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This body consciousness is activated by habits. What is habit? When certain vibrations pass through matter and are repeated again and again, that substance is liable to fall into the pattern of those vibrations, facilitating further repetition. For example, nature herself has built into the physical body the desire for survival. This is an instinct, a strong force animating the physical body consciousness. In The Years of Awakening, it is described how at times when J. Krishnamurti's consciousness was far away, the entity left behind would cry, 'Where is Krishna? Where is Krishna?' and also say, 'I must not call him back. I have been told to keep quiet. He will not like it if I call him.' It seems as if the body consciousness is often alarmed when the real consciousness is absent. The body consciousness, impelled by its desire for survival and separate existence, makes all kinds of demands. It lives on sensations, it wants excitement, and so forth. The transformation or change mentioned earlier lies in the body consciousness surrendering its own habits, vibrations, and modes of functioning, and becoming an instrument. As At the Feet of the Master says, the body must become like a pen in the hand of the writer-a fine instrument which will respond to the slightest touch of the inner Ātmā-the consciousness which is ever pure, free, and boundless. The bodies must cease to pull in different directions as they have been accustomed to do. This is the beginning of the Path. There is no one in whom change is not taking place - slowly, in the course of long ages, through many incarnations - but a time comes when a person at last understands and says, 'I shall not wait for the change.' He takes himself in hand when his awareness is clear enough for him to see the contradictions in his life and that body consciousness is pulling him in every direction but the one in which he wants to go. This is the beginning of self-understanding. Even before entering the Path, there must be a certain understanding of life. If there is no discernment about what is worth while and what is not, and if one is running after things which are useless, engaged in pursuits which are 'for one life only' as At the Feet of the Master says, one is not ready for the Path.
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