Question: When something in the world bothers me, I lose all my sincerity and become depressed.

Sri Chinmoy: You have to know that there is a great difference between sincerity and stupidity. If somebody has told a lie, you must try to illumine that person. If a mistake has been made by somebody, you must try to rectify that mistake inwardly or outwardly by offering your good will. In your own case, stupidity comes into the picture. If you have done something wrong, you feel that by increasing your guilt you will solve the problem. But this is not the right approach. Always think of the goal, which is perfection. You have to bring perfection into the picture.

If something wrong has been done, either by you or by somebody else, at that time you have to offer the result immediately to the Supreme. You have to say, "I was helpless, he was helpless. We were attacked by wrong forces. We know that we were attacked and we want to offer our mistake to you." Again, you have to be conscious and wise. Once you discover that you are doing something wrong, you have to stop doing that thing.

Depression is not the answer. When you run a race, if you are disqualified, what will you do? You will wait for another day and then again try to reach the goal. Just because you have had an unfortunate experience, if you stop competing in the race, you will never reach the goal. A sad experience must not be the ultimate experience. Take it as a passing cloud. You will definitely come out of this ignorance-cloud.