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Five Stages In The Life Of An Incarnation

The life and work of an incarnation unfolds in five stages. In the first stage, the incarnation lives like an ordinary individual but quickly experiences dissatisfaction with the world.

In the second stage, the incarnation engages in intense spiritual practices.

In the third stage, he attains spiritual perfection and then begins to help other suffering souls.

In the fourth stage, sensing his impending departure from this physical world, he begins to gather his disciples, to whom he can impart the fruits of his spiritual realizations, and who can later spread his teachings to the world. We see this clearly in the lives of Bhagawan Buddha, Sri Ramakrishna, and Sri Chaitanya Dev. After his enlightenment, Buddha gathered ten principal disciples around him in Sarnath. Sri Chaitanya Dev gathered six main disciples. And in the case of Sri Ramakrishna, he gathered sixteen monastic disciples around him.

In the fifth and final stage, the incarnation leaves his body in the state of mahasamadhi.