Question: I have some friends who do Christian meditation. They read the Bible and they have been inspired by that. They have been able to really meditate on the Bible, but whenever they felt that they had come close to God there was always a presence of evil around. Why is this? Can it be avoided?

Sri Chinmoy: No, that is not true. I mean I am saying this from the viewpoint of our path. I have no right to speak about the Christian belief or your friend. In our path we say that there are two poles: North Pole and South Pole. Let us say the South Pole is darkness and the North Pole is light. Now, if my aim is to reach the North Pole which is all light, then as soon as I enter into my destination it will be all light. There can be no darkness. Yes, for a short while we enter into the corridors of darkness, but we know that our aim is to reach the North Pole where it is all light. Now in this room here, if you turn off the light, then there will be no light. Suppose that for ten days or twenty days nobody enters into this hall. There will be all darkness, true. But the moment somebody comes and turns on the light there will be light. So in the being also, if somebody remains in ignorance, in darkness for ten years, fifteen years, twenty years or forty years, it doesn’t mean that he will never be illumined. Yes, for forty years he was in deep darkness. But the moment somebody enters into the room and has the capacity to illumine it, the darkness disappears. Here we need an electrician to bring in light if there is no light. Similarly, in the spiritual life we need an electrician, whom we call a spiritual Master. He helps in bringing us the light. In a spiritual person it is a slightly different matter because the light is already there, in the aspirant. The spiritual Master is not giving his own light. You have the light, only you do not know where your light is. So the spiritual Master helps you in seeing the light within you. If once you see the light, how can there be darkness? Where is darkness here now? You tell me.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Earth’s Cry Meets Heaven’s Smile, part 2, Aum Press, Puerto Rico, 1974
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/ech_2