AUM — Vol. 2, No. 9, 27 April 1967

AUM

Man is Infinity's Heart.

Man is Immortality's Life.

My New York

The dawn breaks in to feel New York's heart consumed with new zeal. She hates to be absorbed in a fog of fruitless brooding, empty inactivity. Moreover she wants to be free, eternally free. Never, within her four corners, will she tolerate the air of captivity. If it is part of her nature to express herself boldly, I cannot blame her. Firstly, to me, she deserves this acme of self-confidence. Secondly, God wants New York to be what she is.

My New York has courage. My New York has confidence. The problems of anxiety and uncertainty may cover the length and breadth of the world, but my New York is an exception. Her youthful certainty is my heart's delight.

When I think of my India, it seems that she has endless time. If she does not avail herself of an opportunity today, it will return to her tomorrow. But when I think of New York, it seems that she is facing a unique opportunity at every moment. If she loses a golden opportunity today, it will never return. New York knows how to seize. She knows how to struggle. She knows how to push forward. She knows how to exert herself, consciously and dynamically. Blessed is she. Old blunders fail to plague her. Empty of fear is her heart which ever grows into the fulfilment of her promising future. Blessed is she.

Questions and answers on the soul, part II

Question: Does the soul cry when it is unhappy?

Question: Do things or places have a soul: for example, does a chair have a soul, does a city have a soul?

Question: Does the earth have a soul?

Question: When the vital or mental tries to satisfy itself without the soul's approval, what happens to the soul?

Question: Can the gross ever give the subtle anything? That is, can the soul become stronger by the right use of the body such as exercise, right food, etc.?

Question: Can the soul select what the individual is to experience in the manifested world?

Question: Approximately where in the physical body does one feel a sense of soul? ("Quicken me according to Thy ways")

Question: If the body is the newcomer and the soul is the real landlord, or lord, then how is it that the newcomer or personality, with its seeking satisfaction, can so suffocate the soul that its inspirations cannot be heard?

I and my name

And play and play

Of Eternal Day.

My friend is Hope,

If Night there be

God's Grace is my name.

My soulful breath

God and the world

How to harmonise?

No.

Our Father is God,

This living truth,

Father is the Face,

Without the one,

What is the aim of life?¹

Life is evolution. Evolution is the unfoldment from within. Each life is a world in itself. Indeed, each life is a microcosm. Whatever breathes in the vast universe also breathes in it.

There are two lives: the inner and the outer. The outer life speaks about its principles and then tries to act. It professes in season and out of season. It practises very little of what it professes. The inner life acts. It does not speak. It professes only what it practises.

Our life has two realities: exoteric and esoteric. The exoteric reality deals with the world around us. The esoteric reality deals with the inner world. The outer reality tries to fulfil itself by feeding desires and stimulating passions. The inner reality finds fulfilment by the control of passions and conquest of desires, by swimming in the vast sea of liberation.

Life is existence. The ordinary existence comes from a deeper Existence. Existence cannot come from nonexistence. Life comes from God. Life is God. Two things we should do. We should read life most devotedly and live it most divinely.

Two things we must have: imagination and inspiration. A life with no imagination is a life of imprisonment. With the wings of imagination, we must try to fly into the Beyond. A life with no inspiration is a life of stagnation. With the dynamism of ceaseless inspiration, we shall give a new meaning to life and immortalise life itself.

The aim of life is to realise God. Realisation can never come to the individual who is inactive. One has to strive for realisation. One has to pay the price for it. There is no alternative. One thing of paramount importance is that by telling others that you are a realised soul, you may convince others, you may even deceive your very heart, but you cannot deceive God.

To have Realisation, the first requisite is peace. Peace is based on love: love for humanity and love for God. Peace is also founded on non-attachment. No thirst for gain, no fear of loss — lo, peace is yours. Peace is also based on renunciation. This renunciation is not the renunciation of worldly possessions, but of limitations and ignorance. And that peace is the true peace which is not affected by the roaring of the world, outer or inner.

When you have that kind of peace, realisation cannot help knocking at your heart's door. To be more accurate, the lotus of Realisation will start blooming in your heart, petal by petal. Further, to realise God, temples, churches and synagogues are not obligatory. Neither is the tapestry of scriptures and sermons required. What is imperative is meditation. This meditation will make you realise God the Infinite within your soul, heart, mind and body.

The aim of life is to live a divine life. We are living in this world. We know that man does not live by bread alone. He needs the soul in order to live in the world of God's Reality. The soul alone has the capacity to see and feel the known and the Unknown, the existent and the non-existent, the dream of the past, the achievement of the present, and the hope of the future.

Let us accept the inner life, the spiritual life. Mistakes in our journey are inevitable. Success without endeavour is impossibility itself. No work, no progress. Experience we must welcome, for we can learn nothing without experience. The experience may be either encouraging or discouraging. But it is experience that makes us a real being; it shows us the true meaning of our very existence.

Let us all be truly spiritual. Let us realise God by our constant communion with Him. We need not have any particular time or place for our meditation. We must transcend the necessity of time and space. When we go deep within, we can feel that one moment cannot be separated from another, one place cannot be separated from another. Let us aspire to live in the Eternal Now of God-Realisation, in the Eternal Now of God's Dream and Reality. This Dream is the Dream of ever-surpassing Transcendence. This Reality is the Reality of ever-blossoming Revelation.

Questions from children

Question: Gurudev, I want to ask you something. If I break an egg, can God put it together again?²

Question: Can you do it?

Sri Chinmoy: No, sorry Shannon, your Gurudev cannot do it. But if God gives me the power, I can easily do it.

Question:Can I do it?

Sri Chinmoy: Why not? The moment God gives you the power, you can easily put a broken egg together again. A day will come when you, I and everyone will have the same power that God has now.

Who is the highest? — a story

One day during his meditation, he observed that the Prasad (food offering) to the deity which is customarily eaten by the devotee after worship, was snatched away by a mouse and eaten in front of his very eyes. The Brahmin was astonished to see this and concluded that the mouse was more powerful than the deity. Otherwise, how could it dare eat the offering? So he grabbed hold of the mouse, and tying it with a string to the place of worship, decided to worship this creature instead of the deity.

He removed the picture of the deity from the shrine, and started worshipping the mouse until one day, his cat, becoming jealous of the attention the mouse was receiving, pounced upon the tiny creature. The two had a terrible fight, but of course the poor mouse was killed in the battle.

Now it was quite clear to the Brahmin that the cat was more powerful than the mouse; so he started worshipping the cat whom he had previously neglected. This continued for some time until one day the Brahmin's dog entered the room of worship. Seeing the attention that the cat was getting from his master, the dog became furiously jealous and violently attacked the cat. The unhappy cat was bitten and scratched all over and bled in many places. When the master considered the situation, it became quite clear to him that the dog was more powerful than the cat.

So he removed the cat from the place of worship and placed the dog there instead. He now began to worship the dog who was tied with a rope to the shrine. The animal's continual barking, however, was a source of great irritation to the master's wife. One day, in utter exasperation she threw a brick at the barking dog. It landed on his head with a thump. The poor dog was in great pain and cried piteously over his wound. The master, hearing the whimpering of the poor dog, came into the room, and seeing what had happened, concluded that this must be due to the superior power of his wife.

So he let the dog go and replaced it with his wife, saying to her, "At long last I realise that you are the most powerful — only you can be the object of my adoration!"

The wife was thunderstruck at these remarks, to say nothing of being puzzled and embarrassed. How could she be the object of his adoration, she thought, since all her life she had been made to feel like his servant, constantly at his beck and call. However, she finally consented, since she had no alternative.

Now his wife had become his object of adoration and worship. He addressed her in devotional words and praised her divine qualities. So devoted was he that he had the impulse to worship her even when she was asleep. He would awaken her and make her take her place at the shrine where he could adore her. Or if she were in the shower, he would call her to come out. No matter what she was doing, she would have to drop it and come to the shrine to be worshipped.

Finally his wife became so fed up with this farce that she told him the whole thing was nonsense. At this he became furious. "Nonsense," he echoed, "how dare you criticise my wisdom?" And he slapped her violently. The poor frightened woman began weeping bitter tears.

Now, seeing his own power, it became very clear to the Brahmin that he was the strongest of all. So he started worshipping himself, saying, "I am God, I am the greatest, I am everything."

But it did not take him much time to realise that he was merely a prey to his desires. It was his desires that were compelling him to action — either good or bad. So, since his habit was to worship the most powerful force, he started worshipping his desires. But he quickly gave this up, for he saw immediately that his desires had no strength of their own. It was his senses that compelled the desires to possess and be possessed.

So the Brahmin started worshipping the senses: sight, smell, taste, etc. He was now pondering deeply on these subtle things that he was worshipping. After much thought, he concluded that it was the mind which was responsible for the functioning of the senses.

So he began worshipping his mind, and felt proud that he had progressed so far from the ignorant animals he had worshipped only a few months before. But he found that his mind was far from satisfaction, not to speak of perfection. So he entered into his heart.

The heart, in spite of having peace and joy and harmony, was still lacking in absolute fulfilment. He was still yearning for the supreme power. He concluded that the heart is not enough. So he entered into his soul.

There, in union with his own soul, he got the first glimpse of his divine fulfilment. He plunged deep into the spiritual life. But the individual soul, he found, is not all-pervading or all-fulfilling. He aspired for the Highest, so he went even deeper. There he discovered the Supreme Self.

Notes

Sri Chinmoy's arrival in the West, 13 April 1964

Each Centre marked the event with a special spiritual and cultural program. In Puerto Rico a tape-recorded message from the Guru was played, in which every disciple was individually greeted by Sri Chinmoy. This was heard after a special meditation. The function was most devotedly conducted by the President, Sudha. Selected readings from the Guru's works were given by the disciples, who also offered their own soulful appreciation of his divine mission on earth.

In New York, a significant meditation also started the program. Moving tributes to the Guru were then offered. This was followed by a program of songs, readings and dramatic performances by the disciples.

Both functions were followed by delicious refreshments, generously provided and beautifully arranged by the disciples of the respective Centres. In New York, Mrs. Irene Silver (Durga), Mrs. Lillian Gerber (Lakshmi) and Mrs. Ruth Moseley (Karuna) deserve special thanks for their dedicated service.

Editor's introduction

which prefaces all Hindu prayers.

The first issue of the journal AUM (Vol. 1, No. 1)

deals with its full spiritual significance.