Part VII — Questions and answers: University of Pennsylvania

Question: What dies?

Sri Chinmoy: Ignorance in us dies. But if we see ignorance with our inner eye, inner vision, we see that ignorance does not actually die but becomes transformed into light. When we use our earthly knowledge, we see that something lives for a long time and then it dies. But when we use our intuition we see that everything is in the process of transformation, illumination and perfection.

In India we have the trinity of God in three aspects. They are Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva; the Creator, the Preserver and the Destroyer or Transformer. Some people use the term 'Destroyer,' but inner philosophy uses the term 'Transformer.' God has created the world and He wants to preserve it. Who wants to destroy his own children? The mother will not destroy her children. The mother will only try to transform them. If the children are naughty and mischievous, the mother will not throw them out of the house. The mother will say, "My child only needs illumination and perfection." There is a feeling of oneness that the mother has with her children.

Creator and creation are one. When someone creates something, immediately he identifies himself with the creation. God has created us. So He is not going to destroy us. He is only going to transform us. But when we feel separated from God, the Source, when we feel that He is the Creator and we are the creation, then the problem arises. But if we go deep within, we see that there is nothing to be killed. That which needs transformation will naturally undergo transformation, that which needs illumination will undergo illumination and that which needs perfection will undergo perfection.