Why do people stay always in the cycle of birth and death, even if they know that this is misery and that they have to do everything to attain the Divine?...

Somebody asked me a question today “Why do people stay always in the cycle of birth and death, even if they know that this is misery and that they have to do everything to attain the Divine? Why life after life do we come, but we don’t realise the purpose?” Actually, the answer to that is that people don’t like to change. Even if they know they are doing something wrong, they know that they have to change certain things in life to be really happy, the old habits catch up. They get caught in the old habits. If one doesn’t take the determination to change now, doesn’t take this resolution, it’s very difficult. People would rather say “Later on we will change.” There are always excuses; from childhood they’re learning certain things. They grow up and they think they know everything. They go around thinking that they know best. Then it comes to a point where one realises “What am I doing here? I try everything to be happy, but I’m not happy.” Why is that?  It’s because whenever one says one wants to change, one has to let go of certain qualities. You can’t change and still carry the same qualities with you. It’s like if somebody smokes and says “I want to stop smoking.” I come across a lot of people like this, you know. They say “Swamiji, I’ve tried my best to stop smoking.” It’s very difficult. The old habits catch up again. You see, when you stop smoking, you have to replace it with something. You can’t leave the space.  This is where spirituality comes in. If you want to change life, you have to dedicate yourself. You have to develop faith, because if you don’t have faith, it’s difficult and faith is this yearning. You have to develop not only faith; you have to transcend faith to yearning. You have to yearn for God. As long as there is no yearning for the Divine, there is always emptiness. Into this emptiness, anything from the outside can fall it. That’s why you have to guard yourself always, otherwise the old one, the old you, will be back.