Realisation-Soul and Manifestation-Goal

Part I — Realisation

Question: What are the first steps in entering the spiritual life?

Sri Chinmoy: First, one has to feel the necessity of the inner life. A person must feel totally dissatisfied with the outer life and the outer world. He also has to feel that there is another world, another life, and that is the inner world, the inner life. He has to feel that if he is secure and satisfied in the inner world, only then will he have security and satisfaction in the outer world.

It will be easier for you to make the first step when you know what you are going to get from the spiritual life. The spiritual life will give you inner peace, joy and bliss in abundant measure. People cry for name, fame, earthly achievement, success and progress and so many things. They are right in their own way. But you should start crying inwardly from this moment on for joy, peace of mind and the awakening of your inner consciousness.

We have, all of us, two different types of consciousness: one is finite, which is earthbound; the other is infinite. This infinite Consciousness, this universal Consciousness is within us. So early in the morning, go deep within. Focus your concentration on your heart and try to feel there the existence of a child crying within you. This is your soul. Then consciously try to identify with this inner being, which is absolutely yours. When you are identified with this inner being, you will see the inner being is crying for you, has been crying for you and will cry for you for eternity unless and until you have become inseparably one with the Absolute Truth.

So, early in the morning for five or ten minutes, please try to go deep within with your conscious mind or with your pure, sincere heart and feel the necessity of the inner life. Once you feel the necessity, your inner being will guide you, mould you and shape you along the path. Finally, you can march and run along the path. If you can go deep within and sow the seed of aspiration with your inner cry, then sooner or later you are bound to get a bumper crop.

Question: What is the first step towards realisation?

Sri Chinmoy: To start with, we have to study spiritual books, spiritual scriptures, for self-elevation. In the beginning if we study a few scriptures like the Bible and other books, then we will get deep inspiration. We may feel that this inspiration is not enough to transform our life within and without. So then we have to mix with spiritual people — those who we feel are already awakened and aspiring, those who are walking along the spiritual path and marching towards the destined Goal.

It may happen that we will feel that the company of spiritual people is not enough. We are mixing with them, joining in their soulful talk; but the need of our soul impels us to go further. Our cry, inner cry, is so intense that it compels us to look for a spiritual Master. If we get a real spiritual Master, one who is meant for us, who can see our soul, then we are totally safe. There are many, many Masters who may not satisfy our soul's needs. There are many, many universities. We study at a particular university because it fulfils our needs. Similarly, though there are many spiritual teachers, only one can completely satisfy our needs.

We will have infinite confidence in our particular teacher. When we meet this particular teacher in whom we have absolute confidence, then we have to ask him for a specific meditation. Each seeker needs a specific meditation from his spiritual Master. Aspirants who have launched into the spiritual path cannot give a meditation. But a real spiritual Master, one who has realised God Himself and who can enter into our soul and find our souls' qualities, propensities and inclinations, is in a position to give us a specific meditation and guide us in our spiritual life.

When we have a Master, when we are in his boat, we are safe. Everybody will reach the Goal sooner or later, but if we consciously and intensely aspire, we will undoubtedly reach the Goal sooner than those who are still asleep.

Question: Perhaps just wanting to communicate with others could be called or named the belief in God.

Sri Chinmoy: We cannot communicate with others. Why? Because we cannot communicate with our soul or with our Inner Pilot. It is not in speech that we commune with our soul's light. We can commune with our soul through meditation. When we live in the sea of Light or in our soul's concern, it is all God and there is no necessity for outer communication. In the full perspective, we will remain unsuccessful in our outer communication if we do not begin with God.

Question: Do all souls have the same potentiality?

Sri Chinmoy: Potentiality everybody has. God is like a potter. His material is always the same; but when He shapes it, it becomes so beautiful. Although one pot may not be as beautiful as another, the essence of both is the same: clay. Similarly, in spirit we are all one. But while God is moulding a soul we may say, "Why has He moulded that one so attractively, while this other one is so much less beautiful?" We have to know that it is entirely up to Him to decide how He wants to shape each soul. My essence, your essence, everybody's essence is the same. But in a particular soul we may notice something called conscious aspiration. It was destined that each person should have very limited freedom. That freedom started right at the beginning of creation, when the individual souls came into existence. Now we see that somebody has used his freedom for the spiritual life, somebody else has used it for music, somebody else for poetry. The original essence is the same, the spirit is the same, but the manifestation is different.

Question: Is the state of liberation usually reached abruptly or progressively?

Sri Chinmoy: Usually it is step by step. First we make one dollar, then two dollars, then one million dollars. But again, God, being omnipotent, can give someone liberation all at once if He wants to. There is no hard and fast rule, but in ninety-nine per cent of the cases you have to do it step by step. First you get partial liberation and then full liberation. If God wants, He can give liberation all at once. Usually God does not want to break His cosmic Law by giving liberation to someone who has not worked for it. But if God wants to have that experience through a particular individual, He can make the person receptive.

Question: Is this state permanent or can it go away without practice?

Sri Chinmoy: From samadhi you can come down, but you will never lose liberation. You grow into it. You cannot lose Light when you have become Light.

Question: How can a person really find inner peace?

Sri Chinmoy: On the practical level, do not expect anything from others on the physical plane. Just give and give and give, like a mother who gives everything to her child thinking that the child is not in a position to give her anything in return. Do not expect anything from the world; only love the world and offer your capacity, your inner wealth, your joy. Everything that you have, give to the world unconditionally. If we expect anything from the world, then we will feel miserable because the world does not understand us, the world does not care for us. So if we can do anything unconditionally, then we will have peace of mind. This is one way. The other way is to meditate on the heart, where there is constant joy, constant love. At that time we will not cry for appreciation from others. We will all the time depend on our inner Source, where there is infinite Joy, infinite Love, infinite Peace. The best thing is to meditate on the heart. This is the second way, which is most effective.

Question: How can we achieve constant progress in our day-to-day life?

Sri Chinmoy: We can achieve constant progress in our day-to-day life only when we dare to say that the Supreme is ours. God-realisation is our birthright. Each aspiring soul must feel the Supreme as his very own. Then alone can he make infinite progress in his life here on earth.

How is it that we cannot make satisfactory progress? We cannot make satisfactory progress primarily because of our doubt. When we see our future, doubt tells us that we can never be so good, so devoted, so self-giving to the Supreme. When we look backwards, doubt immediately tells us that once upon a time we were not so bad; we were not so hostile or undivine as we think. Doubt will never tell us the truth about where we stand or what we stand for. When we spontaneously, consciously, deliberately and soulfully cast aside doubt from our existence, God-realisation becomes easy.

And how can we cast aside this doubt, this slow poison from our existence? We can do so only on the strength of our constant aspiration, flowing determination, total self-giving and love, devotion and surrender. I wish all of you to know the actual significance of these soulful, divinely intoxicating words: love, devotion and surrender.

Question: How can we remain more conscious in our life?

Sri Chinmoy: We can be more conscious in our outer life only when we feel that the outer life has no existence without the inner life, the life of inner light. The inner life is the foundation. If the foundation is not solid, then the superstructure cannot be strong and permanent.

Early in the morning when the day dawns, we have to feel that God comes first in our life. For ten minutes or fifteen minutes or half an hour, we have to invoke God's Presence. The Presence of God is constant everywhere, but if we feel that God is someone else, somewhere else, then we have to invoke Him from the highest Heaven, from out of the blue. If we feel that God is already within us but lying so deep that we cannot see or feel Him, then we have to pray to God to come to the fore. Either a seeker has to invoke God from without or he has to bring God's inner Presence to the fore. Then, when he feels God's Presence, he feels that his life is secure, for God's Presence means God's infinite Power, infinite Light.

In order to be conscious during our day-to-day activities, we have to feel that each action we perform is equally important in God's Eyes. We have to act with a surrendered attitude, with pure thoughts and an illumined mind. If we act to satisfy our ego, vanity or pride, then we can never be conscious of the divinity within us. When we are not conscious of the divinity within, then we cannot be conscious of our true existence in our outer life. God has a special mission for each of us and our soul has taken incarnation to manifest this mission. We have to feel that we have a divine purpose, a divine goal. Our outer life and our inner life must become one.

Again, we have to know how far we have walked along the path of spirituality, that is to say, our own development. A person eventually can become an expert in his career. This doesn't mean that someone can become a great singer overnight. It takes time for him to become a good singer, or for a dancer to dance well, to learn to do the steps in perfect order. Similarly, it takes time for a seeker to become expert in his field.

When someone is really a great seeker, very advanced in the spiritual life, he automatically prays and meditates during the very early morning and in the evening. In the beginning, perhaps he started with only five minutes of meditation in the morning. Then he began to sit for half an hour, an hour, two hours. If someone can meditate for two hours at a stretch with perfect equanimity, without losing his mental balance, then naturally he will grow inner strength, light and power.

We cannot meditate twenty-four hours a day. We have to go to work or to school. But while answering our boss's questions, or our professor's questions, we can feel the living presence of our inner being. We can feel the presence of a divine child, a divine presence guiding us. This inner feeling is surcharged with Light, Peace and Bliss. How can we develop this inner growth? It cannot happen overnight; nobody has done it. It is like a muscle. To develop it we must take exercises daily. In the spiritual life also if we practise daily, regularly, soulfully, we are bound to develop this inner capacity. Even if we speak about mundane things, we will not lose the inner wealth that we accumulated during our meditation early in the morning.

Everything depends on a seeker's achievement. If I have money and I want to give it, I can give it to you. But if I do not have any money, in spite of my best intentions I cannot give it to you. The same is true of spiritual wealth. If we are in the office and the workers are not at all spiritual, we could become a victim of their merciless treatment. But if our inner being supplies us with inner peace and joy, we will be able to swallow their undivine behaviour. Things that we have really achieved in the spiritual life we can use. If our inner being has accumulated Peace, Light, Bliss and Power, then we can bring them forward at any time.

Question: Can one be forced to accept a spiritual path?

Sri Chinmoy: An aspirant accepts the spiritual life on his own. There is no compulsion. Nobody can compel any human being on earth to follow a spiritual life. An aspirant accepts the spiritual life voluntarily. Either he has to follow the spiritual path in the way that path has to be followed, or he has to leave that spiritual path because it is not meant for him. Spirituality is meant for those who feel the necessity of God-realisation, who feel the necessity of Infinity, Eternity and Immortality.

Question: Do the experiences of the past help us to understand our present situation?

Sri Chinmoy: I always say that past is dust, past is dust. And I wish to repeat the message that past is dust. Let the past be buried in oblivion. The past has not given any of us realisation, God-realisation. It is the present that will give to each of us our Self-realisation. It is the message of the golden tomorrow that will enter into the present and change our lives within and without. Each new year signifies progress and there is no end to this progress. Our journey is eternal. Our Goal is the ever-transcending Beyond.

Question: What is the significance of love in your path?

Sri Chinmoy: Love. Whom are you loving? You are loving the Supreme in each individual. When you love the body, you bind. When you love the soul, you free yourself. It is the soul in the individual, it is the Supreme in each human being that you love. Nothing can be greater than love. God is great only because He is infinite Love. If one wants to define God, one can define Him in millions of ways; but I wish to tell you that no definition of God can be as adequate as saying, "God is all Love." If fear comes into our mind when we say “God”, then we are millions and billions of miles away from God. When we repeat the name of God, if love comes to the fore, then our prayers, our concentration, our meditation and our contemplation are genuine.

Question: Is yogic philosophy the only way to realise God?

Sri Chinmoy: We have to know what Yoga means. Yoga is a Sanskrit word that means union with God. If we want to realise God, aspiration, self-discipline, self-control, prayer, concentration, meditation and contemplation are all of paramount importance. Yoga comprises all of these divine qualities. Again, aspiration is nobody's monopoly; it is not limited or confined to anybody. Everybody can aspire if he wants to.

Question: Sri Chinmoy, what path of Yoga is your particular teaching? Is it Bhakti Yoga?

Sri Chinmoy: You have asked a very interesting question. As you know, there are three principal paths: Bhakti, Jnana and Karma Yoga. Again, in Jnana Yoga, the branch that deals with mysticism is called Raja Yoga. Now if people say that my path is all Bhakti Yoga, then it is a mistake, because my path includes all other paths. It includes Karma Yoga, selfless service. All my disciples are doing selfless service. It includes Jnana Yoga: while my disciples are studying my writings, they are doing Jnana Yoga. What is meant by Jnana Yoga? Wisdom. What is more valuable for a man to know than the Highest? The Highest, I say, is love. If one knows this very fact that God is all Love, is this not the supreme knowledge? The supreme knowledge is that God is all Love. The deeper we go, the clearer it becomes. Through love we can know the supreme secret, which is God. Just because we say there are three rungs in our spiritual ladder — love, devotion and surrender — people immediately associate my path with Bhakti Yoga. But in India it is not like that. In India fortunately when we say Bhakti Yoga it means all devotion, devotion, devotion. We don't care for any kind of mental illumination or mental awakening. In Bhakti one wants only to devote oneself with utmost intensity and not to cry for mental and intellectual light. But if we really love God, if we really dedicate ourselves to God, then the mind is bound to be illumined. We are not going to reject the mind; we have not come into the world to reject anything. We have not come into the world to throw anything into the dustbin. But we have to transform and illumine the mind. How do we do that? We illumine it with light. This room is all darkness at night, but with electricity we illumine it. Similarly, the mind is a dark room right now, absolutely dark. When we bring our inner light to the fore and then enter into the mind, the mind becomes all light; it is illumined. When this path of love, devotion and surrender is properly followed, it encompasses other paths as well. But just because we speak of love, people immediately take this as the path of Bhakti. Our path is not Bhakti Yoga. But it is nearer to Bhakti Yoga than to other Yogas. This path has illumination because it says that when we know, through some means, who is our Dearest, our Sweetest, our most Affectionate, our All-fulfilling, then naturally we will have wisdom. Wisdom is Jnana Yoga. Now, how do we combine all these paths? We do it with aspiration and dedication. Karma Yoga is there, in our selfless service. With our aspiration we try to know the highest within ourselves. Once we reach the Goal, which is inner awakening, we get wisdom which is the highest Jnana Yoga. So, when somebody says that our path is nearer, closer, to Bhakti Yoga than other paths, it is true. But to say that it is all Bhakti Yoga would be a mistake.

Question: Can Yoga be a cure for the ills of the present-day world?

Sri Chinmoy: Certainly. Yoga is not only a cure, but it is the only cure to modern life's restlessness and nervousness. Yoga is conscious, real oneness with God. God is all Bliss, all Light, all Peace. If one has a free access to God, then naturally he will have God's qualities, which are Divinity, infinite Power, infinite Love. The whole world is captured by restlessness and nervousness. The very aim of practising Yoga is to have peace, peace of mind. When one acquires peace of mind, automatically one possesses indomitable inner strength. How can nervousness enter into a person when he is surcharged with inner strength? There can be no restlessness, no nervousness. Nervousness comes when you take away a part from the whole. Fear comes when you separate something from the whole. God is the whole. God is the Absolute. When you practise Yoga, you touch the Absolute and enter into the Absolute; you do not remain a separate portion of the whole. When you enter into the absolute whole, there is all strength, all power; there is no fear. In Yoga you can cure all nervousness and all restlessness and all imperfection.

Question: What benefits can be obtained from the practice of Yoga?

Sri Chinmoy: All kinds of benefits can be obtained from Yoga. If we practise Yoga for material gain, material wealth and material prosperity, Yoga will give these very things to us. But we have to know what we actually want. If we want something permanent and everlasting, something fulfilling and transforming which will give us constant joy, delight and a sense of perfection, then this purpose of practising Yoga is absolutely right and correct. Otherwise, if we want only material wealth, we will get it by praying to God: "God, I need money, I want wealth, I want name and fame." God will give us these things, for God is everything. He fulfils all our wishes. But satisfaction, constant satisfaction, eternal joy, we will never derive from these wishes. If we feel that these are the benefits we need from Yoga — name, fame, wealth, satisfaction in showing the world how great we are — we will get them because Yoga is union with God. If we pray to God for this kind of benefit, God will be unified with us in this lower plane of consciousness. But if we want to realise God in the highest plane of consciousness where it is all Light, Delight, Perfection and Truth, we must know that Yoga can give us that also; Yoga has the key. The highest Yoga can give us these benefits. It is all-pervading and all-fulfilling. Many things we can get from Yoga. Only we have to know if we are going to be satisfied with the lesser goal or if we want to reach the highest Goal, the Goal where Infinity, Eternity and Immortality dwell together.

Question: Can Yoga change my life?

Sri Chinmoy: Certainly Yoga can change your life. What is life? Life is an institute. Yoga is research. When we accept Yoga, we become a research institute. When we research something, we enter into it and discover its truth. When we discover the Truth in ourselves, we feel that we have abundant capacity to do whatever we want to do with our life. This is the only way to change one's life. Yoga is one's conscious oneness with the Highest. The Highest is always the Mightiest. When we have become one with the Mightiest, when we have the Omnipotent to help and guide us in our day-to-day life, then our life is bound to be transformed. Impurity is transformed into purity, doubt into faith, fear into courage, imperfection into perfection and finally death into Immortality.

Part II — Manifestation

Question: Is there any way you can incorporate your spiritual life into your everyday life?

Sri Chinmoy: Naturally you can and you should incorporate your spiritual life into your everyday life, only you must do first things first. The spiritual life comes first. That is to say, if you pray or meditate early in the morning before you go to the office, before you enter into your earthly activities, you are doing the first thing first. If you do it the other way around, if in the morning you lead an ordinary life and then after say 11:00 am or 12:00 noon you try to aspire, it becomes almost impossible. You have to feel that the outer life is not to be discarded as a filthy rag. The outer life has its own value in our evolution. Only right now, it does not have as much light as the inner life. Since the inner life has light, naturally you will try to bring to the fore the light of the heart, the light of the soul. If you expect light from the physical body, the outer mind and the outer life, you will be frustrated because they do not have any light. If you concentrate on the inner life, on the inner heart and the soul, you can easily get abundant light and then you will see that the outer life and the inner life can easily march together. This is the only way you can integrate the inner and the outer life.

Question: What should be our attitude to the unaspiring world?

Sri Chinmoy: We know that it is really difficult for us to make a little progress by ourselves in the spiritual life, in our inner life and in our outer life. So we have to have infinite patience in order to see a little transformation in human nature, that is to say in mankind as a whole. We must not lose patience. Just because our neighbours and friends are not following the spiritual life, it does not mean that we should give up. We have to know that there was a time, either in this incarnation or in past incarnations, when we were also perhaps of their type and perhaps worse. We have to try to help people with the idea that once upon a time we were also unaspiring, unspiritual, but then by somebody's Grace or with the help of some people on earth, we became spiritual. Now perhaps we are not conscious of who actually helped us. But there was someone who helped us in our spiritual journey, in our inner awakening. So we shall also try to inspire people. If one person gets inspiration from us, that is enough.

Gradually, gradually, the number of seekers will increase. Now night is ruling the world. But a day will come when Light will rule the world, because it is from Light that the world came into existence. Some people are conscious of the fact that Light exists, while others are not. Those who are unconscious will naturally take a long time to reach the Goal. Those who believe in Light will advance much faster towards the Goal.

After one has practised spiritual disciplines for twenty years or perhaps even several incarnations, he realises God. Spiritual achievement is sacrificed after one realises God. A God-realised soul sacrifices his achievement by coming down into the world of suffering in a human body to work for mankind. This very act of coming down into the world is a tremendous sacrifice if one looks at it from a human point of view. But from the spiritual point of view there is no sacrifice. Who is sacrificing for whom? God is constantly sacrificing Himself for us, in us and through us.

Question: Guru, a person asked me why I have accepted Yoga and I answered that it is because I am trying to get back to God. The person said that I should first be more concerned with becoming a better human being and then worry about God.

Sri Chinmoy: How can I be a better human being if I do not think of the Source? Who makes me good? Who makes me better? Who makes me best? Somebody who is infinitely better than I am, and that is God. When the necessity arises from within, you can be a good human being; you can help other people. Now, who is supplying you with the inspiration and aspiration to help mankind? God. The moment you want to be a better human being, you have to offer your good qualities: your sincerity, your humility, your love for mankind. These good qualities come from only one being and that is God. If you want to give, first you have to receive from someone who has already in infinite measure. If you do not receive, how are you going to give? How is it possible?

Question: What do you think is the purpose of life?

Sri Chinmoy: The purpose of life is to manifest the inner divinity. The purpose of life is to become a conscious instrument, a chosen instrument of God. The purpose of life is to manifest the highest Truth which we embody. First we have to see the Truth and feel the Truth. Then we have to reveal and manifest the Truth.

Question: Has one to abandon the outer life in order to make spiritual progress?

Sri Chinmoy: One does not have to abandon the outer life. One has only to go deep within. Then one has to see how much of the outer life is really necessary in order to lead a spiritual life and achieve God-realisation. There are many silly, useless things which we do in the ordinary life and we have to discard them. Again, there are many things in the outer life which we call duty, soulful duty. But when we enter into the deepest spiritual life, at that time we have no duty. Before we reach that stage, we have to fulfil some earthly duties. But when it is a matter of choosing between the outer and inner life, we have to pay more attention to the inner life — then we will have solid joy, peace, love and power. Then whatever is unnecessary in the outer life we can transform. If we go to the extremes, if we stop talking to people, we will become mentally unbalanced. Outer balance is necessary; we cannot go to the extreme. But we have to know what is really necessary and what is not. Talking to people for hours on end — that kind of thing is unnecessary. But there are things that are of paramount importance in the outer life which we must accept. Things which have to be given up in the outer life we shall give up. We have to simplify our life. God is very simple; we are complex. Inside simplicity is purity; inside purity is divinity.

Question: Is there a link or a bridge between the inner world and the outer world?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, there is a link between the inner world and the outer world. Now what actually happens is that we are not paying any attention to the inner world. Most of the time we are on the surface. We pay all attention to the outer world. We don't get five minutes to meditate or concentrate on our inner, real world. Twenty-four hours a day we are moving, talking, shouting and living in the hustle and bustle of the world.

Now a true spiritual seeker feels that there is a link between these two worlds. And something else he also feels. He feels that if we feed the inner world, then only can the outer world have its true meaning. The body is the outer world. Daily we feed the body three times without fail. We have been doing it and we shall keep on doing it until we breathe our last. But again, there is deep inside us a divine child called the soul. We don't get time to feed this child. To keep the body alive we eat, but to help the soul, to fulfil its divine Mission on earth, we have no time. Unless and until the soul, which is the conscious representative of God in us, is fulfilled, we can never be fulfilled in our outer life.

Now how do we make the connecting link? If we know the art of concentration, if we know the art of meditation, if we know the divine art of contemplation, easily and consciously we can unite these two worlds. And to our widest surprise we shall see that the outer world which is now full of complexity, disharmony and so forth, is bound to be harmonious, simple, straightforward and genuine. The inner life has the capacity to simplify the complexities of the outer life. The inner world and the outer world must go together. Otherwise, what will happen? The inner life will have to wait for millennia to offer God's Truth to the world at large and the outer life will remain a barren desert for millennia.

There is definitely a link between these two worlds. We have to consciously feel this link and finally we have to touch and strengthen the link with our soul's determination and our body's dedicated service and willingness. Now the body listens to the mind when the mind says, "Go this way." The body goes, but the next moment the mind says, "No, no, no! That is the wrong way to take. Follow some other direction," and the body follows. In this way the body is caught by limitations. But far beyond the domain of the mind is the soul. This soul is flooded with light. Now if we consciously try to have a free access to the inner being, to the soul, then naturally the light of the soul will come to the fore and it will help us at every moment to deal with the tenebrous darkness in us and around us. And finally, we will see that either we have transformed darkness into light or we have come millions and millions of miles away from darkness and are bathing in the sea of infinite Light.

So if the physical body listens to the soul and not to the doubtful, doubting and sophisticated, complex, destructive, unaspiring mind, at every moment the link between the two worlds will be strengthened and one will complete the other. That is to say, the inner world will need the outer world as its chariot and the outer world will need the inner world as its charioteer. If there is a chariot without a charioteer, it is useless, for without a charioteer the chariot cannot move. Again, if there is a charioteer without a chariot, he is also useless. So both the charioteer and the chariot are necessary. They are of equal importance. Similarly, the outer life and the inner life are of equal importance.

Question: Is the conflict that we are experiencing in our times a detour or a destructive force at work?

Sri Chinmoy: It is neither a detour nor a destructive force in our fast-progressing age. In the first place, there is no such thing as destruction. In Indian philosophy, the three aspects of God are Brahma, the Creator; Vishnu, the Preserver; and Shiva, the Transformer. Very often Shiva is known as the Destroyer. But God does not destroy. Rather He transforms. Perfection can be achieved. For this perfection, we have to go deep within. We see that what takes place is an inner transformation of human ignorance and doubt. If you have doubt, the apparent destruction of this doubt is actually its transformation. Everything that does not help us to run towards our Goal will be transformed into something positive.

The root of all man's problems is ignorance. But do you destroy a man in his ignorance? No, you transform him. God does exactly this. God has promised that He will transform our doubt, fear and ignorance. In our philosophy, no evil or sin exists on earth. We think of these things as ignorance. What some call ignorance can never be lasting. Ignorance will be transformed into knowledge. Undoubtedly there are negative forces in us and around us, in the cosmos itself. The source of the negative forces is ignorance. Negative forces try to cause the destruction of our inner possibilities. The force that comes from the inconscient level inside us will try to destroy all our inner possibilities.

When a negative force speaks from inside you, it will say, "You cannot be God's chosen child. Impossible! You have done millions of things wrong." The negative force will tell you that you cannot become the perfect instrument of God and that you cannot grow into His very Image. Only these two things the negative force can tell you.

Immediately you have to tell this force, "All right, I have done millions of things wrong, but that is none of your business. I am not taking shelter from you. I am not going to be under your protection, under your wings. I am under the protection of the omniscient and omnipotent Supreme."

The positive force will immediately tell you, "Yes, you already are an instrument, chosen instrument of God. You are growing into the very image of God because God Himself is evolving in and through you. Unfortunately, you are not aware of it. That is why you are suffering. And poor God has to wait for your conscious awareness of who He is and who you are."

Right now we give the negative forces the chance to attack us. But if we don't give them the chance, then the negative forces have to remain thousands of miles away from us. If we constantly harbour good thoughts, pure thoughts, divine thoughts, then the negative forces can never stay in us. Each moment we are thinking either good thoughts or bad thoughts, divine thoughts or undivine thoughts. If we cherish a divine thought, then negative thoughts will not be able to enter into us because they know well that the moment they enter they will be suffocated. There is no room left for them.

Unfortunately, human beings get immense pleasure in cherishing undivine thoughts. After cherishing a divine thought for five minutes, they find it necessary to invite an undivine thought. Who suffers from this practice? He who is conscious of his aspiration, never he who is spiritually asleep. For an unaspiring person there is no such thing as negative or positive thoughts. He cannot discriminate between what is negative and what is positive.

Every day you have to tell yourself, "I am evolving." At least for five minutes a day you have to exercise your positive thoughts, positive will, positive forces. You have to believe that in you the Truth is already embodied, in you the Truth will realise and reveal itself, in you and by you the Truth will be manifested. For five minutes a day everybody can do this. Then there can be no negative forces to disturb you or destroy your aspiration.

Question: What is the spiritual value of the earth?

Sri Chinmoy: Those who accept life, those who accept Mother Earth as something real, feel that they have a bounden duty to perform here. This duty is nothing other than conscious realisation of God. Unconscious awareness of God everybody has. If one is not an atheist, if one does believe in God, then he will have awareness or at least unconscious awareness of God. But a seeker becomes consciously aware of God's Presence. He meditates on God and gradually, gradually, his own consciousness develops to such an extent that he feels God's Presence constantly, everywhere. He feels that it is his bounden duty to reveal God's Presence, which he feels and which he sees with his own heart and his own eyes. Finally, he feels that he has to manifest his realisation of the highest Truth. This manifestation has to take place here on earth and nowhere else. Realisation of the highest Truth has to take place here and manifestation of the Truth, the highest Truth, the ultimate Truth has to take place here on earth. A real seeker, a sincere seeker, is a divine hero. He has to fight against teeming darkness and he has to fulfil God's Will here on earth. Otherwise, earth will remain earth and Heaven will remain Heaven. There will always be a yawning gulf between earth and Heaven. This earth of ours must be transformed into Heaven, into a place of Joy, Peace, Bliss and Delight.

Question: Sir, it is true that you do not reject matter?

Sri Chinmoy: Never! We never reject matter, because if we reject matter, then where are we going to establish the Kingdom of Heaven? Heaven is a state of consciousness and the Kingdom of Heaven must be established here on earth, not somewhere else. We never reject anything. We accept it and then finally we transform it. In matter, spirit is hidden; but the aspiration of matter we are unable to feel or see right now. When we practise the spiritual life, we enter into matter and see that matter is spirit which has been asleep for some time. When we energise matter with our conscious aspiration, immediately matter becomes fully vibrant with energy. Here on earth the material life and the spiritual life must go together. Through meditation one can unite matter and spirit.

Question: Is there any other planet that sustains life as we know it?

Sri Chinmoy: No, there is no physical life on any of the planets. When it is a matter of this kind of existence that we have, it can be created only from the five elements that are found on earth. There are beings on other planets, but the beings are not physical. They can assume different forms. If you project your physical and mental vision you will see them as human beings, but if you touch them you won't be able to feel their substance.

Question: Is earth the only place in the entire universe that has physical manifestation? What about Heaven?

Sri Chinmoy: Here on earth not only physical manifestation but all kinds of manifestation can take place. Heaven is perfect. You take rest there after you have played your game. You are tired; you have worked very hard on earth and now you can enjoy yourself. But in Heaven there is no realisation, no manifestation; and that is why we do not give importance to Heaven right now. Only here on earth can we reveal the Highest. Here we have come into the physical form and here we have to aspire. Real achievement or manifestation we have to win. God is acting through the earth-consciousness. Now we have to know how far we want to go. If we want to climb up the tree and reach one branch, we can stay there or we can continue climbing up the tree. It depends on how far we want to go.

Question: When you say that earth can easily be transformed into Heaven, do you mean physically as well?

Sri Chinmoy: You have to know what we mean by Heaven. Heaven does not mean a place with big houses, big palaces or estates. No! Heaven is in our mind. When we enjoy divine thoughts, we are in Heaven. When we cherish jealousy, lower vital thoughts or other undivine thoughts, we are in hell. Heaven and hell are states of consciousness.

What does each human being have? Consciousness. It is through consciousness that we see reality. When we pray, when we aspire, our finite consciousness becomes infinite; our so-called unaspiring consciousness becomes aspiring. This is Heaven. If we say that we all will become divine, this is certainly true. We will have a divine life, but that does not necessarily mean a physically immortal life. When we think of Heaven, we feel that it is immortal. The consciousness of Heaven is immortal. But very often we are mistaken. We feel that the physical will remain immortal, as Heaven is something immortal. But this physical body will live for sixty, eighty, one hundred, perhaps even two hundred years and then go.

The very conception of Heaven is something bright, luminous, delightful and, at the same time, immortal. But we have to know what is immortal in us. It is consciousness, the aspiring consciousness in us. When we say that earth will be transformed into Heaven, that means that anything that is within us or in the world which is now imperfect, obscure or unaspiring will be transformed eventually into perfection.

Question: I feel that both aspects of man, the animal and the divine, are part of God. In order to enter into the spiritual life, is it necessary to deny or run away from the animal aspect in ourselves?

Sri Chinmoy: In the field of manifestation, God is everywhere. God is in pure water and He is in filthy water. Why do you drink pure water and not filthy water? Because you know you will get sick if you drink filthy water. Similarly, we have to know what things are necessary for us to reach our Goal. God is in everything, but what we cannot utilise in our journey has no place in our aspiring consciousness. If the animal quality is obstructing our way, then we have either to illumine it or to destroy it. Our philosophy is the philosophy of acceptance. One has to accept life as it is and then try to transform and illumine it. In the Yoga of acceptance, we do not destroy anything; we transform it. When we transform something, it loses its original unlit, destructive quality. When night is transformed into light, you will see the total extinction of night, because all becomes light. It is the same with the animal in us.

Question: How can you blend your transcendental Self or Spirit with your physical being?

Sri Chinmoy: This can be done and is being done every day by those who follow the path of Yoga and spiritual discipline. Yoga means union, conscious union with God. We are one with the Self, but we are not now aware of it. We can be aware of it only when we consciously practise spirituality; and for that we need aspiration. When we are marching along the path of aspiration, our Spirit will automatically blend with our physical being and the physical being will devotedly listen to the dictates of the Self. Then we will see that our inner life and our outer life have become totally one. At that time one complements the other; one fulfils the other. The inner life becomes the embodiment of the Truth and the outer life becomes the manifestation of the Truth.

Question: When we are in the outer world, are we to be free and open in talking about our spiritual life or should we reserve it only for those who are aspiring?

Sri Chinmoy: If you speak about your inner experiences, you will run into difficulty. The soil has to be fertile. If people are genuine and sincere, your conversation will then be fruitful. Otherwise, they will have every right to misunderstand and ridicule you. You may not mind if someone mocks you, but the person who has not benefited or been inspired by what you said may unfortunately try to block your own inspiration and aspiration. So we should use our wisdom and say that he is also God's child; let the moment of his awakening come at God's choice Hour. It is not our business to awaken him. When someone is ready, crying for a higher life then it is our business to awaken him from the sleep which is ignorance. If you give a thousand-dollar bill to a child he will tear it up. For him there is no value in it. But a grownup will know the value of a thousand dollars. Similarly when you share your inner experiences with an aspirant or seeker he will benefit by it. He knows how difficult it is to have an inner experience. Those who really cry for the inner life are the right persons to share your experiences with.

Question: Sometimes people say that the dream is always better than the reality and that the search for something is better than the actual achievement of that thing, because when the goal is reached there is no place else to go. Does this also apply to the spiritual life?

Sri Chinmoy: In the spiritual life, we have to know that there is no end to our journey, because God is not and cannot be satisfied with any particular standard. Today's dream will transform itself into tomorrow's reality. But again, tomorrow's reality will be meaningless in comparison with the reality we are aiming at the following day. There is no end to our reality, because we have the infinite Divine within us constantly. It is our goal to change the face of reality from bright, to brighter, to brightest and from high, to higher, to highest. Even in the highest, the reality has to go beyond, beyond, beyond, because God does not, cannot and will not ever accept any end to His creation. For creation is His progress, His own movement and God wants endless progress in infinite ways.

Question: How can a realised soul manifest himself?

Sri Chinmoy: A realised soul is like an expert climber. He has climbed a tree and he has the capacity to stay on the topmost branch or to come down and touch the foot of the tree. The subconscious mind is the foot of the tree and above that are the physical mind, the intuitive mind, the illumined mind, the overmind, the supermind. A realised soul enters into the highest level of consciousness on the strength of his inner realisation. Then again he has to come down into the subconscious plane of the disciples for his manifestation. If you live on the top of the tree all the time, you cannot fulfil God's Dream on earth. The tree is complete, the tree is whole because it has the roots, it has the trunk, it has the branches, it has leaves, fruits, flowers and all the other different members of its family. A realised soul enters into the Highest and again he has to enter into the lowest in his spiritual disciples to work for their nature's transformation and for God's manifestation. If there is no manifestation, then he is incomplete.

There are many Indian spiritual Masters who have accepted life, but again there have been spiritual Masters who negated the world, who did not care for the world. They wanted their own Self-realisation and when they got it they said good-bye to the world. Those who accepted the world said, "The world is within me. Unless and until the world is perfected, how can I be perfect?" Unless perfect Perfection dawns on earth, God's Vision is not manifested. God's Vision can be transformed into Reality only when the earth-consciousness is totally transformed. In order to transform the earth-consciousness, man has to aspire, physically, vitally, mentally, psychically and spiritually. So we must not negate the body. The Indian spiritual Masters who did not care for the body at all said, "Meditate, remain in the other world, realise God and then leave the body." But if you love God and if you really want to serve God, then here on earth is the golden opportunity to manifest Him and fulfil Him. If you get your realisation and you say to God, "I don't want to work for You. I'm tired, exhausted, totally exhausted, now I want to take rest," God may allow you to take rest. But in the case of a real divine hero, he will say, "I have worked hard, but now I wish to offer the fruits of my realisation to the world at large. Then God will say, "Work here. Do it."

Our path is the path of acceptance. Acceptance of what? Acceptance of this material world. While operating in matter, Spirit has to sing the song of Immortality. The material life and the spiritual life must run together. The material life can be perfected only by listening to the inner dictates of the soul. We have to accept the world as it is, but we must not think that the world has completed its task. No. Far from it. We have to work and work for the earth-consciousness. We have to free it from limitations, imperfections, bondage and ignorance.

Question: Is there any reason why the majority of souls seem to want manifestation and few souls want oneness or perfection?1

Sri Chinmoy: You are seeing that the majority here today care most for manifestation, but when we consider all our Centres perhaps as many people also care for the other qualities. But let us say that, granted, people care more for manifestation. What is meant by manifestation? Manifestation means revelation. The soul uses the dynamic vital for manifestation. We think that without the body we cannot manifest. That is true, but we have to know that without the vital, either the dynamic vital or the aggressive vital, we cannot manifest anything.

It is the vital push that compels the physical to work. If a person is restless, we say that his body is making the movement. But actually the movement is coming from his vital. Leave the body alone and you will see that it is all inertia. The body has very, very, very limited light. In the dynamic vital there is a little light. And in the aspiring mind there is more light. In the psychic heart there is abundant light. People are caring more for manifestation because through their ambition, all individuals want to do something. There are very few people on earth who do not want to do something. Yes, they may sit quietly because they are lazy by nature. But if somebody does something remarkable, immediately desire comes into them and they say, "Oh, if I only could do that!"

When we are in the spiritual life, we do not do that. If we see that somebody has done something extraordinary, we do not envy him. Either we feel that it is we who have done it and we become one with his real spiritual life, or we feel: "It is good for him, but for me something else is necessary; something else will give me more joy. He is the best runner and I am the best singer," or "I am an aspirant. Let me try to be the best aspirant and let him remain the best singer or best runner." In that way we are freeing ourselves. We are not competing with anyone. But in the ordinary life, when an absolutely lazy man who won't budge an inch goes to a football match and sees how dynamic the players are, he thinks, "How I wish to be that kind of player!" Look at this! Only one hour before, he said that rest is the most important thing, his most favourite thing but right now he sees these people kicking a ball and he wants to do that. Now he wants to manifest himself in football.

That is how it is for ordinary human beings. The vital immediately wants to do something, although it knows that the body does not care for the action. Consciously, the individual does not know that his body does not care to do something and his soul does not care to do it; but the moment he sees that somebody has achieved something, he says, "I also have to become that." All day and night, he has been sleeping, resting; he has been in another world. But when he sees somebody's achievement, immediately he becomes greedy and feels that he also has to do the same thing.

But spiritual people don't do this. They enjoy, but they feel that they have their own goal; or they become one with the doers. When I see that somebody is running the fastest, I really feel that I am the fastest runner. Ask me to run with the fastest runner and I will be nowhere. But when the person runs, I get such joy because I feel that it is I who have run the fastest. Or as a seeker, I will say that his goal is to become the fastest runner and my goal is to realise God. In that way, the seeker in me is safe. But ordinary men won't act like that. They will operate in their vital. They will do nothing and, at the same time, the moment they see somebody else achieve something, immediately they will try to grab it. Without working they want to get the same name and fame the same admiration, which is impossible. That is what the manifestation is like for ordinary, unaspiring people. But for the sincerely aspiring people, it is different.

RSG 35. This question was asked after Sri Chinmoy spoke about the three major categories of souls: those that care most for divine manifestation, those that care most for perfection of the inner and outer life and those that care most for oneness with the Inner Pilot. Sri Chinmoy told each disciple present what type of soul he had.↩

Question: What philosophy do you express to the world today?

Sri Chinmoy: My philosophy is the absolute acceptance of life. Life has to be accepted. In this life there is the living Breath of God. God is not only in Heaven, He is within us as well. God and His creation can never be separated.

My message is this: if we really think of God, if we feel the existence of God, then we have to accept the world as real, just as God is real.

First we have to accept the world as it is. If we do not accept the world, then what are we going to change? What are we going to transform? If a potter does not accept his clay, then how is he going to shape and mould a pot? We have to aspire to bring down Peace, Light and Bliss for the world. We have to enter into the very breath of life in humanity in order to transform and change the face of earth.

Question: Isn't your path more difficult because you accept the world around you?

Sri Chinmoy: This path is the easiest, the safest and the swiftest. If you say that those who are isolated, those who enter into the Himalayan caves and neglect society will find less difficulty in realising God, granted. But if they do not accept humanity, what do they ultimately gain? If our plot of land is very tiny, only one acre, then our crop will also be tiny. But if we have much land and the capacity and materials to cultivate it then we are bound to get a bumper crop. We are bound to get a bumper crop of realisation in infinite measure because we have accepted humanity.

If I love my Father, and if I see that my brothers and sisters have not yet realised Him, then what will I do? I will give my light, my achievement, to my brothers and sisters. That the world has to be relinquished — this is an old Indian theory which is absolutely wrong. Today you will renounce the world, tomorrow you will renounce your family members and the day after tomorrow you will renounce yourself. Then what are you going to do?

Our path is undoubtedly the path of heroes, of divine warriors. We have to fight against doubt, worry, fear, obstruction, limitation, imperfection, bondage and death. But if we really love God, then nothing is difficult. Everything becomes very secure and safe. This is the easiest and most fulfilling path for the sincere, for the totally dedicated, for the brave souls who are ready to walk, march, run and fly along the path of Eternity.

Question: Is manifestation necessary for the spiritual aspirants who follow your path?

Sri Chinmoy: Some people do not agree with us that aspiration and manifestation can go together. If they don't believe us, then I have to remain millions of miles away from them. If an individual says he does not believe in manifestation, that he believes only in aspiration, then he is not following my philosophy. If any of my disciples feel that they want only realisation and not manifestation, I wish to say that realisation is helpless without manifestation. They go together. Some people are more than eager and anxious to manifest, but a few have a wrong conception of our spiritual life. Let us feel always that aspiration and manifestation not only can but must go together. Like the right eye and the left eye, they both are needed. When both eyes function properly we can see the world. If one eye is defective, then we are half blind. Take aspiration and manifestation in that light. One eye is aspiration, the other eye is manifestation. We need both in order to be complete.

Part III — Perfection-Goal

Perfection-Goal

Perfection is the seeker's fulfilling realisation and fulfilled manifestation. Everything else has dawned on earth save perfection, perfect Perfection.

Perfection is the tree.

Perfect Perfection is the fruit.

Man's speculation about perfection is his ignorance. Man's concentration on perfection is his knowledge. Man's meditation on perfection is his wisdom. Man's contemplation on perfection is his world-illumining, world-transforming inner eye.

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God's Message is Perfection.

Man's message is temptation.

God's Message is Perfection.

Man's message is frustration.

God's Message is Perfection.

Man's message is destruction.

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Perfection-Goal and the freedom-soul go together. He who reaches the state of freedom-soul has conquered his inner life and immortalised his outer life. He is the chosen instrument of God. He is the direct channel of God. He is the representative of God here on earth.

Cry and try.

When we cry to see the transcendental Light and when we try to perfect our outer nature, our perfection does not remain a far cry. Perfection is ours.

Exert and control.

When we exert the divine in us and control the animal in us, perfection begins to dawn within us. The flower of perfection blooms.

See and be.

When we try to see the truth with the Eye of God, not with our own eyes, and when we consciously try to be the surrendered instrument of God, perfection in no time dawns. The Golden All of perfection beckons our aspiring hearts. It is true that perfection cannot be achieved overnight. Realisation cannot be achieved all at once. It takes time.

Let me tell you a story. A young seeker once came up to a spiritual Master for initiation, and was duly initiated. Then the following day he said, "Master, now that you have initiated me, you have to give me realisation. I want to see God."

The Master said, "My child, how is it possible for you to realise God in one day?"

Two days later, he said, "Oh, I want to realise God."

The Master said, "You are not ready."

A few days later, again the same request: "Master, I want to realise God." He had not completed his task. He had not launched into the spiritual path properly. Just the other day the Master had initiated him, but now he was crying for realisation without following the proper method. Without swimming in the sea of aspiration, he wanted to realise God.

On his way to the Ganges for a dip, the Master invited this particular disciple to come with him. As the two entered the water, the Master pressed the disciple's head underwater for a couple of minutes. When he released it, the Master asked, "What did you feel when I was pressing your head into the water?"

"Master, I was gasping for air. I was practically dying and I thought I would not survive. The moment you released me, I got my life back."

The Master said, "If you can come to that same state of consciousness and feel that without God you cannot live even for a few minutes, you will realise God. You will realise God at that moment on the strength of your highest aspiration. Your brightest inner flame has to be kindled, and then you have to cry — cry for God as a child cries for his mother. Only then is God-realisation possible.

The disciple learned the lesson. Truly and soulfully he entered into the spiritual life and listened to all his Master's dictates. Wholeheartedly he launched into the spiritual life. He felt the necessity of freedom from the domain of desires. He felt the necessity to grow into the mounting flame of aspiration, constant aspiration. Then realisation for him was not a far cry. He did realise God.

When we use the term 'Heaven', we feel that Heaven is all light, delight and perfection. But where is that Heaven? It is deep within us, in the inmost recesses of our hearts. High Heaven, higher Heaven and highest Heaven are all within us.

When we offer our soulful thoughts to our brothers and sisters, we live in high Heaven.

When we offer the results of our soulful actions to mankind, we live in higher Heaven.

Finally, when we offer our soulful existence to humanity at large, unreservedly and unconditionally, we live in the highest Heaven.

We can live in the highest Heaven every day. God has given us the capacity. He has given us the potentiality. It is we who have to manifest our inner potentiality and capacity. We are all surcharged with indomitable inner courage. Unfortunately, we do not use our inner unlimited capacity. We use our outer limited capacity. We are afraid of diving deep within. Inside is the treasure. Inside is the key. We do not know where we have put the key. We have totally forgotten. We do not know where the treasure lies.

At this point we see the need for a spiritual Master who knows where the key is and where the treasure lies. He does not give something of his own to the seeker. He only brings to the fore the seeker's inner wealth. God-realisation is not his sole monopoly. Everybody will realise God, without fail. It is a matter of time. One realises God today on the strength of his inner inspiration. Another realises God tomorrow on the strength of his sincere aspiration. Everybody will realise God at God's choice Hour. Again, those of us who are sincere seekers can expedite our journey. We can walk towards our goal. We can march towards our goal. We can run towards our goal. If we run, naturally we shall reach the goal sooner than those who are walking towards their destination.

Perfection-Goal. Perfect Perfection here on earth has to be manifested, but how? We have to start our journey with inspiration. We have to feel every day deep within us in all our activities the necessity of inspiration. Without inspiration there can be no proper achievement. Then we have to go one step further. After inspiration we have to feel the momentous necessity of aspiration. Inspiration is not all. We have to aspire to reach the Golden All, to see the golden Shores of the Beyond, the ever-transcending Beyond. This is what we expect from aspiration, the mounting flame within us.

But aspiration is not enough either. We have to meditate. Aspiration includes meditation. When we meditate, we have to feel that we are entering into Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. These are not vague terms, but our true possessions. To some day enter into our own divine possessions — Infinity, Eternity and Immortality — is our birthright.

Then, when we become advanced in our meditation, when meditation starts offering us its fruit, we enter the realm of realisation. We realise the highest Truth in this body, here on earth. We do not have to go elsewhere to realise God. We do not have to enter a Himalayan cave or sit on a snow-capped mountain in order to practise spirituality. No. Here on earth, in the hustle and bustle of life, we have to practise spirituality. We have to accept earth as it stands, as it is. If we are afraid of earth, if we shy away from earth, then God-realisation will always remain a far cry. Here on earth we have to realise the highest Truth.

But even realisation is not enough. After realisation we have to reveal our realisation. If we do not reveal our realisation, we act like a miser, hoarding our treasure. This is not right. We have to offer our realisation in the form of revelation to mankind.

Yet revelation is not enough either. We have to enter into the domain of manifestation. If we do not manifest what we have realised here on earth, if Mother Earth does not receive the fruit of our realisation, and if she does not have it for good, we can never be truly fulfilled. Mother Earth has to be fed with the fruit of our realisation. Here on earth the manifestation of realisation has to take place; and when manifestation takes place, perfection is bound to dawn. Perfect Perfection is nothing other than the absolute manifestation of God's transcendental Will here on earth.

We are all seekers of the infinite Truth. It is our bounden duty to rise high, higher, highest. Each human being has come into the world with the message of perfection. No human being on earth will remain unrealised. No human being on earth will remain unfulfilled. No human being on earth will remain imperfect.

Realisation, fulfilment and perfection: these are three brothers. Realisation is the youngest, fulfilment is the middle and perfect Perfection is the eldest in the family. These three brothers must go together. They have to walk along the field of aspiration. They have to swim in the sea of meditation. They have to fly in the sky, the blue welkin of contemplation.

God-Realisation, God-Revelation and God-Manifestation can take place only when man feels that he has to transcend himself. His goal of today is not the ultimate Goal. Today's goal has to be transcended tomorrow. Today's goal is the foundation-stone. Every moment we have to transcend ourselves and, while transcending, deep within us we shall cherish the message of perfection.

Perfection is bound to loom large and important in all our activities if we feel that aspiration is the only thing we need, the only thing we are striving for. In aspiration lies the key that can ultimately open up the door of perfect Perfection.

Part IV — Poems from the first edition

Think the right thing, say the right thing

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Think the right thing, say the right thing

Do what you think is right.

Only do not think

You are very great.

Say what you know is right.

Only do not say

You are either

Another God

Or

A future God. ```

You

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You are dear to me

Because

You love me.

You are dearer to me

Because

You love meditation.

You are dearest to me

Because

You love God.

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Three boats

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The boat of the past sailed

To reach the Golden Shore.

The boat of the present sails

To see the Face of God.

The boat of the future shall sail

To become the Heart of God. ```

I need your help

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Man, pray for me.

I need your help

To feel God's Grace.

God, think of me.

I need Your Help

To change man's face. ```

He is my real Friend

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God shook hands with me

Only to prove that He is my real Friend.

God blessed me on my head

Only to prove that He is my true Father.

God embraced me powerfully

Only to prove that He is my eternal Lover. ```

From:Sri Chinmoy,Realisation-Soul and Manifestation-Goal, Agni Press, 1974
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/rsg