Yesterday I talked about change and how everything changes with time. So many things change and often we need to go with the change. It doesn’t make sense to stick with old customs if it is only for the sake of tradition.
I give you one example: I already wrote about Sadhus, spiritual men in India, who are traveling all the time and who do not want to get attached with anybody or any place. They are always traveling but in the monsoon time they stay at one place. For four months they are in one place and this has become a tradition. Why are they at one place? Because in that time when this tradition or rule was made the streets were just earth and sand and in monsoon time it was just impossible to walk and travel as Sadhus normally do.
It was just not possible and this is how these four months became the traditional time for them for staying at one place. But I would say that nowadays this rule doesn’t make sense anymore. There are wonderful streets and different ways of transport. Maybe you could not go in that time with your wagon but now you can go by car in monsoon time. Times changed and instead of just following this rule without thinking you should think about it why this rule exists. And then you see that it doesn’t make sense anymore today.
I also say that I am living a kind of Sadhu life, always traveling. And now I am also traveling with airplane. Imagine I had to stay at one place now for the summer time here in Europe just because there is this rule. Here is no monsoon and no reason not to travel. Places and times change and we need to keep this flexibility in our mind that we can leave old rules and traditions behind.
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This made me think about people that feel that respecting your elders means never questioning them, always assuming that they know best. Of course age does not determine someone’s wisdom, although it may effect it. In certain respects the older we get the more wisdom we may loose and vise versa. It always depends on the person. Respecting every living thing is a very very important practice, but that has nothing to do with blind submission.