Spiritual awakening means the expansion of the consciousness-awareness beyond the mind and beyond limited thinking.
You can experience spiritual awakening in an Ashram, in a secluded place, and also while living a busy life with work and family.
It is not easy to describe this state in words, for someone, who has not experienced it.
Words use comparisons and are a tool that the mind uses. Spiritual awakening dwells beyond the mind, and therefore, words can only give a glimpse of this state.
This is an inner state that is not dependent on external conditions and circumstances.
What to Expect from Spiritual Awakening
People expect some great things to happen. Some expect seeing lights, colors or spiritual entities. Some expect to gain various great powers.
People often let their imagination run riot. Spiritual awakening is something else. The mind likes to imagine things, but to experience this state you have to rise above your mind. you need to silence your mind.
Spiritual Awareness is beyond the mind and beyond thinking.
Spiritual awakening is an inner process, not external process.
One of the most important keys for experiencing this state is a quiet and calm mind. In this state, the mind must be silent.
At first, you will have short glimpses of this state.
If you persevere with training your mind to stay silent, the experience would gradually increase in duration.
What You Will Experience in Spiritual Awakening?
- Your external life will most probably continue the same as before.
- This experience would enable you to remain calm in stressful situations.
- You will look at the world around you from a wider perspective.
- You will stop limiting your mind to certain ideas, thoughts or traditions. You will see things from a broader perspective
- Detaching your mind and emotions from anything that disturbs your tranquility would become easy.
- Calmness and quietness would grow within you, no matter what is happening around you.
- You will display more common sense, and your ability to control your mind and attention would increase.
- You would become a more tolerant and considerate person.
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Do You Need to Prepare Yourself for Spiritual Awakening?
Yes, you do. We sometimes hear about people who, in certain situations, experienced a temporary change of awareness, as if their consciousness has expanded beyond its limit. However, these experiences usually temporary and do not last long.
Spontaneous occurrences sometime happen, but since the person who experiences them is not prepared, they might temporarily overwhelm him or her.
Spontaneous occurrences are not permanent, and can cause the person experiencing them to arrive to erroneous notions.
Some might think that something is wrong with them, some might invent all kinds of theories around this experience, and others might believe that they are chosen people, above others, and might start a following, a sect or a new religion.
- Real and stable state of spiritual awakening requires training.
- You need to prepare your mind for it.
- Often, it is a gradual process.
- A gradual process prepares your body, mind and emotions for this experience.
How to Prepare Yourself for Spiritual Awakening
Spiritual awakening requires various preparations and training so that your mind can adapt itself to the “new” the consciousness – awareness.
You need to pave the way to spiritual awakening, not just wait for it to happen spontaneously.
I believe in a gradual awakening. It is the safe and practical way to go. In this way, you avoid problems and pave the way to a clear and direct path.
- It would be a good idea to take care of your body. With a healthy body you are in a better position to focus your mind and to meditate.
- This process requires inner strength and dedication.
- Don’t think too much this process. Take the steps that lead to it, but don’t think about them. If you think too much about this process, you might build unreal theories about it, which can stand in your way.
- Too much thinking about spiritual awakening do not contribute to this state. They just make the mind restless and make you more anxious, instead of calm.
Mental Training for Spiritual Awakening
Though the mind does not participate in spiritual awakening, it plays a big role in the preparations. It has to learn be quiet.
You need to learn to silence your mind at will. This might seem to you infeasible, but with training, it is possible to do.
The mind tends to think constantly, distract your attention, and direct your awareness to thoughts and memories and the external world.
To attain spiritual awakening, you need to stop the constant chatter of your mind. This is the most important step.
Mental training facilitates the process of spiritual awakening. Learning to focus your mind enables you to control your mind and direct it to one single thought, instead of jumping from one thought to another.
Once the mind can focus on one thought at a time, it becomes quieter.
A quiet mind enables you to meditate more deeply and be less distracted.
Meditation
When focus is strong, it becomes easier to silence the mind. It also becomes easier to meditate.
Meditation is the main process that leads to spiritual awakening. There are many forms of meditation, which eventually, can lead to the sublime state about which we are talking here.
Any kind of meditation that calms and silences the mind is suitable. However, some might lead to faster results, but they might not be suitable for everyone.
Meditations Techniques
Here are a few meditation techniques you can try:
Watching your thoughts meditation
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These meditations are more direct in their approach. You don’t have to practice them all. Just choose one of them.
Expectations and the Experience of Spiritual Awakening
- Don’t expect bells, whistles and fireworks.
- Don’t expect trances or going into other dimensions.
- The process might start as a split second of inner silence and a sense of happiness and bliss. It is short glimpse.
In time, the duration of these blissful glimpses will become longer. The interesting thing about it that at first, you will probably experience these glimpses in your daily life, while working, eating, reading or walking, not necessarily during your meditation session.
You will feel as if you are in a calm and peaceful place, without thinking. This will not disturb what you might be doing when this glimpse occurs.
You will conscious of the world around you, yet, be as if outside of it. It is a pleasant experience.
Don’t try to think about it or analyze it, because if you do, you will get snapped out of it. In this state, the mind is silent. The moment you start thinking about this state you get out of this silence.
As your focus gets deeper and you progress with your meditation, the length of this experience will increase. At some point, you might begin to have control of this process, and you would be able to awaken it any time you wish.
At a certain point, this can become a permanent process. Your outer life will not necessarily change, but your attitude and reactions would.
- You will be calm and relaxed in every situation.
- You will learn to rise above the mind and above the ego.
- As said earlier, you will see life from a broader perspective.
- There will be less attachment.
- In a state of spiritual awakening, you don’t allow worries and fears to occupy your mind.
- Life would be seen as it is, without mental or emotional filters.
- You become aware of your true essence.
You can expect the spiritual awakening process to create positive inner changes within you. Often, these changes occur gradually.
Is the Spirit Awakening?
Is it the Spirit awakening? Well, as you become more conscious and aware of your inner being, as you stop being limited to your ego, you are awakening.
Does this means that the Spirit has been asleep? Well the Spirit is you. It is always here. However, thoughts, desires, habits and mental programming have been hiding it.
The Spirit is always awake and alive, but it seems asleep because of the layers and covers of thoughts and feelings covering it.
Your thoughts, desires, habits and mental programming are like the clouds that hide the sun. The sun is there, and all you need is something to disperse the clouds. Then, the sun will shine in all its glory.
That’s the same with the Spirit. It’s there, but it might look like it’s sleeping. To see it, you need to remove the restless thoughts of the mind. You need to make the mind still.
The meaning of awakening is to make your mind calm and clear, so you become aware of the Spirit, which is you, your real essence, not the ego, personality or your thoughts.
The awakening spiritual consciousness is the real you.
What Happens Next, after Awakening
Some people might become teachers, teaching what they have experienced.
Some would write about their experiences.
Others, will continue with their external life unchanged, but with their inner life changed.
Tips and Activities that Can Help
The following tips and activities might seem unrelated to the topic of this article, but they are very helpful.
- Exercise your body regularly. This can be walking, aerobics, yoga, or anything that strengthen you and improves your health.
- Do meditation and relaxation sessions.
- Take care to eat healthy and nourishing foods.
- Reading about people who have attained spiritual awaking can help you.
- Read quotes about spirituality.
Do you wish to free your mind from endless thinking?
Discover How to Calm the Nonstop Chatter of the Mind
About the Author
My name is Remez Sasson. I am the author and creator of SuccessConsciousness.com, which I have been running since 2001. Join me on a fabulous journey to self improvement, happiness, success, positive lifestyle, conscious living and meditation, through my website, articles and books.
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