Reawakening

Therefore I must perform those activities, which reawaken my dormant state of original consciousness, my devotional relationship with God.

In this way I will become purified in this life and can go back to the kingdom of God which is our home. This place is not our home because no one is satisfied here.

But we can work in the world following our particular abilities, propensities and responsibilities and at the same time develop towards spiritual perfection.

Q. Hindus believe in reincarnation. Do you?

A. We can understand from Vedic scriptures that life does not mean just one life.

The spirit soul transmigrates from body to body-though all the various, 8,400,000 species of life-and on reaching the human form, he is then able to culture his spiritual development.

Q. Do you mean that there is a spirit soul in trees and plants?

A. Yes, not only plants but in all forms of life, animals, birds and aquatics. But the human form, which covers the last 400,000 on the list, is not classified with beasts. Even monkeys and apes are considered lower groups of human life, but only in the higher groups can spiritual life be cultivated.

Q. By what force then does the spirit soul progress from plant and animal life to human life?

A. By nature the spirit soul advances from one form of life to the next until he reaches the human form. That is the true process of evolution, spiritual evolution.

Q. What about Darwin, then? Do you agree with him?

A. The Darwin theory attempts to account for the evolution of the human form of life, and it does not enter into any relation with the soul. But the body does not endure; the spirit soul transmigrates from one form of life to another, and the change is determined by the activities of the living entity in a past body. That is the law of karma-action and reaction. Lord Jesus said, "As you sow, so shall you reap."