Browse Self Realization

It is normal to experience feelings of self-doubt when we are faced with new or challenging situations in life. Self-doubt is when one feels uncertain regarding one or more aspects of the self. It often stems from some previous negative experiences that one has had. Self-doubt is something that we all may have experienced at some point or the other in our life. It is what we do with it and how we cope with it that makes a massive difference between struggling with self-doubt

Agreed! There’s seldom someone, besides the Enlightened beings, who does not sin in his mind. And why mind alone, we do wrong to others through our words and actions too. But one who leads a spiritual life is able to quickly spot the wrong done and wash the mistake off before it gets ready to render severe punishment at the hands of Nature. To Sin Is Something that One Learns Automatically There is no effort required to learn the art of sinning, isn’t it? To hurt someone,

The reason why we feel sad when we may have hurt someone is because we have inflicted pain on them. The direct consequence of our wrong-doing is that we feel its effect. This is how the law of Nature works. “The slightest pain that we have, is the reaction of the pain that we had given. So do what you find comfortable.” - Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan So, every action has a reaction. If you give happiness to others, you will receive happiness; and if you hurt others, you too f

Gnani, the Enlightened One, explains: There are two kinds of depression: One which is since birth. That which is bound in the past life, and is frozen now when brought forward into this life.rnAnother which is on account of self-negativity. Here, one is normal, but has come into the effect of depression. For instance, if one is insulted 2 – 5 times. Suppose, when the work is not done right and his superior yells at him, “Don’t you know how to do this? You spoiled it all

A person is said to have been awakened when he attains Self-Realization. What happens when a person becomes awakened? When you attain Gnan (Self-Realization) from the Gnani Purush, ignorance (of the Self) is lifted. On the path of Akram Vignan, which is a stepless path to Self-Realization, through the scientific experiment of separation of ‘I’ and ‘My’, Gnani Purush breaks those layers of ignorance and the direct light of the Soul starts. And through that direct light

Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan, an Enlightened being, says, “Faith does not come by force; it arises spontaneously. Faith develops automatically when you have experienced some result, you have benefited in some way or you have experienced some change within yourself. You do not need to keep faith, it should come automatically, and once it comes, it never leaves under any circumstance. Without faith, everything you do is mechanical.” Without faith, everything you do is mechanica

You mean to ask, if you stay patient and trust Shiva, then will He fulfill your desire? No! It’s not so. Yes, if you stay patient and trust Him, you will fulfill Shiva’s desire for sure ☺ What is Shiva’s desire?... that we Be like Him! Shiva is detached and desireless. He doesn’t need anything, nor does he have any condition that you worship me, you trust me, and only then I will fulfill your desire. He just wants us all, like Him, to become detached and desireless,

While wealth and riches are a result of good Karma, it is also true that good karma leads us to spiritual advancement. Good deeds like:- Donating large amounts of money, doing religious practices, helping the poor, help one bind good karma. And while doing these deeds, in case one’s inner intent is equally pious and pure, it results in one’s spiritual development too. The Enlightened One explains: For example, when we worship God with pure love and devotion, we are sowing

What is the relationship between spirituality and success? To know the Soul which is completely free from karma, and walk towards it is Spirituality. And worldly success is the fruit of karma and failure too is a fruit of karma. Our merit karmas yield positive results like success, satisfying relationships, good health, comfort, peace and happiness in life. And on the other side, demerit karmas yield negative results like failures, negativity or worldly obstacles faced in lif

Optimism means to see a half-filled glass as being half full whereas pessimism is to see the same glass as half empty. rnOptimism has a whole load of benefits accruing from such a psyche: - We all are happy when the life is on the up side. But the problem begins when the down phase comes. This leaves a deep impact on our psyche. In the period when there is nothing good happening, optimism is what can pull one through. The positivity that optimism brings keeps one going with t

Today, we will try and understand this through the teachings of the Enlightened One. Do we create our destiny through our choices and actions? Yes, we do! Whatever happens in this world is a result of Nature’s law – the law of cause and effect! We have made the cause and we are getting its effect, which we term as destiny. Our inner intent is the cause, the effect of which gets reflected in our actions, thoughts, and speech. For instance, suppose in the past life, you int

To maintain spiritual mindfulness and awareness of the present moment, while being faced with daily struggles and challenges, first of all, we shall attain Self-Realization. Currently, you believe yourself to be the mind and body complex, isn’t it? Therefore, you experience everything that the body and mind does and feel? But when the Enlightened One puts in a line of demarcation between the Self (Soul, Aatma) and the non-Self (the body-complex, Anaatma) and helps you attai

Spirituality is the path of awareness; as the awareness enhances, one progresses in spirituality. The Enlightened One, while explaining the effects of the addictive products on our spiritual health, says: “Your awareness will definitely become dull. First of all, you are unconscious of your Soul, as you do not realize that, ‘I am Soul’; rather You believe that, ‘I am John (please insert your name here).’ That first unconsciousness is there. (To know that I am really

Spirituality helps us navigate the ups and downs of life with complete acceptance, courage, patience, humility, love, joy and peace. Let’s understand how… Spirituality means Turning toward the SoulrnWhen there are ups and downs in our life, we suffer. There’s so much pain, unhappiness, stress, tension, depression, frustration, tiredness, worries, loss, failures, problems, troubles, suffering, physical pain, hurt, misery, sadness, sorrow, mental ailments, loneliness, hat

Success in life is determined by karma and karma only determines our fate or destiny. If success is in our destiny, we have merit karma in our stock which shall give its result when the time is right. We sowed these merit karma in our past life, and when the time is due to give its fruit, the karma ripens and gives the result in the form of success. And this success is what is known as fate or destiny. Similarly, when we have demerit karma in our stock, that too shall give it

The kind of mindset that we possess is largely responsible for shaping our life, our temperament, and our habits too. An open mindset leads to a positive approach to life and it helps us to come out of any given problem with ease, whereas a narrow mindset makes us stagnant and inactive, hovering around a set of fixed beliefs, that does not allow us to come out of any given situation in our life; rather it entangles the situation further. The great spiritual scientist Param Pu

Goddess Ambika, also known as Durga Maa and Ambe Maa, is one of the Goddesses, who is worshipped and accepted by many religions in India. In West Bengal, Amba Mata is known as Durga Maa. She is also known as Amba Maa, Bahuchara Maa, Kalika Maa, Bhadrakali Maa, Maa Bhavani and many more names. Goddess Ambika represents the power of Sahaj Prakruti!rnGoddess Ambika is Adhya Shakti i.e. The original energy force. She has the divine power to destroy your worldly obstacles and gran

Yes, it is possible to prevent karma from affecting us through hearty repentance and doing good deeds that are devoid of selfish motivation. Every one of us is affected by our karma. These karmas were sown in the past life and in this life, they have their effects. Good deeds will give us happiness and similarly bad deeds will bring us unhappiness. Any bad deeds that we may have done through our mind, body, and speech will come back to be settled, this is how the law of karma

Yes, we do have an inner Self! And you are right, it is the spiritual Self. While we are identified in this world through our name and body, that is a transient identity which remains ours for only one life. So who am I on a permanent basis? When this question arises within a person’s mind, and his quest to know this truth grows stronger, one reads books, attends satsangs, talks with saints and Gurus, and tries to fathom the real answer. The knowledge, that he gathers from

To strengthen the parent-child relationship one has to strive to keep a balanced approach. The role of a parent evolves from nurturer, guide and lastly to a friend. Until the age of seven or eight years if a child makes mistakes then you have to guide them and even discipline them if necessary. Till the age of twelve to fifteen, you can guide them, but after sixteen you have to become their friend. Theoretically, we know only love and understanding can touch a child’s heart

Yes, it is possible in this era. Where other paths indicate one to do loads of meditations and numerous spiritual practices, there is a simple path that makes one experience the Self directly! Enlightenment is when one gains the knowledge of “Who am I” and “Who is the doer”. It’s a state where one experiences eternal happiness of the Soul! There are 2 ways to achieve it:-rnKramik path is the step-by-step path of performing various rigorous austerities and penances t

Yes, it is possible. On the contrary, it becomes easier to practice non-desire when one has a strong desire for enlightenment. At a later stage, when one is about to attain full enlightenment, the desire for enlightenment also wanes off. But that’s a later thing, enlightenment begins from the moment we have Self-realization. When there’s a burning desire for enlightenment, one is on the lookout for some Gnani, the Enlightened One, who has the spiritual power to help enlig

The ultimate solution that will bear results in making your inner strength stronger or infinite energies is through Self-realisation.rn rnInner strength refers to resilience, common sense, and maintaining equanimity that individuals possess within themselves. It is the ability to remain steadfast, calm, and composed in the face of challenges, adversity, or external pressures. Inner strength is not dependent on external circumstances or validation from others, but is rooted wi

To realize an addiction as one is the greatest thing ever! Addiction makes us dependent and poses a hindrance in achieving our goals. Hence, addiction is best when quit, especially if that is of alcohol. Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan, an Enlightened being, tells us that ‘to realize that an addiction is bothering me in reaching my goal or making me completely dependent in itself is a remarkable thing.’ Now, let’s address your question about how we can quit the addiction to al

There are various ways to define happiness. The most obvious definition is the Oxford Dictionary definition: “the state of feeling or showing pleasure” This definition is quite vague but it gives us a general impression of the usual definition of the word. Although this is clear, it is not clear what type of happiness we are referring to. You can have short-term happiness, long-term happiness, material happiness, and real happiness. Short-term happiness is very short-live

While Nirvana is the liberation after death, Self-Realization gets us liberation while alive. Moksha begins with Liberation and Nirvana happens when one attains Ultimate Liberation! Moksha happens in two stages: 1. The first stage of Moksha is attained when Self-Realization happens. As a result, we experience liberation from all unhappiness in this life. This is how we get liberation while alive. Here itself we feel, “I have become free.” The awareness of freedom prevails

All of us are emotionally attached to some ideas, some people and some things in this worldly life, aren't we? The reason why we are attached to these is because we experience a sense of comfort, ease and happiness with them. So far, so good! But how does our emotional attachment towards them affect our life and / or our happiness, let’s understand that today… 1. First and foremost, this emotional attachment does not lead to liberation, rather it creates a bondage. 2. Sec

Spirituality is non-competitive. Hence, there is no scope for winning or losing in it. Spirituality Means Turning Towards the Soul When two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen get together, it automatically becomes water. This is because it is science; one does not have to do anything in it. Similarly, the property of the Absolute Soul too is to do nothing (so there’s no question of winning or losing); its function is to only see and know everything, always! “I did n

Is there such thing as a spiritual reality separate from the physical one? Yes, there certainly is! If so, how do you define it? Soul means Aatma; Aatma means Self. The Soul is our real Self - that’s the spiritual reality. For any living entity to exist in the Universe, they must have a Soul within because Soul is the life-energy. Without a Soul, there can be no life! However, Soul is subtle. Hence it cannot be seen. It can be fully experienced though. Param Pujya Dada Bhag

Exercising ‘purity’ in your daily interactions plays a vital role in ensuring happiness. You will begin to experience liberation in this current life – a freedom from the inner negative emotions of anger, pride, deceit and greed. These emotional adversaries, tormenting you with only pain and suffering from eternity, will begin to affect you less and less. As a result, your dealings in worldly matters will begin to be of a higher level. Your interaction with people will

Arrogance, jealousy, disrespect – are all different words used at different times to explain the varying degrees of the ego. That is why the Gnanis have given them different names. No matter how many good qualities a human being has, but if his ego is not beautiful then everything is useless. Ego should be such that people would like you and welcome you. A huge ego is a grave danger zone even in the progress on the path of moksha. It keeps one wandering in the world, intoxi

It is said that when Sudama, Lord Krishna’s childhood friend, went to pay him a visit at Dwarka, from Porbandar, he refused to ask for help… Sudama was a poor Brahmin, who had made a vow that he would never beg for anything. He would make do with whatever he would earn on his merit. But there came a time when his circumstances became very bad, so much so that his family did not know how or where their next meal would come. On the insistence of his wife, Sudama agreed to u

The interrogative title of our article is not only a staunch question on our humanity but also a deep inquiry into our soul integrity, which ultimately can be the path to our salvation if addressed properly. Before diving into the divine outcome of our quest, let us first reframe our question to fathom who we are. First and foremost, let’s ‘remove’ why, and re-ask our consciousness “Do we repent after we do something wrong?” And if the answer to this newly framed qu

By reading scriptures, one can develop and rise to a higher level, but only to a certain extent. A guide is required throughout our life, be it in the form of parents, teachers or a Spiritual master. Just like if you want to study, you need a teacher, in the same way, a spiritual master is important on the path of spiritual development. An enlightened one, also known as the spiritual master, is essential for the advancement of our spiritual life. - A spiritual master is someo

As you approach your teenage, it is natural for you to ponder on thoughts of meeting a life partner. Different questions regarding dating and marriage may arise in your mind, such as, “How can I straightaway marry a stranger? If I meet someone, should I not date first? How will I establish that this person will make a good partner? And ultimately if we both decide to take the big leap and get married; how do I ensure that I will have a happy and successful marriage?” Dati

Being happy with yourself and having peace within are both significant aspects of spirituality, but they can have different meanings and implications. Being happy with yourself generally refers to a state of contentment, satisfaction, and joy that arises from a positive self-perception and a sense of fulfilment. It involves accepting yourself as you are, recognising your worth, and experiencing a sense of happiness and well-being in your life. This happiness may stem from var

Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan, an enlightened being, has propounded a detailed explanation of why and how celibacy is to be practiced with the right understanding. He specifies that the desire for sex may arise, but with the help of the right understanding, one can oppose it. Fighting against anything only strengthens the opponent. However, when you stand in opposition and observe the desire calmly and patiently, the aroused desire will lose its strength and dissolve in no time. T

Worldly life is indeed suffering – this is a fundamental truth; and therefore liberation from the cycle of birth and death is the ultimate purpose of every person’s life.rnNevertheless, this liberation happens in two stages: 1. In the first step, we get liberated from suffering, and hence we experience the spiritual inner peace; and 2. In the second and final step, we attain liberation from this worldly life forever (from the cycle of birth and death), and thus experience

Instead of living in the present, we live for the most part in our minds, cluttered with thoughts. These thoughts are related to our memories from the past. These memories are pleasant or unpleasant depending on whether we have an attachment or a hatred towards the subject. For example, instead of enjoying the holiday you have been looking forward to, you spend most of your time thinking about your work, while on holiday. You cannot fully relax and appreciate the environment

Thousands of meanings and examples follow the word ‘Adjust’. Whether it is adjusting to a place, an emotion, an individual or a situation. No matter how little or big the extent of the concern, the main goal is to adjust to something or someone peacefully. There are many benefits to being able to adjust everywhere, of which the most important is self-growth. Life will appear more beautiful and less stressful. Adjusting in the household is the most important because family

When we reincarnate, we travel to our new bodies instantly It takes no time for the Soul to leave one body and enter into another. The moment one dies, while one end of the Soul is leaving the body, simultaneously the other end approaches in the womb, where its next birth takes place. When the time comes for the Soul to depart from the body, the circumstances and the event at the other end is also taking place for the reception of the Soul. Therefore, after the body’s death

The biggest problem or obstacle on the path to spiritual realization is ignorance. When ignorance is removed, spiritual realization happens naturally! The root cause of all bondage is ignorance What is one bound by? One is bound by ignorance — Agnan and one becomes liberated through knowledge — Gnan. What actions continue to perpetuate the worldly life (adhikaran kriya)? It is the ignorance (agnan) of one’s real identity (the Self). Ignorance of one’s Self is the forc

In today's world, where stiff competition, rivalry, envy, and constant uncertainty are everywhere, one common occurrence is that people in positions of power and authority tend to use that power to exploit and harm others. How can we prevent such behavior from happening at our end? Let’s see… Embrace the positive trait of humility in our everyday life. Incorporate the trait of humility in day-to-day life. What this means is transcending our ego, pride and arrogance. How d

No, that’s not true! Whatever karma one binds in this life creates ‘causes’, the results of which one experiences in the next life as ‘effects’. The whole world thus functions on the foundation of this karmic effect. And it is Nature that keeps everything and everyone organized; God does not meddle in this at all! Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan, an Enlightened being, explains how everyone makes a plan for themselves: Over here (in the case of the Government), their planni

In today’s society where conforming is the norm, having the courage to be your true self can be challenging. Being your true self means embracing your individuality and uniqueness and standing up for what you believe in, even when it might be unpopular or you do not fit in with others. Staying true to oneself is all about commitment in all aspects of your life. Unfortunately, many people try to change us by imposing or influencing who we should be and how we should behave.

Every aspect of our current life is a consequence of our deeds from our past life: the people we encounter, the things we are instinctively drawn to, and so on are the result of our intents and actions from that life. In the present life, you experience the results of past life karma in the form of ‘merit’ karma (good deeds and intents) and ‘demerit’ karma (bad deeds and intents). Similar to the saying, “as you sow, so shall you reap”, whatever you had sown in you

In reality, money is the result of our past merit karmas. In our previous lives, we bound merit karmas with whatever good deeds we did, whatever religion we followed and whatever charity we did. The result of which is a good inflow of money in our home, today. However, if we want Goddess Lakshmi to continue residing in our home or we want to welcome Her into our home, then there are some things we have to take care of. We must ensure that we do not quarrel in our home, we do

How do you spiritually cleanse yourself from bad deeds before dying? Is there a way to become pure within? Yes of course, there is! The Enlightened One explains: “Prayashchit” implies repenting over one’s committed sins. By doing repentance, the sins can be washed off. To clear off any sin, it is very important to do Alochana (heart-felt confession of a mistake), Pratikraman and Pratyakhyan instantly, and it ought to be not merely in words, but with a heartfelt repentan

Inner peace is missing to the point that even managing daily life seems like a challenge because of our emotional state of mind. We have emotions about everything: circumstances, people, and, most importantly, relationships. From an emotion arise thoughts. When these thoughts flow naturally without any impediment, we experience peace in the mind and body.rn rnHowever, if there is a surge in thoughts, it causes anxiety. The inner disturbance and agitation cause further unrest,

Inspiration and encouragement for using creative activities for self discovery, enlightenment and self growth.