Of course many people in the Western world have said: "For us it is very difficult to have a meditative life in the activity of this world. We have so many responsibilities and occupations." But my answer is that for this very reason they need more meditation. Then a person may say: "I have things to do. How can I go into a meditative life? I have weaknesses to overcome." But the answer is that the way of getting above weaknesses is to go through meditation. When there are many responsibilities in life, one's very reason tells one that it is better to meditate and make the responsibility lighter. It is not getting worried over one's responsibilities that helps man. It is being responsible, but at the same time being strong enough to lift one's responsibilities.

There are words - the words which are known to the mystics - which do not belong to any language, but the words of many languages seem to have sprung from these mystical words. It is by the help of these words that one develops two faculties: seeing and hearing.

By seeing I do not mean seeing through the eyes, as everybody does. By seeing I mean penetrating. It is the penetrating quality of seeing that makes man a seer; it is that which was really meant by clairvoyance. Nowadays people have used this word so much that one would not even like to use it any more. But then, people have not left any word that exists in this world without having misused it. If one were so sensitive about words, one would have to leave all language alone.

Then there is hearing. By hearing I do not mean listening, I mean responding; responding to heaven or to the earth, responding to every influence that helps to unfold the soul. By such responding and penetration, that one gains by the power of the word, one attains in the end to the goal, that goal which is the yearning of every soul.

Question: When one has the desire to go into these things, what should one do if one's life is too busy.
Answer: I have heard many persons say that they have the greatest desire to give their time and thoughts to spiritual things, but because they have not attained a manner of living that leaves their mind free to keep to these things, they think they cannot take up anything spiritual. I saw the reason of their argument. It is quite true that in this world, as life is today, it is difficult to move without money. Material things apart, even in spiritual things one cannot do without money. If I were to give you the same lecture and I would not be sitting in a room, it would not become a lecture! If the newspapers had not given the advertisement, if a notice had not been printed, you would not have known about it, and perhaps only two or three persons would have been kind enough to come and listen to me to oblige me.

It is therefore natural that a person should think like this, and he is not to be blamed. But at the same time, when we look at it from a different point of view, we still see that every moment lost in waiting for spiritual attainment is the greatest loss conceivable. Besides, one may go on thinking: "The day will come when I shall change my life and give in to something higher, something spiritual", and that day will never come! One has to do it today, just now, instead of saying: "Tomorrow I will do it." Otherwise one repents.

Life is assimilating; time passes. Hours, months, years slip by before one realizes that they have slipped by. To the one who understands the value of time, spiritual attainment comes first. As Christ said: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you."

I do not say: "Let all things go in order to pursue spiritual things." Spiritual attainment does not deprive one of material gains. One has only to fix the spiritual things before one first. In order to become spiritual it is not necessary to give up worldly things, or all that is good and beautiful and valuable from the point of view of the material world. Solomon, with all his wealth, was not less wise.

You need not give up all you have in order to become spiritual. If you think that, it is a great pity. But to wait and say: "I shall wait till my ship comes. Then I shall become spiritual" - who knows when the ship will come! It is never too late to go onto the spiritual path, but it is never too early. The best thing therefore is that, the moment you think that it is already too late, you should begin and go through all the tests and trials of this path, confident that there is nothing that cannot be accomplished once the spiritual path is taken.