Hazrat Bayazid Bastami, says in his autobiography, “When I was young, I was fired with revolutionary zeal, and I said to God: “Give me energy so that I can change the whole world.”
“When I became a little more mature I started praying: “Life is going out of my hands–almost half of my life is gone and I have not changed a single person.” So I said to God, ‘Let me change my family.”
“And when I became old,” says Bayazid, “I realized that even the family is too much, and who am I to change them? Then I realized that if I can change myself that will be enough, more than enough. I prayed to God, “At least allow me to do this: I would like to change myself.”
God replied, ‘Now there is no time left. This you should have asked in the beginning. Then there was a possibility.’
The time we have in this world is so limited. And the best thing we can in that time is change ourselves to be kinder, better human beings.
In closing, I give you this quote from Rumi: “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” ― Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi
References
- Hazrat Bayazid Bastami: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayazid_Bastami
- Gulistan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulistan_%28book%29
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