Question: It seems that when things are going well, we get into all kinds of mischief. Could a life of ease, from a spiritual point of view, be a dangerous kind of life?

Sri Chinmoy: A life of ease does not have to be dangerous or detrimental to the spiritual life. But you have to know how far you can go. For a life of ease, let us use the word 'indulgence'. You can be indulgent to various degrees. One kind of indulgence will take you lower than the lowest, but another kind of indulgence will take away the pressure from your mind and give your physical nerves a certain sense of ease.

When you watch slapstick humour and all kinds of innocent, funny things, that kind of relaxation is not lowering your consciousness or taking you down to the lowest levels of self-indulgence. It is absolutely innocent fun. There is a great difference between television shows like "The Honeymooners" or "Monty Python" and soap operas, which I am sorry to say some of my disciples enjoy very much. When you watch the stupid, absurd things that Monty Python does, in a very short time all your depression, frustration and mental fever go away. Again, in two or three minutes how easily a soap opera can take you to the abysmal abyss of consciousness!

For entertainment, you can invite your friends and dear ones to your house for spiritual discussions, singing and similar activities. Again, you can go to a bar and drink to your heart's content. That is also entertainment. But you have to see which kind of entertainment is relaxing your mind while still maintaining your divinity, and which kind of entertainment is taking you into perfect hell. When it is a matter of relaxation or entertainment, you have to use your wisdom to see how far you can go before your consciousness starts descending.

Entertainment, as such, is not bad. All the spiritual Masters entertained their close disciples, because they knew that they were not in any way creating problems for their disciples. I have written so many humorous books. Kalatit, you also have written so many funny, funny things! Whose consciousness will descend because of your entertainment-books? They are only helping the disciples who are suffering from depression, frustration and other mental diseases. But if you start writing unbearable novels and untouchable stories, you will only be helping others descend to the lowest.