Self-realization (Lectures, Other)

Expressions researched:
"Self-realization" |"realization of self" |"realization of the self"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "self-realization" or "realization of self" or "realization of the self" not "path of"

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 1, 1973:

That we are discussing in the Thirteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā: idaṁ śarīraṁ kṣetram iti abhidhīyate. Idaṁ śarīram. This śarīra is field of activities. One should not identify with this body. So when one actually understands his spiritual position, that he's not this body, he's spirit soul, he's brahma-vatsu... It is not we become Brahman by meditation or by somebody. We are Brahman, but we have now forgotten. Jīva-bhūta. At the present moment, because I'm identifying with this body, I'm thinking, "I am American," "I am Indian, " "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am Vaiṣṇava," "I am this or that." No. When we are actually brahma-bhūtaḥ, as explained by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). That is self-realization. When we understand perfectly well that "I am eternal servant of God," servant... I'm not God; I'm servant of God. But one cannot be servant of God without becoming God.