To make the question more personal, I’ve often felt like even though both my parents are exceptionally accomplished people, I’ve felt something in me lacking to match their level of attainment — I am not as vitally strong and expansive, my mental capacities appear as far more limited. Are these things that can be changed or does one just make do with what’s given? Is it ever to late to change?
Everything can be changed. There is no such inevitable iron law or absolutely fixed determinism. Yes, by and large things follow a certain pattern, a groove of habit created by Nature. But both the material scientists and the spiritual agree that there is a constant dynamic interaction of the seeds of life called heredity and the psychological forces that impact us, nature versus nurture. Heredity provides the basic hardware and there comes along with it the package of certain tendencies and even habits of outer physical nature generally known as behavior. But the mind and psychological development through education and learning provide a new software and make the actual operating system much better. To this the spiritual seeker adds the invaluable factor of the Divine Grace to which nothing is impossible. Of course there is no magic or rather the magic has a process. The Grace acts most effectively when it is supported by faith, persistent aspiration for the change and perseverance despite setbacks and difficulties. In the end it is that which we deeply have faith in and the idea that insistently moves the mind gets realised if we know how to persist with it.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
