Neophytes, preachers, pure devotees, and empowered ācāryas. The different steps in our spiritual evolution
It's possible to become Krsna Conscious in a single moment, but most of us are not ready for such a quick evolution. Thus, we often have to practice for several lives to be able to attain perfection.
As Srila Prabhupada said in a famous lecture, there are no barriers in terms of how fast one can advance in Krsna Consciousness. One who is exceptionally sincere can become pure even in a single moment. We just have to chant the holy names one time with a pure heart; that’s all it takes.
However, most of us are not ready for such a quick evolution, and thus we often have to practice for several lives to be able to attain perfection. In his Jaiva Dharma, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thākura tells the stories of several personalities on different stages of spiritual evolution: some still on a sinful platform, others on a pious platform, and a few on a truly spiritual platform. Souls can pass through all these different platforms described in the book over a sequence of lives, going from some sinful offender, like Vani-Madhava, all the way to someone who starts from an almost pure platform, like Vaiṣnava Dasa. In the Jaiva Dharma, these are separate individuals, but the same soul can pass through these different stages in different lives.
For most of us, that’s the progression: we start from a sinful platform, and the first step is to accept the rules and regulations of spiritual life and gradually, through practice, purify our hearts from the previous contamination. That’s the stage of a kaniṣtha-adhikārī devotee, who struggles to follow the basic principles of spiritual life.
As we mature on the first platform and our hearts become purified, we ascend to a pious platform, where we don’t have so many problems with grossly sinful habits. At this point, however, we may still have a problem with our ego: a desire for being respected, for becoming an important figure, to convince others of our opinions, to have a social position in the spiritual institution, etc. At this stage, the natural occupation for one in the spiritual path is to become a preacher and use this tendency of conquest to spread Krsna Consciousness. This is the stage of a madhyama-adhikārī, who, although not completely perfect yet, can advance further by working for Krsna in spreading His mission.
As we progress on this path, the last vestiges of contamination in the heart are destroyed, and we become completely humble. It is at this stage that we can finally start truly developing our relationship with Krsna. The general tendency at this stage is that one becomes a humble devotee living in simple conditions and using all his energy to serve, or sometimes becomes a recluse devotee just using all his time to chant. This is the uttama-adhikārī stage, where one can purely serve Krsna without any false prestige. This is the platform of one who is preparing to go back to Godhead.
We can see that some devotees go through these three stages in a single life, going quickly through the kaniṣtha-adhikārī stage, then becoming a fired-up preacher, and eventually reaching this stage of humility and renunciation later in their lives. One who is sincere can complete the path in just one life, but most of us generally need several lives to attain the perfect stage.
However, there is a stage that goes even further. Some very special devotees, after attaining the final platform of humility, adjust their mentality back to the madhyama-adhikārī stage, and thus, acting according to the precepts of the scriptures, become empowered preachers, who can spread Krsna Consciousness far and wide, and change people’s hearts by their purity and personal example. At this stage, one can become an empowered ācārya and send thousands of disciples back to Godhead.
Such exalted devotees are already on a liberated platform, their consciousness focused on Krsna, but they remain in this material world to share their experience with us. For them, there is no need to go back to Godhead, because they have already attained the ultimate goal. On this platform, they just want to serve Krsna. If Krsna wants, they can spend more time in this material world to help other souls, or if Krsna wants, they can go to the spiritual world and serve Him there.
As Srila Prabhupada once explained, some devotees (the madhyama-adhikārīs) like to preach, and some (the uttama-adhikārīs) like to chant. However, some uttama-adhikārīs also preach, and these are the best of all.
Srila Prabhupada describes the characteristics of devotees who have attained such an exalted platform in his purport on the 5th verse of Śrī Upadeśāmṛta:
“When a person realizes himself to be an eternal servitor of Kṛṣṇa, he loses interest in everything but Kṛṣṇa’s service. Always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, devising means by which to spread the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, he understands that his only business is in spreading the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement all over the world. Such a person is to be recognized as an uttama-adhikārī, and his association should be immediately accepted according to the six processes (dadāti pratigṛhṇāti, etc.). Indeed, the advanced uttama-adhikārī Vaiṣṇava devotee should be accepted as a spiritual master.”
He, however, also alerts us to the dangers of artificially imitating such an exalted platform. We can see that this also happened at certain points, with adverse results:
“However, one should not imitate the behavior of an advanced devotee or mahā-bhāgavata without being self-realized, for by such imitation one will eventually become degraded.”
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The source of power for all demigods
In the Srimad Bhagavatam, Brahma reveals to Narada Muni the source of his powers. Not only Lord Brahma but all demigods and other controllers of the universe are awarded their positions because of their devotion to the Lord. All demigods are great devotees of the Lord who at the same time have strong material desires. The Lord thus puts them in positions where they can serve Him in positions of power and influence. During their long lives, the demigods can gradually satisfy their material desires and eventually go back home, back to Godhead.