Transformation

 

Every caterpillar can become a butterfly. All he has to do is surrender his caterpillarness in the sleeping soup of the chrysalis and metamorphosis is guaranteed.

Every human being carries the seed of transformation in his very being. All he has to do is be willing to surrender, to sacrifice his persona and embrace the divine Self within.

This power of metamorphosis is discovered by very few. Perhaps the small child, the guru, the saint, the master  of yoga or tai chi,  the mystic or the singer or the artist, the devotee drunk with love…..a few have tasted this power and its glory.

It can only be known when the mind-noise ceases and the heart-lotus blossoms in the radiant light of selfless silence.

Turning inwards in deep introspection, one enters the cocoon of stillness and surrender. Then something mysterious happens: an inner fire awakens, metamorphosis begins.This process is called tapasya -  like smoke from a fire, various symptoms emerge.

At the outer level, one expands into infinite space; one sees through obstacles and beyond horizons, hears the sound of the earth breathing and the grass growing, smells the faintest fragrance of distant forest flowers carried on a fragile breeze.

In the inner dimension of conscious awareness, mysteries unfurl…..the haunting music of divine instruments blends with angelic voices singing in perfect harmony.  Visions of exquisite beauty  unfold before the inner eye. Maddeningly delicious scents and flavours overwhelm the  structure of smell and taste, while one’s very bones melt beneath the over-arching pleasure of the Beloved’s caress.

These are all just brief side-effects of the end of the persona, the dream in the chrysalis. 

From the eventual dissolution of this chrysalis,  an extremely subtle, transcendent state of being emerges, as delicate and as wondrous as a butterfly.

This cannot be achieved by effort or will or strength…when one ripens in devotion and unconditional surrender, a current of divine love bubbles up in the Heart-center.

This love is the fabled fountain of life, the healing gift of immortality.

Once you taste such love, nothing else can ever distract you.

Holding firmly to your true nature, you stay forever rooted in a deep and perfect peace.

“ The eternal, unbroken, natural state of abiding in the Self is jnana. To abide in the Self you must love the Self. Since God is  verily the Self, love of the Self is love of God; and that is bhakti. Jnana and Bhakti are thus one and the same.” Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi, Maharishi’s Gospel.