How does change happen in the physical world? One is by the laws of nature operating on the physical world. You know, things like gravitation, velocity of light - all these things. They operate inexorably. So you have the scientific laws - the laws of science. There is a second operation which is brought about by our samskaras. That is beyond our control in the ordinary human being who has not involved himself in the process of his own change. The samskaric pattern acts as some sort of a program which brings about automatic change without our control. Therefore, we change jobs at certain times - so many changes in our life, you see. Most of the time we don't want change. Now Babuji said, "If you are living in a changing situation, and it is your samskara which is controlling that change, you have no control over it. So you are really the slaves of the past."

How to change it? Not by working upon the physical world itself, but by bringing a higher force to work on it. And what is that higher force but the cleaning of the spiritual system. When the samskaras are removed, their operation is stopped, and we are liberated from our slavery to the past.

How does change happen in the mental world? We next come to the mental world, mental - intellectual world. Here we find change is possible. That is what education consists of. A man can be born an utter fool and become a very very wise man indeed. And it is possible, much change is possible in that sphere. So in that sphere we are not supposed to wait for change, but we are supposed to bring about change. So we go to school, try to educate ourselves, ask the professors or the teachers to help us change. But if all that stops with just the acquisition of knowledge, it may be useful in our earning a nice living and having a high standard of existence, but it will not necessarily make us wise. Because the knowledge too must be applied on ourselves to bring about a more profound change in our depth of existence.

How does change happen in the spiritual world? Then when we come to the spiritual existence, we find that change is imperative. And we have to work for that change. In spiritual life we don't wait for change to come, we try to force change. Master makes it possible for us to achieve today a goal which we would have achieved only at the end of eternity.

Now when we come to the spiritual level, the level is beyond the operation of "accidents"; the operation of accidentality is removed. What the Master finds is not accidental. What He discovers is not accidental. What He creates is not accidental. Because He is operating from the absolute level where no change is possible - it is the changeless condition. And therefore, for Him, all change is manifest through all operations of time - past, present and future. So it is only at that level that there is nothing accidental, nothing unforeseen, nothing dangerous. Everything is planned and willed. Therefore when we are able to submit to such a person, working at such a level - the highest person at the highest level - who is also the changeless person at the changeless level, we are subjecting ourselves to Him, and to the accident-free changes that He will bring about in us.

In the highest level of spirituality we can do without knowing anything. We have to do without knowing anything - the doing is ours, the knowing is his. And when we are able to accept this situation, and tell the Master, "I am doing what you told me to do, the rest is your business," that is surrender - one way of thinking of surrender. So you see, this idea of change is a very far reaching thing.

Ultimately it is what we do in relation to the Divine or Cosmic purpose that has been assigned to me that matters, not what I am. What I am is continuously changing, until I reach that condition which Babuji has called "the changeless state," that is the Divine state. Thereafter, quality has no meaning. Till then quality had no meaning, because quality is continuously changing. When we talk of a man having a fixed quality, he becomes static. It is like looking out of a train and seeing the same thing all the time. It means the train has come to a stop. So if a man or a woman continues to show the same quality day after day, life after life, however admirable those qualities may be, but they have stopped evolving. So spiritual law says, "Seek that, which when you seek shall be the same as when you find, because it is changeless."

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