Nothing can change without you yourself changing. When you change, the universe changes with you. We know that each one of us is the centre 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.

So when we talk of changing the universe, what we really mean is to change all these universes, which is impossible. There is the possibility that each one of us can change his own individual universe. All change starts from the Centre, so we have to start changing our universe from the centre of that universe, which is our own heart. That is the main reason why Sahaj Marg teaches meditation on the heart.

My personal universe cannot change one atom whether I become richer or poorer, whether I become more educated or less educated, whether I become stronger or weaker physically. But everytime I have a change of heart in my heart, my universe changes to that extent. And the change is from the core outwards, so that it permeates every structure of that universe. This is the reason why we have to accept the need for change with our hearts, accept it in our hearts, and without that, progress is impossible.

We have a very beautiful example in Indian philosophy: A perfect man is supposed to be like a coconut. The outside remains the same, but the inner coconut has dried and shrunk and is free of the surroundings. You can hear it rattling inside. That is, the real coconut has become dry, desiccated, qualityless and exists like a ball inside the shell which is only a covering. There is a saying that it exists in its own universe, but there is no contact with that universe at all. Similarly a spiritually perfect man - his heart is in the body but not of the body. It should not have any attachment with the body.

In the normal human being everything we do with the body affects the heart. In the spiritual person the body must reflect what is going on in the heart. Instead of the life of the body regulating the heart, the life of the heart must now regulate the body and the whole universe itself.

So the spiritual practice must begin with the heart. The qualities of the heart must be changed. The ability of the heart to affect must be changed, that is, instead of affecting me, myself, it must affect everybody in this universe, the whole universe itself. And all this is made possible only when we accept the need for changing from our inside and not from our outside. And the easiest way is to receive the Master of the Universe in your hearts and let Him rule the universe from inside you rather than from outside you.

External changes can be brought about only by bringing about changes in the inner being of the human. 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. Society is only an agglomeration of individuals. If society is to be transformed, the individuals must first be transformed.

When you change something in a painting, you don't only change something, you change the whole thing. The whole painting changes. So if I am changing myself, the whole universe must change. And that is what Philosophy says, that is what religions have preached: Change yourself and the universe changes. But if you try to change that, you cannot make a duck into a peacock. Isn't it? So the secret of universal change is to change yourself.

"We have to go on changing until we come to a state,
where there is no more possibility of change.
That is the eternal change."