Question: I'm trying to have faith in all that you are saying. But if it is true, why don't I feel these things inside me? Why don't I feel light and peace inside?

Sri Chinmoy: If something is true, you will feel it within the very depths of your heart. That is true. But sometimes it may take a little time. You sow a seed. After a few months it germinates. In a year it grows into a sapling, and eventually it grows into a huge banyan tree. Similarly, when you begin to take an interest in the spiritual life, you have sown the seed. You may not see the results immediately. It takes time.

You will feel, but first you have to have faith. Inside you there are many organs: heart, lungs and so on. You believe this because doctors and others say so. Although you cannot see these things, you know that they are there. Similarly, within your inner body, let us say, there are many things which you may not feel, but which I am aware of, because I have prayed and meditated more than you have. In the spiritual life you have to pray and meditate soulfully, and have faith in what you have heard from spiritual seekers and Masters. Eventually, if you apply yourself to the inner discipline, you will see that they were right. Again, there are many things which you may know better than I do. In these matters I have to have faith in you. Then eventually, if I seriously study these things, I will see for myself that what you say is true.

In the inner world if you do not see something right now, you cannot say that it does not exist. I am not saying that you are doubting or arguing; far from it. But I wish you to cultivate more faith in what I say and in what other Masters have said about the inner world. You have to start with faith — sincere, genuine, sublime faith. This faith is not going to betray you. You read spiritual books, scriptures. Each book embodies light. While reading, you may not feel light inside the book. But you do not discard the book. No, you have faith in the messages that the book contains. You meditate on the words and ideas that the book embodies, and eventually you do get light. Inside the ink, inside the paper, inside the book there was a hidden reality. You believed in that hidden reality while you were reading, and in the course of time you got illumination. But you had to read the book to get the essence, the quintessence, of the book.

Similarly, you have to pray and meditate before you will feel your own divinity. If you cannot feel your inner divinity right now, don’t be sad or upset. It takes time. Pray and meditate sincerely, and through your faith your real divinity will one day loom large. Once you enter into the spiritual life, if you do not have higher experiences or realisations, do not give up. If you do not feel inside the very depth of your heart something divine, illumining, fulfilling and perfect, no harm. It takes time to acquire a free access to the inner world, but once you have it, you will see that it is flooded with light and delight.