Question: Does a divine experience come only through controlling one's emotions and one's senses by force?

Sri Chinmoy: We do not get divine experiences by force or through coercion. It is the divine purity within us that purifies us slowly and steadily and makes us fit for inner and divine experiences. We cannot do it by coercion or by hook or by crook. We have to follow a systematic method, and for that aspiration is necessary. When we aspire, the flame of aspiration climbs up. While it is climbing up, it will illumine our outer nature. Then automatically we will have a self-disciplined life. But, we can never have a disciplined life by force. First it will break our vital being, and then it will tell upon our physical body.

If you believe that you can reach or realise the highest Truth overnight, then you are making a terrible mistake. The truth is, after all, an inner knowledge. We take twenty-five years or even more to complete our earthly education, to get our Ph.D. degree, which is the zenith of our earthly knowledge. In the spiritual life also, we have to devote quite a few years to study and practice. If somebody feels that he can control his emotions in the twinkling of an eye, or that he may realise God in a couple of hours, he is only fooling himself. At the present state of your consciousness, please try to have divine thoughts all the time in your mind. In that way you will make very good progress.