Twelve Facets of Reality

Author(s): Chitrabhanu
Publisher: New York Dodd Made & Company

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Twelve Facets of Reality
permanent is not going to become impermanent. And what is impermanent is not going to become permanent. Each has its own nature. The seeker knows, “What I have at the center of myself is permanent. Only the house, the place, the dress, the form, will change. They are the persona, the mask, but the individual flame that I am does not change.”
What confidence to know that! When it happens, for the first time you are realizing the difference between the husk and the grain. You see how deeply you have identified the grain with the husk. You observe how you have seen your own friends in this fixed, static light—as their persona instead of their essence.
If we relate only to the persona of an individual, the friendship is shallow. It is built on material gain. The person with a spiritual outlook sees things from a different vantage point. He sees that those things on which he once placed so much value are not truly valuable. They are tokens for use in a certain period, in a certain place. If you take a subway token to Russia, it cannot be used. It is meant to be used here. Similarly, the things of the world are to be used as tokens; they take you from one place to another. Beyond that they have no meaning.
Friendship based on the spiritual level remains permanent. Why? Because it has an inner connection, above and beyond its outside connection. In The Last Days of Pompeii, a volcano was about to erupt. An old man of greed and covetousness had jewels and gold coins hidden away in his house. There was scarcely enough time for him to run for his life; nevertheless, he went back to take his box of jewels. It was heavy, and his son, who was also greedy, said, “Father, let me carry the box for you. It is too heavy and you will not be able to run fast."
The old man did not trust his son even during that last moment. And the son became impatient and struck his