Part IV — Sri Chinmoy: a personal glimpse

Question: What is your personal definition of God?

Sri Chinmoy: Before I give my personal definition of God I wish to say that everybody's definition of God is always correct. It is not that a spiritual Master alone will be able to give a definition of God. No, even a child can give an adequate definition of God. He will give it according to his understanding, his capacity, his inner awakening. Each individual, irrespective of age, irrespective of standard, can give an answer to this question according to his inner awakening and inner illumination. Some spiritual Masters say that God is Light. Others say that God is Consciousness. Still others say that God is Power. A fourth group will say that God is a personal Being. Everybody's definition of God is right in its own way, because in that particular way God has come to them: as Love, as Consciousness, as Power, as Delight, as a Being with personal attributes, and so forth. When we criticise others, saying, "No, your definition is wrong; mine is right," this is absurd. He is right because he speaks on the strength of his inner realisation. What you are saying is right on the strength of your realisation. I am right on the strength of my realisation.

According to my realisation, my personal definition of God is Love. God is all Love. He is dearest to me because in Him I see infinite Love. I see that He is both the eternal Lover and the eternal Beloved. In the individual seeker before he realises the Highest, God is the lover. To the seeker who is aspiring for the Highest, God is the Beloved Himself. Eventually the lover and the Beloved become totally one. Man and God are eternally one. Man is God yet to be realised fully, consciously and integrally. And God is man yet to be manifested on earth totally.