உடம்பினை முன்னம் இழுக்கென் றிருந்தேன்
உடம்பினுக் குள்ளே உறுபொருள் கண்டேன்
- திருமூலர்

(Until I encountered the immortal kernel within this body, I presumed the body is a disgraceful object - Siddha Thirumoolar)

“All beings are divine”. Very hard to accept, isn’t it?

Like electricity passing through only conductive materials, the energy that powers the living beings, lets call it life-energy, does not light-up anything that is not divine. Hence, it is indisputable that there is at least a trace of divinity in all living beings. The conductivity of life-energy is divinity.

There are adulterants that builds up around our divine core in sedimentary layers that tarnish our divineness. Thus, making us human. Accumulation of these grout eventually grinds our conductivity to zero, ultimately leading to the death.

After enormous research and several miles of inner journey, the enlightened masters enlisted three such adulterants that clog around our divine core and dragging us down.

Karma (reaction debt) - curses, blessings, convictions, desires and yearnings accumulated since we were a single-cell organism. Every physical and mental movement, continously dissipate and accumulate an impending reaction debt, commonly termed as karmic debt. This debt has been growing continuously with subsequent lifetimes and lifeforms.

Maya (illusions) - custom made illusionary stages that we walk, characters that come and go and the circumstances that drag us along are all summed-up as maya (illusions).

Ego (identity) - the morphing identity that we partake to involve ourselves into this illusionary setup, so that we are well directed toward settling our karmic debts.

Each life-form is like waking up everyday, to embark on settling a set of karmic debts. To do so, a fully immersed experience that bubbles up our emotions like a roller-coster is needed. The circumstances, people, memories, curiosities and instincts lead us towards the stage (maya) that best suit us. And of course, we need an identity (ego) to partake and indulge thoroughly without even an iota of detachment.

All this is perfectly setup to resolve, appease or fulfill the needs of a being, including ourselves. The biggest caveat here is not to accumulate a reactive karma. Our ego entangles deeply and starts reacting in selfish and scornful ways accumulating more karma than that was settled.

Devoid of these adulterants, we’ll be formless (no ego), senseless (no maya) and purposeless (no karma). Thus, all the movement seizes. Along with it, our evolution also comes to a grinding halt. 

Hence, to evolve, one must succumb to at least one of the adulterants: karma, maya & ego

live: righteous & intense (karma shrinks) 
Until the karmic debt drops below a certain threshold, We don’t really have access to maneuver the other two ladders. The ladders of worship and meditation.
Thus, settling more karmic debt while containing the accumulation of the reactive debts is the first step of evolution. This is possible by treading the life situation with progressively hightened awareness. 
  1. carefully stepping into situations, ensuring it doesn’t cause harm to self or others, now or later.
  2. after entering a situation, drop the guard and experiencing the experience thoroughly so that there is no traces left-behind that can cause any cravings in future.
  3. being immensely grateful for whatsoever that manifested such an opulent backlot to custom serve a specific experience to us.
Such lived life experience where a karmic debt is settled but none new accumulated is called Dharma.

measure of progress: the unexpected hinderances start evading, turbulence in emotional state diminish, outcomes turn favourable often. 

The pitfall is the indulgence and craving swooping as reaction karma through the backdoor and glorifying the self-image as the options of experience expand. When the circumstances and outcomes turn against, it is a reliable sign to introspect and recourse.

worship: dilating the maya (ego shrinks)
When the karmic debt drops below the threshold, most readily available option is to succumb to the ladder of maya (illusions).
This is the path of emotion as the hightened emotional states leading to enriched illusions. To make room for the rapidly evolving illusions, karma and ego starts shrinking rapidly. Fully ripened and ready to drop illusionary state is where the ego is shrunk to bare-minimum and ready to vaporize. This state is very comparable to being mentally impaired as the mind secretes intense psychedelic harmones. This state is termed as;
  • அனுபூதி (anuboodhi) by Indian sages
  • فناء (fanā) by sufi mystics
  • 悟り(satori) by zen monks
When a person's 'I' is negated from existence, then what remains? 
- Rumi (about fanā)

உரையவிழ உணர்வவிழ உளமவிழ உயிரவிழ
உளபடியை உணருமவர் அநுபூதி ஆனதுவும்
- அருணகிரிநாதர்

Translation:
dropping the sheaths of personalities, 
treading beyond the harmonal thirst, 
leaping over the psyche,
and beyond the lifeforce,
is the sense of anuboodhi experienced 
- by Aruna-giri-naadhar, an indian sage

Lukewarm devotion neither leads to such states nor any tranformation. Love, devotion, conviction and yearning mindlessly, so that the whole being is totally immersed in the emotion leads to such experience. Rare unexplored harmones are secreted that transform the DNA sequeunce of the emoter. This leads to the progressive evolution by opening up the wormholes to higher dimensions. When such evolved being's day-to-day activities entangle with any organized society, their compassion and love exhibit itself as miracles in the form of healing, manifesting animate substances from thin air and other super human abilities.

measure of progress: shrinking ego (identity) is the key measure, i.e., loss of interest in hoarding, disowning material things, foresaking entitlements, impervious to accolades and even neglecting the personal needs. 

The common pitfall is becoming delusional. If the object of devotion is not a qualified one, being mislead and engrossed in futile rituals is imminent. Along with shrinking self-image, if the person doesn't exhibit love, compassion, child-like nature; a divine intervention is needed to rectify the course.

meditation: inflating ego (illusions shrink)
This path of realization is successively debunking all the illusions that we come across. Hence, the practitioner succumbs to the ego to evolve.
Disenchantment cannot occur as long as the senses and thoughts are exploring the outward illusory world. Turning them inward and iteratively disconnecting from the illusions, successively peal the layers of realization. As a byproduct of this realization, the knowledge expands and wisdom sprouts. Along with it comes the expanse of ego, which grows and ripens. When it is fully ripe and ready for harvest, an attained master's grace is needed to harvest it and grant the enlightenment. Devoid of this grace, the evolution of this meditator hits a dead-end in a static self-glorified identity.

There are ample documentation from enlightened masters that can serve as a guide map, but none of them would make sense until one embarks this journey of disenchantment through meditation. This path is an egoistic path and hence it is no surprise to have witnessed a heightened sense of self-respect and self-esteem, often accompanied by self-sustenant living and the dignitary recognition of such yogis, monks, saints and sages.

measure of progress: disillusionment. The lure of all the drama of the world news, entertainement, societal changes and family situations loosens its grip. Either the meditator becomes progressively disinterested from these or can see through the absolute reasons and ultimate consequeunces, thus taking away all the excitement out of it.

The common pitfall is the bloated up ego. The sense of conceit, pride and arrogance accompanied by a total disdain for others. In such divergence, a guru intervention is needed to re-emphasis that the only purpose of all the wisdom is to eventually attain the ultimate devotion leading to liberation.
  • When we live righteously and experience entirely without leaving any traces, karma shrinks.
  • When the karma shrinks, possibilty of worship opens the door.
  • When the shell of ego prevents any form of external devotion, there is inner exploration, the way of meditation.
Evolution is gaining access to more dimensions. Our consciousness and perpective are entrapped within the three dimensions. Until we can behold a 3D object in its entirety, we havn't gained access to the 4th dimension yet.