Question: How can I develop patience?

Sri Chinmoy: You can develop patience just by feeling that there is somebody superior to you, greater than you, nicer than you in every way, and that this somebody is the Supreme. You can feel that all other human beings are your children, and that they are inferior to you. Then think that He who is superior to you is all the time tolerating you. God has accepted you and claimed you as His very own, even though you are making millions of mistakes. Just because He loves you dearly, His Concern for you is boundless, His Compassion is boundless, everything is boundless.

You have to know that if you get something from someone, that very thing you are supposed to give to somebody else. It is a game, and in a game there should be continuous movement. If somebody gives you something and you hold on to it, the game stops; there is no joy in it. The Supreme has given you something, let us say aspiration. He has started the game by offering you aspiration, and his aspiration embodies patience. Now it is up to you to give that same thing to your son and daughter, or to somebody else. If you have children, you are responsible for them. You have accepted them as your own. When you claim others as your own, you have to give them what you have and what you are, because you want to see your good qualities, your capacities, your achievements and your height in your dear ones. The Supreme wants to see His height in you, and you have to see in your children, humanity, your height.

This way automatically patience comes, because you realise that one cannot climb up the Himalayas in the twinkling of an eye. If you want to see your height in others, you have to use your compassion, your light, your feeling of oneness. You have to say, "If I had been in his position, I would have done the same thing." This is how you develop patience.