Question: Could you tell us what mysticism entails?

Sri Chinmoy: There are three major paths, or roads, of spirituality: Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga. Jnana is the path of knowledge or wisdom. Within Jnana Yoga there is a special branch called Raja Yoga or the Royal Road, on which one runs the fastest. You can call it a short cut. It deals with tremendous aspiration, eagerness and constant dedication. A mystic follows the path of Raja Yoga.

A mystic is not someone who is vague, or who lives in the moon-world, even though, unfortunately, people identify a mystic as such. A mystic is a seeker who, with dynamic energy, wants to discover the Truth in the fastest way, through intuition-power. Using the third eye, he will see the Truth faster than anything, faster than a bullet. But if an individual wants to have that kind of weapon, then naturally he has to give up everything that is undivine in him. Everything that is divine, he will accept and try to cultivate in his life.

A mystic is he who wants to see the Truth as soon as possible in the most illumining and fulfilling way. A mystic is not someone who spurns everything practical. But here in the West and in India also, people do not pay attention to the mystic. They simply say, "He is not practical. He cares only for God; he does not care for the world. He is only looking at the sun, looking at the moon, looking at the hills. He is not for this world." But a real mystic is he who wants to see the divine mystery in everything, in nature and in human beings.

He wants to go to the essence, to the Source, faster than any human being dares to imagine. This is a real mystic.