Self-realization means

Expressions researched:
"Self-realization ultimately means" |"self-realization means"

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 2.46, Purport:

The rituals and sacrifices mentioned in the karma-kāṇḍa division of the Vedic literature are meant to encourage gradual development of self-realization. And the purpose of self-realization is clearly stated in the Fifteenth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15): the purpose of studying the Vedas is to know Lord Kṛṣṇa, the primeval cause of everything. So, self-realization means understanding Kṛṣṇa and one's eternal relationship with Him. The relationship of the living entities with Kṛṣṇa is also mentioned in the Fifteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā (15.7). The living entities are parts and parcels of Kṛṣṇa; therefore, revival of Kṛṣṇa consciousness by the individual living entity is the highest perfectional stage of Vedic knowledge.

BG 6.28, Purport:

Self-realization means knowing one's constitutional position in relationship to the Supreme. The individual soul is part and parcel of the Supreme, and his position is to render transcendental service to the Lord. This transcendental contact with the Supreme is called brahma-saṁsparśa.

SB Canto 1

SB 1.3.33, Purport:

The coverings take place due to ignorance. Such coverings are never effective in the person of the Personality of Godhead. Knowing this convincingly is called liberation, or seeing the Absolute. This means that perfect self-realization is made possible by adoption of godly or spiritual life. Self-realization means becoming indifferent to the needs of the gross and subtle bodies and becoming serious about the activities of the self. The impetus for activities is generated from the self, but such activities become illusory due to ignorance of the real position of the self. By ignorance, self-interest is calculated in terms of the gross and subtle bodies, and therefore a whole set of activities is spoiled, life after life. When, however, one meets the self by proper culture, the activities of the self begin. Therefore a man who is engaged in the activities of the self is called jīvan-mukta, or a liberated person even in the conditional existence.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.27.28-29, Purport:

Actual self-realization means becoming a pure devotee of the Lord. The existence of a devotee implies the function of devotion and the object of devotion. Self-realization ultimately means to understand the Personality of Godhead and the living entities; to know the individual self and the reciprocal exchanges of loving service between the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the living entity is real self-realization. This cannot be attained by the impersonalists or other transcendentalists; they cannot understand the science of devotional service. Devotional service is revealed to the pure devotee by the unlimited causeless mercy of the Lord. This is especially spoken of here by the Lord—mat-prasādena, "by My special grace."

SB Canto 5

SB 5.18.26, Purport:

The Lord creates the social divisions of human society—brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras—and ordains that they follow rules and regulations suited to their particular position. In this way, all members of society remain always under the Supreme Lord's control. Still, some people foolishly deny the existence of God.

Self-realization means to understand one's subordinate position in relation to the Lord. When one is thus enlightened, he surrenders to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is liberated from the clutches of the material energy. In other words, unless one surrenders to the lotus feet of the Lord, the material energy in its many varieties will continue to control him. No one in the material world can deny that he is under control. The Supreme Lord, Nārāyaṇa, who is beyond this material existence, controls everyone.

SB Canto 6

SB 6.15 Summary:

When one understands his spiritual identity and surrenders to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the supreme spiritual person, one becomes actually happy. When one searches for happiness in matter, one must certainly lament for bodily relationships. Self-realization means spiritual realization of one's relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Such realization ends one's miserable material life.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.16 -- Mexico City, February 16, 1975:

In the material condition we are in the platform of lamentation and hankering. Everyone is trying to possess something which he does not possess, and everyone is lamenting after losing his possession. These are the condition of the materialistic person.

So Brahman realization or self-realization means no longer lamentation, no longer hankering. Then next stage is samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, means then he becomes equal to everyone. He does not treat differently to different living entities. Because he can see the spirit soul in everyone, he sees everyone on the same equal position. This stage is called the bona fide stage for devotional service.

Lecture on BG 2.19 -- London, August 25, 1973:

Tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata. In this way if we think about our position, self-realization, how we are different from the body... Actually, this is meditation. If we think very seriously about ourselves and about the body, that is self-realization. Self-realization means I am not this body, I am ahaṁ brahmāsmi, I am spirit soul. That is self-realization.

So na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. Kadācit means at anytime, past, present, and future, kadācit. In the past, it is already explained, in the past we existed, maybe in a different body. At present, we are existing, and in the future also, we shall exist, continue to exist, maybe in a different body. Maybe, not. Actually. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), because after giving us this body, we have to accept another body. So this is going on. And ignorance, without knowledge of self, we are being kept in ignorance.

Lecture on BG 3.18-30 -- Los Angeles, December 30, 1968:

And what is the ultimate goal of the self-realization? That ultimate goal is to understand that "I am eternal servant of God, Kṛṣṇa." That's all. This is self-realization. So long one is identifying oneself with this material world, with this body, with this mind, it is not self-realization. Self-realization means that I am spirit, and the Supreme Lord is also spirit, so I am part and parcel of the Supreme.

Just like take for example this finger. The finger is the part and parcel of this body. So when the finger can understand that "I am part and parcel of this whole body and my duty is to serve the whole body," that is self-realization. So long one is not understanding this point, he is illusioned. What is the position of this finger? Suppose this finger is a person. Any individual spirit is a person. That we have discussed in the second chapter. Everyone. Every one of us individual person.

Lecture on BG 4.39-5.3 -- New York, August 24, 1966:

Always imperfect. Therefore it is advised, yoga-sannyasta-karmāṇam: "You just give up your work or place your working capacity, energy..." We have got some energy. We'll work or we'll do anything with our energy. So spiritual self-realization means that energy should be transferred for Kṛṣṇa, or God. That's all. Energy. We have got some stock of energy. That energy should be transferred. You can transfer that energy in so many ways. In whatever way you can do it, it doesn't matter. You have to transfer your energy for Kṛṣṇa.

Just like Arjuna. Arjuna was military man. He had his energy—to fight. So he fought for Kṛṣṇa. That means he engaged his energy for Kṛṣṇa. He did not change his military position. So we haven't got to change our position. Simply we have to transfer the energy for Kṛṣṇa. That is called yoga-sannyasta-karmāṇam.

Lecture on BG 5.26-29 -- Los Angeles, February 12, 1969:

Therefore he sees the elephant and the ant on the same level, on spiritual vision, not on this external vision. This is called self-realization.

Self-realization you have heard so many times. What is that self-realization? Self-realization means I am not this body, I am spirit soul. That is self-realization. So if I am smaller than the grass then if somebody says that "You are lower than the grass," or "You are smaller than the grass," that's a fact. So sometimes this insulting words may come from others but if you are self-realized you know that I am not this body. So let him insult. Let me tolerate. Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaches that taror api sahiṣṇunā. Toleration like the tree. Best example. You cannot find any tolerant living entity than a tree because it is standing day and night in scorching heat, in severe cold, there is wind, there is rainfall, it does not not make any protest—standing tolerant.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Hyderabad, April 27, 1974:

Not like to dance like cats and dogs with a nice dress. That is not human life. This is the subject matter of Bhagavad-gītā, our whole Vedic instruction. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). This is God consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or self-realization. Self-realization means either you see yourself or see the Supreme Lord, either way. But without seeing the Supreme Lord, you cannot see yourself. Just like without seeing the sun in the darkness... Just like it is now night. There is no sun. So I cannot see also. In darkness I cannot see also myself. But when there is sun in the morning, I can see the sun and I can see myself also. This is the theory. So if we want to understand ourselves rightly, that "I am spirit soul," ahaṁ brahmāsmi, then we must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Ahmedabad, December 14, 1972:

"We have got these senses. Let us..." Because they have no idea that there is life after death. Therefore their only proposition is, "Now we have got this life and we have got these senses. Let us enjoy it to the fullest extent." This is their perfection. But actually, that is not perfection. Perfection means, self-realization means to know that ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am not this matter; I am spirit soul." To understand this. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54).

So therefore mostly people are engaged in the animal propensities of life. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca: eating, sleeping, sex life and defense. They are busy. But these things are visible in the animal life also. Then what is the special significance of the human life? Human life means athāto brahma jijñāsā. They, the human being should be inquisitive to understand Brahman. That is the special significance of human life. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura therefore sings, manuṣya-janama pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā, jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu.

Lecture on BG 13.3 -- Paris, August 11, 1973:

You have to select one leader and you have to act by his order. That is, that is our nature. Because Caitanya Mahāprabhu says: jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). Every living entity is eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. When he forgets Kṛṣṇa he becomes servant of māyā. That is our position. We have to serve. Therefore self-realization means to understand oneself that "I am dependent on Kṛṣṇa. I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, let me engage myself to the service of the Lord." That is perfection of knowledge. Thank you very much.

Lecture on BG 13.22-24 -- Melbourne, June 25, 1974:

And we are servants. We don't claim that we are on the equal level of Kṛṣṇa. That is not our philosophy. We claim to become servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of servant of Kṛṣṇa (CC Madhya 13.80). This is our position. We don't say that...

Just like Māyāvādī philosophers, they say that he is God. Their self-realization means when one realizes by their philosophy so 'ham, "I am God, I am the same." That is their philosophy. And our philosophy is so 'ham, "I am the same quality. I am not the same person. But I am the same quality." We are the samples of Kṛṣṇa. Very small particle. Just like if you take a drop of ocean water and you taste it, you can understand what is that ocean, what is the taste of the ocean. But you, as a drop of the ocean, you are not equal to the ocean. You are in quality the same, but in quantity we are different.

Lecture on BG 16.5 -- Hawaii, January 31, 1975:

I am spirit soul. I am thinking, "I am American." I am thinking, "I am Indian." This is anyathā rūpam. That is not the real conception of life. Real conception of life is ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am the spirit soul, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa." That is realization. That is called self-realization.

Self-realization does not mean something humbug. Self-realization means to understand his real constitutional position, what I am. Just like Sanātana Gosvāmī approached Śrīla Gaurasundara, Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He asked, ke āmi: "Who I am?" Ke āmi... Ke āmi, kene āmāya jāre tāpa-traya: "What is my constitutional position? Why I am suffering the three-fold miseries of this material existence?" This is the enquiry. Everyone is suffering. Somebody is in ignorance. Although he is suffering, he is thinking that he is very well. This is called māyā. Māyā means you are accepting something which is not. This is called māyā. Mā yā: "What you are accepting, that is false." This is called māyā.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 3.25.17 -- Bombay, November 17, 1974:

This is self-realization. Self-realization means to see one's proper identity. At the present moment we are not finding out our proper identity. We are seeing to the body. I see you, your body, and you see me, my body. We have no vision of the real person, which is, who is occupying this body. This is the first lesson we get from Bhagavad-gītā: dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Dehi... This body is called deha, and the owner of the body is called dehī.

Lecture on SB 3.25.17 -- Bombay, November 17, 1974:

Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya (CC Madhya 19.140). You divide into one hundred parts. Śatadhā kalpitasya ca. Again take one part and divide into hundreds parts. That is the dimension of the jīva. That small particle is there within the ant, the microbic germ, and he, that part is within the elephant. q. That is the dimension. So self-realization... Self-realization means one must know his identity. That identity, that small particle is there, within me, within you. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Dehī is within the idea. But because it is so small, with our material eyes it is not possible to see. There is no such instrument that you can find out. Therefore on account of our inability to find it out, we say, "It is nirākāra," because we cannot calculate what is the ākāra, or what is the dimension. But the ākāra is there. The living entity has got full ākāra. If you have studied the small microbes... Sometimes I see at night when I work a small insect just like a full stop. It is walking. That means the whole physiological combination, anatomy, physiology, is there.

Lecture on SB 3.26.2 -- Bombay, December 14, 1974:

Ataḥ gṛha, first of all attachment for man and woman, then attachment for the apartment, gṛha, then land, gṛha-kṣetra, then suta, children, then āpta, friends, society, friendship, love. Suta, āpta, then vitta, money. In this way we increase our, the knot, one after another. One knot, two knots, three knots, fourth knot, it is going on. And self-realization means opening the knots, opening the knots. The knots began like that. Janasya moho yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). And here it is said, hṛdaya-granthi-bhedanam. Bhedanam means separate them. Separate them. That is self-realization. Self-realization means that "I am spirit soul," ahaṁ brahmāsmi. So 'ham, "I am as good as the Supreme Spirit, Kṛṣṇa. Somehow or other I am now in contact with this material attachment." This is called ātma-darśana.

Festival Lectures

Ratha-yatra -- London, July 13, 1972:

The misunderstanding is that we are accepting this material body as the self. We are all living entities, spirit souls, encaged in this material body. We are transmigrating from one body to another. There are 8,400,000 species of life, and this human form of life is the greatest opportunity for self-realization. Self-realization means to know that "I am not this body. I am spirit soul. I am part and parcel of God." You have... Most of you must have read Bhagavad-gītā. In the Fifteenth Chapter it is said that the living entities are part and parcel of God. God is by nature joyful. In the Vedānta-sūtra it is said about the Supreme Absolute Truth, as ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12), by nature joyful. Therefore, as we are part and parcel of God, our aim of life is joy. We are searching after that joyfulness within this material world, but that is not possible. Just like a fish, if it is taken from the water and put on the land, in any condition the fish will never feel joyfulness.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Address -- Paris, August 11, 1975:

This self-realization means as soon as we understand that you or I am not this body, I am spirit soul, then immediately we become jolly. And what is jolliness? Na śocati na kāṅkṣati. A jolly person never lament nor desire. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He has no want and he has no loss. Material life means always want and always loss. And spiritual life means no loss, no desire, no hankering. So one can distinguish his spiritual life and material life by simple formula. This simple formula: material life means always in want and always in lamentation. And spiritual life means no hankering and no lamentation. When one is fixed up in spiritual life, it is said guruṇāpi duḥkhena na vicālyate (Bg. 6.20-23). When there is very, very acute reverse condition of life, one is not disturbed. That is spiritual life. And samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, at that stage only there is possibility of so-called unity, fraternity, friendship.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Seattle, October 11, 1968:

That is the test. Pareśānubhava. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhava. Just like if you're cured, then there is no fever. The temperature is at the normal point. And if you say, "I am cured. I am taking medicine, and still, my temperature is 105," that is not possible. So advancement in self-realization means purification from material contamination. That is real advancement. This is practical. Now, how practical it is? In your country, smoking, drinking, taking tea, and keeping boyfriend, girlfriend, liquor, meat-eating, they are common affairs. How they have avoided all these things, within very short time? None of them are associating with me more than one year, and just see their character. It is so practical. You cannot induce them even to smoke. We don't say that you go on with all nonsense, at the same time you become spiritually advanced. We don't talk all this nonsense. There must be practical exhibition that one is advanced in spiritual consciousness.

Northeastern University Lecture -- Boston, April 30, 1969:

So one has to, from the bodily concept of life, one has to transcend himself to the spiritual platform. That is the whole, meaning of whole process. Just like I began to say that in the beginning our self-realization means we are thinking this body. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur (BG 3.42). Then one who has transcended this bodily concept of life, he comes to the platform of mind. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ. Manaḥ means mind. Somebody, some people, some of..., practically the whole population of the world, they are under the bodily concept of life, and, above them, there are some people who are on the mental concept of life. They are thinking mind. And somebody is on the intellectual platform of life.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Vilasavigraha -- Los Angeles 22 January, 1969:

In regard to your next question, self realization means God realization, and God realization means self realization. Just like to see the sun means to see oneself, and to see oneself means to see the sun. Self realization depends completely upon God realization, or else it is not complete. One must know his relationship to the Absolute Truth to fully know his position. The mayavadi school simply discerns spirit from matter, but that is not Ultimate Knowledge. One should know the different manifestations of the spirit also. The highest manifestation of the spirit soul is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna.

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Trista Hubbarth -- Bombay 3 May, 1975:

My point is that when we say "self realization" it does no means that one should realize that He is the Supreme. Real self realization means to understand that you are the eternal servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and perfection is to develop love or bhakti, loving service in relationship with that Supreme Personality of Godhead. One who teaches other conclusion from that of the Bhagavad-gita and the succession of acaryas is certainly not a guru, and in fact according to Lord Krsna, he is a fool, (the word Krsna uses is mudha, ass, rascal). So we have to examine whether the person who is presenting himself as our guru is actually in knowledge of the science of Krsna or whether he is leading us away from Krsna, or leading us to hell in the name of yoga mysticism. In this connection, the chanting of Hare Krsna is very efficacious because it develops personal relationship with the Personality of Godhead and cleans the heart of sinful reactions.