Meeting with Emilio Macias II

Governor Macias: You have come at the very time when we are trying to go to the final stages of establishing peace in our province and in our country. Hopefully, if the peace efforts of the government succeed, we can start to pick up. Definitely your visit to our province will energise that peace effort.

Sri Chinmoy: We feel that no sincere effort ends in vain. If we have made a most sincere effort, it has to be successful. The only thing is that sometimes we try to get this success in our own way and at our own time. But God has His own fixed Hour. God will definitely give us the peace that we desperately need, but in His own Way.

God is like a soccer player. When the soccer player dribbles the ball, he makes all the players and the members of the audience feel that he is going to kick it with his right leg to score. But at the last moment he fools everyone and uses his left leg. He achieves his goal and scores; only he has used the other leg.

God is playing His divine Game in and through us. We expect Him to play the game in our own way. But He says, "Why do I have to play the game in your way? As long as I take you to the destination, you have to let Me do it in My own Way and feel that I am doing the right thing."

But again, we are also doing the right thing by working for peace. That is why God is so proud of us. Right now I am very proud of the Philippines for having achieved a degree of peace for some time.

Governor Macias: I hope that we get what we have been searching for. You are right. We want to get things done our own way.

Sri Chinmoy: That is not the right way. We have to know that there is Someone who is the Doer and that this Doer is acting in and through us. If we can be simple, sincere and pure like you, then He can expedite our journey. But if we become impatient and want peace to be achieved overnight, it doesn't work out.

A tree does not come into existence overnight. First the seed is sown, and then it becomes a little plant and finally a tree. It takes a few years. Right now we have a hunger for peace, but this hunger was not in us so powerfully 10 or 20 or 30 years ago. We need peace desperately from the day we are born. Our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents also needed peace. But only now, let us say, are we sincerely striving for peace.

As soon as we come to realise that we need something, we become like a child. As soon as a child feels that he needs a particular toy, he makes his parents' life miserable. He wants them to give him the toy immediately.

[Governor Macias presents a gift to Sri Chinmoy.]

Governor Macias: In spite of the peacemakers through the centuries, this world has never really known peace. I thought that with the end of the Cold War that we would have peace. But it looks like the peace effort has become even worse after the end of Communism.

Sri Chinmoy: Unfortunately we are trying to solve the world's problems with our mind, which is impossible. We have to solve these problems with our hearts. In summit meetings they are talking about peace, nuclear disarmament and so many things; but they are using their minds and not their hearts. Each country is trying to exercise its supremacy. "If you accept my supremacy, then I will allow you to have peace." That is what the countries are saying because they are using the mind. But if they were using their hearts, in a day or a couple of months they could bring about world peace.

Governor Macias: I think world leaders all over basically want peace — peace within their countries and peace in the world.

Sri Chinmoy: They want peace, but on their own terms. I want peace. But do I want peace by dominating you and keeping you at my feet, or by loving you and keeping you inside my heart? If I keep you inside my heart and make you part and parcel of my own being, then only can I truly have peace. But I don't want peace in that way. I want to show that I am still the best, that I am still the strongest. Then, if you agree with me, there can be peace. But as soon as you have the opportunity, you will try to harm me.

Today the whole world is hungry for peace. But what is happening? America and Iraq are fighting again. We may not participate, but it does affect us. So the consciousness of the Philippines is also being affected. If a cyclone takes place, my house may not be totally destroyed. But the vibration of the cyclone will affect my mind, my nerves, my inner existence.

Governor Macias: Knowing human nature, do you foresee that the kind of peace that comes from the heart will happen soon, or will it take centuries? Will we be around when it happens?

Sri Chinmoy: For the last 10 years people have been talking more about peace. They are talking, talking, talking, but they don't realise that they are using the wrong instrument. They are still using the mind. Until the heart comes forward, everything will end in vain. Because of human nature, as long as we use the mind, we will never have peace.

Governor Macias: So you don't see peace in the very near future?

Sri Chinmoy: It will happen in the very near future if we enter more into the life of prayer and meditation. Each human being should have more faith in prayer and meditation. The prayer-life has to start in kindergarten and increase in high school, in college, in universities. We have to pray to God to give us a pure mind, a serene mind, a good mind. If there is no prayer inside our life, inside our thoughts, inside our day-to-day activities, then we shall continue making the same mistakes again and again. Without prayer and meditation, the peace process will be a joke; it will only be talk in the mind. It will start in the mind and stop there. But if we pray to God to give us purity in our minds, then our hearts can come forward and we can have peace.

Governor Macias: In advanced countries, I think they use the mind, and peace is oftentimes in the background. But even in the poorest of countries, places like Somalia, it is difficult for peace to really root, to grow, to develop.

Sri Chinmoy: Your President Ramos has said something very significant. He said that poverty is tyranny. It is so true. If we are constantly suffering from poverty, if at every moment we have to think of where we will get our bread and butter, how can we think of anything divine in ourselves? The more advanced, richer countries that are in a position to do so should help the poor countries more. I am not saying that the poor countries don't have to one day be self-sufficient. But right now they desperately need help from the rich countries.

We have to regard the poverty-stricken countries as little children who are helpless. Right now the child is helpless and the parents have to take care of him. But when the child grows up and becomes more mature, at that time he can be self-sufficient. So I feel the poor countries should be taken as little children who desperately need help from the world body.

Governor Macias: How did you bring running into your ministry?

Sri Chinmoy: A few minutes ago I was saying that we have to be instruments of God. I pray and meditate for God's inner Guidance and try to become a devoted, faithful instrument of His. According to my receptivity to His Will, I have entered into various activities in this lifetime. But if I say that I have done it, then I am the worst possible liar. Only I try to become an instrument and allow God to work in and through me and utilise me in His own Way. And whatever I do in this life is all due to His Grace and Compassion.

Governor Macias: What is the value of running?

Sri Chinmoy: Running is of paramount importance because it is symbolic. Whether you run 100 metres or 20 miles, you always have a destination. In our inner life also there is a destination. We are all pilgrims, and from time immemorial we have been walking, marching and running along Eternity's Road with the message of love: love of God and love of mankind.

So physical running is a symbol of our inner running. Running means speed; running means inner courage; running means enthusiasm. Again, there is also a practical benefit to running. Running helps us keep the body fit. And only if our body is fit will we be able to get up early in the morning to pray and meditate. Only if we are physically fit will we be able to do all the things for God that we have to do in life. So I give the utmost importance to physical fitness. We are not aiming at becoming the greatest athlete. Only we want to keep the body fit so that we can do whatever we are supposed to do in our inner and outer life.

My students have told me about your kind hospitality and words of oneness. For that I am extremely, extremely grateful to you. We are in the same boat sailing towards the same destination.

[He offers the Governor the "Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart award.]

I offer this to people of inspiration and dedication to honour them for what they have done for mankind. I would like to present it to you.