My understanding is that we can ascend and return to continue our work. That’s my presumption and why I mention the subject. Hope springs eternal!
But it does raise another matter that is very close and perhaps I can comment on it here.
Archangel Michael said some time back that lightworkers/starseeds who’ve been enlightened in other lifetimes are being asked not to “live” in that same enlightenment this lifetime so that they may remain in service.
If we possessed some of the higher enlightenments this lifetime (sahaja samadhi and beyond) and chose to remain in them, we might wish instead to live in a cave or go back to our higher dimension. Here’s that exchange from a personal reading through Linda Dillon on April 25, 2012:
Steve Beckow: I’ve said to readers, we may not be going through dramatic enlightenment experiences because we’re supposed to be serving. Could you comment on that? …
Archangel Michael: They can expect very similar experiences. When you use the term “dramatic enlightenment experiences,” you are talking about Nirvana, (1) you are talking about the unity of all with One. It is not to say that you will not experience that, but you cannot — well, you can if you wish; if it is the choice to simply remain in that state of unity, of One — but you cannot be fully conscious and in service, in action, if that is where you are.
So, it is a toning down, if anything. It really is the middle ground. It is the intersection. It is the place where the third — it is not a memory, but it is not a burden. And you see the clarity of the old dis-illusions, and you see with clarity the sense of oneness. You know that enlightenment is right there in front of you. It is yours to access. But if you are in service, you will not choose to live there. (2)
Perhaps I can also repeat something that Stephen has been saying to readers when asked how Amma Bhagavan arrived at the figure 71,000 enlightened on the planet. I’m not sure we know how he arrived at that figure. Stephen suggests people write Amma Bhagavan at [email protected].
Now a comment from myself rather than Stephen. I personally have no way to know how Amma Bhagavan would arrive at a figure on the subject. For one thing, enlightenment has stages. Is the saint speaking of stream-entering or spiritual awakening (fourth-chakra enlightenment), sabikalpa samadhi (sixth-chakra enlightenment), kevalya nirvikalpa samadhi (seventh-chakra enlightenment), or higher? We don’t know.
For another, how does one find out that someone has experienced enlightenment? There are ways, I’m sure, but I’m personally not aware of Amma Bhagavan’s methodology.
Longtime readers of this site will know that, having had so many disappointments with spiritual teachers over the years (even alleged purnavatars or full and complete incarnations of God) who are not finished with their vasanas and are, in my view, “halfway up the mountain,” (3) I’ve generally shied away from citing any but a few very reliable living enlightened masters. (4) But as the energies rise and all of us move forward, that tendency may change.
But Amma Bhagavan’s statement itself is newsworthy, whether accurate or not, and we report it as newsworthy. In other words, it’s newsworthy that someone would make the statement, and newsworthy in and of itself. We’re not able to give independent verification of it nonetheless and so reader discernment is advised.
Footnotes
(1) Which I would call sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi. But I could be wrong.
(2) Archangel Michael, Reading with Steve Beckow through Linda Dillon, April 25, 2012.
(3) A phrase which actually refers to degree of enlightenment and which I am bending a bit to mean incomplete with vasanas. For my money, being complete with one’s vasanas is even more important to me than level of enlightenment because we’ve seen so many teachers depart from the straight and narrow because of their incomplete vasanas, whatever their stage of enlightenment (short of sahaja).
(4) I’d be willing to cite Mata Amritanandamayi, Adyashanti, and Eckhart Tolle, among “living” masters who I believe are not “halfway up the mountain” or are reliable; I’m convinced that Adya has experienced sahaja. Mata Amritanandamayi, I’m certain, is an avatar. Eckhart is at least reliable. I have no idea what his attainment may be.