Question: Does the soul have many missions, or just one, in a lifetime?

Sri Chinmoy: There is only one mission, but there are many aims. One soul may wish to become a poet, an artist or an engineer in a lifetime. Each soul may aim at various creativities, but these are aims. They are not to be confused with the soul's mission. The soul's mission is always first and foremost: God-Realisation; then comes the manifestation of God-Realisation on earth. However, one's aim may help him in his God-Realisation or it may delay him, depending on the individual's approach to Truth. For example, if one is a writer, it is well and good. If he goes on writing without aspiration for God-Realisation through his writings, he may one day become a very great writer, but he has not necessarily progressed in his self-discovery. On the other hand, if one writes to express the Divine in his writings, if one's outer expression is the result of one's inner aspiration and if one has taken to writing as a self-dedicated service to the Supreme in humanity, then certainly the aspirant in the writer is leading him to the realisation of God. To come back to your question, from the standpoint of absolute Truth, there is only one mission and that is nothing but Self-Realisation.

From:Sri Chinmoy,AUM — Vol. 3, No. 3,4, Oct. — 27 Nov. 1967, Boro Park Printers -- Brooklyn, N. Y., 1967
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