Discover Which of the 5 Types of Spiritual Seekers You Are?

And How the 5th Type Achieves Liberation and Lives Pain-Free

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Today, I'll share a beautiful story told by one of the greatest sages of India, Ramana Maharshi. If you allow it, this story might well lead you to a spiritual awakening. It is about a person who lived the lives of five types of spiritual seekers in different births. Once he became the fifth type of spiritual seeker, he finally achieved liberation from suffering.

First Type: Striver - One Who Makes Endless Efforts

When our person was the first type of spiritual seeker, he relied on karma and willpower. He strives tirelessly to achieve goals. He did all "righteous actions" called Dharma. He aspires to make a meaningful mark using his passions and talents, driven by a desire to become significant. Believing solely in their own will and actions, he aims to change the world. After many lifetimes of such efforts, our person got frustrated as he never achieved freedom from the world's miseries.

Mistakes of Striver

These are his mistakes: His ego claimed the ownership of all significant actions without offering his fruit of action to God. He was attached to the results of his actions, thereby taking wrong paths to achieve the results faster.

After several births, he progresses to a second type of spiritual seeker.

Second Type: Polytheist - A Devotee of Multiple Gods Through Rituals

How did he advance to the second type of seeker? At one of his births, he approached a friend who told him that just doing Karma and Dharma would not lead him to his desired achievements. You need the help of the various Gods.

He started worshipping various gods through rituals, believing this would lead to ultimate fulfillment. Our person undergoes countless births, performing worship and rituals for various gods. Finally, he becomes weary of the constant cycle of new deities, traditions, and festivals. Seeking an alternative path, he approached a friend again, expressing his fatigue and asking if there was another way beyond the ritualistic worship of different gods. Then, his friend asks him to become a third type of spiritual seeker.

Third Type: Monotheist - A Zealous Worshipper of One God

The friend advises our person to worship only one personal favorite God. Ecstatic, he chooses Lord Krishna and devoutly prays to him daily, visualizing and receiving all he desires from Krishna. Over many lifetimes, his devotion evolves, and he realizes that Krishna, all-knowing and all-present, understands his every need. So why is he worshipping Krishna for his desires?
Why does he degrade all-knowing God to not-knowing by complaining about the miseries in life? Why does he use his worship as cash to buy love from Him, who is all Love? He decided that he would no longer ask Krishna for anything. He resolves to worship Krishna for his love alone, abandoning material desires. So he calls Krishna in his vision and informs him about his decision. Lord Krishna smiles and tells his devotee, " Whatever you desire, my son, and disappears."

In subsequent lives, despite calling upon Krishna with pure love, he finds no solace as Krishna does not appear. He failed to understand that Krishna appeared when he called him for his materialistic desires, but now, when he is calling him only for his love, he does not appear. Why?

Distraught and abandoning all worldly attachments, he chant Krishna's name, seeking solace in his longing. Again, at this birth, a close friend advises him on the necessity of a guru to attain God. Learning about Ramana Maharshi, acclaimed as a realized sage and embodiment of love in Tiruvannamalai, he resolves to seek his guidance. Determined, he embarks on a transformative journey to meet Ramana Maharshi, ascending into the Fourth type of seeker.

Fourth Type: Bhakta - An ardent follower of the physical Guru

Sometimes, because of our genuine devotion, life presents us with the "authentic guru" in humans, circumstances, people, books, or other outer synchronicities. This is why our person got Ramana as his guru.

Our guy is upset and talking to his guru, Ramana Maharshi. He shares with Ramana that he used to worship Sri Krishna, always having visions of him but only asking for material things. One day, realizing his mistake, he wanted to worship Krishna purely for love. He told Krishna he wanted only him, but Krishna disappeared and never returned, despite his pleas. Now seeking Ramana's guidance, he learns from him that if God's external form is eternal reality, it cannot appear and disappear.

Ramana defines reality as

Eternal: That which is in all places and at all times without appearing and disappearing is the Reality.

Unchanging: That which never changes the form – or decays is the Reality.

Self-Shining: That which shines without the need of any other thing is Reality. That alone is the Truth. 

Ramana asks him, " Find out for yourself what things in the world satisfy those three conditions and tell me".

Hearing this, the seeker understood the universe's impermanence, concluding that everything, including his mind's image of Krishna, is false since it appears and disappears.

Further, Ramana explains that

Life is Eternal. It has no opposite.

Death is the opposite of Birth.

What was Born?

The Body or you?

Is it not the body that was born, grew up, will die, and disappear?

Are you the body?

Are you the mind that changes thoughts and emotions every second?

Body and Mind are both temporary.

The eternal reality is your inner Being, which is eternal, unchanging, and always self-shining.

Leave everything and surrender to it with great devotion. That’s it. Nothing else is required.

The real Guru is nothing but your inner Being itself.

Being is consciousness, and it’s everywhere.

Also, a real guru or teacher does not allow the disciple to worship or idolize him. God and Guru are within you in the form of your Being. A true teacher cannot see anyone as a student or disciple. He pushes the disciple inward in Being.

Transformed by Ramana's wisdom, our person surrenders his mind to inner Being and progresses to the fifth type of seeker.

Fifth Type: Sage: One who Abides in Inner Being

Our person now continuously abides in his inner Being. He experiences that resting the mind in inner Being is the most significant spiritual practice. Apart from it, no other spiritual practice, scripture, or guru is required. While resting in Being, he feels ONE with GOD all the time

He realizes that once the mind goes outward, it creates misery and an illusionary world. But when the mind surrenders and turns inward, it dissolves into being and transforms into God. By keeping his mind on God (in inner Being), God becomes the doer of all worldly activities and not his mind

He understands that spiritual awakening is not a special feeling, state, or experience. It is not a goal or destination to attain in the future.

As the Buddha told us, it is not a superhuman achievement or attainment. Spiritual awakening is your natural state of continuous awareness of inner Being and abiding in that state of "feeling-realization" of Being.

After countless lifetimes and ultimately realizing his true self in this life, he attains Enlightenment. Now free from the cycle of birth and death, he is Liberated from the world. The existence of an independent entity known as the "world" depends on the presence of thoughts. There is no world as his mind is dissolved in the Being. Consequently, he no longer identifies with his thoughts or takes anything personally. Fully surrendered within, he experiences total freedom from pain and suffering, seeing the entire world as an extension of his own self. There are no "others" for him.

Help me make it easier for others to find this publication by hitting the ❤️ at the top or bottom of this email. Thank you for supporting this work of awakening.