The Puranas are not mere old legends but living revelations. Transmitted through guru to disciple these eternal teachings open the hidden truth of every soul. The central message of all the Puranic wisdom is you are Brahman.

All the other things, rituals, prayers, difficulties, are just a process that leads you to discover that supreme truth.

Development, Truth, and the Way to Peace.

Brahma also, in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, narrates to Narada that creation is born out of truth and goes back to truth. Peace is gone when we are mused in illusion. As Brahman lives so too is living in truth. This is not a metaphor- it is one of the spiritual laws.

Silence is the key to the access of this truth. True sacrifice is not on the outside as Lord Shiva tells Saptarishis in the Shiva Purana, but rather on the inside stillness. When everything is stopped, the soul is united with Brahman.

The Guru: Planting the Seed of Truth.

The guru is not a mere instructor of facts but he is an agent who alters consciousness. Dattatreya in Bhagavat Purana tells Yadu that the guru shows the infinite divine nature of your nature.

The guru is the one who puts the seed of the truth in the disciple as Bapuji Dashrathbhai Patel explains: You are Brahman. This seed once planted activates the wisdom inherent in eternity, and directs the soul back to its real self.

The World as a Teacher

The universe by itself can make its own teacher. Dattatreya taught learning on the 24 elements of nature where Brahman expresses himself in everything: birds, rivers, and even in pain.

This is the view of all teachers including parents and school instructors. All of them are pushing us towards self-realization.

Ego, Surrender and Liberation.

The trip does not go without any opposition. Shukracharya also explains to King Bali in the Vamana Purana that the real bondage is ego.

It was not weakness when Bali made the submission, but transcendence, even to his guru. Surrendering the ego is the revelation of the Brahman.

It is not through rituals itself that a person can be truly liberated, but it is by knowing something within that one can be truly liberated. Narada Purana states that mantras, idols and devotion are the means, a change actually takes place when the guru replies: Who am I?

Acting from Awareness

Here all can be summed up by the last teaching Krishna gave Uddhava in the Bhagavat Mahapurana: Knowest thou that thou art Brahman, and do by that knowledge do actions.

And without this awareness, all the tapasya, yoga and devotion is a complete deficiency.

Out of Form: The Nature of the Guru.

The guru is beyond gender, form, and identity, he is pure consciousness. They have to sow the seed of Brahman in you. This seed blossoms through:

Contemplation

Surrender

Silence

The answer to this involves entering the layers of consciousness conscious, subconscious and unconscious since the true truth is entrenched in the depths.

Spiritual Awakening: Rediscovering Yourself.

The Puranas warn us that spirituality does not involve the commencement of something novel. It is keeping in mind what you have always been.

When the seed of truth is planted, then the quest becomes a quest to awaken and the soul naturally turns into its eternal, divine nature.