In the Bible, in the 2nd and 3rd chapter of Genesis, we have the story of the first man Adam, and his wife Eve, in the Garden of Eden. God created this Garden with plenty of lush, greenery and trees bearing all kinds of fruits and placed the couple to enjoy the fruits of the garden. He had given them all the freedom except, to eat from the 'Tree of knowledge'. The story goes on to tell how man and the woman fell from obeying the command when tempted by the Serpent who symbolises the devil and sinned against God. Consequently they were driven out of the garden and also were prevented to come again in the garden or to have access to another tree, 'The tree of Life' which was now guarded by a guardian angel.
Many Biblical students, scholars and the Christian people around the world take the story to be literal. They believe in the Eden Garden as a real physical place somewhere on the face of the earth. Sin of human is a popular theme with the Christian church which culminates in happy ending with the coming of Son of God, Jesus on the earth who lived on this earth, taught the love of God to humanity and sacrificed his life on the cross for all. Human relation with the Divine is restored through this act of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and they regain the lost paradise, the Garden of Eden in Christ. While all this is true, but the story of Garden of Eden has deeper meaning which appears different on the surface but below stores wealth of wisdom, enlightenment and bliss. Let's explore it in a new angle.
Garden
What is the Garden of Eden?: The Garden of Eden is the Sub-conscious mind of human being! We all are aware of the conscious mind that is awake and works on the basis of our senses and logic. We also know that we have the subconscious mind, which runs on the basis of what is fed to it through our conscious mind. The subconscious mind rather plays a major role in carving out our beliefs, personality and character. Even when you are sleeping, the subconscious mind is working to keep your heart beats intact, it controls your blood flow and it is this mind that brings about the wonderful healing in your body when you are injured or sick. It is here that you get those hunches and that eureka feeling many times when you quieten your conscious mind, it is taken to be the place where the Divine connects to human and human to Divine. Garden of Eden was made by God says the Bible and your subconscious is made by God. There were many fruit bearing trees in this garden and that exactly figuratively tells the function of the subconscious mind. Our life bears fruits bad or good on the basis of what is fed to the subconscious mind and emotionalized. Friends if you believe something with your conscious mind to be true and emotionalise the belief with your feelings it goes in your subconscious mind and produces the exact situation or event. When someone sits under a fan believing that it is going to make him sick and he is going to catch cold, the subconscious mind is fed with the message and produces the exact symptoms in him. The person now is really sick! Many wonderful healings around the world are witnessed due to this same principle. If a person believes that he is going to be healed of an ailment and emotionalises the feeling, his subconscious mind will accept the command and bring about the healing! The Garden of Eden was giving fruits of all kinds, so is your subconscious mind bearing fruits of healing-sickness, joy-unhappiness, richness-poverty with what you are feeding it. The seeds that you plant through your conscious mind are important and that is why Jesus said, 'You can't gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles' In pre-fall stage Humans were directly connected to this wonderful channel of Divinity, the subconscious mind and so everything in the garden of Eden was easy, blissful and plenty.
What is the Tree of Knowledge?: God wanted human to have easy access to his plenty through the principles of working on subconscious mind, but he had created man in his own image and he knew he had to caution him against going by conscious mind. The conscious mind is pictured in the Tree of Knowledge in the story of the Garden of Eden. This was the tree that God forbade human eat fruits from. God has made everything easy for access through the working of the subconscious, the subconscious works on the principle of Faith. The conscious on the other hand works on the principle of logic and doubt. I don't deny the good use of conscious mind that this world has witnessed. Friends, doubt prevents us from many miracle moments in our life. We usually go the hard way like Adam and Eve had now to toil and sweat to earn their bread after they gave the conscious mind the dominance. Human beings are under this curse that the Bible talks about, we believe and hear only our conscious mind and that's why our life produces the same results of lack, disbelief, fear and unhappiness. I don't say the conscious mind is evil, but it is limited from the wisdom of God. Human beings made the sub conscious mind the slave to conscious mind when as per God's plan it should have been exactly the opposite. The serpent who is usually symbolizing the devil is nothing but the element of doubt and fear in our conscious minds. When human beings were driven out of the Garden of Eden and a guardian angel was placed near the 'Tree of Life' it is a symbol of human now having no easy access to the wonders of subconscious mind and the consequent life in abundance that it results into.
Where does Jesus fit in all this?: Jesus came as the prototype of what is expected of human, which is why the Bible also refers to him as the 'Second Adam'. What was expected of Adam, Jesus fulfilled through is life. He worked on the principles of this subconscious mind and was open to the Divine, his Father's wisdom all the time. The many miracles and healings he performed were surprising to the common conscious mind but to him they were a cake-walk as he was connected to his Father, through the working of Subconscious mind. Now the favourite question, why did he have to die? The first reason is obvious that Jesus was condemned by the Jews and Roman authorities for blasphemy i.e. calling and making himself the Son of God. The second and most important reason is that Jesus was called as Son of God and Son of Man for a reason, when you are driven by the principle of your Subconscious mind working, you become like Jesus, divinely connected to your heavenly father and other times you are like Adam when you are running on the limited conscious mind, you are Son of Man. So the point is the Son of Man had to die to resurrect as Son of God. Your conscious mind has to be sacrificed to resurrect and witness the wonders and working of Sub conscious mind in your life! That is real salvation, when you stop being Adam, the Son of Man and become resurrected as Jesus, the Son of God, divinely connected.
Conclusion: Friends, let us awaken to this truth that is found not just in the Bible but in all the religious scriptures. Till we are alive, we will live with our conscious mind more active but now we know the truth and if we allow good thoughts, thoughts of love, healing, bliss to enter our minds, the subconscious mind will produce the same and then we will experience paradise on earth, the very Garden of Eden opening its door again to realise 'Paradise Regained'.
Sohan.
The Garden of Eden