Hindus see a gradual decline in dharma, or righteousness, in each of four cycles of creation, and in each age the Divine takes form (such as that of Krishna or the Buddha) to keep alive the power of righteousness and reconnect estranged humans to the highest consciousness. Christians and Jews see this estrangement through the lens of a dramatic turning point expressed in the Garden of Eden story. In both, Christianity and Judaism, there are ways to return home. However, the insights and methods of Yoga can greatly help and enhance the process.

At some point in our evolution, humans became self-conscious - aware of our individual existence, separate from the Divine essence and the rest of creation. It was a momentous turning point that gave us tremendous power and freedom. Instead of being automatons, we got to exercise our free will, make choices, and shape the world as we wanted. There were some costs, of course. No longer invariably protected by God, we were compelled to fend for ourselves, to labor and toil, and, hardest of all, to learn responsibility.

Self-consciousness (in this case ego consciousness) had another important consequence: separation from God. In this state of dualism, we were no longer enfolded in the loving embrace of the Divine, as were the other creatures of God's creation. Since the beginnings of self-consciousness, humans have felt this separation as a huge void in our hearts and souls. So, while we have capitalized on the freedom and power of a dualistic existence, we have also been yearning to heal the wounds resulting from this existence, to experience once again the oneness with God.

The Christian story of Adam and Even is about grappling with this fundamental loss of wholeness and its consequences. Eden is a metaphor for the primordial wholeness that existed before the dawn of self-consciousness: the apple is self-consciousness; the fall is the permanent exclusion from Eden that we suffer as a result of being self-conscious beings. We've obscured this deeper symbolism by focusing on the notion of sin and by thinking of the fall as wholly negative. However, once a year, at Easter, Christians briefly remember the positive side, proclaiming, O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

The fall from Eden was really a form of empowerment, because the self-consciousness that separated us from God also gave us the power to choose. We fell so that we could rise even higher - into a state of unity with the Divine more mature and fulfilling than the primal wholeness we lost, because it is an informed, or enlightened, unity. This is why there is no going back to the primal state of Eden; we can only go forward into enlightened unity. Through the grace of our fall, we are given the power to rise, but we must choose to rise, want to rise.

Why did the serpent tell the two primal humans to eat the apple so that they could become like God, especially when they were already created in the image and likeness of God? What we may infer from this paradox is that in God there is a mature sense of unity in diversification, and it is this state toward which the serpent was propelling Adam and Eve. The human being must progress - consciously, through the exercise of personal choice - toward the restoration of unity as an act of will. This is why the state of spiritual enlightenment can never be taken for granted.

When we choose to rise, we align ourselves with the Divine force, and this fuses our will with that of the Divine. Our capacity for choice is the ultimate gift of Divine Love. Without it, we would simply be safely programmed automatons, doing the will of our Creator. Free will enables us to consciously and deliberately choose or reject the love of the Divine.

The central message of Jesus, Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand (Matthew 4:17) is the invitation to participate in what the Divine intends for humanity, the journey toward consciously chosen unity. In repenting, at least in the general sense of the word, we acknowledge that we have at times exercised our power to reject love. To reject love creates pain - the pain of separation, the loss of connectedness. To repent, then, is to take the first step toward restoring harmony, balance, and connectedness to the most fundamental relationship - that between source and expression, God and creature, matter and life, being and consciousness. In this sense, Yoga is a meaningful act of repentance, for it is a wholehearted effort to restore harmony between the Divine and ourselves.

Russill Paul trained as both a Christian monk and yogi under the direction of Bede Griffiths, and is the author of Jesus in the Lotus and The Yoga of Sound. A faculty member at Wisdom University in San Francisco, he blends Indian and contemporary music in his recordings and performances. He lives in Austin, Texas, and teaches throughout the world.

The above article was excerpted from the book Jesus in the Lotus: The Mystical Doorway Between Christianity & Yogic Spirituality, copyright 2009 by Russill Paul. It is printed here with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA, 800-972-6657 ext. 52.