FRIENDS AND RELATIONS
If my friends and relations do not choose to accompany me on my
spiritual path, why should I chase after them trying to get them to change?
They won't listen to me anyway, no matter what I say.
A better approach is to focus on my own change process. A river doesn't
need to urge people into drinking its water. People are naturally drawn
to it, provided its waters are pure, free-flowing and sweet. In the same
way, become so attractive through your spiritual efforts, everyone will
want to join you, naturally.
We are hindered in this by attachments, which tend to make us forget
that our well-being is not dependent on others at all, that we each have
the capacity to flow and sparkle in our own unique way. Having
forgotten this we developed the habit of turning to others to
feel good about ourselves. Using other people in this way is a deceptive
source of well-being. And this deception leads to great deal of pain. We
can change this habit by keeping an eye on our aim. If we don't, our
spiritual powers will be destroyed again and again. We allow ourselves
to come under the influence of limited emotions. Instead of losing out
like this, we should pay more attention to what we are doing. We will
only be able to make others free, when we free ourselves first.