Vitrag means one who is free from all forms of attachment, one who is beyond all worldly duality, completely impartial and in a state of perfection. Due to these attributes, despite having a physical body, a vitrag is completely liberated and in total bliss. No circumstances regardless of their gravity can perturb these omniscient.  The state of the Vitrag is the ultimate state of spiritual evolution of mankind. A Tirthankar is the embodiment of all these attributes; hence a Tirthankar is also referred to as Vitrag.

Knowledge imparted by the Vitrags is knowledge of liberation. It is knowledge that is perfect, universal and absolute.  It is knowledge of the divine reality that leads one to the state of true eternal bliss of the Self (Sat Chit Anand), the state of omniscience.  It is knowledge that brings one into his natural state of perfection.

The soul within every living being is the divine reality. Self realization is one’s spiritual awakening to his real Self and the realization that the soul is indeed one’s real Self.   This knowledge is the essence of the science of all the Vitrags.   This knowledge is documented in countless spiritual books; however it remains as just that: knowledge in words but not in experience. The experience of this knowledge begins with the awakening of the Soul when one acquires Self realization from a living Vitrag; the experience cannot come through reading scriptures or through self-effort. Only a living enlightened being can enlighten others. The process towards perfection begins upon attaining Self realization. Once you are awakened to your real Self, once you acquire the true vision, the divine vision, you come into your own attributes.

The science of the Vitrag states that your belief of ‘I am John.  I am a husband, a father etc’ is a wrong belief; it is a worldly belief. This is ego; to believe what you are not is ego (aham).  Inherent in this wrong belief is also the belief of doer-ship ‘I am doing penance. I practice medication.  I do charitable work etc.’ and this is the doer-ship of the ego (ahamkar). This wrong belief is the basis of binding new karma; it is the very belief that keeps one in bondage with the worldly life because it is laden with attachment and abhorrence. Upon Self-realization, ‘John’ becomes your relative self and the real You (Soul) become the ‘seer’ and the ‘knower’ of John, all that is within John and John’s worldly life. After Self-realization, John still remains, his worldly life remains because of the karma he has bound. However by remaining in his natural state as the seer and the knower, all of John’s karmas, both good and bad, will be discharged with equanimity and because there is no longer the ‘doer of attachment and abhorrence’; the ego with its doership has no existence and hence there is no bondage of new karma.  The science of the Vitraag is to know the real as real and the relative as relative. 

The knowledge of the Vitrag Lords can be acquired only if there is a presence of a living Vitrag.  Hence this knowledge has remained hidden for thousands of years.  However, in 1958, a phenomenal natural and spontaneous manifestation of the collective science of the Vitrags came to manifest within A. M. Patel, who later came to be known as ‘Dadashri’. From that moment on, A. M. Patel became a Avatar, the enlightened vitrag as the Lord within him expressed completely.  Through the divine presence of the Lord within Him, Dadashri became the instrument through whom, thousands acquired Self realization and began experiencing the bliss of the Self.  Even today thousands continue to acquire the same and countless others will attain salvation. This knowledge that manifested within Him is not just the collective knowledge of all the Vitrag Lords but it is also a short-cut path to Self Realization called ‘Akram Vignan’; it gives instant liberation and it is so rare that it manifests once every million years! It was Dadashri’s ardent desire that the world learns of this science and acquire it and attain liberation. Although Dadashri is no longer living, he has passed on his special powers to Pujya Deepakbhai Desai, who currently is the representative that carries the torch of this phenomenal science. 

Dadashri used to say that the Dada Bhagwan, the Lord within is fully manifest at 360º; however because of the effect of the current time cycle on earth, A. M. Patel, the relative self was unable to digest the spiritual knowledge completely and hence his relative self stands evolved at 356º.  Whenever Dadashri imparts knowledge of Self realization, he graces everyone with the perfect knowledge of 360º; however the degree to which one is able to experience the bliss of the Self, is congruent to the degree of his relative imperfection. Nevertheless, as time passes, one’s vision of divinity grows and so does his degrees of becoming vitrag.  This science(vignan) of the Vitrag Lords is so simple and beautiful that after acquiring Self realization, one simply has to abide by, through applied understanding, the five aagnas (i.e. five cardinal principles that Dadashri gives to live by).  As one remains steadfast in his resolve to abide by the five Aagnas, he moves that much closer to becoming vitrag.  True it is not possible to become absolute Vitrag in the current time cycle, but at least one can embark on the journey towards it.  Dadashri used to say that in order to acquire Self realization, there are only two prerequisites: absolute humility towards the Gnani and an approach of ‘I don’t know anything’.  ‘If you come to me with an empty pitcher, I can fill it with pure knowledge, if your pitcher is half-full, you will not get the full benefit of this Gnan.’