Is it possible to raise a child “enlightened”?

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In short, no.

I personally believe that enlightenment is a real thing and that it can be attained. You have an inborn level of consciousness which determines what you are capable of in any given life. This slowly rises as a consequence of just doing things and learning and growing.

Your level of consciousness has effects on, not just your own person, but also on ‘external’ things like luck. This is because, in order to provide for a fulfilling existence, God is constantly interfacing with your being and bringing you experiences that you can learn from.

Most people do not have a level of consciousness sufficient to achieve ‘true’ enlightenment, what Buddhists call nonduality. Nonduality is generally the result of a careful spiritual search in which the illusion of a separate self is discarded and perception of what Hindus call Advaita is paramount. There is no enlightened self, just a lack of perception of the unenlightened self.

One of the hallmarks of enlightenment is that it can’t be directly taught, only coached. This is because a spiritual journey is always walked primarily alone. There are powerful techniques that can be used in the context of a guru relationship, but the guru does not directly make anyone enlightened. He / she is only there to facilitate and guide, never directly provoke. When the student is ready for enlightenment, the guru can provide a necessary spark into the next state.

All states, including the ‘enlightened’ one, are ultimately illusory. This may seem on the surface to contradict with my statement that enlightenment is real. But in fact illusions can be real things, illusory and real are not contradictory. It takes careful construction and detailed knowledge to make a good illusion. The illusion of enlightenment can be a very good one, and persist throughout life, attaining reality through persistence. But like the illusion of a television show, it can be turned off and on and deconstructed to bits.

And so it takes a lot of knowledge, study, and direct practice to ‘become’ enlightened. To use the TV example, it’s analogous to becoming a director and learning how to act all the parts. Much effort is put into the construction of the illusion that all is but one.

So your child is either going to be born enlightened, that is, with the requisite level of consciousness needed to perceive everything needed to construct a nondual illusion, and will do so as soon as they possess the mental tools with which to do so, usually just a basic understanding of surrender, or they won’t. If they don’t, then you won’t be able to do it for them.

Osho had a very interesting childhood. He was left completely to his own devices until he was seven years old, something he considered formative. I recall him describing a great deal of hell he would put his grandparents through, which they suffered with grace. As a result he was extremely precocious.

The thing about very high levels of consciousness is, it finds a way to manifest regardless of the obstacles, and indeed, sometimes because of them. What is created is the means for greater and more interesting experience. It’s really beyond the ability of any one person or group of persons to effectively undermine.

So while you can take a part in the raising of an enlightened child, that child would have been enlightened anyway even if you did jack diddly to encourage it.