Enlightenment

There was a Potter. He used to make many earthen pots of different sizes and shapes in an artistic way.
One small pot was always lamenting over his smallness. He would envy the other pots for their big and more artistic looks.

One day, Potter came in a frustrated mood as there were no buyers for the earthen pots. He took a big stick and broke all the pots. Somehow this small pot was saved.

It (the small pot) was astonished to see all the pots were turned into clay within minutes. Their different sizes and shapes and beautiful looks were no more. There remained the clay and nothing but the clay.

Observing this scene, this small pot started introspecting. He got the knowledge of its true nature. That he is nothing but the clay.  All the shapes and decorative looks of the pots; it envied to were for a temporary period only.
It whispered, “One day I will also turn into the clay… No no, I will not turn into the clay, I am the clay only… but for some period of time,  I have been in the form of a pot. This pot will get destroyed but not me, the clay.”
घडे की मौत होगी। मिट्टी की नहीं।

So it contemplated upon its true nature…

The potter again made new pots of different sizes and shapes with beautiful decorations.
But this small pot was at peace and bliss, as it started seeing the one and the same clay in all the pots as well as within.
This state is the state of enlightenment… घडा जब स्वयं मे और दुसरे घडोंमे घडा नही पर मिट्टी देखने लगता है।

Getting enlightened seems simple in this analogy/example as the very stuff, the pots are made with is the gross element, the clay which is easily perceived by the senses.
Why does the path of enlightenment be very difficult for humans?

Because the very tatva/ true nature ie self is beyond the reach of body-mind intellect.
Gross can be proved… not the subtle… and that ultimate tatva is the subtlest of the subtle.

Even those who have attained this state cannot express it just as the mute man cannot describe the taste of jaggery put in his mouth.

The only method is to experience it by continuous /regular practice (निदिध्यासना). That is, after shravan (listening) and manana (reflecting), one must practice dharana and dhyana so as to reach that final stage.
Dharana means the practice of cultivating the lone thought “I am the sat chit anandam brahman / brahmakar vrutti.” with efforts. Whenever the mind entertains another thought, one has to pull it again and again toward brahmakar vrutti which needs much effort.
Such efforts make one habitual with the brahmakar vrutti so that no efforts are required anymore to hold that vrutti (Dhyana).

An example — A farmer binds his cow with a rope so that she will not run away. Once it becomes a habit for the cow to stay only at that particular place, the farmer no longer binds her with a rope.  She stays there automatically at ease without any effort. 
After practising dhyana, the very thought “I am the brahman” no more remains as a thought but as one’s very nature.
Just like after acquiring a medical degree, a doctor need not remember that he is a doctor.  He lives as a doctor without reminding himself that “I am a doctor.”

This is the enlightened state. Brahmavid brahmaiv bhavati.

Hari Om !