Roughly speaking, there are about five phases of the spiritual journey (although, of course, there could be many more – but I’m just sharing the phases I’m aware of). Imagine yourself at the moment of your death. What thoughts cross your mind? Memories of family and friends? Panic? Regrets? Remembrance of Allah SWT (God)? What is death? What happens to us after we die? What is life in the Hereafter like, this new and strange world after death? Do we lose consciousness of this life? Where does our soul go? Do we feel and think the same? While the demands for constant growth and evolution may be difficult to handle at times, they are necessary grit for the inner pearl to develop.

Summary: Awakening and learning is the next phase of the spiritual journey. Once one has listened to the ‘call to adventure’ and has begun searching for answers, the sense of inner deadness and stagnation lifts. The veil is pulled from our eyes. We awaken to fresh possibilities, new horizons, and deep insights. There is renewed hope, ecstatic zest for life, joyful anticipation, and the passion to learn, explore, and grow. It’s as if the sun has finally emerged from its slumber and we’re bathed in the dawning light of spiritual awakening. 3. Death & demons The experience and realization that the personal identity (or ego) is an illusory thought construct, and who we truly are is Infinite Consciousness, is what has been referred to as Self-Realization, Christ Consciousness, Buddha Nature, Nirvana, or Enlightenment.

When the soul is expunged of all its sins by suffering in the prison of Yama's hell, it is released. It is said that then it is sent to Rudraloka, and will not be allowed to leave. To release the soul from Rudra's clutches, Rudra Yajna is done. Then it is sent to Vaikuntha, so Vishnu Yajna is done; and after many, many years, the soul attains moksha. This is how a bad person gets purified in a very painful way, and then finally attains blessedness. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC. The divinity of fire, the divinity of daytime, the divinity of the lunar month's bright half, and the divinity ruling over the northern movement of the sun will take care of the soul and bring it up. In the Moksha Parva of the Mahabharata there is the story of a great ascetic who rose up from his body, and a little flame rising up through the sky could be seen. It rose higher and higher until it reached the orb of the sun, where a divine being emerged from the solar orb and received it. According to our tradition, the sun is not a material substance. It is a divinity— hiranmaya purusha—in which a golden-coloured Narayana is seated. Just as a human being is not a body, the sun is also not a body; and just as we see only the body of a person and do not see what the person is on the inside, we do not see divinity of the sun. We see only its outer appearance, which we call helium, atomic energy, etc., in just the same way as we call a person bone and flesh, nerves, blood, etc.—which is not a correct description. So there is something beyond the human concept here. Divinities are everywhere in the cosmos, in every atom, which is also controlled and enveloped by the universal God. If God is everywhere, why should He not be in every atom and in e If the soul has no merit at all, it will be sent to the land of punishment, whatever the punishment be. In the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana, the Garuda Purana, etc., the type of punishment and difficulties that the soul has to undergo are described in such gory language that we would not like to be born into this world again. For instance, if you place a 1000-Watt bulb inside a pot and seal it completely, then not a single ray of light will come out of the pot. Now, if you make one hole in the pot, one ray of light will come out. In the same way, the light of the Soul comes out through one sense and it takes the phase of a one-sense creature. When another hole is formed, it takes the phase of a two-sense creature. Inside, the Soul is complete; its light (knowledge) is full. However, there are so many coverings on it that the light does not come out. In a nutshell, this is how the journey of Soul happens:

One of the main issues that often arises on the spiritual path is a certain kind of spiritual materialism or spiritual window-shopping. Instead of being a magical sounding idea, you will actively live and express qualities such as lovingkindness, presence, and wisdom. But first, you need to be sincere and dedicated to this path. Note: The Soul with the coverings of karma on it is called a living being. On its journey, the living being undergoes several stages of development and as karmas get shed, the being progresses spiritually on the path of evolution. The Soul, by its very nature, is moving towards ultimate liberation (moksha), as long as there is no interference along the way. Then his soul is returned to his body and two angels come and say to him, ‘Who is your Lord?’ He replies, ‘Alas, alas, I do not know!’ Then a voice calls from on high, ‘My slave has lied, so spread out carpets from the Fire for him and open a gate of the Fire for him!’ then a hot blast from it comes to him, his grave is made so narrow for him that his ribs are pressed together, and a man with a hideous face and clothing and a foul odour comes to him and says, ‘Grieve onWhen one Soul from this world attains liberation, one Soul from the Nigod enters the worldly cycle. Only a little covering from over the Soul of the Nigod gets removed, from where little light of Soul comes out. Thus, one sense is developed. With this, the particular living being begins its journey in this world, and gradually develops from one-sensed to two-sensed, three-sensed, four sensed, five-sensed and then comes into human life-form where his mind, intellect, ego gets developed. These beings are in bondage. At every stage, the living beings go through enormous suffering due to the load of coverings. These coverings on the Soul keep reducing, as their development progresses naturally. When in human form, one creates new causes with the help of mind, intellect, and ego. Based on these causes, the living being reincarnates in either celestial, human, animal, or hell realm. In each life, the being then suffers the effects of the causes made. Ultimately, when one gets Self-Realization, the worldly development completes there; new karmas stop being charged. When all the old karmas discharge without any interference, one attains total liberation! enter paradise until a camel can pass through the eye of a needle.’Allah who is most Great and Glorious then says, ‘Record Dadashri: No one has created it. If it was created, then it would have an end. The Soul is something that is constantly there; it is an eternal element. It has never had a beginning. No one has made it. If it did have a creator, then even the creator would come to an end, as would his creation. We hear a lot of pretty-sounding words and mystical ideas on the spiritual path. But all of them mean little if we don’t actively find ways of absorbing them into our being. In fact, thanks to religious thought, the descent into our Under Worlds has been condemned as “evil” and wayward.Only Shamanic cultures and a few Western mystical schools like Hermeticism and Alchemy have dedicated themselves to exploring the Under World.

For centuries indigenous people throughout the world have known that to fully explore the depths of theSoul and reunite with Spirit we must go on a spiritual journey into the unknown lands within ourselves.The CHRIST stages model is the lighted path of life for following Jesus that you and your friends have always needed. We’ve been teaching it since 2013 in our Soul Shepherding Institute. All kinds of Christ-followers and leaders have found these stages of faith to provide the framework for a powerfully transforming program of emotional and spiritual growth in the image of Christ. The content in this book was honed through many years of counseling ministry and by teaching it to pastors, church leaders, and others in our Soul Shepherding Institute and spiritual direction certificate training. Thank you to all the women and men who have shared their stories, hearts, and questions with us.