Bayazid Bastami, a Sufi saint in 9th century, wrote in his autobiography, “When I was young, I said to God in all my prayers: ‘Give me energy so that I can change the whole world.’ Everybody looked wrong to me. I was a revolutionary and I wanted to change the face of the earth.”
“When I became a little more mature, I started praying: ‘This seems to be too much. Almost half of my life is gone, and I have not changed a single person, and the whole world is too much.’ So, I said to God, ‘My family will be enough. Let me change my family.’”
“And when I became old, I realized that even the family is too much, and who am I to change them? If I can change myself that will be enough, more than enough. I prayed to God, ‘Now I have come to the right point. 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.’”
