Metamorphosis

Three Types of Metamorphosis

In Shri Adi Shankarcharya’s Aatma Bodh, the wonderful example of a wasp is given: The wasp seeks out a worm as food and places it into a nest. The wasp sits at the mouth of the nest and every time the worm moves, the wasp stings it. With every sting of the wasp, the worm gets more and more frightened, as the sting is naturally very painful. The worm is subjected to this for a long time. After a while, the wasp goes away, but the continuous stinging has made the worm so scared that even though the wasp has gone, the worm still feels it is being stung and continuously thinks about the wasp. Through continuous thinking about the wasp, the worm eventually becomes a wasp. This is called psychological metamorphosis. Biological metamorphosis takes place when a worm is sleeping in a cocoon and is transformed, without any effort or awareness. But here we have a psychological metamorphosis, as the worm is actually watching the wasp and thinking about it.

The worm and the wasp are two different species; it is not as if the worm would have become a wasp through the natural passage of time. When a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, that is natural evolution; the egg that is laid comes from a butterfly, and therefore in time the caterpillar naturally becomes a butterfly. But in the case of the wasp that has found a worm and brought it to its nest, the worm is biologically not supposed to become a wasp. Rather, it is the power of the mind at play. With an impetus that is mainly psychological, the worm becomes a wasp.

In similar fashion, the man of Realisation gives up his identification with his body, mind and intellect and transforms into something completely different. He 'becomes' the All-pervasive Reality. This transformation happens on the basis of continuous contemplation. The worm continuously thinks of the wasp, and therefore becomes a wasp. In the same vein, the devotee, the seeker, when he keeps turning his mind towards the Higher, merges into that Tattva (essence). Still, there is an all-important difference here: in the case of Self-knowledge, it is not that I am thinking about Truth and therefore become the Truth; the Scriptures declare I am already the Truth, so I have to simply put aside my false notions and contemplate upon the Truth. This is called spiritual metamorphosis. It is on a different level altogether. Just as the worm puts aside every other thought and thinks about only the wasp… The worm does so out of fear and lack of choice, but the seeker does so out of knowledge, love and sincere self-application.

In biological metamorphosis, the caterpillar becomes a butterfly; in emotional or psychological metamorphosis, the worm becomes a wasp; but in spiritual metamorphosis, there is no becoming as such, there is only a realisation of what IS. The seeker is already the sought, one has to only realise this. The Scriptures again and again declare that we can achieve this ultimate realisation. It is up to us to put in the effort, to strive with persistence and sincerity. In the words of Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayanandaji, “[Strive] We must! We will!”