The Nature of Change

The Nature of Change by Acharya Satyam Ehinger

“Do people really change?” a holiday musical begins, “Like real lasting positive change? I hope so, because we are in the business of change.” In the film, an angel seeks to transform an unredeemable Scrooge, but a twist occurs when we see that the only way to transform the heart of our Scrooge is if the Angel itself also undergoes a deep and profound inner transformation. This alludes to the real nature of change: it goes beyond the likes and dislikes of our mind and can’t be accomplished from the outside in— if you want to change, you gotta do the work of participating in your life day after day. Perhaps this is why only 9-12% of people keep their New Years Resolutions. 

But it also points to another important aspect of change: change and transformation are a natural process; we all want and feel the need for change and transformation. A caterpillar naturally changes to a butterfly. So how can we learn to participate more fruitfully in the process of change? Does it have to do with creating a better schedule or getting rid of our schedule altogether? Is it a product of will, or does it simply have to do with letting go? As with so many answers in the non-dualistic tradition of Kashmir Shaivism, it’s both. So let’s get to work on re-framing our understanding of change, going beyond New Year’s Resolutions, and into the Spirit of Real Transformation.

Yogis are in the business of change; we know that the path of transformation is never a linear chart. Shiva Sutra 2.3 teaches that real change doesn’t happen in one burst of effort, but that we will always lose our focus when striving to inner transformation, and that the hallmark of a real yogi is the willingness to re-gain their focus again and again: “The yogi must churn it [their inner energy] by inserting sparks of awareness, one after another, again and again, in unbroken continuation. The process is to insert one spark of awareness. Let that one spark fade. Again, insert fresh awareness. Let that spark fade. Again, insert fresh awareness. This process must be continued over and over again in continuity.” The yogic path of change is two steps forward, one step back, in continuity.

Because even the smallest steps towards change show us the ripples it creates in our lives. For example, starting a meditation practice requires that we begin to sit for practice 1-2 times a day, but anyone who has tried to do this soon realizes that it’s not as easy as adding another task to your daily schedule, but rather requires you to slightly alter many aspects of your schedule – i.e. to get up earlier you have to go to bed earlier, to have a productive evening sit you have to adjust your evening activities, and so on. And even when you do arrive on the cushion, again you see that the simplest level of change, that of redirecting a thought to a mantra for example, requires a deep internal and indescribable effort, over and over again. And we should remember, this doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong, it means you’re doing it right! Every aspect of our practice requires that we interact directly with change. So if one out of ten people keep their New Year’s resolution for good, I say bravo! Because as a yogi, I view the concept of change with reverence and awe.

The Guru Gita gives us a glimpse of the yogic perspective of change— change is nothing short of a transformation, like that of a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, or a larva into a bee:

“Just as a larva transforms into a bee, similarly, through meditation, one is transformed into that state in which one may abide anywhere.” (118) Change takes place at an atomic level – when we change, everything changes; it’s an experience that goes beyond the mind and senses. When the preface to the Vijnana Bhairava teaches that Our True Nature is “beyond the limitation of space, time, and formation. It has no space, It has no time, It has no form – It is beyond that, beyond these three…this state is, in fact, indescribable, It can’t be described,” this teaches that the change we seek is beyond the mind. For example, a caterpillar can’t change themselves into a butterfly by simply thinking of a butterfly, or reading about butterflies; they have to create a space dedicated solely to inner transformation, a cocoon, and then spend time in that inner space. In our daily lives, this is the time we set aside for meditation. Our meditation space is like a temporary cocoon that we can revisit on a daily basis, and like a cocoon it exists for only one reason – to transform. And when we pursue change in this natural way, the transformation itself takes place quite naturally within that sphere of awareness, as Sage Patanjali teaches, “The state of yoga is a natural state and our true condition. It is the understanding of the Inner Self which is not limited by our physical form.” (1.19).

Real lasting change, then, does not come from our minds, but literally from the quieting of

our minds. The mind cannot comprehend real change, our true nature is actually beyond the mind, similar to how the taste of a strawberry is beyond any description. As Jai Deva Singh comments in response to verses 14-17 of the Vijnana Bhairava, “That state [our true nature] is not the object of vikalpas (thoughts), It can’t be perceived by vikalpas. You can’t perceive It through the mind…[Bhairava] has gone above [becoming] the object of thoughts. Shiva then goes on to teach that it is precisely the quieting of our minds, and surrendering of our attachments, that generates the real change and transformation we seek. If we can learn to do that, we naturally change into our True Nature, little by little, day by day.

Shiva then finishes by saying we must always remember that real change is a state of being, not a thought or technique. “That state of Bhairava, [the state of being] which is full of the bliss of non-difference from the entire universe, [that state] is alone Bhairavi, or Shakti of Bhairava.” (JDS translation, emphasis added in brackets). Swami Lakshmanjoo takes extra time in his commentary to emphasize the value of this teaching. “In other words…you can’t find out [what is the real state of Bhairava] because the real state of Bhairava is, in fact, the real state of the knower. It can’t be found [because] It is the [finder]. The real state of Bhairava is the perceiver, It is not perceived. You can’t perceive that state when there is a desire in you to perceive It. You can [only] perceive It when It comes down in the state of Bhairava. Swami Lakshmanjoo’s commentary emphasizes that we will never be able to change from the outside in, because the thing we are seeking to change into is literally within us; it is us. So eventually we have to work from this deeper state of being to create lasting change. In our holiday movie, for example, the angel had to transform and grow in order to carry their scrooge towards growth. If we want to help others grow, we have to grow right there alongside them— there’s no path to growth that doesn’t require getting dirty. We have to ‘become the change we wish to see in the world,’ as Gandhi put it. This is the state of being we seek in meditation— a state of real inner participation every step of the way, a state that goes beyond mental techniques and into direct meditative experience. As Jai Deva Singh concludes in his comments, “This is Shambhava

Yoga: Though the highest state of Bhairava cannot be described, it can be experienced.”

(P.16, exposition, note 2) But what about the small changes that we all want and need in our

lives? The little things we want to change on our way to being a butterfly, like eating better, exercising, spending time with family, less screen time, etc. Those are wonderful aspirations, and shouldn’t be overlooked. When used skillfully, these small changes act like door knobs to open our hearts for the bigger transformation to unfold, our spiritual growth. As Sri Shambhavananda recently taught, “Take a moment to consider some small aspect of yourself, or your life, you wish to change. Notice in your heart the feeling of that tension you wish to change. Hold your focus there, and breathe naturally into that space, expanding and releasing in and around it. Do this repeatedly and feel the change you seek becoming a part of your state of being. This is how we use small changes to inspire bigger changes, and how we transition from techniques of the mind to a state of being in the heart.”

So, ‘do people really change? Like real lasting change?’ Yes, absolutely, but the path to that kind of change is not what we think it is, literally and figuratively. Change is sacred, the purpose of every practice in the yogic tradition. 100% of what we want to change may start in the mind, but if we don’t bring our practice into the equation, then 90% of those changes will dissolve before we know it. According to the ancient teachings of the yogic tradition, ‘real lasting change’ comes quite naturally when we quiet our mind, surrender our attachments, and start to interact directly with our state of being through the practice of meditation. So this year, instead of getting too wrapped up in a list of external items you wish to change, try using that same time and energy to connect with the spirit of transformation within your own heart. Can you set aside time each day to calm your mind? Can you infuse your practice into your daily life in order to surrender your attachments and aversions? Can you use the excitement of small changes to open the door to a state of being which generates real change? These methods, we are taught, are the timeless paths to lasting change— a cocoon that transforms us into a butterfly of Being, Consciousness and Bliss.