How Page 53 of "The Power of Now" Transformed My Life
This sentence on Page 53 awakened me: "Focus Your Attention on the Now and Tell Me What Problem You Have at This Moment."
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Look at the condition of my book—it has survived 16 years, four countries, and even being accidentally dropped in a bucket of water.
Suffering brings Awakening
Suffering brings awakening. It stays until it teaches you what you must learn. The situations and people that trigger you are the divine angels who push you inward toward God so you can become one with Him.
We encounter painful situations and people repeatedly because the universe is pushes us to surrender our mind inward in Being and make us conscious.
How I Lost Everything and Gained My Life
Near my 30th Birthday in 2008, I experienced some profound loss and pain in life that led me to the spiritual dimension. I was awakened by reading a sentence on Page 53 of “The Power of Now.”
Now, I usually live in peace by being ONE with the present moment!
I have lived my past life as a real estate entrepreneur in Dubai, Singapore, Mumbai, and Malaysia. I was born into Extreme Poverty in India.
In hindsight, I always feel blessed by those tough life conditions of my poor childhood. They were God’s grace in disguise.
In 2008, I was absolutely miserable and not sleeping well for three months or so, as my real estate company was going down due to the financial recession after years of effort. My mind was creating horror stories about the destruction of my business, one after another, and I had no peace!
The Moment That Changed My Life Forever
During that intense Suffering, I experienced my first spiritual Awakening while reading Page 53 of Eckhart Tolle's book The Power of Now in August 2008, during the financial recession in Dubai, UAE.
I still remember my thinking stopping while reading this sentence in that book: “Focus your attention on the Now and tell me what problem you have at this moment. I am not getting any answer because it is impossible to have a problem when your attention is fully in the Now.”
At first, I thought the author of this book was crazy. I had hundreds of problems in my life, and my ego believed that the worst problem was that I was about to lose my business and all the material egoic possessions that I had worked so hard for years to “accumulate.”
But then I reread that passage with intense attention,
My Mind Suddenly Stopped.
No Thoughts.
Just Still Silent, and all thoughts Disappeared.
At that moment, my identification with my problems, including money issues, broke one by one. It was as if all the strings attached to my mind, causing misery, had snapped. Once my awareness was freed from identifying with mental forms, I experienced pure awareness. I felt as though I was born again—literally. I felt so light that I began to cry like a child
You can watch the video by clicking the link below
Fear of Death Vanished—Replaced by Oneness
I still remember how that magical awakening experience took place.
During that awakening moment, I went into another room where my wife was watching TV and invited her to dance. I started to cry like a child after I finished dancing with my wife! My wife was a bit confused about seeing me like that. She told me later that she thought I went “crazy.” Literally!
After that awakening experience, my business and wealth eventually got destroyed due to the financial recession, and it was indeed a learning experience.
The next day, I handed over my Ego’s favorite car’s key to my wife and asked her to drive to our office building. Now, my wife was 100% confirmed that I went crazy. Why would I give her my favorite car to drive? :)
On our way, I observed trees on the roads with absolute stillness, lying sideways on the side seat like a kid. I never watched nature like this, as it was a “waste of time” for me in my normal state.
Now, here comes my biggest fear. I still remember parking our car on the terrace of my office building, thirty-five floors up. My wife had to drive in circles up a narrow alley of parking levels, and I was usually terrified sitting beside her—lol. But that day, I felt no fear. I had no fear of death or losing anything. I was completely enveloped in divine peace.
Feeling Oneness — There are NO Others
When I went into my office and started speaking to my people, I felt their feelings by listening to them, as if I could sense what they were feeling. I absolutely felt ONE with them, as if we were not separate. I apologized to one of my people, Natasha, with tears in my eyes for misunderstanding.
During those awakening days, I never had any expectations from my employees, and I wanted to care for them, listen to them, and understand their pain.
My Encounter With The Dark Night of the Soul
After my Awakening in 2008, I realized that chasing material success is empty and meaningless. I can still function in the world, although I realized that nothing I ever achieved could possibly “add anything” to my inner being.
Those days were magical. Whenever I interacted with people, I was not interacting with their past behavior, images, or memories. I was absolutely present. My ordinary consciousness soon took over.
After my initial awakening phase, the spiritual Awakening was not always a joyful process for me because I encountered The Dark Night of the Soul.
Often, I felt confused, frustrated, angry, sad, grieving, or “out of place”.
It felt like the end of my known world, with its old habits and conditioning.
Whatever life I had built on a competing, achieving, and acquiring mentality was not resonating with me anymore. Life was making no sense to me.
For me, the spiritual Awakening was an intense experience of personal transformation. I transformed from mind consciousness to Being consciousness.
But despite how much suffering my dying mind’s conditioning was causing me, deep in my being, I was aware that I was not going insane.
Enduring and Non-Enduring Awakening
I was evolving and in the process of going towards an Enduring awakening from a non-enduring awakening. I discussed enduring awakening (spiritual enlightenment) and non-enduring awakening (spiritual awakening) in the video below
What is the Dark Night of the Soul, and How Will It Transform Your Life?
The Dark Night of the Soul is a long, depressing, and very dark experience that can last days, months, or even years.
If you’re experiencing the Dark Night of the Soul, you will feel a sense of being lost. Your heart will be in anxiety as if your world with its known habits and conditioning is coming to an End.
This is because, after a spiritual awakening, your conditioned mind pattern is dying. While dying, your mind is making you feel miserable by re-identifying yourself with its old dysfunctional patterns.
Your Inner Being is about to shine like a sun, and deep down, you have started to feel its presence.
While a spiritual awakening is the process of rebirth of everything you are! The dark night of the soul is the process of dying of everything you are not!
Later in life, I applied the same “surrender” principles to my physical pains from lower Brain Tumor surgery and my four years of intense chronic back pain and then recovered fully.
I left my real estate business for the last eight years! For the last four years, the realization of being within me has been steady and peaceful.
Second Intense Awakening and Ramana Maharshi Teachings
Slowly Slowly, I left the path of competitiveness.
But truth to be told, before 2018, my mind sometimes succeeded in clutching me in the grip of my ego. Especially for a few days, I felt again like achieving this or that.
Then, one day in April 2018, I cried a lot at night as my mind suffered from thoughts of past achievements.
At that moment, I totally surrendered.
I prayed, "God, Make me your own. Do as you will, and use me for your purpose."
My body was shaking and trembling with fear.
In a few minutes, I slept. I woke up in the morning with no thoughts, no mind. Then, for the next year, Ramana Maharshi's teachings came into my life. I read everything about Ramana Maharishi while resting in my being. What Ramana Maharshi instructed to attain Awakening and realizing your being (Self) was both esoteric and simple.
New Outer Purpose Bestowed by Universe
I devoted myself to the practice of realizing Being 24x7.
In June 2022, I started giving one-to-one spiritual counseling, intending to teach this spiritual practice of resting and abiding in being.
In counseling, I taught one powerful practice to my students.
Over the last year, I have counseled many spiritual students, and a new identity emerged: I became a spiritual guide.
And I completely surrendered to Being. My purpose is to bring awareness to the world.
Once you are awake, your ego will try to delay it by making you extremely “fearful,” but you need to have the courage to rest in your Being.
If the word “Being” doesn't resonate with you, you can call it God, Atman, Kingdom of Heaven, spirit, universe, source, or whatever you like.
You need to go inward in your inner body and surrender. Every day, you need to stay in the present moment and OUT of your mind and emotions. You need to make this choice hundreds of times a day. It will intensify your Awakening and let you stay awake!
Please share your first awakening experience in the comment below! You will help other people here by sharing it