We are often told – “Change is a way of life” or “Persons who is risk averse is taking the highest risk” or “Seek new horizons and do not box yourself into a limited personality or “Visit new places and people regularly”, and so on. All the newspapers, articles, Whatsapp forwards, etc goad us to seek variety. Essentially, we are asked to live a life of variety to make life interesting. And hidden in this last sentence are two aspects:
- Live a life of variety
- (to) make life interesting.
Within this line itself, while the word variety is used, there is a fixity too in terms of wanting an interesting life. No one will say that they would like to make their lives boring or to make their lives unhappy. No one wants variety in seeking any different experiences that are other than interesting or happy experiences. So innate in our choice of variety lies the idea of fixity. And while we often spend a lot of time talking about what variety to bring into our lives, is enough focus given to what aspects are meant to have fixity?
Let us dwell on this point a little further. One is often asked to visit various countries and meet various kinds of people. So a person who has lived in tropical climate only is asked to visit cold countries or deserts since it will open up his or her mind to other kinds of living and thereby seek good in other kinds of lifestyles too after from taking on to new ideas to make life in his own country richer. The fixity that we do not talk about is the need for making our life richer – we would not like to compromise on that, do we? Similarly, one may try out various cuisines to give our tongues diverse experience of taste which in turn gives joy to our taste buds. One meets up with people of diverse nationalities or professions or races, etc in order to be learn different lifestyles and eventually experience that each such “different” person is after all seeking the same happiness in life. One seeks adventure in terms of climbing Everest but traverses the same path that earlier climbers have traversed. One may reach out to Mars but success is based on being fixated to the same principles of Physics that are essential to achieve success in travel.
But does all kind of change make our life richer necessarily? We often hear of immigrants to who move to another country for career options but are unable to accept their new home and in fact, become a burden to their new home. If the British or the Spanish colonized diverse countries, did they become diverse or accepting of all cultures? Not really since the happiness they were seeking was of the material kind and all they did was looted and killed lakhs of natives within their colonies who in turn lost their own diverse ways of lifestyles and instead adopted the mannerisms of their colonial masters. Therefore, though at a superficial level, all people are seeking happiness, there are several grades of happiness – of the bodily kind (and thus making a person seek diverse people of the opposite sex to experience sensual kind of happiness), of the material/ emotional kind (and thus seek wealth/ relationships in all diverse kind of engagements) or of the intellectual kind (and thus making a person seek education in numerous educational institutes to gain knowledge). Put this another way, the diversity one seeks is limited by one’s own mental make-up since it is the same mind that is present in each of those diverse experiences. And unless this mind is capable of enhancing its own build-up from the bodily to mental/ emotional to intellectual to an Adhyatmic level, any diversity that one seeks will not really bring about a change but keep such a person fixated at the same level that the person already is. Thus, a person who grew up in Mumbai fleecing people to make money will do the same if he moves to London or New York since this instinct is not open enough for a change. Therefore, irrespective of one living in multiple cities, such a person may not be accepting of all cultures, irrespective of one indulging in different types of adventures (like rock climbing to bungee jumping to snorkeling), one does not lose one’s sense of risk averseness.
Turning to Adhyamta is more useful here. What one needs to hold on to and what one needs to change needs to be clear. Diversity or variety alone does not trigger changes – in fact, it may deepen existing orientation. So when Drona asks both Yudhistira and Duryodhana after their education to go around the country and return with their learnings, Duryodhana felt that people all across the country or greedy, non-helping and lazy, Yudhistira sees the same country and expressed that he found all people helpful, charitable and active. Unless one is clear about oneself, how can mere variety bring about any change in anyone? Variety is merely an external trigger that provides an opportunity for change but unless one is tuned to interpreting the change sensibly, unless that learning chip is embedded within oneself, no change is possible just by exposure to mere variety.
Once one gets the above, one will then connect with the Adhyamta perspective to life. Says Gita:
स्वे स्वे कर्मण्यभिरतः संसिद्धिं लभते नरः। स्वकर्मनिरतः सिद्धिं यथा विन्दति तच्छृणु।।18.45।।
18.45 A person (नरः) dedicated to (अभिरतः) his or her own कर्म (स्वे स्वे कर्मण्य) attains (लभते) success (संसिद्धिं) (ie a satisfaction of having done happily what is to be done and not requiring a change to become happier). In which way (यथा), one gains (विन्दति) success (सिद्धिं), being dedicated (निरत:) to an action in tune with one’s own inclination (स्वकर्म), to this, please listen (तत् श्रृणु).
The above line suggests that adoption of a lifestyle seeking senseless change or variety is avoidable. Stick to your Karma, stick to your own Swadharma. What one does in an external setting is not material or relevant. What exposure one gets of the world may not aid learning in any manner. In fact, it becomes a wasteful pursuit and akin to a nomadic existence in that one is merely moving from one place to another but does not let go of his innate nature of being a mere survivalist. So what aspects does one remain fixed on amidst the change? If one turns to Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, he lists 5 Yamas and 5 Niyamas as below:
- Ahiṃsā: Nonviolence, non-harming other living beings
- Satya: truthfulness, non-falsehood
- Asteya: non-stealing
- Brahmacārya: chastity or disciplined lifestyle
- Aparigraha: non-avarice, non-possessiveness
- Śauca: purity, clearness of mind, speech and body
- Santoṣa: contentment, acceptance of others, acceptance of one’s circumstances as they are in order to get past or change them, optimism for self
- Tapas: persistence, perseverance, austerity
- Svādhyāya: study of Vedas, study of self, self-reflection, introspection of self’s thoughts, speeches and actions
- Īśvarapraṇidhāna: contemplation of the Ishvara (God/Supreme Being, Brahman, True Self, Unchanging Reality)
Stick to these wherever one is. Change is something that happens even though one may not seek it. Our own environment keeps on changing and as they say – “Change is the only constant in life”. So while we may become accepting of the world and be open to change, such an open-ness must not allow us to let-go of the ten aspects that need to remain fixed. In the Gita too, in chapter 16, Sri Krishna gives us twenty six attributes called as Daivi Sampatti that need to remain fixed to obtain success in life. These are given as:
- Freedom from fear (अभयं),
- purity of mind (सत्त्वसंशुद्धिः),
- steadiness in (commitment to) ज्ञान and योग (meaning practice) (ज्ञान योग व्यवस्थितिः),
- charity (दानं) and
- control of ways of external behaviour (दम:),
- यज्ञ (performing daily prayers or नित्यकर्म),
- (scriptural) study (स्वाध्याय:),
- austerity (तप:) and
- simplicity or straight forwardedness (आर्जवम्);
- Harmlessness (अहिंसा),
- truthfulness (सत्यम्),
- resolution of anger (अक्रोध:),
- renunciation (त्यागः),
- clarity (शान्ति:),
- not exposing defects of one person to another (अपैशुनम्),
- kindness to creatures (दया भूतेषु),
- absence of agitation of senses in the presence of objects (अलोलुप्त्वं),
- gentleness (मार्दवं),
- modesty (ह्री:),
- absence of (meaningless) restlessness (अचापलम्);
- Brilliance (तेजः),
- accommodation or patience and understanding (क्षमा),
- resolve (धृतिः),
- cleanliness (शौचम्),
- absence from malice (अद्रोह:),
- absence of demanding respect from others (न-अतिमानिता)
Shed these and life will become Asuric. I am not going into what each of these attrubutes mean since that will make the discussion very long. But the idea of fixity of values is essential as we are thrown in the Samsara that is like a flowing river of change. And if one is established in these values already, one need not seek any change at all since change is only essential for one who needs to learn from such change but one is already established in these like Swami Ramana (who stayed in Thiruvannamalai all his life), there is no value to be gained from seeking change. So even one when is asked to take on to risk, one must indeed take risk but must not compromise of these values at any point of time.
Now a wise sceptic may ask – why is fixity to these values necessary? My narrative thus far highlights clearly that fixity to “something” is a reality. One is always fixed to some value as one pursues change – the question therefore must not be as to why these values are essential to cultivate but instead one must list all aspects that one is fixed towards, rank them and decide which ones must be cultivated and which ones rejected. Unless one does this, one is merely indulging in reverse psychology talk without being clear as to the purpose of the debate. Be that as it may, the entire orientation of Adhyatma texts is around why these values may be cultivated. The entire purpose of life is to discover one’s true nature which is described as a state of Sat-Chit-Ananda. Cultivation of these values is thus as essential as a spaceship is to reach another planet. Just as one does not abandon the ship till one reaches the moon, one remains fixated to these values to discover our true self. And once we discover this, these values become inessential (inasmuch as these become part of our being and the need for separately cultivating these does not exist). We become the All. We become Brahman at this highest level as we discover ourselves. We become the Universal.
OM TAT SAT
Adhyatma Writings 