Question: What is it in us that resists something good or something vast in spite of knowing that it will help as and that it is something that we actually need?

Sri Chinmoy: When we see the vastness of Reality with our physical mind or with our vital, we are scared to death. Why? Because our mind and vital do not have the capacity to identify with the vast. They are too limited. They are ready to appreciate and admire the vast, but when it is a matter of becoming or growing into the vast, they are terribly afraid. We appreciate and admire many things, but if anybody asks, "Do you want to become that?" we say, "No!" Why? Because fear comes. In everything we see that fear looms large — either fear or doubt. First there is fear. Fear comes because we do not know how to identify ourselves with something that is beyond our normal capacity. Then doubt comes to tell us, "Is it good to have it? Is it worthwhile to grow into the vastness? I am quite satisfied." The vital has fear and the mind has doubt. The vital is ready to strike someone, but while striking it is afraid that the other person will give it a kick in return. And the mind, in its ignorance, is always eager to doubt everything. So the physical mind and the aggressive vital are of no use in the spiritual life.

But we do have something to save us and protect us, and that is the heart. The heart has the capacity to identify itself with the tiniest possible insect as well as the vast sky. When a poet uses this inner heart and looks at the ocean, he feels his total oneness with the ocean. When he looks at the sky, he becomes totally one with the sky. He looks at a mountain with his heart, and he becomes the mountain itself in his inner life. The heart can identify with anything, small or large. In the spiritual life we must use the heart if we really want to realise the Highest. The heart is our sincere friend, our devoted slave. Our journey is safe with the heart. If we follow the path of the heart, nothing will stand in our way. And we will feel at every moment a sense of satisfaction, because the heart is identifying itself with some vast reality, which has boundless Peace, Light and Bliss to offer us.

Our aspiring heart is the representative of our entire being. So we have to try and follow the path of the heart. We will meet with no resistance from the heart, because the aspiring heart is always in tune with the soul. It is all Light. In Light there is no hesitation, there is no resistance. The physical mind is still in darkness, and it does not want to come out of darkness. The vital is still in darkness, and it cherishes its aggressive and undivine animal propensities. But the heart that is pure, the heart that has received Light from the soul, is ready at any moment to offer its existence to the soul. If we can consciously identify ourselves with the heart, the heart will carry us to the real Source, which is God. So please try to use the heart in your life of aspiration, and there will be no resistance, no hesitation, no fear, no doubt.