Question: I would like to raise the essence of my spirit beyond this universe, to the highest plateau attainable. I would also like to join my spirit with the essence and the meaning of life. I am looking for the meaning of life.

Sri Chinmoy: There are two lives. One is our ordinary earth-bound life, which lasts for sixty, seventy or eighty years. Afterwards, we enter into the world of death where we take a short rest or a long rest, depending on God's Will, and again come back into the world-arena. Then again, there is the eternal Life. I believe you are referring to the eternal Life, the Life that is universal, the Life that is immortal. If you would like to embody that eternal and immortal Life here on earth, then you have to do so entirely in the realm of consciousness. As a seeker, you will try to embody the universal Consciousness consciously inside you. Inside the universal Consciousness you will be able to feel the eternal and immortal Life.

Life-even the eternal, immortal Life-has to be embodied by something. In order to embody the eternal Life in your consciousness, or to have a free access to the eternal Life, you have to become consciously aware of your consciousness, which connects the finite and the Infinite. When we have the aspiration to raise our consciousness to the highest possible height, then we have to know what our first and foremost need or choice is. Our foremost need here is constant awareness of our aspiring consciousness.