Thank you for the explanation, Nalini.

Yes, I think I might have heard about "spiritualized ego" before. It seems that some people can get a taste of enlightenment, then that kind of goes to their head and they think they are better than everyone else because they are "enlightened".

I'm not sure about the term "evolution of consciousness", though. Consciousness cannot evolve, as consciousness has no properties to evolve. Consciousness is merely the empty space in which all experiences are experienced. If someone feels that their consciousness is evolving, that is a feeling or a thought, which is an experience. It's not consciousness itself.