Question:
I have read many spiritual works, and many of them mention Bodhisattvas as beings who come back and reincarnate for highly spiritual purposes. I am quite confused about it. Would you please provide some insights into the nature and level of consciousness of these Bodhisattvas. In other words, are they already fully evolved into Enlightenment and achieved Unity Consciousness or are they still experiencing Divine Consciousness, as the Saint does?

Answer:
I am not an expert in Buddhism, but I understand that a Bodhisattva is a concept from the Mahayana school of Buddhism which says the ideal aspirant is one who vows not to accept entry into nirvana until all others can go there also. The scriptural justification for this is tied to the story of Buddha’s temptation by Mara at the time of his enlightenment. It was presented to him that on attaining enlightenment, he could simply disappear into nirvana if he wanted. He chose to stay on earth and teach others. So the Bodhisattva is one who out of compassion has decided to stay on the earth plane to help humanity to move to the next level in the evolution. So even though they no longer have to reincarnate, after their body dies, they will come back to the earth plane in some form to help others.
The Bodhisattva is enlightened, but they may or may not have attained Unity Consciousness yet. Once the Intuitive Response, or Cosmic consciousness has become permanent, then one’s Self is awakened and you are eternally free. That is basic enlightenment. You are out of the woods so sto speak, and off the wheel of birth and death at last, but there are still more expansive states of enlightenment that lie ahead, including the Sacred Response, or Unity consciousness. A Bodhisattva can be at any level of enlightenment from the Intuitive Response onward. However, the real sense of what a Bodhisattva is doesn’t pigeonhole so neatly into these states of consciousness, because being a Bodhisattva is a specific role of service to humanity that one has taken on, and that role of compassion is more important than where one is in the spectrum of enlightenment.
Love,
Deepak