What is Self Realization - Self Realization

Question: What is self realization?

A: Self Realization could be said to be the realization that you are nothing. That there is
nothing here.

The solid sense of "me" has fallen apart and the pure infinite consciousness that you are
underneath is realized. Then everything is experienced as one consciousness.

In my experience, it is this emptiness that makes self realization. In
emptiness there is pure peace.

It is not that that sense of person is no longer here at all anymore. Personality, thoughts,
emotions, physicality remain as they are. But the sole identification with it as who you
are is broken. You recognize it only exists at the level of identification with thinking. You
can move in and out of it as consciousness itself. But it no longer is a solid 'something'
separate from consciousness.

Consciousness is the essence. It is completely free of everything yet it exists as everything.

Question: What is this solid sense of "me?"

A: As consciousness identifies with thinking, with emotions, then there is a sense of ‘I’ that is born. You are your thoughts, your emotions. These things define what you are.   Before self realization, that ‘I’ is what you are. It is a feeling of being separate from consciousness, separate from love, separate from everything. And so you are always lacking, always in conflict, always wanting, always resisting this moment.

You could even say that resisting is synonymous with the feeling of being a separate ‘I.’

But when self realization happens, it is like the bottom falls out and you fall into oblivion, you fall into infinite consciousness itself. You dissolve into pure consciousness, And you recognize that consciousness as everything. Everything is that emptiness.

Question: What do you mean by emptiness?

When I refer to “emptiness,” I am not referring to some desolate feeling of depression. That emptiness is even free of the sense of a “me” being empty. Rather, everything is emptiness.   It is pure clarity, pure wakefulness, pure light without anything else having to be there. You realize that emptiness is the source of everything.

Being a “me” means you are caught up in all your struggles, opinions, desires, worries and distractions. It is who you experience yourself to be. It is a feeling of separateness, of resistance to this moment. It is impossible to find any lasting peace and love in that.

But in self realization when that sense of "me" as something solid and real has been transcended, there is just wakefulness. You are alive as life itself.   You feel free from form, free from boundaries.

It is hard to describe with words. But this emptiness is pure peace. The peace is not happening for a someone. You can feel it, you do experience it. But at the level of emptiness, there is just peace. There is no you and peace, there is just peace. It is pure aliveness, pure fulfillment.

Question: So you are saying that "me" keeps us from Self Realization?

A: Not really the "me" itself but our involvement with it; our fixation on it. That fixation on “me” must be surrendered in order to experience our true nature of unconditional peace, of being pure consciousness. It has to come apart. It has to be seen through. Our obsessive fixation with this sense of “me” seemingly separates us from what we are beyond thinking identification.

I say seemingly because you are consciousness. It is not an idea. You are consciousness. You’re just lost in all the thoughts that you impose on top of it. Which is also consciousness. But because you are involved with the content of it rather than experiencing it for what it really is, then you are not aware of yourself as consciousness, you are aware of your identity that is all felt as separateness.

Question: So then it is just to get rid of this "me."

A: You do not have to get rid of it. You can't get rid of it. You just let it be. Let the thoughts be, let the emotions be, let the body be. In meditation, you simply stop being involved with it. You stop being lost in the endless commentary, trying to fix things, change things, get things, get rid of things, distract yourself with things.

When you allow it to be as it is and simply be aware, then that solidity of being a 'me' already begins to soften, becomes formless energy. Your attention naturally expands beyond your identification with a separate "me" into awareness/energy itself.   You begin to feel the essence of everything as energy, as consciousness. Thoughts become energy, emotions become energy. It all is revealed as the play of one energy moving as thought, moving as emotion, moving as breathing, moving as nature.

Question: Which spiritual path is best for self realization? Advaita Vedanta? Zen? Kundalini Yoga? Bhakti Yoga?

A: There is no path that is better than the others. It is just what works for you. Ultimately, your journey will be very unique to you. Once you begin to feel what is here beyond mental perception, whether you feel it as peace, as bliss, as energy, as silence, as consciousness, that guides you deeper into itself. You will feel for yourself what moves you deeper into peace and what takes you out of it.

Question: But if everything is already consciousness, then why do anything?

A: Only if that is your real and natural experience is that true for you.   Practice is most of the time needed. That pull to be caught up in thinking is very strong. It is not just intellectual. There is a karmic pull to it, like a magnet that binds you. You have very strong attachments to identifying with certain ideas and objects. Those attachments must begin to be burned away through spiritual practice.

So it is important to purify the body with healthy eating and exercise. It is important to purify the mind with all of the practices that may include meditation, chanting, breathing exercises, Japa, and most important, sitting with teachers that have attained self realization.

And in doing so, you will automatically come to a point where consciousness will naturally be what you are. You will not have to do anything to experience it. It will just be the truth of what you are. Still you may continue practicing after that. But you will love the practices. You will look forward to them. Meditation or other spiritual practices will become a love affair.

Q: Why is it so important to sit with an enlightened teacher in order to attain Self Realization?

A: When you sit with a self realized teacher that can transmit Shakti, then that Shakti, the energy vibration of pure consciousness gets awakened in you. You will feel it as bliss or as energy moving through you.
When you feel this bliss sitting with a teacher, then automatically meditation happens. The Shakti
itself meditates you. Automatically, you are awakened into self realization.

Just by sitting with a self realized teacher you feel good, you feel happy. That is because
self realization is being given to you in the form of Shakti. It is not something you are
doing,it is the gift of grace that is doing everything.

With practices, you are trying to awaken to self realization from the outside, in.

With Shakti, the core of your being is awakened into self realization.
The process of self realization starts to happen within you
automatically.

So Shakti is extremely important. It does not mean you do not need practice on top of it.
But it is the Shakti, grace itself that awakens you into self realization. Just meditating on
your own without any form of Shakti can be very frustrating.

Shakti makes it so much easier. Because the truth is, you as an ego cannot meditate.
You can practice meditation, but at some point through grace, meditation happens.
You are being meditated.

So if you are practicing meditation on your own without Shakti, you can get stuck in the sense
of "I am doing it" and that keeps you stuck in the ego.

With Shakti, meditation naturally happens. You are being meditated by Shakti.

Question: How do you offer Shakti?

I offer Shakti in 2 ways:

I offer free Shakti Awakening Meditations online. You sign up for the session, go online to the link of the web page given on signing up and you can hear me though audio streamed through the website. You can even ask questions via the chat box but it is mainly about sitting together in the bliss. Awakening the Shakti.

There is a great group of people all around the world that join the session every week. It is a very loving atmosphere. It’s very beautiful.

(You can sign up to be notified of upcoming session by filling out the form for the weekly teachings below)

I Also Offer Shakti Transmission through Music. I found a way to record Shakti, the
energy vibration of self realization and turn it into sound.   So when you listen to the music,
Shakti is being transmitted to you allowing you to experience deep meditation & bliss
often immediately.

Thousands of people all over the world now meditate to these Shakti CDs every day with
huge success, huge awakenings. You can meditate to the Shakti CDs, sleep to them, listen
to them on trains or buses. Wherever you go, whatever you are doing, just by playing the
music you are plugged into bliss consciousness. You can feel the Shakti in the music
awakening you into bliss.