Question: What place does work have in the spiritual life?

Sri Chinmoy: There are some spiritual Masters who allow their disciples to live vagabond lives. These disciples are like parasites; today they are here, tomorrow they are somewhere else. Our path is not like that. I ask my disciples to either work or study. If you work, if you earn a decent, modest living and if you lead a normal life, I will be very happy. It is absolutely necessary to lead a normal life. You have to feel that work, if you do it devotedly, is the prayer of the body. The body's prayer is necessary, absolutely necessary, to please God. As the heart prays, the mind, the vital and the body also have to pray. When we say that the body has to pray, we have to know that this prayer is done only through selfless service.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Service-boat and love-boatman, part 1, Agni Press, 1974
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