Very interesting detailed account of spiritual journey and experiences of Tamil Nadu based Shanmugam P

Recently I read Shanmugam P's very interesting and detailed account of his spiritual journey including claimed self-realization (very, very long, 46 min. read): The Journey of a Seeker — My Story, May 16, 2017, https://medium.com/@shan_bally/the-journey-of-a-seeker-my-story-f9672bdf573e .

I put up the following comment on the article: "Thank you very much for sharing the detailed account of your spiritual journey and related experiences as a public post/article. Your frankness is admirable. I particularly appreciated the questions that you raise related to the enlightenment accounts of contemporary or near-contemporary persons. Once again, many thanks."

I have given below some notes about the parts of the article that interested me along with some comments of mine within [Ravi-comment ... end-Ravi-comment] tags or if comment is short then only as [Ravi-comment ... ].

Shanmugam P (SP) had his first notable experience when in a Chennai polytechnic college as a student. I did not notice mention of a year but from what he has written later on, it is before January 2003. This experience is detailed in the section, "Witnessing — Phase 1" of his article.

He writes about having "a brief moment of stillness with no thoughts" which gave him clarity and peace of mind of a high level not experienced earlier. SP realized that he can exist without thoughts and that he was not thoughts. He writes that this was like a Eureka moment. He also viewed the experience as a confirmation of something indestructible (in him/associated with him).

His journey continued on. 

The section, "Exploring Spirituality further" has some questions about the enlightenment experience accounts written by contemporary or near-contemporary persons that I found to be very interesting as it has some of the questions I have. In it SP talks about having many peak experiences in his meditation and refers to Abraham Moslow's description of peak experiences. He mentions the names of some contemporary and near-contemporary spiritual masters whose works he was reading. SP writes that he came to know that many persons claim to be enlightened, including many in the West. SP read their "testimonies" about their "awakening experiences".

Then SP raises his questions about these accounts. Please read the above mentioned section for these questions.

[Ravi comment on the questions: Terrific questions! There is a lack of clarity and agreement in accounts that I have read or viewed/listened related to enlightenment. Most say it is indescribable and that's it. Some say it is indescribable but attempt to give some indications of that experience. And then there are many differences in whatever they write about the enlightened state. Most such accounts claim to experience a deep peace and contentment (joy associated with such contentment), knowledge of their reality as the changeless, eternal and indestructible self, and having no fear of death. I don't think most claim to have supernatural endurance to any bodily pain and suffering after getting enlightened but some do claim to have such supernatural endurance or ability to transcend body consciousness after enlightenment. Some but not all claim to have ecstatic joy. Some but not all claim to have experience of themselves in all. Some but not all claim to have knowledge of past lives. Some but not all claim to go into trance, specifically transcend body consciousness, for many days. End-Ravi comment.]

SP writes about responses he got from a couple of persons about their enlightenment experiences. Please read the section for details.

[Ravi comment on these responses and SP's comments about them: Very good points. Very good to see that the couple of persons who responded to SP's mail acknowledged that they don't have ability to leave the body at will or memories of previous incarnations. I am very interested to acquire, if possible, the ability to go beyond the body (leave the body) at will and then come back to it at will. So I am very happy to see that Shanmugam asked this question too and got response to it from a couple of persons. The "having a totally thoughtless mind" part is new to me. In my understanding, during meditation some persons (including me, I should humbly add) can get into a "totally thougtless mind" or no-mind or die-mind state for some time at least (in my case, it is for some time during meditation after which time thoughts come and I get caught up in them, notice me getting caught up in these thoughts and then go back to thoughtless state). But when not in meditation and doing activity including intellectual analysis or planning, one uses the mind and so has thoughts. In my understanding, having thoughts is not the issue in the context of a self-realized person, it is the ability to have thoughts at will (e.g. while doing activity or intellectual work) and not have thoughts at will (e.g. while meditating) that is critical. End-Ravi comment.]

In the section "The Major ‘Change’ — Is it Enlightenment?", SP describes his "major" experience in the period of May 2014 to July 2014. It is a long description. 

He writes about experiencing peaceful and clear stillness between thoughts and then having euphoria. [Ravi-comment: This part is something that I can understand and relate to, to some extent. When I am in no-thought state, I do feel a peaceful and clear stillness, and at times I have Kundalini rising kind of sensations. But I have not yet got "intense euphoria" at such times. End-Ravi-comment]

SP writes about "psychological boundaries" between the world and him starting to disappear. [Ravi-comment: It is not clear what exactly he means by pyschological boundaries disappearing. My observation about the people (and animals) in the world around me, is that most of them are not in bliss and peace. Most seem to be having some problems or the other which is dominating their life experience. Most animals like birds, monkeys, cats and dogs that I see or hear seem to usually be in search for food and are involved in fights for territory and food. So I think if a person's "psychological boundaries" between him and the world around him disappear, his mind may be filled with the worries and sadness of many people and animals with some joy and peace from few people and animals. I have similar confusion with some other points he makes about this experience of his. End-Ravi-comment.]

He writes that the excitement and bliss gradually reduced but that "being peaceful and complete" has been his mind's normal state since that experience. [Ravi-comment: Hmm. Those waves of bliss were a transitory experience.]

SP writes that (after this experience) he did not have any paranormal (powers), did not have memories of past life/lives and could not see any aura. [Ravi-comment: Good to see him frankly stating this.]

SP writes that he had a lot of suffering in his material world life after this experience (which he refers to as "transformation") in terms of losing his job and having financial issues. [Ravi-comment: Sad to see that he was having trouble with his material world life.]

That finishes my notes and comments.

Please note that this post is limited to SP's article. I believe SP also offers spiritual discussion related services but I do not know anything about these services and am not commenting about that at all.