How can Hinduism impact an individual


Hinduism religion has two facets to life, one the religious aspect and other the spiritual.

 

It is primarily the spiritual part that dramatically alters the life of human beings. Indulging in spirituality as contained in 700 shlokas verses of Bhagavad Gita any human being world over, not necessarily belonging to India or Hinduism can ceremoniously indulge in teachings of Bhagavad Gita to no end and successfully reach last stage of cosmic life, see and meet God in this life time.

 

Seeing and meeting God is not only a possibility but an absolute reality of life.

 

I started my search of God six years of age. I badly wanted to see and meet God in this very life. Realizing that it was spirituality not religion that paved way for human beings reaching God, I stopped going to temples, churches and mosques. I had a limited time span of 70 to 80 years of earthly life; I did not want to miss the train to abode of God. With whatever means available I started my spiritual pursuit of life.

 

With whatever means available means there could be many handicaps in the spiritual journey. The biggest handicap I faced was absence of a spiritual master to guide me in the spiritual journey of life. All efforts on this front were failing time and again. No matter how best I tried I could not find one. In exasperation one day I asked God to become my guide in the spiritual journey of life and lo, he willingly agreed. Thereafter it was never looking back.

 

Around 14 years of age my father unknowingly taught me how to indulge in shavasna yoga. Initially I did not understand the technique and what it was all about. Thereafter I read stories about Maharshi Ramana and his love for self enquiry, path of Neti (not this, not this). Maharshi Ramana frequently practiced self enquiry lying in shavasna pose of yoga. I easily duplicated this path. When going to bed at night lying in shavasna pose of yoga I indulged in contemplation on god. Slowly queries within me started dissolving.

 

Born in a Jain family I believed more in principles of life contained in Bhagavad Gita than Jainism scriptures. Does not mean I rejected Jaina doctrines. I simply felt more comfortable with teachings of Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita as they were easier to understand. At that young age I knew nothing much of Sanskrit, the question of indulging in Bhagavad Gita did not arise. Instead I wholeheartedly indulged in company of elders in the family and outside who told me many stories about Lord Krishna. The stories about Lord Krishna were a great inspiration, for the simple reason that I could easily discriminate right from wrong, truth from false.

 

Remaining 100% truthful I could easily understand the hidden underlying meaning of sacred texts. Slowly I started giving precedence to inner voice coming from within my heart. I slowly realized it was voice of my soul atman existing in heart. And thus started my attempt to demolish my ego in totality! I inherently realized that as long as my ego dominated, I would not be able to hear the sweet small promptings of soul atman coming from within. To establish total control over five senses and mind, 100% demolition of ego was necessary.

 

Hinduism scriptures primarily teachings contained in Bhagavad Gita became my guide in the spiritual journey of life. I also started by indulgence in teachings concerning Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharshi Ramana. I inherently realized that both these souls succeeded in reaching state of self realization in their lifetime. By following path of jnana yoga (absolute wisdom), both these spiritual stalwarts finally succeeded in reaching god. Not available in person but both Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharshi Ramana were available to me through their teachings. My spiritual journey expedited manifold.

 

As I negated my karma to zero I realized I had become a pure soul atman in the cosmic journey of life. I also realized teachings of Lord Krishna were of great help in propelling mankind towards cosmic goal of life. As teachings of Bhagavad Gita and also Upanishads (independent spiritual treatises) form part of Hindu sacred texts, it was finally Hinduism religion that came to my rescue.

 

My first-hand experience says to reach God in present life time; one must follow teachings of Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita apart from indulgence in literature relating to Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharshi Ramana.

 

Hinduism religion has so much to give to mankind not religiously but spiritually. As a seeker the first thing we should do is get a copy of Bhagavad Gita containing 700 shlokas verses in Sanskrit along with English transliteration for mere $1 from Gita press, Gorakhpur, India. They have branches in major cities of India.

 

Thereafter, we must indulge in teachings contained in Bhagavad Gita via path of contemplation (chintan) as time permits. As my goal of life from six years of age was reaching god, I indulged in chintan (contemplation) almost all the time. Even while in bed lying in shavasna pose of yoga I deeply indulged in chintan (contemplation) on vital issues of life relating to god. For me it was not only a daily routine but also the most important aspect of life for I wanted to complete my spiritual journey in this very life. 31 years of indulgence in spiritual precepts of life contained in Hinduism I finally realized self, realized god in the wee hours of third of August 1993 37 years of age.

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