Can an Enlightened Person Make Mistakes?
Of course, even an enlightened soul is still very much human and prone to make the same mistakes as everyone else from time to time. This topic is particularly relevant within the context of spiritual enlightenment, a concept that varies widely across different traditions and definitions.
Understanding Spiritual Enlightenment
Conventionally, spiritual enlightenment is seen as a future state to be attained through various spiritual practices. Some might expect enlightened individuals to be infallible, but the truth is that enlightenment does not equate to perfection. Enlightened individuals may still make mistakes, but these errors are often fewer and less severe than those made before attaining enlightenment. Furthermore, they are more likely to appreciate their mistakes as a part of the ongoing journey and remain open to new insights, experiences, and deeper understanding.
Advaita Nonduality: Recognizing Our Inherent Enlightenment
Advaita (nonduality) challenges the conventional view of enlightenment as a future state, instead inviting each of us to recognize our inherent enlightenment right here and now. This spiritual path claims that each of us already is and will always be the one and only pure being or awareness: eternal, timeless, infinite, dimensionless, indivisibly whole, innately peaceful, and absolutely fulfilled.
Another term for this pure being or awareness is pure consciousness, atman, brahman, sat-chit-ananda, god, true spirit, true self, true soul, pure peace, pure joy, pure bliss, etc. It has no qualities, forms, beginnings, ends, or dimensions. It does not act, vibrate, or will; it is self-luminous. It is aware of itself by being itself and possesses an inherent power or apparent activity that projects the universe.
The universe seems to emerge from the pure being or awareness, borrow apparent existence from it, be known by it, play its roles within it, and eventually dissolve back into it. Thus, the one and only pure being or awareness manifests itself as different minds—processes of thinking, perceiving, feeling, memorizing, etc.—that generate fleeting and intermittent thoughts, perceptions, feelings, and memories. Through these minds, the pure being or awareness experiences itself as other objects in the universe.
This implies that there is no real finite, separate, independent person who becomes enlightened; enlightenment is the recognition of our inherent nature. Therefore, questions about whether an enlightened person makes mistakes lose their significance because mistakes are part of the apparent phenomenal world projected by the inherent power of pure being or awareness. They do not affect our inherent enlightenment.
Understanding the Mind and Ignorance
Due to past conditioning, the mind may not be aware of its inherent enlightenment and may believe and behave as if it were a real, finite, separate, and independent person. As a result, the mind always feels lacking, incomplete, discontented, insecure, fearful, agitated, anxious, and stressed. In other words, the mind is always suffering due to its ignorance about its true nature and is always looking for ways to be complete, fulfilled, peaceful, joyful, etc.
This apparent lack of knowledge or ignorance can be neutralized or dispelled by spiritual practices such as self-inquiry, contemplation, and abidance. As the apparent ignorance in the mind about its true nature disappears—gradually or spontaneously—the one and only pure being or awareness stands revealed, making it possible to recognize or have glimpses of it as oneself.
Then, one can practice without any sense of doership, resting in, as, or surrendering to the one and only pure being or awareness, and naturally manifesting one's inherent peace and fulfillment, joy, or love through thoughts, feelings, and actions amid normal daily life.
Advaita Philosophy: The Nature of Enlightenment
According to Advaita, each of us is already enlightened and will always be so. The recognition of this inherent enlightenment is not about attaining a new state, becoming transformed into a supreme being, transcending the mind-body mechanism, or experiencing a grand revelation or divine vision. It is more like self-recognition: you as the one and only pure being or awareness recognize yourself by being yourself.
Unlike events in time and space, this self-recognition cannot be measured, quantified, or studied objectively because there is no subject-object duality. It is not caused by one's spiritual practices and is neither the intellectual outcome of a process nor a transcendental experience. It is also important to note that this recognition is not a dramatic or exotic experience in the mind-body mechanism. Any aftereffects experienced, such as peacefulness, joyfulness, blissfulness, etc., are simply the mind-body mechanism becoming more aligned with its true nature or source.