Sacred Rock welcomes Sri Chinmoy

A special message for Narada¹

Narada

Narada, Narada, Narada,

My Narada, my Narada, my Narada,

Narada of our Absolute Lord Supreme,

Narada for our Absolute Lord Supreme,

Narada of our Lord Absolute Supreme.

Narada, O Supreme Musician, O Musician Supreme, who collects the sufferings of the world with the Smiles of Heaven.

Again, you are the golden link between the sufferings of humanity and the Delight of Divinity.

You are the divine beauty of your aspiration-heart.

You are the immortal fragrance of your illumination-soul.

You are indeed unique. Why? Why? Why?

Your greatness has not taken away your goodness.

There are many, many human beings on earth whose greatness devours their goodness.

In your case, your goodness is blossoming divinely, purely, beautifully, prayerfully and soulfully in and through your greatness.

This is something unimaginably significant in a truth-seeker and God-lover's life.

My pride in you shall always remain far beyond the flight of your imagination.

Why? Why? Why?

Your heart is made of self-giving, self-giving to the Creator and, at the same time, to the creation.

Your heart does not separate, cannot separate, the tree from the countless leaves.

When you think of the tree, you think of its countless leaves.

When you think of the leaves, you think of the tree.

You see both the tree and the leaves as one unit.

This is something absolutely rare.

Again, I wish to say that your life's greatness and your heart's goodness are running side by side, in perfect harmony, like the flower and its fragrance, like the obverse and reverse of the same divine coin.

I am praying to our Lord Beloved Supreme to shower His choicest Blessings at every moment upon your heart that is aspiring to reach the Highest, the absolutely highest Realm of Consciousness, and upon your life, the life that wants to spread love throughout the length and breadth of the world.

Narada, my Narada, your heart is a birthless and deathless expansion of love.

Love is oneness, oneness is perfection and perfection is fulfilment.

The love divine is your soul's, your heart's and your life's birthright.

Again, I am telling you, my Narada, you are accomplishing the most difficult and most significant task.

With your soul's immortal oneness and with your heart's eternal goodness, you are blossoming beautifully and powerfully in the Heart of our Lord Beloved Supreme.

Indeed, in you is the perfect synthesis of goodness-heart-cries and greatness-life-smiles.

Part II - Questions and answers

Question: Guru, you have so many children who follow you and watch you. Many would perceive this as a tremendous burden and responsibility. As such a great man, how do you see yourself and what is it that you want to bring to us and to all your children?

Question: Good morning, Sri Chinmoy. On behalf of myself and our big brother, Narada, I would like to thank you for blessing us with your presence. My question to you is this: what do we need to do as human beings to bring into our families and into our own lives the moral fibre that has been destroyed in the world?

How can we do this? We can do it by crying like a child. Without the presence of his mother, a child is helpless in every way. In our case also, we have to feel not hopeless, but completely helpless without the presence of our Inner Pilot, the inner Guide who guides us and guides everyone. With our heart's aspiration and dedication, we have to invoke this Inner Pilot and bring Him to the fore. We can bring Him to the fore only by loving Him in His own Way. When He comes to the fore, He will be able to tell us at every moment what we are supposed to do in our multifarious day-to-day activities and also what the rest of the world is supposed to do.

We have to feel His Presence not only when we pray and meditate, but in our every action: when we sing, when we run, when we work. And something more: we also have to feel that we are doing everything with Him, in Him and for Him. When we are watching, for example, we have to feel that we are walking with Him and also inside Him, inside His Heart-Garden. We have to feel that we are walking only to please Him; we are walking along the Road of Eternity and carrying the message of Infinity.

Question: Good morning, Guru. Because I love life so much and I am having such a good time, I find myself very frightened by the fact that at one point in my existence I will be passing from this life on to another life. I was hoping you could give me some advice about how not to be afraid of death.

Death is not something that stops our journey, no. Death is only a passage. I live in Queens. When I go to Manhattan, I pass through a tunnel. I am not afraid of the tunnel because I know that Manhattan is at the other end. Death is like that; it is a passage that we go through.

You can also think of death in another way, which is most significant and, at the same time, much more reassuring. In your house you have quite a few rooms. One room you use as your living room, another as your office and another as your bedroom. During the course of the day you do many things. For a few hours you work in your office, for a few hours you are in your living room and for a few hours you are in your bedroom sleeping. You cannot do any one thing for twenty-four hours a day. You cannot work for twenty-four hours a day because your body needs rest. Again, you cannot sleep for twenty-four hours a day. So you divide your time.

Each room has a significant role to play in your life. You are not afraid of any of these rooms. When you go to sleep, you do not say, "O my God, I have no idea if I will ever wake up tomorrow!" No, when you are tired you go to your bedroom, and the next morning, when your body is refreshed, you wake up. Similarly, in your existence-house you have one room called death and one room called life. When you become tired and want to take rest, you will go to your other room, which is called death. You have to feel that both rooms belong to you and are part and parcel of your existence.

Right now you feel that when you enter into your sleeping room, all the happiness that you are presently enjoying will be destroyed. But that is not the case. If you pray and meditate, you will realise that death is only a temporary rest. We believe in reincarnation. When you enter into your bedroom at night to go to sleep, you come back after six or seven hours. In the same way, when you enter into the other world, you also come back to the world of earth-life after a few years. An ordinary human being will reincarnate after six or seven years, or sometimes eleven or twelve. If someone is really advanced, he may remain in the other world for thirty, forty or one hundred years; it depends upon the Will of the Supreme. Very advanced souls take a longer rest because when they return to earth they again have to work very hard.

Ordinary human beings, although they suffer here on earth, are attracted to this planet. They act like a camel. The camel eats cactus thorns which make its mouth bleed, but still it continues eating the thorns. Unlike you, most human beings on earth have the feeling that they are suffering more than they are enjoying life. Then they take a solemn oath that they are not going to come back. But after they enter into the soul's world, they are deeply tempted to come back to earth, and very soon they do so.

Question: Namaskar! It is very nice to have you here with us. Every day at the studio we start our day with a meditation. I would like to ask if you feel we should experiment with different meditation techniques, such as focusing on a flame or chanting or whatever?

Meditation has to come from within, so everybody will have his own way of meditating. Again, there is such a thing as kindred or complementary souls. They may live in different parts of the world, but inwardly they have a special affinity. They are like flowers that come from the same kind of plant. One person can be in America and somebody else can be in Europe or Africa, but the beauty and fragrance of their flower-hearts are exactly the same. So naturally they will enjoy a similar kind of meditation.

But it is not necessary to meditate only with kindred souls. When we meditate, if the persons sitting around us are not meditating in exactly the same way, no harm! It does not mean that our own meditation is superior or inferior; it means only that our meditation is different. Each of us is bringing forward what pleases him or her most.

Some will try to make themselves as vast as the ocean or the sky, so their thoughts will not disturb them. Birds fly through the sky, but they do not leave any trace. Similarly, if we see inside our mind the vastness of the sky, then our thoughts cannot disturb us. That is one way.

Again, we know that if we cherish one undivine or uncomely thought, it is enough to destroy our divine consciousness. So, some people want to stop the thought process completely. They will not allow any thought to come into their mind, whether that thought is a friend or an enemy. Since they have no idea who is going to knock at their mind's door, they feel the best thing is to keep it bolted from inside. Then, after some time, their enemies — which are their undivine thoughts — will disappear, for these enemies will consider it beneath their dignity to spend so much time waiting outside a locked door. But good thoughts, which are friends, will wait indefinitely. Good thoughts will say, "I am sure my friend is doing something very special. That is why he is not opening the door. Because I love him, I will wait here until he is ready to see me." So if we do not allow any thoughts to enter into our mind, eventually all our bad thoughts will disappear and, after a while, only divine thoughts will remain. Then, when we open our mind's door, we will have only good, inspiring thoughts. That is another way.

Chanting is also a way. By chanting God's Name or some Attribute of God, we can bring down or bring to the fore bliss, and this bliss will permeate our entire body. There are many other ways to elevate our consciousness. Prayer is also a way. People who find it difficult to meditate can pray. Prayer immediately purifies our mind, illumines our pride and arrogance, and humbles our life. Prayer can purify and illumine so many of our undivine qualities. Prayer and meditation are equally good. When I pray, I fold my hands and go up, up, up to my Father in Heaven and tell Him what I need or what I want. When I meditate, I go deep within and listen to my Father's Messages. When I pray, I talk and God listens. When I meditate, God talks and I listen. At that time, I have to feel that I am at His Behest and that when He asks me to do something, it is for my own good.

There are many kinds of prayer. I can ask God to fulfil all my desires. He has that capacity, but I have to know that each time He fulfils my desires, my desires only increase and I become more of a deplorable beggar. I ask God to give me a house. He says, "Granted!" But my hunger is not satisfied, and I ask for a second house. So He gives me a second house. Then I feel I need a third house and I beg for that. I cannot manage even my first house, and here I am asking for a third and a fourth house!

Question: I was wondering which is the more important goal in life: knowledge, wisdom or truth?

Question: Good morning. Guru, your powerful affirmation of the power of love replacing the love of power is the ultimate fulfilment. But if we are driven by insatiable desires, how can we move to the point of this fulfilment? What steps can we take?

The positive approach is to try to increase all our good qualities. When our good qualities are increasing, our bad qualities are leaving us, because there is no longer any place for them. What is a good quality? A good quality is a quality with light. Let us say I have a room, like my mind-room, that has been unlit for years. Then I bring in an electrician, who puts in a light switch. Now, at my sweet will, when I turn on the switch, the room becomes fully illumined.

Question: In today's society, which is filled with a lot of negative influences from the media and elsewhere, what message do you have for the children of our world so they can have a more harmonious future?

From the very beginning, children have to be taught the language of the heart. The language of the mind automatically they will learn. But the language of the heart they have to be taught. The language of the heart is love. They have to be instructed every day, without fail, to love themselves properly. If they do not love themselves properly, they can never love anybody else on earth, not even their parents. When I speak of loving themselves, I am not talking about any narrowness of the mind or meanness of the vital. I am talking about the feeling that each child should have that his life is a beautiful flower.

A child has to be taught at every moment that his life is nothing other than a most beautiful flower. When his parents are talking to him or touching him, he should feel that his parents are completely satisfied. Such a beautiful flower they are speaking to and touching! How can they not be satisfied? The flower is not only beautiful, but also fragrant. If the parents remain in the outer world, they enjoy the flower's beauty. But when they dive deep within, they enjoy the flower's fragrance and feel this fragrance inside themselves. The child is a beautiful flower growing inside the parents' heart-garden, and vice versa.

When we touch a flower, we feel its inner existence, inner light and inner divinity coming forward and giving us joy. Again, when we touch a flower or one of its petals, we have to know that the flower also is getting tremendous joy from our loving touch. So when the parents touch their child, they have to do so delicately, lovingly and smilingly — as though he were a flower. Then they will get tremendous joy and the child also will get tremendous joy.

Question: Good morning, Guru. It is a pleasure to meet you. I have always had a curiosity about outer space and other beings outside this world. I want to know if there are extra-terrestrial beings and, if so, what role they play on earth.

Again, there are some beings that we call dissatisfied vital beings. Unfortunately, they like to create destruction rather than satisfaction in our lives; they take our joy away. Early in the morning, let us say, we are thinking of praying to God and loving all human beings. Then those undivine beings come and take away all our joy by bringing into our mind the idea of how corrupt the world is. We want to do something great and good for our friends, but these beings make us feel that our friends are useless and undeserving.

People say these beings come from outer space, but they actually come from a different realm of consciousness. If we look up at the stars, according to our very limited capacity, we feel we are gazing at Infinity. But if we dive deep within, we come to realise that Infinity is not outside us but inside us. When we use our outer eyes, we feel that Infinity is somewhere else and that we are just beggars. But when we use our third eye, the eye of vision, we come to realise that the so-called outer Infinity that we are looking at is nothing in comparison to the Infinity that we house so beautifully and perfectly within us. And this inner Infinity at every moment is expanding and transcending its own reality.

If we pray and meditate, if we try to lead a good life, if we try to be good citizens of the world and choice instruments of God, then only good beings will come to us. But if we are always in doubt, if one day we want to be God-lovers and the next day we want only to exercise our supremacy, then we open ourselves to the undivine beings. Sometimes we are not steadfast in our love for God. One day we will pray to God to give us peace so that we can offer it equally to all human beings. Another day we will separate ourselves from others and say, "God, I want peace only if I can walk one step ahead of my fellow citizens." We tell God, "Since I am physically stronger than that person, I should be ahead of him, even if he is stronger spiritually."

Question: As we physically encounter each other in our daily lives, what can we do to bring peace, love and harmony to our immediate family members and also to those we do not know?

The one who is physically strong does not think of God; he thinks that he is strong because he has taken exercise. The one who is mentally strong may feel his knowledge comes from reading books. But the one who is spiritually strong knows that he cannot take credit for what he has. He feels that God, out of His unconditional Bounty, has blessed him in a special way so he can serve each and every other human being on earth. He knows that he is spiritually strong not because he has risen early each morning to pray and meditate, but because God Himself has prayed and meditated in and through him.

For this reason, the spiritually strong member will tell the one that is mentally strong: "What I have is all yours. I want you to have an equal share of my spiritual wealth." Then he will tell the one who is physically strong, "Look, what I have is all for you. We will share." So if we want to have peace, love and harmony in life, those who are spiritually strong must come forward to serve the ones who are physically and mentally strong.

The soul knows everything; it sees and feels its oneness with others because it knows they also are part and parcel of God. The heart at times feels and at times does not feel its oneness with others. The mind knows only how to divide and separate; it does not know and does not want to know what oneness is. The vital also does not know and does not want to know. Neither does the physical want to know its Source, which is divine Light.

Question: Good morning, Guru. Could you to shed some light on the male-female relationship? There seems to be a struggle going on, and I was wondering how we can work more together?

From the highest point of view, God is neither masculine nor feminine. Again, if we want to separate God into His masculine and feminine aspects, then we have to give equal value to both. Neither men nor women should feel that they are superior or inferior to one another. If we feel that somebody is behind us, then we are sad that we have to drag that person. Again, if we feel that somebody is ahead of us, we become jealous and insecure. But if we see men and women on the same level, side by side, then there is no problem. One has a mango to offer and the other has a pear to offer. The brother shares his mango with his sister, and the sister shares her pear with her brother. Each one has something unique. What the brother has, the sister does not have. What the sister has, the brother does not have. But when they share, each gets what the other has.

If we sing the song of oneness, then there is no problem. But if we sing the song of division or separativity and feel that one is better or more important than the other, then we create countless problems for ourselves. With our mind perhaps we are thinking that one is more important, but with our heart we feel that they are of equal importance.

If the mother uses her mind, she will see that her little child has no strength, no money, nothing. But if she uses her heart, the child is everything to her. If she uses her mind, she will think, "O God, now he is so cute and sweet, but who knows how he will behave when he grows up? At that time, he will not even think of me, and I will not exist in his life." By thinking of the child in this way, the mother has already started separating the child from her existence, and so she loses all her joy. But if the mother says, "Oh no, he is my dearest and sweetest; he is my darling, and forever he will remain my darling," then she does not separate herself from the child. She is only pouring her love into him. And when he gives her a fleeting smile, inside that smile she sees her whole world. A child's fleeting smile is enough to conquer the mother's heart.

12. Closing Message¹²

12. Talks¹³

Narada invited his friends, helpers and workers to come and see me. Their love, respect and devoted feelings were most exemplary. They had a volley of questions, all sincere, all genuine, and I answered their questions with my heart's utmost concern. All of his friends and colleagues were wearing white from top to bottom. Some of the disciples who accompanied me were not in white, and they had not the slightest idea that Narada was going to beg his dear ones to wear white!

In Narada's meditation room, he and I had a very powerful meditation. There is a panoramic view from his Sacred Rock palace. It is soul-stirring. He has a magnificent statue of Lord Buddha, and another statue of Mother Mary, which is most soulful. He showed me the place where he is going to have his Guru's statue.

Narada recited my message: "When the power of love replaces the love of power, man will have a new name: God." Then he asked everyone to repeat it. All of us did repeat it with our love, love and love.

At the end of the questions, one by one Narada's friends came to me with flowers and placed them at my feet. There were more than one hundred seekers all around the swimming pool — about one hundred and fifty, I think. Many were shedding tears while placing the flowers in front of me. Soon the pile of flowers came up to my knees, and then up to my chest! It was a huge pile. Flowers, flowers, flowers, flowers they were offering me. For the first time I had this experience. These seeker-friends of Narada's mustered their simplicity, their sincerity and their devotedness. Many, many divine qualities they brought to the fore and offered to me.

It was a unique experience. These friends of Narada's are absolutely genuine seekers. To see so many genuine seekers is very rare, very, very rare. It was indeed a most remarkable experience for me, and for that my heart is extremely, extremely grateful to Narada, our Narada.

When seekers show me the spiritual and divine aspects of their life, I feel this world of ours will definitely, definitely arrive at the destination which we call a oneness-home. A oneness-home is not my mental hallucination; it is not a dream that will never blossom into reality, no! A oneness-home is a dream that has already started blossoming prayerfully, beautifully, powerfully and self-givingly into a oneness-world-family.

Sacred Rock¹⁴

Sacred Rock, Sacred Rock, Sacred Rock!

the pilgrim-hearts flock.

Is blossoming into a new world-race.

Feeds the oneness-home peace-dove.