Read the book: «Lessons Enlightenment»

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ISBN 978-5-0065-2774-4

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PREFACE

To be honest, meditation just doesn’t work for me. I’ve read plenty of literature on the subject, exploring how it works for others and the methods required to still the mind and achieve a deep meditative state. I’ve tried many of these techniques, but all in vain. My thoughts race, and my body won’t relax. Stories about how easy meditation is for others don’t offer much comfort. I thought, «Maybe I feel that channeling is easy, but not everyone can do that either. There must be some nuances.»

So, I decided to turn to someone who must know all there is about meditation – Buddha. Before communicating with him, I had an image of Buddha shaped by esoteric literature. I imagined him as an essence that remains indifferent and unaffected, having found the path of balance, detachment, and non-action. He resides on higher planes, seemingly uninterested in the fate of humanity, including my own. Still, I decided to give it a try.

What came of it is before you. I’ll say right away that Buddha amazed me. I did not expect to hear or feel this kind of Buddha. Of course, it’s evident that he is a profoundly wise consciousness. But what surprised me was the amount of love, care, and even tenderness present! He skillfully guided my mind away from numerous questions into a state of emptiness that filled me with awe. Every conversation was a revelation for me. Usually, I have a well-practiced method for writing channelings. I always have a list of questions prepared in advance, either sent by others or arising in my mind. Then, during the channeling, other questions quickly come to mind without much thought. Typically, I’d take 5—6 questions submitted by others, write responses to all of them, and add my own. But this time, things were different.

I would ask one question from my prepared list, and then my consciousness would delve so deeply into that question that asking further questions would make no sense within that topic. Each channeling ended up being an answer to almost just one question, with Buddha speaking at length, in detail, and extensively about it. Moreover, at a certain point in the channeling, my consciousness would pause without words or questions and simply remain in a balanced, immersed state, which made me exit the channeling.

In our channeling seminars, we teach that if there is no question, there is no answer because channeling itself is an energetic process in which the question – essentially a beam of consciousness – is reflected off the consciousness of the entity we send it to and returns to us as an answer. If we do not send out a question-beam, we don’t receive an answer-reflection. In our seminars, there were very few people who couldn’t open their channeling abilities because they would fall into a zone of thoughtlessness and lack of questions when they entered altered states of consciousness, and naturally, they wouldn’t receive any answers. With Buddha, it was different. He led my consciousness toward understanding truths so skillfully that, after some time, I relaxed and, with anticipation of new discoveries and things to marvel at, allowed my consciousness to be led into this ocean of silence and wisdom where he resides.

What surprised me most was how much sensitivity, patience, care, and tenderness he showed toward my questions, which must have seemed childish and naive to him. It was like conversing with a wise teacher whom I had never encountered in my life. He navigated all the peculiarities of my consciousness so effortlessly and gently that I felt no negative emotions, resistance, or sense of inadequacy. This fostered a sense of unconditional trust in him as a teacher. At one point, I said to him, «I think you are my teacher; I’ve finally found my teacher!» To which he replied, «Do not limit yourself or me. The whole world is your teacher.»

Interestingly, we never actually got to meditation. Buddha started talking more about the perception of the world than about meditation itself. He said that it is our incomplete perception of the world that hinders us from immersing ourselves in meditation, and that diving into meditation is akin to death and enlightenment. He introduced my consciousness to the paradoxical nature of perception, which helped me delve deeper into the depths of my consciousness. And thus, this book, «Lessons of Enlightenment,» was born.

I fully understand that there are deeper texts and experiences from the greatest practitioners of enlightenment and immersion into the ocean of silence. However, perhaps this book will help you in some way. The consciousness of a Western person differs from that of Eastern mystics, and so do the paths. Why do you think there are so few examples of enlightened consciousness in Western civilization? Because our consciousnesses are fundamentally different. Lucifer once explained this to me, saying that the four races of humanity – white, black, red, and yellow – differ in their ways of understanding the Divine, and each follows its own path. The black race understands God through sensuality, as expressed in phrases like «African passions.» The red race perceives God through intuition and connection with nature, which is why the mind is of little importance to them, and they have many shamans among them. The yellow race, which includes Tibet, India, and the Himalayas, understands God by turning inward, through self-contemplation. Thus, these nations have many yogis and mystics who achieve enlightenment through meditation. The white race understands God through the mind, which shapes its development. Do you think understanding God through the mind is impossible? Why not? As Lucifer taught me, nothing is impossible – everything exists.

So perhaps my path of understanding the Divine and seeking the ocean of silence through the mind will be of help to you as well, and you will also be captivated by the subtle and gentle guidance of Buddha from concrete thinking to paradoxical perception. Paradoxical perception is rarely described in our culture. In fact, it is only truly found in one great series of books – Lewis Carroll’s «Alice in Wonderland» and «Through the Looking-Glass.» We consider these books for children, but they contain many codes that even adults don’t always grasp. However, children can more easily perceive the paradoxical nature of the world before they grow up and close themselves off from the wonders and magic of the world, from its unpredictability, non-linearity, and fluidity. Our adult perception is cluttered with constructs and concepts we cannot abandon because we are, in fact, afraid of finding ourselves in a paradoxical and unpredictable world. As Buddha told me, we fear death, which is enlightenment, and thus we fear enlightenment itself. Meanwhile, Eastern mystics do not fear death; they are taught its naturalness from childhood and know that death is merely a transformation of consciousness.

When we were discussing this, Buddha asked me, «Do you like diving?» The question surprised me. I really don’t like diving. He asked, «Why?» I replied that I don’t want to get my hair wet because then I’d have to redo my hairstyle. He told me that to become enlightened, you need to dive without fearing losing your hairstyle. I hadn’t realized how connected it all was before. Dive fearlessly into silence, ready to lose everything. Lose it all to gain EVERYTHING. This concept appears in many Eastern teachings and is precisely the main obstacle that prevents many of us from becoming enlightened – the fear of losing ourselves. Buddha told me about his own death. According to legend, he died after drinking a cup of poison in the house of his disciple or eating poisoned soup. I was always perplexed by this – how could such an enlightened consciousness not know there was poison in the cup? He could have refused it, poured it out, or even drunk it and dissolved the poison within himself so it wouldn’t harm him. But that didn’t happen. Why? He answered me in a way that turned my understanding upside down. What he said, you will discover for yourself by reading the book. And not just that. I hope you will discover a new Buddha, unlike the image commonly held – a gentle and caring Buddha, full of love.

I think this book is still unfinished. Of course, I still have many unanswered questions. Moreover, conversing with him is such a joy and delight as I relish the subtlety of the dialogue and the internal processes that unfold within me. However, I was eager to share the beginning of these conversations with you. Perhaps, if I do reach the end of the path of enlightenment, I will no longer have any questions left. But for now, I invite you to join me on this journey – to take the lessons of enlightenment with me.

With love to you,

Elena Sidelnkova

Lesson 1. Trusting the Flow of Life

I want to speak with the Buddha. The Buddha who came into earthly incarnation as Prince Gautama but renounced his earthly life and became the founder of Buddhism on Earth.

I am listening to you, oh soul. I dwell within you.

I would like to ask for your help in clarifying questions about meditation. After all, you are essentially the pioneer of this practice.

No. I am not the pioneer. And there are no pioneers. The state of consciousness called meditation is a natural property of human consciousness. And you will come to this. I merely pointed out milestones on the path of revealing your natural qualities within yourself.

Alright. Then help guide those who have followed the path of development in Western civilization, focusing on analysis and the development of the analytical mind, to find their ways of diving into themselves and their essence. Let me ask about myself. I try to meditate, but nothing works because my mind is always active. For many years, I have been accustomed to using it for work, reading a lot of different literature, and therefore, I can’t stop it. It seems that when I try to stop my mind, I am making an effort again. Yet all teachings say that you should not resist anything, just observe your thoughts. I observe, but they never stop. What am I doing wrong?

First of all, stop worrying about it. All you need to do is trust the process. The stronger your intention to reveal your natural qualities, which were laid in you by the Creator, the more focused your path, and the fewer distractions you will encounter along the way. So, always be confident that you will find your path, and that everything you find is your path. Imagine that you need to help someone navigate a labyrinth, but they can’t hear you. And you have the ability to control the labyrinth. What would you do?

I would close the paths that do not lead to the exit.

Correct. Your teachers do the same. But the labyrinth is an exploration of all your possibilities. They have no right to decide for you whether you will explore all the corners of the labyrinth of illusions or pass by them. Moreover, it is believed that it is better for you to explore all parts of the labyrinth of illusions, to become saturated with explorations, to know all your possibilities. Then, you will consciously choose the direct path to God. However, many of you have become so engrossed in the Lila, so tangled in the labyrinth, that you cannot find your way out. Many enjoy what happens in the labyrinth and do not want to leave it for various reasons. They fear that outside the labyrinth of illusions, there is nothing, or they are afraid of the unknown beyond the labyrinth. Or they are satisfied with what is in the labyrinth and are in no hurry to part with it.

But in any case, the one who already realizes that everything around them is just a labyrinth of illusions, or as you were told, a labyrinth of reflections, has already started on the path out of it. The labyrinth is designed so that as soon as you become emotionally or mentally involved in certain events, you are immediately drawn into the part of the labyrinth where a similar experience occurred. This is why you are advised not to dwell on past memories or daydream about the future. In other words, your consciousness is constantly scattered throughout different parts of the labyrinth, and thus, in the specific point of the labyrinth of illusions where you are, your consciousness is practically absent and therefore cannot move further. How can you move if, say, you are blind and deaf?

By touch, automatically.

Exactly. That’s how you stumble through your labyrinths of illusions – by touch and on autopilot. But your conscious participation in your movement is needed. When you open your eyes and turn on your hearing in the labyrinth, you see where you are going. You hear what is happening. But when you are blind and deaf, when your consciousness is in the past or the future, you do not move through the labyrinth. Part of your consciousness constantly returns to past events, so your left leg is in the past, in other sections of the labyrinth. Part of your consciousness is in the future, when you dream or make plans, that is, metaphorically speaking, your right leg is in the future, in other sections of the labyrinth of illusions. How then can you move in the present? Where can the body go if the legs are in different realities? Do you understand?

That’s why you are taught to keep your consciousness in the «here and now.» This is very important. It does not mean that you should not dream or make plans. But you need to consciously manage this process, not let the mind wander like a horse without a harness.

Therefore, the first thing to learn is to keep your consciousness in the state of «here and now.» When your mind is always focused on the present moment – on this very second of living, this second of being in the labyrinth of illusions.

It is important to realize that the labyrinth of illusions itself exists only in your consciousness. That is, it is created by your thoughts. And thus, you can manage your labyrinth of illusions. This is a very important thesis for awareness. If you are aware and control your consciousness and your mind, then you can manage the labyrinth of your illusions. And that means consciously choosing what to create in your life, which events to go through. So if you are fantasizing or making a plan, you need to learn to control this process. Then events that you don’t need or aren’t interested in won’t happen in your life.

Wait a minute. I asked about meditation. Is the mind even needed in meditation?

Nothing is unnecessary. Everything is perfect and serves your development. Development is the path to God. You are all developing, and therefore you are all going to God, but in different ways. I am trying to start my story from the basics.

Have you used your mind during meditation?

Where do you think I put it?

I stopped it.

Yes. But if I had stopped it forever, I would have gone mad. And there are examples of such practices. It is neither good nor bad; it’s just one of the paths. It’s important not just to stop the mind, but also to not become insane, and instead learn to master your mind perfectly.

Have you mastered it?

I am also on this path, at a certain stage, in a certain part of my labyrinth.

Sorry for getting off track, but many people are troubled by the question of your death. They say that the wife of the house owner you visited poisoned the soup. There are different versions of why you ate that soup and died. One of them says you ate the soup on behalf of the owner of the house to save him. Didn’t you know the soup was poisoned?

This is also an important part of the teaching: TRUST. You must trust the process and realize that EVERYTHING that happens contributes to your growth. Without this, it is difficult to proceed. Or rather, not proceed but flow along the River of Existence that they speak of. It’s the same as swimming against the current or overcoming a strong current. Let’s compare the path to God with a current. The farther you are from God, the slower the current. And you can resist it. By resisting it, you still can’t stop it, but you expend a colossal amount of energy. The closer you are to the Source, that is, to God, the stronger the current, the harder it is to resist. Many of you are stuck on the first steps, on those sections where resistance is easier. And you try to swim against the current, thereby wasting all your life force and dying. And when their body is exhausted from resisting the Stream of Life, which carries them to God, it dies, and then the Stream carries the consciousness of the deceased to the Source because it is inevitable. Such is the nature of the flow of life: it always strives toward its Creator, the Source of life.

What does it mean to «not resist»?

It means simply surrendering to the flow. Not hindering it. Accepting all its manifestations and just observing what happens. You don’t try to stop, you don’t try to go against the flow, you just accept everything that the flow brings. And if the flow brings you a cup of poison, you meekly and without complaint, with complete trust in the process, accept this cup of poison, being confident that everything that happens contributes to your growth, that is, your striving toward God. And if at that moment you need to accept poison to unite with the Creator, then you accept it without doubt or regret. Do you understand?

I knew there was poison in the soup. But how could I reject it? If I reject it, it would mean that I am resisting the Flow of Life. It would mean that I do not believe in my life’s power. It would mean that I am so attached to my earthly life that I fear letting it go. Consider everything as an experience that you observe. By the end of my life, I hadn’t experienced observing consciousness at the moment of death, observing a body that had taken poison. And I simply accepted this as my experience, as what at that moment was the most perfect action for me, the most direct path to returning to the Creator. This is complete trust in the life process and trust in the Creator. For nothing happens by chance. So, I calmly took the poison because I understood: this is my path, and I was not attached to physical existence to the same extent as you are.

Why did you die then? I mean, your level of consciousness and purity should have dissolved or neutralized the poison.

You haven’t fully understood. Complete non-resistance. If I try to neutralize the poison in the soup, that too is an action and a form of resistance. Therefore, full acceptance literally means accepting the poison without change.

I mean something else. I imagine it this way: a certain level of consciousness, like the one you had at that moment, is a kind of automatic disinfection system. That is, the quality of consciousness automatically purifies everything it comes into contact with.

Yes. If done unconsciously. A saintly hermit lives, mad, meaning he has completely shut off his mind, and the quality of his radiance automatically disinfects and purifies the space around him. But he does not control this process. He simply is the sun, which cannot help but shine because all obstacles to radiance have been removed. This is one of the paths. I too am the sun that cannot help but shine. But I can control this process, and in certain cases choose not to use my radiant qualities. In this case, I trusted the process and chose not to use this quality to neutralize the poison. That is, I fully accepted everything that was happening.

I don’t understand. Let’s take the case of the saintly hermit. He is the sun, and there are no barriers to his radiance. Does that mean you set barriers to your radiance?

Rather, they are not barriers but focusing mechanisms. A laser beam is more powerful because it is confined, because all its power is focused in a beam rather than in a wave. Likewise with you: if you control your consciousness and your radiance, you can be the sun, or you can be the beam. The choice is yours.

Alright. Let’s go back to meditation. How should one meditate correctly? Is it necessary to turn off the mind, and how can this be done?

When you say «turn off the mind,» you imply a specific action to turn it off. Like flipping a switch, or like locking thoughts inside something from which they cannot escape. But that already is an action and is resistance. And therefore, you don’t need to turn off the mind. You need to dissolve it.

Dissolve the mind?

Yes. When a river flows into the ocean, it dissolves in it and loses its shape and its properties of swiftness. Therefore, you need to become the ocean, and then the rivers of the mind will simply and naturally dissolve in it.

It’s easy to say. But how do you become this ocean?

You don’t need to become it. The ocean is already within you. You just need to open it, to remove the barriers that separate your consciousness from this ocean.

How do you do that? What are these barriers? I thought the mind itself was the barrier.

You have many barriers. That’s why you need to remove them one by one, sequentially. And that’s why these paths often take decades. But there is another universal path. It’s the path of fullness. You divert a lot of energy to actions that are insignificant from the perspective of moving towards the Creator. This is your choice, and no one can interfere with how you spend your Divine energy. But if you eliminate from your life those actions that are useless in terms of accelerating your movement towards the Creator, you will free up a tremendous amount of energy. Then your river will truly become a river and surge towards the ocean, breaking through all dams. This path is widely known to you, and many practice it. THIS IS THE PATH WHERE THE EGO IS REMOVED, THAT IS, ACTIONS OF RESENTMENT, REJECTION, MALICE, JEALOUSY, IRRITATION, AND SO ON, ON WHICH YOU SPEND A COLOSSAL AMOUNT OF ENERGY EVERY SECOND. Moreover, if you remove some activities that are not particularly significant to you and are more performed automatically because it’s customary, or because others would judge you if you don’t do them, a significant amount of energy will also be freed.

Therefore, as you free your river of consciousness from various barriers, you become an increasingly powerful stream of consciousness that naturally strives towards the Creator. And so, one day, you experience what you call enlightenment. That is, all the remaining barriers, even the small ones, are swept away by this stream of consciousness, and you break through into the ocean of consciousness and reunite with it. If you continue to cling to obstacles, like a swimmer clinging to driftwood floating in the river or to the roots of trees on the shore, you will not reach the ocean of consciousness, and you will spend all your strength on clinging. On the attempt to hold on to the shore. On resisting the current.

This is fear and distrust of the process. What are you afraid of? Losing your life? But life, as you know, doesn’t end with the visible world you perceive. It doesn’t end with this current perceived reality. Life is infinite and eternal. And therefore, it cannot be lost. You may lose your personal attachments. You may lose exactly those ties. But you cannot lose everything. For everything always dwells within you.

Alright. But maybe people are afraid of losing their physical life because in physical life there are many temptations, physical pleasures, and sensations. Well, let’s say, in a subtle state, I won’t be able to feel the taste of a fruit or the scent of a flower.

At another level, different elements and instruments of sensations and pleasures will be available to you. But you are stuck on one level repeatedly and do not wish to move beyond it. Haven’t you tried all the tastes and smells in your life?

Probably all. At least most of the available ones.

Then what holds you here?

The fact that I haven’t explored everything in this world yet. That I’ve just awakened to conscious exploration, and so everything interests me.

Yes. But you must realize that an even more fascinating exploration awaits you ahead. And so, there’s no point in lingering on the path; just trust the flow of life. The flow of life is designed so that everything happens precisely when it is possible and necessary. It’s very important to understand this. And if death comes, it means that it is both possible and necessary right now. If these two concepts do not align, death will not occur or will pass you by. If it is possible, but not necessary. Or vice versa, if it is necessary, but impossible for a number of reasons. For example, your unpreparedness.

Do only those who are ready die?

Yes.

But that’s not true. Many die young, in accidents, and their consciousness wasn’t ready for it. They didn’t choose this.

How do you know that?

Here’s the translated version of your text, with emphasis on questions where applicable:

From the stories of their relatives. From the stories of friends about what a person said or thought before death.

You are confusing two processes: the journey towards death and death itself. The journey towards death can take a long time. In fact, you are moving towards it throughout your entire life. For most of you, life is a slow journey towards death from the moment of birth. In every second, there is a convergence of two concepts, two requirements: possibility and necessity. And if these two requirements do not align in a given second, in the moment of here and now, death does not occur. A person can walk towards death for a very long time, but in every moment of the here and now, in every second of their awareness, these two moments do not coincide.

There are many cases of suicide attempts where the person does not die. It seems like they chose it, but somehow they were miraculously saved, or someone intervened. This means that the possibility and necessity – determined by many moments and circumstances and being specific energetic states – did not align. But at some point, these two moments do coincide. Perhaps before this, in the preceding hours or days, the person was not seeking death and was full of plans. But precisely in that second, these two requirements – possibility and necessity – aligned, and therefore death occurred.

Because death is like a flash. And enlightenment is like a flash. «Possibility» is the combustible material. «Necessity» is the match, the fuse. If they come together, a flash occurs. If not, it doesn’t. The match burns out without having anything to ignite. The combustible material has the potential to ignite but lacks the fuse or match to set it on fire.

So, throughout your life, you prepare yourself as combustible material for the consciousness to ignite. And there is always the life-giving fire next to you, the fuse that can ignite you. But until you have accumulated enough «combustible material,» you will not ignite. Or you may ignite, but quickly burn out.

For many, a teacher, guru, or master serves as that match or fuse, helping you ignite with their fire. But the same teacher, guru, or master spends a long time preparing you as combustible material, purging you of everything that cannot burn, everything that hinders your ignition. And this is the path of enlightenment. Both the path of enlightenment and death are essentially the same process. Because at the moment of death, you become enlightened. But you become enlightened not in the physical body, as enlightened masters do in earthly incarnations. Therefore, enlightenment is akin to death, the death of your physical form. If you are not ready to die, then you are not ready for enlightenment.

In the case of the death of the physical body, it simply dies because it is exhausted from resisting the process of enlightenment. In the case of real enlightenment in life, you burn away your prejudices, your beliefs, your attachments, all your personal characteristics that you call the «ego,» and thus become free from the physical world. And you exist in it as an observer. Essentially, the life of each of you is just a path to enlightenment, and there is no other. Enlightenment is the path to God, the path to the Creator, as they say, the realization of your unity with everything. And you walk this path of enlightenment your entire life. But your whole life, you resist this path. Because you have fears. Because your memories of past lives are blocked. And they are blocked for your own good, otherwise, your mind might not be able to handle many details of your past experiences. You don’t believe in your capabilities; therefore, you fear death because you have been instilled with various paradigms and norms that you cannot break away from. All this prevents you from living enlightened. A child is born enlightened, with a pure consciousness. However, your upbringing imposes many restrictions on it; you teach it to resist the process of life, that is, to resist the process of enlightenment, the striving for enlightenment, and death. Therefore, at the end of life, your physical bodies, like many other lower bodies, become so tired of this resistance that they disintegrate, and you become enlightened consciousness, but lose some of your forms.

Thus, death and enlightenment are one and the same process. It’s just that in the first case, it happens unconsciously and is not controlled by you. In the second case, you move towards it consciously and learn to manage this process. Therefore, those who seek enlightenment must part with the fear of death, for they are one and the same.

And what about meditation?

Don’t rush. On the path of unity, on the path of enlightenment, there are many obstacles and hidden pitfalls for you. Therefore, I am trying to explain to you the essence of the process. Meditation is the path of overcoming and dissolving within yourself all the obstacles on your path to death or enlightenment. So, the first step you need to take in your consciousness is to accept death, but not as an inevitability, but as a necessity. And to be ready to die at any second. Because only then will the possibility and necessity of this align. Only then will you learn to align these two possibilities within yourself every second. This does not mean that you will die. It means that you will always be ready to ignite. And the only thing left for you to do is to accumulate enough combustible material for ignition. And as soon as you accumulate it within yourself, as soon as your consciousness becomes fit for ignition – you will ignite with the fire of enlightenment. As long as you fear death, this will not happen in life. But after accumulating enough material for combustion, perhaps at the moment of death, you will ignite with the fire of enlightenment, because each of you goes through this stage in your afterlife.