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XII. TRANSMUTATION OF THE MIND (1)
The evolution of the world, of culture and civilization may be said to be an evolution of change. If things remain static, no cvolution is possible. The people sitting before me are wearing clothes. Now, cotton is obtained from the cotton plant. Raw cotton is changed into threads, from which cloth is woven, and out of that whole cloth people make garments for themselves. Garments could not be made out of raw cotton. Nor could one wear bare threads. It is only when threads are woven into cloth that garment-making becomes a possibility, affording protection to people from the cold. the heat and the hurricane and the rain. Behind it all is the story of eternal change. We cat chappaties but do not swallow unground wheat. Similarly we make chappaties from gram flour, not regularly masticate whole grams. A total change is involved. We have also to exert ourselves a great deal for obtaining ghee and butter from milk. Milk is coagulated into dahi (curd); curd is churned and out of that churning butter flows; ghee is made from butter. The whole course of our living is a process of change. Nothing remains static: everything is continually changing.
Man changes his circumstances; also his surroundings. He does not leave his environment, his situation untouched: rather he trics to mould it in a particular way. The whole of man's effort is directed towards bringing about a change and he has made a good deal of progress. Outer circumstances, if not properly moulded. create a lot of difficultics. Man has, therefore, tried to alter his outer environment. There can be no light if darkness continues. But if there is light, even night turns into day. Man can turn even a dark night into a splendid festival of lights. Behind this capacity lies an infinity of diligent effort. There was a time when man ignited light from stones, or by rubbing together two picces of wood. Now he just presses a button and there is light. Because of the extraordinary changes wrought in the means of procuring light, he can now turn darkess into light. Living in darkness, man sought light and found it. Thanks to human efforts to change the outer environment, man can to-day provide a cool retreat in the midst of great heat. The coolers and the fans were specifically created to banish heat.
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