Why must we give up all earthly pleaures to attain enlightenment?

Answer 1

It depends on what kind of enlightenment you are seeking. Sometimes it is necessary to experience earthly pleasures in order to gain enlightenment. We learn from living, and often our mistakes and those of others teach us our most important lessons. We learn that it is not important to always be right, so we correct others only when it really matters for reasons of safety or to prevent them from making a terrible mistake.

If you are totally materialistic and are not concerned with the spiritual realm in your life, you will remain on one plane along with the majority of other people, but if you seek to better yourself through the pursuit of knowledge and spiritual growth you will transcend the ordinary. Ideas and relationships will become more important than things. You will cease struggling to balance the things of this world with your values and will feel content with who you are and what you believe. That, to me, is enlightenment.

Answer 2

By sacrifice alone we gain immortality. What is the sacrifice you have to make? You have to sacrifice your Ego and Selfishness. Why? We have observed from our own experience that to hold some thing we need to exert effort. To let go a thing from your hold is just easy. Secondly after all these experience in this world, are you more happy by enjoying earthly pleasures? Never. You become weak by every enjoyment. For example, consider a man drinks liquor. At the time of drinking he seems to be enjoying. After the drink you observe him. He becomes very weak and is not steady. The next morning he will wake up with much bodily pain. This is the case with all the so called enjoyments. Secondly your mind seeks more pleasure each time you enjoy. This is like pouring oil in the fire. The fire never gets extinguished. It seeks more and more oil. This is the case of enjoyment of earthly pleasures. Once you give up those habits, you will find rejuvenation in your health and happiness. Hence to attain enlightenment first the mind has to be nullified. Mind can not be controlled while catering to its tastes. nagarajan.

Answer 3

In the Christian religion you do not have to.
This is often a misconception.
The blessings of God are gifts from Him, and are to be enjoyed. If you work hard and own a beautiful home, you certainly should not feel guilty for that; It is ill-gotten gain that is sin.
The knowledge of God is in His Word.
A person can certainly enjoy earthly pleasures, but if you are so caught up in earthly things, and do not take the time to understand Gods Word, then you obviously will not be enlightened by that word.
Its just common sense. How can you know something if you do not take the time to
know it?

Answer 4

You don't have to give up ALL earthly pleasures to attain enlightenment. It's just that you don't want to put your main focus on pleasures. You should want your main focus in life to be on serving God and doing his will.

In his book Happy People, author Jonathan Freedman notes: "Once some minimal income is attained, the amount of money you have matters little in terms of bringing happiness. Above the poverty level, the relationship between income and happiness is remarkably small." Many have come to realize that what really matters for individual happiness is that one has spiritual assets, meaningful pursuits in life, and moral values. Also important are human relationships and freedom from the conflicts or constrictions that could prevent us from enjoying what we have.

Answer 5

Attaining Enlightenment requires an *empty* mind.

Therefore, with so much earthly desires in our mind, how can we attain Enlightenment?

Answer 6

Sinful Pleasures Yes

Answer 7

I have understood that we are to give up attachment to earthly pleasures, not neccessarily the pleasures themselves.

Marg: For instance I enjoy using the internet but I really would not want to give it up - I am very attached to it. I also enjoy watching movies, but I could easily never watch another movie again - I am not attached to movies.

Answer 8

Because the most of these very pleasures make us sinful:
*sex with anybody u see
*alcoholism
etc.....
People who wanna get enlightenment shouldn't even think of those things, because their mind will be occupied and won't be open to the enlightenment.

Answer 9

No, I don't believe we must give up all earthy pleasures, just experience moderation in order to attain enlightenment.

Answer 10

I think that earthly pleasures distract our attention from our goals, whereas undisturbed focus on enlightenment may help the process.