What is Self Realization

What is Self Realization

Whenever I come across the query... what is self realization... I find almost all people world over understood it wrongly. I have not yet come across even a single person who could explain to me meaning of spirituality, definition of God Almighty, meaning of dharma, meaning of karma etc. Unless we clearly understood definition of God, dharma, karma, spirituality and related spiritual terminology like soul atman... concept of self realization would never become clear to us.  

As detailed in sacred Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism... the present journey of life belonged to our soul atman and never the manifest physical form. The human life is but a medium for our soul atman to purify itself in totality. It is our soul atman that manifests human form to work out its karma, remove dross impurities within! The moment we as a soul atman gained absolute purity... need for soul atman to manifest another life ceased to exist. In Hinduism a soul is termed atman. 

As per Hinduism scriptures... the journey of reincarnation... rebirth finally comes to an end moment a soul atman gains absolute purity. The moment we start traveling spiritual path... precepts of reincarnation... rebirth become absolutely clear. In sacred Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism... nothing was hidden. Everything was veiled... only to be unveiled by mankind at the opportune moment. Serious seekers of spirituality like Swami Vivekananda finally succeeded in unveiling those precious pearls of wisdom contained in Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism. 

The ultimate goal of life for all human beings on mother earth is reaching stage of self realization. In spiritual parlance self realization... god realization and enlightenment always meant the same. Those who thought that self realization... god realization or enlightenment had different connotations... were absolutely in the dark. Such human beings always failed to travel spiritual path sincerely and diligently. One thing is for certain... we can never play with spirituality. 

The path of spirituality was directly connected with human beings gaining self realization. Realizing self meant reaching our true inner self... our real self within. The moment we realized we were a soul atman on its cosmic journey of 8.4 million manifestations... the cosmic journey of life finally came to an end. We as a soul atman finally gained absolute purity forever. Life in cosmic domain was not based on rhetoric... we always had to work to reach our goal of life! 

Unless we indulged in nishkama karma way of life... we could never proceed ahead on spiritual path! Offering fruits of karma performed to God Almighty all the time is what nishkama karma is all about. Human beings who pursued materialistic goals of life found it extremely difficult to offer fruits of karma performed to God Almighty. Can such human beings ever be expected to undertake spiritual journey sincerely and diligently? 

Undertaking spiritual journey meant indulging in our real self... essence of our soul atman, the spirit within... prime reason why this path was termed spirituality! Our inner being... our real self is pure spirit something we could not see even with eyes of science. It was always beyond comprehension of human beings, catch of science. No matter how modified our scientific machinery became... as human beings we would never be able to identify structure of a soul atman! In Hinduism a soul is termed atman. 

Furthermore, field of spirituality starts from the point where science ends. To be able to realize God via path of science was totally out of question... prime reason why scientists world over failed to travel path of pure spirituality in totality. The path of spirituality was directly governed by our faith in God Almighty. Science demands proofs that are never forthcoming in the field of pure spirituality. 

One believes in God only via path of faith. Total belief in God Almighty... absolute faith in God Almighty was necessitated to travel spiritual path. Ever since six years of age... I had absolute faith in God Almighty... no matter what! Nothing in this world could sway me from believing in God in totality. Even if God Almighty himself came disguised... I would have never swayed from path of pure spirituality. My belief in God Almighty always was absolute from the beginning. 

Most human beings I come across in life did not possess absolute faith in God Almighty... prime reason why all failed to reach God in their lifetime. God Almighty can only be reached by ardent seekers of spirituality like Swami Vivekananda. We had to be firm in our decisions... rather absolute! We could never leave anything to chance in the field of pure spirituality. Most people pursued path of spirituality half-heartedly. God Almighty is never reached that way. 

Self realization... God realization... enlightenment announced our reaching God in our lifetime! Once we realized our true inner nature... the moment we become a pure soul atman... our cosmic journey having come to an end... we finally reached God forever! The liberated soul... the pure soul finally entered abode of God... kingdom of God (termed Vaikuntha in Hinduism)... a point of no return! 

Every soul atman from beginning of life to end desires gaining absolute purity at the earliest. It was only in human form it finally reached cosmic end of life... 8.4 millionth manifestation... when human beings gained enlightenment... also termed self realization... God realization! 

Symptoms of self realization are many and far-fetched. One immediately becomes knower of all... gains omniscience for all practical purposes. The entire wisdom contained in Bhagavad Gita becomes like ABCD. The wisdom contained in Upanishads (independent treatises) also becomes like ABCD. For a self realized person... immediate family carried no meaning. The entire world became one large family for a self realized person... God realized human being. 

A self realized human being also established absolute control over sleep. Just 5 to 10 minutes of sleep becomes like eight hours of sleep for a normal person. When the entire world slept... the self realized human being all the time kept working. For a soul atman that reached absolute purity... the mundane affairs of life carried no meaning. One practically wins death. Death of body carried no meaning for a self realized soul... god realized human being! 

Mahavira... 24 Tirthankara of Jainism (preceptor) realized God at the young age of 42. For full 30 years Mahavira indulged in Deshna (spiritual discourses, lectures) and left his mortal frame at 72 years of age. Gautama Buddha realized God at the ripe age of 81. He was so frail bodily that soon after self realization... God realization... he left his mortal body! Gautama Buddha comparatively took much longer time than Mahavira to realize God... prime reason why teachings of Gautama Buddha are also termed middle path. 

Self realization definition... self realization meaning truly becomes clear only after gaining self realization... never before! Journey of spirituality has always been uncharted... unknown! Once having started spiritual journey... once having decided going in search of God Almighty, no matter what... chances of returning back are totally bleak. Path of spirituality is always one-sided... one could never return to material fold after lapsing certain period of time. 

Path of spirituality... path towards God Almighty must always be tread with caution. We must initially try to understand what God Almighty was all about... why we wanted to go in search of God Almighty?... What we thought would be our gain in searching for God Almighty! On path of pure spirituality... an ardent seeker of God Almighty always worked for welfare of mankind... never the individual self! 

To think of working for others all the time was incomprehensible to masses... commoners! Can such human beings ever go in search of God Almighty... those who kept their personal interests before welfare of others! Mahavira, Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ and prophet Mohammed and in recent times Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharishi Ramana... all truly worked for welfare of mankind all the time. These entire God realized souls never had a hidden agenda of their own. They truly worked for the welfare of mankind with all their heart. 

Many people in present times equated self realization to self actualization... self affirmation... self awareness! Self realization... God realization was directly related to God Almighty... never the manifest physical world. Terms like self actualization were a creation of religious preachers who indulged in preaching half baked theories to gullible mankind. Such incompetent religious preachers must never be trusted... those who had no inkling what spirituality truly was all about! 

The roots of self realization lay in understanding structure of our soul atman. As our soul atman was pure spirit... we had to indulge in spirituality to gain absolute purity as a soul atman. We had to cut across shackles of karma forever to reach stage of enlightenment. Self realization is never imparted by one human being to another. It was not possible even for Mahavira, Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ or Prophet Mohammed to impart self realization to anyone on mother earth. The doctrine of karma played a governing role in the cosmic system of life. 

Unless we cut across shackles of karma forever... unless we negated our karma to zero forever... one could never reach stage of self realization... God realization... enlightenment... no matter what path one tried or followed! Establishing absolute control over five senses and mind was an absolute must on path of seeking self realization... God realization... enlightenment! Furthermore, practice of absolute celibacy for a minimum period of 12 years in continuation was necessitated. 

Finally it was practice of celibacy for a minimum period of 12 years in continuation that resulted in full awakening of kundalini energy... the coiled serpentine energy lying dormant in base of spine! Full kundalini awakening resulted in opening of Sahasra Pushpa (thousand petaled Lotus) existing in our brain behind the forehead. No sooner our brain opened fully... entire wisdom contained in cosmos was at our tips... we finally become an enlightened one... a bodhi... a Jina... a Mahavira forever! 

For reaching stage of self realization, God realization... enlightenment, for pursuing path of God Almighty... assimilating pearls of wisdom contained in 700 shlokas verses of Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism was an absolute must. So was mandated by God Almighty. The doctrine of Bhagavad Gita was given to mankind by Lord Krishna above 3600 years before now. The teachings of Bhagavad Gita have not diluted with time. 

In the present scientific age one need not indulge in voluminous Vedas (Hinduism revelations) and even Upanishads (independent treatises)! Simply by following dictates of Bhagavad Gita any human being world over could easily reach stage of self realization... God realization... enlightenment as mandated by God Almighty! Path of spirituality was not difficult to travel... but cutting across shackles of karma forever definitely was. 

Establishing absolute control over five senses and mind in present material world almost seemed impossible... prime reason why God Almighty ordained a long spiritual journey of 1.1 million manifestations in human form before one reached stage of self realization... God realization... enlightenment! Still, we have to make a start at some stage of life. Human beings who kept waiting took the regular course. They had thousands and thousands of lifetimes to go before reaching God. 

Those who desired reaching God in the limited time span of 70 to 80 years of present life had to become Swami Vivekananda in present life. We had to practice Brahmacharya Vrata (absolute celibacy) at its level best... we practically had no other alternative If we truly desire reaching God in present life... our determination to reach God in present life must be absolute. The entire cosmos... everything contained was built by God Almighty. Human beings... the highest manifest stage in cosmic life cycle only had to do bidding of soul atman... the spirit within to reach God. 

Prompted by voice of my soul atman (that always seemed to come from within my heart)... I finally reached God in wee hours of third of August 1993 at 37 years of age. This is my last manifestation on mother earth. Ever since six years of age I had a tremendous fascination for God Almighty. When 11 years of age I had a distinct desire to go in search of God Almighty! By 13, my simple desire, wish turned to firm conviction... no matter what, come whatever may... I shall see and meet God in this very life. Taking a firm decision in life is journey half covered. 

When I seriously started in search of God 13 years of age... I had no inkling what God Almighty or soul atman was all about! In my complete spiritual travail of 25 years, I never went after kundalini awakening... something that I was totally unaware of! It was only when I realized self... realized God on third of August 1993... I realized that my kundalini had awakened fully... absolutely unknown to me! But on path of pure spirituality I practiced absolute celibacy for a period of 14 years in continuation. Understanding definition of celibacy in totality is very important for travellers of spiritual path. Most human beings world over understood meaning of celibacy wrongly! 

What is self realization... was not that difficult to understand! If I finally succeeded in reaching God in present life... so could others! Until I reached God on third of August 1993, I had no inkling what I had gained on spiritual path. I had no preceptor (spiritual master) to guide me in the journey of life. God Almighty himself became my preceptor after reaching certain level of spirituality. Hidden are the ways of God Almighty. I was truly blessed by God Almighty for assisting me in my spiritual pursuit of life. 

I receive so many queries from people world over... most particularly from India... my home country that their kundalini had awakened fully. Some dared to write that they had realized self... realized God. What is intriguing is their after query. Almost everyone said... what after full kundalini awakening... self realization... God realization! 

Can such ignorants of spiritual path ever be helped by anyone? Intermittent glimpses of domain of God Almighty are experienced by most people world over. That does not mean people experiencing full kundalini awakening or reaching stage of self realization. If we all the time look forward to fruits of karma performed... if we were so eager for results of karma performed... what more could be expected of such human beings in respect of welfare of community at large!

Journey to Self Realization by Paramhansa Yogananda

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

 
 Top of page

Subscribe Weekly Newsletter "Spiritual Secrets Unveiled"
Whats more... it is free. You would love you did!