Self Realization

 

Shankara

I am blessed indeed! I have achieved life's only purpose. The dragon of rebirth can never seize me now. The Infinite is mine. I recognize my true nature in eternal joy. (9)

Sri Aurobindo

There is no I nor thou, but only one divine Self equal in all embodiments, equal in the individual and the group, and to realize that, to express that, to serve that, to fulfill that is all that matters. (10)

Patanjali

The purpose of this world is to provide us with experience and thus to lead us to liberation. (11)

John Ruusbroec

[For] the rational creature to attain the sublime beauty of God and to possess it in [a] supernatural way ... is [the] reason that God created heaven and earth and all that is in them. (12)

Hazrat Inayat Khan

The purpose of life ... is that the only Being makes his oneness intelligible to Himself. He goes through different planes of evolution ... to make clear to Himself His oneness. (13)

Sri Yukteswar Giri

[The] unification of Self with God is [called] Kaivalya, which is the Ultimate Object of all created beings. (14)

Man's purpose is complete freedom from unhappiness.

Once he has banished all pain beyond possibility of return, he has attained the highest goal. (15)

Beinsa Douno

To see God means to strive toward that Supreme Eternal Law which rejuvenates, revivifies and brings Light and warmth to man. ... Do you know what it means to see God? This is the meaning of life. (16)

All trials through which you pass at present are for the sole purpose of coming to know God: the Primary Cause. (17)

Sri Ramakrishna defined being enlightened as “to know the real nature of one's own Self.” (18) I accept that definition. To know who we are. To know our real identity, our true nature. While the accomplishment of this aim is anything but easy, its difficulty does not affect its always remaining the end and purpose of our lives.

To be enlightened also means to perfect ourselves, as Beinsa Douno and Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov point out.

Beinsa Douno

What is man's task? Continuous self-development and self-perfection. God is the continuous Manifestation of Perfection, and man is the continuous self-improvement on the Path to Perfection. This is the meaning of the verse: Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in Heaven is perfect. Man must continuously correct his imperfections on the Path to Perfection. (19)

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Each one of us has come down to earth with a mission. ... That God might select someone from time to time for a special mission is ... possible, but the collective mission of human beings is for each one to develop himself more and more every day until he reaches perfection. (20)