The Garden of Eden

You will be amazed that the freedom was given to Adam and Eve, but how it was achieved you should understand. In the Gnostics Bible it has come out, what I've been saying, that Adam and Eve, both of them, were like pashus, animals, under the complete control of God, no free will. They would have lived in the nude in the garden of Eden, would not have even thought of knowing anything than that but to eat, live like animals....
Then it is the Shakti Herself took the form of a snake and went and told them that 'you must have fruit of knowledge.' She wanted to evolve them. That was not the idea of God Almighty ... It's quite a headache, you know, to do such a thing... But Shakti knew Her own style, Shakti knew that She is capable of lots of miracles and She can make these human beings understand the knowledge...
So She said, 'you must eat this fruit and you must try to know the knowledge.' So a new type of human race started which wanted to know what is the knowledge.

H.H.Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, extract from Navaratri Puja 1992

Source: Divine Cool Breeze 6(11)