We do not become saints or prophets in just one lifetime; it requires many incarnations on the earth and ceaseless work

"We do not become saints or prophets in just one lifetime; it requires many incarnations on the earth and ceaseless work. This is what life on earth is about: faults, mistakes, failings. How could a spiritual master help and educate human beings today if in other incarnations he had not gone through the same experiences and overcome the same obstacles? What merit would he have if he had not committed the same mistakes and met with the same tests before at last becoming what he has become? He would never dare to face others and ask them to make efforts that he himself had not already made. If we must follow the advice of the initiates and the great masters, it is because they know the way. They know the pitfalls, and how to triumph over them."