By Shomik Chaudhuri
“Expansion of happiness is the purpose of life and evolution is the process through which it is fulfilled. Life begins in a natural way; it evolves and happiness expands. It is through meditation that the expansion of happiness takes place and carries with it the expansion of Peace, Bliss, Joy, Intelligence, Power, Creativity and everything that may be said to be of significance in life” – Mahavatar Kriya Babaji.
The evolution of humans or for that matter, life-forms, happen with the evolution of consciousness. Right from the lower forms of life to the human being, the evolution of consciousness follows the life of a flower which starts with being in the covered state and then transforming itself into a fully bloomed form through the stages.
The evolution of consciousness begins from the ‘Covered’ state of consciousness that we observe in trees and plants who are conscious but are not visibly demonstrating that.
Other living entities, such as worms, insects and other animals are in a ‘Shrunken’ consciousness. They are not as covered as plants but their consciousness is not developed either.
Human beings have a ‘Budding’ consciousness. A bud appears shrunken but it has the potential to bloom into a flower. Human consciousness has a similar potential, it appears shrunken like the animals but humans have the hidden potential to develop their consciousness to an unlimited extent, up to Self-realization or God realization.
Other species do not have this special ability. That is why Vedic scriptures consider the human form of life as the most elevated. In fact, all scriptures consider human life sacred.
When human beings begin to inquire sincerely about the Absolute Truth, the Budding consciousness begins to expand or evolve. That is the Blooming state of consciousness. With regular spiritual practices and discipline, he evolves further. Finally, he attains the Fully Bloomed state of consciousness when he attains God-realization.
Yoga philosophy teaches that the individual spirit or atman operates through five bodies or sheaths called the pancha kosha. This concept, explained in the Taittiriya Upanishad, give
Each sheath can be transcended through yogic practices. As we work through the sheaths, we will stop identifying ourselves with these layers, be the body, mind, or intellect, and we begin to recognize that our actual and real self is beyond these five layers.
Understanding the layers of one’s being is key to obtaining happiness and success in life. If we fail to recognize our true self, we will forever live at a surface level, slave to our desires and an illusory understanding of the world.
Taking Kriya Babaji’s statement into context, everyone is searching for happiness in material and other pursuits. Unfortunately, all these endeavors fall short as infinite and perpetual happiness cannot be found in material pursuits. The eternal and absolute happiness lies not in material sensory or other pleasures but in the depth of our true selves or atma in the core of our existence.
The only way to elevate our consciousness from the material level to that core is through meditation and penance. Over time and through penance the consciousness moves from the Budding stage to the Blooming stage. Finally, when the consciousness attains God Realization or Self Realization, then the human can enter into the infinite ocean of happiness or bliss. That is the Fully Bloomed state of consciousness.
God is Bliss, Happiness and Love. Once a human dives deep into the divine consciousness, all the divine qualities emerge from inside him. Peace, Bliss, Joy, Intelligence, Power, Creativity and everything that may be said to be of significance in life starts expanding to infinite proportions. That is Life Divine and should be the goal of every human being.
