Spiritual Realization Quotes & Sayings

Contemplation is life itself, fully awake, fully active, and fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness, and for being. It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent, and infinitely abundant Source. — Thomas Merton

God's power supersedes any power. — Lailah Gifty Akita

In the current era, to take adjustments in worldly interactions is knowledge (Gnan). One is to adjust to 'disadjustments'. — Dada Bhagwan

My life has taught me that true spiritual insight can come about only through direct experience, the way a severe burn can be attained only by putting your hand in the fire. Faith is nothing more than a watered-down attempt to accept someone else's insight as your own. Belief is the psychic equivalent of an article of secondhand clothing, worn-out and passed down. I equate true spiritual insight with wisdom, which is different from knowledge. Knowledge can be obtained through many sources: books, stories, songs, legends, myths, and, in modern times, computers and television programs. On the other hand, there's only one real source of wisdom - pain. Any experience that provides a person with wisdom will also usually provide them with a scar. The greater the pain, the greater the realization. Faith is spiritual rigor mortis. — Damien Echols

One will have to know the Self. Unless Self is known, God [Allah] cannot be attained. The power of Self should be attained. The power of Self is an abode of infinite bliss. There is no unhappiness there at all. This happiness is there even if someone insults you! — Dada Bhagwan

Cultivate the understanding that the self is not really an independently existing entity, and begin to view self instead in terms of it's dependent relation to others. Although it is difficult to say that merely reflecting on this will produce a profound spiritual realization, it will at least have some effect. Your mind will be more open. Something will begin to change within you. Therefore, even in the immediate term there is definitely a positive and beneficial effect in reversing these two attitudes and moving from self-centeredness to other-centeredness, from belief in self existence to belief in dependent origination. — Dalai Lama XIV

The wilderness is a place of an encounter with the Creator. — Lailah Gifty Akita

No person can grow rich in spiritual experience or can gain an intimate acquaintance with a God of purity and truth without negating the easy ways of instinct, the low pursuits of life which end in self, the habits of thought and action which limit and hamper the realization of the diviner possibilities of the whole nature. — Rufus M. Jones

We can remove the blocks to realizing our Higher Power by experiencing (including living in the Now), remembering, forgiving and surrendering (these five realizations can be viewed as being ultimately the same). Regular spiritual practices help us with this realization. (138) — Charles L. Whitfield

If we worship another, then we remain in duality. We have not fully entered the path within.

Through awareness, we learn to worship the essence of our nature and the truth of existence within the temple of our own consciousness. Our worship is a realization of truth and oneness. It is rejoicing within our being.

True worship is to fill ourselves with the awareness of eternity, to know our godliness as beings of light.

Worship no person, or image -- only the awareness of who you are becoming. — Robert S. Cosmar

The greatest wonder of this world is the "Soul". Once It is realized (attained), everything is attained!!! — Dada Bhagwan

Be determined to seek wisdom. — Lailah Gifty Akita

The process of constantly returning to love is called Meditation. When you abide in love effortlessly, it is Realization. — Yogi Kanna

Without deep darkness, we fail to appreciate the light. — Lailah Gifty Akita

On a surface level, all one finds is repeated forms of shallow whispers. Having the courage to explore deeply, a wealth of buried infinite lifetimes emerge - an undeniable force. — T.F. Hodge

If one knows how to 'digest' an insult after attaining Self-realization, he will become a 'Gnani' [the enlightened one]. And if he 'digests' an insult before attaining Self-realization, he will become shameless (impudent). — Dada Bhagwan

When you find out that there was never anything in the dark side to be afraid of ... Nothing is left but to love. — Alan W. Watts

What you are seeking is yourself. — Lailah Gifty Akita

If there is true 'Selfishness,' then there is 'liberation of the Self', and that indeed is one's own form (the Self). — Dada Bhagwan

Anyone who is steady in his determination for the advanced stage of spiritual realization and can equally tolerate the onslaughts of distress and happiness is certainly a person eligible for liberation. — A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

To attain the Self is indeed called the right belief (samkit). — Dada Bhagwan

With spiritual growth comes new creative potential, leading to the realization that you are pure potential, able to fill any creative impulse. — Deepak Chopra

The agony of breaking through personal limitations is the agony of spiritual growth. Art, literature, myth and cult, philosophy, and ascetic disciplines are instruments to help the individual past his limiting horizons into spheres of ever-expanding realization. As he crosses threshold after threshold, conquering dragon after dragon, the stature of the divinity that he summons to his highest wish increases, until it subsumes the cosmos. Finally, the mind breaks the bounding sphere of the cosmos to a realization transcending all experiences of form - all symbolizations, all divinities: a realization of the ineluctable void. — Joseph Campbell

Self enlightenment is the greatest endowment. — Lailah Gifty Akita

All matters being spiritual; man or woman can only find peace when peace is realized from within. — T.F. Hodge

You will find rest on Sabbath day for your soul. — Lailah Gifty Akita

In this world, there are instruments to acquire instruments; 'here', there is the instrument to attain the Final Goal (Self Realization). — Dada Bhagwan

Be the light in every dark corner. — Lailah Gifty Akita

The spiritual energy of our time, as I've come to understand it, is not a rejection of the rational disciplines by which we've ordered our common life for many decades - law, politics, economics, science. It is, rather, a realization that these disciplines have a limited scope. They can't ask ultimate questions ... they don't begin to tell us how to order our astonishments, what matters in life, what matters in a death, how to love, how we can be of service to each other. These are the kinds of questions religion arose to address and religions traditions are keepers of conversation across generations about them. — Krista Tippett

Ohhhhhhh," she groaned, jerking up from the reclining seat as the tears exploded. She felt as devastated as if she were still in the body of the grizzled fighting man. Convulsing sobs of remorse tortured her energy body and she rocked it like a baby, holding her midsection, feeling as if her stomach would turn inside out. She struggled to speak, gulping in habit for air that didn't exist, which would have been useless to her energy lungs anyway.
She had to know.
"Who? Who ... was ... he?" she managed in spurts. "The boy - "
"You know the answer already, don't you?" Coriskancsia replied gently. — Lianne Downey

Spiritual realization is to see clearly that what I perceive, experience, think, or feel is ultimately not who I am, that I cannot find myself in all those things that continuously pass away. The — Eckhart Tolle

Our reality is colored by our vibration and belief systems. In other words, the experiences we have in the world with other people are dictated by the energy we bring with us wherever we go. — Alaric Hutchinson

The material and the spiritual are but two parts of one universe and one truth. By overstressing one part or the other, man fails to achieve the balance necessary for harmonious development ... Practice the art of living in this world without losing your inner peace of mind. Follow the path of balance to reach the inner wondrous garden of Self-Realization. — Paramahansa Yogananda

The down cycle is absolutely essential for spiritual realization. You must have failed deeply on some level or experienced some deep loss or pain to be drawn to the spiritual dimension. Or perhaps your very success became empty and meaningless and so turned out to be failure. Failure lies concealed in every success, and success in every failure. In this world, which is to say on the level of form, everybody "fails" sooner or later, of course, and every achievement eventually comes to naught. All forms are impermanent. — Eckhart Tolle

Why shouldn't you strengthen your own vibrations through fellowship with people seeking Self-realization, and by group meditation with them? This practice will fortify your own spiritual convictions you will find that many seemingly insuperable barriers in your life will crumble and dissolve in the waters of meditation. Your devotion and love for God will commingle with the devotion and love of others. Divine bliss will radiate from you, helping all persons you meet. — Paramahansa Yogananda

You are a livingness, a verb. What is arising in you, at this moment, is the great realization. — Christopher Zzenn Loren

Service of self is best developed in dealings of service to others. — Tyler J. Hebert

The movie, (X-Men: Days of Future Past), illustrates a spiritual journey that involves going back in time. The Purpose of the journey is to find the core grievance and let it be healed. When the grievance is healed in Forgiveness, all future scenarios of conflict and destruction are also healed. It is not that they have been prevented in time; it is that we have come to the realization that there was no time in which they could have existed. In the Happy Dream, everything is resolved. It becomes harmonious and then disappears.
Wolverine is the agent strong enough to go back through time and ignite the mission of forgiveness. We can think of ourselves this way as well. We can imagine that our future self, or our higher Self, is orchestrating this whole thing for our awakening. We are just perceiving it in time, where we perceive ourselves to be. There is great love and compassion coming from the higher Self, the future self. — David Hoffmeister

Self-creative mind is divine force. — Lailah Gifty Akita

We create the world around us based on our thoughts, feelings, beliefs and emotions. Evil, dark forces, dark energy etc. are forms of the "negative" and are all a projections of the self. There is no separation. Once one realizes this, these energies start to fade and eventually disappear. What's left is wholeness, contentment, self-realization, gratitude and a perpetual state of well-being. There is a popular saying amongst the healing community "where the mind goes, energy flows". Use this mantra to your benefit. Lose the "non-sense" of all despair and anguish and catapult your self to a higher place that is incapable of entertaining the "negative" or "destructive". Achieving this (even in increments) will only transform you to into a better positive place — Gary Hopkins

Spiritual grace adds to a life and it is crucial ingredient in any person's quest to attain self-realization. — Kilroy J. Oldster

A gentle soul is spiritual. — Lailah Gifty Akita

The sacred souls dream sacred dreams. — Lailah Gifty Akita

How to be in harmony with the cosmos? It seems that certain preliminaries are indispensable: Rid yourself of all beliefs; leave metaphysics to the sectarians of the absurd; understand that hope is fear gone bad; confront reality directly; stop upholding the romantic dream of realization; forget sentimental neurosis; play with your own limits; look at your confusion; confront life without the bric-a-brac of the religious and the spiritual - without, for all that, becoming a narrow-minded materialist who would make a new God out of rationalism; dare to be alone; do not oppose Essence against reality; give yourself over to the pleasures of pure subjectivity; understand that everything is real; and finally, one day, know exhilarating silence. — Daniel Odier

It is not you as the ego who moves through life, but that life flows before you, and you are the immutable awareness containing it all. — Enza Vita

Live each day with ecstatic serenity — Lailah Gifty Akita

Patient and regular practice is the whole secret of spiritual realization. Do not be in a hurry in spiritual life. Do your utmost, and leave the rest to God. — Sivananda

Spiritual awakening refers to a dramatic expansion in consciousness rather than a minor realization about oneself. — Jordan Jacobs

Walk on the sacred path. — Lailah Gifty Akita

This is one place an opinion has to be made: that this body is a betrayal. — Dada Bhagwan

Human labor, the manual work that people engage in to build their world, both physical and spiritual, defines the realization of their conceptual realm. — Kilroy J. Oldster

The Agna, liberating instructions of the 'Gnani' [the enlightened one], purifies the mind. Knowledge of the Self [self realization] will give the mind, solutions in every circumstance. — Dada Bhagwan

The essence of death is discovered in the gap between one moment ceasing and another one beginning. That essence is the wakefulness that is our true nature. — Enza Vita

There is no window to look outside.
There is no window to look within.
Open the doors. — Sanhita Baruah

You must hunger for spiritual food. — Lailah Gifty Akita

In life hard times will befall you that will create doubt in yourself, and life will ask questions of the authenticity of the person you are. Carrying the lotus means being true to yourself and in the realization that you were always meant to grow above this mud. We are meant to grow, progress, and evolve in this relentless environment of the World and through it all achieve happiness with grace in letting go. Carry the Lotus within; grow and rise above from the harsh and remorseless world beneath you. — Forrest Curran

Yoga's most sublime objective is to awaken an exalted state of spiritual realization; however, the tradition also recognizes that this state does not exist in absolute isolation from the world and worldly matters. — Rod Stryker

The one seeking to demonstrate the power of spiritual realization in everyday affairs should believe in Divine guidance ... and that everything in life is controlled by love, harmony, and peace. — Ernest Holmes

As long as there is (worldly) selfish interest, there is no unity. Unity is attained with the ultimate intent of the Self [the intent of attaining self-realization, liberation]. — Dada Bhagwan

I seem to know a lot about myself, but can't tell who I am. — Stefan Emunds

I fly on the wings of love. — Lailah Gifty Akita

For years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone? — Anne Graham

Whatever experiences we may come across in our spiritual journey we are not any of those experiences but rather the one who is witnessing them, the pure awareness cognizing them without thought. — Enza Vita

Grow stronger in spirit. — Lailah Gifty Akita

The deeper the Self-realization of a man, the more he influences the whole universe by his subtle spiritual vibrations, and the less he himself is affected by the phenomenal flux. — Paramahansa Yogananda

God has great riches for you. If thy will seek Him. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Appreciation of life itself, becoming suddenly aware of the miracle of being alive, on this planet, can turn what we call ordinary life into a miracle. We come awake to such a realization when we recognize our connection to a spiritual dimension. — Dan Wakefield

If you read the stories of the great spiritual teachers of the past, we find that they have attained spiritual realization through a great deal of meditation, solitude and practice. They did not take any shortcuts. — Rajiv Mehrotra

Imaginary happiness has an "end" and real happiness is "permanent". — Dada Bhagwan

Enlightenment is the ability to comprehend ourselves, it is the power to peer into our hearts and minds and reach that state of spiritual bliss, which may or may not lead us to salvation. — Balroop Singh

Anger-pride-deceit-greed are in the form of 'discharge'. But if one does not have 'knowledge of True Self' (realization of the self), then he 'charges' new karmas within. — Dada Bhagwan

God has been pushed aside by the non-Self complex. Vibrations have arisen from vibrations. 'We' now give you the Knowledge of how to stop the vibrations. — Dada Bhagwan

Group Meditation is a castle that protects the new spiritual aspirants as well as the veteran meditators. Meditating together increases the degree of Self-realization of each member of the group by the law of invisible vibratory exchange of group magnetism. — Paramahansa Yogananda

Any content that functions through its emotional dynamisms, such as the paralyzing grip of inertia or an invasion by instinct, belongs to the sphere of the mother, to nature. But all contents capable of conscious realization, a value, an idea, a moral canon, or some other spiritual force, are related to the father-, never to the mother-system. — Erich Neumann

Revive, Rekindle, Rejoice. — Lailah Gifty Akita

When is one considered a vitarag (free of attachment)? It is when he has no fear of anything in this world. — Dada Bhagwan

When you have a command over your thoughts and how they are creating, you are the center of your creation. When you put your responsibility outside of yourself and subject yourself as a victim of the universe, you are disempowered and are going to struggle. Live life free and responsibly. Then you will align with your soul's love. It is a matter of acknowledging your power and truly living it. — Jason Nelson

He who can see his own mistake can become absolute supreme Self (Parmatma)! — Dada Bhagwan

This is Akram Vignan [Akram Science - the stepless spiritual science of direct realization of the Self]. Once you pull out from the racecourse [competitive worldly life], your 'personality' will shine then. Those in the racecourse will never have personality; not a single person. — Dada Bhagwan

In order to know the Truth, you have to be out of your mind. — Vivian Amis

Chastity by no means signifies rejection of human sexuality or lack of esteem for it: rather it signifies spiritual energy capable of defending love from the perils of selfishness and aggressiveness, and able to advance it towards its full realization. — Pope John Paul II

Our lives are a divine expression no matter how messy and weird they may be. How much more meaningful can it get? The source is experiencing itself in form in a conscious, awake way. — Enza Vita

The one whose ego of doer-ship in the unfolding karma effect (oodai no garva) is gone; he is said to have attained the Self. — Dada Bhagwan

There is more to life than I imagine — Lailah Gifty Akita

We shall know the truth and the truth shall free our souls. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Thoughts, by their nature, come and go endlessly in you. But you are not the thought; you are the one seeing the thought, so any thought of who you are cannot be the truth of who you are. — Enza Vita

Self-denial is spiritual. — Lailah Gifty Akita

The first "station of separation" corresponds to the state of the ordinary man who perceives the universe as distinct from God. Starting from here, the initiatic itinerary leads the being first to extinction in the divine Unity, which abolishes all perception of created things. But spiritual realization, if it is complete, arrives afterwards at the "second station of separation" where the being perceives simultaneously the one in the multiple and the multiple in the one. — Abdelkader El Djezairi

The 'knowledge' (gnan) that was resulting into 'the things to be known' (gneya); when that 'knowledge' results in the 'Knower' (gnata); this is known as Self-Realization [Atma Gnan]. — Dada Bhagwan

May I never forget the goodness of the Lord. — Lailah Gifty Akita

The truth is revealed to those who desire to know, but also to those who will take the time to take action to counter or further the truths they have come to know.. — Sereda Aleta Dailey

I believe the root of all happiness on this earth to lie in the realization of a spiritual life with a consciousness of something wider than materialism; in the capacity to live in a world that makes you unselfish because you are not overanxious about your own comic fallibilities; that gives you tranquility without complacency because you believe in something so much larger than yourself. — Hugh Walpole

Dare to conquer your soul. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Adversity awakens the spirit of every man. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Those who are actively seeking enlightenment will not find it because the act of looking for it is the distraction from it. — Enza Vita

Whatever the other person sees according to his view-point, you have to accept it. How can we make others accept our view-point? — Dada Bhagwan

For most things in life, you need time: to learn a new skill, build a house, become an expert, make a cup of tea ... Time is useless, however, for the most essential thing in life, the one thing that really matters: self-realization, which means knowing who you are beyond the surface self - beyond your name, your physical form, your history, your story.
You cannot find yourself in the past or future. The only place where you can find yourself is in the Now.
Spiritual seekers look for self-realization or enlightenment in the future. To be a seeker implies that you need the future. If this is what you believe, it becomes true for you: you will need time until you realize that you don't need time to be who you are. — Eckhart Tolle

This popular picture of Marx's 'materialism' - his anti-spiritual tendency, his wish for uniformity and subordination - is utterly false. Marx's aim was that of the spiritual emancipation of man, of his liberation from the chains of economic determination, of restituting him in his human wholeness, of enabling him to find unity and harmony with his fellow man and with nature. Marx's philosophy was, in secular, nontheistic language, a new and radical step forward in the tradition of prophetic Messianism; it was aimed at the full realization of individualism, the very aim which has guided Western thinking from the Renaissance and the Reformation far into the nineteenth century. — Erich Fromm

Loving him wasn't a surprise. What was, however, was the realization that ultimately, that was all that mattered between us. I'd been trying to figure out what it was that was holding me back from sex. It wasn't Jill. It wasn't some physical threshold I was afraid to cross. There was nothing, nothing except an anxiety my love had banished to the winds. And standing there, in that improbable location, the full force of how much I wanted him nearly knocked me over. A desire that was as much spiritual as physical burned through me, and I suddenly felt as though there was no way I could go a moment longer without having all of him. — Richelle Mead

All the various types of teachings and spiritual paths are related to the different capacities of understanding that different individuals have. There does not exist, from an absolute point of view, any teaching which is more perfect or effective than another. A teaching's value lies solely in the inner awakening which an individual can arrive at through it. If a person benefits from a given teaching, for that person that teaching is the supreme path, because it is suited to his or her nature and capacities. There's no sense in trying to judge it as more or less elevated in relation to other paths to realization. — Namkhai Norbu