Question: What does it mean to please God in His own way?

Sri Chinmoy: We love God because we feel that He is all love. Just because we love God, we feel that it is our bounden duty to devote ourselves to Him and please Him. But we see that our love and service are not enough; surrender is also necessary. If we do not surrender our individual will to His Will, we will make many mistakes when we try to love Him and serve Him in our own unillumined way. But if we surrender to His Will, then we shall love Him and serve Him in the way He has chosen for us, which is the right way.

I am a spiritual teacher. If a student of mine happened to be here, he might notice that there are no flowers near me. He might think, “The best thing is for me to bring him some flowers.” Now, this student wants to please me by bringing me flowers, because he knows that a spiritual Master always appreciates flowers. But suppose I am thirsty, and right now I need water more than I need flowers. If my student tries to please me by bringing me flowers, he will be pleasing me in his own way, because what I actually wanted from him was something else. In God’s case also, unless we surrender to God’s Will, we will try to please Him in our way. We may think that if we do this, then God will be extremely pleased with us. But how do we know that God wants us to do that thing? He may want something else from us.

In the spiritual life, when we please God in His own way, unconditionally, then we will feel really satisfied. In His satisfaction is our satisfaction. Many people try to derive satisfaction from the fulfilment of their desires. But when one desire is fulfilled, another desire looms large. In the fulfilment of desire there is no satisfaction, only constant greed, constant need. But if we enter into the life of aspiration, we want to reach the Highest, to fulfil and manifest God. But how can we reach the Highest unless and until the Highest pulls us toward Itself? It is the Compassion-light of the Supreme that elevates our consciousness and lifts us up. This takes place only when our surrender is complete.

Our surrender to God has to be unconditional. We will give God what we have and what we are, which is ignorance. If we can give our ignorance to God unconditionally and permanently, then God can fulfil Himself in and through us. Unfortunately, one day we want to get rid of our ignorance and the next day, when our aspiration is not strong, we cherish and treasure our ignorance. But if we can totally and unconditionally surrender our ignorance, which is our coveted possession, to God, then it will not come back. At that time, we will get total satisfaction from our life, and we will truly be pleasing God in His own way.

From:Sri Chinmoy,AUM — Vol 1, No. 7, 27 July 1974, Vishma Press, 1974
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