A time comes in a person's life, in a particular incarnation when he begins to lose interest in the affairs of the world, knowing or unknowingly. He may feel that he does not belong to the world, and the objects of the world no longer give him any satisfaction. A faint idea haunts him that he belongs to some other reality of existence and that his home is somewhere else. This is the beginning of the search for that permanent element that we call 'soul'.
A person experiences five types of development in the search for lasting happiness and final home. In the first stage, the person has no consideration for the feelings of others, he lives entirely for sense gratification through the objects of the world at the cost of others. He does not have any idea that there could be some power above all human beings.
In the second stage, the person starts feeling that there could be some higher power but is happy to live in his old life of worldly pleasures and materials. He is too busy to search for or recognise a higher power.
In the third stage, the concept of a higher power becomes more firmly grounded in his consciousness and he begins to take an interest in prayers and rituals to please that higher power for personal gains. He may call this God, but he disregards the beliefs and faiths of others. The state of irresponsibility continues.
In the fourth stage, he starts believing in others' faiths and he resumes self-responsibility as a result of the long experience. He realises that he must be involved in something more concrete in order to find the truth. Simple reliance on the dogma no longer satisfies him. The inner turmoil becomes intense. And then in the fifth and final stage, the meaninglessness of life becomes paramount in his consciousness. The inner turmoil comes to the surface and forces the person to look for the meaning of life and to seek answers to the questions that have been vexing his inner self.
{{/usCountry}}In the fourth stage, he starts believing in others' faiths and he resumes self-responsibility as a result of the long experience. He realises that he must be involved in something more concrete in order to find the truth. Simple reliance on the dogma no longer satisfies him. The inner turmoil becomes intense. And then in the fifth and final stage, the meaninglessness of life becomes paramount in his consciousness. The inner turmoil comes to the surface and forces the person to look for the meaning of life and to seek answers to the questions that have been vexing his inner self.
{{/usCountry}}(Edited extracts from the writer's book Kundalini for Beginners)