We must not always try to get away from difficulties, for in the end we shall not manage to get away from them. Life on earth is difficult, and with the evolution of the earth it will be even more difficult; every day it will become more difficult. We can picture the world as a human being, a human being making his life from infancy to age.

In infancy, however dependent the infant is, yet he is a sovereign, quite happy in the arms of the mother, in the care of the father; nothing to worry him, nothing to trouble him; there is no attachment, no enmity, he is as happy as the angels in heaven. And so was the beginning of the world, the beginning of the human race especially. The Hindus have called it the Golden Age.
And then comes youth; youth with its spring and delicacy and with its responsibility. Youth has its own trials, its own experiences, its own fears. This unsettled condition of the earth was called by the Hindus the Silver Age, which means the age with all the treasures, the spring-time of youth.
But then as life goes forward, the world comes to the stage of what may be called middle age; the age of cares, of worries, of anxieties, of responsibilities. The Hindus have named it the Copper Age. As life advances, so it has much to bear. A fruitful tree, with the weight of fruits, becomes bent, and so it is with progress.

With every step forward, there are obligations and responsibilities. Nevertheless, we must not look forward to difficulties. There is one thing that saves us, and that is hopefulness.

All this about which I have spoken is the metaphysical part. What I am speaking about now is the psychological attitude we ought to have. Always hope for the best, and we certainly shall have the best. What we can do is to make ourselves strong enough to go through life on earth; and it is only by this strength of conviction that by whatever path we journey, we shall arrive at the spiritual goal; and whatever be our life, professional, industrial, commercial, it does not matter, we shall live religion, Nature's religion, turning our life into a religion, making of our life a religion. And so even with every earthly success, we shall be taking steps towards spiritual attainment.