_Question:_ How can a man achieve will power — I mean the strength to go forward on the spiritual path?

Sri Chinmoy: There are quite a few things one has to do. You are using the term ‘will power’ in the spiritual sense, so I am telling you from the spiritual point of view how you can develop spiritual will power and how you can increase it. First of all, you must mix only with spiritual people. It is true that everyone is God’s child; we are all God’s children. But God is not asking you to mix with everyone. He is asking you only to mix with those whom you feel are spiritually aspiring. By sitting beside an ordinary person, you may get pleasure. But by sitting beside someone who is spiritually aspiring, you will get divine joy, because you will feel immediately that his inspiration is increasing the divine strength inside you. Will power is in all divine qualities. In joy there is tremendous will power. So you will be able to increase your will power by mixing with people who are spiritual.

Here is another way. You know that you eat twice or three times a day. You have to feel that the act of eating is energising your body, but it is not energising your soul; it is not fulfilling your soul’s mission on earth. For that you have to spend a few minutes — at least five or ten minutes two or three times a day — in meditation.

Then you have to constantly ask yourself one thing. Do you want God or do you want ignorance? The two are standing right in front of you at every moment, and you must make a choice. You know and everybody knows that one cannot serve two masters. So when these two masters stand in front of you, you have to decide immediately which one you want. If you choose God, you must come to Him and enter into Him. And each time you find that you have come out of a divine consciousness, you have to enter into it again. If you can re-enter into God’s Consciousness faithfully every time you come out of it, then after hundreds of times you will discover finally that you do not come out of it and enter into ignorance anymore. A day will come when your conscious choice of God will be permanent, and you will be totally merged in God forever.

As you begin your spiritual journey with both positive and negative, with God and with ignorance, always try to feel that you are God’s son. Early in the morning you can soulfully repeat, “I am God’s child, I am God’s child, I am God’s child.” Immediately you will see that whatever is dark, impure and ugly in you will go away. Later in the day, when ignorance comes to tempt you, you will feel, “I am God’s child. How can I do this? I cannot enter into ignorance.” By repeating, “I am God’s child,” you will get abundant inner strength and will power.

These are some ways to increase your inner strength. You can practise all of them, but to start with, mix with spiritual people. Again, you should be careful. If you are following my path, you should mix with my disciples. This is not because I am mean or I am jealous of others.

But you cannot be in two boats at once. If you have one foot in one boat and the other foot in another boat, you will only fall into the sea of ignorance-confusion. It is for your own good that I ask you to associate only with the disciples of your own Master. A real Master cannot be jealous of any other path or any other Master. We shall all ultimately reach the same Goal. But as I said before, one cannot serve two masters. Two spiritual Masters can never be properly served by one individual at one time. If you want to serve the Supreme in me, come only to this place and do not go to any other spiritual place. If today you are here, and tomorrow at some other group, you will never have any success. You will not get anything lasting, either from me or from the other Master. You will only become confused. By being regular in any path you develop inner will, will power. Regularity is a great advantage, a great opportunity in developing will power.

From:Sri Chinmoy,AUM — Vol.II-5, No.11,12, November-December 1978, Vishma Press, 1978
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/aum_135