There's degradation of the environment. But the real issue is the degradation of one's inner environment.

The reason you see yourself as a creep is because you have an appreciation of what perfection is, whereas no one else conceives of themselves in that way, since they don't even strive.

What gets frustrating for some people is the fact that you might get very high, but you find yourself pulled down again. There are forces of illusion or maya that cause us to make mistakes.

You can get stuck in one state of mind or a general area of mind for a thousand lifetimes. Some states of mind afford better views than others.

You have to learn to be very, very gentle to start with - with yourself eventually. Meditation is not something that you force. It is something that happens to you because life gives you a gift.

When you deal with people, it tends to drag your energy down - if those people are in a lower auric state than you. If you meditate and they don't, then by the end of the day you tend to be more drained.

Ramakrishna didn't suddenly become enlightened. We had years of him meditating, seeking, crying to Mother Kali, going in and out of samadhi; but after many years of this process, he was enlightened. He was no longer a finite individual.