Question: Does evil exist or is it in our minds?

Sri Chinmoy: First we have to know what evil is. Each one has his own way of interpreting a subject or object. Somebody will say that a particular thought or ideal is evil. If he uses his mind to determine the nature of anything, then anything that is not giving joy or satisfaction to the mind will be considered evil. The heart says, “No, no, something which gives no joy is not necessarily evil; only it has less light.”

If I turn off the light in this room, some disciples may see some light, while others cannot do so without opening the third eye. As soon as you see all darkness, then you say it is evil. Spiritual people don’t use the term “evil”. They say, “What it is, is less light.”

Anything that has been created by God has light. Your soul has light and a chair has light; the only thing is that your soul has more light. It is a matter of how the mind differentiates an ideal subject or object from an imperfect one.

The moment the mind declares something as evil, the mind itself becomes dark. For example, if I say, “He is very bad,” immediately that consciousness enters into my mind. But if you say, in a positive way, “He can be better,” or “He can also be good,” those good qualities enter into you. There your declaration does not have the same destructive power as when you say it negatively.

If it is in the heart, something can be better, best, everlasting. Society has created good, bad and evil. In some religions, they can marry their close relatives. For them it is good. In our society, how would it be? For us it is bad. Killing the cow is evil for Hindus. Muslims will say, “Why? You can eat goose, chicken, etc. and you cannot eat cows? ” We say we love the cows so much because from the cow, light came. It is the symbol of Mother Earth. For us it is good.

It is better to say that evil is lesser light and to talk in terms of lesser light and abundant light.