Part II — Questions and answers: New York University

Question: Is the potential that anybody has for spiritual growth limited by astrological possibilities or some other possibilities which are available to them, or can everything be overcome with a great enough effort?

Sri Chinmoy: It depends on the eagerness of the aspirant and the intensity of his aspiration. There is no such thing as impossibility, but we have to know how much opposition we have to face. If we constantly pray and most soulfully meditate, then there is no difficulty that cannot be surmounted.

It often happens that when we cannot conquer some undivine forces during this lifetime, we feel that we will never be able to conquer these imperfections. But if we are real followers of Truth, eternal Truth, then we know this is not our first or last incarnation. At the age of four, let us say, we had a desire, and at the age of forty we fulfilled that desire. At the age of four we wanted something; at the age of forty we got it. But if we had died at the age of thirty-eight or thirty-nine, then we would not have fulfilled that desire. We would still have felt that it was impossible at the time of our death.

Now, at the age of forty, we have sincere aspiration to realise God. It may be that with this aspiration we will be able to realise God in two hundred years. But when we reach eighty we are totally tired, exhausted in the battlefield of life, so we go to the other world for rest. This does not mean that our opportunity to realise God is ended. Again we will come back and fight against ignorance like real soldiers in the battlefield of life. Then, after two hundred years of aspiration, we will realise God.

There is no such thing as impossibility. It is only a matter of time. But if we are really sincere and earnest, we can greatly expedite our spiritual journey. If something would take two years in the natural and normal course, we can achieve that very thing in three months or two months, or even a month if we are very devoted and sincere. Our achievements entirely depend on our sincerity, earnestness and the strength of our inner cry for the ultimate Truth.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Fifty Freedom-Boats to One Golden Shore, part 1, Sri Chinmoy Centre, New York, 1974
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