02 Jul Change is Inevitable – July 3 2020
Certain indeed is death for the born
and certain is birth for the dead;
therefore over the inevitable you
should not grieve.
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter II, vs. 27
Change is inevitable in the field of relative existence; it is going on even in the present, as it was in the past and will be in the future…
The phenomenon of birth and death is the expression of the eternal process of evolution, which in its turn expresses the purpose of creation. Life evolves with a view to the realization of perfection. Development through change is the natural course of the cosmic process….
Man has freedom of action; thereby he can adopt any channel, good or bad, through which he wants the course of his life to flow. This is in his hands. But change is inevitable, and it is for the sake of life that this is so…
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi,
Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation
and Commentary, Chapters 1-6
There are two demands within each of us, always: the demand of the ego/animal nature for safety and comfort, and the demand of spirit for our growth and evolution. These conflicting demands play out by way of the ego mind saying ‘no’ to the new, and the spirit Self saying ‘yes’ to the flow of evolution through us.
Ego wants to find the perfect picture of life – money, safety, love, family – and then freeze it. This is its nature. Spirit, on the other hand, wants only our growth and development – continual movement toward the fullest experience of life possible.
Life keeps happening, in spite of our best efforts to stop its flow, and if we are trying to stop it, we inevitably be bruised. Nothing stays the same in the relative world, ever. My thoughts and feelings are completely different now than they were when I began writing this fifteen minutes ago, and they will be different again by the time I reach the end. To decide how I want them to be, and then try to make them stay that way, is absurd. This goes double for anyone I think should be a certain way. They will never cooperate, except in moments, here or there. And I will be miserable.
Our task is to become identified with the Self within – the place of no change that is there in each of us. This place that, once embraced, gives us the ground to stand on to allow the flow of ever-changing life to wash over us without being at the effect of it.
This is the gift we receive in meditation: guided by our practice to that place of pure Being within, transcendent of the relative world; and then lifted back into life with an opportunity at each moment to choose which demand we will follow – to stay small for the ego, or to expand for the spirit.
Today I will meditate, twice, and remind myself throughout the day to take my attention from the demanding voice of the ego, that I may hear the guidance of the quiet voice of nature that awaits me within.
