Marty Gallagher: You have offered us such good advice. We are going to apply it!

Sri Chinmoy: We take the body as a temple, and the soul inside the body as a shrine. Without the shrine, the temple has no value, Again, without the temple, where can we keep the shrine? If we leave it in the street, people will destroy it. So this body, which is supposed to be the temple, has to be kept clean and pure. But how can the body have purity when the mind is so impure? If my mind enters into rivalry, jealousy and competition, then it is only separating me from you. But if my mind tells me that you are my friend, then we will establish our oneness.

If the mind is a problem, some people say that we have to discard the mind completely. If the vital is a problem, if the vital is aggressive and destructive, they say we should cast aside the vital. If the body is a problem, if the body is lethargic, they say we should renounce the body. This is the way of separation.

But we can also take a positive approach. Instead of rejecting the mind, if we can make the mind clear and pure, and teach it to think positively, then our mind will be a great help to us. If we can ask our vital to become constructive and dynamic, then it can do many good things for us. And if we can ask our body to work for God, sleeplessly and breathlessly, then it will be a tremendous help to us.

This is our way of approaching the inner and the outer life. Others may offer a completely different approach. There are many different roads that lead to the Goal. We cannot say that others are wrong and they cannot say that we are wrong.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Aspiration-body, illumination-soul, part 3, Agni Press, 2004
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