TRANSFORMATION 38
Signs and Symptoms of Spiritual Awakening By Ramesh K Khandhar
Ramesh Khandhar is a former secretary of executive board and a past Pathshala teacher at Jain Center of Southern California. His current activities include conducting Swadhyay on various Jain scriptures, reading and contemplating spiritual scriptures, listening to spiritual discourses and visiting religious ashrams in India for 3 to 4 months every year. ramesh.khandhar@gmail.com
Spirituality is the inner quality of self beyond physical and religious attributes. Spiritual awakening comes down to self-awareness and consciousness. It is a process of elevating consciousness to realize inner peace and happiness. It helps us move into the domain of enlightenment, the self-transcendence. A Spiritual Awakening is a call to higher consciousness and deeper mental awareness. The process of spiritual awakening brings about personal transformation. If a person is on a path of spiritual awakening, we should expect or be able to realize the following signs and symptom: 1. Wrong beliefs are flushed out Our beliefs conducive to ego, material life and self are overhauled to pave way for spiritual awakening. Our internal beliefs and attitude towards our daily routine has changed for the better. The focus is more on inner happiness. Now, the ups and down in social life or material life do not bother as much. Deep in our thoughts we tend to accept the external happening so that it does not disturb the inner peace and joy. We rise to the situation and derive happiness even in adverse conditions. The happiness comes from within with conviction that I am not the ‘doer’ of the outside scenario. 2. Desire to be of service to others arises We feel more and more in harmony with nature and with all living beings. We realize that deep within, the innate nature of all beings is the same. The suffering of other living beings touches our hearts. The empathy and compassion for disadvantaged people and animals starts to flow from within. We become the flow of love. Eventually there will be no effort to be loving - it just comes naturally. True-self and love are inseparable. The loving nature from within helps being kind to others. Thinking good of others awakens love. We develop natural inclination to be
of service to others. Rather, it happily compels us to be of service to others. Our practice of selfless service cultivates love and compassion. We incline to stop those actions that don’t resonate with our love, compassion or selfless service. It helps us practice gratitude. 3. We enjoy solitude and aloneness We become more introverted to continuously draw the bliss and happiness from within. The relatives and other people around us do not impact as much anymore. We are on different wavelengths beyond their reach. Despite being introverted, they enjoy our company. Our presence enhances their happiness and pleasure. We remain connected with our ‘trueself’ during activities with others. Self-awareness does not get hampered. 4. We feel connected to the natural world We become more aware of what is going on. We become aware of nature. We enjoy walking on the beach, watching the grandeur of ocean waves, choppy wind, and flying seagulls. We enjoy the creation and wonderful painting of cosmic consciousness. We are tuned in with it.
Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay
We feel the flow of grace in everything we see in Nature. Our heart overflows with love and compassion. We feel and perceive the sense of
