From my experience, the energy conditions and states of consciousness I have achieved in isolated practice have dissapeared after interaction with people in the normal world. So for me, I know for a fact that in order to truly progress I need to be away from people for a while.
If you can give shaktipat and transfer your energy while taking the karma and pain of others onto yourself then you become a hundred throusand times more valuable to humanity than any normal human. Because you'd be able to put people on the spiritual path and boost their progress as well. Introducing people to the spiritual path is the greatest gift, the most valuable help you can offer. And it takes time, and time in isolation, to achieve such an energetic condition.
Even if you can demonstrate a siddhi, of any kind, it can inspire others to begin practice, even if they do it for materialistic reasons at first. Or if you practice deep contemplation and develop your logic, making you able to easily convince others of the futility of materialistic existence, this also plants the seeds which will eventually lead them to true happiness.
But hey, if you are in a position to help someone right this moment then do it in whatever way you can. The point I'm just trying to make is that some forms of help are more important than others.
It seems that people are mixing up enlightenment and liberation which are related but I think are two different things. To me, enlightenment means the logical realisation of the purpose of this life based on the intuitive feeling of the true self. There are various degrees of that so everyone is enlightened to some extent. A completely enlightened person would probably be someone for whom there is only spiritual practice. While liberation is the experiential condition of the soul when desires and attachments have been transcended. There are also various degrees of this and a completely liberated person would be someone who has shed all attachments and desires. A flat electroencephalogram showing would be one physical proof of this, when the brain is compeletely calm and the thought processes are in total control, not driven by past experiences and desires.
The true self, or spirit is independent and needs nothing for its existence, therefore for a soul to achieve total unity with that it needs to be completely pure (ie having no attachments to money, power, sex, food, air, water, the body, personality, form, life and existence itself (etc..)). As far as I know one needs to be able to enter the astral and then the causal realms in order remove all attachments completely and the ability to enter multi-hour samadhi (during the ultimate version of which the breath halts and the heart beats so quitely that it cannot be heard with a stethoscope) is required for that. Everything I said is very simplistic but I want to stress the fact that we can and do need to develop.
Ofcourse our true self, the indescribable infinite, the incomprehensible eternal, is changeless. There is no progress there and there is nowhere to go and nothing to develop. But our souls are polluted with past experiences and false ideas and our nadis are clogged and our chakras are underdeveloped. That's the reason we identify ourselves with the temporary body which feels pain and hunger and is bound for death even though in our true nature we were never born and will never die..
Its easy to say this but lets face it, we need yoga or similar practices in order to directly experience it. Although it is OK if you go and sit on the couch and eat chips or even go out and feed the hungry but there is no guarantee you will arrive home through the top of the loop unless you conquer death while you are still alive (ie. experience bardo in deep meditation). And if there is still something impossible for you then you are not home just yet, so don't fool yourself and keep up the practice, while helping others along the way.
