Question: Could you comment on the transcendence from the personal consciousness to the universal Consciousness, and the death of the human personality?

Sri Chinmoy: Let us start with the death of the human personality. There is no such thing as death. In the spiritual life death means limitation, nothing else. We have not embodied the message of Immortality in our life. That is why we still go through birth and death. When a tiny drop enters into the ocean, we feel that it is the death of the tiny drop. The ocean is so vast that when a tiny drop falls in, it is lost. This is what we think of with our human mind when we think of the limited personal consciousness merging with the universal or infinite Consciousness. But if we identify ourselves with the drop and, at the same time, with the vast ocean, we see that the personality of the drop is not lost but is enlarged into the vast Infinity of the ocean. At that time this tiny drop not only claims the ocean as its very own, but knows and feels that it has become the vastness of the ocean itself. This is the so-called death of the human personality. With our ordinary human eyes we may see it as death; but with our heart’s eye, with our soul’s eye, with our capacity of inner oneness, we see the transformation of the tiny drop into the infinite ocean. The human consciousness is also a part of the universal Consciousness. This little finger is a part of my body, but its capacity is extremely limited. I think of my body as a whole more than I think of the little finger. I am walking, I am talking, I am singing, I am doing everything with the body. At that time I don’t think of my little finger. Perhaps once a month or once in six months I think of my little finger in particular. But every day I think of my body, right from the morning. When I think of the body, automatically the little finger is nourished with the necessary amount of concern just because it is one with the body as a whole. It does not separate its existence and its consciousness from the rest of the body. When the body is nourished, the little finger maintains its strength or gains strength. It cannot be isolated; it cannot be cut off. If the finger is cut off, the whole body will suffer from the pain. The body will be imperfect. The body takes care of the little finger automatically, because of their inseparable oneness. In the spiritual life we should keep the universal Consciousness before our eyes no matter what we are doing; whether we are eating or singing or working in the office. If we think of God, that means that we are knocking at the door of the universal Consciousness. If we think of the universal Consciousness as the whole body and the human consciousness as a tiny finger, then we see that this human consciousness is taken care of automatically. The more we become one with the universal Consciousness, the sooner the human consciousness is fed and is ready for its transcendence and transformation.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Two devouring brothers: doubt and ego, Agni Press, 1974
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