Steps to Salvation

Query: Know the steps to Salvation... does it mean living in the Kingdom of God or does it mean Merging with God?

Vijay Kumar:
Salvation (moksha in Hinduism) is the stage when atman the soul within regains its pristine pure original form. This stage can be reached by atman the soul within only after having manifested a total of 8.4 million lives and a total earthly journey of 96.4 million years. Before we further discuss on the doctrine of salvation... we need to understand the cosmic system as a whole.

For the salvation to occur there has to be the presence of atmans (souls) and a cosmos. Let us think of a period when the total cosmos is about to collapse (this stage of disintegration of the cosmos is known as pralaya in Hinduism). At this stage in whatever stage of manifestation every atman soul is all Atmans reach stage of Enlightenment. There is no other alternative for them for all attain salvation (moksha in Hinduism).

The sooner all atmans (souls) in the cosmos come back to their pristine pure original form... the total size of the cosmos reduces to half a thumb (the doctrine of Bhagavad Gita covers this subject in quite detail). And what is this half a thumb? The size of all purified atmans existing in the Cosmos at a given point of time is the size of half a thumb and what then is the definition of God! The collective power of all purified atmans in the cosmos is what we call God Almighty.

A grain of sand is an atman soul and the whole mound Parmatman (God Almighty). Salvation (moksha in Hinduism) is primarily the end of cosmic journey of atman the soul within our body. It is the culmination of life itself for beyond salvation there is nothing else for the atman soul to do. No further manifestations the atman soul liberates forever from the cycle of birth and death.

The disintegration of the cosmos having occurred... the combined power of all these purified Atmans we call God Almighty cannot sustain itself for long. The massive energy unable to control itself explodes again with a Big Bang. Does it mean that God Almighty explodes himself? Yes, it is so and is created a new cosmos and a new journey for all atmans (souls)! All Atmans hereafter scatter all over the Cosmos with unimaginable speeds... this also confirms the saying that God is everywhere for every atman soul is a miniscule form of God.

These Atmans while on their cosmic journey gather impurities on the way. It is simply like that a rolling ball of honey gathers dust on the way. This journey of atmans (souls) continues until they find a suitable place conducive for their manifesting a body. After millions and billions of years when planets like Mother Earth get created that can sustain life... these atmans manifest a body. And the cosmic life cycle of atman the soul within starts.

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From this stage it is a long journey of 8.4 million manifestations and 96.4 million earthly years before these atmans can come back to their pristine pure original form after having removed all the impurities within. And this chain of manifestations gets started in form of an amoeba (a single cell formation), the first in the series of manifestations. It further evolves into multi cell formation and the life goes on. After millions of years atman the soul within further evolves into insect life, and further millions of years ahead into plant life, then animal life and finally the form of a human being.

We need to clearly understand here that neither remaining in swarga (Heaven) or Naraka (hell) can any atman the soul within gain salvation. No Devi (goddess) or Devta (god) can directly gain salvation (moksha in Hinduism) from swarga (Heaven) or Naraka (hell). Everyone has to come down to Mother Earth and take the form of a human being before one can gain salvation moksha and get liberated forever from cycle of birth and death.

Salvation (moksha in Hinduism) is achieved after gaining Enlightenment. After achieving the stage of salvation there is nowhere else to go for atman the soul within except to the abode of God (Baikuntha in Hinduism) and in Christianity aka the kingdom of God. We may desire or not but salvation is the end goal of every living being. We can make efforts to reach the stage of salvation (moksha in Hinduism) within this life itself that requires one to understand the crux of the cosmic system that is well defined in the most revered Scripture of Hinduism the sacred Bhagavad Gita.

Bhagavad Gita contains everything knowable and necessary for a human being to reach the stage of salvation moksha. It describes in detail the journey of an atman soul from the first manifestation to the last... the 8.4 millionth manifestation when atman the soul within gets liberated forever from the cycle of various manifestations. The sacred Bhagavad Gita is a complete document in itself. The doctrine of Bhagavad Gita was dictated by Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra in the battle between Pandavas and Kauravas. The teachings contained in Bhagavad Gita have no parallel in mankind. They open the inner eyes of the serious seeker of Spirituality

reaching the stage of salvation Atman comes back to its pure energy form and need not further manifest a body. This is a stage which man gods like Bhagwan Mahavira, Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed reached after having gained Enlightenment. If we continue the normal way we shall take a total of 8.4 million manifestations to reach the stage of salvation (moksha in Hinduism) but for people like Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharishi Ramana who wanted to realize God within their life time... the journey was cut short.

It is solely the prerogative of a human being to decide when one desires to gain enlightenment and finally salvation. And in form of a human being also it is the he form that is dominant. In the whole history of mankind only two women were able to gain enlightenment and they were Gargi and Maitreyi. Gargi and Maitreyi Colleges in New Delhi are reminiscent of the special status awarded to Gargi and Maitreyi by the society.

Gargi is famous for her discourses on the forbidden subject of sex with pundit Mandan Mishra and in which she defeated pundit Mandan Mishra in the presence of about 5000 renowned sages and pundits of the era. Gargi was a class in itself. She faced adversities directly head-on. She never feared anything in life. Her bulldog determination made her win the day. On other hand Maitreyi was one of the two wives of sage Jnanavalakya Brahma Jnani, the author of Jnanavalakya Upanishad. She also had the will of iron... knowing well the meaning of becoming god realized she pursued Sage Jnanavalakya until the end and who ultimately reluctantly agreed to teach her the essence of Brahma jnana.

Compared to only two women who gained self realization there are multitudes of men who gained realization in the last about 5000 years. And why was it so. It is for the simple fact that the motherhood (the feeling of extreme attachment) comes in the way of gaining Enlightenment and finally achieving the stage of salvation (moksha in Hinduism). For any lady this particular fact has to be borne in mind that gaining salvation in form of a lady is extremely difficult comparable to gaining salvation in form of a man. In the normal circumstances every lady shall have to manifest the body of a man before one can gain enlightenment and finally salvation (moksha in Hinduism).

It is at the time of gaining Enlightenment that the self of a person merges with the larger whole God Almighty himself. Only after one has burnt his Karma can one take control over the senses and the mind. And having practiced celibacy for a continuous period of 12 years... one reaches the pinnacle of cosmic life... the 8.4 millionth manifestation. This is a stage of Nirvikalpa Samadhi... the state of absolute nothingness when one can have a dialogue with God on one-to-one basis.

The dreamless state is a physical state one experiences in physical manifested life. It is not comparable with the state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi when one entirely merges himself into the entity of God Almighty. Every Atman is part of a bigger puzzle. One or the other day this part has to merge with the larger whole and only then the bigger puzzle would get completed and this completed puzzle the size of half a thumb is what we call as God Almighty (this occurs at the time of dissolution of cosmos).

Talking of losing the identity as you have expressed makes no sense as it is not the body which has taken the atman soul but it is the vice versa which is true. in present life Atman within our body has taken the form of a human being and it is just possible that because of bad Karma performed by us atman the soul within our body may manifest as an animal in next life. Now who loses the identity... the Human being or the animal form or Atman itself?

The present physical form is limited to one life itself... it is never carried further. We never know in next life what shall be the physical manifest form taken by atman the soul within us. It is totally dependent upon the residual Karma based on which atman the soul within us shall manifest the next life. Sometimes it so happens that matching parents are not available to Atman to manifest then depending upon the residual Mass Karma, Atman resides either in swarga (Heaven) if we have positive balance of Karma and Naraka (hell) if we have negative balance of Karma.

Swarga Heaven and Naraka (hell) are two intermediate stages created by God Almighty as it was always possible that sometimes the matching parents are not available. No matching parents available the atman soul cannot conceive a body. In the cosmic system of life things are absolutely clear... we need to dive deep into the portals of Spirituality and gather the pearls of wisdom contained in the sacred Bhagavad Gita. Only then the complete complex structure of the cosmos becomes clear to us.

More Moksha Salvation related links...

kingdom of god - Dissolution of the Cosmos - What after Liberation of Soul - Moksha - Moksha Salvation - Astral beings

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Vijay Kumar "Atma Jnani" Vijay Kumar... The Man who Realized God in 1993 on Steps to Salvation. For more details on steps to salvation- jainism believe about salvation visit - steps to salvation. Send your query - click here

Full text of query: I am very impressed by your teachings and concepts of religion and Spirituality. What does salvation mean? Does it mean living in the kingdom of God or does it mean merging with God and losing our identity as such (like dreamless sleep). Please explain.