Enlightenment: The Ego, what is it? How to transcend it.

[greybeard]

Christ consciousness may be available to all according to Edgar Cayce
Long video but it contains quote rather than just interpretation

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Hykh3pKUdCE

[gini]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=adAyzIuKC50

--5 Mar 2026
5 Enlightened Masters Who Went Completely Insane
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -´What happens when the search for enlightenment breaks your mind instead of freeing it?
These aren't peaceful monks sitting under trees. These are men who meditated until their nervous systems collapsed, slept on cremation ashes beside burning corpses, drank in brothels while writing sacred poetry, sold cigarettes in a tiny Bombay shop while claiming to be infinite awareness, and faked their own death at sixteen to discover what survives it.
Hakuin Ekaku pushed his meditation so far he developed what he called "Zen sickness" — a complete physical and psychological breakdown that left him unable to function. U.G. Krishnamurti spent decades tearing apart every spiritual teaching he encountered, then experienced a catastrophic event that erased his sense of self entirely. Ikkyū Sōjun abandoned monastic life to live among prostitutes and drunks, claiming the pleasure quarters held more truth than any temple. Nisargadatta Maharaj ran a cigarette shop in the slums of Bombay and told seekers they were dreaming. Bamakhepa lived naked on a cremation ground, covered in funeral ash, worshipping a goddess of destruction.
Their stories raise a question most spiritual traditions would rather avoid — where does enlightenment end and madness begin? Or is there even a difference?
Timestamps:
0:00 — Introduction
0:00 — Hakuin Ekaku: The Monk Who Went Mad
0:00 — U.G. Krishnamurti: The Man Who Unawakened Himself
0:00 — Ikkyū Sōjun: The Saint of Brothels
0:00 — Nisargadatta Maharaj: The Cigarette Vendor Who Remembered "I Am"
0:00 — Bamakhepa: The Mad Saint of Tarapith
0:00 — Ramana Maharshi: The Stillness That Consumed Him´

[greybeard]

Posted by gini (here)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=adAyzIuKC50

--5 Mar 2026
5 Enlightened Masters Who Went Completely Insane
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -´What happens when the search for enlightenment breaks your mind instead of freeing it?
These aren't peaceful monks sitting under trees. These are men who meditated until their nervous systems collapsed, slept on cremation ashes beside burning corpses, drank in brothels while writing sacred poetry, sold cigarettes in a tiny Bombay shop while claiming to be infinite awareness, and faked their own death at sixteen to discover what survives it.
Hakuin Ekaku pushed his meditation so far he developed what he called "Zen sickness" — a complete physical and psychological breakdown that left him unable to function. U.G. Krishnamurti spent decades tearing apart every spiritual teaching he encountered, then experienced a catastrophic event that erased his sense of self entirely. Ikkyū Sōjun abandoned monastic life to live among prostitutes and drunks, claiming the pleasure quarters held more truth than any temple. Nisargadatta Maharaj ran a cigarette shop in the slums of Bombay and told seekers they were dreaming. Bamakhepa lived naked on a cremation ground, covered in funeral ash, worshipping a goddess of destruction.
Their stories raise a question most spiritual traditions would rather avoid — where does enlightenment end and madness begin? Or is there even a difference?
Timestamps:
0:00 — Introduction
0:00 — Hakuin Ekaku: The Monk Who Went Mad
0:00 — U.G. Krishnamurti: The Man Who Unawakened Himself
0:00 — Ikkyū Sōjun: The Saint of Brothels
0:00 — Nisargadatta Maharaj: The Cigarette Vendor Who Remembered "I Am"
0:00 — Bamakhepa: The Mad Saint of Tarapith
0:00 — Ramana Maharshi: The Stillness That Consumed Him´

Your posts are always interesting gini
The late Dr David Hawkins said that Kundalini rewired the nervous system so that the body could contain higher spiritual vibration of enlightenment, otherwise the body could not cope with it.
I like the teaching that came through David Carse -- his Kundalini awakening is I think in this chapter. His teaching in line with Nasargadadatta
Chris
If time is short go to roughly 30 minutes into the video --that's where the enlightenment begins. Its quite a clear description.
Chris

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tiw9dHLvEog

[gini]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=g-oo35QbGIo

interesting take on why enlightenment or awakening doesnt mean perfection or to be flawless..