The Sun-poised Height
— photo by SaramaMy Lord Supreme does not want to hear from me if I see anything in Him. He just wants me to dive deep within, and if I see anything sweet, pure and divine in the inmost recesses of my heart, then that is more than enough for Him. He tells me that when I see anything divine in the depth of my own heart, then I have seen everything inside Him. I have seen illumining Vision and fulfilling Reality.
My Lord Supreme does not want to know how much I know. He just tells me to agree to become His oneness-companion. He tells me that if I become inseparably one with His Compassion-Light and Satisfaction-Delight, then immediately I shall know everything. The past, present and future will open their doors to me.
My Lord Supreme tells me that I do not have to prove to Him how much I love Him. He just tells me to cry inwardly and soulfully, and to smile outwardly and unreservedly. My inner cry and my outer smile are more than enough to inundate Him, His divinity within and His divinity without, with my love.
Pace College, White Plains, New York, 4 May 1977↩
A seeker’s thinking and searching mind likes resolution-flames. A seeker’s challenging and dynamic vital likes revolution-fire. A seeker’s crying and sacrificing heart likes evolution-glow.
The seeker’s thinking and searching mind thinks that it can conquer ignorance-night. Indeed, this is an absurd idea. Nevertheless, this effort is a forward, upward and inward movement. The seeker’s challenging and dynamic vital feels that it can easily conquer ignorance-sea. Indeed, this is nothing short of impossibility. Nevertheless, this effort is an upward, inward and forward movement. The seeker’s crying and sacrificing heart knows perfectly well that it can never conquer ignorance. Only God, the Author of all Good, can conquer ignorance in him, through him and for him. Only then will it be possible for the crying and sacrificing heart to see the face of transformation and illumination.
The seeker’s resolution, revolution and evolution have discovered that life is a continuous struggle. It is a struggle between what the seeker has and what the seeker has not. What the seeker has is frustration-possession. He wants to possess, but he finds that his possessions are nothing short of frustration to him. They are a heavy load that he has to carry. When he wants to run fast, faster, fastest towards the ultimate Goal, he discovers that he is possessed and bound by his possessions. What the seeker has not is renunciation-light, dedication-light, love-light, devotion-light, surrender-light, oneness-light and perfection-light.
The seeker’s first friend is resolution; resolution is his intimate friend. Revolution is the seeker’s second friend. This friend is also an intimate friend, and also undoubtedly a good friend. Finally, the seeker gets evolution as his friend. Evolution is the seeker’s birthless and deathless friend.
When the seeker wants to make progress both in the inner world and in the outer world, what he needs is necessity. But necessity is not enough. He has to go further in order to get the message of opportunity. Opportunity has to knock at the seeker’s heart-door; then only can necessity be fulfilled. Again, opportunity is not enough. Opportunity has to be helped by divinity’s reality. When God’s Hour strikes, then opportunity is effective. Before that time, it is of no avail.
Resolution is in the inner world. Revolution is in the outer world. Evolution is in both the outer world and the inner world. First, the seeker resolves to become a good and perfect instrument, but still he is at the command of his own difficulties, shortcomings and weaknesses. Then there comes a time when he feels an indomitable urge to fight against his own reality, which is ignorance. Finally, he sees, feels and grows into his own inner mounting flame. He sees that God, His Almighty Father, is both his starting point and his goal. God is in him, running with him, guiding him, teaching him how to run along Eternity’s Road in order to reach Infinity’s Light and Immortality’s Delight.
State University of New York, Buffalo, New York, 14 May 1977↩
A seeker receives. What does he receive? He receives love from above. How does he receive? He receives devotedly. Why does he receive? He receives precisely because he wants to increase his capacity, both inner and outer, so that he can become a better instrument, a more fulfilling instrument, in God’s creation.
A seeker is an earth-lover. He is also a Heaven-lover. He loves the suffering and bleeding heart of earth. He loves the smiling soul of Heaven.
A seeker loves man. He loves man because he sees that, like him, each individual man is struggling, struggling; therefore, he feels that since all human beings are sailing in the same boat with him, it is his bounden duty to sympathise with his fellow beings.
A seeker loves God. He loves God because God is always more than willing to shower His choicest Blessings upon His creation. He wants to inundate each human being with His boundless Compassion and fathomless Love and Concern.
A seeker is a representative. He represents earth, and he represents Heaven. He carries earth’s excruciating pangs to Heaven, and brings down Heaven’s Light and Delight in boundless measure to earth. A seeker is humanity’s representative to Divinity and Divinity’s promise and assurance to earth-bound humanity.
A seeker is his body’s representative. He is also his soul’s representative. He enters into the soul and tells the soul that he and his body are ready to enter into the field of manifestation and manifest the soul’s light here on earth. He comes to the physical body and tells the body that he and his soul are now more than willing to help the body-consciousness realise the absolute Height, the highest transcendental Consciousness.
A seeker is humanity’s progress when humanity aspires. A seeker is humanity’s success when humanity desires. But a seeker feels in the inmost recesses of his heart that a day will dawn when he will not have to carry humanity’s desire-life, for there will be no desire-life then, only aspiration-life. Then, with his heart’s ceaseless delight he will carry to the higher worlds humanity’s progress alone. Success belongs to the ordinary world. Progress belongs to the inner world or the higher world. But divinity does not and cannot expect a life of progress from humanity all at once. It knows perfectly well that humanity has to start with the message of success first. Then eventually, humanity will have a higher goal: progress. Success is the satisfaction that does not last. This satisfaction can easily be thwarted by others’ achievements. But progress has no competitor, no rival. It is part and parcel of man’s inner cry.
A seeker climbs slowly, steadily and unerringly. He is a flower that blossoms petal by petal. When it is fully blossomed it is all satisfaction, satisfaction in perfection.
A seeker and his Beloved Supreme sail in the same boat. This boat is the Supreme’s Silence-Victory-Boat. It is sailing toward the Sound-Reality Shore. The seeker says to the Supreme, his Beloved Lord, “Lord, I am giving You what I have: my heart’s inner cry.” The Lord says to the seeker, “My child, I am giving you what I am. I am your Source. I am your self-same Divinity’s Reality. In you, through you, I fulfil My birthless Vision and My deathless Reality. My Creation and My Vision are inseparable, but My Creation is not always aware of My Vision, whereas My Vision is always aware of My Creation. My child, you are the Creation and I am the Vision. In Vision what looms large is creation, and in creation what looms large is Vision, My Vision. My Vision and My Creation shall eternally remain inseparable.”
Fredonia State College, Fredonia, New York, 15 May 1977, 2:00 P.M.↩
When the seeker wants to walk along the road of Oneness-Reality, he starts with simplicity. He tries to simplify his life. Then there comes a time when he feels that his simplicity is not enough. In spite of his simplicity he may make mistakes. He may commit Himalayan blunders, but he will still make progress. But if he is not sincere, then he will not be able to make progress; therefore, he has to become sincere. With his sincerity he makes considerable progress. He gets joy from both the inner world and the outer world.
Then there comes a time when the seeker sees and feels that even his sincerity is not enough. In spite of his sincerity he can still make mistakes. Then he may not have the necessary determination to rectify his mistakes, so what he needs is determination. With his determination he will always try to stop doing the wrong thing, to start doing the right thing and to continue doing the right thing. Determination is of paramount importance. Simplicity is not enough. Sincerity is not enough. What the seeker needs at this stage of evolving consciousness is determination.
The seeker makes satisfactory progress with his determination, but there comes a time when he sees that his determination is mainly in the vital plane. It is principally in the domain of the dynamic vital, if not the aggressive vital. Sometimes, with his determination he builds something; then in no time he breaks it. So the seeker feels that determination is not enough. Inside his determination something else has to loom large, and that thing is purity. If he has purity, then his heart will be able to receive the message from above. He will be able to act like a divine child. A child is a flower that is blossoming petal by petal in the heart of his parents. A childlike purity always obeys the inner voice, and if one obeys the inner voice, then he can be freed from committing mistakes. So determination is not enough; purity is of paramount importance. With his purity the seeker makes considerable progress. His heart is pure, his very existence is pure; therefore, he is able to make most satisfactory progress.
But at times purity is not used properly, divinely and supremely. At times we notice that a pure person is afraid of the world. He sees the animal creation all around, so he is frightened to death. He feels that these human animals will devour him; therefore, a pure person at times wants to enter into the Himalayan caves. He does not want to remain in society, for he fears that the society-tiger will devour him. Again, a pure person, unless and until he is perfect, may cherish a sense of superiority. He may look down upon those who are impure, and he may not be willing to be in the company of impure people. He wants to shun society as such in order to maintain his own purity. So here purity is not enough. He needs something more than purity. What does he need? Oneness.
Oneness can be limited or complete. If oneness is limited, then satisfaction is also limited. If oneness is partial, then naturally satisfaction will be partial. Oneness can be conditional. The seeker can establish his oneness with the Lord Supreme on the strength of their mutual give and take. He will give his aspiration-cry, the inner mounting flame, and while giving, he will be expecting something from above, from God, something infinitely more meaningful, fruitful and valuable — that is, God’s infinite Bounty, infinite Light and infinite Delight. When the seeker offers his conditional oneness, he cannot be truly happy. He can be truly happy only when he offers his unconditional oneness cheerfully, soulfully and unreservedly. Only when he establishes his oneness with the Inner Pilot soulfully, devotedly, unreservedly and unconditionally, does he become truly happy, and happiness is satisfaction. The road of unconditional oneness eventually leads the seeker to the world of Delight, boundless Delight, where the seeker-lover becomes inseparably one with the Beloved, the Source.
The other road is the road of Perfection-Divinity. When the seeker wants to walk along the road of Perfection-Divinity, he starts with imagination. He imagines God’s Reality. He imagines God with attributes and without attributes, God with form and God without form. Sometimes he becomes a prey to false mental fascination. He is assailed at times by doubts. He thinks that he is building castles in the air; therefore, he feels that his imagination is not enough. What he needs is inspiration. With his inspiration he will dive deep within. He will fly above. He will march and run forward. He is inspired to do something, to become something.
Now, in order to do something or become something divinely and supremely, the capacity of inspiration is not enough. It is very limited. One must needs have aspiration. Aspiration is the answer at this moment. When the seeker aspires, he feels that he has to climb up or reach a certain destination. Now he is at the starting point, and the goal is somewhere else. He sees that there is a yawning gulf between his present existence-reality and the ultimate Goal which he is aiming at. He is climbing up the aspiration-tree, the tree which is tall, taller, tallest. When the seeker aspires sincerely, soulfully and unconditionally, he reaches a lofty height.
But now his aspiration is not enough. He feels that he must have realisation. Once he realises the ultimate Truth, then there will be no starting point and no final Goal. It will be all one; therefore, he aims at realisation. He feels that realisation will be able to solve all his problems, because wherever realisation is, the Ultimate Truth is also there. They are inseparable. Realisation and the Ultimate Truth cannot be separated from each other or from the one who has realised the Truth. The realisation and the seeker who has realised are inseparably one; therefore, the seeker longs for realisation. He knows that he has to go through aspiration, but aspiration is not enough. Only realisation — his realisation of God, his self-discovery — will be able to solve his life’s problems, the problems that have caused so much suffering for him from time immemorial.
At last the seeker realises God. He is happy. His progress has been and is unimaginable. But there comes a time when he feels the insufficiency of his own realisation. As an individual he is one with God. But when he looks around, he sees that there are millions and billions of his fellow beings — brothers and sisters of his — who are not yet realised. He sees clearly that he is eating most delicious food while these others are starving. In the inner world they are poverty-stricken. His heart of oneness-realisation feels miserable. He wants to go one step farther. He wants to reveal to the hungry humanity the Truth that he now embodies, the Light that he embodies, the Delight that he embodies. This is not a desire for displaying his achievements, but a supreme necessity, an inner urge. His Inner Pilot compels him to bring forward what he has within in order to show the world, to show each individual, that like him, each individual is entitled to realise the Highest, to reveal the Highest. He does not want to eat the realisation-fruit alone. This realisation-fruit can be eaten by all those who sincerely long for it. So realisation is not enough. Revelation is also a supreme necessity.
The God-realised soul reveals what he has so that others can get inspiration, aspiration and realisation. He reveals without what he has within. While he is revealing his divinity, he feels that his divinity can be revealed on any plane — on a higher plane, on a lower plane, anywhere. But unless it has its proper roots, it cannot last for long; it cannot be the achievement of Mother Earth for Eternity. Therefore, his revelation is not enough. He needs manifestation. Once something is manifested here on earth, it becomes the permanent possession of Mother Earth. Once divinity, reality or any divine qualities are properly manifested, then they are permanent. They become part and parcel of Mother Earth. They become the possession of humanity’s aspiration. So the God-realised seeker tries to manifest. And when he manifests, he feels his complete oneness with the Absolute Pilot. He becomes the perfect instrument of divinity’s Perfection. Being a perfect instrument of his Beloved Supreme, the seeker tries to manifest the divinity which he has been entrusted with.
Here the Oneness-Reality becomes one with the Perfection-Divinity. When one becomes perfect, one automatically becomes one with the supreme Reality, the Source. When one has established one’s inseparable, unconditional oneness with the Source, then he is bound to become perfect. These are the two roads, the road of oneness and the road of perfection. Eventually they join, and with their oneness one reaches the highest Height and the deepest Depth, and becomes the perfect instrument of the Supreme Pilot here on earth and there in Heaven.
AUM 2138. Buffalo State College, Buffalo, New York, 15 May 1977, 8:00 P.M.↩
If you want
To see the open faceOf Heaven,
Just do two small things:Breathe a soulful prayer,
Kill a hurtful desire. ```Only
A quenchless thirst,A sleepless start,
A breathless cry,A faultless smile
Are God’s eternal friends. ```Don’t forget
That God has a sense of humour.Don’t forget
That God likes credulity.Don’t forget
That God believes absurdity. ```Man’s new week-world
BeginsAfter a heavy Sunday sleep.
God’s new week-world
BeginsAfter a great Sunday Vision.
```Beauty is man’s
Fleeting smile.Beauty is man’s
Fleeting cry.Beauty is man’s
Fleeting failure.Beauty is man’s
Fleeting success. ```The more you learn,
The more you learn to doubt.The more you unlearn,
The more you unlearn to sleep. ```(Sri Chinmoy played on the esraj)
Joel Martin: Thank you. Can you describe that lovely instrument? It sounds like a violin, but I know that it is more than that. What is the instrument called?
Sri Chinmoy: The name of this instrument is ‘esraj.’ It is an Indian instrument.
Joel Martin: And indeed, you are a master of that instrument.
Sri Chinmoy: I am not a master, but I enjoy playing.
Joel Martin: You play very beautifully. It is very relaxing to listen to.
Sri Chinmoy: This adds to our prayer and meditation. As you know, I have quite a few students. While they are praying and meditating, if they hear this music, it definitely adds to the intensity of their prayer and meditation; therefore, I play quite often for my disciples.
Joel Martin: Sri Chinmoy, there are so many questions I have, I hardly know where to begin. Perhaps the first thing to ask you about is meditation. You are a Master of meditation and understand very well what that means. How do we begin to understand what meditation is, the nature of meditation?
Sri Chinmoy: At the very outset, I wish to tell you that meditation is not a thing to be understood. We understand a thing with our mind. But proper meditation we do with our heart, with our soul. It is very difficult for us to have a free access to our soul, but at least we can feel the presence of our heart. So we meditate in the inmost depth of our heart. The heart feels; the heart does not think, when it is a matter of understanding something, we use the mind, but pure meditation is far beyond the realm of the mind.
In our meditation we try to achieve an inseparable union with our Inner Pilot, the Supreme. Right now, all of us know that there is a Creator — God — unless we are atheists. But if we believe in the existence of God, then we have to go one step further. We try to see Him face to face, we try to have a free access to His inner Reality, we try to communicate with Him. Meditation is a way to have communion with God in a most perfect manner.
Joel Martin: Sri Chinmoy, what is the difference between prayer and meditation?
Sri Chinmoy: Prayer and meditation lead us to the same goal, but prayer has a special significance and meditation also has a special significance. When we pray and meditate, we offer either our desires or our aspiration to God. We want something from God, so with our prayer we talk to God: “O Lord, give us something or make us something.” Prayer is our own way of talking to God. While we are praying, we place before God our desires or our inner cry. We talk at that time, and God listens. But when we meditate with our heart absorbed in some higher realities, it is God who talks to us and we who listen.
So when we pray, we talk to God. Our prayer goes high, higher, highest, and from there God responds. But when we meditate, God descends into our heart, into our very existence, into our life of aspiration and dedication, and we try to execute His Will. He commands us and we immediately try to abide by His divine Will. So this is the difference. When we pray, we look up and ask God to listen to our prayer, and when we meditate, we dive deep within in order to hear God’s Message properly.
Joel Martin: When one wants to learn meditation, must a spiritual Master teach it to you? If so, how does he do it?
Sri Chinmoy: If one wants to learn how to drive, is it not advisable for him to take at least a few lessons from someone who knows how to drive? Otherwise, he will be given the car and immediately he will have an accident and return to God in Heaven before he realises God here on earth. In spirituality also one can make deplorable mistakes if one does not know what one is doing. Spirituality is not an easy thing. If one wants to learn it well, one should take some help. There is nothing wrong in taking help. You went to college and university to get your highest diploma; then you gave up your studies and started your own life.
In life you take some help for everything. In order to become a singer, dancer or anything in life, you take some help. Then when you become well acquainted with that subject, at that time you stop going to the teacher. When it is a matter of spirituality, sometimes I hear people say that they do not want to take lessons, or that they feel they do not need a teacher. But usually they are making a mistake. True, there are some exceptions. Every rule admits of some exceptions. There are quite a few individuals, like Tagore and a few others, who have not gone to school. You know that Tagore became an extraordinary writer. But how many Tagores are there on earth? Most human beings have to go to school in order to get help. If they do not take help from the teachers, they may run into difficulty.
In the spiritual life also, if the seeker does not take help, then he may have some difficulties, some serious doubts about his own spiritual life, and then he will give up. He will think that it is impossible for him to practise spirituality, since there are so many doubts and so many wrong things in his life. But if there is a spiritual Master, the Master will always encourage him and help him. The spiritual Master is not actually a teacher; he is a tutor. The teacher examines you, and he will either pass you in the examination or he will fail you, according to your merit. But the business of a tutor is to help you so that you can pass your examination in the school. A real spiritual Master is a private tutor; he is always trying to help you out.
Joel Martin: You, of course, are from a country where many people are Hindu. In this country, most people are Christian; some are Jewish. If one were to accept your particular spiritual path, Sri Chinmoy, would one have to give up one’s own religion?
Sri Chinmoy: No, a person does not have to give up his religion in order to follow my path. First of all, mine is a path and not a religion. If there is a road, many can walk along that road. I always say that religion is like a house. You have to live in your house and I have to live in my house. But we go to a school, a common school. Many people come and study in that school. Each individual has a house of his own, but when it is a matter of a road or path, whoever wants to walk along that path can. Again, there are many paths that lead to the goal, so it is up to the individual to make a choice. If he likes a particular road, then naturally he will walk along that road.
Joel Martin: Let us talk about your spiritual path. Perhaps you can explain to us exactly what your path is?
Sri Chinmoy: Mine is the path of the heart. It is founded upon divine love, divine devotion and divine surrender. Here I am using the word ‘divine’. When it is human love, we finally come to realise that it eventually ends in total frustration. When it is human devotion, it is nothing short of attachment. And human surrender is done under compulsion. We are compelled to offer our surrender to our superiors.
But divine love is something totally different. It grows within us like a flower; petal by petal it blossoms. It is like a river that is flowing into the sea. Divine devotion is our inner urge to do something with utmost sincerity, purity and divinity. There is a supreme cause, and we have to fulfil it on the strength of our divine devotion towards the cause itself. Then, divine surrender is the surrender that we make to our own highest part. Each individual has two realities: the higher reality and the lower reality. The lower reality is still unlit, obscure, impure; whereas the higher reality is all divine, all perfection. So we consciously try to bring our lower reality into the higher one for its illumination. This surrender is not made to somebody else, to a third person. No, this surrender is made to one’s own highest self.
Joel Martin: In your writings you talk about reconciling the inner world of silence and the outer life of action. Something that troubles me is the idea of putting your ideas and theories into practice in our real lives.
Sri Chinmoy: Theory and practice must go together. When we pray and meditate, we develop or acquire peace of mind, let us say. When we have peace of mind, then we can come into the outer world to solve our problems. The outer world is full of problems, but our inner world is inundated with peace. How can we get in touch with peace, this inner peace? That we do on the strength of our prayer and meditation.
The inner life is not the life of isolation. Real spiritual life, real inner life, will never tell us to leave society and enter into the Himalayan caves; far from it. We dive deep within early in the morning. Then, when we come without, we bring forward what we have received from within and we try to offer this to the world at large. Early in the morning we pray and meditate to acquire some inner wealth: peace, joy and bliss. Then, when we go out to our respective offices and mix with our friends or colleagues, we feel that we are totally different persons. They did not meditate or pray, and they are totally lost in the hustle and bustle of life. When they see right in front of them life’s multifarious activities, they are simply lost. But because we pray and meditate, no matter what happens or what we do, we remain unperturbed; we remain calm and quiet. The inner life we practice through our prayer and meditation, and the outer life we practice through our dedication to the cause of humanity.
Joel Martin: Can I strive for material wealth in my outer life and still be at peace in my inner life?
Sri Chinmoy: Certainly, but we have to know how much material wealth we require. It has to be in proportion to our need. If we want to become the richest person on earth, for that also we can pray and meditate. But we have to know where this prayer is leading us. If we become the richest man by virtue of our prayer, will we be happy? Our prayer and meditation tell us only one thing: God is all joy. If we pray to God to make us the richest person on earth, God may listen to our prayer, but happiness is something totally different. In this world, when God gives us material power, we see that this money power is not what we really need. Love power, oneness power, is what we need.
We may be a millionaire, a billionaire, but when we see that people do not love us, our hearts will break. Like beggars, we cry for love from others. But our material power, our money power, is not going to win their love. Only our love power, our oneness power, is going to win their love. So when we pray to God, we should ask only one thing: “Let Thy Will be done.” If it is God’s Will to make an individual the richest person, then God will do it. But if God’s Will is something different, then God will act in a different way. We can pray to God for material power, but we have to be sincere to our cause. Do we want real happiness in life? If we want real happiness in life, then we have to know that material power can be an obstacle to our God-discovery.
Joel Martin: You have taught meditation to the diplomats at the United Nations, and you have a fine reputation for that. So let me ask you some questions about the real world and the problems of world conflict. Why do we see so much strife around us in the world? Why are many nations in conflict with each other, and why do people not get along because of different religions or races or economic points of view?
Sri Chinmoy: It is because we are swimming in the sea of ignorance. Each individual has limitations, each individual has darkness, each individual has obscurity and impurity. Each individual feels that by becoming superior to others he will derive happiness. Each individual feels a sense of separation. Each individual feels that so long as he can maintain his individuality, he will remain happy. But this is absurd. Happiness comes from oneness. You and I must become inseparably one in order to become happy. But the world does not believe in that kind of happiness. The world wants separation, although separation ends in frustration, and frustration ends in destruction.
But it is very difficult to achieve oneness. Even in our own being there is often conflict. Sometimes the mind wants to do something and the physical revolts or the vital revolts. The heart wants to do something and the other members revolt. In our own personal existence we have no harmony, so how can we expect to have peace on earth? Again, if we pray and meditate, God is bound to listen to our prayer. He is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, and He is all Love. He will grant us His boundless Love and, on the strength of His boundless Love, we will be able to see the whole world and each individual in the world as our own, very own.
So, it is lack of prayer and meditation that causes this problem of separativity. If we pray soulfully and meditate soulfully, then this problem can easily be solved. At that time there will be a world without conflict, without war, without misunderstanding. There will be a world of oneness, satisfaction and perfection. This world of oneness, satisfaction and perfection can dawn only when we want to go to the Source and become part and parcel of the Source.
Joel Martin: May we talk, Sri Chinmoy, about you personally, where you come from, where you were born, your childhood, your special visions and how you came to the United States?
Sri Chinmoy: I was born in Bengal, India. At the age of twelve I went to Pondicherry, South India, and there I practised Yoga for twenty years seriously, devotedly, unreservedly and unconditionally. Then I got a message, an inner command, to come to the West to serve the seekers here. My Inner Pilot commanded me to come to the West, especially America, and be of service to Him inside the seekers here; therefore, I am here trying to abide by the command that I received from my Inner Pilot, my Beloved Supreme.
Joel Martin: Why would your Inner Pilot have directed you to come to the United States? Is it because we need help in many ways?
Sri Chinmoy: He alone knows. Only I have to tell you that since He is the Creator, He is all-pervading. For Him there is no barrier between India and America. It is all His creation. India and America are like two houses. The father has every right to ask his son to go from one house to another to live there and mix with his new brothers and sisters. My Father has asked me to come here and mix with new brothers and sisters, and to be of service to Him in my new brothers and sisters. Geographically, India is at one place and America is at another place. But when it is a matter of the heart, there is no such thing as India and America; it is all oneness. Here we sing the song of oneness.
Joel Martin: Westerners sometimes have difficulty with some of the Indian concepts — for example, spiritual Master and Guru. So perhaps the divisions between East and West are very evident.
Sri Chinmoy: In my case, my students do not have any difficulty, precisely because I tell them that the real Master is God Himself. I am only His representative for those who have accepted our path. The real Master, the real Guru, the real Teacher, is God Himself. For my students, my disciples, I happen to be an older brother. Just because I am their eldest brother, I know a little more than they do. I know where the Father is and what the Father is doing. So I tell my younger brothers and sisters, “Come, I shall show you where the Father is.” Once I have shown them, once they can go and talk to the Father, then my role is over.
The eldest member in the family is expected to know more about the Father in the beginning. When he brings the younger ones to the Father, who is their Father as well as his, then his role is over. I never claim to be the Father. I am the friend, the elder brother. It is my bounden duty to serve the Supreme in my disciples, to serve the Father in them and to help them to approach the Father.
Joel Martin: This brings us very nicely to a discussion about your disciples. I would like to know who they are and how they reflect the fruits of meditation that they practise with you.
Sri Chinmoy: I have disciples who belong to other religions. I have disciples who are from various backgrounds. They are mostly of the young generation. I tell them that they have to lead a very spiritual life, a life of simplicity, a life of sincerity and a life of purity. I tell them that they must pay utmost attention to the inner cry that is inside the very depth of their hearts. And I tell them to unlearn most of the things that their minds have taught them. The intellectual mind, sophisticated mind, doubtful mind, suspicious mind, has stored many, many things, and these things must be unlearned. If one can unlearn quite a few things that have been taught by the mind, then one makes very, very fast progress. Doubt, jealousy, anxiety, worry, suspicion and all the undivine qualities are like heavy loads, heavy burdens on our shoulders. So we try to simplify our lives by unlearning and freeing the mind from these so-called friends.
Joel Martin: Have you ever had people who are sceptics and doubters, who are not sure that they should follow your path? If so, how do you answer them?
Sri Chinmoy: First of all, I am very selective, very fussy, in this respect. I do not accept as disciples whoever wants to come to me and follow our path. Not because I have something against that individual, but because I know that some individuals will do far better if they follow somebody else’s path. My Lord will not ask me how many people I have brought to Him. He will only ask me if I have brought to Him the ones that were meant for me. So before I accept a disciple, I concentrate and meditate on the soul of that individual, and if I see that that particular individual is meant for our path, then I accept him. But just because I cannot accept an individual, I will not say that that person is not a seeker. Far from it. Only I know that if that particular person goes to another Master, then he will run the fastest. It is not how many disciples I bring but whether I have accepted the ones who are meant for me: this is what my Lord Supreme will ask me.
Joel Martin: This is radio and not television, so our listeners cannot see the very beautiful robes you are wearing. I know in some of your writings that you talk about the inner meaning and occult significance of colours. What does the colour pink mean?
Sri Chinmoy: This particular colour means inner renunciation. Through inner renunciation we get complete satisfaction in life. We renounce the things that are unnecessary, the things that stand in the way of our God-realisation. We do not renounce the world; we do not renounce human beings. But there are quite a few undivine things in our life, and these we renounce. Either we renounce them or we transform them. It is on the strength of inner renunciation of what is undivine in our life that we get satisfaction, proper satisfaction, in life.
[To be continued in next issue.]Today my soulfulness is my unparalleled achievement.
Tomorrow my willingness will be my unparalleled achievement.Concern-illumination is better.
Love-realisation is by far the best.Impossibility
Impossibility at once starves our body’s necessity and feeds our soul’s challenging, illumining and fulfilling promise.Non-attachment
Non-attachment is an illumining and liberating force.
Attachment is a binding and blinding force.Attachment-teacher tells us that we need everything in God’s creation.
Non-attachment-teacher tells us that there is nothing on earth worth having.Absence of peace
The absence of peace makes one feel that his is the life of an insignificant ant. The presence of peace makes one feel that his is the life for even God to be truly proud of.Barren
When we do not aspire, our very life becomes barren. A barren life and God’s Compassion compete with each other. Eventually we see that God’s Compassion wins the race. And then what does it do? It immediately changes a barren life into the life of an aspiration-sun.Non-existent
The easiest way to conquer fear, doubt and jealousy is not to say that they are destructive, but to convince the mind that they are totally nonexistent.Forgetfulness
Forgetfulness is a blessing when we dare to have a new and promising life.
Forgetfulness is a curse when we forget God’s Compassion-Light, which is our only fulfilling Satisfaction-Reality. [To be continued in next issue]Everyone has all the divine qualities, but one quality is often pre-eminent. One divine quality is usually more manifest in a certain person than other divine qualities, and his soul has a way of manifesting the highest Truth through that particular quality. One soul will manifest through light, another through beauty, a third through power, a fourth through compassion, a fifth through peace, a sixth through joy. Each name that I offer has a spiritual significance, and each aspirant has the capacity to realise and manifest the Highest through the particular quality which his name reveals and embodies. It becomes infinitely easier for the aspirant to realise and manifest the Highest on earth if he knows that particular quality. When the disciple has a spiritual name and he meditates on his name, at that time his divine qualities come to the fore most powerfully and make him feel what he is here for and why he has come into the world. That is why I give these names.
To get a spiritual name is really important. At that time you consciously know the meaning, the significance, of your soul’s predominant qualities. When you know what your soul’s main qualities are, then it is infinitely easier for you to bring them to the fore. If you do not specifically know what you are trying to bring to the fore, then it is more difficult. But the moment you know what you are expected to do, then there is not only every possibility but every assurance that you will do it.
Value your spiritual name. Claim your spiritual name. It is part and parcel of your aspiration. I have told you many times that you do not have to invoke the Supreme, you do not have to chant Aum. If you can soulfully chant your spiritual name, you will be able to realise God. Just because you do not have that kind of faith in your own name, I tell you to chant the Supreme’s Name. But if you have implicit faith in the spiritual name that you have been given, in that name you will see divinity looming large. You may say it sounds absurd, but I know the inseparable oneness that your souls have with God. Your father is called Mr. So-and-So in the office; at home he is “Dad”; while his friends call him by some other name. But he is the same person. Similarly, the soul and the Inner Pilot are totally one and the same.
Forgive me, but when your parents gave you names, to be very frank with you, they were not in the highest plane of consciousness. Your parents heard some name that they liked, or the children had to get the father’s name or the mother’s name or a relative’s name. But the names that your parents and grandparents had came only from the human experience. Is there any parent who meditated for hours and hours to get a name for his child? No, not even one!
The name that your parents have given you is also your name, but by repeating “Bill” or “Tom,” I doubt very much that you will be able to realise God. Here in the West I have come across names like “Buffy” and so forth. Do you get any inspiration from the name “Buffy?” Western names do not have the mantric quality of Sanskrit words. If you go on repeating your American name, nothing divine will happen from that. But if you get a spiritual name which embodies peace, light and bliss in abundant measure, then naturally that will bring forward all your good qualities. By soulfully repeating your soul’s name and meditating on your soul’s name with utmost aspiration, you are bound to be illumined. Even if you repeat your spiritual name just ten times soulfully, a new and fruitful consciousness will dawn in you. The divine qualities of your own soul will come to the fore, and you will be energised by your soul’s divine power.
I have an immediate free access to each seeker’s soul, and when I give him a spiritual name which embodies his soul’s qualities, immediately these qualities come forward. A spiritual name immediately changes the seeker’s inner outlook. But when I give a spiritual name to someone, it is not I who am doing it. I entirely depend on the command from within. I am a perfect slave to the inner Authority. When the inner Authority tells me, “Give this name to that particular person,” I just do it.
Once you have received your spiritual name, you have to be conscious of your name. How? By crying inwardly, sincerely and constantly. If you are not fully conscious, then it is impossible for you to realise the significance of your name. Previously you had one name, and now you have another. But there is no difference unless you consciously remember the meaning of that new name. You have to give importance to your soul’s name; otherwise, it does not help you. If you give importance to the form, then one day you will be able to give full importance to the essence. Your soul’s name and your soul are like the temple and the shrine. If the temple is not properly honoured and attended, then the shrine will fall into disrepair.I wish to see God.
But do I not knowthat He has already been looking at me?
I wish to love God.
But do I not knowthat He has already been loving me?
I wish to give to God my life’s best gift: surrender.
But do I not knowthat He has already given me His Eternity’s best gift: oneness?
```Seeing is a two-way experience.
Loving is a two-way realisation.Giving is a two-way perfection.
```Experience makes us infinite.
Realisation makes us eternal.Perfection makes us immortal.
```Infinite is man’s dream.
Eternal is man’s reality.Immortal is man’s progress.
```Dream is God the Seed.
Reality is God the Fruit.Progress is God the Universal and Transcendental Tree.
```If you are afraid of them, you will always be careful; you will be conscious of why and how they are attacking you. When these forces attack, they attack the physical mind first. Then they come to the vital, then to the gross physical. Once somebody has hurt you, if you know the reason why he has hurt you, then you will remember your suffering and you will always try to be on the alert. If necessity demands, you will think of the severe torture you have gone through. Either by constantly remembering the suffering when the unpleasant forces have attacked you, or by hating them, you will be able to get rid of them. You will hate only the undivine forces, not the person who embodies them or who has become a victim to the wrong forces. The forces you can hate, but not the person who has the wrong forces, because he may have many good forces, too. And, after all, he is also a child of God. Slowly and steadily he will also become perfect one day.
The other way is this: when undivine forces come, please feel that you are a child and each unpleasant force is like a grain of sand. When your body is full of sand, you have to wash it, cleanse it. If you are a child, either you do not have the capacity or you do not have the willingness to clean your body. But you know that you have a spiritual father who is more than ready to clean and purify you. When a child sees that his body is full of sand, he runs towards his mother or his father. Then it is only a matter of a few seconds or minutes for him to become pure and clean again. After a few days he may again become covered with sand, so again he will run to the right person. Gradually, as he becomes mature, while cleaning him, his father and mother will tell him, “My son, don’t do this. Don’t play with dirt. You don’t want to be dirty and impure all the time. Try to remain clean and pure.” The child listens eventually. He does not play with mud, clay and sand forever. These are the two most effective ways to get rid of the unpleasant forces that assail you or any human being.Now, each real spiritual Master has a plane of consciousness or a kingdom — whatever you want to call it — in the soul’s region. Your Guru also has a place. You can call it a divine kingdom. Only the real Masters have it. It is like having two houses. Here I have one and I can easily have another one in Puerto Rico, India, California or somewhere else. So in the soul’s region I have got a very vast place. There are already some disciples from my previous incarnations, and some of my soulfully sincere admirers, great devotees and excellent disciples are there. Ananta and Agni, who were both extremely good disciples, are also there. Every day their souls come to me, or I go to them to feed them. And what they do, no disciples on earth do, or will do. Ananta always holds my divine banner and marches in the inner world, and Agni always claps when he sees me. They are always proclaiming our victory, the victory of the Supreme, in the inner world.
Again, there were some useless disciples who have also died in the past few years. We accepted them as disciples, but they were useless; their souls are not yet really good. You may say, “How can a soul be bad?” But when the soul mixes with the vital and is dominated by the vital, then it has a strong impression of the hungry vital, the wolf-life consciousness, the lower, animal consciousness. When this predominates, the poor soul literally hides. So there are some disciples who were with us for six or seven years, who are not in my own soul’s realm. They see me in the soul’s region; they see my height, and they blame me for everything. They say, “How is it that you didn’t help me or prevent me from doing undivine things so that I could also go to a very high place?” I literally begged those disciples not to mix with ignorance and do undivine things, but they did not listen to me. Now who is the loser? If you do something wrong and I repeatedly beg you not to do the thing, if you do it anyway, it is your fault, not mine. These people who were really useless disciples accuse me of not helping them or saving them when they remained in the vital here on earth. Even now they are moving through the vital worlds to the soul’s region, but the soul is weak and the vital accuses me. So how can these disciples remain in the plane where Ananta and Agni are? Impossible!
Some of these disciples are already desperately trying to come back into this world, but I know that when they come back, they are not going to accept the spiritual life again immediately. Here on earth they have already exploited the divine Compassion which I embody. Once you exploit the divine Compassion which I have brought down in infinite measure, you do not get it again so easily, or the next time, again, it will not be valued. In this world, everything has to be valued; otherwise, people will squander it. Then he who has given it finds that he has just been wasting his time and effort. The father leaves behind a large sum of money and if the son is not wise enough, he squanders the money. He is the real loser; he becomes a beggar eventually. But his father also has every right to feel that his son did not deserve his generous gift.
God’s Hour has struck for all those who are my disciples, but some of them are exploiting my compassion, love and blessings. Many are exploiting. What will happen to them? They will have to wait for God’s Hour to strike for them again at another time. It may take 100 years, 200 years, 400 years or more, but if they reincarnate in six or ten years, they are definitely not going to accept the spiritual life. They will go through lower vital animal life for many years, for it is not the Will of the Supreme to grant them this kind of opportunity again soon. God deals in and through us all with infinite Compassion. But this infinite Compassion is not going to knock at their door again immediately, because if it does, they will again disregard it and exploit it. For them there is something called eternal Time.
It is better not to deal with a spiritual Master at all than to exploit his concern and compassion. In our strict Indian philosophy it is said that once you have seen light, if you consciously go back to darkness, the divine retribution is unimaginable. But if you remain in darkness and have no idea of what light it, no sense of light, then your suffering is not so bad. For an ordinary person in the vital world or the physical world, who has not accepted spiritual life, darkness is what he has and what he is. For him retribution is very little. Like a child who is totally ignorant, he does not know that there is something called knowledge or wisdom. When he grows up, he becomes a man of knowledge. Then his whole inner being will eventually be flooded with wisdom. But after seeing light, if he goes back to ignorance and speaks ill of light or says there is no such thing as light, who is fooling whom? If somebody says the world is all darkness and there is no such thing as the sun, the sun will continue to do its duty. By saying that there is no such thing, one cannot destroy the existence of the sun.
To come back to your question, what will happen after death entirely depends on the disciples. What kind of disciples are they? If they are extremely good, then it is a golden opportunity for them to go to a real Heaven. But those unfortunate disciples who are a real burden here cannot be a burden there, for there they will have no place. If you are running a big factory here in California and somebody has badly dissatisfied you, then if you go to some other state and open another factory, are you going to give a chance to that same person? Never. You will say, “Enough. I have suffered much from you in California. I am not going to let you bother me here.” In my case also, souls that have not received light, that have created many problems, that have cast a slur on our spiritual mission, will never, never be given a chance in other worlds. If one person has dissatisfied me unthinkably here, then why should I give that person another chance there? I will not give it.
Good disciples here on earth will make boundless progress. And there in Heaven they will be of constant help to the Supreme in me. As here they help, there also, in a different way, they will serve the Supreme in me. The bad ones, wherever they go, will be equally bad, so they will not be given a chance there. The good ones will continue embodying me and manifesting the mission, and the bad ones will go their own way.Beauty came to me
Like the morning rose.Duty came to me
Like the morning sun.Divinity came to me
Like the morning aspiration.```
/Jedike phirai ankhi/
/Ke jena baliche daki//Britha bela baye jai/
/Jib kato asohai//Nayan mudiya rakhi/
/Amar ki shunite baki//Britha bela bayi jai/
/Kena eta nirupai/Whichever way I cast my glance
I hear someone whispering.
Time is passing by,All human beings hopeless and helpless.
I keep my eyes shut.I have nothing more to hear.
Time is passing by.Alas, I know not why and how
I am so helplessly and totally lost.```
From:Sri Chinmoy,AUM — Vol.II-4, No. 5, 27 May 1977, Vishma Press, 1977
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/aum_120
