Part V -- General questions and answers

Question: Guru, sometimes when I don't see you for a long time and I sit down to meditate on your picture, I feel there is a block that does not let me feel your love and concern that is flowing to me. I feel that you are displeased with me and that you have reason to be so.

Sri Chinmoy: Perfection is very good, and it is something that I deeply appreciate. But what happens is that you give more value than you should to a perfection that is beyond your capacity. You see that you may have a little impurity, a little jealousy, and you are discouraged. But you have to know that total perfection is beyond your capacity right now. It is like this. A child can learn A, B and C in one day. But it is beyond his capacity to learn from A to Z in one day. If he tries, he may get the A, B and C part, but then all the rest will make no sense. In your case, what happens is that you start to push or pull for what you consider perfection, but that perfection is twenty steps ahead of you. You have covered already a great distance, and you see your goal in front of you. So you think that you should be able to reach it at once, although you may be tired and your capacity is limited. But, like a runner nearing his goal, there is a limit to how fast you can go. Like a runner, you must be careful not to fall just before you reach the finishing line.

The block that you see does not come from me, and it does not come from you. It is a hostile attack that wants to take you away from my life and separate you from my love and my light. Forces like this want to make you unhappy. You set up a standard and say that only if something is done in this way is it perfection. But it is not good to allow your mind to calculate your progress or shape your goal. Your mind says that if you have this experience, then you will call it light; if you have another experience, then you will call it peace or power. But light itself is power. Peace is power. If you had real peace, then the atom bomb could drop down right next to you and you would not hear it. Certainly that kind of peace is power. In each thing is found all. So do not try to put everything in a certain place or call it by a certain name. Do not try to give reality a certain shape or form. Do not wait for the mind to be convinced; do not wait for the mind to measure your progress or your goal. The Supreme will show you reality according to His Will.

There are different ways to score a goal in a game. In soccer you can use your left foot, or your right foot, or your head. You should let God make the decision as to whether you will use your right foot or left foot or head. Before you aim, invoke the Presence of the Supreme's Eye. Then the mental sense of perfection will not enter. Then the mind will not say, "Only if you do this, or experience this, are you achieving perfection."

You must let God's Grace take you to the goal. Put all importance in the Compassion and Grace of the Supreme. If you don't try to shape your goal or measure the distance ahead of you, and if you let the Supreme act in and through you, then your goal and your soul will meet together. The Supreme's Grace will be able to work inside you and the Supreme's Grace will achieve everything for you.