Spiritual awakening refers to soul awakening, self-development, self-transformation, leading a balanced and integrated life, leading an internally joyous life, and leading a spiritual life.

In one sense, spiritual awakening is ingrained as the by default universal purpose in the DNA of each of us. And we are already undergoing spiritual transformation – the pace and method and outward conditions differ. Becoming conscious of this silent awakening, we become open to make little practical steps in our life to expedite the process.

When we look around and see the world, we find that there is a gradual progression in the manifestation of spirit or consciousness in nature.

There are mountains, hills, stones, ground, river and other water bodies that seem to be inert or dead. We sense the functioning of spirit in them as well. Mountains and rivers have their own cycles of life.

The next advanced form comes in the form of plants and animals. There is gradual complexity from one celled plants and animals to giant ones.

We find the pinnacle of the manifestation of consciousness in human beings. Let us become humble because with this truth comes the great responsibility for manifesting the full potential of spirit in our life. Perhaps it is the true purpose of all of us; rather all of us are guided by destiny and our present actions to serve this purpose in conscious and unconscious ways.

When we experience that there is something grand, something magnificent, supernatural or some creative or governing principle in life, whatever you call him – and remember it is not about thinking, it is about experiencing – we open ourselves to the possibility of spiritual awakening on a conscious level.

Spiritual awakening is a gradual process; it is the unwritten commandment that we are unconsciously following. The only need is to become aware of it and then making little steps toward it consciously.

The Four Classes Of Spiritually Advancing Persons:

When we are leading a normal life, we are also making spiritual advancement. It is happening passively.

When we are leading a religious life, following truly the teachings of any religion, we are progressing toward this goal much faster. The original teachings of each of the different religions revolves around the same principles that progress us spiritually.

The core practices of any religious path are practiced by very few individuals, and they are the scientific means of spiritual awakening. Few individuals are able to dive deep enough in these precious teachings and implement them in their lives. They are truly practicing the essence of all religions even though they might be following a particular religious path.

Next in line are the spiritual teachings. They are different from religions and morality, even though they include all the good things of them. Spiritual teachings are the direct means of spiritual awakening in a direct and practical way. These are the underlying science of all religions. They are the different pathways of freedom in Spirit.

The spiritual development can be tremendously advanced when we come in contact with spiritually advanced or enlightened person. It is like transformation of a piece of iron into a magnet by coming in contact with a magnet.

Understanding The Practical Aspect Of Spiritual Awakening:

Spiritual awakening is the unfolding of Spirit in us. We know in theory that we are souls but our thoughts, speech and behavior are far away from the spiritually attuned life.

Under normal conditions, we are influenced and attached to objects of five senses of sound, touch, vision, taste and smell, and to prejudices, biases and conditioning of our mind.

When we are advancing spiritually, we become connected at first with our own soul – the consciousness in us. And then, Spirit begins to influence our mind and body. This is like gradual spiritualization of our entire being.

We become more peaceful, more content, more productive, more integrated, more in harmony with us and with all of nature. We feel connected. The bonds of senses and bad habits begin to loose their hold on us.

Ultimately they shed off as if they had been foreign to us. We begin to accept ourselves, we become more connected, and we manifest the joy that is our nature. Remember pleasure is derived from contact of desired sense objects to senses and joy is our internal nature.

I remember the saying of one great saint. He preached to his disciples, “The true sign of spiritual advancement is getting non-causal joy during your spiritual practices and feeling glimpses of it during your working hours. Gradually as you become more and more intoxicated with this joy, know that you are progressing in Spirit. You will be fulfilled with this joy like no other things.” This equals to the rejoicing in Spirit mentioned the teaching of Christianity.

Another important sign is feeling connected with all – nature, men and women and with all that exists. At first, the feeling of connectedness will be with our own self. Then, this experience will broaden and broaden. The whole life, whole nature, the universe will feel connected.

Most people attach miracles with spiritual advancement. It is non-issue with spiritually awakened person. Miracles are the normal functioning of spiritually advanced individuals. They are more able to experience and work through deep states of consciousness. It is natural to them.

The most important thing is to realize and accept that we are here for spiritual awakening. This realization could be instant under some instances, or it could be gradual like in most cases.

Second step is making little steps leading a more healthy, intelligent and balanced life. Third step is following spiritual practices and then adhering to some specific one that is more appealing to us.

Fourth step is not worrying too much about spiritual awakening. When you eat healthy and exercise and follow some good diet plan, you grow healthier naturally, day by day, each day. The same applies to spiritual growth. Leave this part to Spirit. Let Him take care.
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The difference between the soul and the spirit has a lot to do with “whose” soul and “what” spirit we are actually talking about. Most people refer to the soul and the spirit as being connected to specific people and each of us is often said to have a “soul” or a “spirit” which will live on after our physical body dies. This is usually enough to satisfy those of us with a passing interest in the subject and little more is ever required on the topic after that.  Of course, there are others who become more curious about spiritual topics during their life and they wish to get a better understanding of what these terms mean.
   
If we are talking about a particular person’s “soul” or their “spirit”, we can say that there is a difference between these two things.  Still, if we found ourselves at the gates of Heaven and the question was posed to us “Choose your soul or your spirit”, which would we choose?   In a case similar to this one, we can begin to make sense out of the difference between a person’s soul and their spirit.  The essential difference which gives meaning to these terms can also help us to understand ourselves more readily.
    
Typically, the idea of a soul is something which is more closely associated with a person’s physical body. This is the main essence of what sets these two terms apart. Although the spirit is also associated with the body, the association is not a “necessary” association as it is with the soul. The “soul” of the Buddha, for example, can be said to be associated with the physical man Siddhartha Gautama Buddha who was born in Nepal several centuries before Jesus and who was raised by his father and his mother’s sister. He lived and breathed and ate a lot of food and he was a great teacher for many decades. 
    
If the “soul” of the Buddha were not associated with that physical body that we know from history, then we would not be able to say it was the “Buddha’s soul” at all.  We would need to connect it to that physical body in order to be appropriately talking about his “soul”.  If we weren’t speaking of his body, then we might say it was someone else’s soul or we might say that it was the Buddha’s “spirit”.
    
Now we can see where the difference between “soul” and “spirit” starts to become apparent.  There are many things about the “Buddha” which really have nothing to do with the physical body of the man who lived in Nepal.  What is meant when we talk about these other attributes is that they are part of the Buddha’s “spirit” which lives on today even after all the qualities of his body and discussions about his physical history have ended.  If the discussion isn’t associated with a physical body, then we can’t really say that it is a “soul” discussion. Instead, we can say it is someone’s “spirit” we are discussing because we begin to discuss the term in ways that are no longer associated with the physical body. 
   
In typical discussions about the soul, people often talk about individual lives and the emotions which that person struggled with or is struggling with in their own spiritual quest for happiness.  The soul is said to live on after physical death but it may continue to struggle even after the physical body is gone. The spirit, however, does not usually find itself in the discussion of “emotional struggle” so much as it does in the discussion of “intentions” and “activations” and “influencing” of people and things.  The spirit can be discussed in terms which go beyond the body even more so than the soul. Although the spirit of a person is with them when they are physically alive and the soul is also there, it is the spirit which activates both of these and which goes beyond the soul in many instances.  Everything which has a soul also has a spirit, but everything that has a spirit does not always have a soul. This is the essential difference between these two terms.
  
In summary, we can now say what our answer would be at Heaven’s gate when we were asked to choose between our soul and our spirit?  First we might ask a little question of our own; “Who’s asking me this?” Then if we found that the person who was asking us was a trusted guide such as Jesus or Buddha or St. Peter, we could confidently choose the “spirit” because it is the spirit which gives life to the soul and which gives life to all things even after their physical form has changed. It is in the “spirit” of Heaven that this question would have been posed and giving up our “soul” in order to get into Heaven would surely be the best choice if such a question were ever asked. Goodbye to the soul and hello to the spirit as we move into a new phase of our spiritual growth! Amen.

Because of the fact that spirituality and mysticism are often such vague areas of knowledge, there can actually be quite a bit of confusion about the idea of a spiritual awakening.  One of the most popular places that people hear about a spiritual awakening is in the programs of Alcoholics Anonymous or any of the other 12-step programs. 

The 12th and final step suggests the possibility that a person can have a spiritual awakening and therefore arrive at some kind of final condition wherein their spiritual journey is said to be complete.  The idea of coming to an “end”, however, is problematic in spirituality and this is the reason we need to be clear about what is meant about a spiritual awakening. Great sages like Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Lao Tzu and Sri Aurobindo have discussed these confusions in detail and suggested that the condition may be extremely rare even though it is often reported y many individuals.
    
The idea of “waking up” spiritually might be best understood by imagining that people are all relatively “asleep” when it comes to the reality of their day to day lives. Oftentimes, when you are asleep, you don’t even realize that you are asleep because your dream can seem so real!  This is a similar experience in relation to the spiritual “slumber”. 
    
People who first enter a spiritual recovery program or spiritual group of any kind can all be said to be somewhat “asleep” in terms of their awareness about what is real or what is most valuable in their lives.  They seek out the instruction of other more experienced individuals to help them to “wake up” to the realities of the world around them.  This can often be a very difficult and even traumatic experience as we don’t particularly like to wake up to reality anymore than we like to be awoken from a good dream when we are asleep in our beds.  Nonetheless, if we stick around a spiritual group long enough, we begin to become more aware of certain things and can be said to be “awakening” to a new reality.
    
The full significance of a spiritual awakening, however, is often much more extreme than most of us realize.  We may have experienced certain dreams at night where we thought you had been awake and actually visited many “real” places such as our job, our school or our home but then later we discovered that none of this was real.  We had either fallen abck asleep without realizing it or we had only been going through another dream, very lucid, yet unreal nonetheless. 
   
This “dream” experience is also very common among people who begin to study spiritual truths and become very excited when they feel that they are finally “waking up”.  The reality of this “waking up” as a full blown spiritual awakening, however, is very far from a reality in most cases. As one great sage once said “You are mistaking a crack in the mirror for the full light of noon!”  A spiritual awakening is something that is actually much more profound and comprehensive than most people realize.  These experiences are classically restricted to a very small percentage of the population throughout history and have been discussed in many great books such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Kaballah and the New Testament. 
    
There is wide agreement amongst some of the world’s most notable spiritual teachers that only one in ten million people will ever truly become awakened to the full reality of the spiritual condition of mankind!  Can this be true?   The reason it may be correct is that spiritual work actually requires extreme dedication and effort over many years before a person can typically be said to become completely awakened to their spirit.  Muhammad is known to have spent years in mediation before finally becoming “Enlightened” and certain issues surrounding life and death and the eternity of the soul are very profound and can only be intuited by those who witness extreme tragedies or experience near death transformations in their lives.  Even after these extreme experiences, people often return to their original state and are only changed in a very profound way rather than being completely “awakened” to their spirit. 
   
A spiritual awakening is something more grand than many people have likely been capable of understanding after simply hearing about the subject.  The rarity of the experience, however, can provide great inspiration to those who would choose to devote their lives to that same spiritual quest.  These great spirits have included such names as Muhammad, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Krishna, St. Paul, Ramana Maharshi, Gautama Buddha, Lao Tzu, Jesus Christ and many others. 
    
The quest for a spiritual awakening can make a person into one of the most influential figures in history, as th previous list suggests.  If you set your course for the stars, you may just reach it someday! Once you do, there will be no more doubt about whether you have arrived or not.

How The Difference In Soul And God Can Motivate Us To Grow Spiritually

If there could be something most controversial as well most evident, it is GOD. And all of us are essentially soul or pure consciousness. Let us give a thought to the difference between these two forms of consciousness.

The Holy Trinity Of God, Son and Holy Ghost – Soul And God:

All major religions, mystics and spiritual movements maintain the truth of the Holy Trinity in one way or another. The difference is only in outward explanation.

When we analyze and feel deeply about ourselves, life and nature, we come to know that there are three basic ‘entities’ or principles – nature, soul, and God.

Nature has existence, souls have existence plus consciousness or awareness and God’s nature is ever new bliss along with the existence and consciousness. All the three qualities are present in God.

The existence of natural entities can be proved in many ways ranging from gross shapes to subatomic levels. When we see diverse forms of nature – the mountains, ground, rivers and sea – we know that they are present. Existence is self-evident in nature.

When we see the world of creatures – the plant and animal kingdom – we see that the principle of consciousness is gradually manifesting itself. Plants are very near to inanimate objects like stone but they are truly throbbing with awareness. The principle of individual consciousness or soul governs and sets the various processes of their life cycle.

The principle of consciousness is highly advanced in higher animals. They are able to perceive world through sense organs and they react to events and situations based on their reflexes and instincts.

When we come to ourselves – human beings – we see that many animals possess stronger power to perceive sensations of smell, vision, sounds and like. We are separated from them by developed mental faculties – thoughts, emotions and memory and imagination.

And the strongest feature of human beings is neither of these advanced mental faculties – it is the power of being aware to what is going on in our mind and heart. Yes, we are aware of our existence on earth like no other animal or plant could be. The principle of consciousness or awareness is highly manifest in men and women.

Now we come to Spirit or Universal Consciousness or Cosmic Consciousness or God or Divine Mother or Heavenly Father or Unified Field – whatever you like to name. He won’t feel bad at all! People have called Him ‘Great Vacuum’.

There are many qualities in God according to various scriptures and spiritual masters. Nothing is going to woo the soul – power, money, knowledge, sovereignty, and control over the world. None of these can attract the soul to God; rather some of them might create fear like we see in so many mythological stories.

The unique feature of God is His nature of Bliss, the ever new joy, the never stale joy. Yes God is all Joy and Bliss! That is why all souls are seeking.

Ask this question from yourself and people of all walks and ages. Why do people do anything? What is the ultimate reason for doing each and everything that we do? What is the motive behind all activities?

Yes, be a bit philosophical. The ultimate motive behind all our activities is seeking pleasure, getting joy from it. Check it.

We want to become pilot or model or scientist. Why? We want to make your dream come true. Why? We want be a successful parent and businessperson. Why? We want to serve and contribute for society. Why?

Simply it gives us joy. We are chasing for joy in our life.

If we decipher all the qualities of a good and successful person – money, business, work satisfaction, family, name and fame and all other things, we will find that there are many people in world who have all of them and are not satisfied even after possessing them.

Even with all the possessions and good things, we are empty, we are seeking something else, whatever gives us pleasure becomes stale and truly it could be anything. Everything and every person that gives us joy become stale!

The perpetual bliss, or ever new bliss is not a quality of soul. Yes, we have existence and are aware of it, we can experience pleasure and pain associated with our experiences. That is our nature. Bliss is the difference between soul and God.

The nature of God is Bliss. And souls who are aware of Him, who are making efforts to become aware of our union with Him will get it from their realized association with God.

The beginning of all religions and spiritual movement is directly traced to the efforts to evolve human consciousness and to realize its association with God.

We will like to share some of the sayings of Great Ones about soul and God, who have realized and helped others realize God. It is not felt necessary to give the references here.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all things will be added unto Thee”

“So God created man in His Own Image, in the image of God created He Him; male and female He created them.”

“But as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.”

“When one realized one’s association with God, Everything becomes Bliss whether we are meditating or enjoying sense pleasures or sleeping or working. Bliss becomes our nature.”
 

“The true value of a human being can be found in the
degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.”
- Albert Einstein

The mind – body – spirit analogy is probably the most widely accepted model for representing our understanding of humankind and what constitutes our being. These three distinct parts of the Self seems to encapsulate our entire experience of ourselves and our lives. For decades now most of the analysis about human consciousness revolved around some version of the body – mind  - spirit model. But there is another way of analysing the self (one of many) that is equally valid and in many ways more useful as a way of understanding more about our spirituality and how we can live a more conscious life.

Looking things in a new way can be mind opening. We tend to get so stuck in accepted ways of looking at things that we rarely stretch ourselves to new level of understanding that often comes from looking at something from a new perspective. With this in mind, let’s take a look at spirituality from a different angle – from an angle that will help you in your everyday life and in consciously growing in both your understanding and in your evolution of your spirit.

Each and every one of us have two distinct aspects about ourselves. These two aspects are our constant companions on life’s journey and no matter how hard we try, we cannot escape them. Together they make up your consciousness and your very experience of your Self and your life. The first aspect represents our appearance and the face we wear in this world. It’s called the ego and it that part of you that represents you to others and to the world at large. The ego is like a mask you wear, a mask that is necessary for your spirit to be able to ‘live’ in this life. The second aspect of You, is your spirit or your higher self. It is that part of you that’s invisible and that quietly lives in that inner space deep inside your consciousness.

Try and think of these two aspects of your Self not as two people living inside you, but rather as two sides of the same you. Like two faces of the same coin they are inextricably connected to each other. Both are part of the life force, the one primarily concerned with where you are while the other is primarily concerned with where you came from and where you are ultimately going back to.

Although ego and spirit are so closely related, they have vastly different demands on both your conscious and your unconscious attention. Your ego is primarily concerned with maintaining it’s importance in the world. It always wants to be right and is convinced of the fact that it is separate from everyone else. It’s always in competition – always wanting to be better than everyone else. Ego always strives to have more, to be better and to dominate. The ego’s value is determined by comparing itself to others to see how it stacks up – the ego’s point of reference is always outside of itself.

The world is filled with ego driven people. One of the key characteristics of more spiritual people is their ability to focus more on their spiritual aspect. In many ways the needs of spirit is almost the exact opposite and is not interested in any of the demands that dominate the ego. Spirit’s primary need is to be at peace and being right and conquering others is of no concern to spirit. Spirit has no need for more because it knows that it’s value comes from itself and not from what it gains, what it wins or what it collects and accumulates.

Much of our own inner conflicts arise from a conflict between these two aspects of ourselves. It presents us with two vastly different and conflicting sets of demands. Living a more spiritual life with a greater sense of inner peace and personal fulfilment is primarily about placing greater emphasis on the higher self and on giving the spirit a greater prominence in your life. It’s not a process of slaying the ‘evil’ ego, but rather about learning to subdue the ego and it’s demands in favour of the higher self’s demand to be at peace.

The real question is who you are allowing to run things in your life. Is it ego or is it spirit? If your life is driven by having more, being better than, being right and dominating; then ego is in charge. If your life is driven by having a sense of inner peace, by being compassionate, reaching out to others and giving - then you allow spirit to take over. Living from your higher self is about living in harmony with the flow of goodness of the universe and you will rarely encounter any conflicts. Ego on the other hand thrives on conflict – it’s a chance to proof it’s importance and dominance over other people and circumstances.

Renowned scientist Albert Einstein’s quote above reflects beautifully what we are talking abut here. What he meant with his statement is that we will discover a higher value in being human when we learn to free ourselves from the demands and expectation of the ego. The ‘self’ that he is referring to is the ego. The question is who is running your life? Is it ego or is it spirit? Learning to break through the facade that your ego upholds you can live a more peaceful, joyous and fulfilled life.

The 3 Spiritual Dimensions Of Living An Enlightened Life is a self study course that hones in on more of these ideas and looks at some revolutionary ideas for making spirituality part of who you are and helping you to create a richer experience of life. Click Here… For More Info
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The great value in reconnecting with your higher self is not just to find a brief moment of divine connection, but to transform the very way you live your life. Being connected to that higher and sacred part of yourself is the key to living life more consciously and having a greater awareness of the folly of ordinary daily distractions.

On a deeper and mostly unconscious level, we are all aware of our spirit. Even though we are all aware of this spiritual nature, the challenge in living a truly spiritual life is that we so easily get seduced by appearances. Even though the world of sensory perception is rich, it is the invisible and intangible aspects of life that really fascinates us. Throughout history this has been the driving force behind much of humankind’s explorations into both the physical and the metaphysical world. There are so many things that we know is there, yet we can’t see it. It is this fascination that’s been the driving force behind some of the greatest discoveries and it’s also the driving force behind most of our spiritual pursuits.

In the New Testament Saint Paul reminded us that although we are ‘in this world’ we are not ‘from this world’. It’s a peculiar thing, living life without really knowing why we are here or where we came from. We know that there is something or ‘someone’ bigger than us and that we had to come from somewhere. We often get caught up in this life and all the problems and frustrations that we all have to deal with on a daily basis. But, underneath it all is that part of you, your higher self, that is not concerned with any of it.

Regardless of your personal spiritual beliefs, we know that there is a divine and universal intelligence behind all of life. It is from this infinite intelligence that we all come and it is to this that we all go back to when we leave this life. This ‘invisibleness’ is something – a force or an energy that we are always connected to because it constitutes the very essence of your life. When you are connected to this dimension of yourself you are united with the very intelligence that creates and sustains all of creation.

Discovering and connecting to your higher self does not require and special mountain retreats or far eastern meditations. It simply requires that you look deep within yourself. Discovering your higher self and finding God in your life is not something that you have to go and find somewhere outside yourself. Think of it this way: electricity has always been available to us – even to prehistoric cavemen. Only when we discovered it, were we able to use it. Your higher self and divine guidance is, and has always been available to you. You simply have to discover it to be able to use it.

Here are 3 insights that will help you to rediscover your higher self:

The First Insight: Self Awareness
When you become aware of your Self and realize that you are a spiritual being on a spiritual path you can start to live your life more consciously. Most people are numb to life and they just float through it unaware of themselves and the bigger picture. Epictetus said that what’s necessary to change yourself is self awareness. Only when you are ‘awake’ can you pay attention to and notice the higher dimension of life.

The Second Insight: Perception
Everything within your field of experience is based on your own personal perception. Different people can experience the same events and circumstances, yet they can have wildly different experiences. One of the great spiritual insights is that life simply ‘is’ – it is through our perception that we create meaning. When you are connected to your higher self and live with a greater spiritual awareness you are able to live from that part of you that is free from interpretation. This will help you to stay centered and to see past the limitations of the appearances and trivialities of life and live and live a more peaceful and fulfilled life.

The Third Insight: Divine Guidance
You have divine guidance available to you at all times. Your higher self, your soul (or your spirit) is your connection to God and to the infinite intelligence that keeps this entire universe in complete harmony. When you turn your attention inwards, you can access this guidance and as you learn to trust in this source of inner strength you will learn to live with more power and a greater sense of inner peace. God is to be found inside yourself. God is not some being up in the clouds that dictates our lives for us. God is within each and every one of us. In the ancient scriptures, it was said “be still and know that I am God.” Be still and discover God for yourself and ask for divine guidance in your life.

Reconnecting to your higher self does not require any special spiritual rituals (although is could). The very thought of connecting with your higher self is enough to connect you to God. When you seek you shall find and when you ask you will receive. When you seek to live closer to God, you will, for the very act of seeking this connection will connect you to God. When your thoughts are on love, peace, joy, goodness and abundance you are in harmony with God and you will know God. When you remove yourself from it through thoughts of hate, guilt, harm, anger ec. you prevent the Divine guidance from working through you. Stay connected. Look within and consciously live your life with love, peace and harmony.