Self Realization Articles

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,

Most of us indeed tend to chase temporary happiness that stems from the acquisition or experience of material possessions such as gadgets, money, social events, home comforts, and other tangible items or from the five senses. The reason why people pursue temporary happiness is that not everyone realizes that they are running after material happiness and things that are temporary. And those who do are not aware that permanent, transcendental, everlasting happiness is even poss

The simple answer is No! One cannot gain spiritual enlightenment by simply reading scriptures and listening to lectures. We may gain some understanding at the intellectual level, but one needs a living Enlightened being (Gnani Purush) to enlighten one’s Soul. To gain liberation, one needs a ‘liberator’ and that liberator is the Gnani Purush. No one has been able to attain Moksha without a liberator. Without a Gnani Purush (a living Enlightened being), there is no libera

When a lot of troubles come together in life, know that we’ll certainly get out of it one day! And until then, the most important thing to do is: ‘Firmly resolve that come what may, I shall not get depressed.’ Be strong! Remind yourself of the example of a butterfly being born. To become a butterfly, it goes through various phases — from an egg to a larva, and from a larva to a pupa. The pupa needs to get strong before it can become a butterfly. For that, it is given

How is our destiny shaped? Karma defines our destiny. Everything we come across in this life, for instance, people, circumstances, our own body, the way we speak, act, or think etc are a result of our past life causes, i.e. karmas. And when these karmas give their effects in this life, depending on our inner intent at that time, our future life gets shaped. So, our intentions shape our destiny. Our thoughts, speech and action in this life are a fruit of the karma of past birt

Lord Krishna has said: “If one becomes Vitraag (a detached enlightened person), he will become fearless. When detachment (Vitraagata) is established, one becomes fearless.” Fear will continue as long as attachment and hatred exist. When the state of detachment is not there, fear abounds continuously, and this fear causes further attachment and hatred. Therefore, if you want to attain Moksha and become free, become a Vitraag (totally free from attachment) and be fearless (

To err is human! Mistakes happen to all of us. But what is important is that we accept our mistakes, apologize for them, learn some good lessons from them and progress ahead in life. Param Pujya Dadashri, an enlightened being says, “The world has not bound us; we are bound by our own mistakes. Once these mistakes are eliminated, we are free.” 1) A mental resolve that, “I want to see my faults”. To eliminate any mistake, first of all, we need to recognize the mistake.

Yes, spirituality can certainly reduce anxiety and improve your life Anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness, worry or fear. It is natural to experience an element of anxiety now and then. But when it becomes the norm and begins to affect the smooth functioning of our day-to-day life and our physical and mental well-being, then it is a huge problem as it takes away our peace of mind, leaving us feeling apprehensive all the time. So, how can spirituality help reduce anxiety and imp

In summary, what the Bhagavad Gita says about karma is that every action we take has an effect or a result, and we subsequently reap the benefits or drawbacks of our actions. To be united with any action as in ‘I am doing’, will incur an effect. Effects will follow one into their future life.rn rnNow, let’s consider your question about helping those who have helped you and if we don’t, will their Soul follow us into the next life? Or will our overall help be taken int

The Soul (Aatma) is best defined as ‘the Self’, our real Self “Atma means the Self. You may say, “I am John (you may insert your name here).” However, John is the name of the body. Should you not know ‘who am I’ in this body? It is that Self which you need to recognize... ~ Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan Recognizing the real Self means Self-Realization. Soul is our true identity. However, due to ignorance, we cannot realize this fact. It is only when Gnani Purush grac

That’s because when one prays for something, the law of Nature is such that it uses up his merit karma and gets him what he asked for, whereas in case of someone who does not put up any specific demand, his demerit karma gets utilised and hence he doesn’t receive anything. The silver lining in the case of latter is that he is liberated from that demerit karma now since it got consumed and hence it is over. So, one stand to benefit when one waits for things to happen at th

It’s considered to be a good development when one realizes that in this world, happiness is fleeting. Nevertheless, happiness indeed is and should be the ultimate goal of every living being. But what kind of happiness should that be? Should it be a temporary or permanent happiness? Obviously, permanent! So, our goal of living should be to seek permanent happiness. Life after life, happiness is what every living being in this Universe is hunting for. And the Enlightened One

Every one of us is in a constant pursuit of happiness. We are drawn to the happiness that we get from food, clothes, home and other material goods, from money, fame, status, etc. and also from our friends, family, relatives and in the company of various people... However, how often may you have experienced that after being to a nice restaurant or buying a new item of clothing or having attended an important event, you initially feel quite happy, but soon afterward, you feel a

About Gnani Purush (Enlightened One) A Gnani Purush (Enlightened One) is not only Self-Realized but also has the spiritual power to enlighten others. Only a Gnani Purush, One who is liberated from all worldly attachments, has the power to liberate others. Self Realization or liberation cannot be acquired by reading scriptures, even if the scriptures themselves were the words of a Gnani. Self-realization can only be acquired through direct contact with a living Gnani. Such a G