How the art of adapting to change with tolerance will help you attain the ultimate goal

It’s just days away from the mid-winter solstice here on the south of the planet and temperatures are plummeting like they do every year at this time. It happens repeatedly, yet we never cease to be shocked by the divergence from the norm. Life is cyclic and revolves around ups and downs in nature and in circumstances. Our capacity to adapt is the secret that will distinguish those who survive from those who don’t.

Scientists may have concluded this in their observations of various species, but the same applies to us humans as we go through the ups and downs of life. “Adapt or die” seems to be the cold, harsh reality some might say. In fact this is not a new concept. Thousands of years ago, similar words of wisdom were revealed to a prince on the eve of battle as he stood with his troops on the battlefield called Kurukshetra.

This epic battle and the history around it, is described in the longest poem known to mankind, called the Mahabharata. It is a Sanskrit narrative, written down round 5000 years ago, some say, to describe a world war that took place back then. Two rulers from opposing sides of a dynasty fought for the right to rule the empire, known as Bharata in those days.

Actually the entire planet was under one ruler, one flag and one dharma or rule of law and morality. The Mahabharata, or history of greater Bharata, tells of how, at the eleventh hour, while facing his opponent, the noble prince Arjuna and his military forces hesitated for various reasons. The words of wisdom spoken to Arjuna by his friend and adviser Krishna, are compiled in a small section of 700 verses of the Mahabharata, known separately as Bhagavad Gita. It is within these 700 verses of Sanskrit poetry that the more esoteric revelations are to be found, hidden like a gem within the folds of the greater epic narrative that is Mahabharata.

And within these few verses we find our mighty hero, Prince Arjuna, receiving the advice he needs to fight on in a time of hesitation. Arjuna was a noble and educated prince from a noble and aristocratic family of military leaders, so he wasn’t your usual man in the street, but an aristocrat from the best of families, the ruling elite of the day. However, these elite back in a tradition of monarchy and autocracy were not like the rulers of today – whether politician or banker. They were righteous and merciful to their citizens, and thus loved and respected. Today we have the opposite, in a culture that has lost its culture, a civilization that acts most uncivilized and leaders are feared and despised.

Tines have changed, and we have been forced to adapt and tolerate. Yet even during the high days of civilization in previous ages, the most educated of leaders had to be reminded to keep their focus when times of extreme adversity arose. And it is from their example that we learn how to advance and rise up despite adversity today. We follow in the footsteps of giants, those who have led the way in the past.

Well at the crucial hour, when Arjuna was struggling to take the bold step and commence the battle for life, truth and honour, and of course the kingdom, planet earth, his adviser Krishna gave him the following advice:

मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः ।
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ॥ १४ ॥

matra-sparśās tu kaunteya
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino ’nityās
tāṁs titikṣasva bharata

“O son of Kuntī, the non-permanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.”

Bhagavad Gita ch 2:14 translated by Swami A.C. Bhaktivedanta

What Krishna told Arjuna here was that he should remember to see things as they really are. And in seeing things as they really are, he will be able to see their transience, their temporary nature. And in realizing their temporary nature, he would remember the ability to tolerate. “This too shall pass” may be another way to describe the real view of life on earth.

The fact is that whether you are a princely ruler of the biggest kingdom or a humble hermit in the forest, you will experience the same occasional happiness and occasional distress of life as anyone else. You will be forced to take birth, you will be forced to deal with disease or fight for your life, forced to suffer the heat of summer and the cold of winter, and ultimately you will be forced to leave this temporary body at the time of death.

One may have slightly more frills or comforts than the other, yet all will be obliged at some point to endure pain, discomfort and loss of either loved ones or one’s very own life at the end. And during all these trials and tribulations, big or small, cyclic or sudden, we will need to adapt and to tolerate. Nothing is permanent. Even the king dies. But whether you can tolerate the disappearance of your comfort zone when it changes, the comfortable weather, the kingdom and castle of your dreams, even the separation from your body as it falls away from your self, that is what will determine your pleasure or pain in the matter.

This is important to know, and in fact there is nothing more important, which is why I write about it now. This is the most important information there is – how to remember your true nature as eternal consciousness beyond the non-permanent body and its sense perceptions. If you continue to cling to your position, cling to your identity within this material body, you will struggle when the time comes to let it go. Cultivating the skill of adapting to the change, whatever that change is, when the time comes, will aid you more than you realize.

Ultimately the advice for all of us who embody the temporary physical body is that it is only the perception of the senses that suggest pleasure or pain, and none of it is permanent. So to over-endeavour for the objects of the senses can easily lead to becoming captivated by those allures just as over-identifying with the temporary body can make it difficult to adapt to the change called separation from the body, or death. Get too attached and you will cause yourself to suffer more. Spend all your time pursuing the objects of the senses and the pleasures of the body and you will struggle to adapt when the sense objects are removed, or when the body itself is removed.

Cultivate tolerance, detachment and adaptability to change, as Krishna suggests in Bhagavad Gita, and you will survive the biggest shift of all, your ultimate shift of reality, your biggest test. so now's the time to wake up sleeping soul. How long will you lie in the lap of the witch called Maya? Now is your time to rise up and remember who you are. Your talents and gifts are legion and legendary. You originate from noble stock, as Krishna reminded Prince Arjuna. Your history is ancient, you have what it takes to attain real success from this human form of life. Seize the moment, for it is yours.