His inspired and confident message to us has always been that external changes can be brought about only by bringing about changes in the inner being of the human. All that happens in the external universe only reflects the inner existence of us human beings. When we try to bring about change in our environment solely by acting upon the external world, we achieve merely cosmetic effects. And like all cosmetic applications, they have to be renewed again and again, as they have no lasting or permanent effect. Imagine trying to strengthen a decaying structure by merely white-washing it! But this is all that we see happening around us. Is it surprising that we are faced again and again with the same patterns of corrupt and violent existence? Can merely strengthening the forces of law and order eradicate robbery and violence, and bring about a law-abiding society? Such efforts are no doubt laudable, as reflecting on our desire to correct matters, but no more than that. My Master has taught us that if we are serious about bringing about lasting changes in society, we must apply all our efforts to changing the individuals of which society is after all composed. If one wishes to feed a hundred persons, or a thousand – what goes by the name of mass feeding – one has to feed all of them individually. In the same way, if society is to be transformed, the individuals must first be transformed.

60th Birth Anniversary Celebrations, Ahmedebad, July 24, 1987 (p. 21)

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My Master has stated emphatically that there is no other way of bringing about lasting change. All other efforts may bring about some temporary palliation of a situation, but nothing more than that. His clarion call to humanity is that if we want external harmony, we must work upon ourselves to bring about internal harmony. If we want to live in a non-violent world, where anyone can walk about at any time of the day or night without fear of being molested, then we must work upon ourselves and eradicate all the violent tendencies lying buried within us. If we want peace outside, we must first create peace within ourselves. And the more we are able to do this successfully within, the more we shall see that success mirrored in the external world. The external world is nothing but a mirror image of our inner world. Create within, what you desire to have in the external world. There is no other way. Therefore, self-transformation holds the key to social transformation, whether at the level of the small village or of the whole world.

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Spirituality is universal in its application. It penetrates to the heart of the human being, and works from the source outwards and thus makes possible that change which alone is lasting, which alone has meaning not only for oneself but for the whole universe – inner transformation. Change yourself, and you contribute to universal change. But try to change the Universe, and you change nothing!

60th Birth Anniversary Celebrations, Ahmedebad, July 24, 1987 (p. 21)

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If the society is to be transformed, first transform yourself. People always say, “Sir, what about society?” Society is made up of individuals. Unless individuals change society cannot change, will not change. And where must this change start? Right here! I am always reminded of that old English statement, “Remember! When your finger points at someone else blaming him for something, three fingers are pointing towards you!” So we are always three times as culpable as the person to whom we are attributing faults, mistakes, sins, crimes. Change must start here . This is the message of spirituality. It is not that I am saying, “Don't worry about society.” We worry in a very real way by participating in that changing of society by changing ourselves.

Principles Vol. X, p. 147

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I have been emphasizing the aspect of change in all my last three or four speeches on such occasions. I think I can profitably add a few more thoughts in that direction today also.

In my last talk on the subject, I had suggested that change is progress, and that without change there can be no progress. I think except for the grossest individuals most people accept this. To our senses we find the only things that don't change are mineral things of the earth. Any life higher than that is subject to continuous change.

And even in the non-material world we find things changing, like the planets moving, the sun rising and setting, all of which assists us in our life. So in one sense change is life, and without change life cannot exist.

Now, we accept all these things intellectually, but few people are able to accept with the heart. We all want change in our circumstances, in our existence, but we don't want to change. In other words: We want everything around us to change, but we don't want to change ourselves.

Spirituality says: Nothing can change without you yourself changing. Spirituality says further, that when you change, the universe changes with you. We know that each one of us is the center of his or her own universe, so there is not just one universe, there are as many universes as there are people in this world.

Message on the 86th Birth Anniversary of Rev. Master Vorauf, April 30, 1985

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Growth involves change. Can there ever be progress without change? Can a baby become an adult without changing? Can a seed become a tree, and yield fruit, without change? Change is thus perceived to be an integral part of the growth process. In fact it is change which brings about the desired result, and what we really work for is to bring about such change. My Master has stated categorically that there can be no progress without change.

When things cease to change, a stage sets in which can be justifiably called death. Looked at in this way, death can be said to be a cessation of the process of change. That is, death is the cessation of growth.

Spiritual progress, spiritual growth, involves change. Progress, after all, is nothing but a change for the better in our condition. The Sadhana is the process created by my Master to bring about continuing change for our spiritual betterment, from moment to moment. If we ponder over it, we shall see that a resistance to change is a resistance to our own growth and progress. Can we stop change? Is there anyone capable of arresting change? No! Change is inevitable. It is a law of Nature that things must change, must evolve. Change is thus seen to be inescapable.

Message at Yoga Ashram– Hyderabad, December 29, 1983, p. 5 Principles of Sahaj Marg Set 1 pp. 286-287

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Resistance to change is caused by fear and prejudice. Prejudice is the resistance to a change in values. We resist the change in others; rather, we refuse to perceive such change. Since our views become fixed, our own progress is adversely affected. My Master has cautioned us that prejudice is one of the most harmful things on the spiritual path. Why is this so? It is because prejudice is a mental phenomenon. The power of the mind, thought power, is the highest power, the most potent power, available to man. When we use this power in a negative way to oppose change in others or ourselves, that is, when we yield to prejudice, we are using the power of thought in the wrong way. The greatest alertness is therefore necessary to avoid prejudice.

Message at Yoga Ashram– Hyderabad, December 29, 1983, p. 5 Principles of Sahaj Marg Set 1 pp. 287

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I have created myself by my past actions, my past thought. If I have created that, surely I can create something else in the future with my Self. You see, what I am, and the acceptance that I am what I am because of what I did with myself, is the greatest proof to me of the possibility of changing myself in the future. If I am what I am, not because of what I did with myself, but because of some external agency, I have no possibility at all of changing myself. For me, it is [the fact that I have created myself] is the ultimate proof that I can change everything that I am to become what I wish to be, because I have done it in the past, and therefore I am here now. If I couldn't change [didn't create] myself, then I cannot couldn't change myself - ever.

So the basic need, if I am to be successful in my spiritual pursuit, is first to have the humility to accept myself as I am, knowing that I am what I am because of all that I did and thought, and in this life the immense possibility that, if I could create this which I am now, I can create That which I have to be in the future.

“The Universe Inside”, Constant Remembrance, April 1995

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All that happens to us is for our benefit if it is rightly used. There is no such thing as a good thing [or] a bad thing. It all depends upon how we use what we get. This is wisdom. What we have got we cannot change. Can we change our bodies, or our nationality? Can we change the colour of the skin? But there are many things that can be changed, such as the nature, behaviour, habits, etc., and we should therefore try to change what can be changed and live with what cannot be changed. This is wisdom! Therefore, in the spiritual life we try to bring about such changes where they are possible, and go to the root of the problem by changing the foundation of life itself, so that at one stroke, all else is changed. The physical system cannot be changed except very, very superficially. The mental can be worked upon—by education—and a man made intelligent. The spiritual life changes everything that can be changed, such as the character, mentality, etc., first, but this, too, is only superficial. The real change that we try to bring about is a transformation of the self itself.

Spider's Web, Vol 1, 24th December 1984, Germany

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The only eternal thing in the universe is change! This inevitability of change is the foundation for all hope! Have you ever realised that? In what lies our hope? How does hope exist at all? Can there be hope without the intuitive understanding of the inevitability of change? It seems that the two things more or less go together—I mean the inevitability of the present being exactly as it is, and the inevitability of change which says that under no circumstances can the present continue as it is into the future! I think this is the foundation for the statement, “While there is life, there is hope!” As long as one is alive, one has a future, and so one can hope.

Accept change as a law of existence—a fundamental law, without the operation of which the Universe itself would cease to exist!

Spider's Web, Vol 1, 11th April 1984, Holland

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My Master, Babuji Maharaj, said that one way of defining life is that it is full of problems. We cannot change the outer circumstances but we can change our inner nature in such a way that the outer circumstances do not any more affect us.

Spider's Web, Vol 1, 6th December 1994, India

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I think there is no use in being afraid of the future because it is only doubt about one's own capacity and about the possibility of failure that creates such fears. You know you cannot change your clothes without taking off the old clothes before putting on the new ones. The same is the story with our life. The new things cannot come into place until the old things have gone.

Spider's Web, Vol 1, 1st December 1994, Austria

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My Master used to say that one born into the human condition could never hope to be free of problems. Our scriptures abound in similar statements. Knowing that this is true, we yet have to seek some alleviation of our misery, because if we did not do so, we would not be human beings. A paradox, this! We have to suffer and we have to struggle against the suffering and seek to liberate ourselves from the sufferings. And we seem to go wrong all the time as our efforts don't seem to succeed! Why? I think it is because we seek purely temporary alleviation of our miseries, instead of seeking a permanent change in the condition of our human existence, by which I mean the spiritual state, of course. I would suggest that there is no other solution to the human problems which are common to all human beings everywhere. Any means other than the spiritual may give relief, but it will be only relief and that, too, of a temporary nature. Spiritual practice alone can give an abiding change of direction to our lives, and furnish the possibility of permanent change.

Spider's Web, Vol 1, 1st June 1984, USA