Preparation and perseverance

For the goodnight today I began with the example of the preparation needed for making dosa or aapam in contrast to the little preparation needed for making upma. The former needs a longer preparation while the latter takes very little time to be cooked and served. Applying this to life, I told the Brothers that most things in life need long term preparation. For only then the results would 'taste' and 'be' the way they are supposed to be. Only such as these will have a lasting effect for we have been 'involved' in their 'making'. I also added that study and growth in spirituality (the former is very much a part of the latter, as far as I am concerned) is something that needs such long term preparation. No one just gets up one fine morning and is a bright scholar or a saint. These require daily and sustained effort. Only then will the resulting fruit be worthy and precious. Or else it would be like a dosa prepared with rice flour mixed just a while ago... it would be anything but a dosa.