While I read so much, met so many people, studied analogies, went through stories regarding realization, and acquired all the wisdom – the knowledge and information – required for liberation, I realized that liberation is not possible without the grace of God and the help of a Guru. Nobody can ever reach liberation unless it is the will of God, which may either happen through direct communication between a seeker and God or most often through the help of a Guru, a representative of God – a human form of God on Earth. With the help of a Guru and the grace of God, one can rapidly tread the path and climb the peak of Enlightenment, realizing the self and God. Without the Guru and God, this is as good as impossible.
WE MUST SEEK GOD! NOTHING ELSE!
We must realize the truth. How long would we run behind pleasures? How long would we let sensuality distract us? Can’t we realize that this is a temporary gratification that will end in death and decay and not give any lasting satisfaction?
At death, when the body starts to decay, even the closest ones distance themselves. The beloved wife shrinks with horror at the sight of the dead body. We must wake up and realize the truth. What is the point of just acquiring wealth? We ignore the permanent, though we have the power to reason. We create our own sorrows. We let lust and passion create pain. We shouldn’t live by instinct like animals. We need to be liberated and be a realized being. Youth is not permanent. Wealth comes and goes. What is permanent? Only God! Desires will distract us and pleasures will tempt us, but the end will be full of sorrow. Choose an eternal goal. Renounce! You will be happier. The real bliss is within. Seek God. Listen to the voice of God. Experience the God that dwells in your own heart.
How does one seek God? How does one pray?
PRAYER
Such a common term “Prayer”, but does the world actually know what it means and how it connects to God.
Prayer is of three types.
1. Rituals done by the body, like use of fire in a plate to pray in temples. The entire body is involved, including our hands, our mind, our eyes, and our mouth.
2. Chanting the name of God: only the mind and mouth are used.
3. Just contemplation, only silence. Introspection/ Meditation is superior to rituals and superior to chanting.
All the three methods may be used, but one must evolve in prayer.
Contemplating and meditating on God will lead to the realization of the truth, but this needs supreme devotion.
The method of Silence and Introspection can lead one to liberation. One method known as 8-fold path of yoga advocates – the practice of Values; Discipline; Postures; Control of breath; Withdrawal of senses; Concentration of the mind; Meditation and Total cessation of all thoughts. The third and fourth – Postures and Control of breath are commonly practiced, but true union through Silence and Introspection needs the practice of all the eight steps. By restraint of breathing, the mind becomes absorbed. As it witnesses the breath, it gains peace through concentration.
Man attains supreme happiness upon self-realization. With the help of a Guru, a qualified seeker can gain realization by dispelling his ignorance.
Is knowledge realization? Of course not! I had read many of these concepts before, but it never struck me that I was not the body. I always believed that I was Ravi V. Melwani and I was the creator of my business and the author of my success. When I transformed my life to RVM, my ego still reigned supreme. Never did it occur to me that I wasn’t what I saw in the mirror in front of me. For the first time ever, after reading and reading and reading for weeks and months, I started feeling sparks kindle within me that made me believe that I was close to discovering a new Truth!
One afternoon up in the mountains, as if