Question: Guru, do your inner beings have their own favourite disciples? Do certain inner beings like certain people more than others?

Sri Chinmoy: Very good question. If I like someone, my inner beings will like that person to the same extent. That is to say, if I like a particular disciple very much, they will try also to like that person very much, but according to their capacity, not according to my capacity. If I love someone the utmost, with all my heart and soul, my inner beings also will immediately love that person the utmost. But their capacity is like a child’s. If the father loves a particular friend, his most intimate friend, and he shows the utmost affection to his intimate friend, the child will also love his father’s friend. But the father knows so many things about his friend — the good things he has done or what a kind person he is, and so forth. The father knows everything about his friend, but the child knows nothing. Only because his father loves that person so much, the child also loves him. He does not know why they developed their friendship or what one has done for the other. But gradually the child grows up. Over the years he sees what kind of conversations his father is having with his friend, and what his father’s friend is bringing, and the child’s love increases.

In the inner world the souls of the disciples play with my inner beings. When their souls come, I play or my inner beings play with them. Like children mixing together the souls and the inner beings do play. But because they are divine inner beings, they always watch who are the people for whom I care more. When they see that I am paying attention to someone, they immediately give up everything and come to pay attention to that individual or those individuals.

But unlike human beings, they have no preference of their own. If I say this is the best disciple or these are my excellent disciples, immediately my inner beings will agree with me. They will not say, “No, I don’t care for him.” With ordinary human beings, if Madhuri says, “This is my best friend,” Vidhu will immediately say, “You may consider her your best friend, but I like somebody else.” But my inner beings won’t do that. If I say that this is the best, my inner beings will immediately agree. They may go and play with some of the souls who are not my best disciples, but once it is clear to them, they will never come and argue with me. They will never say that you may consider this your best disciple or these your excellent disciples, but we think those others are much better. Many times my inner beings and the souls play all kinds of cute games. Many times the souls that really like my inner beings don’t want to go back to their bodies. In so many ways they delay.

Question: That’s why we can’t get up in the morning.

Sri Chinmoy: Because your souls are away playing with my inner beings, that’s why you can’t get up in the morning? Far from it! You have so many layers of ignorance, like a very heavy coat you have put on the soul, so the soul can’t breathe. The soul has to struggle in order to wake you up, because layer after layer of ignorance you have put on during sleep. The little soul is covered by a coat, a blanket, a carpet and everything, so it finds it difficult to breathe. So if it finds it difficult even to breathe, then how will it have the strength to get you up? As soon as you remove the blanket you will be able to get up.