There are two paths to Self-Realization.

1. The Kramic path or a step-by-step path, and
2. The Akram path or a shortcut, step-less path.

The Enlightened One explains:

There are two types of path in this world.

One is step by step, step by step, step by step, we have to do something to achieve Self-Realization – doing some meditation, some worship, chanting some mantra, or some penance, or leaving our home, wife, everything, or doing sadhna for finding out ‘who am I’. So, in religion, they are teaching that do something – chant some mantra, do meditation, do worship and you will finally get Self-Realization. But that is a long, long, long path.

So many years and so many lives we have passed on that path, still we have not achieved Self-Realization. It is possible to attain Self-Realization from that path also while in the presence of Tirthankars like Lord Mahavir or say Lord Krishna. In the presence of such an Enlightened person, we can terminate our journey for Self-Realization. But in this time (presently), there is no such Tirthankar, no such Gnani is available.

But due to our merit karma, in this time, Dada Bhagwan, he got such a spiritual knowledge, and this is not a step-by-step path. It is a step-less path or an elevator path. Within exactly forty-eight minutes, we get realization of the Self and within next one hour, we get the five principles teaching us how to remain in pure Soul and how to dissolve our discharge karma (karma that we have already bound in our past life). So there should not be any new karma charged, and all our discharge karma of past life, we can finish without charging any new karma by remaining in our awareness of pure Soul.

Here, within two hours, we get the knowledge of ‘who am I and who is the doer.’

This is a path for Self-Realization. Dada got this realization in 1958. Since childhood, he was searching who is governing this whole Universe, who am I, who is the doer behind all this happening, how this world is created – he was searching for answers to these questions, which are called spiritual questions. In 1958, on getting realization, he got solution to all of these spiritual questions.

That is called the Akram path or the stepless path to Self-Realization.

So, the worldly path is the step-by-step path for reaching Self-Realization. We have to do worship, or do penance or leave husband or wife or home, money, property and do some meditation, worship, etc to develop in order to reach the stage of attaining Self-Realization. And this is the step-less path for Self-Realization. We directly realize our Self by the grace of Dada Bhagwan in two hours only.

On the path called ‘Akram Vignan’ i.e. the Akram Science of Self-realization, leaving the old religion and adopting the new religion is not required. Whatever we are believing in, leave it as it is (let it remain). We don’t want to change that, but we have to realize who am I, what is the correctness in this world. So no change of our Guru or our religion is required. Whatever rituals we are doing, we can continue to do, but inside we are knowing, ‘who am I and who is the doer’. And once we know ‘who am I’, then only our spiritual progress can start!!