The freedom that we use every day is not freedom; it is slavery. Each individual wants to fulfil himself in his own way and be happy in his own way. Each individual wants to be his own master, his own teacher; nobody wants to obey anybody else. But alas, when we dive deep within, we see that we are not in command of our life at all. There is not a single day that we do not listen to the mind. Our mind is our master. Our fearful mind, our doubting mind, our dividing mind, our unlit mind is what guides us. So naturally we have no peace.
When we are in the desire-life, our desire-life becomes our teacher. “Possess and be possessed” is the message that we get from our desire-life. We try to possess the world, but we fail. Therefore, there is no joy or happiness in our life. We want the world to possess us, but it fails to do so. Again we are unhappy and dissatisfied. So how can the desire-life bring us peace?
There was a time when we thought that if we remained only in the physical consciousness, we would be happy. But the physical consciousness led us only to a life of lethargy. Lethargy became our teacher and guide. We did not budge an inch; we only idled away our time. Naturally we did not get peace from a lethargic life.
Then we tried a new teacher: the vital. We expected the vital to make us happy. But alas, the vital only made us aggressive. We tried to lord it over others, thinking that supremacy would give us satisfaction. But all it did was create destruction, for we ended up destroying the world within us and around us. After some time we realised that being superior to others cannot make us happy. Equality must reign supreme if we are to get happiness, which is peace.
When the body and the vital failed us, we employed a new teacher: the mind. But the mind, too, failed us miserably. We expected silence, peace and vastness from the mind. Alas, instead the mind started giving us doubt and fear. Every day it started teaching us the songs of limitation, insecurity and jealousy. The mind also failed to bring us happiness.
Then we asked the heart to be our teacher. Since the heart cares for love and oneness, we felt that the heart would give us joy and, in that joy, we would have abiding peace. But alas, the human heart did not aspire properly. It unconsciously became friends with the body, vital and mind, and their weaknesses entered into it. Finally, instead of being cheerful and expanding its reality-existence, the heart became fearful and timid. The heart was not able to bring us peace.
So now we must dive deep within and discover our Inner Pilot, who embodies Infinity’s Peace, Eternity’s Peace and Immortality’s Peace. We must pray and meditate regularly in order to have a free access to this Pilot Supreme. We want to make Him our only Teacher, our only Guide, for it is He alone who can and will grant us peace.
He tells us that our goal should be loftier than the loftiest. But while we are pursuing this goal, we must remember one thing: perseverance-light. If our goal is to climb up the Himalayas, we must do it slowly, steadily and unerringly. Also, we must not set a fixed hour. Otherwise, if we do not reach our goal at that particular hour, we shall be doomed to disappointment. If we are ready to reach our destination at God’s choice Hour, then only can we have peace.
A Truth-seeker and God-lover can have peace only on the strength of his surrender-light. At every moment he must sing the song of surrender. Our surrender-song to the Will of the Absolute Supreme we must sing sleeplessly, soulfully and self-givingly every day, at every hour. And this surrender-song we can learn only through our soulful prayers and prayerful meditations. Without a prayerful life and soulful meditation, no one can acquire peace. So let us observe and practise the God-life within us. It is only in the aspiration-life, the life of surrender, that we shall one day get peace within and peace without in boundless measure.
OEH 109. University of Geneva; Geneva, Switzerland, 12 June 1986.↩
From:Sri Chinmoy,The oneness of the Eastern heart and the Western mind, part 1, Agni Press, 2003
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/oeh_1