What Is Spiritual Awakening ? How To Practice Spirituality And Get Enlightened ?
What exactly is spiritual awakening ?
In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna has given a very beautiful description of how we can know that one is a yogi, awakened, united. Spiritual awakening is the experience of fully accepting the invitation of the divine universe that we have become one with it. It is the experience of being completely merged in the divine. Those who have experienced this, their life is enlightened.
Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji always says that when one becomes enlightened, one does not grow horns, nor are there any major physical changes. Instead, one starts living in the light of truth and knowledge, from the darkness of ignorance and ego. Those who are spiritually awakened are filled with such light.
Awakened people are also independent. When we talk about Mukti or Moksha(Salvation), it is not after death. In fact, liberation is not liberation from the body, but it is liberation from Maya-Moh while living in the body. True salvation is freedom from our ignorance, freedom from our ego, freedom from our fears and desires and freedom from our identity and history.
Those who are spiritually awakened are free from the chains that bind most of us. They live in the world, but are free not to react. He does not need to give his reaction to the happenings in the world because he is beyond it. On the other hand, those who are not awakened are constantly busy saying something, reacting to every event and every person.
Awakening sets us free. Moreover, those who are awakened are actually the embodiment of love. Love is the energy of the universe, and those who are awakened are themselves connected to this energy and are giving it to all. We should make a constant effort to engage ourselves in meditation instead of reacting to the events of the world. With this, we will experience inner peace. Gradually we will reach that state which is called the awakened state. Then we will realize that we all are part of God.
An image of a burning candle may not dispel the darkness within a room, but an actual burning candle can. Similarly, the knowledge of the scriptures cannot give you the real experience of the soul, It can only give you understanding.
To experience the soul, you need to attain enlightenment. When this knowledge is given to you by a direct Gnani Purush(“Enlightened Master or Guru”), then the experience of the Self begins. After this, you are a pure soul, this awakening will be easy and natural for you. It will be there even when you wake up in the middle of the night.
How to know if your going through a spiritual awakening ?
Spiritual Awakening opens the doors of this eternal existence for us, and we start living in a new environment. We start experiencing happiness even in a sad situation. Defeat and victory become the same for us.
Human's thinking process changes as soon as the eye of knowledge opens. We start seeing everything from a new perspective. We live in the world, but the world does not live in our mind. For example, not only the prisoners live in the jail, but the employees of the jail also live there, but there is a world of difference between the two.
The meaning of spiritual awakening is that our new vision towards life can be generated. Let this feeling remain at all times that life is a play. Having this much understanding, we can celebrate even on his defeat and then no one can take away his smile.
Jailer is not in jail even after being in jail. He is completely different from other prisoners. Similarly, vision change is a great gift of spiritual awakening.
The difference between waking and sleeping is, the same difference between the state of knowledge and ignorance. The wise one is in awaken state and laughs even at the time of death. The ignorant one is in sleeping state and cries even while alive.
The wise remains satisfied with what he has, the ignorant keeps on saying that he wants more and wants more despite having everything.
The wise understand the world as a drama, the ignorant considers the drama as reality. The meaning of drama is don't get stuck, but the ignorant gets stuck. Spiritual awakening is not linked with any religion, where it is Hinduism or Christianity etc.
The wise live in the present. He doesn't worry about the future. The ignorant lives in both the past or the future and spoils his present. When the sense of doer falls, then the sense of witness arises, for the ignorant the sense of doer exists.
A wise man lives in the world, but the world does not live in his mind. The world is not bad, it is bad to settle the world in your mind. The world is always in the mind of the ignorant.
How long does that experience of the soul last after self-awakening ?
Param Pujya Dadashri says, "Spiritual awakening lasts forever, Not for a minute, not for two minutes”. If you observe food and drink things stay here on the tongue, the experience lasts only for that time, then it goes away.
If we eat sweets, how long does the experience last ? And if you put a dash of perfume ? It lasts for ten-twelve hours and the soul experienced only once that it lasts forever. The experience should last forever. Otherwise, it has no meaning at all, does it ? That is again a 'meaningless' thing.
Bhava (“feeling, emotion”) is that state in which the existence of God is experienced everywhere. It involves seeing God in oneself, in others, as well as in all living and non-living things in the entire universe. Although some people accept this at the level of intellect, but it is difficult to experience it. Even more difficult, for most people, is to live their lives by adopting it moment by moment.
One of the important reasons why most people are unable to experience emotion is the low spiritual level of the average person. Please note here that 'normal person' refers to a spiritually normal person. In worldly life, a person can be a billionaire, the president of a nation or a hero in the entertainment world.
In today's time, the mode (mode – a statistical quantity) of the spiritual level of people all over the world is 20 percent, while the spiritual level of a saint who has attained moksha is 100 percent. A seeker must have a spiritual level of 50% for spiritual practice to take place automatically, similarly, a spiritual level of at least 50% is necessary for spiritual awakening to occur through spiritual practice.
To attain this level, it is essential to chant the name of God, attend satsang and contribute to satseva continuously. Even after spiritual awakening, continuous spiritual practice is necessary to maintain it.
How to know the signs or symptoms of spiritual awakening ?
To get away from artificiality, many people in the world try every day to awaken the spiritual spirit in themselves. Below are some major signs for spiritual awakening or enlightenment.
- Increase in coincidence: (Suddenly happening of any work) what you think happens, or you're thinking, clairvoyant ( supernatural ability, psychic), instinctive knowledge and skill increase.
- Desire to find oneself: Changing one's social group, behavior, or job etc. Getting excited suddenly. Your sociable nature has suddenly disappeared. You may not like to talk to family members, friends and co-workers.
- Suddenly becoming aware of recurring relationships or patterns: No longer inclined to interact with people you previously had close relationships with.
- Worrying about panic, attacks, etc., even without any precise reason: You feel that your thoughts towards people have increased, or you feel changes.
- Hypersensitivity: To crowded areas, malls, restaurants, clubs, festivals, etc. Being hypersensitive to digital phones, laptops, computers, wireless routers and all microwave technology, as well as to lighting.
- Changes in your energy level: Sleeping longer or sleeping more, sleepwalking. Not being able to sleep, but not wanting to get up. It's a sign that something new is going on inside you.
- Passing of strange electrical energy in legs or arms: This is due to the frequencies emanating from the galactic center floating planets. This energy is helpful in the process of physical rewiring and the light body bringing higher vibrating energies into the body.
- A whole range of physical experiences are caused by the detoxification of the body: Physical, karmic, emotional and mental toxic waste, which leads to the following symptoms
- fatigue and heaviness
- increased thirst
- upset stomach
- nausea
- headache
- Dizziness: Balance problems and a spacey feeling.
- Trembling: increased appetite, excessive weight gain, no sense of weight gain or loss, no matter how much or little you eat. (Because it takes more energy for your body to move from the third to the fifth frequency.)
- Sudden rapid onset of hunger: feeling as if you have not had food for days, childlike hunger. (This gives you a chance to relive childhood memories and connects you to a happy memory.)
- Nature attraction: Strong connection with nature.
What are the spiritual practices for beginners
Yoga and Meditation are the best ways to start the spiritual practice. Chanting the mantras or Mantra Japa given by guru can take you to Moksha or salvation. Practice of “Pranayama” is a must for every spiritual aspirant. Bramacharya is important in everybody's life, without which spiritual awakening cannot happen. Once you are not a beginner any more, you can start doing Ashtanga Yoga which would need supervision of a guru or master.
Spirituality cannot be forced, it just happens within yourselves. Lack of spirituality is because of our ignorance. Only true knowledge can lead us to Enlightenment or Spiritual awakening.
Top 5 Movies or Documentary About Spiritual Awakening
- Peaceful Warrior (2006 ‧ Drama/Romance)
- Awake: The Life of Yogananda (2014 ‧ Documentary)
- Samadhi Part 1: Maya, the Illusion of the Self (2017 ‧ Documentary)
- Inner Worlds Outer Worlds (2012 ‧ Documentary/History)
- The Truman Show (1998 ‧ Drama/Sci-fi)