Before indulging in spirituality or thinking of taking spiritual journey within… our belief in self is an absolute must. We just could not lower self-esteem under any circumstances. The importance of self belief on path of pure spirituality could never be belied. It is power of self belief that human beings finally succeed in undertaking spiritual journey successfully.
In absence of belief in self, we just could not indulge in spirituality… no matter what!
Belief in self means belief in true inner self existing in our heart as soul atman, the spirit within.
Belief in self emanates from the fact that we believed in a power higher than the manifest physical self. Belief in self corroborates belief in fundamental values of life… belief in something that was indestructible, could neither be created or destroyed. Be it God or a higher power… belief in something that was cosmic in nature, existing from beginning of time.
We may or may not believe in existence of God but belief in a power that was much above the mortal fold, the creator of entire cosmos… something that was perennial in nature was an absolute must. Unless we believed in continuity of life, existence of a consciousness much beyond human comprehension… we just could not believe in our true inner self.
Once we effectively believed in self… there were three distinct parameters on which human beings seeking spiritual journey must prove themselves… 1. Path of Truth, value of truthfulness! 2. Faith in God, importance of faith in god. 3. Dissolving the Ego, let go of your ego forever.
Easily said but all the three attributes integrally related to human life, were extremely difficult in practice. Only an ardent seeker like Swami Vivekananda finally succeeds in the act.
1. Path of Truth – Value of Truthfulness
From spirituality point of view truth is God personified. One who finally understands what truth is all about… also understands entity of God forever. As a spiritual being we could never distinguish truth from god.
Only when we were truthful in life, we could indulge in sacred texts of different religions of world. Only then we could fathom the jnana wisdom contained in scriptures of different religions of world. To unveil, unfurl jnana wisdom contained in sacred texts via indulgence in contemplation (chintan)… our being truthful all the time was necessitated, an absolute must.
If someone says, I could follow scriptures without being truthful… it is feigning ignorance in matters spiritual. Such a possibility simply did not exist.
To digest everything contained in scriptures, our being truthful all the time was necessitated. We may or may not be truthful in real-life, in the physical manifest world… but following principle of truth in field of spirituality was an absolute must.
Remaining truthful all the time we could hear the sweet small promptings of soul atman coming from within our heart. If we were not truthful and dominated by ego (Aham in Hinduism)… we just would not hear promptings of soul atman coming from within our heart. If we are to connect with our true inner self existing in our heart… following path of truth is something we could never avoid.
As a sincere and serious seeker, traveler of spiritual path… the sooner we realize the importance of truth in our life… the better!
We also just could not say we were partly truthful. Truthfulness in matters of spirituality had to be absolute 100%. Anything less would never do.
When people quit at 95 or 98… They do not realize that steam generates at 100°C temperature and had they worked that extra 5 or 2%… the engine of their life would have started. People often failed because they quit at anything but below 100. Practicing patience, persistence and perseverance of the highest order is the call of day in field of pure spirituality and this is exactly what Swami Vivekananda did to reach Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa in his lifetime.
We could also say truth was synonymous with God. When we were truthful, we could have intermittent glimpses into domain of God, have occasional communion with God… even relate to what enlightenment, atman souls were all about. One could practically understand fundamentals of cosmic life… a direct glimpse into workings of God Almighty (Brahman in Hinduism).
All truthful people always believed in existence of god. If we exist, so does god. The physically manifest body would decay and die but the immortal inner self always remains live. When we were truthful in life… the subtle truth of life, the true existence of self we called soul atman finally unfolds itself in stages. We finally become knower of all, becoming a Brahma jnani at the end of spiritual journey.
2. Faith in God – Importance of Faith in God
Absolute faith in God was second most important ingredient if we are to connect with our true inner self. Apart from being truthful, we also need 100% faith in God to realize our true inner self existing in heart. In absence of 100% faith in God, nothing related to God could ever be realized. Our belief in God, our faith in God must be absolute 100% (called shraddha in Hinduism).
If I were to connect with myself spiritually ever… my absolute belief in power of faith was necessitated. Why so?
If I desire knowing my inner self, connecting with my inner self, I must realize that the miniscule soul atman was integral part of God Almighty (Brahman Hinduism). If an individual piece of a puzzle is an independent soul atman, the completed puzzle God Almighty. If an individual grain of sand is an independent soul atman… the whole mound God Almighty. We just could not distinguish soul atman from God Almighty.
To understand soul atman, our true inner self… we need understanding what God Almighty was all about. As we cannot see God, our 100% faith in existence of God… 100% belief in God was necessitated to know everything relating to God. Anything subtle can only be realized if we had absolute faith in that. Having absolute faith in God, travelling path of truth… we can slowly unveil jnana wisdom contained in sacred texts of different religions of world.
It is only scriptures, sacred texts of different religious of world that tell us what God is all about. Truly speaking, none can describe what God Almighty was all about. Everything about God can only be realized from within. All scriptures, sacred texts come to our rescue only as a guide in the spiritual journey of life. Scriptures, sacred texts help us dissolve query after another to understand, reach God in one’s lifetime.
Spiritually reaching our true inner self existing in heart is reaching God in entirety. Reaching stage of self realization, god realization announces one becoming knower of all. One finally becomes a Tattva jnani forever.
To know everything about water vapors, clouds… our knowing composition of water is necessitated. To know the real essence of life existing in us… our having faith in God was also necessitated. Unless we believed in the creator of entire cosmos, we could never know anything about our true inner self, soul atman within. Anything less than 100% would not do. In field of pure spirituality everything always has to be absolute.
The journey towards self, God is successful only when we dissolved our queries systematically in stages. And for this jnana wisdom contained in scriptures come to our rescue. To realize, understand the hidden jnana wisdom contained in scriptures… our 100% faith in God was again necessitated. We could never fathom gist of sacred texts, scriptures literally. Darkness of ignorance can only be cut by light of jnana wisdom contained in scriptures.
When we had 100% faith in God, we could ride mental wavelengths on which travelled enlightened souls… even Lord Krishna. Unless we did so nothing in scriptures become clear.
Those who do not possess 100% faith in God always keep pondering about God and world of souls atmans. To be able to travel spiritual path successfully, reach portals of soul atman within… we must first develop 100% faith in God.
3. Dissolving the Ego – Let go of your Ego forever
The third most important ingredient for connecting with our true inner self spiritually was letting go of our ego forever. As long as there was trace of ego, we could realize nothing about God. Ego (Aham) is the biggest barrier between our true inner self and us (the physical manifest body). Show was ordained by God.
In absence of ego (Aham)… the physical manifest body would refuse to indulge in karma. As soul atman could not purify self of its own, it needs a medium, a body to work out its karma… remove dross impurities within. Our ego (Aham) was primarily meant for workings of physical manifest world. In absence of ego (Aham) nothing worthwhile could be achieved by human beings in the physical manifest world.
Ego was necessary to live the physical manifest life in a meaningful way. To earn our daily bread and butter, to give a meaning to life… presence of ego (Aham) was ordained by God. No human being world over could deny this absolute fact of life.
If our goal of life was spiritual then ego (Aham) definitely was a burden unjustly imposed.
What exactly does ego do? Our ego gives more importance to the physical manifest self than our true inner self existing in our heart as soul atman. As long as ego exists, we just could not reach our true inner self existing in heart.
All the heartburning, anxiety… stress we see in society today results from ego (Aham Hinduism). To dissolve ego permanently, to let go your ego forever… our establishing control over five senses and mind was necessitated. Reversely stated, we could not establish total control over five senses and mind unless we dissolved our ego in totality. To overpower one, we had to control the other.
It is our ego that gives us an independent identity in the physical manifest world. In absence of ego… we would just be one amongst the flock. To excel in physical manifest world, presence of ego was an absolute must. Presence of a healthy ego was necessitated to gain absolute success in physical manifest life. A tainted ego mars our present and future, depletes chances of success.
In the spiritual realm, ego (Aham) has totally no role to play. For a spiritual person… welfare of entire mankind nay all living forms was the only goal of life. A person with bloated ego could never work for welfare of entire mankind… not just possible.
Reducing our desires and wishes step-by-step, maintaining purity of thought… we could overcome our ego in stages. More the desires and wishes… bloated our ego. A spiritual person, seeker of self could never go after worldly desires and wishes. All desires and wishes relating to physical manifest world had to be curtailed in totality. This also includes all our relationships.
Absolving self from ego in totality means, failing to recognize even our own! For an ego less spiritual person… the whole world finally becomes one large family. Cutting family ties is one of the biggest task one faces when curtailing ego in totality. Our parents to whom we were born… cutting ties with them is unthinkable… yet, we have to do so.
To a spiritual person, God Almighty (Brahman) is the eternal Father and Dhirti (planet earth)… the eternal mother. Other than these two relationships… no other relationship exists for a true spiritual seeker of truth. Seemingly impossible at first, one can slowly overcome these obstacles. Swami Vivekananda succeeded in doing this and so can others. Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharishi Ramana did so and so can we.
Presence of ego gives us an independent identity in physical manifest world… something totally unwanted in the spiritual world. A spiritual seeker always has to work like a trustee, for whom everything all the time belonged to God Almighty. One has to become an instrument in hands of God Almighty doing his bidding all the time. Understanding concept of trusteeship is foremost if we are to demolish our ego forever.
JRD Tata (scion of Tata empire and popularly known as Jeh, man of steel) and King Janaka (father of Sita in Ramayana) were two trustees par excellence… who never attached self to the physical manifest world. Not for a single moment JRD Tata ever considered Tata Empire as ones own. King Janaka successfully indulged in affairs of his kingdom with a totally detached attitude. Both all the time worked in ego less state.
Such examples are difficult to find in the entire history of mankind… particularly India (erstwhile Bharatvarsha).
Once we master the delicate art of trusteeship, feelings of not running after fruits of karma performed evolve of their own. We truly become a master in the spiritual journey of life.
The concept of trusteeship was detailed to me by my father when about 18 years of age. One day in the afternoon of a sunny Sunday… my father asked my brother and me to sit down with him. He then narrated the story of Tata and Birlas… the two business empires in India.
Birlas he stated go after money and wealth. They establish a factory… reap profits and then put another factory from the same profits and the same goes on multiplying.
Comparatively, Tata group believes in the concept of trusteeship. Nothing is owned by Tatas themselves. All Tatas worked for welfare of entire mankind all the time. To a scion of Tata industry… the welfare of working force, the clients and country at large was more important than making money or creating wealth for the Tatas alone.
As both I and my brother would be graduating from University of Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee) in near future… it was solely up to us to decide the future course of life, the path.
I choose the path of Tatas and my brother that of Birlas. Within my inner self I was all the time in search of God… the subtle truths of cosmic life. Becoming a trustee, an instrument in hands of God Almighty was my destiny and I was extremely happy doing that. This concept of trusteeship expedited my spiritual journey multifold. I just could not detail in words how happy I was following the concept of trusteeship all my life.
It was this concept of trusteeship that helped me subdue, overcome my ego forever. As I was pursuing my true inner self… all my desires and wishes related to physical manifest world diminished with time… finally altogether vanishing. Finally came the stage when I burnt my karma to zero… became a pure soul atman in the cosmic journey of life.
By: Vijay Kumar “Atma Jnani”… The Man who Realized God in 1993 – (Ref. 171208)
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