Andrew Cohen shows the path

BANGALORE: We are all only too familiar with spiritual beliefs. Buddha and Mahaveera have set an example for the world to attaining  enlightenment. Even today, the preaching of spirituality, enlightenment and meditation are customary and conventional in a country like India. Andrew Cohen was recently in the city to launch his new book An Evolutionary Enlightenment, A new path to spiritual awakening. The book includes a foreword by Deepak Chopra. Cohen also shared his views about evolution, spirituality and cosmic conscience. Reading out passages from his book he spoke of the big bang theory and its stages. He opined that there are three phases of the big bang. Explaining the processes of evolution, he says “In the first phase of the big bang theory, there was something from nothing. In the second phase, there was life from that ‘something’ that was formed out of nothing. And in the third, it is what we are today with the sophisticated technology. The progression from each stage is miraculous.” The Big Bang theory and its phases have been mentioned by the author in his book.He also says that spiritual leaders in India have influenced him to write about evolution, enlightenment and spirituality. “Preaching about spirituality and enlightenment was present in India since the ancient times. I have travelled to India several times to exchange conversation with many renowned Swamijis about spirituality. Though I am a teacher, I am still learning something new everyday. Enlightenment can only be gained  when man is set free from all his materialistic attachments. Spiritual leaders such as Buddha and Mahaveera attained enlightenment only when they gave up all their possessions and sacrificed themselves to nature.”According to him, religion is a belief constrained to a particular community. He added, “Spirituality is a bond that is shared between people. Every individual has his or her own set of beliefs and rights in terms of spirituality. Even though there are spiritual leaders who guide us to follow certain path, we still have liberty to choose our own super natural belief and path.”He explained that during his early age he had a transition point when he turned into an atheist. When asked if an atheist can be spiritual he said, “I was open to the super natural world when I isolated myself from religion. People often confuse religion with spirituality. They are different .”He compared evolution to a train in his discussion. “Evolution is like an non-stop train and we are all just passengers who have boarded the journey. However, this train will not stop anytime soon, it will keep going. Like the train, evolution is also unstoppable. It is something that has been happening for many years and will continue to do so for many more to come,” he concluded.