Interviewer: Let me ask you about spirituality. I don't know so much about President Gorbachev, but can I assume that you are admiring him from a spiritual point of view, the way that you admire Mother Teresa and the Holy Father?

Sri Chinmoy: Spirituality has two wings. One we call aspiration, and the other we call dedication. With our aspiration, we pray to God. With our dedication, we serve Him. In the case of the Holy Father and Mother Teresa, we see that they are aspiring. They are praying every day to God. Again, they are also dedicating their lives to humanity. In President Gorbachev’s case, the whole world can see and feel how many things he has done to serve mankind. He may not pray to God early in the morning like Mother Teresa or the Holy Father, but his very life he has dedicated not only to Russia, to the Soviet Union, but to the entire world. Now he is in Turkey; last week he was in Argentina. He goes to so many places. Why? They invite him because they see something very special in him. They see that he has light. That is why each country adores him. Again, a prophet is not honoured in his own country, so he lost the election very badly. But wherever he goes, people appreciate him. They see that he sincerely means what he says. For him world peace is a reality in his life. His dedication aspect we accept as part and parcel of the spiritual life. He may not pray in the Christian way, like the Pope or Mother Teresa, but he is getting messages from within, and he is trying to express and reveal these messages to the world at large. That is why, for me, he is truly spiritual.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Sri Chinmoy answers, part 11, Agni Press, 1999
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/sca_11