There is no substitute for meditation - if someone was to offer me one billion dollars, yes with all those zeros, and said that all I would have to do is give up meditation and the treasures of spiritual practice, not even 1 cell in my body would think, yeah maybe. All 10 trillion cells would be laughing at the offer. There is no material equivalent for the rewards of meditation, none. The difference is so enormous that I can't even come up with a suitable example, and believe me I tried.

If life can be said to have any purpose, it is to discover the Truth and at the heart of this mission lies meditation. But, as you move ahead with your meditation practice and the rewards start to flow, you will notice an interesting phenomenon taking place; You Are Being Held to Live at a Higher Standard.

There is really not much choice in this matter. If you give yourself seriously to mastering the Art of Meditation, you will no longer be able to live the way you had been in the past. The practice demands its own discipline, not one artificially imposed, but, a discipline that gracefully emerges as you move deeper into this profound science. Here is what I have found to be the top 5 changes that tend to take place in the lives of passionate aspirants who are being true to their meditation practice. These same changes generally also apply to those who practice other spiritual disciplines such as Yoga, Ayurveda, Reiki, Qigong, etc.

1. More Simple & Wholesome Life: As your progress matures you will notice that you are more and more gravitating towards a simpler, more natural life. You find yourself buying less and less into commercialism and materialism. Its not that you are becoming an ascetic and "renouncing the world", its just that material possessions are loosing their grip on you. If you have them you enjoy them, if you don't have them no problem at all. In this way your life starts to incorporate more of what is natural and moves in a direction that is uncomplicated, but, deep.

2. Waste Less Energy: Meditation, Yoga and spiritual practices will make you realize that everything is energy. Energy is the name of the game. You are nothing but Energy and the Universe is nothing but energy. These fields all interconnect and intermingle. At an Energetic level, demarcations loose their definition and everything merges into each other. In addition to this, you start to realize one more important fact regarding meditation. It requires tremendous energy.

The energy required for real meditation is available to a human being, but, is not harnessed corrected. It is dissipated in contradiction and meaningless activity. This will have to stop if your practice is to penetrate deep into the mysteries and wonders of Reality. You will start to become more integrated as a person. You will start to stop wasting precious energy in endless gossip, immature pursuits and conflicting desires. You will start be become an charged being, capable of summoning intense energy of the highest vibration when required to penetrate the veil of illusion.

3. Better Diet & Fitness: Along the lines of number 2 above, you will start to shift to a healthy lifestyle. You will realize the profound opportunity life and each moment offers and simply would like to make the most of this blessing of human life. Getting sick, being injured, lacking energy will not be acceptable and you will do what is necessary to have a fit, vibrant body. In addition, certain food groups will not suit you as they will make you lethargic and insensitive, so you will likely start to move to a lighter, more lean diet.

4. Ending Dependencies and Addictions: For those on the spiritual path, freedom is valued above all. Things that make you dependent and bind you down will come under heavy scrutiny and in time be set aside. This goes for all things that make you dependent. Those far on the spiritual path realize their one to one relationship with life and Divinity and eventually embrace complete independence. This independence then allows for love to flow, as now, without dependency, there is no shadow of fear.

5. Becoming a Rebel: It is inevitable. You will become a bit (or in same cases much :-) of a rebel. Especially with regard to tradition and the so called values of society. Society creates the need for so much artificiality and hypocrisy, which simply cannot be sustained under the heat of meditative awareness. In addition, the values that society holds in high esteem are seen for what they are, silly, so that is the end of that.

Summary:

So there you have the top 5 changes that will be required of you as you move ahead with your spiritual growth. Some of these changes will happen on their own, below the radar of consciousness, while others will be conscious decisions you will have to make, as required by the demands of the meditation and spiritual practice.