Question: Do you see the West as active and the East as passive?

Sri Chinmoy: The West is quite active. I use the word “dynamic”. It is very good. We have to be dynamic, for then only we can do something. But very often it happens that dynamism turns into aggression. Then, in India they are passive. In the name of eternal time, many people are leading a lethargic life; they are wallowing in the pleasures of idleness and will not budge an inch. That is very bad. Again, India has peace and poise; and if one has peace and poise, then one can grow into something sublime. If India really leads the life of inner silence and the West leads the life of inner dynamism, then they can be amalgamated and brought together. It is like the ocean. On the surface there are waves and surges. It is very dynamic. But at the bottom it is calm and quiet. It is the same sea that deep within is calm and quiet and on the surface is full of waves and surges. The sea has both these qualities: the dynamic quality and the passive quality. So here also, when the dynamic quality of the West and the passive quality of peace that India represents can be brought together, it will be a tremendous success for humanity. But instead of using dynamism, if America uses aggression, and if India, instead of using world peace, actually offers its lethargy and nothing else, then it is only self-deception on both sides.

From:Sri Chinmoy,The doubt-world, Agni Press, 1977
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