The parable of the escapist.

Once upon a time…there was a prison…in a very beautiful place in the  world.
There were strong prison bars all around the prison,but people  inside the prison were free..
The prisoners were fed good food,and were looked after so well that no one thought of escaping from this prison to a life of  freedom.
No one except one person.
This person tried to escape by squeezing between the bars,because he was thin.But try as he would ,he could not squeeze through.If he could not squeeze through then no one else could as he was the thinnest of all the prisoners.But this man was desperate to escape.So desperate that one day he discovered a way he could escape.He started fasting quietly,all on his own.Day by day, he started loosing weight.One day,after fasting on and off  for four weeks,he tried to squeeze out between the bars.Lo and behold.He was out of the prison.

He called all the prisoners,told all of them that he could squeeze out of prison and escape.They asked him how he did it and he told them the secret.He said goodbye to all of them and squeezed out.Some of the prisoners were happy that atleast one amongst them had become free and  cheered him and wished him good luck.But there were others who told him how could he run away leaving them behind and told him he was selfish.The man turned around to these people” I have told you the secret and I will be very happy if all of you follow me in my freedom.” And this man escaped.

End of Parable.The question is Was this man right in escaping or should he have stayed back in prison for the rest of his life with his other colleagues?

The second question is were his colleagues right in calling him selfish or should they have been happy that atleast one of them had found freedom?

Enlightenment Level ?

I had earlier written about Spiritual level and asked what is your spiritual level?
In the same vein,I would like to think of what is enlightenment level?
How close are you to enlightenment or really how far?
But before that I would like to ask the following questions .
1.Is enlightenment total or can it also be partial?
2.If one is partially enlightened or totally enlightened,is it permanent or it could be temporary?
3.Is enlightenment obtained gradually or suden ? If gradually is it over a long period of time or a short period ?
4.Does enlightenment appear and then disappear if you dont know how to hold on to it properly or if you misuse it or brag about it ?
The questions are serious and not in a lighter or sarcastic vein.
Coming back to the main issue of enlightenment levels ,I am making the following hypothetical measuring scale.
Lets assume that the scale is from 0 to ten,going on a reverse scale.
Zero is the level that Buddha reached,that is,full enlightenment.
In Buddhist terminology,Shoonya is an important word which means emptiness,or void or a zero.Thats why I have kept zero as the ultimate in enlightenment level.
Lets keep level ten the highest level of unenlightenment.
Each person has to ask himself this question what is my level? if he is into setting himself on the path of enlightenment.
Most of mankind is not into this.How much money have you made,how successful have you been in your career,how famous have you become,how happy are you with your family,how compassionate are you,how much you have returned to society,how environment friendly are you,these are the types of questions generally asked.How much have you refined your inner being towards enlightenment is hardly ever asked.The science of the inner world has not been investigated enough.Why not?