Question
What can we do so that all of us can increase own spiritual progress?
Answer
Only by removal of ego/Ahamkaar i.e. "I am this or that" one can become spiritual and for it there are only 2 main paths for spiritual progress, either Bhakti Marg of Prakriti(from Puranas), you call yourself to be servant of God and than live in world like Tulsidas, Kabirdas, Ramanujacharya etc., did or Gyana Marg of Purush(from Vedas), accept Sanyas/monkhood and in which you identify self to be infinite Brahman and do sense-restraint and call this world and your body to be a temporary dream and live for selfless work for the welfare of society like Swami Vivekananda, Ramana Maharshi, Shankaracharya etc., did.
(16) The honorable king [Parîkchit] said: 'By what means my Lord, do the people living in Kali-yuga eradicate the faults accumulating because of that age? Please explain to me how it is. (17) How about the yugas, the duties prescribed for them, the time they last and when they end, as also the Time itself that represents the movement of the Controller, of Lord Vishnu the Supreme Soul [see also time quotes page].'
(30) Sri Suka said: 'Kali-yuga is known as the age of ignorance, where there is deceit, false testimony, sloth and lethargy, violence, depression, lamentation, delusion, fear and poverty. (31) As a consequence the mortals will be shortsighted, unfortunate, eating too much, lusty and poverty-stricken while the women will act of their own accord and be unchaste. (32) In the populated areas uncivilized people will take high positions [and act like thieves], the Vedic scriptures will be slighted by false doctrines [heretics], the political leaders will devour the people and the twice-born souls will be dedicated to their bellies and genitals. (33) The youngsters [the students] will be averse to vows and impure in their engagements, the householders will be beggars [with what they claim], the withdrawn souls [the middle-aged, with no nature left to retreat into] will be city-dwellers and the renounced order will greedily endeavor for wealth [be engaged in 'reli-business']. (34) Smaller in size, voracious and having many children, [the women will have] lost their timidity and constantly speak harshly and with great audacity be as deceitful as thieves. (35) The merchants will indulge in cheating so that their business dealings will be wicked while the people unnecessarily will consider any contemptible occupation [in the sex industry or gambling business] a good job. (36) Servants will abandon a master who lost his wealth - even if he is the best one around, masters will abandon a handicapped servant - even when he belonged to the family for generations, and cows will be abandoned [and killed] as soon as they stopped giving milk. (37) Under the control of women, men in Kali-yuga will be wretched and forsake their fathers, brothers, friends and relatives, while regularly associating with their brothers and sisters-in-law in a conception of friendship based upon sexual enjoyment. (38) Laborers being dressed up as mendicants of austerity, will accept religious charity to earn their living and mount a high seat to speak about religious matters without any knowledge of dharmic principles. (39-40) With their minds constantly full of stress, emaciated by famine and taxes in times of scarcity with droughts on the surface of the earth, oh King, the people of Kali-yuga will be troubled by countless worries and live in fear. Lacking in clothing, food, drink, rest, sexual love [vyavâya, also called 'change'], bathing and personal ornaments they will appear like ghostly creatures. (41) In the age of Kali one will even over a single coin develop enmity [5.14 and 5.14: 26], reject friendly relations, kill oneself [be suicidal] and even kill one's relatives [domestic violence]. (42) Only interested in the petty service of the stomach and the genitals one, even being born in a respectable family, will not protect the elderly parents, the wife and the children. (43) Oh King, with their minds diverted by atheism the mortals in Kali-yuga in general will not worship the Infallible One, the Personality of Godhead who is the Supreme Spiritual Master of the three worlds at whose feet the various masters bow down. (44) In Kali-yuga the people do not worship Him, even though He is the One by whom a person, who dying in distress collapsing with a faltering voice helplessly chants His name, is freed from the chains of karma and achieves the topmost destination [see also B.G. 8: 10 and 6.2]. (45) The objects [and food], places and the individual nature of man are as a result of Kali-yuga all polluted [diseased, full of faults], but when one installs Bhagavân, the Supreme Personality in one's heart, He takes all this contamination away.
(46) Of those human beings who but even heard, glorified, meditated, worshiped or venerated the Supreme Lord, the inauspiciousness is cleansed away that from a thousand births accumulated in their hearts. (47) Just as the discoloration one finds in gold because of other metals is removed by fire, the impurities of the mind of yoga practitioners are removed when Lord Vishnu has entered their heart. (48) Education, penance, breath control, friendship, bathing in holy waters, vows, charity and praying with prayer beads do not realize as full the purification of the mind as the presence of Him, the Unlimited Personality of Godhead, in the heart. (49) Therefore oh King, do your utmost best to establish Lord Kes'ava in your heart; the moment you die [here after this week] you will with your attention focussed on Him attain the highest destination. (50) The Supreme Lord meditated upon by those who are dying is the Supreme Controller, the Soul and Shelter of All, who leads them to their true identity my dearest. (51) In the ocean of faults of Kali-yuga, oh King, there is luckily one great good quality: just by singing about [and meditating on] Krishna['s name, see bhajans] one can be liberated from material bondage and achieve beatitude [see also bhâgavata dharma and kîrtana]. (52) The same result one achieves in Satya-yuga by meditating on Vishnu, one achieves in Tretâ-yuga by worshiping with sacrifices and one achieves in Dvâpara-yuga by serving the lotus feet [of Him in the form of a king], is in Kali-yuga achieved by singing about [and meditating on the names of] the Lord [see also 11.5: 38-40].'
Every man has an subtle memory of animal nature inherited from his past births that drags him back to sense gratification and slavery of matter, goal of spiritual person is to win over that nature. Once succeeded permanently, one has realized himself. Self is master of matter, not its slave.
That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by nothing material You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.
The goal of mankind is knowledge. . . . Now this knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside: it is all inside. What we say a man "knows," should, in strict psychological language, be what he "discovers" or "unveils"; what man "learns" is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge.
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