Geshela explained Enlightenment like this:

Geshela was born in Kham Tibet in the early 1930s. I met him in Santa Cruz in 1983 with my family. then later my family and I met him again in Bodhgaya, India when the Dalai Lama was giving the Kalachakra Tantra initiation in December of 1985. He signed us up for this initiation. There were up to 500,000 people there and at least 10,000 people like myself from the western world. They put us under awnings to protect us from the sun which was very kind of them as westerners often don't do well in the heat of Bodhgaya even in December. His full Name as a Tibetan Lama was: "Geshe Lobsang Gyatso" and he traveled with the Dalai Lama when he fled Tibet so he could stay alive then and went to Dharamshala, India where the Indian Government Gave the Dalai Lama land for Tibetan Refugees then and where the Dalai Lama still lives today with Tibetan Refugees from Tibet living in this area of Dharamshala, India today at around 6000 feet elevation sort of like the elevation of Lake Tahoe in California.

Here is what Geshela Said:

 

 It's like being behind a curtain on a stage and then you Open the curtain and realize you are already enlightened".

This is the best way to describe this that I have heard so far.

Because we all are born with our Primal  innate, pure awareness that is the fundamental nature of mind we all are naturally enlightened already.

However, often we have to recognize it fully to actually BE fully enlightened.

So, most of enlightenment is actually the self acceptance of already being enlightened and then this progresses on like this forever to higher and higher states of awareness and enlightenment.