INTRODUCTION

theevolutionofconsciousnessinthisworld.
Everything that exists has Being, hasGod-essence, has
somedegreeofconsciousness.Evenastonehasrudimentary
consciousness;otherwise,itwouldnotbe,andits atoms and
molecules would disperse. Everything is alive. The sun,the
earth, plants, animals, humans — all are expressions of
consciousnessinvaryingdegrees,consciousnessmanifesting
asform.
The world arises when consciousness takes on shapes
and forms, thought forms and material forms. Look at the
millionsoflifeformsonthisplanetalone.Inthesea,onland,
intheair—andtheneachlifeformisreplicatedmillionsof
times. To what end? Is someone or something playing a
game, a game with form? This is what the ancient seers of
Indiaaskedthemselves.Theysawtheworldaslila,akindof
divine game that God is playing. The individual life forms
are obviously not very important in this game. In the sea,
most life forms don't survive for more than a few minutes
after being born. The human form turns to dust pretty
quicklytoo,andwhenit isgoneitis asifithadnever been.
Is that tragic orcruel?Only if you createaseparateidentity
for each form, if you forget that its consciousness is God-
essence expressing itself in form. But you don't truly know
that until you realize your own God-essence as pure
consciousness.
Ifa fishisborn in your aquarium andyou call itJohn,
writeoutabirthcertificate,tellhimabouthisfamilyhistory,
andtwominuteslater hegetseatenbyanotherfish—that’s
tragic. But ifs only tragic because you projected a separate
self where there was none. You got hold of a fraction of a
dynamic process, a molecular dance, and made a separate
entityoutofit.
Consciousnesstakesonthedisguiseofformsuntilthey
reachsuchcomplexitythatitcompletelylosesitselfinthem.
In present-day humans, consciousness is completely
identified withits disguise.It onlyknowsitself asform and
therefore lives in fear of the annihilation of its physical or