Four Stages Of Evolution
Let me begin with something that may at first come as a surprise to you. All men and women on the Earth are doing exactly as they should and must do. People complain, “I wish I were rich. I wish I lived somewhere else. I really should be a doctor. If only things were different.” But in the final analysis, we are all doing exactly as we want, as we must, doing what is next on our personal path of evolution. Nothing is wrong. Nothing should be that is not. Even the drunk, even the thief, is part of the cosmic dance of God Śiva. Not that you should ever think of being a thief, for there is much difficult karma there. Just realize that he, too, is evolving. He, too, is Śiva’s creation, and what he does is, for him, somehow necessary.
Just look at the world. Warriors have to fight their battles. Priests have to take care of their temples. Businessmen must sell their goods. Farmers must grow their crops and tend their flocks. Teachers must pass on knowledge. Each one has to do what he has to do in the great cosmic dance of Śiva. Each one follows the path of service leading to devotion, which leads to spiritual disciplines of yoga. Finally, that yoga culminates in the attainment of Truth, or God Realization. These are the four mārgas leading the soul to its very Self.
For Hindus, the path is seen as divided into four stages or phases of inner development. Some say karma yoga, bhakti yoga, rāja yoga and jñāna; others say charyā, kriyā, yoga and jñāna. Either way, it is basically the same—progressive stages followed by the soul in its quest for God. We are speaking here of the way the ancients attained their realizations, how they lived their lives, suffered, went through mental pain in their tapas, walked the San Mārga path through life—charyā, kriyā, yoga and jñāna—and in that process unwound the karmas of the past, learned to live fully in the present, abashed the person of themselves to be the soul of themselves. They practiced true yoga to obtain release from rebirth, moksha, which only the realization of the Absolute Truth can give. There is, of course, no action too great to render to persist on the path of enlightenment, once the path has clearly been defined.
Jñāna is the last stage. Most people don’t understand jñāna. They think it is little more than intellectual study of the path, a simple kind of wisdom. But jñāna does not mean simplistic reading of scriptures or understanding of philosophical books and knowing pat answers to stereotyped questions. Jñāna is the blossoming of wisdom, of enlightened consciousness, of true being. Jñāna is the state of the realized soul who knows Absolute Reality through personal experience, who has reached the end of the spiritual path after many, many lifetimes.
Yoga is the path of sādhana, or discipline, leading the advanced soul toward jñāna. Yoga is divided into eight parts, ranging from the simple physical disciplines and diet, up to the deepest contemplation gained through perfect control of mind. Yoga does not mean just sitting in lotus for half an hour each day in a penthouse or doing haṭha yoga āsanas for health and beauty. It means yoga as performed by the yogīs of yore, the renegades from society, tapasvins ready to face the fire of sādhana, brave souls who have given up all else in their search for Truth, persevering with an iron will until they accomplish what they seek.
Kriyā is basically worship and devotion, or the expression of our love of the Divine through various ceremonies and rituals. Kriyā does not mean mindlessly or superstitiously attending temple services to look good in the community, to be with friends, to gossip or talk of politics and other human affairs. It is a genuine communion with the inner worlds, a profound stage in which the heart swells and eyes overflow with internalized worship, love and surrender.
Charyā is service, but it does not mean empty service, unthinking performance of traditional rites or just marrying off daughters, thus forestalling premarital affairs. It is service done selflessly, it is dharma performed consciously, it is worship offered wholly and it is goodness in thought, word and deed.