Real sadhana consists in transforming bad into good, converting sorrow into joy. There can be no happiness without sorrow, no good without the bad. There is a continuous conflict between good and evil, between happiness and sorrow. Happiness and misery are inseparable twins which are inextricably linked to each other. One is the beginning and the other is the culmination. The beginning and end go together. Only the Divine is free from a beginning, a middle or an end, but in worldly affairs, everything that has a beginning has an end. Grief is not something which someone thrusts on you from outside. Troubles and difficulties are not imposed on you from outside. Grief and trouble arise in the natural course of things. The refinement of life calls for continuous sadhana. Without such practice, life gets degraded. For instance, a diamond gets enhanced in value when it goes through the process of cutting and faceting. Likewise, gold, taken out as ore from the earth, becomes pure and valuable after refinement. In the same manner, sadhana is necessary to elevate life from the trivial to the sublime. – Divine Discourse, Jun 01, 1991.