The Evolution of Consciousness

excerpt –

“We have this human form of life (body) to understand the purpose in life and gain spiritual realization. However, if we did not do any of those things but instead left this body and, let’s say for example, in our next life we became a cat – how, as a cat with lower consciousness can we become aware of spirituality?” Kushum asked. In response, Sripad Puri Maharaja asked Nila Madhava das Prabhu to respond. “For a devotee, or someone that is practicing bhakti (devotion), you will not become a cat in your next life because the spiritual advancement you make, it will always remain with you. It never goes away. Krishna says, ‘I preserve what they have and I carry what they lack,’ we just keep progressing and Krishna keeps giving us more. It is not likely that the devotees will take birth as a cat unless you become like King Bharat, who was on the plane of bhava (almost pure devotion), but his sadhana (spiritual practices) got distracted by a young baby deer. That baby deer’s mother passed away and King Bharat picked it up and took it to his ashram (hermitage) and became attached to it while taking care of that deer. So when he died he became a deer but as a deer he could remember that he practiced devotional service in his previous life. So as a deer he would go to the ashram where the sadhus(saints) lives. He would eat their remnants, whatever they will throw out, he would eat. He would sit close by and listen to Krishna katha (stories of Krishna’s pastimes) from the sages (enlightened souls), then in his next life he was again born as a human (Jadabharat). In this form he was an avadhoot, always behaving like he was crazy but internally he was always thinking of Krishna. So as long as you are practicing bhakti (devotion), there’s no reason you will be a cat in your next life,” Nila Madhava das Prabhu explained then interjected, “Krishna also said, ‘whatever you are thinking about at the time of death, you will achieve without fail.’ In case they are not thinking of Krishna they will have to go through the cycle of Karma (deed) to burn through all their negative karma.”

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Your humble servant
Kushum devi dasi
(New York)