When the son does something very bad, the father or mother may say, “I have cut off all connection with him — inner and outer.” Yes, the outer connection the parents have cut off. They may stop giving the son his monthly allowance. But the inner connection it is not possible to cut off. If the inner connection was founded upon divine feelings when the child was born, then no matter how bad the child becomes, the inner connection cannot be cut off.
The outer connection is man-made, but the inner connection is God-made. This is the difference. A God-made connection is eternal. The man-made connection, the outer connection, we ourselves create. When we make an outer connection, we can break it and again we can rebuild it. It is like a house. We can build it and break it, build it and break it at our sweet will. But the inner connection is not like that. The inner, divine connection remains forever. The inner connection can become better. It can be improved. It can be made pure. It can be made more illumining. But the inner connection cannot be snapped if it is based on divinity.
The outer connection comes and goes, comes and goes. It is all based on opportunity. We are opportunists. We keep our outer connection when we get something from someone. Then we snap the connection when we do not get what we want. I have had that experience millions of times. I cannot tell you how many friends have become enemies in this lifetime! When they see that they are not going to get anything more from me, or that I will not be able to fulfil them any more in a significant way, they not only cut off their connection with me, but they practically become my enemies. What am I going to do? That is the outer connection. But because of our inner connection, if anything goes wrong with them, I will still feel as miserable as I would have felt before. I will be as miserable as they are, or even more so. Because of my oneness with God, every experience is either more painful or more cheerful for me than it is for them.
Again, there may be a connection which is totally outer, but we call it an inner connection. Sometimes, after two or three months, friends will feel that they have developed such an inner connection. In that case, the outer connection is only fooling them. It is not an inner connection. When something happens to your friend, if it is an outer connection, you will only pay lip-service to your friendship. But if it is an inner connection, early in the morning you will get up to pray for him, at noon you will pray, and in the evening also you will pray. Your inner connection will make you feel as if your own life is in danger and you are going to die. With this feeling you are praying. When you have an inner connection, you will see how deep your feeling is. With the outer connection you only make one phone call and say, “Please tell me what you need. I am all ready to be of service to you.” But with the inner connection, because of your complete oneness with the sufferer, his suffering will be in the forefront of your consciousness twenty-four hours a day.From:Sri Chinmoy,Rainbow-Flowers, part 3, Agni Press, 1999
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