Permanence is not Natural

 

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Permanence is not Natural

The river keeps flowing and the water is never the same and so is the case with us, nothing remains the same as time takes its toll and life keeps changing with the passage of time. That’s why each moment is incomparable. It has never been before and will never be again!  This is beautiful! It is not a repetition; it is absolutely fresh. We will miss this freshness if we have a clinging and possessive mind and are seeking something permanent.

Just think – if we have a permanent self, that self will be like a rock – even rocks change due to the vagaries of weather. If there is permanence in the self, then whole of existence will become boring, it cannot be a celebration. Celebration is possible if each moment brings something new with it.

Why is there so much frustration in the world? - because everybody is expecting permanence. And permanence is not the nature of things. Nothing can be done about it. We have to grow and drop the idea of permanence. We have to grow and become a flow.

When one is in love - celebrate while it is there! Don’t start making arrangements so that it is always there; otherwise, we will miss the moment in making arrangements. And by the time arrangements are ready, the flower is dead. By the time we are ready to enjoy, the moment has already gone. And nobody can bring it back, there is no going back. The river is onward and onward flowing, and we are being thrown to new shores every moment.

This is the problem, the anxiety of humans, the anguish, that the mind thinks of the shores that are no more. The mind wants to project the shores that are no more into the future, and every moment the river is reaching to new shores — unknown, unexpected. But this is beautiful.

Seasons are beautiful, and through seasons every moment we become new — every moment a new mood, every moment a new nuance of being; every moment new eyes and a new face. And who says that an old woman is ugly? The old woman will be ugly if she is still trying to look young; then she will be ugly. Then her face will be painted… and lipstick and this and that…. But if an old woman accepts old age as natural, as it should be, then we will not find a more beautiful face than an old face — wrinkled; wrinkled through many seasons, seasoned; many experiences, mature, grownup.

Everything is beautiful at its moment, and everything has a moment for it. Never be out of step. That’s what is called being religious — never to be out of step. Be true to the moment: when young, be young; when old, be old. And don’t get mixed, otherwise we will be in a mess, and a mess is ugly. 

There is no need to do anything on our part really; we simply have to follow nature. Whatever we do goes wrong. Doing itself is wrong… simply flow - that is life.