the divine theme

7/29/2019 The Divine Theme

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The Divine Theme

Evolution, Reincarnation, and the Path to

Realization

By Meher Baba

[This discourse represents a highly condensed version ofthe material elucidated in Meher Baba's master work, GodSpeaks. Its reading can serve as an excellent meditationfor those familiar with the material in book. It is reprintedhere with the kind permission ofSufism Reoriented. -

Webmaster]A soul becomes perfect after passing through evolution,reincarnation, and the process of realization. To gain fullconsciousness, it gets increasing sanskaras in the processof evolution, till in the human form, it gets fullconsciousness as well as all the gross sanskaras.

In the process of reincarnation, this soul retains its full

consciousness and exchanges (i.e., alternatinglyexperiences) the diverse sanskaras in itself; and in theprocess of realization, this soul retains its full consciouness,but its sanskaras become fainter and fainter till they alldisappear and only consciousness remains. Whilebecoming faint, gross sanskaras become subtle sanskaras,subtle sanskaras become mental sanskaras; and finallythey all disappear.

Up to the human form, the winding process ofsanskarasbecomes stronger and stronger in the process of evolution.In the human form, in the process of reincarnation, thewinding retains its full strength; but in the process ofrealization, the sanskaras gradually unwind themselves, tillin the God-state, they are completely unwound.

God, the Over-Soul, alone is real. Nothing exists but God.The different souls are in the Over-Soul and one with it. The
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processes of evolution, reincarnation, and realization are allnecessary in order to enable the soul to gain self-consciousness. In the process of winding, sanskarasbecome instrumental for the evolution of consciousnessthough they also give sanskaric bindings; and in theprocess of unwinding, sanskaric attachments areannihilated, though the consciousness which has beengained is fully retained.

In the process of the winding of sanskaras, the soul goesthrough seven stages of descent; and in the process ofunwinding, the soul goes through seven stages of ascent.

But the phenomena of descent as well as ascent are bothillusory. The soul is everywhere and indivisibly infinite; andit does not move or descend or ascend.

The souls of all men and women, of all nationalities, castes,and creeds, are really one; and their experiences of goodand evil, of fighting and helping, of waging wars and livingin peace are all a part of illusion and delusion, because all

these experiences are gained through bodies and minds,which in themselves are nothing.

Before the world of forms and duality came into existence,there was nothing but God, i.e., an indivisible andboundless ocean of Power, Knowledge, and Bliss. But thisocean was unconscious of itself. Picture to yourself thisocean as absolutely still and calm, unconscious of its

Power, Knowledge, and Bliss, and unconscious that it is theocean. The billions of drops which are in the ocean do nothave any consciousness; they do not know that they aredrops nor that they are in the ocean nor that they are apart of the ocean. This represents the original state ofReality.

This original state of Reality comes to be disturbed by anurge to know itself. This urge was always latent in theocean; and when it begins to express itself, it endows the


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drops with individuality. When this urge makes the stillwater move, there immediately spring up numerousbubbles or forms around the drops; and it is these bubbleswhich give individuality to the drops. The bubbles do notand cannot actually divide the indivisible ocean; theycannot separate the drop from the ocean; they merely giveto these drops a feeling of separateness or limitedindividuality.

Now let us study the life of one drop-soul through itsdifferent stages. Owing to the arising of the bubble, thedrop-soul which was completely unconscious is invested

with individuality (or a feeling of separateness) as well aswith very slight consciousness. This consciousness, whichhas sprung up in the drop-soul, is not of itself nor of theocean; but it is of the bubble or the form, which in itself isnothing. This imperfect bubble at this stage is representedby the form of a stone. After some time, this bubble orform bursts and there springs up in its place anotherbubble or form. Now, when a bubble bursts, two things

happen: (1) there is an increase in consciousness, and (2)there is a twist or consolidation of impressions or sanskarasaccumulated during the life of the previous bubble. Theconsciousness of the drop-soul has now slightly increased;but the drop-soul is still conscious only of this new bubbleor form and not of itself nor of the ocean. This new bubbleis represented by the form of the metal. This new bubble orform also bursts in due course of time; and simultaneously

there is a further increase in consciousness and a freshtwist or consolidation ofsanskaras, which gives rise to theemergence of another type of bubble or form.

This process continues right through the course ofevolution, which covers the stages of stones, metals,vegetables, worms, fishes, birds, and animals. Every timethat the previous bubble or form bursts, it gains more

consciousness and adds one twist to the alreadyaccumulated sanskaras, until it reaches the human bubble


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or form, in which the ever-increasing consciousnessbecomes full and complete. The process of the winding upof sanskaras consists of these regular twists; and it is thesetwists which keep the consciousness, gained by the drop-soul, directed and fixed towards the bubble or the forminstead of towards its real Self, even when consciousness isfully developed in the human form.

On gaining the human form, the second process begins;this process is that of reincarnation. At this point, theprocess of the winding up of sanskaras comes to an end.

The drop-soul takes numerous human forms one by one;

and these forms are exactly eighty-four lakhs in number.These human forms are sometimes those of man andsometimes those of woman; and they change nationalities,appearance, color, and creed. The drop-soul throughhuman incarnations experiences itself sometimes as abeggar and sometimes as a king, and thus gathersexperiences of the opposities of happiness or miseryaccording to its good or bad sanskaras. In reincarnation

(i.e., in its successive and several human forms) the drop-soul retains its full consciousness but continues to havealternating experiences of opposite sanskaras, till theprocess of realization begins. And during this process ofrealization the sanskaras get unwound. In reincarnations,there is a spending up of sanskaras; but this spending up isquite different from the unwinding of the sanskaras, whichtakes place during the process of realization. The spending

up of sanskaras itself creates new sanskaras, which bindthe soul; but the unwinding of sanskaras does not itselfcreate fresh sanskaras; and it is intended to undo the verystrong grip of sanskaras, in which the drop-soul is caught.

Up to the human form, the winding up of sanskarasbecomes stronger and stronger during the process ofevolution. In the human forms of reincarnation, the winding

continues to operate as a limiting factor; but with everychange of the human bubble or form, the tight twists,


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gained during the process of winding, get loosened througheighty-four lakhs of shakings, before they are ready tounwind in the process of realization.

Now begins the third process of realization, which is aprocess of ascent. Here, the drop-soul undergoes thegradual unwinding of the sanskaras. During this process ofunwinding, the sanskaras become fainter and fainter; andat the same time, the consciousness of the drop-soul getsdirected more and more towards itself; and thus, the drop-soul passes through the subtle and mental planes till all thesanskaras disappear completely, enabling it to become

conscious of itself as the ocean.

In the infinite ocean of the Over-Soul, you are the drop orthe soul. You are the soul in the ordinary state; and you useyour consciousness in seeing and experiencing the bubbleor the form. Through the gross layer of the bubble, youexperience that part of the huge gross bubble which is theearth. You are eternally lodged and indivisibly one with the

Over-Soul; but you do not experience it. In the advancedstage, up through the third plane, you use yourconsciousness in seeing and experiencing the huge subtlebubble called the subtle world, through the subtle bubbleor form called the subtle body; but you do not see andexperience the Over-Soul which you are in, since yourconsciousness is not now directed towards the Over-Soul.In the advanced stage from the fourth through the sixth

plane, you use your consciousness in seeing andexperiencing the huge mental bubble, which is called themental world, through the mental bubble or form which iscalled the mental body, but even now you do notexperience the Over-Soul. But in the God-realized state,you continually use your consciousness for seeing andexperiencing the Over-Soul; and then all the forms areknown as being nothing but bubbles.


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So, now, picture yourself as the soul-drop, lodged in theOver-Soul, behind five layers after the gross body. You, thesoul-drop, are now looking at the gross body and through itat the gross world. When you look at the second layer andthrough it, the first layer will appear to you as nothing but alayer only, and thus, looking behind each layer, you willfind all these layers as only your shadow covers; andfinally, when you (i.e., the soul-drop) look at and getmerged in the Over-Soul, you realize that only you werereal and all that you were seeing and experiencing till nowwas your own shadow and nothing else.

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