The worldly life, at every step, presents us with many tempting and lucrative goals that we consider important in life; and therefore sincerely work towards and strive for it, sometimes out of need, sometimes out of want. One of such examples is marriage and worldly relationships.
Generally, people marry because they are in search of a life-long companionship through which they can fill their life with love and happiness. Marriage is indeed a life-long commitment that is fulfilled when founded on love and happiness; and not on money, power, status or any other temptation in mind.
But is spiritual enlightenment possible for those living a married life?
The general impression that people have in their mind is that in order to progress on the path of the liberation of the Soul, one has to renounce his home and family, do hard penance (tapa), practice severe austerities, read scriptures, chant big mantras (japa), etc.
However, when one reads or listens to the stories of the great Souls like Lord Krishna, Lord Ram, Arjun, Shrimad Rajchandra, etc., one realizes that although their objective in life was that of salvation, they were married and they lived a normal, worldly life too.
One may argue that all these great men lived in a different era altogether, but in today’s times, is it possible to attain spiritual enlightenment without renunciation and dispassion for worldly life? Param Pujya Dadashri puts to rest all these doubts of ours when he firmly claims that: “It is possible to attain Self Realization even while living with your wife and your children. You can attain Self Realization while living the worldly life and fulfilling all your duties. You will have the freedom to do whatever you wish. Go to the cinema. Get your children married. Wear beautiful clothes, etc. What other guarantee do you need?”
Param Pujya Dadashri’s guarantee is based on the fact that really speaking, we are not the one who marries and lives a worldly life. That is actually our worldly self which arises on birth and will finish with the death of this physical body. However, we are totally different from this worldly self. We are permanent, whereas the worldly self is transient. It is the worldly self that is looking for life-long companionship and is experiencing the worldly happiness; whereas we in ourselves are an abode of eternal bliss!
Therefore salvation becomes possible even when one is living a normal married life
Here are some more examples to explain this fact:
•Lord Rushabdev gave Bharat Chakravati the knowledge of the Self, with the help of which Bharat Chakravati was able to attain liberation despite having so many queens and being surrounded by as many sensual pleasures.
•Even Lord Krishna gave Arjuna such vision of the Self, as a result of which, despite participating in the Mahabharata battle, Arjuna was able to attain liberation in the same life.
•In His final birth, Lord Mahavir led a worldly life until the age of thirty; he was married and had a daughter too; yet He could attain the Absolute Self in the same life.
These examples illustrate the fact that in reality one’s wife, children, wealth or sensual pleasures are not a hindrance in attaining liberation; it is only the ignorance of the Self that is the main sole hindrance on the path to salvation.
While the living a worldly life and fulfilling all the worldly obligations is the duty of the worldly self, ‘our’ ultimate objective is salvation. These are two different tracks and therefore they do not interfere in each other; provided we realize that really ‘who am I?’
Upon knowing 'who am I', all the puzzles get solved; all the suffering dissolves.This knowledge of the Self can be obtained only from the Living Gnani. He is the Enlightened One, who merely with his divine spiritual powers, enlightens our Soul and makes us realize that really ‘I am a Pure Soul.’ His grace is all that it takes to know really ‘who am I?’
Therefore it is said that the path to ultimate salvation is the easiest; provided one happens to meet the Living Gnani!!!
So, our ultimate objective certainly is salvation, but our immediate objective to that effect should be to meet the Living Gnani. One may marry and may live a normal worldly life, rendering all his duties and responsibilities nicely and sincerely; there’s absolutely no harm in that!
But from within, one must constantly and earnestly pray to God that ‘Oh God! Please bless me such that I soon meet the Living Gnani in whose lotus feet I can surrender myself and receive his divine grace to progress on the path of salvation.’ Doing so, you will certainly be able to meet Gnani soon
And until this happens, you may enjoy reading this - https://www.dadabhagwan.org/spiritual-masters/pujya-deepakbhai/the-hidde... and a lot more stuff on https://www.dadabhagwan.org/
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.