Question: You have said that if we wish to serve the world we must have the proper attitude. Could you explain please what that attitude is?⁴⁵

Sri Chinmoy: If we wish to work in the world and for the world, our attitude should be one of dedicated service. We have to feel that we are all members of the same family and that the rest of the world is ours. When the attitude of helping others comes into the picture, immediately we feel that we are superior and we become proud. We have to take the attitude that we are serving others. If we are in an ordinary consciousness, we may feel that serving others means that we are inferior to them. But if we remain in a divine consciousness, we feel that in serving others we are getting a golden opportunity to serve the Supreme, the Inner Pilot who is inside us and inside everyone. The question of superiority and inferiority does not arise at all.

When we serve mankind, we have to feel that we are not the doer but Somebody else is. We may not know Him, we may not see Him, but definitely we can feel Him. God is nearer to us than our nose and eyes, much nearer. When we meditate, we may not see the golden Face of God, but we do feel something guiding and inspiring us. Someone is inspiring you to do the right thing and to become the right person. And that Someone is God. If Somebody from within had not inspired you, then you would not have come here to pray and meditate.

The Supreme gives each individual countless golden opportunities to serve Him in humanity. When He asks us to do something and does not ask somebody else, it is because He feels that we have the inner surrender and the inner willingness to do it in a divine way. Two persons may do something and have the same outer success, but their attitudes may totally differ. In God’s Eye, the attitude is most important, not the so-called outer success. If we do something devotedly and unconditionally, then God feels that is a real success. But if we try to achieve something by hook or by crook, by deceiving the world, we may get success on the surface, but our conscience will torture us. One day we will be exposed; then we will become a victim not only to our own inner conscience but also to public ridicule.

Others may be much greater than we are. In the eyes of the world, greatness is determined by who has the authority, who has the autocratic power. It depends on how much physical power, vital power or mental power one can wield. But in God’s Eye, whoever has the heart’s magnanimity and whoever wants to expand his heart’s capacity is the one who is really great. In God’s Eye, greatness means goodness. Whoever is good becomes God’s chosen son or chosen daughter.

In order to serve God in man and man in God, the first thing we have to do is pray and meditate. Inside our meditation we will find the divine Message or Command, and we will also see how this Command can be executed. If we discard prayer and meditation and try to become philanthropists or world-lovers, we will be making a deplorable mistake. We will become like a human body without a backbone. First we have to become a God-lover, and then see humanity inside God. If through our meditation we see God and feel His Presence, then naturally we shall care for mankind. God is like the root of the cosmic Tree. If we want to water the leaves and fruits, it is impossible; we have to water the base of the tree, the root. That is to say, it is only by serving and fulfilling God first that we shall be able to serve and fulfil mankind.