Souls

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Om Namah Sivaya

 

Vedanta considers karma yoga, bhakti yoga, raja yoga

and jnana yoga as four separate nonprogressive paths.

Karma yoga for active people, bhakti yoga for

emotional people and jnana yoga for intellectual

people, etc.

 

However in Saivite Hindu path we consider them to be

four stages of a Progressive path, termed charya,

kriya, yoga and jnana. These four categories are the

natural sequence of the soul's evolutionary process,

much like the development of a butterfly from egg to

larva, from larva to catapillar, from caterpillar to

pupa, and then the final metamorphosis from pupa to

butterfly.

 

Charya is the performance of altruistic religious

service and living according to traditional ethical

conduct & culture and is the stage of overcoming basic

instinctive patterns. This has the magical effect of

softening ego bringing forth the soul’s innate

devotion. Here the soul relates to God as servant to

master

 

Kriya is joyous and regular worship (includes puja,

japa, fasting and scriptural learning). In this stage

one overcomes the obstinacy of the

instinctive-intellectual mind. We now look upon the

deity image not as cave stone, but as living presence

of the God. Here the soul relates to God as son to his

parents.

 

Yoga is internalized worship which leads to union with

God. In this stage the kundalini fire of consciousness

ascends to the higher charkas, burning the dross of

ignorance and past karmas and leads first to Savikalpa

Samadhi, the contemplative experience of

Satchidananda, and ultimately to nirvikalpa Samadhi,

Parasiva. Here the soul relates to God as the best

friend.

 

Jnana is divine wisdom emanating from an enlightened

being, a soul in its maturity, immersed in Sivaness,

the blessed realization of God, while living out

earthly karma. He is the liberated one, the

jivanmukta. Here the soul identity itself with Siva.

One does not become a Jnani simply by reading and

understanding philosophy as the state of jnana lies

beyond the intellect.

 

We can clearly see Sri Ramakrishna passed through

theses four stages in his life. This clearly

illustrates that he was a divine incarnation as the

evolution of an ordinary soul through the stage of

Charya may itself take many, many lives.

 

 

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