Question: If you feel you have a sincere desire, how do you deal with the parts or aspects of yourself that you feel may not be sincere?

Sri Chinmoy: A part of your being is sincere and a part is not sincere. From the spiritual point of view, the part that is not co-operating or not siding with the aspiration-life is insincere. You want to get something from the desire-world or in the desire-world. But something is holding you back and telling you that the fulfilment of desire will only take you away from the Peace and Bliss which you are already getting. The sincere part of you wants only God, Truth, Light, Peace and Bliss.

In the desire-world, if you want something, you try to get it with your intense effort. You throw your heart and soul into getting it, as they say. But if something is telling you, “Don’t throw your heart and soul into this. It will only create more problems for you,” then it is the soul that is coming to the fore and pleading with you not to throw yourself into the desire-world. Again, it may happen that although you have desires, sometimes laziness comes in and tells you it is not worthwhile to fulfil them. So you will be the judge. If one moment you have the intense desire to do something and the next moment something tells you it is not worthwhile, that is only your lethargy standing in your way. But if the message comes from the very depth of your heart, from the depth of your being, then you can know that your soul is warning you not to dive into the sea of ignorance.