Question: You mentioned two paths, the mind and the heart. I was wondering if they were mutually exclusive or is a combination possible?

Sri Chinmoy: The ultimate goal of both paths is the same. The only thing is that if we take the mental path, our road will be long. When we follow the mental path, we often cherish doubt, because the mind tells us that by doubting someone we will remain a few inches higher than that person. Doubt makes us feel superior.

I have come here as a seeker. If you remain in the realm of the doubting mind, at this moment you may think of me as a good person, but before I leave this place you may think of me as a bad person. A few minutes later you will ask yourself whether you were right in your assessment. Then you will start doubting yourself. The moment you doubt yourself you are totally lost. By thinking that I am a bad person or that I am a good person, you don’t lose anything. But the moment you start doubting your own assessment you are totally lost.

If you follow the path of the heart, your inner feeling will tell you whether I am a good person or a bad person, and that feeling will last inside your heart for days, for weeks, for months. It is a question of identification. Once you identify with me, my entire reality is yours.

I wish to say that the body, vital, mind and heart all belong to one family: the family of the soul. The body, instead of remaining lethargic, must become dynamic. The vital, instead of remaining aggressive, must become expansive. The aggressive vital wants the entire world to remain at its feet. Like Napoleon and Julius Caesar, it wants to conquer the whole world. But that vital we don’t need. We want the vital that will expand and spread its wings like a bird.

The mind that suspects, the mind that doubts, we don’t want. We want the mind that has the eagerness, the thirst for universal knowledge. We want the mind that is eager to learn from everyone and from everything. We need the mind that has the sincere thirst to know something that is illumining and fulfilling. The seeker has to know which kind of mind he utilises. If it is a sincere and searching mind, then there can be a close connection between the aspiring heart and the mind. But if it is a doubting and suspicious mind, then we see that there is a yawning gulf between that mind and the aspiring heart.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Sri Chinmoy speaks, part 3, Agni Press, 1976
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/scs_3