Part XIV

Interviewer: Do you believe that if a few would pray and meditate regularly in a community, they could alter — through subtle changes — the actual community itself?

Sri Chinmoy: Definitely! If a significant number of people pray and meditate regularly in a soulful way in a society, then the face and fate of that society are bound to change. Right now you, my students and I are in a spiritual consciousness. We are feeling love, peace and joy. Who has created this atmosphere? We ourselves have created it, this spiritual vibration, through our prayer and meditation. So if many people have one common goal, easily they can achieve it through meditation. While we are meditating, energy from Above — which you can call peace or light or bliss — is descending and permeating our entire being and also spreading through the atmosphere.

We believe in vibration. If somebody sits at the foot of a tree praying and meditating for half an hour, then an ordinary person may unexpectedly experience a sacred feeling when he passes by the tree, whereas in other places he will not get the same feeling. A sensitive person will feel something by the tree because somebody has created peace and joy there.

Suppose we are with Carl Lewis, who is the fastest man on earth. Immediately we get a vibration of dynamism and speed. If we stand near him, immediately we feel speed. I am over fifty and cannot run 100 metres in 20 seconds even, whereas he does it in nine point something. But as soon as I go near him, speed enters into my mind. This is not imagination. True, on the outer plane you and I will not be able to run at his speed. But in the inner plane, just by being near him, we actually have experienced speed. Speed has entered into our system. Then, when we go home, we will try to do things faster than usual. This is what being around a dynamic person can do for us.

Similarly, if we go to a spiritual person and see him praying and meditating, then even if we ourselves do not pray and meditate, we will still get a peaceful feeling. That is because a spiritual person lives this peace, in the same way that Carl Lewis is living the fastest speed. Since a spiritual person is living a life of peace, joy and light, this is the kind of vibration that people will get from him. Then, when those people go home, automatically they will transmit this vibration of peace to the members of their families. This is how divine qualities such as peace, love, light and speed are always spreading.

Interviewer: So you are a friend of Carl Lewis and admire his quest?

Sri Chinmoy: We are very good friends. He is super-excellent not only in his outer speed but also in his inner speed, which is inspiration and aspiration. His inner speed and his outer speed are both most extraordinary. Inner speed is inner hunger for God’s Love and God’s Compassion. Some people have outer speed and are wanting in inner speed. In his case, he has both outer speed and inner speed in unprecedented measure.