Fastest Path to Nirvana/Enlightenment?

Anyone have any ideas tips on the fastest way to enlightenment? Yoga, meditation, prayer, spiritual study/inquiry? Any thoughts would be appreciated...

I dont think any one path is faster or slower than the next. Applying a timeline to a spiritual path is too limiting. It takes as long as it takes.

Some like meditation and inner relfection; Others, much like one of my favorite writters Hunter S Thompson, prefer powerful mind altering substances and all out zany antics.

Myself, I have my own rituals, unfortunately the Terms and Conditions of Use for this site forbid me to even mention them. (U2U for more details)

All I can say man, try them all, the ones for you will just feel right. Not everyone is ment to meditate for 3+ hours.


Also, there is no guarentee that you will achieve enlightenment at the end of ti all, but dont feel discouraged. The time you spend in search of a spiritual path is not wasted.

First you have to shed the false mind, built up by the unnatural systems at work around us. Commercialization, thought matrices (Chains of thought embedded by societal programming) etc.

Once you start shedding the pre-imposed ideas of other men, you can tune into the natural spring and drink deeply.

One enlightening thing to do is go outside and look very closely at things, leaves, rocks, study animal movements etc. Start seeing existance as a colorful math. Study optics and the behavior of light. Understand what a fractal is and how everything is fractal in nature. Stand silent in space, look with all your senses (enact the star of man), meditate. Catch any thought that enters your mind, and discard it without looking too deeply.

You have to clean your room before you can remodel it. Don't hold clutter in your mind!

The meaning of kung fu/gung fu alludes to any individual accomplishment or cultivated skill. Study the art of movement, which when flipped becomes the art of martial ability, the arts of strategy and technique.

The most important thing I have realized is to not become numb to the fact that you are breathing, living... in the most incredible spectacle your senses have experienced.

Are you numb? Become raw to the novelty of existance! It will not tarry for you.

[edit on 11-1-2008 by depth om]

Enlightenment is but one thought away.

You can read countless books, and you can analyze your entire thought process. You can seek gurus and masters, or ask questions to all whom may have answers. When it comes down to it though, I think you will find that enlightenment is the simple action of letting go.

Remember that enlightenment is just as much a feeling as it is a knowing.

[edit on 11-1-2008 by Vipassana]

I've thought about enlightenment as not minding.

"Your house is on fire sir!"

"I don't mind."

It really is about not letting your mind snare itself with its own web of thought.

So like Vipassana said, Let it go to let it flow.

reply to post by Raoul Duke



send me a cashiers check ---- then we'll talk...

OR - you can do the established routine of buying books or joining a 'masters' ashram or whatever...
the path to enlightenment and what you may consider a "Nirvana"
is not what you idealize... it's all a (dirty) 'road to damascus' replay

Feel the pain of others...
Help the one who is suffering... emotionally...
feel the hapiness you get after doing this...
spread love... pass love...

and this one is concentrated...
Respect trees, water, animals and everything, even your car... because they give you something... they have life believe it or not.... this earth is also alive...

these are the things which I have read... and people spritual have told me
They also said that to get the body of human a soul has to do a lot of good work... and than with lots of life it gets a better one which is human...
and I am sure elevating this at some point will be enlitenment

Purify.... purify your soul.... is the mantra

(hope I have not bored you)

A fast track to enlightenment is alot like having sex for virginity. How do you expect to get to an all mighty plane of conciousness without an extreme amount of time and effort. I believe that enlightenment may just simply be a point the human mind reaches after constant stress is put on the brain, sort of like as physcosis of sorts. The mind begins to see many things it couldnt see before because its not seeing things that are actually there, the brain is producing an illusion. So good luck becoming physcotic.

Originally posted by Raoul Duke
Anyone have any ideas tips on the fastest way to enlightenment? Yoga, meditation, prayer, spiritual study/inquiry? Any thoughts would be appreciated...

The fastest route is the longest route.

Once you realize that there is no hurry to achieve enlightenment, you reduce the time it will take to get there by half.

It is not necessary to achieve enlightenment during this or any other lifetime. Enlightenment is not some goal but the native state your essence is in all the time anyway. It is only the body/mind device that pretends not to be enlightened during its brief stay on this planet.

reply to post by Raoul Duke


First of all, and it's not a minor quibble, nirvana is not the same as "enlightenment" - and I doubt very much that it is what you're really looking for. Unless I am mistaken, you are looking for a certain level of contemplation (of what the world "really" is).
Nirvana is the opposite of that: it's complete fusion with Being, following complete annihilation of the Self.
(And, lest some of the ubiquitous Ego-bashers try to convince you otherwise: your Self is the only way for you to identify, well... yourself. Your Self is your consciousness of your-self: the root of all pain, yes... and also of all pleasure and joy. If that's what you want to lose, then nirvana is absolutely the way to go. Of course, it'd still be a mighty long way.)

If what you really want is "enlightenment", I'd suggest (highly respectfully, despite appearances) forgetting all about notions such as "fast" and "slow". The pace of Time (in real-time) does not allow for such distinctions.

There is no FAST enlightenment - but it CAN be instantaneous.
(See Saul / Paul for reference. ; )) However, there are no recipes for the latter. Well, except this one, which is fool-proof: being and staying totally OPEN.

On a more practical note: after you've conditioned yourself to let go of certain mind frames such as fast/slow and such polarities, you can try any number of techniques - but it would be best if you'd find it yourself.
In any case, the first and very important step will be to dissolve any aversions - not to mention "hatred" - that you might be harbouring. It's a step you cannot skip.
Then (or simultaneously) you'll have to learn how to stop the activity of your your mind. After that, walking meditation, for example, is absolutely superb practice to brush on your "skills" AND enjoy the NOW.

And by the way: anything that you read in the New Testament (the Gospels, not the rest of the material) is as valid a "tool" as any other, and infinitely better than most. Everything that you've always wanted to know about meditation, enlightenment, the higher Self... it's there.

Godspeed!





[edit on 11-1-2008 by Vanitas]

I just want to say thanks to all who posted advice. There's some really good stuff here, I hope it keeps coming.

reply to post by Raoul Duke


If you are seeking enlightenment fast, you will not reach it. I don't think any of us really knows what it is in the first place, but I know it takes TIME.

Be patient, and find your own spiritual path. Everything must be done uniquely for your own Self.

While the paths may be many, they all lead to the same place- Oneness.

That which you seek is right in front of you. Look no farther than inside yourself.