Daily Meditation: Friday, July 30, 2010

Spiritual life - do not wait for your material affairs to be settled before you live it

07/30/2010

'I am waiting until I've settled all my material affairs, and then I shall be able to devote myself to spiritual life.' That's something I have often heard. And then, what do I reply? That it's impossible. Why? Because material affairs are like a rubber ball that has been punctured. You've seen a rubber ball with a hole in it - it's let some air out, and no matter what you do there will always be a dent in it somewhere. In the same way, you will never manage to totally settle your material affairs; there will always be some details you will have to put right. After the job, there will be the wife (or the husband), the house, the children, your health... You will never be completely free. So, do not wait for your material affairs to be shipshape before you begin to live the spiritual life; they never will be! And when you are retired, when you think everything is sorted out at last, because your son is married and your daughter too, if someone says to you, 'Go on, meditate...' you'll reply, 'I can't, my brain is tired, it won't respond.' You must begin right now to give a spiritual direction to your life, without waiting until you have dealt with whatever is on the material level.