There is a beautiful story from one of the ancient vedic texts:

A disciple goes to a master and asks him, ‘Master, give me enlightenment.’

The master just says, ‘Tat tvam asi’ nine times. ‘Tat tvam asi’ means ‘That Art Thou’. It is called a mahavakya, the statement that straightaway gives enlightenment. The ‘vakya’ or the statement that straightaway leads you to the experience of the ‘mahat’, the cosmos, is mahavakya. Nine times, the master repeats ‘Tat tvam asi’ and the disciple is enlightened.

The story ends.

Is it so simple? Then why is it not happening in us? What is missing in us? What is the difference between us and that disciple?

The disciple was fully integrated, burning to receive the truth.

Look at the oyster. It is waiting for the rain water to make the pearl. When the rain water falls, she just carries the rain water into her womb and goes down into the ocean. The process happens on the rain water, and the pearl results. The oyster will be waiting with the mouth wide open on the waters of the ocean. She will be just waiting for the rain water. She cannot take the salt water and make the pearl. She needs pure rain water. The moment one drop of rain water falls on her, immediately she will go into the deepest layer of the ocean and she will start doing the process. She will come out with the pearl.

When the words of the master enter the being of the disciple intensely burning for the Truth, the pearl of enlightenment happens.

In the same way, those words the master utters will straightaway enter only into that person who is seeking intensely with open being for the initiation. He carries those words with him and sits inside his inner space. The process happens and out comes the pearl of enlightenment. For the intense seeker, even a few words are enough. He will suddenly see the being blossoming, expanding and expressing itself. The intensity and the openness of the disciple are like the wide open mouth of the oyster. The words of the master are like the rain water. When the words of the master enter the being of the disciple intensely burning for the Truth, the pearl of enlightenment happens.

When you are intense, you just are. You don’t need to become, you just need to be. We know so many ways of becoming. Becoming is totally different from being. To become a doctor we know what has to be done, to become a lawyer we know what has to be done, to become a politician we know what has to be done. All our knowledge is all about becoming.

Becoming is directly related to the mind. Being is directly related to your nature.

Becoming is related to society, being is related to you.

We know only how to become something. We forgot an important factor, how to be. Because our inner space has become too much corrupted with the concept of becoming, we lost touch with the idea of being. We lost touch with our very truth which is being. If you can experience your being at least for one moment, so many things that you accumulated when you wanted to ‘become’ something like physical illness, mental illness, suffering, sorrow, and all those things – will be washed away. You will experience the inner healing. Whatever was disturbing you, all the wounds, will be washed away. Above all you will have a real, concrete solid base to become something. Even becoming something will be a great success if you start after experiencing being.

Without experiencing the being, if you start or if you try to become something, you will be an utter failure.

source: Living Enlightenment