THE DHARMA OF CHANGE
    Change is the nature of this world. Change is the nature of all that is - it is the movement of
the One Infinity. Change is the dance of Shiva, the 'Changer' or the 'Transformer' of the Hindu
Trimurti. The Hindu Trimurti is the Triple Godhood of the Universe: Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the
Sustainer, and Shiva the Transformer. All that manifests is subject to change, for it is the root of the
nature of all manifestations, be they ideas, thoughts, light, emotions, or physical matter. Below is a
picture of Shiva: the Great Transformer, the Dancer, the Changer, the Destroyer who clears the way
for the new cycle of existence (http://www.mandalas.com/HinduGallery/Shiva_Sky.php).























    Babaji, Mahaprabhuji of Haidakhan, talks about change (http://www.babajispeaks.com/):

    "Attach to the real. Changes are many. Lessons are many. The flow of life plays out. The fog
    slowly lifts and the path becomes visible. But always be aware that the path is like the
    Ganges, always changing, never still. That is why we would bathe in it early each morning. To
    remind us, to understand, that change is the Law of Nature. This is the great lesson. See?
    And my message of Truth, Simplicity and Love is the tool for living in the river of change.
    Change, change, change... this is the way of the Universe. But there is a stillness, a ground of
    being, where I am no-body, no-thing, eternally observing all of this change. This is the realm
    of the Higher Self. Peaceful Blessings. Babaji" (from Marge DeVivo TSLNotes group on Yahoo
    Groups).

    What is beyond change and manifestation? That is the Infinite Life - the very living source
which is at the centre of all manifestation, for it is One. From this One, from Unity, all the worlds, all
the numberless beings emerge. They emerge from and fall back into Mahakali, Great Kali, the Great
Black or Great Void of the unmanifest, the uncreated. Worlds and beings emerge as Light from the
Void, and into the Void they fall back, to reemerge as Light yet again in more harmonious and
experienced configurations. Thus, the river of the Universe flows along the current of experience!
























    Let us hear on this topic from Ven. Anzan Hoshin Roshi of the Zen Monastery of Ottawa,
which is part of the White Wind Zen Community (http://www.wwzc.org/):

    This world of ten directions and the limitless events that come and go throughout it, and as
    it, is inherently intimate and is primordially Awake Awareness. The tradition points out ten
    directions: the four cardinal directions and four intermediate directions we put on maps
    together with up and down. But there are directions between directions and they are all
    arising from the measure of every point of space. This vast array of places and persons and
    possibilities is the presencing of the mind of the old Buddhas. Stepping forward, we move into
    it but there is not now more or less of it. Stepping back, we move within it and there is not
    now more or less of it. This world of ten directions, of numberless dharmas, is where Buddhas
    awaken and set themselves loose within it and as it and are the primordially Awake Awareness
    in which it arises. This world is the life of each of us and it is alive as us.

    Self-image is the delusion that we live in a world that is not alive, that is not our life. Self-
    image constructs structures of attention that constrict experience so that it is merely a self in
    here experiencing a jumble of dead objects and the threats and promises of other selves. The
    cultures that we have created through constriction and contraction of locating ourselves as a
    self have all been based upon passion, aggression, and stupidity and their histories are records
    of wars and plagues and poverty and power. But in each of those ancient cultures and
    histories, in each moment of each person's life, there have always been available opportunities
    to open from fixated attention and frozen experiences into the real world. Each moment of
    your life is an opportunity to release yourself into the primordially Awakened Way because
    openness is the nature of all experiences and all experiences are the presencing of
    experiences: Fences, walls, tiles, stones, icicles melting and falling as the daylight lengthens
    (beginning teisho 6: "Collapsing, Dropping, Falling" in the series "The Primordially Awakened
    Way: commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's Kobutsu-shin", presented on Saturday, March 19,
    2005).

    Below is a tangka of Arapachana Manjushri (the Splendid Melodious Voiced One), the
bodhisattva who represents the wisdom of all the buddhas of the ten directions and three times.
Beautiful and youthful, he has one face and two hands. The right holds aloft the blue flaming sword
of wisdom severing ignorance. The left placed at the heart holds the stem of an utpala flower
supporting on the blossom the Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) book. Adorned with a crown
of gold studded with jewels, earrings, necklaces and bracelets, he wears garments of silk, a green
scarf and a red skirt (http://www.pbase.com/potala/image/25908358).

































    Frozen experience and fixated attention - the endless cycling of manifestations such as
thoughts, feelings, associations and attachments to ideas, forms, visions, theories - the wheel of
change keeps spinning, but we are trying to stop it, trying to cling to it, throwing ourselves at it -
unable to accept change!
    We put up obstacles, we divide and name parts of the Manifest Illusion and attach to them,
not realizing that all this is just a play of light emanating from the Unity of All Creation. The Illusion,
also known as Maya, is how the One Alive Infinity expresses the play of Light and Love. Isn't it
beautiful? No obstacles and no problems, for all is open without end, without limit. Infinity is
necessary for Evolution. There is no Evolution without Infinity.
    Elaine Pagels, in her book The Origin of Satan, says that 'Satan' didn't always refer to an evil
being but was initially used to represent an obstacle. After that meaning, it evolved into a meaning
which was used to unify your group against your enemies/adversaries or 'satan' (http://www.2think.
org/hii/pagels.shtml). Let us see what Babaji says about obstacles and problems:

    "As for serious problems. Consider these problems as opportunities for growth. Change is not
    easy. The ego rejects change, yet change is the law, change is the real. Obstacles to the
    higher path are many. That is why few arrive. If obstacles are nonexistent then the ego will
    create them. Understand? Your ego is creating obstacles. Maya creating maya.

    "Step back. Observe, without judgment, unconditional. Watch now as obstacles melt,
    become no-thing. Do this each time a block appears. Step back and observe without
    judgment. Chant the Mahamantra silently. Invoke the name of Babaji within your heart. The
    obstacle passes, quickly.

    "Remember, obstacles are part of change and change is the law of nature. If you react, then
    the obstacle becomes larger. If you observe, pure observation, then the obstacle passes, as
    quickly as it was created. Go now. Observe. Pure observation. No judgment. Chant silently.
    Invoke Babaji within your heart.

    "Now see the movement of Truth, the movement of Simplicity, and the movement of Love
    permeate the fabric of space and time and move upon the heart.

    "I am Bhole Baba. I am no-thing. I am no-body. To find me, find what I am not....  I am no-
    where, no place" (http://www.babajispeaks.com/).





















    Through the Wheel of Change, the Wheel of Time, the High Path passes straight to the
Source of All That Is. Through the suffering of apparent separation, apparent obstacles, Light and
Love are the Path of Salvation. A final message from Babaji:

    Attach to the real, that which was before you and that which shall be after you. The word is
    Eternal. Truth,Simplicity,Love and Service is the core of the Teachings. The High Path is the
    direction. I want you to become independent thinkers. I want you to serve as beacons of
    Light as the darkness quickens with great changes and despair overwhelming this world. I
    want you to attach to the Teachings, not the Teacher. I want you to focus on Truth. I want
    you to focus on Simplicity. I want you to focus on Love. I want you to focus on Service. I
    want you to address all problems, all obstacles in the context of Truth,Simplicity,and Love. I
    want you to be Alert. I want you to be Aware. Understand? Babaji (from Babaji Forum at
    http://www.babajispeaks.com/, summer 2001)

























    Let us close off with the recitation of two mantras. First, the Mahamantra of Sri Sri Babaji:

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA

    And second, the Prajnaparamita Hridaya Mantra, Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Mantra:

OM GATE GATE
PARAGATE
PARASAMGATE
BODHI SVAHA
OM

Om, gone gone;
Gone beyond;
Gone completely beyond;
Praise to Awakening, Om!

09/05/09
Copyright © 2009
pavel.tkalitch@welcometotheuniverse.com
Art by Babaji
Art by Babaji