We all long for a better life: this longing ultimately leads us to meditation and the spiritual life.
We know however, that a better life means a different life from what we have now, which means we must be prepared to change, both within and without. Without change there can be no progress; without progress there can be no transformation: without transformation there can be no abiding satisfaction in our lives.
Change is the greatest challenge we all face. Always there is something within us which resists change, no matter how eagerly we yearn for it. According to Sri Chinmoy, there is only one agent capable of changing us and transforming our nature:
“Transformation — transformation of nature, transformation of life — is the most difficult subject in the entire world! The most difficult subject in human life is the transformation of our nature, and for that, how many centuries, how many lives we have taken, and how many more we shall have to take!
“We may be sixty, seventy, eighty or even ninety years old, but if we want to see how much we have transformed our nature, sometimes we cannot give ourselves a mark of more than zero. For ninety years we may live on earth, but it may happen that, in terms of transformation, we have made no progress. Again, in the case of some people, right from the beginning, from the dawn of their life, we see that they are making progress, making progress.
“Earthly age is no indication of our transformation. It entirely depends on the inner cry. Only the heart’s inner cry can transform us. Otherwise, year after year we are only adding earthly years to our life; transformation is not taking place. Transformation comes only from the inner cry.”
– Sri Chinmoy