Question: Would you tell us why God chooses to manifest Himself in transient beings on a transient earth?

Sri Chinmoy: God and His children play the Cosmic Game together. That is what He wants. We call it the Lila, the Divine Drama. Here we know that the earth is finite and here we are all earth-bound. God wants to offer His message of the Infinite to the finite. He wants to offer the message of the Immortal in place of death, the message of the Eternal in a fleeting second. It is our desire that binds us to the finite. We try to possess and be possessed. But, in God’s case, God does not possess us. He plays the Game and He feels that He is playing It with His utmost inner Concern, Compassion and Love.

Now, if we go deep within, we see that we are not the doers. We are only taking a conscious part in God’s Lila, His Game. He is the Doer. We are His multiple instruments. He is One, but He felt that He wanted to be many. He felt that He wanted to enjoy Himself, to fulfil Himself in a million forms and shapes. This is Divine Enjoyment, not earthly pleasure of course. That was His original Play. You can say, “Why did He want that kind of play?” God Himself only knows. He felt that, being One, He was not fully satisfied. He had to be many. Why should He be satisfied with only being the One Infinite? He could also be the multitudinous finite. God is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and God is infinitely Vast. This is our conception. It is absolutely true. But, if He is Omnipotent, then why should He not become like an ant, an infinitely tiny creature? With His omnipotent Power, we immediately think that He has only to be very great. That is our conception of God. Just because He is Omnipotent, He has to be very big; He has to contain millions of buildings and other things within Himself and so forth. No. That is only one way. In another way, He can show His Omnipotence in a tiny insect.

So now God is playing His Eternal Game in and through you, through me, through human beings who are finite, who are weak, impotent, ignorant. He feels that through His Eternal Game, His Divine Game, He can play in us and through us here in the earthbound Consciousness. Because He is Omniscient and Omnipotent, He feels that He has every right to play the Game. When we go deep within, we see that it is He who is the Player and He who is the Game and we are just the witnesses.