Fwd: 3 coverings over the Body

http://radhagopinath.com/news_desc.php?news_id=152

"I felt helpless." the student admitted. He was asked to first pick a needle and a thread from a box and then pass the thread through the eye of the needle. All this he had to do with boxers gloves on! A second youngster had to do the same with the wicket keeper's gloves on, the third with surgeon's gloves and the fourth with his bare hands.

This exercise marked the beginning of the Prerana festival on Saturday, entitled "Be conscious of your consciousness." H.G.Radha Gopinath Prabhu, the speaker for the occasion, explained the exercise by reading aloud the translation and purport to the verse 3.38 http://vedabase.net/bg/3/38/en from the Bhagavad Gita . Srila Prabhupad begins the purport with the statement,"There are three degrees of covering by which the living entity's pure consciousness is obscured." The exercise perfectly illustrated this point. With a glove covering the hand performing even a simple task was difficult. Similarly when the consciousness is covered, the living entity finds it difficult to perceive the truth. The following are some excerpts from the lecture that followed.

There are five stages of development of consciousness which can be compared to the blossoming of a flower. 1) Covered.(Acchadita) The example is that of plants and rocks. 2) Contracted.(Sankucita) . The example is that of animals, birds and reptiles. 3) Budding (Mukulita) . Human beings who are capable of using a logical mind belong to this category. They can be further classified as a) Immoral Atheists . Primitive people who live almost like animals belong to this category. They follow the principle of 'Might is right'. Some of them may be civilized but their goal of life is eating, mating, sleeping and defending. They follow the philosophy -universe is a combination of atoms, existence ends with the body, excellence of humanity is its sophistication.

b) Moral Atheist . They do not accept the universal standard of morality set by the creator and manufacture a whimsical system that is pleasing to the body, mind and senses. The difference between a moral atheist and an immoral atheist is that while the immoral atheists clean the house and put the dust in the neighbor's compound, moral atheists decide a common place for everyone to throw their dust. Moral atheists can perform extremely sinful activity and justify it as correct. For example, abortion is considered to be perfectly moral today. c) Moral Pseudo theist. They say that they believe in God, follow some moral codes but they can't exactly give the definition of God. They consider believing in God a moral duty. d) Impersonalists. They do not believe in the form of God.

4) Developed (Vikasita). This marks the beginning of faith. 5) Fully developed ( Poorna Vikasita ). This is the stage where spontaneous love of God is manifest. The consciousness can be purified from any state of consciousness by coming in contact with the Lord's intimate associates whose consciousness is fully blossomed. For example Narada Muni delivered Nalakuvera and Manigriva who had consciousness almost like that of trees, Rasikananda Prabhu delivered one elephant, and in the modern era Srila Prabhupad delivered thousands in to dancing white elephants(his western devotees).

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Achievement becomes automatic when Goal becomes inner commitment.
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