Spiritual breakthrough is the inevitable truth, and we are all secretly striving for it through our distinct individual paths.

I have been through the plethora of self-help / spiritual books over the past few years. These books provided me with the understanding I needed to make spiritual development. The Buddha in me had awakened, and all I wanted to know was the truth about life. And in turn attain this spiritual breakthrough faster. There arose a strong addiction to these publications, regardless of the author, nation, or ideals. They made me feel great and fuelled my passion for knowledge even further. I not only was able to grasp the teachings in these books (now that my mind was more open to these logic), but I also utilised what I learnt in real life to the greatest degree feasible. If you have been a seeker yourself, you will appreciate the above phase and will connect with it.

However, unknowingly, I was always playing into the mind games, that of giving it the pleasure it seeks. I happened to realize this only later. It played so well to the occasion and at such a subtle level that I felt the mind was me. I was always trying my best to appease the mind, thinking I was striving for a spiritual breakthrough. In reality, all my readings from various books were merely ways to satisfy the mind.

The mind is a fear machine. It senses the fear and instinctively pushes you away from it. So if it finds someone or something that takes you away from any of your fears, it will simply make you cling on to it. To the mind, this is what you desperately need to survive. It’s no surprise that many people find themselves stuck in life, grasping at anything they can to escape their fears, ultimately succumbing to the mind’s tendencies. If the mind were a separate entity, it would be reveling in the spectacle of us getting lost in distractions 99.9% of the time—even in the name of spiritual breakthroughs. How cruel can it really get!

Some people try fasting or some read scriptures for attaining the spiritual breakthrough. Many resort to prayer and sermons or any combination of the above. In my experience, three key factors helped make that desired spiritual leap. These three reasons can be equally effective for anyone seeking their own spiritual breakthrough, seamlessly integrating into modern lifestyles.

SPIRITUAL BREAKTHROUGH FACTORS

Factor I – Meditation is elemental

First, there was the Meditation. Meditation started giving me intermittent glimpses of the mind – the robot, as I now refer to it. I realised that I was a witness looking at the mind and not the mind itself. It was the single most important factor that I can point to in quest for spiritual breakthrough, but one that still has to work in conjunction with the other two that follow. During this period, I understood my role as the witness, but I soon realized that I couldn’t maintain this state and understanding indefinitely.  After a while, the compulsions of mind used to take the better of me.

Factor II – Functioning of Mind reveals a lot

Secondly, it was about understanding how mind functions. I browsed a lot of books and articles detailing its physiological functions. Getting information these days is just a matter of pressing some keys. As I correlated my experience of witnessing during meditation with insights from brain research, I became increasingly convinced that my experiences during meditation were not mere figments of imagination.

In one such study, researchers found that 8 weeks of meditation by a carefully selected research study group (regular office going guys who have not meditated before) positively impacted the grey areas in the hippocampus (emotional regulation), the temporo parietal region (perspective taking) and the amygdale (fight-or-flight center). These changes ultimately contributed to a more stable and stress-free life by enhancing coping abilities.  You can find this study below :

This link between meditation and brain function gave me the necessary confidence that I was truly on the right track. In some instances, insights from such studies can be so revealing that they can lead to lasting positive change in an individual’s life. If you realise (and not just know) that the brain, which produces thoughts, is simply an organ like the kidney or the lungs over which you have no control, it would diminish in importance, right? Even your die-hard beliefs are merely the result of brain programming that occurred years ago. It all boils down to how you have been conditioned.

Factor III – Preaching of Sages nailed it

Finally, one day, I came across the preaching of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. His renowned book, ‘I am That,’ finally helped me overcome the block of giving in to the mind’s temptations for good. That can be considered the final nail on the path to spiritual breakthrough. The book captures Maharaj’s answers to his disciples’ various queries related to life and existence. At one point, when a seeker expressed difficulty in achieving spiritual transformation, he advised simply trusting him (or a guru) and embracing his perspectives. He noted that without this trust, it would be challenging to escape the mind-body loop. He asked us to accept that we are just the witness, and remain as the witness, observing everything with complete faith. He made it clear that questioning this belief intellectually to satisfy the mind’s curiosity would only hinder progress.

This finally hit me. Maybe it was the futile attempts earlier on that led me to his teachings. I found the ability to remain a witness for longer periods of time. And the more I stayed as a witness, the more I realised the power of staying so. And the more I realised the pawn that I had been at the hands of my mind – whether it was giving in to fear or embracing ways to move away from it. Through those techniques I was playing the mind with the mind. I actually had to transcend the mind, and that would not have been possible till the time I kept reasoning everything through it. Mind was the problem. He was indeed correct.

In Conclusion

I realised that the pleasure I had derived all these years on reading through various books in this genre was a dupe. It was nothing but a ploy of the mind and its inherent chemical reactions. I stopped giving into it and laughed out the fact that it had seemed so real and consistent then. Ultimately, it was just the conditioning from my childhood and my genetic makeup that created these persistent patterns through chemical neuronal connections in my brain. Through this understanding, I realised that I had made a crucial leap forward. Meditation will be the most important factor. It will not only provide first hand experiences, but will also enable you to corroborate the readings with your experiences, in turn leading to deeper realisation. However note that in my case eventually all three factors had to go in conjunction, seep in bit by bit from whatever time I could make for it, to bring that noticeable transformation and hence some delay for the realisation to truly set in. The time required for achieving a spiritual breakthrough can vary greatly among individuals; for some, a single factor may suffice. For me, I needed to be convinced at an analytical level—corroborating facts from recognised sources—to overcome the mind. Else, it would have been all too easy to give in to the mind’s insecurities and question the very experiences I encountered during meditation.

Overcoming the mind is the key to spiritual breakthrough. But in order to do that, you must respect the rules of the mind and align with its approach. It is not as difficult to get to realisation nowadays as it was centuries ago. There was no real and easily available source of information back then. It was challenging to benchmark your spiritual progress and easy to give into confusion and apprehension. Unless you were as determined as the Buddha, it would be difficult to pull it through. But times have changed. Today, you can measure your spiritual growth against the insights of renowned spiritual sages and the findings of contemporary scientific research. All it takes then is a structured methodical approach and a strong will to rise above the mind. And be out of this rut forever.

For more insights on spirituality, you can explore my blogs on the Spirituality page.

I also highly recommend reading ‘Can You Play’.  This book addresses a broad range of topics, from the intricacies of karma to enhancing your vitality and discovering your true purpose—backed by scientific research and relevant examples. It also explains why spirituality has to be the path and how to achieve it in today’s fast-paced world. The holistic understanding will be more beneficial than focusing on a single topic alone.  Wish you a happy spiritual journey!