“Yesterday I was clever.
That is why I wanted to change the world.
Today I am wise.
That is why I am changing myself.”
– Sri Chinmoy
The personal embodies the universal. The personal is our window and key, to the universal.
We are the world – collectively, and individually. Everything in the world, is within all, and each of us – all the good and bad, beautiful and ugly, divine and undivine. We are the drops, our world the ocean.
It is asked: what good can my personal meditation do for the world? To which comes the answer: what good can my personal meditation not do for the world?
Every thought, every intention, every action and especially, every meditation of ours, contributes to the sum of our world-consciousness. True, we cannot direct the consciousness of the whole, but we can contribute positively with all our heart and soul, which embody the most powerful force in the universe.
Change can only come from within. If we do nothing to change ourselves within, we will not change without, and our world will not change – that is for sure. If we do change ourselves from within, then we are bound to change without, and our world is changed, however imperceptibly.
Meditation is the simplest, most effective way to bring forth the peace, light, love and power required to change ourselves within. This same peace, light, love and power is within everyone, but dormant. Just as countless candles can be lit from the flame of one candle; to stir this peace, light, love and power into life and action, requires inspiration, and inspiration can only come once these forces are awakened somewhere, inside someone. Let that someone, that one candle, be you.
When you take the universal personally, you become the universal person.