What is liberation? Liberation is freedom from bondage. What is freedom? Freedom is satisfaction. How can we find satisfaction? We can find satisfaction on the strength of our aspiration and dedication in the inner world and in the outer world. In the inner world satisfaction has a new and soulful name: oneness, universal oneness. In the outer world satisfaction has a new and powerful name: transcendence, self-transcendence.
Liberation is the perfection of the seeker’s aspiration-heart and dedication-life. Each seeker is an artist, a divine artist, who has to long for perfection soulfully and sleeplessly. His sincerity has to be perfect, his aspiration has to be perfect and his dedication has to be perfect. His conscious conversation with his Inner Pilot has to be perfect. Until he has achieved perfect Perfection within and without, liberation will remain a far cry. No perfection, no liberation.
The human life has to be perfected, but how? It can be perfected only by bringing to the fore what the human life has deep within itself: a birthless and deathless cry. This cry, which is Eternity’s cry, eventually blossoms into the Vision-Smile of the Inner Pilot, our Beloved Supreme.
Right now, our life is far from perfect. Ours is a desire-bound life. Ours is a life of limitation. Therefore, our earthly existence always prays to be inundated with peace. Liberation is nothing but peace—peace sublime, peace infinite. How to achieve peace? Certainly not by exploring the outer world, but by imploring God in the inner world. A life of peace is not an experiment. A life of peace is an experience. Our earth-bound mind is prone to experiment, but a life of experiment cannot achieve peace. Only our Heaven-free heart, which cares for experience, achieves peace. Experiment is the capacity of the human mind, and experience is the capacity of the divine heart.
The experiment-boat plies between uncertainty-shore and certainty-shore. It carries two passengers: a man of doubt and a man of faith. When the boat touches the certainty-shore, the man of faith hoists his victory-banner. Again, when the same boat touches the uncertainty-shore, the man of doubt hoists triumphantly his victory-banner. The experience-boat plies between Eternity’s earth-bound shore and Immortality’s Heaven-free shore.
I have two friends: an Indian seeker and a Western seeker. The Indian seeker has always cared more for liberation than for salvation. The Western seeker has always cared more for salvation than for liberation. The Indian seeker has always told me that he finds it difficult to appreciate the way my Western seeker-friend constantly thinks of sin and guilt. He says, “If our Heavenly Father is all Perfection, and if we are a portion of His Reality-Existence, why do we have to dwell on sin all the time?” He finds it difficult to appreciate the approach of my Western seeker-friend. But my Western seeker-friend has always found fault with my Indian seeker-friend. He says, “Why do you have to think always of earth-bound, limited reality? Why do you have to think always of bondage?”
The Eastern seeker, my Indian friend, has always thought of his bondage and ignorance. The Western seeker has always thought of his sin and has always been assailed by his guilt. Such being the case, I prayed to my Lord Supreme to grant me illumination so that I could be of dedicated service to my Indian seeker-friend and to my Western seeker-friend.
Out of His infinite Bounty, my Lord Supreme granted me illumination to share with my Indian friend and my Western friend. My Lord Supreme said to me, “Your Indian seeker-friend is in the body-consciousness. If one lives in the body-consciousness, then one will always think of limitation and bondage, because the body is bound and its capacity is limited. Your Western seeker-friend lives in the vital, the lower vital, where temptation reigns supreme. In the temptation-world there is always the sin-consciousness and the guilt-consciousness. Guilt-consciousness and sin-consciousness are inseparable.
“A seeker of the infinite Truth and Light must live neither in the body-consciousness nor in the vital-consciousness. He must always live in the heart-consciousness—the psychic consciousness—which is the oneness-consciousness. This oneness-consciousness is of the Supreme Reality, in the Supreme Reality and for the Supreme Reality. A seeker of the Absolute Truth who lives in the heart can easily establish a free access to the infinite Satisfaction, which I have and which I eternally am.”
I asked my Beloved Supreme another question: “My Beloved Supreme, I am a seeker. I know that every day You do countless things for me. Do You do anything special for me every day?”
“Yes, My son, every day I do something special for you. Not only every day, but at every moment I do something very, very special for you, and that special thing is My sincere, blessingful work for your liberation. Do you know what I do? I push you and pull you at every moment. When you are lethargic, I push you forward so that you can see what you eventually can be: My choice instrument. When you are aspiring, I pull you upward so that you can know what you eternally are: My Vision-Reality.”
Each individual seeker needs liberation. For liberation, what he needs first is the Compassion-Eye of the Absolute Supreme. And for the Compassion-Eye of the Absolute Supreme, what he needs first is the Willingness-Heart of the Absolute Supreme. In order to have the Willingness-Heart of the Absolute Supreme, what the seeker needs is an iota of gratitude in his heart of aspiration and an iota of surrender in his life of dedication.
93. Princeton University; Princeton, New Jersey, USA,, 6 April 1981↩
From:Sri Chinmoy,The oneness of the Eastern heart and the Western mind, part 3, Agni Press, 2004
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/oeh_3