Question: What if there are disciples who have been on the path for about three or four years and they have never come to New York, but they think about going on the Christmas Trip? They do not have the longing to come to New York, but they feel that the Christmas Trip is more of a vacation.

Sri Chinmoy: That is like enjoyment. Fine! But some people are full of love for me, full of dedication to me. Those disciples come to New York, they go on the Christmas Trip, and in between they die with eagerness to come here again. They may not be rich people, but they manage somehow. They die to come here even for two or three days. Apart from April, August and November, some disciples come here at other times during the year. Again, when I went to France, that was enough for some European disciples. They came to France, so they did not come to New York. They felt that they did not have to come. They could have gone to both places, but they went only to France.

There are some Canadian disciples who are so eager to come to New York every week. Absolutely every week they come! Some come once a month, because that is my request; once a month they are encouraged to come.

We have good disciples who want to stay with me twenty-four hours a day! I may not leave Aspiration-Ground until eleven-thirty or twelve o’clock at night. Some people disappear because it is too much for them, but some people stay.

Again, there are certain rules. If people do not abide by those rules, they will be asked to leave our Centre. But for other things I cannot ask them to leave. Even if they are millionaires, I cannot say, “You have the money to go to Paris, you have the money to come to New York — why do you not do both?” They have money, but perhaps they do not have inspiration, they do not have aspiration. What can we do?

And some poor people will go everywhere! They value my presence. They go to France; they come here. Some disciples have already started saving money because they have come to learn that I will go to Japan during the first week of July. Some are poorer than the poorest, like my Oneness-Dream-Boat-Shore disciples. How many places they go! They go to our Christmas Trip. You can see that they are eager, eager, eager, eager.

I give a weekly prayer to my Oneness-Dream-Boat-Shore disciples. Some of them do not even know English, but over two thousand people keep my weekly prayer. I have no idea how much other countries value these things, but how proud I am of my Oneness-Dream-Boat-Shore! They are poorer than the poorest, but they want to come here; they want to go there. My morning prayers how eagerly they receive! They are eager. Some of them get very little salary per month, but eagerness, eagerness, eagerness they have — eagerness and oneness.

Some people really value me! They struggle financially to such an extent, but they come here to see me. This is their love for me. Again, some people do the minimum, absolutely. They come only Wednesdays and special days.

Speaking of eagerness, I give so much importance to our Madal Circus. How much joy I get, innocent joy! When I see elderly men and women moving around in costumes, how much joy they give me! Children I expect to participate; they are all in the Circus-world. Some elderly people in the New York area do not budge an inch on other days; it is too much, too difficult. But on Circus day, they sing, they move! How much joy they can give us on Circus day!

From:Sri Chinmoy,The Path of my Inner Pilot, Agni Press, 2015
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/pip