Today we will discuss the natural stages of Divine love, as it rises in us. We have already deduced that fixed faith (sraddha) is the foundation, the starting point of spiritual life, but what is next? Is there a required process, methodology and goal pertaining to each level as we advance from First Grade to Graduation? Yes! Every stage of our progress measures how far we have come and how far we have yet to go.

After our faith finally becomes fixed and grounded into a daily practice, ruci activates the sacred heart within. Ruci is a Sanskrit word describing the climate of love which is received in the Shrine of our devotion. The cup of our consciousness, at this stage, receives and contains sacrosanct euphoria. This most essential soul substance increases as our relationship and intimacy with our Creators develops, so too does a thirst for our much anticipated reunion increase.

Inflamed by the ambrosia of ruci such a fortunate soul becomes drunk on Divine love. Ruci marks for us our advancement. It measures how much we are able to contain the rapture of an inwardly focused holy practice. Nothing compares to the happiness one experiences at this stage of our journey, for such a blessed conviction and peace fills the soul. When someone has reached this blessed level, divine love permeates through everything they do and say.

These stages of realization,

Could be compared to measuring a child with a tall ruler,

As they grow…

Once we reach the station of ruci, we become impatient to see God, and when I speak of God, I speak of God and Goddess. Equally, at this stage, our Creators, delighted and moved by our determination, are keen to reunite with us. Our sins are entirely burned to ash and washed clean. We are ready to see God, face to face. Such rivers of Divine love swell and break the banks of any final selfishness which might be there in the heart. Overwhelmed, the searching soul, having been baptized by God’s holy presence, is lifted, and the dance of Kingdom consciousness begins.

Relieved and unburdened, at such a stage, we enter into the realm of ecstasy. The undying love of Divine acceptance is given through the internal potency of Divine Mother’s grace and mercy, known as Shakti, Shekina, or holy spirit, and Her vibrations melt the heart of the pilgrim entirely. Instantly we will detach from worldly consciousness, as the hard knot of our ego’s selfish indulgence is annihilated by the piercing rays of Goddess’s generosity and kindheartedness. All of our misgivings end forever. All aspects of karma, even in its most subtle forms, are shattered forever. At this point one may say, “The Kingdom is nigh.”

This dance between our spiritual desires and our material ones, is where Divine love opens and closes to us. In this way, we learn to sacrifice our mind’s wants, needs and desires upon the altar of a daily practice such as recitation of holy name. Such a dedicated practice can bless us, by tilling the weeds of our hearts, so that we might be prepared for a Divine revelation. If we are so blessed, visions may be given and received at this time, but only once the roots of our offenses are destroyed. Therefore repentance, the sincere begging for forgiveness for our wrongs, is recommended. It catapults our soul’s into higher states of spiritual awareness. Forgiveness frees us from so much future suffering, that surely, the humiliating experience, of asking to be forgiven for our wrongs, is worth it. Those ripe with sukriti will understand what I am saying.

When we understand where happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment and protection are found, and we actively reach for it, we are untied from the hard knot of our ego, which has forever confused and bound us to cycles of suffering. The Divine Feminine path asks, that we throw ego upon the fires of our determination. We do this to break all chains. To be willing to step out of the norm. To follow our own path, listening to the spiritual heart of our existence.

The soul uses its connection with material existence, through the body, mind, and creativity, to express love in the eternal moment. This is to realize that all there is, is God, and God’s love, everything else is an illusion.