Question: How can I develop more patience?
Sri Chinmoy: You have to feel that you have come into the world not for earthly pleasure or vital pleasure but in order to find happiness. You embarked on the spiritual journey because you wanted to become a perfect instrument of God and make God eternally proud of you, since you knew that this is the only way to have permanent happiness. Right now the world is not pleasing you, and you are not pleasing yourself, so you are not happy. Since you are not happy, you may say, "Let me commit spiritual suicide. Who knows, perhaps then God will be kind to me and give me happiness."But if you try to commit spiritual suicide, God will only say, "You stupid girl, I had a Dream in you, with you and for you and now that Dream you have destroyed." God is like a potter. With such Love, Compassion, Enthusiasm, Concern and Care He has made a beautiful porcelain vase. If a monkey or donkey comes along and breaks this vase, God will be furious. Your jealousy, impurity, insecurity and all your negative qualities are like monkeys or donkeys. They get malicious pleasure by destroying God's Dream to make you eternally happy. So you have to be very careful not to identify with these qualities.
The day you joined the path you had only one goal in your mind and in your heart: to make yourself permanently happy. Do not give up that dream. Do not identify with the negative forces inside you and commit spiritual suicide. Every day, every moment, try to revive the dream that you had. Forget how many times you have suffered or how many times you have caused suffering for God, for your soul, for your Master. Only bring back the dream that you started with — to make yourself permanently happy. You know that the only way to make yourself truly happy is by making God happy. If you are trying to make God happy and to please Him in His own Way, then you will try to do the right thing.
At every moment keep happiness in your mind, in your heart, in your breath, in all your actions. Your dream of happiness will give you patience and save you. You are seeing a garden two miles away. You have to tell yourself, "No matter how difficult the road is, if only I can arrive there, I will get so much joy. As soon as I reach the flowers and breathe in their fragrance, I will be the happiest person." If you keep in mind the goal of happiness, then automatically you will develop patience.
