Question: Guru, in one of your plays there was a king who was jealous of a spiritual Master. So he went and realised God, and after he realised God, he was still jealous. How is that possible?

Sri Chinmoy: You have to know that realising God is like touching the foot of a tree. When you have realised God, you have touched the foot. Then you have to climb up to the top. If you do not have the capacity or the wish to climb higher, you remain at the foot. If you have the capacity to climb up to the Highest, then you will be able to perfect your human nature, which means to transform jealousy, anger, pride, ego and so on. But some God-realised souls are afraid that once they come down from the tree, perhaps they will not be able to climb up again. So they go up a few branches and then stay there. But if someone has the capacity to climb up to the Highest and again climb down to help mankind, then he will accept disciples and help those who are unable to climb up. He will teach them, inspire them, or place them on his shoulders and then climb up. He will take some up, and then he will come down again and take up a few more on his shoulders. If one has the capacity to climb up and climb down, to carry humanity up and then climb down again, that person will not have this kind of difficulty. Touching the foot of the tree is also realisation, because the realisation-tree is very tall. So you have to know whether someone is just touching the foot of the tree or if he is going up to the highest branch. There is a difference. You have to know the degree of a person’s realisation. This king, Vishwamitra, had realisation, true, but his realisation was not complete. Until you reach the highest branch of the realisation-tree and come down from the height, your realisation is not complete. He realised God but the perfection of his human nature was not achieved. Some people do not try to change their nature. They have realised the truth, but they do not want to conquer their lower vital movements. They are satisfied to remain imperfect. Some spiritual teachers have got real light, but they drink and smoke and do many silly things. They do not purify that part of the vital. Only when they meditate, they enter into the soul’s purity and perfection. But the other room, the vital room, they keep absolutely dirty and dark. They are spiritual teachers, but when they are compared with those who have got the highest Illumination, there will be a vast difference.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Aspiration-Glow and Dedication-Flow, part 1, Agni Press, 1977
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