Question: Are these the same things that Christians would call devils?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, the same. Some are afraid of water. Some are afraid of other things. We have some absolutely destructive forces even among the disciples. I don’t know how they stay with us. Ramakrishna used to say, “Examine their eyes. If they are a little bit defective, don’t accept them.” If the eyes are defective, they have done something absolutely terrible, the worst type of thing. They have deceived someone or killed someone. We have two or three disciples in one of our Centres like that. But my name is Compassion. When I see them, I don’t curse them; I curse myself. On that day when I accepted them, they were in absolutely the highest consciousness. There is one person in particular. I felt that if I could transform this one, then good people could easily be transformed.