Part 3: Laval University

Question: How can I differentiate between a real inner feeling of God and a thought that comes from my subconscious mind?

Sri Chinmoy: We can easily differentiate between our inner feeling of God and thoughts from our subconscious mind if we practise prayer and meditation. Especially when we meditate, we will know what is actually happening within us and whether or not we are receiving messages from God. If we remain in the heart and meditate on God, we won’t have to search for reality; reality will loom large within us. We will see and feel how close God is to us.

Our true feelings of God will immediately convince us that God is everywhere, that He is like a flood of Light within us. But when we are in the subconscious mind, we will find light only in an infinitesimal measure, like a spark. We will not feel certainty or reality there. God does exist in the subconscious mind, but His Light is veiled by dense clouds of darkness.

God is in everything, in dirty water as well as in pure water, in unspiritual people as well as in spiritual people. But divinity is manifested in an infinitesimal measure in the dirty water; therefore, we will drink the pure water instead. If a person has been praying and meditating sincerely for fifteen, twenty, or forty years, God will be more prominent in him than in someone who has never meditated; therefore, we will go to him for inspiration and spiritual advice. Through our own conscious and constant prayer, we make God a living reality for us. Everyone has God within him, but for those who pray and meditate, God is a conscious and constant reality, whereas for others God is just a vague idea.