The four stages of the soul’s evolution can be broadly summarised as follows.
1. Infancy and childhood when it is completely subdued by the ignorance of earth nature. The person whose soul is asleep thinks of himself only as a body and lives only for physical comforts and vital desires. He seeks nothing higher or greater. It is of such a person that it is sometimes said that he does not have a soul because such a person lives largely like an animal for food and survival of the ego self and his small, little satisfactions of everyday life. He may have some kind of a rudimentary belief in God largely inherited by birth and may follow mechanically these customs and traditions if he feels these will grant him extra safety and security here or hereafter.
2. Adolescence of the soul is when it stirs and reacts to the shocks of creation. It realises its limitations and wants to break free. But still bound by ignorance, it follows the misleading prompting of the vital nature which follows the path of desire and ambition. Such a person may believe in God but only to gain power. He expects all kinds of miracles from God for the satisfaction of desires and the aggrandisation of himself. If his prayers are not granted or God does not fit into his own conceptions, he revolts and complaints against him.
3. The adult soul, though still in ignorance, tries to make sense of himself and the world through his mind. It is the soul of the seeker. The mind of such a person begins to reflect and reason becoming a witness and student of itself. Such a person is in pursuit of knowledge, at first a lower knowledge of objects and the objective world and later a higher knowledge of the subjective side of himself and the world. It seeks a meaning and a purpose in life. He identifies himself with thoughts and ideas, questioning everything and wanting to know, through scriptures, philosophy, or any other source.
4. The mature soul is whence it has become ripe enough to understand that the mind is not all. It turns directly towards the Divine through the mind’s seekings, the heart’s love and aspiration, life’s search for Divine Light and Love and Peace and Bliss or some ultimate Divine Truth.
Once a,soul has passed through these stages, it can then withdraw into its Divine Origin (the ordinary soul) or return back to earth to fulfill God’s Purpose in creation (the heroic soul).
Such are the stages through which the soul evolves across lives.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
