Meeting With Shyamala B Cowsik
Sri Chinmoy: We carry within us the quintessence of our source. The source is like a tree, with many branches, leaves and flowers. All these divine qualities we carry with us wherever we go. You have come from India, so Indian spirituality and divinity you are carrying with you in the very depths of your heart.The bird flies in the firmament carrying the message; there is no end to its progress-flight. You have served our beloved Mother India in many parts of the world. Everywhere you have been carrying India's eternal message of peace and light. Although outwardly the Indian people quarrel and fight, the light, the peace and the silence that we have received from the Vedic seers of the hoary past are working within us in our inner life. So wherever you go, wherever I go and wherever other Indians go, we carry the light. Outwardly many Indians are in constant conflict, but in the inner world they are in perfect harmony and they love their Source, God, most sincerely. So the inner message of India will always remain illumining and fulfilling.
I am so happy to see you and so proud of you. You have inexhaustible energy and a dauntless spirit. You have dynamism, courage and wisdom; all the things that are needed to expedite the progress of this country you have in abundant measure. God has chosen the right person to come here and the right place for you to come. So much you have already accomplished at this tender age. So much more you will yet accomplish.
Two divine qualities are of supreme importance: confidence and dynamism. Confidence comes from faith, and you have tremendous inner faith. You also have a dynamic outer flow — like a river flowing towards its source, the ocean. These qualities, which you have in abundant measure — inner confidence and outer dynamism — have allowed you to work very hard. But again, there is no end to your progress.
You have so much to accomplish for Mother-Earth. I shall offer my soulful prayers to our Lord Supreme for your continued success in your outer life of dedication and your continuous progress in your inner life of aspiration.
In the Philippines you have two tasks before you. One is to make the connection between India and the Philippines stronger — to build more of a bridge. Previously the Filipinos had a Christian mentality and valued the Western way of life. Now it is time to bring them back to their source — to the Eastern way of life. This is a most significant task you can perform for them. Your other task is to show them that they can make their lives prosperous through their own inner capacities. I am sure the whole country will be indebted to you forever if you can show them this. The soul of the Philippines will shower its choicest blessing upon your aspiring heart and devoted head.
You were born in southern India, but for you there is no North, South, East or West. The length and breadth of the world you claim as your own, very own. The blessings, love and gratitude of each country you will have in boundless measure. Socrates said that he was not an Athenian but that he was universal. You also are for the whole world. You embody universal aspiration and God will utilise you in His own Way to offer His Light to humanity in a very special way. You will prove to the world that you don't belong to India alone but to the entire world.
I am so happy to learn that you are so closely connected with Mr. Lakhan Mehrotra and his family. I am eternally grateful to him. When I first came to the West, he was kind enough to give me a job at the Indian Consulate. Over the years we have developed a soulful friendship, which goes beyond the domain of friendship. We are very close.
[Ambassador Cowsik speaks of the bitter fighting that was transpiring between Hindus and Muslims over a mosque in northern India.]
Sri Chinmoy: Almost all conflicts come from ignorance. Our human consciousness is such that we prefer ignorance to wisdom. There are two rooms: the heart-room and the mind-room. The heart-room is illumined. The mind-room, unfortunately, is still unlit. The mindroom is supplying us with knowledge, not with wisdom, and there is a great difference between knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom comes from the soul and teaches us the message of oneness, whereas earthly knowledge — which is an accumulation of things by the mind — teaches us division. When we live in the mind, which is all separativity, we try to possess the world. But the moment we try to possess something, we see that that very thing has already possessed us. We try to possess someone with our affection, love or cleverness, but to our wide surprise we see that we are already possessed by that person. But if we follow the heart's way, no matter where I am going, I feel that I am carrying you in the inmost recesses of my heart. At that time I don't try to possess you; we sing only the oneness-song.
The mind wants peace, but the peace that the mind wants is the peace that comes from supremacy. If I am one step ahead of you or a little higher than you, then I feel peaceful. This is the so-called knowledge of the mind. But the heart's wisdom is not like that. The heart doesn't want to go one step ahead or one step behind someone else; it wants to go only together, together, together. Because the heart always carries the whole world inside it, it brings the message of oneness.
We need only one thing: peace of mind. But the thing that we need most, we do not value. We want others to see the world the way we see the world; we want division and supremacy. But this is absolutely wrong. If we really love God, how can we fight over whether a particular shrine is a mosque or a temple? We know the real temple is inside our hearts. Hindus use the term 'Bhagavan' and Muslims say 'Allah.' But it is the same Person, the same Reality, the same Divinity. Muslims call it a mosque and Hindus call it a temple, but it is the same place of worship. Let Hindus and Muslims each worship in their own way. If Muslims and Hindus lived in the heart rather than in the mind, then this particular conflict would never have occurred.
It is only when the mind becomes illumined that it will see eye to eye with the heart. At that time the mind also will have true wisdom. But until the mind is illumined, it will always be filled with doubt, fear, anxieties, worries and insecurities. These will remain unless and until we get illumination from the soul. Those who are fervently praying and meditating are the pioneers in bringing the light of the soul to the mind.
