| Indian thought
has, therefore, proceeded upon the recognition of the value of this truth, namely, that
man's progress lies towards the perfection of an angel and the manifestation of the
divinity within him. We find frequent reference in, our sacred literature to the three
levels and grades of created beings, the level of the deva, of the manushya, and of the
tiryak (lower creatures). In the long course of
evolution of which we read accounts in the Puranas, especially in the Srimad Bhagavata,
the Jiva who harp Progressed from the level of the animal to that of the manushya must
rise higher to the level of the deva, and he should so perfect himself as to attain it. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge says: "If man is not rising upward to
be an angel, depend upon it, he is sinking downward to be devil. He cannot top at the
beast. |
