_Question:_ Is the longing for achieving Nirvana, that is, the total annihilation of the soul-existence, instead of aspiring for the ever-transcending manifestation of the Divine on earth, also an attitude of the deceptive vital?

Sri Chinmoy: There are different approaches to that question. Some individuals make progress little by little. At each stage, they try to embody or manifest on the outer material plane, whatever they have inwardly acquired or achieved. These follow a prescribed course, step by step. Others wish to attain the Goal without any effort. In particular they do not like the aspect of service on earth for humanity. They do not like the path; they only long for the Goal.

In your case, you have followed our path for some years and made progress, gradual progress. You have to know the difference between the formations of the vital, mind and heart. Use the heart; don’t use the vital or the mind. When you follow our path and make some progress, the hostile forces, even the deities, bring down the Goal right in front of your head. It is like a parent who brings a toy which is high, high up near the ceiling, right down before the child’s face. Then when the child grabs for it, they pull it away thinking that the child will not value it. A day comes when the child grows taller and gets a ladder, reaches the ceiling and is able to get the toy by himself.

You have to understand this on three planes: temptation in the vital is deception; temptation in the mind is illusion; but temptation in the heart is ultimately illumination because the heart sees through the illusion and the fantasy of the mind and envisions the Reality. The heart will only feel gratitude to the Supreme for bringing the Goal in front of it without any effort on its part. You have to say,“Supreme, I thank you because out of your infinite Compassion and Concern, you have given me the vision of my Goal.”

What can you do with the Goal in front of you? You may try to grasp it; that is the human reaction. The divine reaction is to be ready to drink the Nectar, but also to be ready to wait for God’s Chosen Hour. Then, the illusion of the mind has to go, the deception of the vital has to go because the heart knows that the Goal is being offered by the Supreme and that you must accept it at His chosen hour. When you have the vision of Nirvana in your mind, you take a mental Delight in everything. You may say: “Oh, how divine! Everything is full of such Peace, Light and Bliss that I will have everything at my disposal. But with the heart, it is a different story; there is no fantasy in the heart. In the heart you don’t think, you just grow into the Goal. You don’t think about the Goal, you just do what is necessary to achieve it without looking and measuring how far you have to go. The Goal is always in front of you, inside you. When the vision of the Goal comes to you, immediately change teachers, go to the heart. Forget about the mind and vital, take delight in the heart.

“The Goal is always in front of you, inside you.”

“Experience is a remover of doubt.”

From:Sri Chinmoy,Airport elevation, AUM Press, 1977
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/arp