The Paradox of Life

This is a thought-for-the-day from the Eknath Easwaran group. It goes with my fascination for paradoxes. 'Ought-to-be-Blogged' stuff in my perception. How difficult this is to adopt, though!
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In truth, to attain to interior peace, one must be willing to pass through the contrary to peace. Such is the teaching of the Sages. - Swami Brahmananda

To a great extent our modern life is built on instant gratification: we are conditioned to go after what pleases us now, without even questioning what the long-term results might be. Spiritual disciplines like meditation are just the opposite. They are permanently beneficial, though at the outset they may be rather unpleasant. In fact, for some time they may be downright bitter.

I once asked my grandmother, "Why shouldn't we go after pleasant things, Granny? It's only human. And what's wrong with wanting to stay away from unpleasant things?" She didn't argue with me. She just told me to eat an amla fruit.

It was easier said than done. The fruit was so sour that I wanted to spit it out, but she stopped me. "Don't give up. Keep chewing." Out of love for her, I did, and the sourness left. The fruit began to taste sweeter and sweeter. "Granny, this is delicious," I said.

"But you didn't like it at the outset. You wanted to spit it out." That is how it is with spiritual disciplines.