3. Question: Can human weakness ever be divine?

Sri Chinmoy: Human weakness can never be divine. If we are speaking about an ordinary human being, then his weakness will be really human; so how can it be divine? But if we see a similar quality in a divine person, we feel that it is like our own human weakness. But we have to know at that time that what appears to be human weakness is just a mask. When somebody is dying, at that time if he says, "O God, why have You forsaken me?" naturally it is human weakness we are observing in him. But when the Christ said, "Father, why hast Thou forsaken me?" it was not actually human weakness in him that spoke. It was his identification with human ignorance. When he identified himself with human ignorance he said, "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" But when he identified himself with the Divine, the same person said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

If the Christ had not identified himself with the human but had all the time remained with the Divine — which he had and which he was — then nobody would ever try to imitate him or become like him. People would say, "Oh, you are divine, you are great, you are supreme. You always remain in the highest height, so how are we going to become like you?" If he becomes one with us in our understanding, if he also accepts the suffering that we go through on the same level, if he says the same things which we ourselves say, people may say this is his human weakness, but the Supreme will know that just because he is doing this, humanity will have the hope and assurance that one day it will also be able to grow into Divinity. For human beings will see in him someone who one moment is as helpless as they are, but who the next moment can become complete, whole, perfect, divine, supreme in everything. To take the weakness of a divine person as a human weakness will be a mistake. We have to see what he is doing and why he is doing it: is it because he is ignorant or is it because he feels that this is the only way he can take human beings to the divine Goal?

A divine person will act like a mother teaching a child. The child is crawling and wants to stand up. What does the mother do? Sometimes the mother pretends that she also cannot get up. The mother intentionally falls down and the child is very happy that the mother is also falling. Then when the mother stands up once or twice, the child gets up too. If the mother always remains standing and the child sees that the mother never falls, it is very difficult for her to teach the child. But when the mother also falls, the child sees that it is a real game; then when she gets up, the child gets a little hope and inspiration that he will ultimately be able to get up.

The Christ was hiding the Divine inside the human. He was saying that the human need not and cannot remain always human; it can and must become the Divine. But the weaknesses of an ordinary human being who has countless emotional problems, vital problems and all kinds of undivine problems, are undoubtedly totally human and not divine. But these weaknesses can be transformed eventually. Today's anger can be transformed into divine virility, divine strength. Today's weakness can easily be transformed into tomorrow's divine strength and capacity. But until it is transformed, while it is still in the ordinary, unaspiring human being who is on his way to becoming perfect, we have to say human weakness is human weakness. We cannot compare ourselves with the Christ or the other world-saviours, because we do not know what we have within, whereas they did know. They were only putting on a mask so that humanity would not see a yawning gulf between their height and its own.