Question: The consciousness of the self is a handicap in the path towards God-realisation and complete surrender. This self-consciousness will limit you in the world of plurality, differentiation and phenomena. Now, this is what we want to transcend because we are searching for that oneness of the Absolute. If we are searching for that oneness, where all differentiation ends and where you will integrate with the universal consciousness, you must try to pull away from these forces that will limit you in the sphere of personality or the ego, that will give you a distorted view of what humanity is, of what the purpose of life is and many causes of differentiation. You are dealing with phenomena that takes place in space and time. But you are not dealing with true values, the eternal values of the real Self. What I mean to say is that when I say that you have to transcend that self-consciousness, it is that you have to destroy this consciousness of the individuality as the "I" or the personality as the "I." You will have to live in a broader consciousness, in a broader vision, otherwise you cannot attain that goal. To reach that goal, we need the Master because the Master will be like a catalytic agent who will bring up those forces that are hidden in the inner Self so that they will flow into view.

Sri Chinmoy: So now, the part of the Master is the part of a private tutor. The Master is not the examiner. The Master is the tutor who constantly inspires you, teaches the aspirant inwardly. Then, who examines? God does not examine us. It is ignorance that stands in front of us. Doubt says: “Where are you going?” I am still, pass me, go beyond me. Doubt comes and stands in front of me. Fear stands in front of me. They are like solid blocks. So Master inspires and teaches the disciple how he can go, pass through fear and doubt and so forth.

Now you were speaking about self-consciousness. A spiritual aspirant must feel that his individuality and personality must be merged in his Master’s or in God’s individuality. Individuality is not the physical height, not that you are five feet, eleven inches, standing there full of aggression and lecturing to me. It is not that you are separate from the rest of the world. No. Divine individuality is the highest individual divinity in a person, not showing off how much power a person can exercise or how much knowledge he has attained. No. Individuality means the highest divinity which you have achieved as your own. When I say, Aham Brahman, “I am the Brahman,” then your personality is full of Light. Your personality is the lantern-breadth of the universe. Your height is your divine individuality, your luminous breadth is your personality. If you can think that your breadth is your personality and height is your divine individuality, if you can concentrate on it, meditate on it, then the limited individuality and the limited personality which you see in your life is bound to go. You don’t have to be conscious at each moment what your defects are. This is a very bad way of making progress in the spiritual life. Try to think what good qualities you have, not what bad qualities. By concentrating more and more on your good qualities, that means by concentrating more on light, you expand your light. Then that expansion automatically covers, envelops the darkness, doubt, fear in front of you. So, how can you expand? You see the positive side which is aspiration, purity, divine beauty, concentration, meditation. If you try the positive side, automatically you are going to the highest and that is your individuality. And when you are looking at this side, it is all your personality-covering. So I wish to tell you that to conquer self-consciousness, feel that you want to be, and say that you are God’s child, that God-realisation is your birthright instead of saying that you are in darkness. How can I get rid of darkness? Darkness is all around me, inside me, inside the world. Let us see only the positive way. Then in that case it is not that we are ignoring the fact, the phenomenal world which is full of darkness, no. We are seeing what the reality is inside the phenomenal world and that reality is Light, that reality is Truth. When we consciously see Reality and Truth, then we expand. In the field of expansion, we expand and in the field of realisation, we go to the Highest. That is how it is done.

Always try, during your meditation, during your conscious life, to feel that you are God’s chosen child, God’s pride. You are not the pride of ignorance. You are the pride of God. God wants you. God needs you to fulfil Him, to manifest Him. Then, how are you going to think of this human world here on earth if you are only thinking of one individual and this and that? Say instead, “God needs me; thus I have surrendered. I have to fulfil God on earth because God wants it. Not that I want it, God wants me to realise Him, to fulfil Him on earth. What more do I need?” That is what the only concern should be for a spiritual aspirant. And in that concern everything is covered, everything in sight. All problems are solved, all answers are given when one feels that God wants him, God needs him for His manifestation on earth; and just because God wants him, not because he wants this thing from God. Here is the mistake. If he wants from God this and that, he will be frustrated, but God wants him and he wants to be consciously one with God’s decision. So we can do all this. Right?

From:Sri Chinmoy,Earth’s Cry Meets Heaven’s Smile, part 3, Aum Press, Puerto Rico, 1978
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