Question:
How do we know that self realization has happened or not?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: What is the proof that you have pain in your leg? How do you come to know that you have pain in the leg? Once self realization happens then such questions will not arise. Asking others if you are self realized or not is ignorance. We don't need any proof once self realization has happened. Like your pain is itself the proof, similarly self realization is itself the proof. But also don't have fancies and imaginations of how self realization is going to be. Be simple, natural. You are, what you are, therefore relax. Self realization doesn't happen by doing something but by relaxing and you can relax only after you have done something.
Once you do pranayama, asanas, rajoguna nivrit hota hai (one rises above the rajoguna) and then satvaguna arises. When that happens, we can meditate and are awakened. Satvaguna will not arise till you sleep properly.
One can rise above tamoguna through rajoguna and to rise above rajoguna, one needs to relax and be active.
In the Bhagwad Geeta it is said, yuktahara-viharasya yoga bhavati siddhitah.
Samadhi is neither for those who oversleep nor for those who work with extreme wakefulness throughout the day. A balance has to be maintained.
