When I experienced my spiritual awakening in 2015, I was confused what’s happening, why I am suddenly much different than others around me, why I have such different worldview, why I see and understand things which others don’t see and don’t understand… it was a shock at first. I felt like an alien. I felt I don’t belong to this society any more.
I started searching through blogs and videos about spiritual awakening and spirituality and I have found many resources, especially from esoteric space. I have found that many people undergo the same experiences of spiritual awakening I did. I have found that I am not alone in this. I have found that it’s normal, but rare. Most of the people did not experience spiritual awakening and they are still in the Matrix following ridiculous rules and unhealthy life style.
Searching for my path
There are many spiritual paths and everyone is attracted to those according to their level of consciousness. It’s enough for some people just to believe in something and consider it to be true. Which is nonsense of course, but they don’t understand it. They think their faith is the truth, which for rational people is unacceptable.
Buddhism is attractive for those who don’t want God in their life. It’s a purifying spiritual path, but for the soul it’s very empty, unsatisfying. Aim of Buddhists is to achieve nothingness, but it’s very impractical in this world, especially in this modern age.
I met a Hare Krishna monk in 2014, it was before my spiritual awakening and meeting with devotees of Lord Krishna triggered my spiritual awakening later. I lived as most of the people in this world – working, drinking alcohol, having casual sex with many girls, eating meat, playing computer games, just enjoying life as they call it.
When I read book books of Srila Prabhupada called “Scientific knowledge of the soul” and “Science of self realisation” I understood how bad eating meat is. I wanted to stop eating meat but I was not able. It took me a month or two to gradually enter into full vegetarian diet. After 6 months of being a vegetarian I experienced my spiritual awakening and my consciousness changed rapidly. I started to see what I didn’t see before – how much people are controlled by the government and false promises of better life and many of them still believe it even there is obviously no improvement of life conditions but only degradation and it’s getting worse and worse. How pharmaceutical industry is not about health but about money. How actually everything is about money and wealth and how everyone is controlled and tied up by it. That’s not attractive for someone who is searching for a deeper meaning of life.
When I started going to a Hare Krishna temple for Sunday programs, I learned more about Krishna consciousness and how beautiful it is not only by hearing, but by seeing how devotees live. They are vegetarian, they don’t hurt animals, they like cows, they have spiritual activities like mantra meditation, kirtan, lectures from Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam every day, not just on Sunday, they serve selflessly in the mission of Srila Prabhupada and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu… I was attracted by this life style very much. The more I learned about devotees and Krishna consciousness, the more I was attracted by it. And when I started practicing Hare Krishna maha-mantra japa meditation every day, my consciousness changed even more. After 1 year of Hare Krishna mantra meditation I stopped drinking alcohol. Not out of compulsion because I can’t but because I lost the taste for alcohol. I didn’t like how alcohol changes my consciousness when I am drunk and I was not happy when I was drunk. Normally people like to drink alcohol and get drunk because they feel more happy, more relaxed, but I was unhappy that it is not my actual state of consciousness and it’s something different that I cannot control. And moreover I had terrible hangover after getting drunk. So I decided to stop drinking and I don’t miss the hangover and changed state of consciousness when someone is drunk. Actually I feel more happier without alcohol! And I felt more unhappy when I was drunk.
When you start doing a genuine spiritual practice, you elevate your consciousness on a different level and you lose taste for something that is of a lower nature like drinking alcohol or taking other drugs, eating meat, having sex etc. Actually a genuine spiritual path is very good tool for curing addictions and solving life problems. It does not work immediately, but it can be cured and solved in a matter of time.
When you are searching for a spiritual path, you will be attracted to those which are very close to your state of your consciousness. That’s why people on different states of consciousness choose different spiritual paths like Christianity, Islam, esotericism, Buddhism, Hare Krishna etc. They are on different levels and they offer different explanations. When we study them in depth, then we can find the right path for us. We will naturally be attracted to our spiritual path but it does not mean that it is the ultimate path. It might be a temporary path for us until our consciousness changes. And when our consciousness changes, then we can understand more and more and we can switch to a different spiritual path which can lead us to the higher levels of consciousness. Or sometimes it happens that we don’t elevate our consciousness and we will fall down into lower consciousness in which we will want to enjoy sense objects and think it’s happiness.
One way or another, everyone will eventually find his path, but we should be very careful whether it’s a genuine path or not so genuine. Genuine spiritual path leads to a deeper understanding of oneself, God and our relationship with Him. It leads to compassion, love, understanding, tolerance and other godly traits which Krishna describes in the Bhagavad-Gita 16.1-3:
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Fearlessness; purification of one’s existence; cultivation of spiritual knowledge; charity; self-control; performance of sacrifice; study of the Vedas; austerity; simplicity; nonviolence; truthfulness; freedom from anger; renunciation; tranquillity; aversion to faultfinding; compassion for all living entities; freedom from covetousness; gentleness; modesty; steady determination; vigor; forgiveness; fortitude; cleanliness; and freedom from envy and from the passion for honor – these transcendental qualities, O son of Bharata, belong to godly men endowed with divine nature.
If our spiritual path does not lead to those divine qualities, we are on a wrong path for sure, which will not end up well eventually.
And another aspect of a genuine spiritual path is that it helps us to overcome material attachments and enlarges the urge for spiritual life.
So we can see if we are becoming a better person and if we have less and weaker material desires. Then we can see if we are on a right genuine spiritual path or on a wrong path.