Question: When several individuals form a committee to do a project, you may have five different people discussing something with their own backgrounds and ideas. And in the United Nations, you may have five different countries, or even more, discussing one topic, each country with its own firm belief. What is the best course to follow in such cases?³⁸

Sri Chinmoy: Sometimes as an individual you have an idea. Then, a few minutes later, you develop or create another idea. In the morning, you may have an idea of how to achieve something, and in the afternoon you may have another idea of how to achieve that thing in a different way. But the idea you get in the afternoon need not be the better one.

If there are five members on a committee, each individual should try to dive deep within to see if he can agree, in any way, with the idea offered by somebody else. Right now, let us say, he is fighting for his own suggestion. But in a few days, it may happen that he himself will have the same view that he is now opposing. So if all the members have established their oneness with the other members, then they will at least try to understand the others’ viewpoints and see if there is any truth there.

Among the five different ideas, one may be more mature and practical than the others. Take the five ideas as five fruits. If there are five fruits, some will be unripe; nobody will want to eat those. Only the fruit that is most ripe and delicious will appeal to everyone. Just because one person has brought the ripe one, it does not mean that only he will eat it. The others will have an equal share. As long as everybody is allowed to eat it, as long as everybody is ready to share it, then it does not matter who brought it since the fruit becomes everybody’s property. Similarly, no matter who has offered an idea, all the members will have an equal opportunity to apply that idea to their own lives.