Radhanath Swami – How To Remain Unaffected By Change

Years ago I was sitting on the bank of the river Ganges. It was a summer day. And because it was a summer day, this is in India, was probably a hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit. There was no one around, It was just me. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was burning hot. And I was eager to go in the river. But first I wanted to sit and meditate for a few minutes, and I saw over my head there was a huge Hawk. His brown feathers were shining in the Sun. He had yellow eyes that were glistening, very sharp claws and beak, and he was looking down. He was right over my head, maybe about 20 feet, and he was circling lower and lower and lower, and I kept looking up, and it looked like he was looking at me because there was no one else around. I said a little prayer. Suddenly whoosh, he dove right into the river. Just a few feet in front of me, was underwater, there was a skirmish. Then he came out from the river and in his claws was a fish about a foot long. And because it was so close to me, I could see the eyes of that little fish. He looked so bewildered. He looked so disoriented. And I was thinking that this little fish was probably going about his day like every other day. swimming upstream swimming downstream, swimming across stream, maybe with his family of fish, looking for food, playing. Suddenly at the least expected moment, the hawk of fate ripped him right out of his ordinary life and he was flapping desperately. As the hawk carried him further and further and further into the forest. I was thinking what am I supposed to learn for this? Like that little fish we go about our life, but at any moment we could be ripped out of our complacency. We read about it, we hear about it, it’s happened to us. But if that fish was swimming deeper, the hawk could not reach it. And similarly when we find our meaning, our purpose and our fulfilment within ourselves in a deeper way. And when our relationships are focused in a deeper way for a higher purpose, then the inevitable changes of this world, the sunny days and the stormy days cannot disturb us.