Meditation and Self Realization

Meditation and Self Realization

Meditation was the path and self realization... end goal of life! Meditation and self realization are intrinsically interconnected. Without indulgence in different techniques of meditation yoga... stage of self realization could not be reached by human beings. Amongst foremost forms of meditation yoga... self enquiry was the most precise and practiced form of meditation. Unless human beings indulged in contemplation on God Almighty via path of Neti (not this, not this)... one could never reach stage of self realization... god realization as detailed in Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism.  

Path of Neti (not this, not this) form of meditation was best practiced and preached by Maharishi Ramana... one who realized god... realized self in his lifetime. Path of Neti involved contemplation on God Almighty all the time. It was only through path of jnana yoga... path of absolute wisdom human beings finally succeeded in contemplation on God Almighty. Contemplation on God Almighty was not that easy as many people world over thought. It is through path of contemplation human beings in stages step-by-step succeeded in finally negating their karma to zero. 

It was presence of impurities within that prompted a soul atman to undergo series of manifestations until it gained absolute purity, its prime pure pristine primordial original form. In its lifetime every soul atman underwent a cycle of 8.4 million manifestations that entailed an earthly sojourn of 96.4 million years. Of 8.4 million manifestations... 1.1 million manifestations occurred in human form. In spiritual parlance... human form was the highest manifest stage in cosmic life cycle... it was only in human form our soul atman finally gained its original pure form. 

In Hinduism a soul is termed atman. 

To conduct karma was not a necessity of life. One could live life without indulgence in karma. Doing so... human beings would travel normal path based on our residual balance of karma of that moment. By indulgence in karma we not only improved our standard of life... but also succeeded in manifesting destiny forever. It is by indulgence in good karma, positive karma human beings finally tasted success in life. Indulgence in karma primarily relates to our real self... our soul atman, the spirit within! 

Unless human beings indulged in karma... no soul atman could gain absolute purity as detailed in Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism. As per Bhagavad Gita, it was our soul atman... our real self that was the absolute master and controller of life on mother earth. Unless human beings indulged in karma... dross impurities within a soul atman could never be removed. All actions indulged by human beings were primarily on behalf of our soul atman... the spirit within. Human being indulging in nishkama karma way of life was the only way for souls' atmans emancipating forever from cycle of birth and death. 

Indulging in meditation yoga for full 25 years... I finally reached stage of self realization in 1993 at 37 years of age. This is my last manifestation on mother earth. Having reached 8.4 millionth manifestation and nowhere else to go further... I shall but attain moksha salvation... moment I leave my mortal frame. I have myself indulged in various forms of meditation yoga including path of contemplation... path of self enquiry... path of Neti (not this, not this). 

Throughout my life I have followed principles of life set down by Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharishi Ramana! Both Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharishi Ramana initially followed path of bhakti yoga to reach God in their lifetime. Realizing that God could not be reached via path of bhakti yoga alone in present Kali Yuga... dark age... metal age, both finally switched to path of jnana yoga... path of absolute wisdom... path of contemplation on God Almighty! Maharishi Ramana was an open exponent of path of Neti. 

It is an absolute true fact of life that stage of self realization could never be reached by literally following sacred texts contained in holy books of Hinduism. Path of jnana yoga demanded our remaining truthful always and ever in life. By remaining truthful... we could practically hear the sweet small inner voice of our soul atman that seemed to come from within our heart. Prompted by the voice of my soul atman I finally reached God in my lifetime. 

To reach God... to reach our true inner self... indulgence in various techniques of meditation as detailed in various Hindu scriptures was mandated by God Almighty. Realizing self simply meant... separating dross impurities from our soul atman... the spirit within! It was only by performance of karma... human beings finally succeeded in reducing dross impurities within our soul atman slowly step-by-step. For a spiritual traveler... indulging in nishkama karma way of yoga was an absolute must... something one could not do without! 

A Yogi... a spiritual traveler was distinct from human beings only in respect of karma. Normal human beings indulged in karma in a way that resulted in accumulating more and more karma instead of reducing it. A spiritual traveler... a Yogi always indulged in karma nishkama karma way... offering fruits of karma performed to God Almighty all the time. And why would one offer fruits of karma performed to God all the time? It was simply because our soul atman... our true inner self... the spirit within was the absolute master and controller of physical manifest life. 

Travellers of materialistic world... those indulging in vice and impurities never indulged in karma... nishkama karma way! How such human beings could be expected to reach God in their lifetime. For such human beings precepts of self realization remained limited to books of wisdom. Such human beings were totally incompetent to digest wisdom contained in spiritual sacred scriptures. The intelligence of such human beings was limited to bookish knowledge... that mattered nothing on spiritual path. Truly religion... path of rituals had no place in field of self realization. 

People often confused meditation with abstract knowledge contained in sacred texts. None wanted to indulge in true meditation as detailed in Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism. Meditation... contemplation... self enquiry... Neti... all are different modes of reaching God in present life. Contemplation on God Almighty was one form of meditation... indulging in self enquiry another! Practising Neti was also a form of meditation yoga indulging in which human beings reached God. 

Pranayama (breathing process) was another form of meditation yoga indulging in which one reached source of life that resided in our heart. It was only through process of pranayama human beings finally succeeded in reaching their soul atman... the spirit within that resided in our heart! Pranayama was a pure form of meditation yoga that could always be practiced while lying in savasana pose of yoga. Self enquiry... path of Neti also is best practiced lying in savasana... corpse pose of yoga. Savasana... death pose is a very vital form of meditation yoga in Hinduism. 

The best part of self enquiry, Neti is... one could indulge in self enquiry, Neti... contemplation on God Almighty at any stage of life and at any time one wanted. Throughout my life I contemplated on God Almighty almost any time that came at my disposal. Even while indulging in breakfast, lunch or dinner... or even resting, studying... I could contemplate on God Almighty all the time. I never needed an excuse for reaching God Almighty. I always had absolute faith in God Almighty. None world over could deter me from contemplation on God Almighty. 

I was never a slave of destiny. By remaining truthful... I finally manifested destiny forever. For reaching stage of self realization... control over five senses and mind was an absolute must. In the present material age... mastering five senses and mind was truly a delicate task. Only by hit and trial method I finally succeeded in realizing self in 1993. Practice of absolute celibacy for 14 years in continuation finally resulted in full kundalini awakening. Practice of celibacy involved transmuting sexual energy towards ultimate goal of life... reaching God! Patiently practising celibacy day after day I inched closer to God Almighty. 

Truly sexual energy was the most potent of all energies made available to mankind by grace of God Almighty. Every human being is given a particular quota of energy month after month, year after year by grace of God Almighty. Some whiled it away through pure physical channels... others transmuted it towards the only goal of life. For a few seconds of physical pleasure... human beings marred their future forever. Who can explain to such human beings... the power of practising celibacy in totality? Truly practice of absolute celibacy finally leads to stage of total bliss. On path of self realization one could accomplish nothing in absence of practice of celibacy. 

In field of pure spirituality... journey of self realization always was a journey into unknown... prime reason why most human beings on mother earth preferred traveling path of religion... path of rituals than path of spirituality! As per my experience... unless we had the bulldog determination of Swami Vivekananda... one could not make it in the spiritual field. Practice of spirituality demanded highest level of perfection that could ever be practiced by human beings... a perfection that was much more critical than human beings landing on Moon or Mars. In the field of science... the hidden factors were much less compared to field of pure spirituality. 

On journey of self realization... one was practically alone in the journey of life! No matter how best I tried to find a spiritual preceptor in the early stages of life... I found none. I was not as lucky as Swami Vivekananda who had Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa to guide him in the spiritual journey of life. My journey was almost akin to that of Maharishi Ramana... Sage of Arunachala who finally succeeded in reaching God in his lifetime! Throughout my life I always tried to duplicate path of spirituality undertaken by Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa or Maharishi Ramana. Whatever literature relating to Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa or Maharishi Ramana I could lay hands on... I read it with added fervor. My happiness knew no bounds when I chanced gathering something from their teachings... that I did not know! 

Truly Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharishi Ramana were self realized saints who reached God Almighty in their life. 

One may follow any path of meditation for reaching stage of self realization but our assimilating pearls of wisdom contained in Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism was an absolute must. In absence of wisdom contained in 700 shlokas verses of Bhagavad Gita... none could reach God in present scientific age. Man gods like Mahavira, Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed... finally reached God in their life following path of spirituality detailed in Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism. To gain enlightenment... to become a bodhi... a Jina... a Mahavira... contemplation on teachings contained in Bhagavad Gita was an absolute must. 

One may not be a Hindu... but teachings of Bhagavad Gita can be followed by any human being world over without ever converting to Hinduism. Even while following ones religion... one could simultaneously follow teachings contained in Bhagavad Gita. The teachings contained in Bhagavad Gita had universal appeal... they never diluted with time. If one had the will... Bhagavad Gita showed the way. How to reach stage of self realization is clearly detailed in Bhagavad Gita but most human beings world over wondered where it was written. Trying to read Bhagavad Gita literally... none could ever understand! We must always learn to read in between the lines.  

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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