As important as climbing Mount Everest for a mountaineer! Self realization announces end of cosmic journey for not only human form but spirit, consciousness existing in our heart as our soul atman. The ultimate cosmic goal of life for all human beings on mother earth as ordained by god is reaching state of self realization. This is an irreversible journey conducted indulging in spirituality detailed in Bhagavad Gita.
Not only realizing that we are primarily a spiritual being but also becoming one is our goal of life.
We can follow this cosmic goal now in present life or abandon it for future manifestations. We must not forget that present earthly form is limited to one life, the present earthly domain. After death of present body we do not know what form our soul manifests in next manifestation.
Leaving things to chance means not wanting to complete the journey of self-realization in present life time! What guarantee was there that in next manifestation the new body manifested by our soul atman would indulge in spirituality to travel path of self-realization successfully.
Our goal in present life should be either we do it now in present life or forget about it completely. Promises of afterlife meant nothing for they did not exist. As our soul atman, spirit within is the ultimate master and controller of human body it is for soul atman or the next body manifested by it to decide goal of next life. On path of pure spirituality there was no place for excuses.
Importance of self-realization can be gauged from the fact that Mahavira, Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed decided once and for all to indulge in journey of self-realization, enlightenment in their life time. These spiritual stalwarts did not leave anything to chance. They just kept going on and on. So was the case with Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharshi Ramana, the two spiritual stalwarts who succeeded in reaching state of enlightenment in 19th and 20th century respectively.
As a human being, the highest manifest stage in cosmic life cycle on mother earth the onus of deciding goal of life squarely lay on as. Our soul atman, consciousness within all the time prompts from within to undertake spiritual journey to reach cosmic end of life, state of self-realization but human beings by nature and guided by ego avoided hearing the promptings of soul atman from within. Not a day passes when our soul atman does not prompt us from within to indulge in spirituality. But glued to material world, we avoided indulging in spirituality.
The most human beings did was indulge in praying to or worshipping enlightened souls like Mahavira, Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed. But our soul atman from within all the time prompts that we can ourselves become a Mahavira, Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ or Prophet Mohammed as our ultimate goal of life is liberation from cycle of birth and death forever. To indulge or not to indulge is purely our prerogative.
When six years of age I went in search of god! Around nine years of age I finally decided to plunge head-on. I was even prepared to permanently quit my family. 31 years of indulgence in precepts of spirituality contained in Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads (independent spiritual treatises) I finally reached portals of God in the wee hours of third of August 1993 37 years of age. I did what I wanted to. I wanted to reach God in present life time and with grace of God I succeeded in my attempts. I did not want to leave things to chance.
I also did not want to rotate in the endless cycles of birth and death. Between eight and nine years of age I finally decided that present journey of life has to be the last. A difficult decision at that young age but it proved hard work pays in the end.
Amongst all dillydallying in the present world we need to decide whether we continue indulging in rituals (religious practices) that led nowhere or pursue path of spirituality to realize self in present life time. Final decision as always is ours as all souls’ atmans in cosmos were independent of each other. Even our parents, brothers and sisters could not decide on our behalf in such important matters of cosmic life.