Sri Chinmoy answers, part 32

Part I

Question: How can I always be happy?

Question: How can I always do the right thing?

Question: How can I always have enthusiasm?

Question: How can I never have any fear?

Question: What does God really think of me?

Question: How can I have more gratitude?

In India we have our tulsi leaf. The spiritual significance of that leaf is devotion. One of my Indian ‘mothers’ used to worry that I did not have any devotion. Her name was Mridu-di. Every day she used to run after me only to place that leaf inside my mouth.

For gratitude, devotion is absolutely necessary. When devotion-magnet goes away, one cannot maintain gratitude. If you are devoted to someone, then you can show him gratitude, you can show him love, you can show him concern, you can show him sympathy. But if devotion-magnet is missing, what are you going to do?

Question: How can I have more energy?

Question: Is it possible or is it necessary to like everyone?

Again, you have to know that the tree has a root, and that root is God. We can tell God, “I love You and all that You have and all that You are.” Like a tree, God is dealing with countless people.

You should have goodwill towards everybody, but that does not mean you should go and talk to everybody and show your sympathy and concern. If you try to do that, then you will have no time to think of your own prayer and meditation. Some people have no time to think of their inner life, and God-realisation is still a far cry for them. But they go to this side and that side to help everybody and make themselves feel that they are philanthropists. In most cases, they are only fooling themselves.

Question: Does my soul have any special message for me today?

You have to feel, as often as possible, that you are not the body but the soul. The difficulty is that the soul is a vague idea to us, a word. We know how to spell it, but most of the time we do not experience it. Just because we do not see it or feel it, we feel that perhaps it is a mental hallucination or superstition. But the soul is a reality. It is the divinity inside us.

You have to feel that the soul inside you is sacred. You may not be able to see it, but you can open your heart at every moment and feel it. It is like love. You cannot see your love, but you know you have love.

Part II

Question: What brings you and your students to Indonesia, especially to Yogyakarta?

Question: You visit so many countries of the world. I would like to ask you the purpose of your travels.

Question: Is it true that your philosophy is love and brotherhood?

Question: What do you have to say about those who do not believe in God?

Right now we are caring only for the positive aspect of God, but if some people are caring for darkness, we shall not mind because we know that eventually they will come to the same light. A day will come, after a few years or a few centuries, when they will realise that something is missing in their lives. They will be miserable because they have no satisfaction. God is light. How long can one deny light? Those who do not believe in God feel that there is no light. But one day they will be sick of staying in a dark room. They will say, “How long can we remain in this place? Let us open the door and see the daylight. Then only will we be satisfied.”

Having known the absence of light, these non-believers will sincerely love and adore the light. Once upon a time, perhaps we too were non-believers. That is why I always say that those who believe in God should show the non-believers utmost concern. If we speak ill of them or criticise them, it will only delay their progress.

Question: Your philosophy is so high.

Question: Are you sure that your philosophy of love and brotherhood can solve all the problems of the world?

Now, if I feel inwardly strong, I am not going to fight with you. And if you feel inwardly strong, you are not going to fight with me. A little child goes and pinches his older brother or strikes him. Why? He wants to show that he is stronger than his older brother. The older brother already knows that he is much stronger than his little brother. So, out of compassion, he forgives his little brother. He says, “No, I do not want to fight with you.” If we have peace, then we have love. And if we have love, then we have peace. Then where is the question of quarrelling and fighting?

How do we get this inner peace? If we do good things, we become good citizens of the world. We can read some spiritual books or pray and meditate or serve the world in some way. If we become truly good citizens of the world, then are we going to fight? The question of fighting does not arise at all.

He who loves God, he who loves Allah, is not going to fight. We pray to God four or five times a day to make us good human beings, to give us joy, to give us love, to give us peace. Who is going to pray to God, “God, give me the strength to destroy this person or that person”?

Part III

Question: How can we use flowers to help us in our meditation?

Then try to feel that this flower that you have placed on the shrine is breathing, the same way that your heart is taking in your life-breath. Connect your heart-flower and the outer flower. While you are looking at the flower on the shrine, feel that your breath is entering into it. Then again, feel that the flower has entered into your heart and there it is breathing. Your heart-flower and the flower that you have placed on the shrine are going to and fro, they are constantly interchanging. The flower that is on the shrine is entering into your heart, and again it is coming out to be on the shrine.

If you can do this during your meditation, then your heart will become purer than the purest, and you will be able to absorb God’s Compassion, Love, Blessings — anything that He wants to give you — in absolutely abundant measure because your heart is all ready to receive.

Question: Nowadays people are doing things like grafting flowers to other flowers to create new forms. Is this done by the Supreme through man or is it something that the Supreme is merely tolerating?

Question: Are there flowers in Heaven, and how do they compare with earthly flowers?

Question: When we offer people flowers, what should we feel we are giving them?

Question: At funerals, do flowers help the soul of the deceased person?

Part IV

Question: How did you become involved in ultra-distance running? I know you were a sprinter as a youth, but when did you fall in love with ultra-distance running?

Every day long-distance runners spend half an hour, an hour or two hours running and, while running, they receive special blessings from Mother Earth, from nature. They are breathing fresh air. They are enjoying the fragrance of flowers and the blessings from the trees and so forth, whereas short-distance sprinters run on the track. There they deal with speed, speed, speed. They try to run fast, faster, fastest. They have no time to enjoy the beauty of nature or to receive the blessings of Mother Earth.

Question: In terms of actually sponsoring ultra-marathon events — the 700, 1000 and 1300-mile races — did you specifically feel that there was a void to be filled when you started these events? I know that a number of years ago your team helped the New York Road Runners Club in their ultra-distance events. Then at a certain point, they stopped doing it, and you began organising them. Did you do it because you felt the world would lose something if these events were not going on?

Question: I have been told that you have returned to sprinting.

Question: When somebody like Stu Mittleman or Yiannis Kouros or Fred Lebow says, "You know, if Sri Chinmoy were not doing this now, nobody would be doing it," it is very impressive. They say it would be a huge loss if you ever stopped conducting these races. You do not respond to that at all? In other words, you might stop the events when your Inner Pilot told you to stop them, even if it meant the end of the ultramarathon?

Question: So you do not see any end to your involvement at all?

Question: In _Ultrarunning_ magazine recently it said that the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team puts on the best events in the country.

We can appreciate someone who is a great tennis star. We say that he has perfect strokes and so forth, but he himself knows how much he can still improve. There are so many areas in which he can improve. In our case also, we know we are not perfect. In fact, we are far from being perfect. So many things we need to learn. But our greatest joy is that we are not giving up. We may not be perfect, but our goal is progress, and we believe that through regular progress, gradual progress, we shall become better instruments of God.

Question: I know that you are uncomfortable associating yourself with big name sponsors, but if you wanted to bring more glamour to the ultramarathon, would you ever consider working with big sponsors in the future?

Question: I have been reading some of your writings, _The Outer Running and the Inner Running_, as well as some things on meditation. In one talk that you gave before the New York City Marathon a few years ago, you told your students to run their best, but if they happen not to run their best time, if they fail in their personal expectations, not to worry about that at all. You said the main thing was their cheerfulness, that the running itself was the most important thing. I also know that you do have a special respect for champions like Carl Lewis. Can you reconcile these two attitudes for me?

Let us say I wanted to run the marathon in four hours and I complete the distance in four and a half hours. If I am doomed to disappointment, tomorrow I may not go out to run, I may even give up running. But if I cheerfully accept the result, then I will receive added strength. Today I have failed to achieve my goal, but failures, as you know, are the pillars of success.

Hundreds of times I failed to lift 300 pounds with one arm. But I continued, and afterwards I went on to lift 7,000 pounds. Our philosophy is never to give up. If we give up, how can we continue? And if we do not continue, how can we maintain our cheerfulness? To all my students I say, “Remain cheerful, no matter what the results.” We are spiritual people. We know that it is our bounden duty to offer the results of what we do to God. He has given us the capacity to run. It is He who is running in and through us. So let us offer our gratitude to God.

Carl Lewis and other super-excellent stars in various walks of life we take as members of our family. Being spiritual seekers, we feel that the whole world is ours — not in the sense of possessing the world, but in the sense of embracing the world. You, he and I are all one. So if some member of the family does something, we feel it is our bounden duty to appreciate that person.

It is all one world. For my weightlifting programme, I have given the name Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart. Carl Lewis perfectly fits in with us. So do Roberta Flack, Narada Michael Walden, Bill Pearl and countless others. They are all members of our family. They love us and we love them. When a member of our family does something good, we feel it is our duty to appreciate and admire that person. In this way, we increase his capacity. Mutual appreciation is the right thing.

Question: Are people like Carl Lewis blessed in some special way to become world champions?

Question: An ultramarathon is very much a kind of inner search, as opposed to competitive sports like football. Is that what you find attractive?

In long distance, the runners are going slowly and steadily towards their goal, and there is constant joy. In the New York City Marathon, they say that every runner is a winner. This slogan I admire very much — every runner is a winner. Already the champions have finished, and we are cheerfully going on, ten miles behind them. Then, when we come to the finish, the organisers console us and inspire us by saying that every runner is a winner.

Question: Many religions claim that the Gods of other religions are false and only their God is the right one. You speak of the Supreme, but this does not seem to be a specific God to the exclusion of all other Gods. It is everyone's God, somehow. Your disciples are not strictly following a religion, but a path. Is that correct?

Question: That philosophy would have prevented many wars over the years.

Question: With team sports the way they are — football, hockey and so on — there is considerable violence. Should these sports continue the way they are constituted or should there be a change in them to make them less violent?

To come back to your question, it depends on the development of consciousness. A game can be played properly, with mutual respect and love. Again, it can be played with a destructive attitude right from the beginning. In that case, it is the destructive mind that is operating, not the heart. If the heart is operating, you know nobody is going to consciously harm anyone. But when you play with the mind, it is all division and destruction. The heart will play the same game, but with a different attitude.

If the hearts of these players come to the fore, they will play in the right way. Then they are bound to get extra joy from the game. Right now they are not getting joy from the game as such. They are getting joy only when they become winners. Then they feel that they have conquered the whole world. When they lose, they feel that they have lost the whole world. This moment they are the possessors of the world; next moment they are the losers of the world. But if we are seekers, God-lovers, truth-lovers, then when we play, everything is a joy. It is like children playing; they get joy from the playing itself. If you place twenty children in a beautiful garden, they will play all the time so happily.

Part V

Question: Today I felt inwardly attacked and it was very difficult for me.

Question: When we meditate with you, especially when we have a walk-past meditation, should we concentrate more on receiving divine qualities from you or on giving our undivine qualities to you?

You have plenty of time to prepare yourself. About fifteen or twenty metres you have to walk before you come to me. During that time prepare yourself.

The first time you pass by me, I see the physical aspect — whether you are in a good consciousness or a low consciousness. The second time I do not see anything. I go into my highest consciousness. Then whatever you can receive, you receive.

Also, if you fold your hands, the mind at least makes an attempt to go higher and deeper. I do not receive your devotion, I do not need your devotion, and I do not expect your devotion. But if you have even an iota of devotion, it will expedite your spiritual journey. Devotion is not simply a matter of folding your hands. Some people can fold their hands and there is no devotion. Again, others will not fold their hands, but they will have devotion.

Question: Some of your Bengali songs have extremely beautiful melodies, but when I learn the meaning, I am not inspired to sing them. Sometimes they embody a degree of helplessness — for example, _Bedanai bhara jibana khanire._ For me, songs that have a more positive meaning are easier to sing.

The mind very often does not want to accept our helplessness. Knowing perfectly well that it is doing everything wrong, the mind runs to this side and that side like a mad elephant. The mind does not want to admit that it can make any mistake. So the mind has to come to a point where it is totally tired, completely exhausted. Then it says, “I have tried in every other way. I am helpless. Now let me try to invoke God.” At that time helplessness helps us.

The heart can never be helpless because it always identifies itself with divinity. It has the capacity to identify itself with the Source, with the Supreme. That is why the heart is always positive. But the vital and mind sometimes become helpless. When the vital and mind become sincerely helpless, we can make progress. So from time to time if you can sing Bedanai bhara and other songs that express the idea that life is full of suffering, songs which are very painful, even pathetic, then it will help you. On rare occasions, if the mind can recognise its helplessness, then you will go forward.

The mind never wants to surrender. Even if you bring light in front of the mind, the mind does not want to surrender to the light. The mind has to be dealt with in various ways. If it does not want to accept light the way the heart accepts it, then there should be another way to make the mind feel that you are useless, you are hopeless. That is where some songs in which helplessness is being expressed — not only my songs, but songs by Ramprasad and others — can help us tremendously.

Even when we are helpless and useless, the mind does not want to acknowledge it. The heart, on the other hand, does acknowledge it. The heart surrenders very quickly, but the mind does not surrender. These songs about helplessness help the mind to surrender. True, if you know the meaning, there is no positive aspect in them, but I would not say they are negative. In a special way there is tremendous sweetness in them.

There are so many Indian devotional songs where you will be disheartened if you know the literal meaning. But their sweetness gives them a different meaning for the seekers. For example, there is one song that I play on my cello,

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patha nahi dekha jaibo

Question: Similarly your famous song _Sundara hate_ has the line _Chaudike mor bishwa bhubane bedanar sur baje._

Question: In one of your prayers, you say, "If I love You just because You love me, then I am worse than the worst." I feel that if I love the Supreme, it is only because the Supreme has brought forward that capacity in me.

When we want to flatter God, we say in a tricky way, “You have given me everything.” But this is more of a mental philosophy than a psychic realisation. Do we really feel it or is it only that we have studied a few books on philosophy? Usually, what comes to us spontaneously is the feeling, “I have done so much for You, God. In return, You have not given me enough.”

Question: If we have been meditating for a long time, how can we renew our inspiration?

Everything is preparation. If I want to do a long jump, first I have to warm up by doing stretching exercises and jogging. Similarly, during the day we have to prepare ourselves; we have to think of our spiritual life.