Science of Sabha: Change

My daughter is fond of the following joke.

Knock Knock
Who's There?
Pencil.
Pencil who?
Oh what's the point.

Though it may be the only joke she really knows, it is amazing how many things other than pencil this works for - unicorn, rock, tree, shoe (her's are pointy).

This joke got us thinking - what is the point?

Why do we need to make things sticky? What is the end game anyway?

It seems to us everything we are trying to accomplish revolves around one concept - change.

Satsang is all about changing ourselves - our habits, our way of thinking and aligning it with our Guru. The phrase, "She'll never change," maybe the worst thing you can say to a Satsangi, since that means she'll never go to Akshardham.

If we look at the Vachanamrut, it is all about change.

By cultivating the contact of a God-realised saint, who sincerely observes the five holy injunctions, the force of Bhakti flourishes. (Gadhada I-29)

Change - develop contact with the Satpurush.

One who with purity and love dedicates himself to this satsang will be redeemed of all his sins and will experience Brahmic bliss in this very life. (Sararangpur-9)

Change - dedicate ourselves to satsang.

One who desires to be redeemed should cultivate animosity with his mind. (Vartal-1)

Change - fight our mind.

The actions of God, when in human manifestation, should be totally taken as divine, and no doubt should ever be felt in His divine working. He can then be called a sincere devotee. (Gadhada II-10)

Change - always see divyabhav, never see manushyabhav.

This list goes on and on and it becomes evident everything is about change. In fact making a sabha sticky is a recursive form of change.

1. First, we have to re-mold everyone's attitude about sabha.
2. Then, we should strive to tweak (or change) everyone's method of presentation so that it is sticks.
3. Finally, we should change behavior (really our own) so that the message in sabha that sticks becomes part of our life.

We asked people about this and the overwhelming response was, "Yeah makes sense, but change is HARD."

At first we agreed, but then we thought, "Is it ALWAYS hard?"

Several years ago, nobody was texting. Now, only "nobodies" do not text. Texting happens everytime sabha is not sticky (and sometimes even when it is). We all changed pretty quickly to acquire the skill of texting. It was a change that did not seem very hard. In fact in Japan the sell small USB phone keypads that you can attach to your desktop. It seems that many kids in Japan prefer typing with their thumbs - even when a full size keyboard is available. That is a huge change.

Many people have studied change. In fact in their new book Switch, the Heath brothers explore this topic. The same principles discussed in the book can be applied to the "Science of Sabha." In this next series of Monday posts, we will look at how we can make a change in any aspect we deem we need it.