Whispering Wednesday

Hari OM

Today's word to ponder upon was not so much whispered to my inner ear as dashed across my eyes, much as last week's offering had been. Whereas that had been from a repeated presence of the word, this one today was a mere casual arrival. On glancing at a calendar promoting a charity, the word that seemed to enlarge itself in my awareness was "Transforming."

Having paid not too much attention at the time a few days back, I then realised I had this week's offering for a little deeper thought. My immediate response was to find the Sanskrit word. Naturally, there were two which came up. In English, we know clearly that we are talking about the motion from one condition to another. That can be physical, mental, emotional and any combination of these. It can relate to things external to us, such as in the environment or work conditions. It can also relate to how we are - thus having the additional context of adaptation. Transforming is, perhaps, what might be done to us, while adapting is what we do for ourselves.

 विवर्तन/vivartana in the shabdkosha has some 24 interpretations. Some of them are mere tweaks of others, but overall they pertain mostly to the physical. Revolving, circumambulation, turning and so on. One term struck me though - 'struggling'. This tied vivartana to the other word that might be used in the context of transformation, that being   पुनःकरण/punaHkaraNa. With this translation, we get a bit closer to the effects upon us of undertaking study of any subject. 

Acquiring knowledge in and of itself does not have an effect - it is what we do with that knowledge that helps us adapt. Thus the knowledge can be said to have transformed us. In this word, we see 'karaNa' which is 'to do' or 'work'. The prefix is 'punaH', which simply means 'again'

Straightforward word, just as transforming is in English. 

The point here though is that for any change to happen, there is work involved - and, perhaps, some struggle. This is surely to make certain that we value what we struggled for, don't you think? Rather than the risky 'easy come easy go' that so often prevails?

The study of Advaita is - when the practices it offers through meditation, sadhana and seva are applied - transformative. How much so is determined by how much it is we wish to adapt. Like any journey, we get from it what we are willing to allow in, how much we look behind the surface and how much we are prepared to interact. How far do we wish to 'remake' ourselves and what sort of struggle can we bear?