The fate of Daphne always struck a cord with me. A young woman of the wilderness wishing to remain free, unchained, unmarried. But, as her father tells her, her own face wont allow it. Eros, god of mortal love, of false love, fires two arrows; a golden arrow of love strikes in the heart of Apollo, and a leaden one, of disgust, strikes in the heart of Daphne. And so, Apollo gives chase, one would assume not with the noblest intentions in his heart, struck as it is by the most potent of desires, of passions, of pure, undiluted lust.

I picture her, stumbling through the forest, trying to escape. Begging her father to help her, praying, asking to be changed, anything to escape Apollo, to escape all his lusts, all his passions, his desires. So finally her father grants her wish, and she begins to change, to morph, becoming a a tree, her branches slowly stretching far above the head of the demi-god, desperetly scratching at her skin tunrning into bark, trying to keep her in his arms. And so her leaves evergreen turn into a symbol of faith, of worship, an emblem of love.

When I first heard the pastimes of Tulasi Devi I was imediatly struck by it’s beauty, the devotee and the Lord forever united, the exalted devotee, pure and chaste, never falter in offering her devotion to Lord Krishna. In fact, she has been changed, transformed into the form of a treeso we can always worship her, and she can always worship at the lotus feet of Vishnu.

Change, transformation, our teachers tell us, is the very essence of spiritual life. If we don’t wish to change, why are we here? Constant transformation, constantly attempting to become, to realize our true selves, to peel away the false ego, the trapping of material reality, all attachments, desires, false reflections of love and devotion, that is spirituality. Spirituality is change. It’s not easy, and we will perhaps never reach the end of this transformation, but we must forsake our unwillingness to change, our lazyness, in order to open up our hearts, air them out, and invite love and devotion in if we wish to experience true joy.

This is my prayer, that my skin will change, will grow coarse and knobbly, dark and dry, that my toes will twist and stretch, burrow into the ground, my arms and finger curl upwards, sprouting buds, slowly, slowly bursting into leaves. Evergreen.