To awaken to a state self realization consider this:

The very nature of the world is duality.

Life and death, happiness and unhappiness, attraction and repulsion.  There cannot be one without the other.

The very nature of the ego is to seek only one side of the equation.  The ego wants life and not death, wants happiness and not unhappiness, attraction and not repulsion.

So as the very nature of the world is duality; you cannot have one opposite without the other.  And as the very nature of the ego is to seek pleasure over pain, you cannot expect it to be different.

But if you accept both.

If you accept that the world will always exist as a dichotomy.   And that the ego, will always seek only one side of this dichotomy.

If you accept that both exist exactly as they are supposed to, and that both are incongruent with one another, then what happens?

What happens is you transcend both.  You relax into a deeper truth.  You realize what is beyond the world beyond the ego, as attention itself.

The nature of which is oneness.  This is self-realization.

Peace, without there being an opposite to peace.  Love without there being an opposite to love.  Bliss without there being an opposite to bliss.

The world continues, the ego continues, and you rest in the underlying current of the whole experience which is conscious bliss.

It is not about changing your world, nor is it about changing the ego.  It is about allowing both and experiencing what is underneath.

You awaken to the bliss that is lighting up the whole show in the first place.

And in this you awaken to a state of self realization.

To attain self realization some form of Shakti (Spiritual energy) is usually needed. Usually this Shakti is given through an enlightened master. But if you check out the "Kundalini Awakening CD" link below, you will discover how you can experience this Shakti simply by listening to a unique CD.