Question: How do you view the problems of the world and how do you think these problems can be solved?¹³

Sri Chinmoy: The problems of the world are nothing but teeming clouds in the sky. It is only a matter of time before the sun disperses the clouds. We use the term ‘God’s Hour’. God’s Hour is a combination of humanity’s aspiration and Divinity’s Compassion. When humanity’s ascending aspiration meets Divinity’s descending Compassion, God’s Hour strikes and all our problems are solved.

Problems are everywhere. Each country has hundreds of problems. Each individual has hundreds of problems. But problems can be solved, should be solved and must be solved by individuals first, for it is the individual mind or individual capacity that rules each country. If each individual dives deep into his own countless problems, he comes to realise that there is only one problem, and that problem is lack of oneness.

Very often we notice this lack of oneness even in our own being. We identify ourselves with a particular part of our body rather than with other parts. If somebody says that our eyes are beautiful, then we focus all our attention on our eyes and forget that God has also made our nose, ears and limbs part of our physical existence.

The world is composed of many, many countries. If an individual can become inseparably one with the inner cry of his own nation, then he is bound to feel that his nation is nothing but a tree whose branches are the other countries. Then naturally he will claim the whole world as his own. A tree without branches is no tree at all. Only when we see quite a few branches on a tree, as well as flowers and fruits, do we deeply appreciate it. So if I can feel that your country is a branch of my nation-tree, and if you can feel that my country is a branch of your nation-tree, then our feeling of oneness can easily solve the countless world problems. This is the human way that we can solve world problems.

But the divine way is to feel our oneness with the Will of the Supreme. I come from India; you come from some other part of the world. But everything is part of God’s creation. God is both the Creator and the creation. He is Silence and He is also sound. Silence we see in His Vision-Reality and sound we see in His Manifestation-Reality on earth.

We can become consciously one with God’s Will through our prayer and meditation. Prayer and meditation are nothing short of our constant communion or conversation with God. When we pray, we talk to God; when we meditate, God talks to us. When it is our turn to talk, we offer our soulful cry for peace, light and bliss. And when God meditates on us, we just listen. He has a message for us. He wants to give us the Message and He wants to tell us how we can share His Message with the rest of the world.

When we do not consciously pray and meditate, the Will of the Supreme is executed through us only on rare occasions. But if we consciously pray and consciously meditate, then without fail God’s Will will be executed in and through us. And if we can become soulfully and constantly one with God’s Will, then we can make no mistakes. It is because of our mistakes that we create problems for ourselves. And what is the mistake that we always make and from which we are constantly suffering? Our only mistake is that we have made friends with ignorance. But we can change our friendship. God is there to help us and guide us. We can make wisdom-light our friend, our only friend. Then we will be able to swim in the sea of wisdom-light instead of swimming in the sea of ignorance-night.