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 will not listen to me anyway, no matter what I say. A better approach is to focus on my own change process. A river does not need to urge people to drink 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 that 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 a great deal of pain. We can change this habit by keeping an eye on our aim. If we do not, our spiritual powers will be destroyed again and again as 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.
