i think i get it. I can just get on with my life and just dedicate some special time to working on this.
good shit
cheers leo
John says: Leo, serious question. Can this practise turn people insane? I mean litterally, with the constant battling of which thought is real and talking to yourself of what’s reality and what’s a thought. Are people born to become insane or could something like this turn someone insane? I feel this is a valid question.
Cheers for the videos I love them
Val says: Leo, first I wan’t to thank you to introduce to this concept. I was just looking for something that help me reconnect with my spirituality and was really uncomfortable with everything I find because I’m uncomfortable with the dogmatic staff of religions and such… But the concept of mindfulness and enlightenment brought an entirely different level of consciousness and awareness to me and sort of connected the dots of what I like about religions and attract me about my favorite books and ideas. It wasn’t easy to became enlightened but I finally did, the key for me wasn’t the the theory, cause I’m really curious about everything and read a lot, but to realize that my big ego was the real problem.
Since that, I have found tranquility, a sense of union with everything and a better sense of purpose. My problem is that is difficult for me to maintain this state of mind, is like my ego and fears want to came back. Any suggestion?
Clara says: Leo, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I got an engineering degree from A&M. I didn’t realize it, but I’ve been searching for something that isn’t temporary, like relationships and friendships and feelings. At one point in my life I said fuck it I don’t care, nothing lasts. And that’s absolutely true, but its not a devastating thing.. There’s a lot of beauty in things when you start taking things personally.
Anyway, some gurus say there is a timeless essence in us, something that is always there and that is the present moment itself, which is ever changing and dynamic.
Looking forward to your next video. I like it if you go more into the perception of the perceiver which is just another perception. Something about the way you explained it jolted something in me.
Thanks
Eelco says: Leo, if I see my body as a desktop computer: computer=brain, microphone=ears, speakers=mouth, keyboard=tactile sense, power adapter=digestive system, monitor=expressions, etc. Most of the hardware you can take away and I would still be me. Am I the software? Two twin brothers can be programmed (raised) by different programmers (parents) if they are programmed in different countries and have complete different software. i.e. English / Chinese.
Or are we the firmware? software and firmware are both programmed by an external world and do not really exist. They are not physical. What is the software? does the software listen to an external boss? the person behind the computer? Then if we are the software, who is the one behind the keyboard? Am I thinking in the right direction?
Leo Gura says: What you’re doing is scratching your nuts
Eelco says: Yes. Maybe you’re right. I’ll keep looking. I can see and feel my hands but I am not my hands and feet. I might own them like the rest of my body.
I must exist somewhere in my brain. I can see memories, feel emotions, perceive thoughts, but I am not memories nor emotions. I perceive them.
But what am I? Where am I? I try to pinpoint where or what it is what I am.
But thinking comes only with practical answers.
I really have to keep looking to see what I am.
But I am beginning to get afraid that it is not much.
I already found out that 90% of my body is not me, even half of my brain is not me. I am afraid that the thing I am is so small it’s infinite small.
Leo Gura says: Haha, look how you twist and squirm to justify your existence! You’re smaller than infinitely small: you ain’t there at all! Keep looking.
al says: thanks dude
Val says: Leo,
I think it would be very helpful that you make a short enlightenment video in a positive and assertive tone, not to explain about what enlightenment is, but to achieve the mindset when we loose track. Bringing the basic concepts to that mindset to people that are familiarized with them: reality is right now, mindfulness, break the ego, consciousness, porpoise.
Just a sugestion.
Best,
Val.
Since the initial breakthrough, things’ve been awesome. I have a profound desire to share this knowledge with people but it is of course ridiculously hard to. I see the value of a huge vocabulary and really feeling the understanding that each word signifies. If the voice is a directory system for the mind and thoughts having feelings, the precise meaning of words can be felt and understood as a feeling. So the more appropriate the word, the more accurately it can be understood or felt. Anyway… away from the conceptualising. I was naive enough to feel I could share this experience so easily as the truth was so crystal clear and hilariously simple. Nope… Had to get my thinking in check there… I’d broken through at the top and needed to work backwards to attain some extra wisdom to help me deal with my exciting new sense of awareness.
I did some research into which schools and disciplines would be the best to study to help apply more mental labels for the insight I achieved in order to navigate and trigger my senses better… also hoping I’d find more accurate ways to share this with people and help them attain more control over “the feeling of thought” required to reach this state. After looking into Taoism, Buddhism, Spiritualism websites and blogs etc, it appeared that Zen Buddhism appealed to me most as more direct and less religious. There are two schools, Soto and Rinzai. As I understand it, Soto bases itself more on practising Zazen for it’s own sake whilst the somewhat less “popular” Rinzai school also suggests meditating upon stories called Koans to trigger enlightenment of various principles/ morals/ pillars of wisdom.
After managing to fully digest a few Koans, I could see that it worked. When you fully understand the nature of the story and it’s morals without thought, you literally experience an awakening like a bitesize version of THE enlightenment expereience, the truth of self. Each Koan, when properly apsorped is lke a little pillar of wisdom opening within you. New knowledge, merging with your perception. I’m using the same methods of awakening to help me learn the wisdom required to maintain balance in this exciting new world! You have to be really self honest when doing these of course. It is not just knowing and speculating on the story. You know when you’ve got it because your perception literally assimilates it and changes somehow. For the list of “Koans” I’ve been using, google this: ashidakim zenkoans
Hope this is helpful, and of course, massive thanks once again to you Leo, you gave me the keys to a “mental Lamborghini”! A few months ago, if you had told me I’d accidentally become some sort of Zen Bhuddist, i’d’ve probably sneered
Leo Gura says: Check the top book in the consciousness section of my book list. It would be great value to you. I’m also gonna be adding a few more really powerful books on consciousness to the list really soon.
Kaz says: Hi All,
I couldn’t find the top book in the consciousness book list because it wouldn’t highlight to click?? what am I doing wrong?
Thanks
You can unlock the full book list for a very small fee which can be found at actualized(dot)org/books. If you think this is a cheeky response, consider the value of a growing list featuring over 140+ books that Leo has learned from, recommended and rated the value of. If nothing else, I’m more than happy to pay $19.95 as a small token of how much his work has benefited me!
neil byrne says: what do you do if everything about life completely overwhelms you???
Leo Gura says: Handle the basic stuff first. Don’t worry about enlightenment for now.
neil byrne says: hey Leo, an amazing thing happened to me while watching this video, when you said to close your eyes I closed my eyes and as clear as I have ever seen anything in my head I seen a picture of the number 1, I was thinking wow why am I seeing something this clearly and you then said imagine in your head you have 1 million in your bank account. it was amazing.
noego says: What are your thoughts on spirit science Leo?
Maximoso says: Great explanation. Dead on. Thanks Leo
Kay says: Leo one question has stopped me from moving forward in my enlightenment practices. Why do we want to become enlightened? You already explained in the intro videos about its benefits but isn’t this desire to become enlightened coming from our ego?
Natasha says: The part I am struggling with is if you don’t experience something with any of your 5 senses, it’s not real then. Like Leo said about a car that you turn your back to. If the car sits there in the parking lot and I don’t touch, see, hear, taste, smell the car, but someone else does one or more of those at the same exact moment, does it make the car not real to me and real to the other person? I seem to not be able to reconcile with this statement.
Leo Gura says: Notice that other people’s ability to see or perceive things, is for you, just a mental story and not reality.
Galina says: That is where I am stuck, Leo, too!
Is the whole world “sits in my head” is the only reality that is one that I experience right now? I get that everything just a story, but I am not sure if I have any rights to deny other’s people existence. Can you please explain this to me when have time.
Other people is just illusion, am I correct? But then i remember you said: ” what we are claiming here is that you do not exist, but the world does”
How can it (World) exist without my Awareness?
Please explain to me, what is fake? me and world? or just me?
Leo Gura says: You are not going to understand that using language. To understand this is to become enlightened. And it doesn’t happen through symbolic understanding. It happens through being.
Notice that you are confused. That’s good! Don’t try to un-confuse yourself. That is the ego pulling you back into false certainty. Instead, cultivate don’t-know-mind. Be comfortable with the confusion and accept it. Your aim is to reach a genuine state of complete and utter not-knowing.
Enlightenment is not about knowing. It’s about not-knowing so deeply that it goes full-circle into profound non-linguistic knowing.
Andra says: Hi Leo,
During this exercise I arrived at the memory of a video in which Eckart Tolle says that “you” are a creative expression of the universe. As I experienced this memory, specifically imaginary light and sound in my mind, I felt really powerful and amazing. When you explained the movie analogy I had a big “OHHH” moment. I sum it up with one simple instruction to myself to “change how you see”, because change is almost always progress. Toward the end of your video I started to realize that I never even wondered how my lap top works and how incredible it is. I also tried this ball scratching exercise thing in front of the mirror, which was really fascinating. Have you tried that yet? I found myself wondering more about where the image exists that I’m seeing. In my mind? Where in my mind? How, because there’s no light in my mind? Am I imagination? Does the image exist behind the glass mirror or inside it?
Anyway, much luck, Leo! Thank you for encouraging me to explore the construct of “me”. lol
andra says: Aren’t I the thing that makes decisions? Don’t I choose to _____? Don’t choices come from thoughts? Where do thoughts come from?
The brain has so many sensations. Thoughts are a sensation of the brain. Sensory anything makes up reality. Wait so…thoughts as a sensation are a part of reality in this very moment, as well as any emotions attached to them. However, the content of thoughts is not real, like movies. Ok. Cool.
Leo Gura says: Find the thing that makes decision. Look for it.
It doesn’t exist!
kumar shubham says: leo,
are we humans limitless, can we do any thing in this very x math.pow(10,inf.)
i.e. can i go to star and start a living or step on sun without a burn… leo your words give me thousands of possibilities
in the end…..
YOU ROCK!!!!!
yogikeung says: Leo, can you please publish the transcript to this video? I would like to experience this process from the written word.
Thank you
Robin says: How can two people verify if what they see is the same ? ,what if they see it 100% differently but still agree on what it is.
Example a color: yellow.If two friends A & B look at a lemon they will agree in a heart beat that yes its yellow may be a different shade of yellow but yes its yellow.what if when A for the first time saw a color and was told by everyone that its yellow like his parents ,teachers or anyone ,but in actual he saw the color red or any other color but he calls it as yellow,and like wise for B for the first time he might have seen green and was told its yellow now he calls it yellow and everyone else also calls it yellow.In fact the ones who taught them also might see it differently but they all in consensus call it yellow because of what they learned.Now how can A and B verify it ?
Leo Gura says: In philosophy that’s called the Reverse Spectrum Problem. Indeed you cannot tell what another perceives. You cannot even be sure that another exists at all!
Jay says: If we were all enlightened and silence “The Voice” would we progress??
Science is only here because of “The Voice”, correct?
Would language exist?
How would we all make choices?
Or are all of us making choices purely from a subconscious survival type of stand point? But would that disappear with us eliminating The Voice?
These little questions are the only thing that really has me confused. I’m working extremely hard on becoming enlightened and it has changed my life in so many ways. I just want to figure those questions out. But maybe it will all make sense once I reach “enlightenment”.
I’m also stuck in trying to wake other people up (especially my girlfriend who I would enjoy spending my life with). I know you can’t change people, but now I almost feel annoyed that I can’t at least try to wake others up. And now it’s weird to play along with society and people with “everyday things”.
There’s a ton of work to be done, but I’m extremely excited to be on this journey!
Really realize how often I said “I”. Hahaha!
Leo Gura says: Practical thought has its uses and it’s NOT going away. The Voice will still be there. There’s only a problem when you believe you are The Voice.
Notice that trying to “convert” others to enlightenment is just a distraction from doing the work. Your girlfriend will naturally wanna follow you if you become enlightened for real. So do it instead of talking about it.
Graviton says: I never got into this stuff before, i always liked the idea of an empty mind but it was rather due to an assumption of it being an escape from reality, not being the reality itself. I am a physics student and thinking is kind of part of my life, new ideas only come if the stream of thoughts are allowed to run, i have to think about stars and galaxies even though they are never in my direct perception. But thats not the real problem, the problem is there are infact certain things that i can only do if i involve my ego, without the ego they are not possible, like for example i need the ego to stay motivated, to eat healthy stuff, i mean why would i even differentiate between good or bad, if things are just neutral to me. I really wanna experience enlightenment but the only thing that is stopping me to go that road is how to live after that, even though the conceptualization of self brings negative emotions and is not real but it apparently takes the responsibility for this body too, even though its just to feel smug and special in the crowd it keeps the body healthy.
Graviton says: Continue—
Just like the ego is paradoxical and inescapable, I speculate that enlightenment is similar too, I think when i will reach there, i wouldn’t even ask these questions, the thoughts, the voices wont have any power then, but even then i will need to make decisions about life, i still would need to work hard to get better at things, to make this body become able, to grow. But if enlightenment is what you are trying to say it is, and there won’t even be any fear of death because there is no me to die, then there is no me to live too, there is just this consciousness and i dont understand how this conscious space can do things without a concept of self, and if it can’t do such things then how can a person like me ever experience complete enlightenment without abandoning everything and going to the himalayas
Leo Gura says: There is no ego! There is no you! There is no one who is thinking. There is no one who is seeing. There is no one who is reading this comment because YOU do not exist! Like Santa Claus. Take a look!
Why would a physicist want to believe in something that doesn’t exist?
Graviton says: So are you saying that the thinking remains after enlightenment, just the thinker dies? and if that’s so if there would be a thought to drink the water, would the body go and drink it? or it just won’t identify with the thoughts
There are certain things that are simply omitted in the practice of physics, physics is basically the description of how multiple events in the same sequence are related to one another, if each and every time this chain of events is identical then physics can play in, what physics do after that is that it assigns labels to different aspects of those events and mathematically describe the certainty through which these labels are connected. That’s the whole practice of physics. But the thing that always bothers me is that the knowledge as we know it just has one form, its just the auditory data connected to the visual data, what they create together are labels. What You can ever know about the reality from any other person or any subject is nothing but a bunch of labels, what even physics will tell us in the end about the origin of the universe would probably be a label, maybe in the form of a mathematical equation. But i think there is more to the reality than this, things that can never be known through the so called labels, things just are, and nothing can be done about it. And for your answer thats exactly what most of the physicists do, believe in something that doesn’t exist.
Leo Gura says: The thinker cannot die because it never existed in the first place. There is no thinker right now reading this sentence. See that? All there is is a sentence and a body reading it, but this body is not “you”.
Physics is useful and accurately describes certain aspects of reality, but in a domain which is very different than what we’re concerned with here. Physics completely ignores (and perhaps even denies) first-person phenomenon and doesn’t even try to account for them.
Graviton says: Yeah i guess i have to dive in the ocean to experience the rest myself, thanks leo, I appreciate that you took time to answer.
janet says: Hello Leo! I watch and listen to all your videos and listen to your guided meditating over and over again to do my best! but this video is mind blowing! wow! this is really deep stuff! and l will relisten to it again and for sure will meditate and practice everyday during my meditation which l now do daily for 45mins to an hour! without fault!
Thank you Leo and so look forward to your videos! l can see l have a lot of work to do!
Nina Loncarevic says: Hey Leo,
First of all, thanks for this great no-bullshit video! It really is a rarity to come across such specific advice.
Now, I wanted to ask you – how can I get proof myself that enlightenment can be achieved in 3 to 24 months as you say (besides of course doing the process of looking)? Can you tell me where did you gather information on this?
Thanks!
Lerena says: Leo,
One question keeps coming to mind when I watch this video. If our perception of our own selves is just a perception and we’re much more, we’re this entire reality that we perceive as well, then why aren’t we able to tap into other forms of consciousness that exist in the reality we perceive? Why are we stuck to only one form of consciousness?
Leo Gura says: “Other forms of consciousness” << Notice this is a concept. An image in THIS ONE & ONLY form of consciousness. You have a model of reality in your mind that says that there are various beings with unique forms of personal consciousnesses + an external reality, but what if that's not how it works?
In practice this cannot be understood without enlightenment. Your sense of self is preventing a full understanding of the structure of consciousness. That understanding will not happen as long as the self "Lerena" is intact.
Lerena says: Ok, I see what you mean, sort of. It’s just extremely difficult to fathom. I get what you mean about the voice being non-existent. It doesn’t exist in physical reality, we can’t touch it, it’s not real. It’s presented us a movie to watch, which keeps us in the matrix. But what is to be said about the control that it has on our bodies, ie. we think about getting up and going over to the other side of the room, so we do it or we tell ourselves what to say before we say it? How does it have this impact on our lives if it doesn’t matter?
Leo Gura says: It’s impossible for the self-mind to fathom it. That’s the whole problem. It can only be fathomed without a self. But that’s the last thing the self wants: to let go of itself.
The voice is existent. It is a real voice. But look at it closely. What actually is it? What are the things that it says? What is this thing called “Lerena”? Find it in the present moment. What’s it pointing to really?
You have to completely break down what thoughts are. Don’t believe anything I say. It won’t help. You have to sit down and break everything down yourself to see how the mind works.
Me says: Thank you for your awesome video! Fuel to your enlightement process!
Lerena says: Ok, I’m getting there slowly, I think. It’s going to take a LOT of practice, though. Thanks for the guidance and tips!
Rafael says: I found out that i was going a little bit offguard when listening to your lectures. This one put me back on track to being skeptical and queston everything i hear, as i deeply disagree. Thanks. And good luck with your search of enlightment.
Rafael says: And i forgot to thank you for your other lectures, the ones about selfdevelopment are really helpfull to me. I already made some progress. Thanks!
me says: fuck it, i’m wishing death on myself already
me says: there is no “myself” to wish “death” on, and there is no “death” to wish, because there is nothing to “dye”, and there is also nothing to “wish”. there is only silence now, how the fuck am i supposed to move on? there is no i to move, and no move to be done… silence… can i go and live with you so you can teach me, help me? there is no i to go, no you to live with, no me to be tough or helped, so there is no teaching and there is no helping to be done. there is no me to live a life, no life to be liven by me, so there is only life, i am life, what i hear, smell, feel, taste and see, but there is nothing and there is noone to hear, smell, feel, taste and see… fuck it, im tired, and im going to bed.
Leo Gura says: Gooooood! Stay with that. Keep looking at it deeper. Who is trying to figure this out? What is that thing?
tracy steurer says: I can understand that a thought about a particular thing is not the actual thing itself. For example a thought about my mother is just a thought it is not my actual mother. However I still get confused about this whole idea that thoughts have nothing to do with reality, reality is ONLY what I can perceive in the present moment. This is because I still can’t help thinking that thoughts still REPRESENT something that really exists which is outside of my immediate experience. For example: I just saw my mother ten minutes ago. I am now in another room and I can’t see her but I do know beyond any doubt whatsoever there is a body that exists somewhere in space, which I call my mother. The only thing I can’t be sure of is whether that body is still alive (she could have died in the last ten minutes) and I don’t know exactly where this body is (she could have gone from the place I last saw her). I do know however a body must exist somewhere on this earth because even if my mother died in the last ten minutes I have learnt in my life that a dead body cannot completely disintergrate into nothing in ten minutes. So to me the thought “a body exists somewhere in space which I call my mother” does in fact represent something that definitely exists in reality. So I do agree a thought in itself is not actual reality but a thought does REPRESENT something that does actually exist in reality. So in a way thoughts are not a complete fiction.
Leo Gura says: What is all the above but another thought? A thought and nothing more!
“A body must exist somewhere…”
It must? Who told you so? Oh, a thought did? So it must be true? A thought is true simply because it is thought to be true? Who told you there are bodies in the first place? Is a thought made out of a body, or are bodies made out of thoughts?
Who said that your mother’s body isn’t actually you perceiving yourself? After all, the colors you see aren’t your mother! They are supposedly YOUR phenomena. So you have no experience of your mother at all. All you ever have is you.
Notice that any answer or objection you arrive at is just another thought.
Notice also that you yourself are a thought!
Leo, I hope this can, in turn, be of help to you.
I’ve been practising the Silva method 3,2,1 guided meditation & today I directly followed it up with your guided meditation from the enlightenment part 3 video.
Last night I managed to trigger the Satori/ Enlightenment state again. I assigned the number 0 (Zen’s Enso symbol anyway) to it like in 3,2,1. Today I struck enlightenment after your meditation, following 3,2,1 & affirmed it further to the number 0.
I can help to trigger the state using 0 & keep within it, by allowing myself to detach myself from the desire or knowledge of Enlightenment or Zen once it has been triggered.
Easier said, I’m starting to realise that the way to great, lasting enlightenment is by triggering it (what I now consider the 0 state) then detaching from it. Once you have a small taste of enlightenment or a handful, it’s so very easy to keep chasing it & in doing so, further distance yourself from it. Learn to trigger it very simply then let it go & eventually, it becomes second nature!
Amp says: Hi Leo, pretty interesting material I observed for the past few days here.
I’d like to share my experience on this one. Oh yes, pardon my English, not my first Language.
Amp says: Who am I?
I’m not my body neither my mind. I’m everything and nothing at the same time. I’m reality. My body, mind and senses are used just to play inside the matrix build by reality.
Amp says: Reality? Wait, I’m reality. So I build all of it. Awesome. No wait, it is not only me, there are billions of us who have a body to play and build things, matrix. All of us represent reality.
Amp says: Can reality communicate with reality? How? By using its toys: body and mind which can talk, type, see and smile. When my toy typing now your toy will read it and have some kind of thoughts produced by your toy’s brains. Than your toys fingers might even type me back something. Awesome!
Amp says: No more, Matrix took over with message Please Enter a Valid Message
Leo Gura says: You may have triggered a spam filter posting that quickly. Or you may have tried to post a link or a message with some special characters like HTML.
Amp says: let’s try now:
Now, what is actually Leo, Real Leo (awareness) going to do while his toy reading my thoughts? Real Leo is going to exist. That’s all. Hmm, there has to be more to it. There should be some connection(s) between Real Leo and his toy. Otherwise how’s Real Leo going to know that I wrote something here?
I know that Real Leo answers here and not his toy because his toy doesn’t believe in all of this, or does he now? Toy lives in a matrix and can’t see outside of it. It must be Real Leo who uses his toy fingers to answer here. Oh-no wait a sec, is it possible that there is a small awareness inside Leo’s toy (body) too?
Wait a second, I know what it’s. Some toys call it a ‘soul’, some ‘higher self’ and there are other names. What is a ‘soul’? Can it be a piece of reality inside the body or since reality is everywhere it’s also inside everything including body?
Hmm, perhaps it has to be some kind of ‘mini’ reality which is also infinite inside the body because reality is always infinite. Is my reality the same reality as reality inside Leo’s body?
Hmm, it might be but when how’s Real Leo different from Real Me? Is the difference only in Body and mind and Real Leo and Real Me are the same? Are we just playing with different toys here but we’re all the same? Interesting, no need for REAL ME to talk to REAL LEO if we’re the same. So it’s toy to toy chat? hmmm…
Amp says: So if my toy wrights something to upset Leo’s toy, Leo’s toy will not write back. Why? His brains are trained not to pay attention to it or Real Leo behind all of it. But the question is what the Real Leo will do? Well, nothing, he’s just aware and exist. Is it true that Real Leo always does nothing, just exists?
No, there have to be more to it. At least Real Leo should be able to play with his toy. Ha, no way something isn’t right here. My toy’s mind got confused and Real Me can’t help it. Why? Because it can only exist, no more and no less, or perhaps because it exists outside or my toy existence (matrix). No, that can’t be, reality is everywhere even inside the matrix and inside me. So why is Real Me can’t help my body and mind to understand this?
Maybe my mind don’t listen to it, it doesn’t know how to listen to Real Me. That’s it. I need to ask Real Me to teach my body/mind about reality. Oh No, my brain won’t listen. It knows better that all of it is BS. What do I do? ‘I’, who am I talking about? Real Me or my toy?
‘I’, I need to believe in Real Me and make my toy listen to it. But how? After so many years my toy’s brain KNOWS better who I’m and what to do. How do I change it quickly and not painfully?
Ron says: Hi Leo, I am a young man (twenty years old) who wants to get things done well with life. And because of this I’ve inevitably ended up inquiring about spiritual teachings. Here’s the problem: the problem is that the more I study, I learn and I practice, the more paradoxically I don’t know where to turn my head! For example, I am used to follow Bentinho Massaro teachings, I feel them very close to me. Do you know something about him? The point is that there are some aspects of you spiritual teachers for which one would want to give up all and think that all your sayings are bullshit! I mean, in the last video I watched this guy practically said that he is an alien and he is in contact with them, or that he is considering the fact of leaving his body and all this kind of things! What should think a young boy like me?? I mean, I can “understand” the enlightenment, I can “understand” that there is no separation, and in fact I am working towards it, but when a guru says something like this I feel like to drop everything! Fuck enlightenment, fuck no self, fuck no free will, fuck all, I just want to live my life in the way I want it! I am almost ashamed of being able to admit as possible this kind of things! Can you understand me? If so, please can you give me a sincere advice? Really thanks a lot
Leo Gura says: Well, I can’t speak to all the crack-pots out there. There are certainly many.
The stuff I talk about is dogma-free. You don’t need to believe anything. You don’t need faith. You don’t even need me. No words will ever describe it. You’ll need to be extremely wise to navigate yourself to it.
If you seek the real Truth, no one will ever give it to you. You will have to rack your own mind for years to get it. And in the process, all your cherished beliefs about life will be destroyed.
Enlightenment is not “nice”. It’s brutal. This is not something you actually want. You cannot possibly want it because it means no more you. If what you want is a normal comfy life, then STAY AWAY.
But if you dare to know reality as it actually is, at any cost, then maybe enlightenment is for you. Just realize that it will destroy you. You gotta be cool with that.
Ron says: Thank you Leo for the reply and yeah I will dare to move myself towards to the real Truth: I know myself too well (this sounds very ironic ahhaha) to know that if there’s something out there (or in here so huge that someone else has found out and I do not, nothing can stop me from find it I too. But I will do it MY WAY: enough idolize the guru’s and everything they say (starting from you , enough thinking that the only way is the one indicated by them! I will drop all the guru’s stuff for which I just deeply feel that there’s something that doesn’t add up, and I will do this journey by myself. I think I find you in agreement with me on this. Thanks again
Nobel says: Hi Leo, Who is you master? Can you please let us know about your master and how he became enlightened?
Leo Gura says: Hehe… this is not Star Wars. I don’t have a master.
UnleashThEnergy says: Leo, I’ve been trying to ask myself the 3 fundamental question you raised. I’ve been coming up with all these answers and none of them sound satisfying. They all sound to be not me! I mean I understand that there is no answer to any of these questions. Saying that there is ” no me” is the best answer.
But what is it that I should understand further from this exercise? What’s the actual point of it?
Leo Gura says: Your problem is that you’re looking for a logical answer. Such an answer is always a false answer. The truth answer is an enlightenment experience. So what you’re seeking is the true answer, which will hit you like a lightening bolt to the head if you ever get it.
You’re just scraping the surface of this thing right now, which is why you’re lost. That is the process. You might be lost for several years as you keep asking the questions and failing to generate the real answer. You have to start questioning each thought that you have. Especially the thought which says, “There is no me.” That is NOT an experience of no-self, that is just an audible/visual/emotional phenomena. The actual no-self is a very different beast.
Ask yourself, “Who is perceiving that there is no me?” Don’t think about it, look for the answer in 1st person experience. It’s right there before you eyes. Don’t get lost in thoughts.
Robin Singh says: Are you enlightened ? if yes, how do u know ?
Even if you say ,how can we believe you ? May be its your own mind trap you don’t know off.
Frankly i don’t think you are enlightened.
Do you have a decent reply ?
Leo Gura says: I’m not enlightened, but I’ve recently had a brief enlightenment experience. It’s a very powerful experience. It will shock the shit out you. So you’re not gonna miss it.
You shouldn’t believe me, and my enlightenment status will not help you in any way. You need to spend hundreds of hours confirming it for yourself. You cannot believe your way into enlightenment.
olha says: Hey Leo,
“I” am doing a lot of meditation right now, but the buddhist way, training concentration, insight, wisdom and mindfulness. If you are doing the basic stuff the Buddha taught to archive enlightment, it should work the same way, but slower, going through all the stages (disidentificating from the body, feelings,thoughts,…).
My question is, do you really think it’s possible to just skip this stages and go right to the no-self question? Don’t you need all the other stuff first?
I would really appreciate an answer on your view of the main buddhist teachings and their effectiveness.
Leo Gura says: Disidentification from body, feelings, thoughts is part of the Who am I question and part of building mindfulness. So it’s all intimately related. But you can certainly shave years or even decades off the journey by cutting out the classical Buddhist stuff and going straight to the root of the issue: there is no self. Practicing mindfulness and meditation is very helpful in this work, so I recommend doing those. Don’t limit yourself though with “stages” or doctrines.
Eelco says: Leo, I am finishing book The Sedona Method. Do you think Lester Levenson was enlighted? He also disidentifies from body, thougths and emotions. And he let us see that just “being” can be the ultimate stage of happiness.
Leo Gura says: Good question. I dunno.
Eelco says: hahahaha. That felt like a keisaku!
Scott says: Yes Lester Levenson was definitely enlightened, I have studied him a lot and his work has helped me tremendously on my own enlightenment journey.
He doesn’t use the term Spiritual Enlightenment but instead talks about The Self(capital s!), God, Metaphysics, Truth. I have only seen the term Spiritual Enlightenment written on the front page of his autobiography, ‘No Attachments, No Aversions’.
Pauli Reunamo says: So, when we get the concept of “Me” or “I” and where this entity is, we think that its somewhere behind the eyes, center of brain.
But,,,, How does blind person get this? does blind person think like that too? it feels like that because its like we are this “camera” looking around the world, but if we take our eyes without cutting the wire to the brain and place them somewhere else on our body? where do we then feel like we are pinpointed?
I got this when i was meditating, eyes close 20 min, and suddendly i started lose the sense of how my hands are on my legs and how far away they are and things like that, theyre like floating in space of feelings.
Ive quite long practised the idea that i am not entity inside my body i am everything and nothing “I Experience” at this very moment so something like this came up on my mind:
We walk on street, we see a car. we think; “its a car about 100m away from me”, yes, makes sense. But we often forget that actually everyday life experience that its ALL happening inside the head, not outside of it.
You point your finger to car, then you point your finger to the head.
isnt it more likely, youre pointing the car inside your head, then you point your head inside your head.
Leo said something like this: “There is not receiver” – “No point where all experience goes in the body, no entity that receives it”
If i listen music that comes from speakers, the music from the speakers is not going in my head where this entity “ME” call “I” is.
I should ask myself that “AM I ?” that music because i experience it at this very moment.
How can “I” be seperate from that music, appearance of wooden cased speaker, and all experiences that i experience at that very moment, because it all happens inside head, processed and understood inside the head, and not outside of it. because if something happens outside of the brains, there is nothing that can make it real.
Now when i write this comment, and this idea comes from brains, and what brains had been received and build from resources and everything that has been recorded in brains and THIS VERY MOMENT can be only be aware inside of our brains and because everything that were aware of anything is inside of brains right now in real moment is in our brains.
Any toughts that comes up all time is shooted by brains.
Thoughts are not me, because they are things that brain causes and brains that are part of body is not “me”
The Brains are part of body but “I” am not entity in body.
But still everything “I” am experiencing is happening in brains that are in body.
The whole existence as we experience it, is created inside of our heads.
Cant be aware if there is no brains. . . . .
This very moment is processed inside of head, that is part of body.
Cant be aware of this very moment if not for head, that is part of body.
BUT is “my” brains, giving this very moment and awareness for somebody or is it doing it for no reason at all for something that doesnt exists.
Even there is body, and there is The Brain that makes this all possible, there is no driver of vessel, nobody behind the wheel, just the body, just organic matter atoms yaddayadda stuff.
Nobody using the brain that consructed the image of reality trough 5 senses.
I experience music at this very moment, I experience pressure on my butt on this very moment, so am nothing more than music and pressure on my butt at this moment? I am not Pauli, i am music and pressure on my butt.
“the voice” isnt working like i excepted,
I ask: “Who i am?”
The voice wont answer something like “I am me” “I am pauli”
The voice doesnt seem to have much doubt or opinions in matters of enlightenment that ive learned from Leo,
-Who i am?
Voice: Who knows.
-I am the brain?
Voice: Has logic but it wont get you enlightenment that way.
-Who is aware of this?
Voice: . . . (pretty always nothing)
Standardly voice works like toughts in other matters like:
-“I really should try out that vegetablesalad diet food on big plate like in one of the Leos videos, had healty and tasty appearance”
-“Some coffee would be nice”
-“I really should stop thinking about word “I” loud because there is no “I”, The “I” dont exist”
That computer in this room, big powerful. there is nothing inside of it, it still thinks works does this does that.
And that man shaped body of organic matter in same room that is proud that bought that big powerfull computer, there is absolutly NOTHING inside of it, it still works does this does that wrote this comment on enlightenment video.
Thinking about this paradox brainfuck while writing this made me sweat.
i have watched Leo’s ALL enlightenment videos already two times, i think i should go for third round, or so many it needs.
Thank you for giving path of peace to walk for this man shaped flesh thing human something that totally isnt me because i dont exist.
Leo Gura says: You don’t need to go for a 3rd round. You need to sit in silence and observe yourself thinking.
Andre says: Hi Leo just a quick note. When I did this self enquiry the very first time I asked who is aware. Who am I. Who is percieving. ..silence.. Who am I? “the voice” appears Laughing then silence.. Nothing ever heard of it again.
Pauli Reunamo says: Even i dont recommend adding science to path to enlightenment.
but theres brain-scientist in youtube named brainsci that actually says that brain parts that causes self-sense is actually hallucination! So in scientific terms also, you dont exist!
So if youre beginning path of enlightenment and you have doubts and need some evidence that enlightenment to be REAL THING, i recommend watching his video of 3 Enlightenment, Self, and the Brain. How the brain changes with final liberation.
Sorry adventising another videos in this topic but i think it helps motivate people in terms to find 4-ever happines and peace.
Rey says: Hi Leo,
I have to tell you “my story”. During my entire life I’ve always think of myself as predestined to do great things. It’s because I’ve always felt in me that fire that says to you that we’re here for more than what society want you to do. And not always I managed to recognize the same fire with the same strenght in other people. Just recently I found a my journal of when I only had ten years and it’s incredible seeing how already at that time I held desires of greatness. So for most of the time of my life I struggled every day toward the “more” but only from when I came across the personal development’s world (one year ago) I started to have the right instruments and knowledges that allowed me to take massive actions on my big plans. I’m 20 years old now. And from the moment I created and defined my big (very very big, you can’t even imagine how much) Vision, my life radically changed: for the first time in my life I started becoming entirely the creator of my reality. But I mean literally! I don’t know if you have ever experienced this but I found myself able to literally order to reality and get what I asked. But this is a huge responsibility, and so for a whole variety of reasons that I don’t know I entered in a long period of ups (where for “ups” I mean really really ups that is when I feel literally like superman, like able to move mountains and part oceans) and downs (where for “downs” I mean really really downs that is when I let myself overwhelm by the fear and I feel no more in control and so get depressed and so on). And these were pretty much my last six months, a continuous “up and down”. It’s like it is: “I got it” and “Oh damn I lost it”; “I got it”, “I lost it”; “got it”, “lost it” and so on. Like if my state of being, and in particularly my Superman state of being as I called it, doesn’t depend by me but by some insight or trigger thought.
The fact is that now because of this intense period of such strong positive or negative emotions (which are all depending on internal circumstances and never external) that I had never experienced before, I don’t recognize myself anymore; I don’t know who I am anymore. And right now I am lost in this not knowing, or better now I know that the “I” I thought I was it’s not the “I” that I am, or better still it maybe doesn’t even exists. I kinda discover this without any spirituality knowledge, just with my introspection based on the analyzing from where the ups and downs derived. But now that I’ve been confirmed by your videos, I’m assisting at the demolition of my ego and I’m stuck in this depressing situation for about 3 months and it seems unending and I don’t know what’s all this that’s happening to me. And so I’m asking you if you know what I am talking about and how I can get out from this situation, knowing the fact that I had already found my Truth, that Superman state in which “I” was able to put me in but that at the same time I would not want it precludes me from reaching the enlightenment Truth. Thank you
Kathy says: You have to WANT to BEcome enlightened and it all starts with an awareness. And reading A LOT of books!
When “The Source/All That Is/ God/insert favorite term here” became aware of itself, that’s when creation started, IMO. Yes, you all are the creators of your life. Now that we know that, let’s get this planet in shape ok?
Kathy says: Leo, what planet do you hail from? Because I feel you have come around at this particular time and space to assist humanity in waking the “eff” up. lols! Nice to have you on the team dude. Thank you!
Galina says: Leo and guys, I would like to share my experience of what happened to me after watching this video. As I have already mentioned on this website I have been going for Enlightenment for many years, most of the time when I read about Enlightenment, it was like a story for me, I accepted it but I could not grasp it fully. So two weeks ago, I watched this video and actually started to repeat what Leo said about perception. I stopped the video and started to observe where everything came from: doors, TV, windows, after part 1, Leo started to talk about present moment ,part 2, and it actually hit me for the first time in my life, I had the weirdest feeling ever. My personal story collapsed within me and I felt like I was in the “box”, and I did not like this feeling at all. It is hard to explain: like everything stopped for a moment, and became frozen. It was horrible feeling actually, probably for my ego, and by all means I wanted to escape it not to get crazy, because I was scared a little bit. It suffocated me, the best way to describe it would be as someone put me in the box and closed it and I wanted to come out. And here we go, I realized one thing: the feeling “I” is a stretched story in my mind, but when you begin to observe the moment of now, everything stops, you can not move forward or backward, there is no personal story anymore, no childhood, nothing, just right now. Today I was watching part 2 of this video about 6 times, but I cannot return back to that state of mind, not sure why, again it is just words for me, not an insight like it was 2 weeks ago. It really broke my mind for couple of minutes.
Leo Gura says: Good! You got a little wispy taste of no-self. It will take a lot more work to turn that into a permanent breakthrough. Imagine living your whole life in that liberated state, in the Absolute Now.
Galina says: I am not sure how psyche can “normally” operate when enclosed in this state, because right now I live in the stretching thoughts between my past and future. I want to emphasize the word “stretching” because after that experience I kinda start to understand a little bit (but not fully yet) the conception of now. Okay I force myself to be here and now, but it does not want to click, only words. All I can imaging is actually words, like letters in my mind” BE HERE AND NOW”, but I want that feeling back not the letters in my mind. I do not know what triggered that taste two weeks ago, I need to start practicing meditation, because I feel like right now it is only a good looking conception for my ego, my ego loves it, but I have no clue what it is yet.
Leo Gura says: Yes, of course, because you’re lost in thoughts. Thoughts are like symbols that carry you away into fantasy land, which is where you live 99.9999% of the time. The thought of a Be here now, is not the same as actually Being here now. Notice this.
You cannot force yourself into the Now. Now is already here! It’s always Now! There’s not a single moment that isn’t the Now! Notice this too.
The thing that separates you from the now is not realizing what a thought actually is. And also the belief that you exist as a perceiver.
If you want to progress in this work, you have to start doing the looking process, otherwise known as self-inquiry. Only after doing that for hundreds of hours will you start to dissociate from your thoughts enough to taste the Now most consistently.
Galina says: One more thing: so far this website is the most simple that I have even seen, thank you a lot for explaining this in a very straight manner. Leo, can you please add more videos of how to brake our minds? Because in this video you talk about present moment about 5 or 6 minutes, I wish there is a video with you just about present moment, I want to go very deep.
Thank you a lot! I do not have any words. So glad I found your website.
Galina says: Yes, 100% true, I am scared and I am lazy to do it everyday for at least 30 minutes. But also true, that no matter how much I read about IT, it is not going to help me with my realization. I need to practice. It is time…but also I realize it is not up to me to decide when to start, as this idea stuck to me pretty well that I am not the “doer” and it is not up to me to decide. what I have noticed that it is knocking in my door for since I am a teen, though, hopefully one day I will open the door.
Galina says: “Anything you think of that happened in the past, is actually happening right now in your mind. ”
Okay, got it, with all this being said can we make assumption that past never happened in the first place it is just a thought but not reality, it never happened, right?
Galina says: If the past never happened, how come I have memories about it?
Galina says: Leo, my spouse and I, after a long conversation made the following conclusion that ” you only die because you think you die, you only born because you think you were born” that is, no past no future, no death, no birth……It freaked us out.
Leo Gura says: You and your spouse are lost in thoughts. Less philosophizing, more looking.
“You” is a thought! Look at what you is.
Galina says: Okay, here what I got after meditation:
Reality is something, not even present moment, because present is still referring to time, it is basement/space,not material, that contains everything, and every single thought I have, or picture or a definition in my mind is like a layer on top of what is already is. Yesterday when I talked to my husband and I said: “next week” he said: ” what is a “week”,it does not exist, it is just a word in your mind” and all of a sudden it hit me that we create these labels to make Reality Alive, to support illusion. I came to this, Reality does not change, but by putting labels we feel as it is changing, like when we say: “I will go to work” but work and road does not exist, but what are they? Just words,conceptions. Motion as we see it does not exist, but what really is – illusion of motion.
Leo, I do not know how to explain but I guess I had a little opening in my mind to understand Absolute NOW, I hope I am not tricked by my mind. I have got a little sense, how to understand if I am on the right track? Second method works better for me, and I want to brake it. I try not to think, just be here and observe the moment of now.
Sorry that I used so much space on your website, not sure if I can post my comments like this.
Leo Gura says: That’s definitely the right direction.
Now…
Turn that investigation in on itself. Look at the word “I”. What is it really? Who is this I? What is I literally?
Derek says: Thank you sincerely, I appreciate what you do…
Terry says: I AM
Joan says: I am so greatful I found your Enlightenment video’s Leo.
Although words can’t describe it, your entire performance brought me in the right state of mind to actually see and feel what I’ve been “thinking” for years about enlightenment. Trying my best to become a “non-thinker” to get a clue of some kind of silent Oneness during meditation.
But it has nothing to do with you becoming silent and “learning” non-thinking, it’s all about realizing You being not the Thinker and your non-existence.
It hit me like a bullet and I had an instant enlightenment glimpse watching your video for the first time! Thank you so much….now “I” know WHAT to practice to extend this glimpse into a permanent state of Being.
with respect,
Joan
Michael says: Hello Leo,
I have a dream of becoming a bodhisattva (an enlightened being who helps others become enlightened by continuing to reincarnate). However, I am unsure of how enlightened you must be to be able to be a bodhisattva and whether being more enlightened than a certain point prevents you from becoming a bodhisattva as you would be unable to reincarnate by that point.
Thanks,
Michael
Michael says: Please could you explain to me when is the point that I am enlightened enough to become a bodhisattva and how to actually become a bodhisattva.
Kin says: Enlightened people will never reincarnate (According to Buddha). The final enlightenment is when someone realized there is no me, you, or I exist and there’s only cause and effect. There will be stages of enlightenment but in final stage, the ego feeling of an entity will disappear, your thoughts will disappear, and even your awareness will disappear from awareness (that is nirvana). There will only be nothingness. As long as you still have ego, you are not enlightened. enlightenment is all about awareness that prevent ego sense.
Michael says: That is the highest state of enlightenment you are talking about. Once you reach Buddhahood, indeed you can not reincarnate. I am looking for the point where you are enlightened to an extent where you are still capable of reincarnating but at will.
Kin says: Realizing the ego and the true nature of both physical and mental. Realizing there is no one who is controlling on anything (only cause and effect). That is not enlightenment (nirvana). There are four enlightenment stages and the very first one is called “Thawtapatti” in Pali language. At that stage, you will see nirvana but not capable of holding onto it because awareness is not that sharp yet. If a person died after reaching that stage, that person will only reincarnate average of seven lives.
Pete says: I got this really freaky experience yesterday while using do nothing ….
I was asking myself the question … Who is perceiving all these perceptions….
then something happened… I didn’t get an answer because i realized that there was only perceptions…. Then i asked who is aware of these perceptions..? My mind was blank… then i started freaking out that there was no one who was aware of the perceptions.. there was only perception.. then i started tearing up and then i was wondering is this an emotional reaction? what kind of emotional reaction is this? Is it that im afraid that it might be true that there is only perception and no I ? … My view of the room looked focused at a specific point but i could see everything around me but it was a little BOKEH like blurry but i was aware of everything in there….
It was freaky … i dont know what to think about it and i know it is best not to think about nothing?
I REALLY COULD NOT SPECIFY The location of who is perceiving because i could not find the who therefor no location of the who…begining to really believe that there might not be a me instead of just trying to accept the belief through “conceptual experience” FREAKY!
Then life kicked in (which is more words/images.. and monkey chatter started saying… you don’t know anything about enlightenment… that was not an experience… you don’t even know what enlightenment is because you are a noob at this … you can’t be something you don’t know…
Kin says: Wow!!! No one knows enlightenment if he or she is not enlightened. So don’t think such thing and dont stop what u r doing. There will be freak out moment when you know the truth because u realized how wrong you were the whole time and the truth is just right next to you. When you can’t find “you” pay attention to how naturally things are happening without anyone’s control.
Binkey says: I did the exercise and looked in my body to look for Me as you say in the video. And all of a sudden my mind flipped kinda as you said. And instead of looking in my body to find some kind of Me, I entered a giant pot of Consciousness.
It wasn’t like a white light experience during meditation I had a couple of times.
In fact it seemed even kinda dark in the beginning and a little bit scary to enter. But once I was in, I had to laugh out loud. Really. I felt boobytrapped.
It felt like I was backstage at some magicianshow and they showed me how the trick was build up. But it was all shown without matter or images.
Then I got a strong impression I am A Thought!
This is really fascinating!
Marin says: So what are the benefits of becoming enlightened in the “REAL” fictional world that we’re living in, basically is living the moment and almost never thinking but still there’s the irrational part that’s never clear, we still have to find the perfect equilibrium between the bullshit that happens in the everyday life and all the reality stuff. Analogically if we were a videogame character and we knew we are one we still have to finish our level or we were to be trapped in the bounderies of that game for the entire existence. In less words this video kinda makes all of your videos about motivation and self esteem sex and other bullshit “worthless” although they are very very important.
Jessica Rossilli says: Hi Leo. I am 15 years old. Am I too young to do this? I’ve watched all of your videos on Spiritual Enlightenment and other videos you made. I am very interested in all of the ideas in these videos but I am wondering if it is something a 15 year old person should be doing?
Leo Gura says: The younger the better. Ramana Maharshi became enlightened at 16. As a boy he would sit so still contemplating his existence that bugs and rats would come nibble on his body and he couldn’t be bother to shoo them off. Or at least so the stories say.
Read his story. It might inspire you: https /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramana_Maharshi
prequel says: Hey Leo. After you become enlightened, you will stop thinking? Or you just become very mindful of them and get rid of all the unecessary thoughts?
Leo Gura says: No, you will never stop thinking. With enlightenment you will just realize that thoughts are not you, and this will naturally lead to a reduction in fruitless forms of thinking. Practical thoughts like “How do I mail my utility bill?” will still be necessary and there’s not problem with these types of thoughts. The problematic thoughts are all I-thoughts: “I am in pain.”, “What if I fail?”, “What if I die alone?”, “How will I pay for my kids medical bills?”, “Does my breath smell bad?”
manny says: must be missing something do a thousand hours? who would do this if no one is there who would make the choice to do this if there is no free will. no one can decide anything if there is no one there.
Kin says: Hi…!
No one has free will because there is only cause and effect.
You are feeling something because something caused you to feel that way. You are thinking because something caused you to think. Thoughts give birth to new thoughts. So second thought have DNAs of the first thought but that doesn’t mean they are the same. It is like I have genes of my great grandparents but I’m not them. Every time a new thought form, old thought disappeared. But because of unawareness and carrying gene of the previous thought, the new thought seem to be the thought you had minutes ago. That way, strong experiences are formed as memories. But that doesn’t mean thoughts are saved in somewhere. It means later thoughts get matured carrying many genes or later thoughts are formed depending on previous thoughts. So when we are listening to enlightenment teachings or reading this, your understanding is based on how mature the old thought is. That is why even if two people are listening to the same teaching at the same time, one can be enlightened and one might not. That’s why Buddha had to teach enlightenment in many different ways for many different people. If you aren’t ready, Buddha won’t even bother talking to you about enlightenment. We are slaves of thoughts after all. No one decide anything for anyone.
manny says: check out mooji he is the clearest guru on youtube i have found and he’s english!!
Michael says: Mooji is Jamaican, although many Jamaicans identify as being British whilst being proud of their Jamaican heritage and culture. Mooji lived in London for a long time and now resides in Portugal. It is great that Mooji can be regarded as British!
prequel says: Hey. Can you please attach the transcript of this video? I cant watch it sometimes.
George says: “Don’t believe the truth.” It’s clear what the band Oasis meant by that now…
Mason says: Leo, my children are currently 10 and 8 and one day I am going to introduce them to your videos to get them on this path. What is the youngest age you can be to become enlightened? Or what I am asking is what age will their brains be developed enough to understand these things?
Leo Gura says: Well… children that age are enrolled to be monks in Tibet. Of course they are mostly fed dogma.
Enlightenment isn’t a belief system. It’s what is true. The more you guide your kids to meditate and realize that no beliefs are true, the better off they’ll be. Don’t teach this stuff as a belief system to them. Guide them in self-inquiry so they can discover whatever the truth is for themselves.
Soung says: Sorry.. You are not asking me but… the youngest is seven and fourteen
Amy says: Is it possible to keep living in this world if no one else thinks this way?
Do you still have to think the way everyone else does?
Do you still have to communicate in the way everyone else does… Using this”I” “me” talk?
Leo Gura says: Absolutely. Enlightenment makes you hyper-effective.
You will use the “I” talk, but you will understand what “I” actually references. There is a you. It’s just not an object or a mind or a body. The real you is empty and eternal awareness.
prequel says: It is okay to contemplate? Like, thinking about what something is, from the experiences you had. Like, if you know that the ego doesn’t exist, can you start contemplating about what the other person is… Is it okay to do this kind of stuff? Im afraid to not move in circles and not doing anything good…
Overall, is it okay to use your thoughts to learn something about… the universe, ego, emotions etc… even if the thoughts aren’t real?
Leo Gura says: “Contemplate” is a tricky term. When enlightened people talk about “contemplation” they do NOT mean thinking or rationalizing. They mean “have a direct conscious experience of who you are”. This is very different than the dictionary definition of contemplation or our common usage of the term.
You can use thoughts to think about stuff and learn at the ordinary level. But conceptualizing and modeling will NEVER get you to the ultimate truth of things. Enlightenment/truth is NOT a learning. If you seek ultimate truth, that can only be had via directly becoming the thing in question.
You should make a distinction between ordinary knowledge and existential truth. They are two very different critters.
Keri says: How does enlightenment change Relationships with people close to me? Work? Etc… ?
Leo Gura says: You realize that other people and you are literally identical. Which usually increases your compassion for others.
Keri says: Sorry… You answered this a few posts up… My bad…
Emerson says: Leo, you said, “There is no one who is seeing. There is no one who is reading this comment because YOU do not exist! There’s only a body reading it”. That inspired a thought, but not even sure of it’s validity: Maybe the self/mind/ego is trying to figure it all out, while Source or Spirit just is and doesn’t need to know anything or figure anything out. Just IS, and if we could get in step with that, we would be free from fear, frustration, and arrogance! I don’t know; I’m just learning. The truth seems beyond words, literally.
David says: Leo, if one self (well no one really) becomes enlightened, does the enlightened “person” get on with other non-enlightened people?
Mick Merasty says: Hey this is Mick, I wanted to comment on your depression video it was such a help before, that was a year ago, and know i finally get to say something that you might read, i’ve been doing my journey for over half a year, i’m 16 and i like when you said the earlier the better!, went through lots of “shifts” in the first two months and did everything it could try. I think what your doing is fucking awesome, the beginning was fun, favorite part of the journey is when i was first starting, the incommunicable truth is lovely, Thank you sincerely
Brent says: Leo, I have seen most of your videos on enlightenment and they have helped me a lot.
When I do the ‘looking’ process I can see that there is in fact no such thing as a self. And as I concentrate more my awareness seems to disappear and ‘I’ become reality. It is really hard to explain and very nuance when it is explained.
I feel like I am progressing very well in this work and I understand all of the distinctions that you make. They seem very simple to me.
Thank you for all your videos and I can see that you’re making a very big impact on the world.
Thank you again.
-Brent
Brent says: P.S. the merging with reality and me becoming reality is only for very brief moments though.
Popa says: Hey Leo, I have been thinking about telling you something for some time.
You probably heard of it…I decided to send you a mail in case you didn’t know because I think it’s something very important, if not essential
I discovered this while reading the power of now. Tolle mentioned something about feeling the energy inside the body (corpul interior). By using only a part of your focus in order to feel this energy field of the body, it seems you can (with proper training) keep feeling it nonstop while you’re awake. At some point it becomes almost automatic !
According to E. Tolle (or maybe the guy who claims he is Tolle, lol), if you keep feeling the energy field, it slows down aging, lessens thought and greatly helps stay “in the present moment”. I don’t know if it is a must but I think it can be extremely useful in order to become ENLIGHTENED.
If my memory serves me right there is additional information about it in chap 6 of the Power of Now…
Ciao!
Matei
Markus Van Der Merwe says: Hi Leo , I watch my thoughts and let them pass . When I open my eyes I recognize myself as the now.
When I close my eyes , I feel my own body , it feels like an energy field. When I place my attention outside of my energy field. It is still .
Am I on the right path?
Leo Gura says: Who is feeling the body?
Who is claiming ownership over the body?
Your body? No! It’s not yours! Look into this question of who the “you” is. Point to the you.
Pete says: I can’t find a perception of the perceiver. Every time I find the PERCEIVER .. it’s just another perception .. are thoughts perception? and if the thought says . ” I am Peter ” is that just another perception and not the perceiver…? and if there is no perceiver … who is perceiving no perceiver..? perception is self perceiving? .. what? wow no way idk man!
And are you still meditating everyday more than one hour the do nothing method still ?
m losing my mind seriously ! hahahaha
Leo Gura says: Of course you can’t, because the perceiver is not a perception.
Thoughts are perceptions of course. Notice that you say the thoughts are “yours”. Which means you are not them. You believe they go to >> “you”.
Consider the possibility that you are not a thing. A no-thing! In which case, you cannot be perceived. And yet you still exist.
Yup, I meditated for 3.5 hours yesterday I use various methods, not just do-nothing.
Losing your mind is great! The mind is the only thing between you and truth.
Markus says: The self is no thing , thats the best way I can point to it , awareness , emptiness , the now.
When looking at the world there is stillness in the even loudest object , yet it looks back at me , it is me.
Scott says: Hi Leo,
I thought you might like to here from someone on their own enlightenment journey.
I started my journey about 4.5 months ago when I found The Release Technique (directly related to The Sedona Method). I started with the exercises and immediately knew that I was on to something when I blew off the suppression hinges and started experiencing lots of suppressed emotion coming to the surface.
Having lost interest in my PhD due to illness I decided that I would devote my time to ‘Releasing’ as this was such an enjoyable and rewarding thing to do. I really had a full conviction that this was it and something that I really wanted. As time went by the pieces of the jigsaw started fitting together and I realized I was heading towards spiritual enlightenment.
Last weekend I had a profound enlightenment experience when I suddenly thought oh my God, I am everywhere present. However, there always seems to be more ego, more thoughts to get rid of. I have done a lot of releasing and I think I am close to the end (I would consider this to be when I am 99% of the time with no ego motivated thoughts).
So I used the release technique to release a lot of suppressed negativity. Once I blew off the suppression hinges it just kept coming out and coming out and coming out. I got to a certain stage and I found that the release technique wasn’t helping me anymore. Then I started to answer the question Who and What Am I. This was about 2.5 weeks ago and then I had my profound experience about a week ago.
I still find that there are a number of disturbing thoughts but I am much, much happier than last year. In terms of the things I have heard you say, I couldn’t sit in a chair doing nothing for 8 hours yet, but I feel as though it won’t be long until I can do this. I can’t really see how if I was enlightened I would be able to have route canal without anesthetic, but I can see how enlightenment could make it much easier to train myself to be unaffected by pain.
I can really see this dramatically improving my life in all areas. There are so many benefits, it’s amazing. This is really something everyone should pursue.
Release technique is a different school of thought. It is not really marketed as an enlightenment course, more as a self-help course that can improve your life. Ultimately, the creator, Lester Levenson wanted everyone to have what he had but also realised that most people prefer to be an Ego, hence the style of marketing. If you dig a bit deeper past the Abundance Course you will find a lot of material concerning the Ultimate Goal (Enlightenment, Imperturbability, God, The Self etc).
Anyway Leo will keep you posted as to the status of my enlightenment and the benefits I am getting. For the meantime, keep well,
Regards,
Scott
Kyle says: Will positive affirmations hinder enlightenment work? They’re currently part of my morning routine and seem to contradict what we’re trying to accomplish here.
Thank you Leo-
I am very open minded. I was out of the matrix for a moment. I can’t go back in. Thank you for waking me (my nothing) up. I was causing my own sufferring, grief and neurosis thinking too hard about the loss of my mother. I was tired of sufferring so I decided to stop and my nothing stopped (if a nothing can stop). I had a moment of searching for her while keeping open mindedness and let go of everything I thought or perceived (or sensed)…I found her and myself (or lack thereof) and everything was ok just how it was (I stopped sufferring for that moment. I was nothing and she was nothing either and it was ok. I felt peace for the first time ever. Everything was and is ok. I am not scared of nothing anymore. I am going to keep looking (not with my mind or perceptions) but learning to relax in the nothing…..it is finally ok. I (my nothing) found her (nothing), metaphysically. I can stop looking for her now.
Leo, have you felt nothing (I know your nothing realizes it is nothing. Have you been nothing and knew it (I guess you can’t know it) even though you can’t know it. Amazing! Everything and nothing is ok! Your nothing inspired my nothing. Thank you. I found nothing and everything I was looking for (metaphysically). I love being in the reality of nothing but my thinking mind and feeling thoughts try to take me away. Interesting isn’t it? Nothing feels nice. Shannon
Teagan says: Should I be meditating daily as well as doing 30-60 minutes enlightenment work or does the 30-60 minutes count as meditation?
Sara says: I am just blown away buy the whole reality It is so so so so strange amazing mysterious magical nothing like i have ever known it’s like oh man what are talking about it’s so opening it’s 3 0 a.m. right now and it feels like i’ve been hit by a bomb i guess i probably shouldn’t have even watched this now! a big mistake !!!
Galyna says: Dear Leo,
Thank you for this video, this is probably my 10th or 15th time I am listening to it. I really need your assistance here, if you have time to answer.
In this video you are saying: “There is a reality here….,are you aware if it right now?….you are Reality…you are not a piece of it, not an observer of it…you are the whole of it.” You are saying that I need to become Reality at this very moment. And here is the biggest problem. I am aware of my surroundings, almost all the time, when I do not have any dialog or movies in my head about possible future. I am aware of the people that are close to me, material things like tables, beds and so on. Let’s put it this way, I am aware that my body is enclosed in 3D space+time(mental construction)
How much else do I have to be aware/attentive to details around me to become enlightened? What am I doing wrong? How to change the perception to that level? I really understand and believe that everything that is around me is just a CONTENT of Consciousness that creates illusion unto itself, mirrors of it. But still nothing happens.
Leo Gura says: Get rid of the “I”. That’s all.
You do not exist in that way.
There is nothing sourcing reality. You assume reality is being sourced by you or to you somehow. That’s a false assumption. There is no such source. Reality is just a smoke and mirror show occurring to no one.
Read your own comment above and notice how many times you said, “I”. Each of those instances is a delusion and must be questioned. There is no such “I”! Take a very close look. Try to specifically determine what the label “I” points to. And don’t overlook the possibility that it points to nothing at all.
Consider the possibility that consciousness may be nothing at all.
Armando 
jur says: Dear Leo,
Could no-thingness be a better word than nothing or nothingness?
Galyna says: Dear Leo,
“Reality is only what happens in the present moment”
Leo, but how can I deny other people’s present moments. It means that “MY” present moment is the most valid present moment in the whole entire Existence. Firstly, because I know nothing about other, so called, “present moments”, just mine. Secondly, if I am not real, no one is also real, but there is an illusion of it.
I am watching your video over and over again, using method 2 you described in this video. I am peeling like an onion, layer by layer, what is true and what is not. And here is my conclusion, the Truth is only what happens in my direct experience within my Presence. Nothing exists but present experience.
It is so hard to believe. I am writing this lines with smile on my face, who do I even ask if you, my Guru, are also NOT real…
Kaz says: Why are we here?
Kaylin Cumming says: Thank you so much for this Leo, you forgot to tell us to open our eyes after closing them to image having 1million dollars in our bank account.