Question: How do we know if we are growing spiritually or falling backwards?

Sri Chinmoy: First of all, you are not falling backwards. You are not going to go back to your old life. You have not given up our path. Still I am your Guru, so you have not fallen back. That is absurd.

The other question is whether you are making progress or not. Sometimes, when we run the fastest, if our hands, legs and entire body are perfectly coordinated, we feel that we are not running at all. But if we stretch our legs and hands and try to make ourselves and others feel that we are running, then we feel that we are going very fast. When we are at the airport, with all the hustle and bustle, we feel movement. But when we enter into the plane and start travelling five hundred or six hundred miles an hour, we feel that we are not moving at all.

So when you are firmly established in my boat and have confidence in the boatman, it may appear at times that the boat is not moving at all. But it is moving. If you are still in the boat, which you are, then you have to feel that you are making progress.

Then, there is another way to see your progress. Once upon a time you used to cherish hundreds of undivine thoughts: fear, doubt, jealousy and all that. Four years ago, you can see how many times you were victim to such thoughts; but now once in a blue moon perhaps those thoughts assail you. So naturally you have made progress. Here is the proof.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Illumination-world, Agni Press, 1977
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/iw