Self-Empowerment is a Necessity in Today’s World

Self-Empowerment is a Necessity in Today’s World

Self-Empowerment means, empowering ‘self’ with power. According to Upanishad, self is Atman, which is divine and blissful in nature. Self resides in a body, which is it’s temporary house, and self-expresses itself in life through many activities.
The first requirement for ‘empowering self’ is to have a strong desire to do so. Secondly we must know to choose the right path, to proceed forward. 
In today’s world, the inner weakness is very predominant. For any of our misfortunes, we have a tendency to blame others, or external factors. This is a clear sign of our inner weakness. Vedanta tells us to be positive and strong and to take full responsibility for life’s ups and downs in our own hands, and not to blame others for it. 
There is a very powerful message from Gita, “Raise yourself by yourself, don’t let yourself down, for you alone are your friend, you alone are your enemy”, (Chapter 6/verse 5).
It is said that, the upliftment of self can be done by self itself. Nature has given us that capacity to do so, and nobody else can, only we can empower ourselves.
Life requires three types of strengths. Bahubal, the muscular power for the body. It can be developed by exercises, good nourishment, cleanliness etc. When we are physically strong no disease can attack us. It is very important to make our body strong, because it is the temporary house of our soul. It is also an instrument through which the soul works in our life span. 
Second strength that we need is Buddhibal, the power of intellect. Intellectual power can be increased, by studying, thinking, being creative, and most importantly by having proper discriminating power. 
The most important aspect to empowering self is to have Atmabal, the spiritual strength from within.
There is a process for everything. The path for gaining inner empowerment was explained long ago, almost 5000 years back by Patanjali’s ‘Yoga Sutra’, which is called ‘Ashtanga Yoga’. Through eight steps, it teaches how to empower our inner self. These eight steps are self-control, discipline, correct posture, correct breathing, detachment, concentration and meditation. Without practicing these, it is very difficult to conquer our lower nature.
Following the scientific path of yoga, when power of concentration sharpens, the yogi becomes aware of his mind’s activity at every moment and develops the power to stop negative emotions in a timely manner before it gets out of control.
Concentration is compared to an un-flickering lamp in the Gita. A flame stays steady when wind currents are not there. In the midst of external disturbances, if the mind can stay steady like an un-flicking flame, one can feel the blissful Atman in oneself. Then one is truly empowered, and the master of his own destiny. Then no out-side sorrows or disturbances can rob his peace and happiness.  Even if somebody misbehaves, he does not get affected. He can brush off all the negative behaviours of others from his mind, can forgive them and forget it forever. Only a self-controlled person can forgive and forget the negative things in life.   
The real transformation comes to us; when we can touch our inner spiritual cord; only then we become truly empowered and confident, also we can be correct in our dealings with the external world without losing our balance, and can remain ever blissful within. 
As Paramhansa Yogananda says, “Life is like a motion picture. It is made of light and shadow, joy and sadness, compassion and cruelty, and many opposite currents. In life we are dancing with a drama of opposites. If we want to be happy and empowered, we must be aware that we are souls, we are spiritual by nature. That is our real identity. Man can be truly happy only within his soul nature of bliss, omniscience, and wisdom. He can never be contended by imagining himself to be happy because the senses are happy”, (Paramhansa Yogananda, God Talks to Arjuna).