"Become the change you wish to see in the world"
Mahatma Gandhi
I talk about change a lot, change this, change that, how to change, what to change.
Why do we need change? What's wrong with the way things are?
In any life, in any situation, there is usually some kind of striving. Most of us strive, and do have aspirations, endeavors.
Some people are very dull. They have no dreams, no goals, no aspirations. They are satisfied with things as they are. The "status quo" as it were. No striving. No dreams. "Keep things as they are and I'm happy, as long as I don't have to change".
The deadly comfort zone.
"Don't make me change, and I won't make you change" (i.e., you're okay, I'm okay, we're all okay)
For those who are on a spiritual path, this very satisfaction is like death. We don't want to "accept things" as they are, we want to change things. Improve things, work things out, fix things, create things, renew things.
Creative force is part of the soul. The soul is creative. It's not the Supreme Creator, but it does consist of energy, it is energy, personified energy. Energy that is a small particle of the Supreme Energy.
So, we want to "create", we want to arrange, we want to contribute, influence, affect, participate, ... Change.
In material consciousness we try to change the external world. We want to change our living situation, our mates, our friends, our social status, whatever. Some more energetic people want to change the environment, the society, the world.
In spiritual life, we want to change things too. We want to change how people view devotees, how many people become devotees, how we preach to others. We want to influence people to become Krishna conscious.
All these things in spiritual life are ways to engage ourselves in Krishna consciousness and help others become Krishna conscious.
When we are actively engaged in changing ourselves from within, then we are more actively engaged in changing others from without. The more we are actively engaged in changing ourselves from within, the more we will be effectively engaged in changing others from without.
If we are not actively rooting out the cause of our own personal inability to surrender to Krishna, then we can't actively engage in rooting out the cause of other peoples inability to surrender to Krishna.
*Some of us are already totally surrendered to Krishna in every way possible. For the rest of us, it's essential to actively cultivate change from within, and root out the things that keep us from being totally surrendered to Krishna.
We think our minds can sort out and logically analyze all the ways to do this, or do that. But really, it comes from looking inside. There is always more to see, more to let go of.
We are all very dependent on the external environment and influenced by it. Even when that environment involves our devotional environment.
Our friends, our associates, our service, our commitments. (I would call this a "spiritual comfort zone")
We need to let go of all comfort zones to reach our highest goals and be the most effective instruments of Krishna's plans.
There are no mysteries, there are no questions. There is only The Mysterious One. The Supreme Answer. That would be Krishna.
"Become the change you wish to see in the world" to me means "embody whatever it is you want to see happen".
When you change yourself, then Krishna changes the rest. (in other words, pull out the weeds)
Gardens that don't get weeded cannot produce the most spectacular blooms.
The blooms will be weak, the plants spindly, the flowers will fade quickly under strong sunlight, and the petals will be cast adrift at the first strong wind.
