Inspiration-Garden and Aspiration-Leaves

Author's introduction

There is a great difference between a seeker and an unaspiring person. The ultimate aim of a seeker is to realise God. If your aim is to realise God, and if you want to make the fastest progress, then the first thing which you must have in your life is simplicity. If you feel that you don't have enough simplicity, then you have to cultivate it.

Inspiration and aspiration

Question: Who is a real fool?

Question: Is there any contradiction between seeking worldly possessions and riches and seeking the Absolute Truth?

But in the case of aspiration it is not like that. There your very nature, your very soul, your very existence wants to remain in the Infinitude. If one remains in the highest Light, in the all-fulfilling Light, then it is for the Light to decide whether the Light wants to give a specific experience to an individual seeker by giving him name and fame and so forth. But if the seeker wants to have both desire and aspiration together, both worldly name and fame and true aspiration for the Highest, then he will be neither in the spiritual path nor in the ordinary material path because constantly he will be pulled by two contradictory forces. One will immediately say that the other is useless. Desire will say, "Aspiration is useless. You are only building castles in the air." Aspiration will say, "Desire is stupidity. There is no end, there is no end." It is like a camel in the desert. All the time the camel is eating thorns. His mouth is bleeding, but again and again he starts eating thorns.

So these are two contradictory forces in us. On the one hand we see realisation and aspiration, and on the other hand we see desire. But there is another pair of so-called opposites: the material world and the spiritual world. This is the material world. We cannot reject the material, physical world in order to live in the spiritual world. The spiritual world is inside the material, physical world. We have to be in the inner world, and the realisation of the inner world has to be expressed in the outer world. We cannot separate the inner world from the outer world. If we leave the world and stay in the Himalayan caves and say, "Oh, people are very bad. My neighbours are very bad. Let me just escape," then we are not realising the truth here on earth the way the truth has to be realised.

Our philosophy is that here on earth we have to enter into the inner world. The outer world has to be an expression, a manifestation of the inner world. But in order to manifest the Truth, one has to have the Truth first. And for that, what is necessary is aspiration.

If we want to unite both aspiration and desire, then we will be ruined. Aspiration will not fulfil us and desire will not care for us because they are like north pole and south pole. They cannot go together. But once realisation has been achieved on the strength of aspiration, then the field of manifestation is thrust upon us. At that time we are not to be blamed for our outer life because it is the higher power that is bringing us the so-called outer achievement. But if the higher power does not care for it, if the higher power cares only for our realisation, our oneness with the Highest Absolute, then we have to be satisfied with that. That is what God needs and God wants from us.

Question: How can I maintain the inspiration that I get here when I go back to Sweden?

Question: I don't understand the connection between aspiration and manifestation. When I was at home, I was so inspired. But now that I have come here to visit, it seems confusing.

Unfortunately, when you were in your own country, you thought that here in New York we were acting like the seekers in the Himalayan caves. In New York there are no caves. I am a twentieth century Yogi, an ultramodern Yogi. If you expect the Himalayan caves from this modern Yogi, then I must say that hundreds of years ago I have gone through the experience of the Himalayan caves and all that. I do not want to repeat the same old stories. I am fond of new notions. Newness is absolutely necessary. How can we appreciate the old stories? The old will not be appreciated; we always need new stories.

Question: You told us that aspiration and manifestation have to go together. My problem is manifestation. What can I do? When I am in my own country I feel that everything is so difficult.

Question: What is the difference between an ordinary mind and heart and a mind and heart that have been transformed?

Question: How can you obtain a love for humanity in a true practical sense? That is easy to say but difficult to practise.

First we have to love God, who is Divinity itself. If we can love God, then we will feel that our inner existence cannot be separated from God. Our true divine existence and God are one. Then we will see what our outer existence is. Our outer existence, which is divine personality, is the entire humanity.

If we love ourselves in an egotistic way, then we are killing and binding ourselves. But when we love ourselves divinely, not emotionally or egotistically, we love ourselves jut because God is breathing inside us, because God wants to fulfil Himself in and through us. In this case our inner existence and God's Reality are one and the same thing.

If you are fully aware of this truth, then you will see humanity inside you. Humanity is not around you or outside you; it is inside you. If you become one with your divine existence, then you will see that inside you is the entire humanity. Whatever is inside you is yours; whatever is outside you is not yours. You can help to fulfil and illumine only that which is inside. So you have to feel that humanity is inside you. Then you will be able to help humanity truly and effectively.

Question: Guru, how can I always love with wisdom?

You have to know what kind of love is divine wisdom and what kind of love is not divine wisdom. One kind of love makes you feel that if you do this, then you will be happy and the person to whom you show love will also be happy. In this love the giver and the receiver will both be happy. In the other love, whether the giver or the recipient becomes happy or not is of no importance. God wants you to give to someone or God wants him to receive from you: that is the real reason for the gift.

In the first kind of love, by giving to me you are happy and by receiving from you I am happy. This love is not wise love; it is just making someone happy, with who knows what result. You have given me the dollar that I wanted and with that dollar I have ruined myself. I was happy the moment you gave me the dollar and you were also happy. But the after-effect of your giving and of my receiving is a real disaster in my life.

In the second love, when you are about to give me money, you will go deep within to be sure that your love is absolutely pure. Where does this love come from? It comes from your soul, from your heart. It is not actually your love; it is somebody else's love. It is your soul's love, your heart's love. The object that you are giving with your hand is a dollar. But you have to know that it is not the willingness of the hand that is giving the money; it is the willingness of the heart, of the soul. So before you give anything, you should go deep within and ask your inner being or your soul or your heart, "Am I doing the right thing? He needs money, that is true, and I have the capacity, that is also true, but is his need the real need?" His need may not be God's need inside him. God's need is one thing, and someone's personal need is another thing. So you have to feel that if it is God's Will inside you, then it is God's Willingness to fulfil that person's need. Then you will do it.

Human love or any other love that we offer is only for our own sake. We feel, “If we can make man happy, what else is necessary on earth? If we can become happy, then there is nothing more to do.” But only if it is God's Happiness inside us and inside others can we offer our true wisdom. So before we do something, before we say something, before we become something, we have to ask our inner being. We have to go deep within and ask our soul whether it is God's Will, whether God wants it to be done. At every moment when we do something we have to ask whether God wants it or not. Otherwise there are many ways in which you can please me and I can please you on the basis of our own mental understanding. Giving is a very good thing; receiving is a very good thing. But again, it is God who is supposed to inspire us to give and to receive. Action can be done without asking God's Wisdom, but if we beg of God's Wisdom to guide us and then we act, then it is God's responsibility.

This applies to everything. I may want to go right now to pray and meditate, because I feel that this is a good thing. But if it is not God's Will for me to meditate right now, then I will just be showing off that I know how to meditate. If it is God's Will right now for me to sing a spiritual song, then the best thing is for me to sing a song and not to meditate. Meditation is very good, but if it is not God's Will for me to meditate, then I tell you I will not enter into my highest consciousness, and the people whom I want to inspire with my meditation will not be at all inspired. But if it is God's Will that at this moment I should sing, then I will sing. Although singing is not purest meditation, just because it is God's Will that I sing, most of you will have a more elevated consciousness while I am singing than when I am actually meditating.

So love is wisdom, but inside this love we have to feel God's Presence first. If we feel God's Presence in each action, then automatically it becomes Wisdom because God is all wisdom. So before we say anything, we need approval. If we don't get approval, then we shall remain silent. Our direction we will get from within. God will not remain silent; He will not be indifferent. God does not remain silent, only we do not go deep within in order to hear His voice, His dictates. He is not like an indifferent human being whom we ask again and again without getting any answer. Go deep within. Immediately God will answer either yes or no.

The best thing is not to use the mind to execute anything unless and until you have heard from the inner Source what you should do or what you should say. If you are prompted to do something, but you have not gone deep within, do not do it. Before we actually execute what we feel like doing, let us go deep within. When it is an important matter, the best thing is not to even think of doing anything without going deep within. That is wisdom.

Question: Would you clarify, Guru, the difference between compassion and love?

Compassion is something different. Compassion is a spiritual magnet. It pulls the object. When a divine person or a spiritual Master shows compassion, or when the Supreme shows Compassion through the spiritual Master, he expects that the disciple will immediately come close, closer, closest to him. Through compassion alone the disciple can become the closest to the Master.

Love is very often misunderstood. If a Guru shows love, then immediately we think that there is some motive behind it. We think that he is showing extra love because in that extra love an extra favour is expected. As regards the feeling of oneness, if the disciple is fifty per cent good and the Guru is fifty per cent good, then together they make one hundred per cent. This is human love. But when it is compassion, the Guru is one hundred per cent good and the disciple is zero per cent or at most one per cent good. With his one hundred per cent the Guru is trying to enter into a field of ignorance or a field of doubt, a field where nothing has been planted and nothing has germinated.

When compassion flows, it flies like an arrow and pierces the very veil of ignorance. Love touches ignorance. Love can even stay with ignorance. But compassion will not stay there. Compassion has to be successful, otherwise compassion will withdraw. Compassion will last for a few seconds, a few minutes or a few years; then compassion will have to withdraw, because it has to send a report to the Highest Authority about what it is doing in the lowest plane. Whether it is successful or not, it has to send the report constantly. Then there comes a time when the Highest Authority says, "It is a barren desert. Come back." Compassion at that time has to fly back to the Highest Authority.

Question: How does concern differ from compassion and love?

On the physical plane, when one has concern, there is always a reciprocal feeling. We feel that we are concerned and the other person also has to show his concern. On the spiritual plane it is a different matter. When we show concern, that means the other person has pulled us. On the human level, we feel that it is so difficult to help someone. But the Supreme Plan is that when we use concern-power, we see that there is already an inner magnet operating. Although we don't see this magnet, it is pulling us to go towards another person. The other person may also be unaware of it, but real, true concern is like a magnet.

So many times I have said that if there is love, then there is concern; and if there is concern, then there is compassion. It is like the seed, the plant and the flower or fruit. This moment love can play the role of the seed, and then from the seed comes the tree, which is concern. Then from the concern-tree comes the compassion-fruit, which flowers into oneness.

Question: How can one keep focused on the dimension of love and be protected from the external forces in order to let the power come through?

Surrender and oneness

If the disciple is totally for the Master, then there can be no pain, no misunderstanding, no doubt, because immediately the disciple will feel that what the Master is doing is not only best for him but also what God wants from him. In my case, there is no individual will. An ordinary human being has more individual will than I have, because I have offered my will to the Supreme. From the spiritual point of view, when I ask some disciples to do something. it is not my will, it is the Will of the Supreme. You people have more freedom than I have. My freedom is the infinite freedom, but it is only the expression, the revelation and manifestation of the highest Truth. Ordinary people have more freedom: they can say this, they can do that, they can break something. I cannot do these things because I know that inside me is the Cosmic Law. I know what will happen if I break the Cosmic Law and what disharmony I will create in the world's atmosphere, so how can I do it? I have sold my individual will to the Supreme; I cannot take it back. Ordinary people have not yet realised what individual will is. They are constantly using their own whimsical will; and when they are conscious of it, they think that it is so precious. They feel that their will is their freedom. But there is no freedom in that will. A time comes when they go deep within. Then they realise that their individual will is all frustration; it is all limited achievement whereas only unlimited achievement can give them real joy.

I wish to say that unconditional surrender comes only when the mind has become totally one with the soul. The soul is the climbing flame of aspiration and the messenger of the divine Truth on earth. If we become one with the soul, then we are constantly happy. And who can make us one with the soul? For those who have a spiritual Master, it is only the Master who can do it since he alone is able to bring down Grace from Above. Personal effort on the part of the disciple is not enough. Only if the individual disciple is conscious of the fact that the Master is responsible for his life can this oneness of soul and mind take place. If a disciple has a Master, then the disciple has to feel that his life is his Master's responsibility. If he thinks that he himself is responsible because it is his body and his mind, then I wish to say that surrender has not been made at all.

Surrender means oneness. If I have become one with my Master, then how can I have a different will or a separate will? If my surrender is total, complete and constant, then the very fact that the Master tells me to do something should be honoured. The Master does not ask all and sundry in the street to do things for him. The Master asks only the dearest ones. The Master demands something from the dearest disciples which he does not demand from ordinary disciples. Among my disciples I have first-class, second-class, third-class, fourth-class, fifth-class and so on. The first-class disciples must feel that they have to surrender all that they have and all that they are to the Supreme in me. Then only can I give them everything that I have and everything that I am.

When Lord Krishna used to play on the flute while tending the cows, his compatriots — his friends and his female companions who used to adore him and worship him — would immediately leave their husbands and wives even if there were sick persons in the family. They used to discard the whole world and immediately come to listen to his music. When Lord Krishna used to play in Vrindavan on his flute, he was calling and inviting the aspirants. Immediately all the gopis and all the other aspirants went to him. They left their homes and relatives, because the divine call had come. When the divine call comes, you have to give up everything. Then, when you give up everything, you get the Infinite.

When the hour strikes, when the Guru makes a decision, you have to know that the decision comes directly from the Supreme. The Guru, if he is a real Guru, has no individual will to exercise. A first-class disciple has to sit down if the Guru says to sit down. If the Guru says to stand up, then the first-class disciple has to stand up. This is the relationship between a first-class disciple and the Master. Second, third and fourth-class disciples can do anything. They can have their ego, they can have their doubts, they can have the responsibility for their own lives, but not the first-class disciples. The first-class disciples have to give total responsibility to the Master.

So, when the call comes from the Master that God wants you to do something, if you want to be first-class disciples, then please do not look for the world, do not look for society, do not look for your relatives. If you do, then you are violating the divine Will in the Guru and the divine Will in yourself. The world may misunderstand you, the world may hate you to the end of your life, but God will embrace you. God will put you in His Lap. At that time, you will become one with God. If you become one with God, then let the rest of the world hate you, let it say anything against you. But if you go away from God just to please humanity, then you may please humanity, but God will not be pleased.

Again, to tell the truth, you can never, never please humanity. No matter how sincere you are or how pure you are, the very nature of humanity is to demand of you, to misunderstand you, to find fault with you: "You could have easily given me more; it is not enough." But God is not like that. He is all Love. He asks of you only what He has already given to you. He won't ask from you one cent more than He has already given to you.

When the hour strikes, the outer world and the inner world have to become one, cheerfully one with the decision of the Guru. At that time you should just run. You have to be really proud when your Guru makes a decision for you. The Guru has many things to do with the Supreme and with the other disciples; so when he makes a special decision for you — "do this or say this, come here or go there" — then you should be really proud. It means that your Guru has entered into your life totally.

Surrender and capacity

It may be true that sometimes you have the capacity but no confidence. You may be afraid of failing and then you become nervous. In the spiritual life also we see it happen. We need an unconditionally surrendered disciple. Some people do not understand what an unconditionally surrendered disciple is. They think that he is a fool, that his mind is not developed, that he is nothing. But this is all wrong. Only when one makes unconditional surrender does a person become perfect. Somebody may have no mind or he may not have developed some other quality which you and others call important. But in our path, what is most important is this unconditional surrender. Even if a disciple has nothing else to show in the outer world, if he has made unconditional surrender, then I wish to say that that disciple becomes perfect. Somebody will think, "Oh, his mind is not developed, his talents are not developed." But I wish to say that this is the wrong idea. First make unconditional surrender, and then the other things that you feel are necessary, if they are necessary at all, will be given to you in boundless measure.

Let us say that the world has accepted you because you have done something marvellous, something very great. You may feel that if you give unconditional surrender, then I will be able to make something great out of your achievement. But you are cherishing a wrong theory. I need only the person whom I can mould according to my own way, according to the Supreme's Way. If the individual is very malleable, then he can be a real, unconditionally surrendered disciple. That person need not have any outer qualification, any outer achievement. The world will appreciate your outer achievements, but I will appreciate your ability to let me mould you the way the Supreme wants me to mould you. So outer achievement is no achievement in this case. Some disciples say, "If I make unconditional surrender, I will lose so much," or "I have studied so many books, so my unconditional surrender will be most striking." But I wish to say that if you know so many things, if you have, say, a very developed mind, then you will have to unlearn many things in order to make unconditional surrender.

Question: I'm not a follower of your path, but sometimes I think of the path of devotion and surrender, and when I do, my head seems to fight it very strongly. It says, "No, you cannot surrender," because I don't feel as if I know exactly what it is that I am surrendering to, and it makes me feel that I am being blind in a way.

Many things are like this. Suppose a friend of yours is doing something wrong, and he is asking you for a favour. What do you do? You do it, because he is your friend, after all.

But now let us take only the positive side. If we feel that the entire body belongs to us, then we will claim our head as our own and our feet also we will claim as our own. Now it may happen that I feel that my head has something which my feet do not have. Let us say that my head has illumination. It is difficult for the head to have illumination before the heart, but let us say that the head is higher than the feet. So the head has got some wealth. I claim my head as my own and I claim my feet also as my own. Is it beneath the dignity of my feet to grab the very thing that my head is more than eager to give to my feet? No, head and feet are one. This moment I need the help of my head, then the next moment I need the help of my feet. Just because I have established my oneness, conscious oneness, with my feet and with my head, I am getting their wealth. So this is real wisdom.

I may have something valuable in my safe, which is in my bedroom, let us say. I do not keep it in my kitchen. If I keep my money in my safe, in my bedroom, then naturally I will go there when I need money. I know it is my money, so for me to go upstairs and collect the money is not beneath my dignity. At that time I am not surrendering, only I have the wisdom to go to the right place where I have kept my money, my treasure.

Similarly, when we surrender to God, we surrender to our highest part, for God is our most illumined part. We can't separate God from our existence. If we feel that God and we are one, then God is our most illumined part, let us say, and we are right now unillumined. We are clever, we are wise. We know that the person who has been illumined, who is all-illumination, is also part and parcel of our entire existence, so we go there and receive from Him. If we take surrender in that way, then there is no problem.

But if we take surrender as the surrender of a slave to his master, then we will never be able to feel our oneness. The slave surrenders to his master out of fear. He is afraid that his service will be dispensed with if he does not do his job well. He feels that no matter what he has done, even if he has done everything for the master soulfully, devotedly, even unconditionally, still there is no guarantee that the master will give him what he wants or that the master will really please him. If it is an ordinary human being and if he has a few slaves, then he will get whatever he wants from his slaves; but when it is a matter of his own self-giving, he may be millions of miles away from their needs. But when we offer our existence to God, we have the feeling of oneness between Father and son or Mother and son. The little child always feels that what his father has is his own. His father has a car. The child is only three years old, but he says, "I have a car." He does not have to say, "My father has a car." He will simply say, "It is my car, our car."

So if we change our understanding of our relationship with God, then there is no problem. If He has Peace, then we have every right to claim His Peace as our own. He is our Father, so we can inherit it. Because God is our Father, because God is our Mother, we can have that kind of feeling. If we feel that we are God's slaves and He is our Lord Supreme, that we are at His Feet and we will have to do everything for Him, then we have no inner feeling, no assurance, no guarantee that He will please us. But if we have the feeling of oneness between Father and son, between Mother and child, then where is the problem? There is no problem because we know that what the mother or the father has, the child has every right to claim as his very own. So the child at that time does not surrender. He only claims, legitimately claims, his mother's wealth or his father's wealth as his very own.

We don't surrender anything; only we become aware of the fact that we belong to someone who has everything. We just go and claim it and possess it at any moment. For the feet to feel their oneness with the head is not at all difficult because the feet know that the head also very often needs help from the feet. Similarly, when we aspire, we come to feel that God needs us equally. As we need Him to realise the Highest, the Absolute Truth, so He also needs us for His Manifestation. For our realisation we need Him badly; for His Manifestation, perfect Manifestation, He needs us. Without us He does not manifest or cannot manifest. So, if it is not beneath God's dignity to take a little help from ignorant people for His Manifestation on earth, then how can it be beneath our dignity to ask God to give us a little Peace, Light and Bliss?

Question: Could you speak a little bit about will-power and surrender?

Without will-power one cannot make unconditional surrender; it will be all compromise. God will do something for us and in return we will do something for God. Naturally there are people who do not do anything for God and do not expect anything from God. But again, there are people who feel that if they do something, then God is bound to do something else for them.

When we pray, we feel that God will listen to our prayer. When we meditate, we feel that we will have Peace, Light and Bliss, which is an absolutely true and legitimate claim. But when we pray, when we meditate, we have to feel that it is our business to pray and meditate and it is God's business either to give us Peace or not to give us anything. We have to come to that kind of surrender. We shall play our part by praying and meditating; that is our task. God's task is to feed us with His Light, Peace and Bliss. But He knows the right moment. So if we can meditate, and during our meditation if we have the feeling that we shall not expect anything — that if Peace, Light and Bliss enter into us, well and good, if not, then we will be equally satisfied — then this will be the best type of meditation. We shall meditate because we feel that that is the only way we can become inseparably one with God.

Humility

Question: How can we live more with humility?

We can observe a tree. When the tree does not have fruits, it just remains straight, erect. But when the tree bears fruit, it bends down. The presence of the fruit means light and nourishment. But do we appreciate, do we admire the tree that is not willing to offer its fruits to us? Similarly when we have the fruits called Peace, Light and Bliss, we just come down to aspiring humanity. When aspiring humanity receives our Peace, Light and Bliss, we become of great service to mankind.

Humility we have to take as a divine gift and a supreme gift. It is something that we have to offer to mankind. We have to feel that humility is our feeling of consecrated oneness with humanity. If we take humility in the highest and purest sense of the term, then we can become really humble. Humility is not a matter of touching the feet of somebody, no. It is something that has to be shared with the rest of the world. It is the God-life within us. The higher we go, the greater is our promise to the Supreme in mankind. The more light we receive by virtue of our humility, the more we have to offer to mankind.

Question: Is there a spiritual way to be defeated by someone?

Admiration on the physical level means forgetfulness of what you have. When you feel that something unlimited can exist, then you forget that you have limitations. You forget that the things you are appreciating in someone else are limited. You are appreciating the unlimited consciousness in him, and he sympathises with you because he feels that he also needs the unlimited consciousness.

Dedication-light

Right now, out of twenty-four hours you give five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the evening and then you feel, "Oh, God has to do everything for me because I have dedicated myself." But look at your sincerity. Ten minutes you have given to God and you are claiming God for your own use for twenty-four hours. This is no self-offering. You have to know how you can give your utmost to God. Your utmost may be three hours or four hours or it may be more.

If you have ten dollars, then out of ten dollars whatever you are in a position to give wholeheartedly and devotedly is called your self-offering. In your aspiration, in your concentration and in your meditation also you have to try your utmost. Then only the Supreme will feel that you are trying to dedicate yourself. If your utmost capacity in meditation is, say, a total of three hours during the morning, afternoon, evening and night, then those three hours will be considered as your true dedication. If you know how to do something well, then for five minutes if you do it and the rest of the day you don't think of it, that is not dedication. You have to know your utmost capacity and then you have to exercise that capacity.

Sacrifice

Human sacrifice ascends. Divine sacrifice descends. When God or the cosmic gods sacrifice something for us, they have to descend. When we want to sacrifice something for them, we ascend. We ascend with our aspiration and God descends with His Compassion. But when we sacrifice something to God, we have to feel that whatever we sacrifice has already been sacrificed by God Himself to us and for us. On our behalf, the spiritual Masters give to God what He has already given us.

When we make a sacrifice, what do we actually do? We invite the vast in our earthly existence to come to the fore. Always sacrifice means the invocation of the vast in our human nature. When we invoke the infinite vast, it will enter into us. At that time we have to give up our imperfections, limitations and bondage. After we make a sacrifice, what do we see, what do we feel? We feel only one thing: love. If we have divine love, then we also have the capacity to express it. There are many things that we have, but we do not or cannot express them. But in the case of divine love, if we really have it, then we have to express it. The expression is always spontaneous. If we have money, then it is up to us whether or not we shall give it to others. If we have any material objects, it is up to us whether to give or not to give them. We can hold them back if we want to. But the very nature of divine love is expression. If we really have divine love, we cannot hide it; we cannot keep it for ourselves. Always it has to flow from within.

If we, as human beings, want to be transformed into divine beings, we have to see and feel the necessity of divine sacrifice on earth. Now, how are we going to know if this sacrifice of ours is complete? We can know that it is complete the moment we feel that by giving we are not only getting more, but becoming complete. Sacrifice takes the form of love, and this love is oneness. The mother gives to her child all that she has, wholeheartedly. When we give a little peace or joy to others and we feel that we still have more inside us, then we have to feel that we have not made the other person complete, and at the same time we have not made ourselves complete. When we offer our peace, love and bliss to another person fully and wholeheartedly, then only can our vessel be filled to the brim. God Himself will fill it for us.

We can start with material sacrifice, and we can end with spiritual sacrifice. If we cannot make material sacrifice, which is infinitely easier than spiritual sacrifice, then it is simply absurd to say that we have made the complete spiritual sacrifice. In the material sacrifice we are involved with earthly time, which means working for ten minutes or an hour. When somebody is asked to do dedicated service for the spiritual Centre, for the Mission, if he says that he cannot do it because he is busy doing this or that, then naturally he is not making a sacrifice. If this same person is asked by his spiritual Master to make a spiritual sacrifice by meditating for two hours, three hours or twelve hours at a time for God's sake, he will never be able to do it. He could not even do the easiest thing, which is to offer a few minutes or a few hours to do something on the physical plane. Others also could have done this devoted service, but only one particular disciple was given the opportunity. This opportunity is a real blessing. If at that time the person refuses or is not co-operative, then the opportunity is taken away and we have to feel that the Master's concern for the disciple has also gone away. When this concern goes away, then everything is gone. We start with opportunity. Then, when we go a little farther, it becomes concern. When concern is refused, nothing remains. Then the disciple has to take the responsibility for what he wants to do.

Each individual seeker gets the golden opportunity to make a spiritual sacrifice. This spiritual sacrifice is his aspiration for one minute, two minutes, five minutes or ten minutes. For a human being, aspiration-sacrifice is greater than material sacrifice. What a human being has is a bundle of desires. If he can minimise his desires, then aspiration is bound to loom large in him. When aspiration starts functioning in a human being, then he is really making a sacrifice of his limited being to the unlimited Supreme Being. We have to feel that it is in sacrifice that we can get joy. We get satisfaction not by possessing, but by becoming one. When we possess, we can never become one. We have the sense of separativity. But when we offer ourselves to others, then we really become one with them.

When an individual offers himself to the earth-consciousness, he does not retain his individuality any longer. He becomes the collective possession of humanity. At that moment God can be proud of His entire creation. Each human being has the capacity to make God proud of His creation. At the same time, we also have the capacity to make God suffer because of our ignorance, imperfections, limitations and bondage. God is our divine Father. He can never be indifferent to our activities. He is infinitely sweeter and dearer than our human father. God's concern is His sacrifice for us and our concern is our sacrifice for humanity and divinity.