Journey to Self Realization

Journey to Self Realization

Primarily a book by Paramhansa Yogananda... Journey to Self Realization is not merely a spiritual precept. It is the ultimate goal of life for all human beings on mother earth. It does not matter at what stage of evolution we existed... in the human form we had a total of 1.1 million manifestations before human beings reached stage of self realization... god realization! Journey to self realization is a slow step-by-step long drawn process.  

In spiritual terminology... enlightenment... self realization... god realization all meant the same. Realizing our true inner self... realizing we are a soul atman... the spirit within, realizing we are cosmic consciousness that manifested human form to work out its karma... is what spirituality is all about. Self realization... God realization... stage of enlightenment can only be reached via path of spirituality... never religion, path of rituals! 

For knowing truth of our inner self... our soul atman, the spirit within... our undertaking spiritual journey was mandated by God Almighty. We are primarily a spirit... a cosmic consciousness... comprehension of which is beyond limited intelligence of human beings. Of itself... no soul atman could purify self. It needs a body... a medium to work out its karma... remove dross impurities within! In Hinduism a soul is termed atman. 

In its lifetime of 8.4 million manifestations on whole... the initial 7.3 million manifestations by a soul atman is covered in insect, plant and animal life. In the remaining 1.1 million manifestations in human form... the soul atman is expected to gain absolute purity... reach cosmic end of life, 8.4 millionth manifestation! It is only by traveling spiritual path human beings finally realized self... realized god! Spirituality simply means taking inner journey... the journey to our soul atman! 

The path of spirituality can only be traveled by indulging in various sacred scriptures of different religions of world. But in present times... to reach stage of enlightenment... self realization... god realization... indulgence in Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism sufficed. Assimilating wisdom contained in 700 shlokas verses of Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism... human beings in present scientific age finally reached God. I again repeat... God Almighty can never be reached via path of religion... rituals! 

At any given moment of time human beings lived two lives... one by the physical manifest self that mostly translated to path of religion, path of rituals! Going to temples, churches or mosques was part of religious life. For knowing truth of our soul atman... we have to take inner journey towards our soul atman that primarily resided in our heart. It is through path of jnana yoga... absolute wisdom as detailed in Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism one finally realized god... realized self! 

Most human beings world over clutching to material achievements all the time preferred traveling religious path... than path of spirituality that directly led to God Almighty! No matter how best we tried... how many religious books we read, how many hours we spent daily in temples, churches or mosques... for reaching God in present life, indulgence in Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism was necessitated. Teachings of Bhagavad Gita formed summum bonum of spirituality. 

The essence of Bhagavad Gita could never be understood literally... it demands reading in between the lines. The original teachings of Bhagavad Gita... the doctrine given to mankind by Lord Krishna in battle of Mahabharata was available for mere $.60 (Rs. 30/=) from Gita press, Gorakhpur, India... yet, most human beings world over prompted by a bloated ego searched elsewhere. All found Bhagavad Gita confusing... incomprehensible... beyond their reach! 

It is true... contents of Bhagavad Gita could not be understood that easily... prime reason why God Almighty ordained a long journey of 12.4 million years in human form to reach stage of enlightenment... self realization... god realization! As per Bhagavad Gita... journey of 1.1 million manifestations in human form is covered in maximum of 12.4 million years. The journey of self realization no doubt is difficult... but we have to make a start somewhere? 

If we do not do it now in present life... how could we expect to undertake spiritual journey in next manifestation when we do not know after death of present body... what form our soul atman manifested in next life! Leaving things to chance is not how God Almighty ordained spiritual system to be. We just could not expect to jump from class one to ten. The journey of spirituality has always been a serious affair... something that could not be taken lightly ever. 

Most human beings treated travellers of spiritual path with contempt. Why? For a true seeker of spirituality... diamonds were just stones polished bright but for a religious traveler, religious seeker... one who enjoyed worldly riches, building great hermitages (ashrams) and having multitude of blind followers was a norm one could not do without. In absence of all these followers... how one could be expected to fill their coffins... collect material riches galore! 

In present scientific age... spiritual traveler was difficult to be found! No matter how best one tried... it is really difficult even to get a contemporary with whom one could indulge in Satsanga (spiritual discussions)! Whenever I came across travellers of spiritual path... I always found them alone in the spiritual journey of life. But they had no regrets. Each one of them was blunt in their submission... they accepted the fact that path of spirituality was always traveled alone! 

What people thought about journey of self realization was never a concern in my life. When I decided to go in search of God 11 years of age... I had no inkling what self realization... or reaching God meant! I always thought of god... someone big sitting on a high pedestal and governing affairs of community, the entire world! A child... 13 years of age... how could one be expected to know everything about God Almighty... or our soul atman, the spirit within! 

By 13 years of age... my simple desire to reach God in present life turned to firm conviction... come whatever may in this very life I shall see and meet God. 25 years of yoga meditation... 14 years practice of absolute celibacy finally resulted in establishing absolute control over five senses and mind. Having negated karma to zero in entirety... I finally reached God in wee hours of third of August 1993... When I realized God... realized self! 

This is my last manifestation on mother earth. Having reached 8.4 millionth manifestation... nowhere to go further, the moment I leave my mortal frame... I shall but attain salvation moksha forever. The purified soul atman... liberated soul atman would finally enter abode of God... kingdom of God (termed Vaikuntha in Hinduism)... a point of no return! By blessings of God Almighty, I finally made it in this very life. 

The moment I reached stage of self realization in totality... the entire wisdom contained in Bhagavad Gita became like ABCD to me... as if I had dictated contents of sacred Bhagavad Gita in one of my previous manifestations. Karma negating to zero resulted in full kundalini awakening. No sooner this happened... Sahasra Pushpa (thousand petaled Lotus) existing in my brain behind forehead opened fully. I immediately reached stage of self realization... God realization! 

Having realized God in 1993 at 37 years of age... I can emphatically say that in present Kali Yuga... Dark Age... metal age... only by assimilating pearls of wisdom contained in Bhagavad Gita... any human being world over could easily reach stage of enlightenment (kaivalya jnana) forever. One need not ever refer to Vedas (Hinduism revelations) or even Upanishads (independent treatises). 

The journey of spirituality is difficult... very difficult to travel yet, not impossible! I simply duplicated the path taken by Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharishi Ramana... the only two spiritual stalwarts who finally reached stage of enlightenment in their lifetime in the last about 150 years amongst 7 billion people existing world over. At no stage of life I pursued religious path... path of rituals. I had firm belief that God Almighty never existed in idols (murtis) installed in temples. 

We must try to understand that God Almighty is not the form of human beings... and so was the case with our soul atman! In fact God Almighty existed within every human being in miniscule form as our soul atman. If an individual grain of sand was an independent soul atman... the whole mound God Almighty. To reach God we had to reach our soul atman... the spirit within! This can easily be done by traveling spiritual path... contemplating on wisdom contained in various sacred scriptures of different religions of world! 

Pranayama (breathing process) is a very important aspect of spiritual life. It is through act of pranayama human beings finally reached the source that required breath. Miraculous are the ways of God Almighty! Remaining hidden in our heart... yet, we cannot find him. Wow? 

To escape rigors of spiritual life... one could always indulge only in sacred Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism and reach stage of enlightenment forever. The wisdom contained in Bhagavad Gita was universal in nature... it had universal appeal all the time. With passage of time... teachings of Bhagavad Gita have not diluted. Bhagavad Gita is not a proprietary of Hinduism either. The teachings of Bhagavad Gita belonged to entire world community... mankind at large. 

The most wonderful aspect of Bhagavad Gita... teachings of Bhagavad Gita can be followed by any human being world over even while following ones religion... even while remaining in ones religion! For studying Bhagavad Gita... for indulging in Bhagavad Gita... one need not convert to Hinduism ever. Remaining wherever we are... we can assimilate teachings contained in Bhagavad Gita and reach stage of self realization... god realization! 

Whoever wants to travel journey to self realization must always do it with full caution and conviction. The path of spirituality was always one-sided. Once having started spiritual journey... all chances of returning to material fold come to naught. In my 50 years of spiritual travail I have yet to come across one who was competent enough to travel spiritual path sincerely and diligently. Some left after five years, others after 10... And some at 15! Most of these so-called travellers of spiritual path not finding way back to material fold... experienced different stages of depression! I again say... journey of spirituality must be tread with extreme caution! 

Only one who possessed willpower exhibited by Swami Vivekananda was competent to travel spiritual path truthfully and diligently! No point reading sacred texts of Hinduism again and again... it never gets us anywhere. Apart from teachings of Bhagavad Gita... one had to be hundred percent truthful in life, always and ever... something very difficult to practice in present materialistic age! Not a single lapse was permitted by God Almighty... yes, not even one! 

Paramhansa Yogananda was a traveler of spiritual path but he did not reach stage of self realization... god realization in his lifetime! His writings in “An autobiography of a Yogi” make it absolutely clear. However for one who just started spiritual journey... books by Paramhansa Yogananda are of great help. The greatest help in our spiritual journey are writings relating to Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharishi Ramana, both who gained enlightenment in their lifetime.

Why not tread path of those who had already covered the journey in their lifetime? Journey to Self Realization by Paramhansa Yogananda

Essay by: Vijay Kumar "Atma Jnani" ... The Man who Realized God in 1993! Send your query!

 
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