Thank you all for your ongoing engagement with this month’s topic of transformation. In our final week exploring this deep topic, we will offer both a reading and a video from Easwaran in which he touches on the radiant end goal of transformation through samadhi – union with reality. This is how Easwaran describes that supreme goal of meditation in The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living, Volume 2, “Like a Thousand Suns.”
When you are really making your best effort on the spiritual path, there is a slow but tremendously potent rise of the spiritual energy called kundalini. To an experienced eye, the marks of this rise are unmistakable. There is such drive, such resoluteness, such an indomitable will to achieve the goal of life no matter what stands in the way, that the mystics of both East and West use the image of fire to describe their personal experience of this power. To those around them, it is almost like seeing a human missile; every ounce of fuel is channeled into this tremendous attempt to reach an almost unreachable goal.
But finally, after samadhi is achieved, everything is transformed. Those who have become established in this state are so tranquil, so deceptively serene, that we might make the mistake of assuming that all their power has been consumed. It has not: it has become almost limitless, but now it is completely under control. It is like getting a second engine: you may have a Model T body, but now you get a Ferrari engine; just a touch of the accelerator and in seconds you can be at top speed. And then, the Hindu scriptures say, kundalini is no longer fire; it is light. Going up, when all you can manage is to keep it under control, kundalini is fire; but when it comes down again, to bathe all the centers of consciousness and release their deepest resources, it comes down as light. This divine radiance is called tejas in Sanskrit, and Sri Krishna is telling us here that this same light is within everyone, and it is the same radiance in the sun, in the stars, as in us all. Kabir says:
The moon shines in my body,
But my blind eyes cannot see it;
The moon is within me,
And so is the sun.
We invite you to allow the 3-minute video below to just wash over you as inspiration to give your best to your practice of the eight-point program. See if you can capture the desire for transformation this week through Easwaran’s commentary on Saint Catherine of Genoa.
Finally, we hope you enjoy this last excerpt from Easwaran’s book The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living, Volume 2, “Like a Thousand Suns.” In it Easwaran walks us through Saint Teresa of Avila’s passage, “Let Nothing Upset You.”
If you’d like to share a comment about anything in these two offerings, we would love to hear from you! Please feel free to make your contribution in the comment section below.
The Lord is everything for us. When we become God-conscious, all our needs are met; all our deepest desires are fulfilled. Sri Krishna says, “I am the supreme goal of life, your sole support; you have no other master than me. I am the eternal witness within you, your true home, your only refuge; when everyone else deserts you, I am still your friend.” Jesus puts it in very simple words: “Follow me; I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
In a beautiful little poem, St. Teresa of Ávila tells of the deep security that comes when we find our refuge in the Lord:
Let nothing upset you;
Let nothing frighten you.
Everything is changing;
God alone is changeless.
Patience attains the goal.
Who has God lacks nothing;
God alone fills all her needs.
Let nothing upset you. That is the first result of this realization: you become unupsettable. It means that none of your energy will be wasted, and you will have a long life with abounding energy to carry on the work of the Lord. Let nothing frighten you. There is going to be tragedy in life for everyone – loss of money, loss of face, loss of loved ones, and finally loss of everything on earth. You may grieve, but you never get oppressed by any loss, because through the deprivation you can see the Lord present always.
Everything is changing. The more experience I have of life, the more I appreciate the stark grandeur of this line. The other day I received a letter from India telling me that somebody I knew, somebody I loved, somebody I used to work with is now no more. When we move into the second half of life, this is the news that will come to us more and more often. The Katha Upanishad exclaims hauntingly, “Like corn, a man ripens and falls”: everything is changing, and everything that changes is going to pass away. God alone is changeless: turn to him, love him with all your heart, and you will be secure always; you will find fulfillment everywhere you go.
Patience attains the goal. The logic is as ruthless as the words are beautiful. No matter how difficult a situation is, no matter how difficult another person is, everything and everyone must yield to patience, which outlasts all obstacles. In the heart of every storm in life there is always this unchanging center which is the Lord, and when you can bear with those who rage against you and keep your trust in them, you are helping them to trust and respond to their real Self. If you can only be patient and remember these lines of Teresa’s – “everything is changing; God alone is changeless” – those who oppose you, those who differ from you, those who make life impossible for you will have to respond; it is only a matter of time.
Who has God lacks nothing. That’s why everybody throws away their defenses before a person who has realized God. Such people do not lack anything at all, so they have nothing to try to get from anyone. They live for our benefit, not for their own. You can take what you like from them; they will still be full. They can give anything away; they will still be full. You can give them any kind of trouble; they will still be full. As Teresa concludes beautifully, God alone fills all their needs.