The Katha Upanisad says: "Arise! Awake! And realize the Truth following the great teachers." Indeed, from time immemorial God has been speaking to man through the great scriptures to take up the cross and follow Him. And, in obedience to this call thousands of people in the East and in the West have given up their all and taken to this journey into the superconscious realms. For ordinary people this world and its pleasures are of great importance, but there are people who hunger and thirst after the Eternal and the Infinite. Think of Swami Vivekananda's struggles and relentless search for Truth. He was extraordinarily pure, strong, handsome, intelligent and talented, and could have risen to any height in worldly life if he had only cared to. The poverty and helplessness of his family was another compelling force to drag him into the worldly life. But, in spite of all these temptations, he chose the path of renunciation and service.

One day or other, in the life of every man must come a time when he too feels the call of the spiritual ideal. When such a call comes he cannot but listen to it. Nothing in the world can then give him satisfaction. He can never find peace until he follows the dictates of that higher call. This inner awareness and compelling urge to follow the higher ideal marks the beginning of spiritual life. The spiritual ideal then fascinates him and haunts him all through life. This change from following worldly ideals to following a spiritual ideal is called "conversion". Spiritual life begins with that. In the case of some people this conversion is sudden; in the case of some others, it is a gradual development.

The number of people who undergo such genuine conversion is rather small at any time in any country. Whether you like it or not, true spiritual life is only for a chosen few. There can never be any mass spirituality, however beautiful this ideal may seem to you. The Bhagavad-Gita says that out of thousands of people only a few take to spiritual life, and out of the latter, fewer still really attain the highest superconscious realization. But let us all think we are these chosen few, and strive to make ourselves fit for the fulfilment of the highest spiritual ideal.

Reference: Meditation and Spiritual Life by Swami Yatiswarananda (p.1,2)