Flame-Waves, part 10

Part I: Questions and answers

Question: Each year, does the United Nations try to achieve something new and if so, what has it tried to achieve inwardly and outwardly this year?

Question: When we invite our co-workers who are interested in meditation but know nothing about it, is it preferable to just have them come and learn through silence or is it a good idea to explain meditation as best we can beforehand?

Question: What is the best way to unite the ways of politics and the ways of the soul of a country?

Question: When does God want His Name spoken?

Question: What stands between the outer goal of the United Nations and the inner goal of the United Nations?

Question: For how long did the Supreme have the Dream of the United Nations before the soul was born and it became a reality?

Question: What does the soul of the United Nations need most from the Member States?

Question: What is the spiritual significance of a photograph?

Question: How can we help the speed of the United Nations increase?

Question: How can we awaken spirituality in the other workers at the United Nations?

Question: As the United Nations evolves, will it become less of a political centre and more of a spiritual centre?

Question: How can we best fulfil our roles at the United Nations?

Question: What qualities on the material and spiritual plane can we offer to the United Nations to best fulfil the United Nations?

Question: How can we fulfil the hearts and souls of the children of the world?

Question: Will the Supreme send more real leaders to help support the United Nations?

Question: When and how will the leaders and representatives of the nations of the world, especially of the developing nations, begin to seek spiritual solutions to their problems?

Question: What is involved in establishing an inner connection with the United Nations?

Question: What is the most important thing to remember while working at the United Nations?

Question: What role will music play in bringing about world oneness?

Question: How can you dedicate each task you do to the soul of the United Nations?

Question: Are the ideals of the United Nations applicable to every area of our lives without exception?

Question: How can I feel that my small job at the United Nations is really important to the total spirit of the United Nations?

Similarly, the whole United Nations right from the Secretary-General is only one body, one soul, one reality, which is composed of glowing thoughts and glowing ideals. You represent a thought in an infinitesimal measure. The capacity that you have is in the form of an ideal. The ideal is always the same, although you may or may not embody the ultimate truth that this ideal holds. But you do represent and embody an iota of the ultimate truth. Some individuals have perhaps a little more light than others, but it is the combination of everybody’s light that makes the whole reality.

Question: Should the body of the United Nations remain fluid, so that the soul of the United Nations can more easily manifest?

Question: How can we feel and show our gratitude to the United Nations?

Question: How can I increase oneness with the soul of the United Nations?

Question: How can I become self-giving with spontaneity and joy?

Question: How can we see through God's Eyes?

Question: How can we accept everyone who works at the United Nations as our very own?

Part II: BBC interview

Mr. Saxton: Sri Chinmoy, can you explain the technique used in your Meditation Group?

Mr. Saxton: Is this related to any particular religion?

Mr. Saxton: What kind of people attend your meetings here at the United Nations?

Mr. Saxton: The United Nations is, of course, a very political place. Do politics ever enter into your work?

Mr. Saxton: And this is what you hope people will gain from your work?

Mr. Saxton: You mentioned a few moments ago that certain delegates attend your meetings. Do you think diplomats gain anything special that is particularly useful to their own work?

Mr. Saxton: Do you sometimes feel that despite these very high aspirations and targets, that sometimes your work is often overshadowed by politics?

Mr. Saxton: What is your basic philosophy?

Human devotion is attachment. I may be attached to you and you may be attached to me, but this does not serve any divine purpose. Divine devotion is dedication to a higher purpose, to a higher way of life, to an ideal or goal. It grows out of our promise to our inner being to manifest our inner divinity here on earth.

Mr. Saxton: How would you characterise real peace of mind? How can someone really come to terms with themselves and be totally peaceful with themselves in their minds?

Mr. Saxton: But how do you reach that state?

Part III: Questions and answers

Question: How does one stop the mind?

There is also another way. One has to see the mind as a material object. We can take a material object and put it anywhere we want to, or we can throw it the farthest possible distance, according to our strength. So either we can grab the mind like a material object and throw it into the distance, or we can put the mind wherever we want to. If a mischievous child is bothering us, we can take the mischievous child into a corner and threaten him and keep him there. One can do that to the mind also.

Question: What do you mean by perfection?

Question: The Yogi believes in realisation on earth after a series of reincarnations; the Christian believes in salvation after death through Christ. How can one synthesise these two great beliefs?

These are two ways to approach the reality, but they are not contradictory. We only synthesise when there are contradictory ideas. Salvation through Christ is one way. Realisation is another way. Realisation has to be achieved here on earth through prayer and meditation. Salvation is achieved in Heaven.

With regard to reincarnation, the Indian belief is that this is not our first or our last life. We believe in reincarnation because we feel that God wants us to be happy and fulfilled. Even in the desire world we have hundreds of desires. At the age of four, if we have a desire, it takes forty, fifty or even sixty years to fulfil that desire. In the aspiration world, if we want even an iota of peace, light and bliss, it take us years to achieve it. What we need is boundless peace, boundless light, boundless delight. So how can we get it in one short span of life? It is impossible. If God’s unconditional Grace descends, then naturally we will be blessed with peace, light and bliss. But in general, to get even peace of mind takes many, many years. So we feel that God-realisation, which is the ultimate achievement, is a long way off and we cannot cover the distance in one short life span.

Question: At our United Nations meetings, should we meditate on specific themes related to United Nations conferences and other things, as well as on general qualities like peace and love?

One approach is from the outside world to enter into the inner world, but we feel that as soon as we achieve something in the inner world, only then shall we be able to bring it and give it to others. Otherwise, if we enter into a conference dealing with politics, we will be totally lost. Politics is dying to get inner light; it wants to be illumined by inner light. But on the mental plane, politics is only a constant fight, constant battle: “I know better than you.” “No, no, I know better; I am right.” Politics here is the battle of ego. “My nation is better; you have to listen to me.” But spirituality is the flow of oneness. When there is oneness, there is no supremacy. Oneness never quarrels. In the outer world there is tremendous misunderstanding, but in the inner world we always sing the song of oneness. Oneness is achievement, oneness is self-giving and self-giving is God-becoming. In the outer world it is all division: I and mine. “You have to surrender to me. Then only you will know what the truth is.” In the inner world it is all oneness. In the outer world division and a constant sense of separativity is satisfaction. In the outer world, binding myself to someone else is satisfaction. In the inner world satisfaction is oneness. Satisfaction comes by liberating myself, expanding myself.

Question: If we are feeling tired, should we still come to U.N. Meditation Group meetings?

Part IV

Mr. Robert Muller: The first three of U Thant's four categories of needs, namely physical, intellectual and moral needs, do not create any insuperable problems, but the last and most important one in his view, spirituality, gives me considerable difficulties. There are indeed so many definitions of that term. U Thant described it as "Faith in oneself, the purity of one's inner self." Suppose — as I would ardently wish — that humanity would adopt some day his four broad categories of goals. How would you define the spiritual goals?

Mr. Robert Muller: I often think that U Thant's four categories of human qualities or needs — physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual — could well form the basis for a world agenda of human goals. From your writings, I notice that these categories are also quite fundamental to you, but you add to it a fifth which you call the "vital". Could you elaborate on it?

When Julius Caesar said, “Veni, vidi, vici; I came, I saw, I conquered,” it was the human vital in him that was speaking. This is the vital that enjoys satisfaction through destruction. Needless to say, this kind of satisfaction is absurd. The other way is the way of the Saviour, the Christ, who said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Here the Christ teaches us that true satisfaction comes into existence only through oneness. This oneness can be discovered in any plane of consciousness. On the physical plane, for example, the head is at a particular place, the arms are at another place and the legs are at a third place. But they have established their oneness because they are all part and parcel of the body-reality. This same kind of oneness has to be discovered in the development of each individual. The divine statement of the Christ, with its fathomless magnanimity, identifies itself with the unlit reality of humanity as the Christ asks his Father for humanity’s redemption. For this, what he needs is his Father’s immediate Compassion and express Forgiveness.

Mr. Robert Muller: When I speak to audiences about U Thant's four ways to happiness, I sometimes hear the following criticism: "Life is one and cannot be artificially cut into four. Everything is interdependent and linked. We must concentrate on life as an entity and not on components which are the product of the intellect." I am not over-impressed with this argument, for I have indeed observed that life is richest when I cultivate simultaneously all four categories of needs, namely physical, mental, moral and spiritual. Nevertheless, there is some truth in that criticism and I would be grateful to learn how you would respond to it.

Let us take life as a ladder that serves us and helps us reach the pinnacles of liberation, illumination, realisation and perfection. This life-ladder has four rungs. The first rung we unmistakably call the body-reality. The second rung is the intellect-reality; the third rung, the morality-reality, and the fourth rung, the spirituality-reality. Once we firmly step on the body-reality-rung, the body casts off the ignorance-cover of millennia. Once we ascend from that rung and step on the intellect-reality-rung, we see the vastness inside smallness and the smallness inside vastness, the infinite Beauty inside the finite duty and the finite duty inside the infinite Beauty. Then we ascend the morality-reality-rung. Here we try to illumine our lower self, which consciously or unconsciously enjoys the song of division and the dance of separativity through self-indulgence and by unreservedly and deliberately embracing the earth-bound goal while ignoring the Heaven-free goal. The earthbound goal is: “Possess and become”. But to our sorrow we see that we possess only to lose; what is worse, to get totally lost. Finally we ascend to the spirituality-reality-rung and reach our Heaven-free goal. What is our Heaven-free goal? Our Heaven-free goal is: “Offer and become”.

To quote your singularly momentous and apposite inner depth: “We progress physically, mentally, morally and spiritually towards a higher level of human consciousness, towards that smile of divinity which knows that someday the human race will be able to re-establish paradise on earth. There is no longer much difference between the political approach and this broader, richer concept of human fulfilment.”

Mr. Robert Muller: Do you think the U.N. exercises a real influence in the world? What is, in your view, its principal contribution? How does it appear to you in the great stream of history and human evolution?

The principal contribution of the United Nations is the hope-sky that it offers to the world at large. This hope-sky is not a product of vital fantasies, mental vagaries or the idiosyncrasies of weaklings. This hope-sky is the all-illumining revelation of the United Nations soul. The seeker-servers at the United Nations — no matter in which capacity they are serving the United Nations — and the supporter-lovers of the United Nations — no matter in which part of the world they are — are seeing a glimpse of the United Nations soul’s all-illumining revelation. And each glimpse embodies a growing and glowing fullness-satisfaction in man’s life of inner hunger and his life of outer feast.

Mr. Robert Muller: If you were given the task of laying down the basic principles for the education of all the children of this world, what would be your recommendations?

Unfortunately, I can subscribe neither to the Indian method of bringing up a child nor to the American method. Parents should not allow their children to grow up in the Elysian lap of exorbitant luxury; nor should they keep a devouring, intransigent tiger before their children so that at every moment the children will be forced to do the right thing. The parents should tell their children that they are not disciplinary, autocratic parents but unreservedly loving, discerning friends.

The education of the children and the education of the parents must go together. The parents must dream in and fulfil themselves through their creations, their children. As the creation cannot be separated from the creator, even so, the creator cannot be separated from the creation. The creation without the creator is helpless. The creator without the creation is meaningless. Therefore, both the creation and the creator must contribute to each other in order to derive oneness-satisfaction and fulness-satisfaction. It is in the parents’ right decision that we can find the children’s freedom. This freedom is founded on their oneness with their parents’ will. Let us consider the children as finite realities and the parents as infinite realities. The children become infinite and enjoy infinite freedom only by becoming consciously, unreservedly and inseparably one with their parents.

The parents must not think of their children as unnecessary projections of their life; for if these projections are unnecessary, then they can go in their own way. On the contrary, they must feel that their children are absolutely necessary projections of their life. The improvement of the projections, perfection of the projections, considerably adds to the source. The beauty of the leaves, flowers and fruits of the tree only adds to the seed-reality of the tree. It does not diminish the beauty-reality, divinity and necessity of the seed.

Here I wish to quote from your most illumining insights about global education: “A child born today will be faced as an adult, almost daily, with problems of a global interdependent nature, be it peace, food, the quality of life, inflation, or scarcity of natural resources. He will be both an actor and a beneficiary or a victim in the total world fabric, and he may rightly ask: ‘Why was I not warned? Why was I not better educated? Why did my teachers not tell me about these problems and indicate my behaviour as a member of an interdependent human race?’ [...]

“Global education must transcend material and intellectual achievements and reach also into the moral and spiritual spheres. Man has been able to extend the power of his hands with incredible machines, of his eyes with telescopes and microscopes, of his ears with telephones, radio waves and sonars, of his brain with computers and automation. He must now also extend his heart, his sentiments, his love and his soul to the dimension of the entire human family and to our total beautiful planet circling in the universe.”

Mr. Robert Muller: Anthropologists have found a gradation of religious beliefs over the history of mankind: ritualism, animism, ancestor worship, polytheism, monotheism. All these forms were associated with changes in the social structure. Recently, the "age of reason" and the scientific and industrial revolution have rendered religion and spirituality obsolete — even harmful — in the eyes of many. What, in your view, is likely to be the "religion" or "spirituality" of humanity tomorrow as a satisfactory answer to man's queries about his relationships with the universe, his fellow men and the mysteries of life? Is this likely to be reflected in the United Nations as a forum where humanity is seeking new ways for its destiny and fulfilment?

Here at this point I am tempted to share with the rest of the world your most illumining ideas and most nourishing thoughts: “Indeed, how can we reach full consciousness and enlightenment if we do not let the entire world and humanity enter ourselves? Humility and the lowering of one’s ego lead in the end to righteousness, happiness and the full mastery over oneself, enriched by the thoughts, dreams and feelings of others. Together with meditation, it is perhaps the clue to serenity in our bewildered, complex world. U Thant was a living proof of it.”

The spirituality of tomorrow’s dawn will beckon the desire-world to show the desire-world that real satisfaction looms large only in the aspiration-life. The real spirituality of tomorrow’s dawn will beckon the aspiration-world to show the aspiration-world that real satisfaction lies only in the seeker’s unconditionally surrendered oneness with his Source, his Beloved Supreme.

Part V

Letter from Mr. Muller to Sri Chinmoy

U Thant often said that in his view the West was too materialistic and intellectual, and not spiritual enough, whereas the East was too spiritual and fatalistic, and not caring enough for the material and intellectual welfare of the people. Do you see a synthesis developing between the two and how would you envisage a harmonious, happy world society?

Warmly yours,

Letter from Sri Chinmoy to Mr. Muller

I readily, immediately and unreservedly agree with our beloved Secretary-General U Thant’s most illumining assessment of Eastern achievements and Western achievements, Eastern possessions and Western possessions, Eastern contributions and Western contributions, Eastern outlook towards the Reality and Western outlook towards the Reality.

The East is spiritual, the West is material. The East cries for the transcendental Spirit, the West cries for the universal matter.

The East is in the heart and for the heart. The West is in the mind and for the mind. The East from within comes to the fore and flowers. The West from the outer existence goes deep within and flowers.

The East wants silence. The West wants sound. Silence embodies the teeming Vast eventually to proceed. Sound inspires the teeming Vast continuously to succeed.

The East sings the song of God the One. The West sings the song of God the Many. The East loves unity. The West loves multiplicity.

This world of ours is beset with countless problems. The spiritual East thinks that the Beyond is the only answer. The material West thinks that the answer is to be found here on earth; it thinks that the answer is: live and enjoy and enjoy and live.

The East believes in fate because it believes in reincarnation. The West does not believe in reincarnation; therefore, it does not believe in fate.

We can endlessly see and determine the differences between the East and the West. But the real question is whether these differences are being synthesised or not. At the very beginning, if we know what the heart can offer and what the mind can offer, then it will be an easy task to synthesise the two. The heart wants to see the oneness, feel the oneness and become the oneness itself. The mind wants diversity in the vital and multiplicity in the mind proper. The heart knows that there is a road that leads upward. The mind knows that there is a road that leads forward. The East wants to walk along the road that leads upward. The West wants to walk along the road that leads forward.

The synthesis between East and West starts because of their feelings of insufficiency. The East sees that if it does not accept the material life, then it will not be able to manifest what it inwardly has. The West feels that if it does not accept the spiritual life, then it will not have a solid foundation. Then everything can be easily shattered.

We can clearly see that the East has already gained considerable knowledge and wisdom from the West, especially in the scientific world. The West has gained considerable knowledge and wisdom from the East, especially in the spiritual world. Here we see that the heart and the mind cannot function separately and individually. They have to function together, provided they feel the need of an integral perfection in life. The mind without the heart will not know what the supreme Reality is. The heart without the mind will not know how the supreme Reality can be manifested here on earth. To our great joy, the East and the West are constantly complementing each other to make each other perfect consciously, and more so unconsciously.

The East is like the body of a bird and the West is like the wings of a bird. If the bird does not spread its wings, then how will it fly? And again, when it flies and reaches the highest Height, at that time it has to know that there is another goal and that goal is God-manifestation on earth. There are two goals: one goal is Heaven-reality and the other goal is earth-reality. When we use the wings to go upward to the Heavenly goal, we go with the earth-reality to the Heaven-reality. And when we come down to the earthly goal, we come down with the Heaven-reality to the earth-reality. It is like climbing up and down a tree. We climb up a mango tree and pluck mangoes, and then bring them down and distribute them. The East says, “Gather!” The West says, “Spread!” If we do not gather, then how can we spread? Only if we gather can we spread. Again, if we spread what we have, then the Source is pleased with us and the Source gives us everything in infinite measure.

For the last quarter of a century, both the East and the West have felt the supreme necessity of receiving light from each other. To quote your own illumining ideals and fulfilling ideals: “Beyond the turmoil, the divisions and perplexities of our time, mankind is slowly but surely finding the ways, limits and new codes of behaviour which will encompass all races, nations and ideologies. It is the formulation of these new ethics which will be the great challenge for the new generation. It will concern not only men’s material fate, but also their mental and spiritual lives.”

There was a time when the renouncer of life felt that it was beneath his dignity to love the lover of life, and the lover of life felt that it was beneath his dignity to mix with the renouncer of life. Now the lover and the renouncer are modifying their views and becoming one. The renouncer feels that to love life because God the All-Love is inside life is absolutely correct. At the same time, God the Lover of life sees that things need not be renounced; He sees that they can be modified, transformed and perfected. After all, perfection only can give humanity abiding satisfaction. So the East, instead of rejecting, gladly accepts the great possibilities, capacities and realities of the West. The West, too, does exactly the same. They are combining their possibilities and transforming these possibilities into divine practicabilities with the hope that supreme satisfaction will dawn in the all-embracing and all-illumining common realisation of East and West.

We will have a harmonious, happy world-society only if this synthesis continues, and we can take East and West as the two arms, two eyes, two feet and two legs of the Supreme Pilot within and without. The other human divisions and distinctions — racial, cultural and linguistic — are destined to disappear from the human consciousness when it is flooded with a higher Light. This is the inevitable consequence of the Hour of God that is dawning all over the world. When the Hour of God appears, diversities will be there, but these diversities will be enriched and enhanced in fullest measure. And they will not disturb the general consciousness; on the contrary, they will harmoniously complement the whole. Humanity will be a true human family in every sense of the term and also in a sense that the human mind has yet to discover. And here I wish to say that this discovery will exceed all human expectations.

The awakened consciousness of man is evolving towards the Divine Existence. This is a most hopeful streak of light amidst the obscurities of the present-day world. This is a moment when human beings do not only join hands, but also join minds, hearts and souls. All physical, vital and mental barriers between East and West will dissolve; and high above national standards, above even individual standards, we shall see the supreme banner of divine Oneness.

Yours in the Supreme,

Part VI: Questions from Mr Robert Muller — continued

Mr. Robert Muller: Where so many humans from all over the world come together to talk to each other, to learn from each other, to heal rifts and to devise a better common destiny, isn't that the greatest place on earth? To my mind, the United Nations is no less than a miracle.

According to our limited body, curious vital, searching mind and crying heart, the United Nations is no less than a miracle. But we have one more member in our family: the soul. The soul has quite a different story to narrate. It reveals to us and tells us that there is no such thing as a miracle. Anything that is uncommon, unusual and unfamiliar in this world we call a miracle. But there are many higher planes of consciousness where these so-called miracles are common occurrences.

God the Creator and God the creation are one. We see God the creation here, there and everywhere. But we find it difficult to realise or accept God the creation so easily, not to speak of so lovingly and devotedly. When God the Creator reveals an infinitesimal iota of His Light and Power through a human life from a new realm of consciousness to which we do not have a free access, we are quite often ready to regard it — that is to say, God’s visible and tangible Compassion-Gift — as a miracle. But just because God the creation is always visible and available, our ignorance-familiarity is badly wanting in appreciation capacity. Otherwise, we would feel that God the creation is undoubtedly as much of a miracle as God the Creator.

Let us see eye to eye with our soul’s revelation that there is no such thing as a miracle. Although we are not aware of something or although something has not yet manifested on earth, it can easily happen that we may become aware of it tomorrow or it may become manifested tomorrow. So there is no need to call it a miracle, for its existence-reality has already been discovered by the highest and greatest member of our own family, the soul.

Needless to say, miracle-power does not and cannot elevate our consciousness. It is our reality’s spontaneity that can and will elevate and illumine our consciousness and fulfil unreservedly the Real in us. And what is the Real in us? The universal oneness of the Transcendental Height. Truth to tell, the soul of our dear United Nations embodies this all-loving Reality’s all-fulfilling divinity.

Mr. Robert Muller: The United Nations is the incredible place where human oneness is seeking itself in the endless diversity of the prodigy of life. How is it possible, then, that so few people recognise this great new blessing?

Mr. Robert Muller: What can we do to open the eyes and hearts of people?

Mr. Robert Muller: I often feel that all my speaking and writing is just a drop of water on an infertile field of blindness and disbelief. What more can we do? What would you suggest?

Sri Chinmoy Meditation at the United Nations

> WE BELIEVE...

Editor's preface to the first edition