The Reality Of Manifestation Vs The Online Business Hype Around It

Q: What is the meaning of manifestation?

Manifestation means turning one’s thoughts or dreams into reality. However, modern-day manifestation has been emotionally marketed as a way to gain instant control or success. Spiritually, manifestation is about awareness, faith, and action — not merely wishful thinking.

Q: Is manifestation real or just a trend?

Manifestation is real, but not in the magical way most online gurus present it. It’s rooted in discipline, belief, and action — timeless principles rebranded for the digital age.

Q: Do I need to write my desires daily to manifest them?

Not necessarily. Writing may help you stay focused initially, but constantly repeating desires can create exhaustion and attachment. Real manifestation comes from clear intention, steady effort, and patience.

Q: What’s the best way to manifest, or the spiritual way to manifest?

Spiritual manifestation stands on five pillars: Awareness of your aim, Wisdom (intent without deep attachment), Effort without expectation, Surrender and letting go, and Patience. These align you with the universe naturally.

Q: Why is letting go important in manifestation?

Letting go prevents over-attachment, which creates emotional exhaustion. When you release expectations, you align with peace, faith, and natural flow — allowing results to unfold effortlessly.

Q: Can manifestation work without effort?

No, manifestation doesn’t replace effort. It amplifies it. Without consistent and meaningful action, manifestation remains an idea — not a reality.

Q: What does ‘detached attachment’ mean in manifestation?

Detached attachment means working sincerely towards your goal without being enslaved by the outcome. You stay committed yet calm, knowing your effort itself brings peace and growth.

Themes – Awareness, Social Media Traps, Spiritual Awareness, Spirituality

Manifestation — this word has perhaps been the word of the year for some time. You can find thousands of YouTube channels and podcasts, where people, guides, and gurus talk about techniques to manifest your desires and at the same time, they sell courses regarding the same, to teach you how to get that dream job, the dream home or your dream girl, by the power of manifestation.

But how much reality is there in their words? How much science do their words really hold at the backend of what they speak? We will discuss everything around it here.

So, first come first, let’s understand what most of the manifestation guides and their techniques say.

Here are some of the most common points that you will find in every technique and course that are being sold to teach you about manifestation –

AFFIRMATION –
Write your desires down multiple times.

2. VISUALIZATION –
Think it has already happened and feel that emotion – to align with the frequency of that happening in the future, which makes it kind of a sure shot to manifest it.

3) Don’t doubt

4) Keep putting in your effort

5) And stick to the rules of the techniques

But here are a few questions that we must answer, before jumping into our cravings of desires and getting into the magical and metaphysical journey of manifestation –

Sl. No	Instructions	Reality Check
1.	Write your desires down to keep your aim clean and intact in your mind.	Now tell me, if you naturally just stick to a resolution and follow it for a period of time — like donating a piece of bread to a stray dog every day, or chanting a mantra before sleep, or to increase the difficulty level — let’s say you take a resolution not to use your phone as you wake up and before you go to sleep — if you practice any such habit for around a month — won’t it become a natural habit? And by doing this, you won’t even need to write it down to remind yourself; instead, it will become a habit of yours. But the sellers of the manifestation techniques bring an emotional factor here, which actually makes you desire your desires even more, as you repeat them by writing or seeing the same thing again and again. But as the guides say, manifestation is a spiritual science, doesn’t it make you too attached to desire, which is perhaps the first and last thing that spiritual texts say to let go? But anyways. Even if we decide on a goal and practice sticking to the goal, isn’t it a very normal way to proceed with any goal? Then why put a fancy commercialised word like manifestation to it when it should be a daily practice or more like a daily discipline?
2.	Think it has already happened and feel that emotion — to align with the frequency of that happening in the future, which makes it kind of a sure shot to manifest it.	This technique is used to increase your faith to a level that you start to believe that whatever you want or wish for, it can be achieved, and once you believe in it, you naturally put effort into keeping that belief alive. Now, think of a situation where a student wishes for 95% in the board exams or wants to qualify for NEET or crack the IIT examinations. As he imagines achieving it and living the life that he thinks it might offer, the drive to work towards his goal increases. And as he works hard and puts in every effort, he achieves it with time. Now, isn’t this something that we naturally do or have done many times with small things like going on a trip, scoring a century in gully cricket, or getting good scores in exams? Yes. But at that time, when we were kids and hardly had any idea about the cosmic journey of manifestation, we still were manifesting, right? Or perhaps the way is just a natural way to achieve anything, with no need for a fancy word until and unless you want to create a layer of brand or make a business out of it? Moreover, manifestation techniques do come with conditions applied as well, according to which, you can’t just manifest to grow wings and fly or buy a private jet the very next year. And that’s actually a practical thing, reminding us that manifestation is just a rebranding of the discipline that we have always followed and is being served to us as something new and a very miraculous journey.
3.	Don’t doubt.	Well, this is kind of a sub-point of the previous one, because if you doubt, you don’t believe. And when you don’t believe that you can achieve something, you don’t put personal effort, which eventually stops you from achieving your goal. Again, it’s a very generic practice that we had always been taught by our parents and teachers, even before the magic of manifestation came into our lives.
4.	Keep putting in your effort.	Again, it’s something very normal and a needed practice — to put effort into achieving your goals, and I wonder why we need a word like “Manifestation” here. It’s a very logical fact that if you want to reach a place, you either have to drive, take a bus, board a train, or do anything to reach the place. That is, in the end, you have to put in the effort, without which you can’t just teleport there by closing your eyes and wishing for it.
5.	Stick to the rules of the techniques.	This is the summation of all — 1) To remember your goal. 2) By reminding yourself of the goal and building emotions for it, you start to believe that you can achieve it. 3) As you believe, you naturally put effort to keep that belief alive. 4) With constant effort and patience, you eventually achieve it. So you stick to these in order to achieve what you wish and work hard for it, or, from a commercial and modern selling point of view, you manifest by doing the same.

So to sum up, you tell me –

If you have a defined goal.
If you can imagine and feel the happiness of achieving your goal, won’t it make you want it more?
(In the creepiest and naked truth way – just think of when you imagine having sex, and you start to feel if you could really have it, and you’ll have your answer.)
So, when you think of what you wish, when you feel the happiness of achieving it, your desire intensifies, and further pushes you to the next step –
Putting Effort – As you put effort, things get on track with time. But –
In life, things take turns and twists. Hence, patience, constant effort, and perseverance become important to achieve your goal.

Now, going back to the question, if you follow these, won’t you eventually achieve your goal in the end? Or does it still need a word that creates a magical feeling around it, because we’re just bored with the word called “Discipline”?

Well, I can remember a funny incident that happened when I went to Kamakhya Temple in Assam, which is known for fulfilling wishes. As then I was in standard 10th and my father promised to give me a mobile phone if I scored above 90%, I wished Maa Kamakhya, to get me above 90% in the boards. After this, I totally forgot the wish, and I knew I had to study to get the marks as Maa wouldn’t come and write answers in the exams. Hence, I really studied hard and eventually got the marks that I deserved. I did get the phone with a touchscreen display to flaunt, but now I wonder, was it my hard work, or did I really waste a wish, just for a phone?

Jokes apart, it’s a very logical way of life – that if you believe, if you nurture that belief and really wish to have it, you get the entire Kaaynaat from within yourself (I mean you put every effort that you can), you strive for it with hard work and with patience, you eventually achieve it.

So again, it all returns to the same question, and that is– where was the need for the word Manifestation throughout our lives until we entered the digital world?

The Half Science that Manifestation Guides Tell you –

The guides and gurus talking about manifestation often mention a scientific fact about how it works, but in reality and a scientific point of view, they just touch the science from the surface, leaving an uncertain and unpredictable, but truly scientific tangent involved in the same mechanism they talk about.

You would often hear the guides telling you that the entire universe is basically made of waves and frequencies, which includes you, me, every object around and also your future desires. They say, as you start to feel that you already have achieved your goal or wish, your emotions, which carry a frequency, starts to align with the material manifestation of the same future event, making it more probable to happen in the future. Hence, by creating that feeling within yourself, you manifest it. But yeah, the conditions are: put effort, wait patiently, and don’t get tired or change your goal.

Coming back to the science that manifestation guides mention –

Well, it’s true that when you align with a similar frequency, information starts to flow seamlessly – and yes, that’s how radio works (a classic example always pitched by manifestation guides). In science, it’s called Resonance.

But if you really want to dive into the science – there are other aspects that the guides never mention about or perhaps they just don’t go with the marketing of the concept or business of modern-day manifestation.

But let us understand the trickier layers of science by ourselves, which our guides and gurus tried to dodge–

Opposite things attract each other, and like things repel each other.

Frequencies don’t always have one wave; instead, they are mostly electromagnetic waves with two waves – the electric wave and the magnetic wave.

And whether it’s electricity or a magnetic field, since school, we have been taught that like poles repel and unlike poles attract. And by the way, poles just don’t only mean poles of a magnet, they basically mean the polarity including negative and positive polarity.

Now, putting these into the ways that the manifestation guides suggest to follow, you can’t actually tell if thinking of what you desire and creating the feeling of having it already will actually work, or it needs some negative polarity, like a reality check as well?

What I mean is that, if we really consider the science behind our quantum existence, it’s very difficult to know what amount of positivity (positive polarity) and what amount of negativity (negative polarity) will create that particular frequency, which aligns with your desires, which further can manifest into material reality.

In other words, it’s actually wrong to conclude that only positive emotions will align you with your so-called desired frequency, allowing you to manifest it.

In the end, what I want to highlight is that the frequency that the guides and gurus talk about consists of further layers, where positive polarity and negative polarity both must exist for the entire wave or frequency to exist. With just one wave, scientifically, even light won’t exist as it appears to us.

The Metaphysical/Spiritual Aspects of Manifestation -

Spirituality does come into play when you talk about manifestation, because the entire word or intention of manifestation, relies on the belief of the existence of a higher hand or a metaphysical or spiritual reality.

But, does a real aspect of manifestation exist?

Well, the answer is – Yes. Real manifestation does have a spiritual aspect and it’s mentioned in our Hindu texts as well. But it’s very unlike the modern-day intentions of selling manifestation.

The real and pure form of manifestation, which itself is spiritual in nature, follows a very humble and wise approach, and they can be mentioned as follows –

DO NOT DESIRE :

Desire comes out of attachment, and when you desire, it means you already hone a feeling that you don’t have what you want. And this is where modern-day manifestation technique loses its mask, as at one step it says to believe that you have achieved it and in the next step it says to write it down, make wishes on seeing 1111, which itself speaks that you don’t have it, and that’s why you’re wishing for it.

But spiritually, manifestation moves towards a direction where your feelings are beyond attachment and more towards wisdom and the natural flow of life. It’s like when you were a kid or an infant, you never made a wish to grow up safely and stay alive till today. Yet you did it, and I do wish you a long and healthy life, but the point is – as per Spirituality, things naturally follow an order, and as you realize it, you start to align with it. And as you align, things come to you as per your need without even wishing for them. That’s how air comes to us and we breathe, our heart beats to keep us alive, and life keeps moving with shocks and surprises.

2) SURRENDER :

Modern-day manifestation techniques ask you to put in a lot of effort, and whether you accept it or not, it generally exhausts you.

But spiritually, it’s always said that what’s made for you, will eventually arrive at your feet, even if you would be walking away from it. Hence, all you need is to be aware of the above points and surrender to that unknown aspect of life which maintains the oxygen levels, the gravitational pull of Earth, the oceans, the distance of the sun from us, and the giant asteroids in our solar system and so on.

In the end, to truly know if you are on the right path, spirituality says watch if what you desire exhausts you or energizes you with wisdom, compassion, and love

LET GO :

Again, modern-day manifestation wants you to stick to the techniques (perhaps to keep their audience and market growing), but the truth is – if you really believe something is for you, and your efforts make you feel more alive, energetic, and compassionate, then you don’t even need to keep reminding yourself of it or to wish for it.

Because when you know you deserve it, just by your pure intentions and effort, you get all the patience to wait for it until it arrives. And by this method, you don’t exhaust yourself by writing it down or burdening your brain.

In the end, when the path is this spiritual and wise, the words take different shapes –

Desire without attachment becomes the universe’s natural flow and imagery.
Surrender becomes the truest form of belief and faith.
Detached attachment – that is, when you want something truly and you’re sincere about it, yet not burdened with it to get exhausted – ultimately keeps you energetic, happy, and filled with hope and life.
Let Go = Things come to you as if the Universe wishes it for you without your effort.

This is when, spiritually, thoughts really turn into reality, like real magic, and things manifest – not out of your desires emerging from attachment, but out of you, or in other words – your true frequency becomes one with the Universe’s. With this realization and achievement of wisdom, your wishes become the universe’s wishes, and your body becomes a tool through which the universe fulfills its wishes.

And that’s the way to truly manifest.

FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions about Manifestation

1. What is the meaning of manifestation?

The literal meaning of manifestation is turning one’s thoughts, ideas, or dreams into material reality, or you can also think of it as an event appearing in time, while it wasn’t there earlier.

But the emotional layer that is often added to the term manifestation to make businesses out of is that you can create or achieve anything you wish with the power of the universe that’s within you.

As we know that the current times have been toughest for the young minds, hampering our mental and emotional health, it’s a statistical truth of the current world that we are more insecure and tend to look for more power to keep our self-worth strong.

And in such a situation, a cosmic power within yourself, like manifestation, serves best to deliver that power or self-worth to most of us.

While the path to achieve anything has always been knowing the goal, sticking to it, putting in effort – whether by feeling or imagining how happy you would be once you achieve it, or by any means, now it has been given a layer of emotion and rebranded as Manifestation to sell it to the society.

But spiritually, that’s not the real meaning of manifestation when.

2. Is manifestation real or just a trend?

As I mentioned above and also in the article, manifestation has always been a discipline to achieve any goal, and it has been there before the internet rebranded it as something powerful to satisfy the mental and emotional health crisis the current world is going through.

3. Do I need to write my desires daily to manifest them?

Ask yourself, if you really desire something, can you stop putting effort into it? And if you put effort and have patience, do you really need to keep writing about it?

But yes, to set up smaller goals like following a schedule or sticking to your plans – something like a to-do list to be on track with your goal, has always been beneficial.

And while it comes to writing down the same desire again and again, maybe initially it might help, but with time, as you keep writing your desires, it will intensify the hunger for results. And once that happens, you might lose your patience and feel exhausted. This will further break your faith in yourself, make you lose interest in your goal, and stop you from putting more effort into it, and eventually, this won’t take you any closer to your goal.

4. What’s the best way to manifest, or the spiritual way to manifest?

Spirituality does mention manifestation, and it stands on the following pillars –

Awareness of your aim
Wisdom – Your aim shouldn’t come from deep attachment and should hold the right intent.
Putting in effort without expecting quick results, instead just enjoying the process of moving forward and doing everything for your dream.
Surrender and letting go – Surrender brings more belief and faith in yourself, making you less exhausted and more energized with every effort you put towards your goal.
Patience – You must have patience to see the results of the seeds of hard work and right intentions you sow.

5. Why is letting go important in manifestation?

Letting go is important in manifestation because when you don’t let go, you increase the feeling of not having your desires, hence creating a feeling of dissatisfaction for yourself. You might put in more effort, but eventually, if you don’t let go, you’ll get exhausted from striving and lose the patience. This will lead you to lose your faith in yourself, saving you from making any further effort, hence taking you away from your goal/desire.

6. Can manifestation work without effort?

No! Not at all! Effort is essential. Manifestation is not about wishful thinking — it’s about taking consistent, meaningful action towards what you want, while staying emotionally balanced.

7. What does ‘detached attachment’ mean in manifestation?

Detached attachment means caring deeply about your goal without being consumed by it. You work sincerely, yet remain peaceful even when results take time – just by enjoying your sincerity towards your goal and knowing that with every effort you’re moving closer to it.