Living spiritually means to try and live more and more in the awareness of the Soul, as opposed to material or physical things.

What aspects of life block us from living spiritually?

1.Our wrong belief that ‘I am John (the reader may insert his own name here)”
In reality, our Self is the Soul; so pure that despite going through the entire worldly life, it never gets affected by any impurities; it always remains pure!! Whatever deeds, good or bad, are done by the body, the Pure Soul never gets tainted by the good or bad karmas bound accordingly.

Since we wrongly believe ourselves to be John, whatever John does, or whatever gets credited or debited to John’s name, we believe ‘I did it; or this praise or insult was for me.’ And owing to this wrong belief, karmas get bound; when a good deed is done, good karma gets bound, and if it is a bad deed, bad karma gets bound. Living spiritually means no karma is bound in life. Thus, this prime wrong belief, and the non-stop generation of other wrong beliefs from it, is the prime aspect that blocks us from living spiritually.

2.Our valuation put for material things in the world.
Owing to ignorance of our real Self, we have assigned great value to material things in life. And for this reason we live a miserable worldly life. All clashes and conflicts, pain and suffering that we experience in life, arise from this very valuation.

Say, someone takes away 2 or 3 pebbles from our garden and says, “Go, I will not return these to you.” do we quarrel with him? No! And what if he takes away our money and says the same thing? Will we not anger? Since we have assigned a lot of value to the material things, we get angry. Not only anger, but pride, deceit, greed, attachment, hatred – everything crops up from this valuation that we have put for the temporary things. And as our anger-pride-deceit-greed advance, they in turn further block us from living spiritually. Hence, this is a key aspect of life that blocks spirituality.

3.Living beings, things and circumstances appear to be at fault.
Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan says, “If you want to know what this worldly life is, in the final analysis, I will tell you that no one is at fault in the world at all. Humans are not at fault, and tiger (animals) too is not at fault. From this statement, you have to solve all equations. The conclusion is that this entire world in reality is flawless. Every living being is faultless. They appear to you at fault because of your ignorance, so now you know how wrong you have been.”

4.Our liking for sweetness
It is highly unlikely that one, other than Gnani (provided we have won his grace), will go out of his way to serve us anything bitter. Because we have a liking for sweetness in life, our worldly interactions are such that no one will insult us, everyone is constantly good to us, praising us and behaving with all respect with us. However, this is an important aspect of life that blocks us from living in the awareness of our Soul, for one becomes deluded at the time of relishing the taste of sweetness, while enjoying the pleasant life-effects.

5.Our habit of acting according to our will and intellect.
In spiritual matters, it is very essential that we consult someone we trust and follow the guidance He gives. When we become obstinate and strong headed, and act according to our own opinion and understanding, choosing to overrule the words of the Enlightened One with whose advice we intend to progress spiritually, such ego becomes a grave aspect that blocks us from progressing spiritually.

6.Thinking that ‘we know a lot or we know everything’.
Liberation happens through absolute humility. Preaching spirituality to everyone, trying to show our wisdom or our cleverness, and engaging in non-stop confronting arguments over spiritual topics; not recognizing that we have taken a wrong track, is tantamount to being over wise. We have to become wise in order to live spiritually, not overwise! Moreover insistence is one of the biggest negative aspect of life that blocks us from living spiritually. The definition of being insistence-free is: if someone tells us, ‘I don’t like it’ then we say, ‘very well. I will keep quiet.’ There is no botheration!

How do we win over these blocks?

•To never ever forget our goal of living spiritually. Remaining under the shelter of the Gnani, with the unflinching determination of uprooting each and every obstructing cause on the path of liberation, so that we are able to remain in uninterrupted awareness of the Self, during both, painful or pleasant life effects, one can definitely live spiritually, without any impediments!!

•Attain Self-Realization from Gnani, the Enlightened One!!! Akram Vignan is a special spiritual science that offers a stepless path to Self-Realization, wherein Gnani, with His divine spiritual powers, within just 2 hours time and for no cost whatsoever, graces us with Self-Realization; and moreover gives us 5 cardinal principles that will help us live spiritually, with all comfort and ease. After this Self-Realization, we begin to live with a firm conviction that ‘I am Pure Soul’!

•Abide by whatever Gnani says, cent percent. Following Gnani’s words with sincerity, we will be sure we do not ever get driven by John’s intellect / ego that could be a reason for our downfall!

•Get John to do pratikraman (repentance) for all his mistakes, one by one, especially when he hurts or harms someone.

•When someone happens to serve us some insult, resolve the circumstance with equanimity by:
oknowing that this is just a scientific circumstantial evidence in order to square off my past karmic account;
ounderstanding that the fault is of the sufferer i.e. John, and therefore having him do pratikraman; and
omaintaining the awareness of ‘I and the other person in interaction, both are Pure Soul’

•‘Except for the awareness of Soul, I do not want anything temporary in this world.’ Saying this atleast 5 times daily, and remaining in its awareness, will start working wonders within, as we then begin to draw Gnani’s enormous grace for attaining spiritual progress and bliss!!

To know more please click https://www.dadabhagwan.org/self-realization/

Author's Bio: 

Ambalal M. Patel was a civil contractor by profession. In June 1958, spontaneous Self-Realization occurred within Ambalal M. Patel. From this point on, Ambalal became a Gnani Purush, and the Lord that manifest within him became known as Dada Bhagwan. A Gnani Purush is One who has realized the Self and is able help others do the same. Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan used to go from town to town and country-to-country to give satsang (spiritual discourse) and impart the knowledge of the Self, as well as knowledge of harmonious worldly interactions to everyone who came to meet him. This spiritual science, known as Akram Vignan, is the step-less path to Self-realization