Table of Contents
Why is Self-realization Important?
Self-realization Obstacles are many. But before we go into the obstacles it is important to discuss Self-realization as a concept.
In fact, Self-realization represents the end of man’s search within this material world. It opens up the door towards a new beginning, towards life absolute.
It heralds freedom where the individual soul realizes its endless boundless nature. Self-realization also puts an end to illusion, the illusion of life’s drudgery and suffering.
Self-realization Obstacles: Reactivity and Ignorance
We, normally react to what happens to us, in the course of life’s journey.
This reactionary mode is drudgery, owing to the unexpected shocks that one encounters. Our expectations remain elusive.
What happens to us, in reality, is quite contrary to our expectations and that defines the dilemma of life. What and how we go through life, in a way counters our expectations from it.
We do not have pleasant experiences going by our expectations.
This is the unavoidable state of ignorance that we regurgitate time and again, in an endless loop.
Self-realization Obstacles: Making Self-realization our Goal
If we become more conscious, more aware, the veil of ignorance gets removed slowly, layer by layer, paving the path towards Self_realization. But the bigger querstions is: Why do we fail in cracking the code of ignorance?
Why do we keep suffering?
Let us pen down the reasons that make Self-realization appear fictitious, although in reality, Self-realization is the very goal of all life. The reel of life spins steeped in ignorance as it rolls recklessly towards another life.
We simply seem to have no solutions for our intimate problems.
Self-realization Obstacles: Taking Ourselves Seriously
Our own goals are more real than those of others. Here we miss a holistic view of life as one unit. Separating ourselves from the ecosystem we simply focus on things that our contaminated mind throws up.
We give ourselves, undue importance and attach too much value to things, people, and circumstances that relate to us in some way.
Undue value to things, people, and circumstances builds a certain magnitude of illusion around us.
This illusory magnetic field, pushes us towards the unreal, towards delusion.
Self-realization Obstacles: We’ve stopped distinguishing Truth from Lies
In our quest for pleasure, in our quest for satisfying our carnal desires and senses, we have ignored the Truth. What is right is universal. Opinions or Biases can never restrict Universality.
What “is” remains universal, potent, and true.
Unfortunately, today, our carnal tendencies drive us. Preyas concerns us more than Shreyas. This is our innate problem.
Whenever Lies or Convenience drive our actions, we shall gravitate towards illusion, towards the confusion. Everything around us becomes murkier.
The murkier it becomes, the less attention we pay to things. Naturally, this shall cloud our intelligence. Self-realization holds no value in such mindsets.
Self-realization Obstacles: Praise in a fool’s Paradise
Unfortunately, not trained from our childhood, we do a great disservice to ourselves and others through praise and flattery. We unnecessarily praise others or seek praise from others consciously or unconsciously.
One likes to hear constant praise from the other’s mouth unabatedly. We then put out a show that “We are humble.
We do not deserve such praise.” Hypocrisy at its best.
When the other praises us, we fail to realize that the other man too wants us to do him a favor in return. Praises find us standing in a line of the less intelligent.
Praise only fattens our delusionary ego, one of the major Self-realization Obstacles. “I and mine” simply delude us and makes us feel “foolishly” important.
In reality, we have no importance. That being the case, the “I and mine” concept becomes a ploy to cheat and misguide.
How then can a person pursue “Self-realization”, from behind the clout of false praise? Even genuine praise is of no value. All praise, if taken seriously, hijacks the soul.
Self-realization Obstacles: We always find faults with others
Another great misfortune that dupes a man, is his tendency to point fingers at others. In current times, this has become the greatest disease.
We fail to realize that when we blame others, it reflects on our hollow character.
Other people enjoy it when they hear blames hurled on a third person. This is natural because they are no different from you.
Our frustrations find escape routes through this foul mechanism of the blame game. We blame others for our dissatisfaction. We manufacture a thousand reasons to put the other down.
The Ego blames others and transfers that weight onto itself, thus making it thicker.
Blaming others only bloats the ego. The more you blame, the more blind you become.
When we find fault with others, we transmit all our negativity over to someone else and shirk our responsibilities. Life’s only purpose is to cleanse the soul and free it from the grip of the mind. When we deposit our ill-will onto others, we are cheating ourselves.
The path of Self-realization is not for such beings.
Self-realization Obstacles: We consider ourselves too important
When we meet someone, we are impatient. When the other is talking or communicating something, we are restless. Individuals want to tell the other person, how important they are.
We want to show off our self-assumed greatness. We want to somehow convince the other that we are very important. Over and above that we want the other to acknowledge us.
People try to influence others by sharing their achievements. Many times people succeed in such attempts only to add to the tragedy of life.
This obviously is the Ego at work. We are pained if someone fails to recognize us.
We then prepare ourselves to blame this person, at the first opportune moment. His crime, “He did not praise me. He did not give me a patient hearing.”
We only find value in “so-called” Gain
Man has already decided what is good or what is bad for him. If he did not decide, he lets society decide it for him.
Having money and becoming wealthier is good. Earning name and fame becomes good and becomes something to Live and Die for.
There is nothing wrong in becoming rich and famous. As long as Nature confers this on us, unsought, everything goes well.
Unfortunately, a man seems to give too much importance to chasing name and fame and thus burning his life energies. The fuel of life only dims as one pursues such hollow dreams.
One devalues life, in the whole process.
Naturally he has to trade his security, peace, and happiness in order to attain this.
Common Wisdom can never propose goals oriented around wealth and fame. Only a completely ignorant man, shall pursue wealth and fame. One should realize that wealth and fame are simply adjuncts to food, shelter, and clothing. These adjuncts appear or disappear as a result of Karma and Karma alone.
Why does every hard-working or skilled person not become rich and famous without distinction?
History stinks with examples of the not-so-intelligent people that ruled the world. Why?
One should deeply ponder about all this. Unless one gets to the root of these things, he cannot enter into a mode of genuine inquiry. Self-realization is not for a person running behind wealth and fame.
Taking Advantage of others has become our second nature
We live in a competitive world. The rest of the world dictates our happiness. In that case, can we be happy? For us, our own defined profits and gains take precedence.
Little do we care of how our choices affect the ecosystem. We are insensitive to nature’s response. We hone this tendency to influence others for our profits.
Advertisements on the internet and television dictate our subconscious choices.
What is their goal? Do they want to serve us or register profits for themselves?
Does it care for the benefit of the world or does it worry only about how to make a quick buck. If we fall into the trap, it’s their profit.
We are enamored and driven by greed and that is the reason why we are tricked. Its greed and self-centeredness galore.
Self-realization – Out of the question.
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Self-realization Obstacles: Pitfalls of our Certainty
Our ignorance fuels our confidence. We are never humble enough to accept our ignorance. If we do not accept ourselves as we are, where is Truth?
Our so-called confidence generates many fault-lines in our approach towards life.
Hypocrisy results from such artificial confidence. Over and above that we give free advice to others and “try” to guide them. One blind man trying to lead other blind men.
Accidents are inevitable. Self-realization here becomes an alien concept.
Experience of Life is another Illusion
Our so-called experiences of life become our beacons. We see many senior people of the world talk about their “Experience of Life”. They say “Experience has taught me lessons”
There exists a fundamental law in this approach.
When a person is born, he comes into the world, wearing the glasses of “dark ignorance” Through life, the glass only changes colors.
These changing colors, man terms as experience. What use is this experience? It’s only that you have a glass with changing colors.
This glass will never show things as they are. The goal is to remove this glass and see things as they are.
The way to remove these colored glasses is the purity of intention, sadhana, and following Yamas and Niyamas of Sanatana Dharma.
One cannot remove the ignorance in any other way. “Life Experience” is as false as the mirage in the desert.
Self-realization Obstacles:We do not take the Theory of Karma seriously
One major drawback within our life is that we do not understand the Philosophy of Karma. Unless we look into the Karma philosophy with a scientific temper, we shall continue committing the same errors that we have been committing from time immemorial.
Understanding Karma shall bring back our attention to the way life unfolds before us.
The more we observe life, the more we shall become capable of detecting the faults within our personality. When we come to know that we are responsible completely for our life, why would we blame anyone for anything?
If we discover through spiritual means, that we have reserved rights, why shall we ever strive to fight for so-called human rights? When we know that life simply expects us to deliver our duties and nothing more, why should we become stressed ever?
The secret of life is in letting go of all our compulsions and idiosyncrasies.
When we do enough of that, we shall be purged of our compulsive mind patterns. Self-realization stems from freedom. This freedom is not in doing what you like but in doing what is right.
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