Spiritual Awakening
From Glimpses to Self-Realisation
“A Spiritual Awakening can be a deep Self-Realisation or Satori, or when the opening is for a short time I call it a Glimpse… With a Glimpse, the identification may return and there can be a sense of loss. Yet even this is a gift, for the Glimpse plants a seed. Once you have tasted that Peace, you can no longer fully believe you are just this small person ‘me’. The longing to return to what has been seen begins to guide your life, drawing you steadily home to your True Self.”
– John David
1993 – John David shares some words after a shift in consciousness occurred to him as a result of a strong meeting with his master Papaji: “It was all worth it.”
Spiritual Awakening
Spiritual awakening is not an exotic experience reserved for Saints or Sages—it is the natural flowering of your true nature. Often it begins as a fleeting glimpse: a quiet moment of deep presence, a sudden stillness, or a mysterious sense that “I am not my story.” Such moments feel like windows opening onto a vast, peaceful expanse that has always been here.
Yet Awakening is rarely the end. It’s the beginning of a journey—a Satori, as the Zen masters call it—that invites you deeper into yourself, beyond conditioning and ego, into the freedom of simply being.
“My understanding is that the point of our life, if anything, is to become Self-realised. This means that we see the ego, the movie of our life, is not who we are. When this is clearly seen, something profoundly changes.”
– John David
What is Spiritual Awakening?
Spiritual Awakening is the recognition that you are not the restless thoughts or roles you play but the silent awareness in which all experience appears. It is a shift from identifying with “me and my story” to resting in what Sri Ramana Maharshi called the Self.
In The Great Misunderstanding, I wrote:
“As human beings we have come to perceive ourselves as separate from the world around us. This great misunderstanding is the source of all our suffering. In Truth, there is just one, and in this one there is and never was any suffering.”
Awakening brings a deep sense of peace and connection—but it also shines a light on the inner patterns and conditioning that obscure this truth.
“Satori is the sudden flashing into consciousness of a new truth.
It is a perfectly normal state of mind.
All mental activities will now work to a different key, more joyful
and peaceful than ever before.
Spiritually, it is a new birth.
Intellectually, it is the acquiring of a new viewpoint.
The world appears as if dressed in a new garment.”
D.T. Suzuki
Film: Satori
Metamorphosis of Spiritual Awakening
Satori is often brief—a glimpse of what is possible. But it changes everything. Once you have tasted it, as one student put it: You can no longer believe you are only this small person. Something vast has been seen.
“Satori comes unexpectedly, offering insight into the nature of Self. It’s a deeply personal experience.”
– Carl Gustav Jung
In this 90min movie, we aim to explore the growing trend of people undergoing Spiritual Awakening seemingly out of the blue.
Indira (prev. Lakshmi), living in the spiritual community Open Sky House with her spiritual teacher John David, experienced a profound spiritual awakening while working in the community office. The film captures the energetic happening itself and dialogues with John David about Indira’s moment and the subsequent changes in her life resulting from this sudden shift.
A Glimpse of Truth
In this excerpt from one of John David’s spiritual films “The Pointless Joy of Freedom” a long time student of John David and resident of Open Sky House – Radha – shares her experience in simple words after undergoing a powerful energetic happening in the community. This happened after she spontaneously dropped all identification with thought.
In the short clips that were taken at the time of the event you can observe that she was just laughing and tremendous energy went through her body. Others were there to support with presence and offering water, not interfering at all with what was happening.
A glimpse is indescribably beautiful. It is the best moment of your life. Even so, there is often fear and the fear closes down the glimpse. In the beginning it will just be a glimpse, a flash where the clouds (the structures of the mind) in the blue sky part, and you get a glimpse of the blueness. You feel this very deeply. It is very beautiful but it is not something you can do, it just happens. In that instance the whole sense of separate self disappears.
This is what is really important. The sense of self – this ‘me’ that we are so attached to – disappears. It is a completely shocking moment.
It is tremendously life-changing because once this small moment has happened then you know something that you didn’t know before. You know yourself in a new way, but then the Self we’re talking about is no longer this rather small illusionary self. It is suddenly another Self, the Self, the authentic Self, vast, a feeling of oneness, tremendous love, peace and tremendous connectedness.
After a few seconds the normal self, normal ‘me’, usually comes back very quickly because the glimpse in that moment is frightening, shocking, completely unexpected, magnificent.
It`s extremely simple and you don’t have to do anything. It’s a given. Almost everyone who has some kind of glimpse is surprised because they thought they would have to do something: ‘Oh, it just happened.’ You don’t have to do anything to be who you are.
Film: Satori Moments with Vijaya
In my film Satori Moments with Vijaya, we follow Vijaya through a powerful 16 day retreat designed to provoke awakening. Intense silence, self-inquiry, and heart-opening encounters strip away layers of identity until what remains is pure being.
Satori is often brief—a glimpse of what is possible. But it changes everything. Once you have tasted it, as one participant put it,
“You can no longer believe you are only this small person. Something vast has been touched.”
The film unfolds the story of Vijaya during a retreat with spiritual teacher John David, capturing rare footage of her Satori moment as it happened. The documentary then delves into a deep and meaningful dialogue between Vijaya and John David, where she articulately describes the manifestation of Satori in her body and mind. In fact twice, in a span of over 5 years, the film carefully chronicles Vijaya’s transformative journey, offering a clear, detailed, yet simple account of her experiences. Providing an intimate behind-the-scenes view of the spiritual path, this documentary shares the intensity of an incredible energetic phenomenon that has rarely been revealed to the public before.
Vijaya is a mother with a 10 year old daughter and a young boy.
Spiritual Awakening – The Settling into Truth
Awakening is a moment when we are going from our normal, ego based life, where everything is me, me, me, suddenly something happens energetically and there’s a tremendous expansion inside. Usually it seems the first time is particularly strong because you’re going from strong ego bound to suddenly free.
When an awakening happens the lid of the pressure cooker is removed and very often this happens in an explosive way, because the realisation is usually happening very suddenly. The lid blows off and there’s a tremendous amount of energy released. It can also happen over time, in an imperceptible way. Then it is quite common, that the physical body doesn’t function for some time, perhaps for a few hours or a few days.
Then the amazing thing is that you can function extremely well afterwards, even better than before because there isn’t the constant filter and static of the mind.
It takes some time to accept this and when you do, it just happens. There is no formula, there is no practice. I know a lot of people who have had such an opening, even if it was only for a short moment.
This is what is really important. The sense of self – this ‘me’ that we are so attached to – disappears. It is a completely shocking moment. As a spiritual seeker you probably expect an awakening to be amazingly special, but when you awaken it is completely ordinary.
The Role of the Teacher in Spiritual Awakening
The role of the teacher in spiritual awakening is not to give you anything new, but to help you see what has always been there. As John David wrote in ‘The Pointless Joy of Freedom’: “There isn’t a common technique that will bring you to Truth. Everybody’s needs are different, and so if you have a true teacher, he or she will come to know you and create learning situations from which you can recognise those things that prevent you being free.” A real teacher is simply a mirror, pointing you back to yourself. Papaji used to say, “The teacher does nothing but removes what is not you.” When you are ready to be utterly honest and to stay present, the teacher’s presence becomes a catalyst, igniting your own fire for Truth until you see, beyond all doubt, that what you were searching for is who you already are.
Spiritual Awakening Retreats
You can meet John David in Satsang ( online and Live ) or come to one of his Retreats.
Intensive Retreats can provide a highly energetic and supportive space to come to a Glimpse of Truth or Self Realisation.
Spiritual Community:
A fertile ground for Spiritual Awakening
A spiritual community is like rich soil for the flowering of awakening. When we live closely together with others who share the same longing for Truth, daily life itself becomes the teaching. The mirrors of spiritual friendship reveal our blind spots, the shared silence deepens presence, and the support of kindred spirits nurtures trust to let go of old defenses. In this field of love and awareness, conditioned patterns naturally dissolve, and what remains is the simple recognition of our true nature – vast, free, and already whole.
Discover John David’s vibrant international communities:
