We may think of God, pray to God and meditate on God because the world around us has disappointed us or failed us. Our near and dear ones may have deserted us, and we need consolation. If these are the reasons why we think of God, pray to God and meditate on God, then God gives us fifty out of one hundred.
We may think of God, pray to God and meditate on God because we feel that we have made thousands of mistakes in this life. We either want to rectify these mistakes or at least not make any more mistakes, since each mistake undoubtedly creates pain and a sense of frustration and failure in us. Or we may think of God, pray to God and meditate on God because we have missed countless opportunities in life and we want to avail ourselves of all the opportunities that we are going to get in the future. If we think of God, pray to God and meditate on God for these reasons, then God gives us sixty out of one hundred.
We may think of God, pray to God and meditate on God because we feel a tremendous sense of fear and doubt in ourselves. We fear the world; we fear even ourselves. We don’t know what to say to people or how to behave; we don’t know what is going to happen to us. We are always afraid of others or afraid of our own actions. Also, we doubt others and we doubt our own potentialities, possibilities and capacities. Now, for these reasons if we think of God, pray to God and meditate on God, God gives us seventy out of one hundred.
We may pray to God for more love in the world, and for peace of mind. We don’t want to remain in anxiety; we don’t want to remain in anger and hatred. If we think of God, pray to God and meditate on God for these reasons, then God gives us eighty out of one hundred.
We may think of God, pray to God and meditate on God because we want Divine Love, Divine Concern from the world or from God. We want only the love that will expand us, the love that will fulfil us. We do not expect any outer success or fame or popularity. We wish to receive only God’s Divine Love, if we think of God, pray to God and meditate on God for these reasons, then God gives us ninety out of one hundred.
But when we want only to become what God is and what God has, by constant and unconditional self-giving, then God gives us one hundred out of one hundred. At this point we are not asking God for anything. We want only to be what God is, that is to say Infinite Peace, Infinite Light and Infinite Bliss. Nor do we want anything from the world. If the world tortures us, disappoints us or misunderstands us, that is up to the world. We do not expect anything from the world, but we do expect one thing from ourselves, and that one thing is that we will grow into God Himself. If that is our choice, if that is the reason why we think of God, pray to God and meditate on God, then God gives us one hundred out of one hundred. Otherwise, no matter how sincere our motive is, we will not satisfy God fully. If we want to improve the world or improve ourselves, these things all have value, but they do not have the ultimate value. The ultimate value we get only when we are ready and eager to grow into God and become what God is.
Now how can we grow into God? We must be ready every day to change, and not to remain prisoners of the past. When today is over, we have to feel that it is past. It will not be of any help to us in growing into the Highest Supreme. No matter how sweet, how loving or how fulfilling was the past, it cannot give us anything now that we do not already have. We are moving forward towards the goal, so no matter how satisfying the past was, we have to feel that it is only a prison. The seed grows into a plant, then it becomes a huge tree. But if the consciousness of the plant remains in the seed, then there will be no further manifestation. Yes, we shall remain grateful to the seed because it enabled us to grow into a plant. But we will not pay much attention to the seed stage. Once we have become a plant, let our aim be to become a tree. Always we have to look forward towards the goal. Only when we become the tallest tree will our full satisfaction dawn.
We must always remain in the present. This present is constantly ready to bring the golden future into our heart. Today’s achievement is most satisfactory, but we have to feel that today’s achievement is nothing in comparison to what tomorrow’s achievement will be. Each time satisfaction dawns, we have to feel that this satisfaction is nothing in comparison to the satisfaction that is about to dawn. We have to feel that every second brings new life, new growth, new opportunity. If we are ready to allow change into our life every second, every minute, every day, we are bound to grow. How will we know that this change is for the better and not for the worse? We will know it is for the better if we see that new light is entering into us. If new light is not entering into us, then we have to feel that we are doing something wrong or making some mistake, unconsciously if not consciously.
Every time we think of God, we should feel that He is our Ideal, He is our Goal. At the same time, we have to know that to see the Goal is not the aim, to reach the Goal is not the aim. Our aim is to become the Goal itself. God expects nothing short of this from us. He wants us to be what He is. If this is our aim, then when we think of God, when we pray to God, when we meditate on God, God feels that our thought, our prayer and our meditation is absolutely right, absolutely divine.
THN 11. Conference Room 9, 2 March 1973.↩
From:Sri Chinmoy,The Tears of Nation-Hearts, Agni Press, 1974
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/tnh