What is Nirvana and how is it achieved?

According to different cultures and traditions, there is a spiritual place where a person can experience perfect and supreme peace. This is known as Nirvana and is the highest state of enlightenment that an individual can attain. This ancient Sanskrit word translates as "extinction or disappearance" and has great importance within the Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism, since it is related to the liberation of the soul from bondages mundane.

In this Psychology-Online article we will delve a little more into What is Nirvana and how is it achieved? In this way, you will know the approach that you must establish to achieve spiritual Nirvana.

Index

1. What is Nirvana for Buddhists
2. What is Nirvana for Hindus
3. What is Nirvana for Jains
4. How to achieve spiritual Nirvana

For Buddhism, nirvana is also known as enlightenment. Legend has it that Siddhartha Gautama, or simply Buddha, was the first to reach Nirvana after meditating under a Bodhi tree. The same legend says that Buddha took 7 years to reach that state.

Within Buddhism, Nirvana is considered to be extreme freedom from the desires of the world and those who manage to experience it are freed from the suffering of this life. According to this culture, four progressive stages must be overcome to enter nirvana or full enlightenment: Sotapanna, Sakadagami, Anagami and Arahant. Only people who experience these four stages are considered active participants in the Buddhist community.

What is nirvana in Hinduism? For Hindus, Nirvana is a state in which a cycle of births and deaths, through which the individual acquires absolute divinity and merges with the energetic matter of the universe.

Within the same Hindu current, there are several conceptions of this term, since for the devotees of the god Vishnu Nirvana is the affirmation of the soul to serve God, even if that implies earthly suffering to later be reunited with him at the end of his cycle of reincarnations. Therefore, for them it is a reunion with Brahman what is the god or universal soul.

Within the Jaimist culture, Nirvana consists of leaving the samsara (suffering), or what is the same, leaving individual karma behind. That is to say, the Jains consider that the end of the period of life is to reach Nirvana, since is the process of liberation from earthly ties to enter the universe as one subject.

This original doctrine of India considers that the Moksha It is the first step to start the transition and later you reach the siddha, which would be the final stage and in which the individual is released forever.

What do I do to achieve nirvana? Although it is not a simple process, through different concentration practices and spiritual strategies it is possible to reach Nirvana and thus reach spiritual healing. To do this, we recommend following these steps:

• Practice meditation: meditating regularly will bring you closer to a state of higher balance. If you don't know how to do it on your own, it's best to seek a spiritual guide to help you find your own way in life. meditation.
• Learn to see the world as it is: it is about moving away from prejudices to appreciate each step as life experiences and not as problems and sacrifices. You must learn that nothing is perfect or permanent, but that everything is in continuous transformation.
• Establish a correct belief system: Promote habits based on positive values ​​such as respect, kindness or solidarity and in which violence and hatred are far from all your actions.
• Value all living things: plants, animals and all living beings are deserving of respect and compassion. Therefore, to achieve Nirvana you must appreciate and value all universal creation as part of a whole.
• Speak the correct words: Words have power, so get in the habit of expressing positive words. At the same time, empower your thoughts to move them away from negative and limiting thoughts that can hold you back.
• Learn to let go: detachment is essential to achieve Nirvana. Try to put aside all attachment to material things and people. Remember that everything in this life is fleeting.
• Be empathic: Putting yourself in the place of others is one of the most important steps to reach Nirvana. Treat other people with kindness, mercy and care and the universe will reward you in a great way.
• Lead a healthy life: Food and exercise help you to be a better person and therefore bring you closer to a state of absolute balance. In short, lead a proper lifestyle.

Similarly, to enter Nirvana it is essential focus on breathing to raise your concentration levels and, above all, try to improve day by day as a person.

This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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• Albahari, M. (2011). Nirvana and ownerless consciousness. Self, not self, 79-113.
• Collins, S. (1998). Nirvana and other Buddhist congratulations (No. 12). Cambridge University Press.