Question: How can I learn to accept myself and how can I accept the world?

Sri Chinmoy: The Lord, who is all-Love, all-Mercy, all-Compassion, all-Power and all-Protection, has accepted you and is utilising you as His chosen instrument. The Infinite has accepted the finite and through the finite the Infinite wants to express itself. What better reason do you need to accept yourself? The Infinite has accepted you to express itself through you. With deepest joy and pride you should be able to accept yourself.

How can you accept the world? If you see the world as outside you, then this world can never be your world. The world can be yours only when you see it within yourself. When you see the world inside you, then you will automatically accept it as your own possession. If you see the world as outside yourself, then either the world possesses you or you feel that there is a yawning gulf between you and the world.

How can you accept the world? You will be able to accept the world by changing your attitude towards it. Do not believe that the world is going to the dogs, that the world is past perfection. The world carries the Message of God. This world is bound to manifest the Kingdom of Heaven. This world is God's chosen field and He will fulfil Himself here; He will manifest Himself here.

When you bring the outer world inside you, do not expect anything. Do not feel that the world will do something grand or something marvellous for you. If you expect anything, you are bound to be disappointed. If you have to expect something, then expect it from the Supreme in the world, but do not expect anything from the world directly. Your expectation must lie in the Supreme.

Accept the Supreme in man and see more perfection than imperfection in him. Try to see more truth than falsehood in him. See his right side, his positive side, his brighter side. Each individual represents the world. When you are trying to bring the world inside you, do not take it as imperfection, bondage, limitation and death. Take it as something which has infinite possibilities for the Supreme and for yourself.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Problems! Problems! Are they really problems? part 2, Sri Chinmoy Lighthouse, New York, 1974
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/pat_2