Today’s world is a world of fast changes. Though there is significant development in the areas of scientific, economical, technological spheres, we find that people are unable to cope up with these fast changes. We see an increase of negativity in “the outer world”, the signs of which are: increased crimes, corruption, civil wars, disharmony in relationships, suicides etc.

We like change but on the other hand in real life, we resist change. The reason is there is no clarity about change.

To cope up with the fast-changing world, we have to bring changes within ourselves. In other words, to cope up with the increase of negativity in the outer world, there has to be an increase of positivity in the inner world. When we aim to increase positivity within us, we shall be safe from the influence of the negative. Here, it is best to use the word transformation instead of the word change.

In spiritual language, transformation means to journey through life towards the better, towards the positive. Self-transformation means doing such action or making such efforts that there is a visible progress or improvement in the way we are able to manifest ourselves by changing our form. In short, self-transformation is the process to bring about a visible change by changing our form (our essential nature). This is possible only through the use of spiritual knowledge, spiritual powers & imbibing the spiritual values. In other words, knowledge, powers & values are the tools for self-transformation.

Self-transformation is related to the aim & object of our life. The effort we put in self-transformation is limited to our aim & object. If our aim in life is a small aim, then we will only transform to the extent of fulfilling this small aim. If on the other hand, our aim is a high aim, then we will transform to fulfil the high aim. So, it is prudent to always aim high.

While journeying through life keeping a high aim, it is bound to have obstacles or storms. However, this should not hinder our self-transformation process and we should keep moving ahead fearlessly.

One main obstacle is the habit of seeing others. Self-transformation is only possible when we don’t see others. We should not see whether others change or not. Nor should we wait for others to change. We should aim to change ourselves first. We should transform ourselves first. Transformation always begins with the self. When we transform ourselves, we can become an example in front of others. Arjuna could hit the eye of the bird because he saw only the eye of the bird and nothing else. Similarly, we should focus on transforming ourselves and then we will certainly succeed.

We wish to see a world that is better, we wish to see a world that is transformed. However, this is not possible without self-transformation. World transformation cannot occur without self-transformation.

BK Ravindra Pai (Bangalore)