Question: To what extent does your emphasis on the soul flying "above the toil of life" lead to our ignoring the needs of our fellow man?

Sri Chinmoy: We have to know that a blind man cannot lead another blind man. One of the two has to be endowed with vision. Now, I am hungry and you are hungry. Suppose I know that there is a tree which has many fruits. If I have the capacity to climb up but, unfortunately, for the time being you do not have the capacity, what shall I do? Both of us are hungry. Just because one of us does not know how to climb, will the other person stop climbing? No! My bounden duty at that time is to climb up, pick a few fruits and then come down and share them with the one who does not know how to climb.

God has granted me this capacity, and it is my duty to utilise it. The world is in suffering and in darkness. True! But if I remain always in the world's darkness, then what do I add? I add only my own ignorance and my own darkness to the world. But if, on the strength of my aspiration, I can enter into the world of light, that does not mean I am not going to help the world. I will come back into the world where my brothers and sisters are still in darkness, and bring them light from the other world.