OSWALD PEREIRA says that self-realization is the oldest yet most radical journey of humankind—the discovery of the divine within. Paramahansa Yogananda called self-realization the “new religion” for a new age, where dogma dissolves and unity reigns
Paramahansa Yogananda once declared, “Self-realization is the knowing—in all parts of body, mind, and soul—that you are now in possession of the Kingdom of God.” In those few words lies the key to every religion, every spiritual practice, every path that humankind has ever walked in search of meaning.
Self-realization sounds simple—just know who you are. But in reality, it is the hardest task in life. For knowing oneself is not merely identifying with a name, a body, a profession, or a belief system. It means peeling off the many layers of ego, illusion, fear, and conditioning that cover our true being. It means going beyond the labels of Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Jew. It means going beyond the “I” that constantly seeks validation in the external world.
Yogananda, in his book Journey to Self-Realization, wrote that self-realization is the “new religion for the new age.” He did not mean another sect or cult, but a universal awakening. When we realize our true Self, he said, we understand that all souls are sparks of the same divine flame. The distance between man and God vanishes, and the illusion of separateness dissolves.
The Mirror of the Divine
“Know thyself and be free,” said Swami Vivekananda, echoing the ancient Upanishadic call Tat Tvam Asi—Thou art That. Self-realization is not self-absorption. It is not about inflating the ego, but dissolving it in the ocean of consciousness. The moment you truly know yourself, you cease to exist as a separate entity. You become one with the Infinite.
Sri Ramakrishna, the great master of Vivekananda used a beautiful metaphor. He said that when the salt doll entered the sea to measure its depth, it dissolved completely. That is what happens when we try to measure the depth of the Divine. We lose our separate self, and in that loss, we gain everything.
In our modern world, obsessed with self-promotion and self-image, this truth sounds revolutionary. Self-realization is not about self-expression—it is about self-effacement. The ego must die so that the Spirit may live.
One Truth, Many Names
If we look closely, every religion—Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism—teaches the same essence. The Prophet Muhammad’s message of Tawheed, the oneness of God, resonates with the Vedantic idea that the same divine reality pervades all existence. Jesus Christ said, “The Kingdom of God is within you.” Lord Krishna declared in the Bhagavad Gita, “The wise see the same Reality in all beings.” Buddha taught atta deepo bhava—“Be a light unto yourself.”
Different words, one truth. All point to the same destination: the realization of the Self within.
Yogananda saw this unity clearly. He said that self-realization “shows the underlying harmony among all religions,” for it teaches that God can be known through direct personal experience, not blind belief. Religion without realization is ritual. Ritual without awareness is empty motion.
When we reach self-realization, we understand that God is not a distant ruler sitting on a throne in the sky. God is the very essence of our being. We were made in the image of God not as clay statues moulded long ago, but as living reflections of divine consciousness. The moment we awaken to that truth, God-realization follows naturally. For to know the Self is to know God.
The Revolution Within
Swami Vivekananda called this the “divine discontent” that propels us toward perfection. “The greatest religion,” he said, “is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves!” He did not mean pride or arrogance, but faith in the divine core within each human being. That faith is the beginning of self-realization.
Self-realization, then, is not escapism. It is not turning away from the world, but transforming how we see it. When we realize the same Self in all, hatred becomes impossible. Violence loses its logic. Compassion becomes spontaneous.
The realized soul sees no Hindu or Muslim, no man or woman, no high or low. He sees only the play of one infinite Spirit wearing countless masks. As Sri Ramakrishna said, “Jato mat, tato path”—as many faiths, so many paths. But all paths lead to the same summit.
The Need of Our Times
Today’s world is divided not by religion but by the lack of realization. People fight over the name of God because they have not experienced the presence of God within themselves. Self-realization is not a luxury for monks and mystics—it is the urgent need of humanity.
When man knows himself, he knows the world. When man realizes his divinity, he naturally sees divinity in all. Then compassion replaces cruelty, understanding replaces prejudice, and peace replaces conflict. The outer world changes only when the inner world awakens.
Yogananda said, “The Self is the eternal witness—calm, unruffled, ever-existing.” If every individual were to touch that stillness within, wars would cease overnight. For how can you harm another when you know that the same life beats in every heart?
Beyond Belief
Religion as dogma divides; realization unites. The new religion that Yogananda spoke of is not about temples or doctrines—it is about consciousness. It is about waking up from the dream of separateness into the truth of oneness.
To be self-realized is to know—not intellectually, but experientially—that I and the Father are one, as Jesus said. It is to echo Krishna’s vision, “He who sees Me everywhere and everything in Me, I am not lost to him, nor is he lost to Me.”
When we rise to that state, we become what the sages called jivanmukta—liberated while living. Then, like Krishna, Christ, Rama, or the Buddha, we walk among men but live in God.
That is the journey of self-realization—the oldest, the hardest, and the only one worth taking.
Oswald Pereira, a senior journalist, has written ten books, including Beyond Autobiography of a Yogi, The Newsroom Mafia, Chaddi Buddies, The Krishna-Christ Connexion, How to Create Miracles in Our Daily Life and Crime Patrol: The Most Thrilling Stories. Oswald is a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, and practises Kriya Yoga.
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Self-realization is in fact the only religion.
Self-realization is a question which is equally applicable to all of us, irrespective of castes and creeds, faiths and beliefs. All of us, in the deeper recess of our privacies, are desirous to reach at that stage of complete freedom, it would be better to say complete redemption from a fragmented life. That is the state of pure bliss, seeking which we all are travelling in the cycle of birth and death since the inception of a conscious life.
As Jagadguru Adi Shankara says, this is the sole goal of all of us, appropriate knowledge under the guidance of a Sadhguru can only open the gateway of the path that leads the aspiring soul to the state of self encounter and eventually to the state of liberation or Jivanmukti.
In this context, please permit me to quote two verses from Vivekachudamani by Adi Shankaracharya about that beautiful process, leading to one’s complete liberation:
तटस्थिता बोधयन्ति गुरवः श्रुतयो यथा।
प्रज्ञयैव तरेद्विद्वानीश्वरानुगृहीतया॥
Standing apart, the Teachers and the scriptures instruct the disciple following which the Man of Realisation crosses over (avidyā) by illumination and the grace of God.
स्वानुभूत्या स्वयं ज्ञात्वा स्वमात्मानमखण्डितम्।
संसिद्धः सम्मुखं तिष्ठेन्निर्विकल्पात्मनाऽऽत्मनि॥
Knowing his own absolute Self through Realisation, becoming perfect, a man should stand face to face before the Ᾱtman, with mind free from all concepts of dualism. It is precisely at this very moment that the aspiring soul takes the greatest leap from the profanity of existence to the sacredness of non-duality of universal life.
Truly, this is the way, the only way to have the Self-encounter which is nothing but direct experience of non-duality, which is expressed in the “Mahavakyas” such as तत् त्वम असि or अहं ब्रह्मास्मि by the realised Rishis. No wonder this can happen with all of us, but only and only by the grace of Guru and God…surrendering before them, and yet incessantly working upon self refinement with utter humility.
As you have said:
“When man knows himself, he knows the world. When man realizes his divinity, he naturally sees divinity in all. Then compassion replaces cruelty, understanding replaces prejudice, and peace replaces conflict. The outer world changes only when the inner world awakens.”
Blessed is one who has felt this irresistible desire within, as you have expressed so explicitly. And once Self-realization dawns upon one, as the Seers say, the aspiring soul enters into the gate of liberation or Jivanmukti, basking in the glory of eternal delight.
The beauty of this state is such that, while going through the inescapable journey of earthly existence as a universal entity, he successfully forges the fusion of a mystic’s delight with the activist’s ethic. Being so, he becomes an instrument of the universe in thought and deed for the redemption of everyone in life. This is the story of our Guru Parampara…great teachers beginning from Adi Shankara to Paramahamsa Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda and Yogananda are flag bearers of this great legacy…
हरि ॐ 🙏
Thank you, Baturam Ji, for your insights and most knowledgeable observations.
Your comments are an article in itself, showing the depth of your thoughts and understanding of self-realization, blessed as you are by your late father, himself a sage.