Then, if we want to know if a certain idea or message is from God, the answer will come in a very soft, subtle voice or it will be written in a column of light inside our heart, which we will be able to read.
After discovering God’s Will, if we are still in our highest consciousness, we will not be affected regardless of whether the message is encouraging or discouraging to our mind. If we are in an ordinary consciousness, we have preconceived ideas about what is desirable and undesirable. If the message says that we will be successful, then we are happy; but if the message is perceived by our mind in a negative way, then we will feel miserable. But once we are highly developed, even if the message does not appear favourable, we will not be disturbed. After knowing God’s Will, we can go one step further and cheerfully accept God’s Will.When I say light, I am speaking about illumination. This illumination will first take place in the realm of the God-manifesting soul. Next it will take place in the aspiring heart, then in the searching mind, then in the dynamic vital and, finally, in the wakeful body. When you can open your third eye — the eye of inner vision — at your sweet will, you can not only see light but also grow into light and spread it around the globe.
Although light is the most needed spiritual quality of all, unfortunately it is the least wanted. Very often seekers invoke joy, peace or power, but very rarely do they aspire for light. Instead of feeling that the divine light will illumine them, they mistakenly identify with their own limitations and imperfections, and feel that they are going to be exposed. But the divine light is not going to expose them. On the contrary, light embraces humanity with all its imperfections and tries to illumine human ignorance so the human life can be elevated into the divine life.When we dive deep within, we clearly see that not only are individuals progressing, but God’s creation as a whole is also progressing. Everything that exists is making progress. Even God the Infinite, God the Eternal and God the Immortal is progressing; He is constantly expanding His own Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. Continuous progress is the supreme Goal of His Transcendental Vision and His Universal Reality.
God the Creator is progressing in and through God the creation, and vice versa. God the creation says to God the Creator: “I have what You need from me — aspiration.” God the Creator says to God the creation: “I have what you need from Me — Satisfaction.” It is when earth’s ascending cry meets Heaven’s descending Smile that perfection-satisfaction becomes a reality.For all human beings the body is truly the instrument of the spirit. Westerners are fond of saying that the spirit is willing but the body is weak. Unfortunately, I cannot agree with this pronouncement. The body is always loyal to its superiors — the mind, heart and soul. Our real problem starts with the mind, not with the body.
When the mind is the boss, the mind dictates wrong things to the body, because the mind itself is spiritually weak. The limitations of the mind are so powerful that they do not allow the mind itself to surrender to the higher authorities — the heart and soul. But the body, in spite of having serious limitations, is always willing to obey the heart and soul when they are able to come to the fore in the life of an aspiring human being.
So it is not actually the limitations of the body that so often prevent us from doing the right thing or from making progress in the way we want to. Just because the mind is superior to the body in certain ways, we are inclined to defend the mind and accuse the body. But actually it is the unwillingness of the mind, cleverly disguised, which is really to blame for our lack of accomplishments or progress.
For everyone, the body is the only means by which the spirit can manifest itself. The body is the temple; the spirit is the shrine. Both are of supreme importance. The shrine is needed for inner realisation; the temple is needed for outer manifestation.A naughty boy may strike another boy mercilessly and unnecessarily. But before the other boy can retaliate, the culprit can go and take shelter with his father, asking him for protection. The father knows perfectly well that his son has done something wrong, but the father may protect him and not allow the other party to punish him. Similarly, when we do something wrong, if we beg God for His Forgiveness before the punishment comes, God can forgive us and save us from the deserved punishment if He chooses to.
God inspires heads of countries and all of us to do the right thing. But inspiration is one thing and our acceptance of this inspiration is something else. God wants to fulfil Himself in and through us divinely, but quite often we do not allow Him to do so. We want to fulfil ourselves in a wrong, undivine way. Then naturally we remain divinely unfulfilled and God remains supremely unmanifested.The Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is only a single individual, but his consciousness has entered into the global consciousness and transformed the entire global consciousness. On the strength of his inspiration, aspiration and love for humanity, he is not only liberating a few bondage-bound countries, but also enlarging the illumining and fulfilling vision of tomorrow’s freedom-oneness-life for all of humanity. One individual has begun singing the song of world-harmony, and the rest of the world has lovingly and eagerly joined in. As a result of one individual’s consciousness, a oneness-world-peace-song is being sung by people throughout the length and breadth of the world.
The One is part of the many, and the many are part of the One. Similarly, the individual consciousness and the global consciousness are inseparable, like a flower and its petals or like a tree with its trunk and its branches. The trunk without the branches is not a tree. Again, there can be no branches without the trunk. So the individual has to feel his oneness with the universe, and he has to aspire and meditate in and through the heart of the entire world.The developed and prosperous countries must exercise their generosity and genuine concern for their fellow citizens of the world, not out of charity but out of a sincere feeling of oneness. With the loving material assistance of the wealthy countries, the underdeveloped and ill-fated countries can and must give more importance to education and self-discipline, and strive for a better standard of living instead of surrendering to the deplorable circumstances which have rendered them helpless.
What we need is a life of balance — neither to wallow in the pleasures of wealth nor to lead a life of asceticism, but to embrace a life of simplicity and a heart of purity. Indeed, this is the only way that this world of ours can be supremely happy and divinely perfect.God wants us to be spiritually hungry. Once we are hungry, He feeds us with His Compassion and Love. This Compassion and Love are not the monopoly of certain people; they are for all those who cry for them. To realise God, neither prosperity nor poverty is needed. It is the inner cry that is of supreme importance. This cry is the only necessity for God-realisation, and it can be had by anyone, regardless of age, health or worldly position.
Similarly, both men and women have the same right to claim God as their very own. That is not to say that men and women should always play the same kind of role in God’s Cosmic Play. They may have different parts to play, but each one is needed to fulfil God the Transcendental in Heaven and God the Universal on earth. In God’s Eye, men and women are equally important.Inner persuasion has to be founded upon our prayers and meditations. Those who are conscious of the higher ideals have to pray to God and meditate on God to illumine the destruction-thirsty minds of the world and transform them into perfection-longing minds. Also, we have to pray to God and meditate on God to create and develop a genuine universal oneness-hunger in the life of humanity.
The development of technology is not bad in itself. But we have to see whether technology is utilised for the divine satisfaction of mankind or for man’s mutual self-destruction. Our planet Earth, which God has chosen for His complete manifestation, will be inundated with light and delight when we all live in our purity-heart-garden and not in our impurity-mind-jungle.
In this sense, each seeker has a special role to play in the protection of our small planet. It is the illumination of the individual mind and spirit that will precede the awakening of a new collective awareness. The change in individual attitudes will be the precursor of a change in institutional policies, and the result will be a greater respect and love for our planet Earth.We can all see that the world has recently made tremendous progress. God has successfully inspired the human mind and heart to aspire towards a more harmonious world. He is infusing the earth-consciousness with greater oneness-light to go beyond national boundaries and other divisions. In the past year, for example, many dramatic steps towards peace and harmony have been taken around the world, especially in the USSR and in Eastern Europe. That these changes could have occurred and that these barriers could have come down in our lifetime was previously beyond our imagination. Some people are calling these dramatic and unexpected events miracles of God in and through mankind.
We must remember that the Creator is always more powerful than His creation. The Creator can easily influence or change the negative and destructive forces in the world. Our Beloved Supreme could stop a pending nuclear disaster, for example, by changing the mind of the pilot who was about to drop the life-devastating bomb. So we must have faith in our Creator and trust that He will, without fail, do the needful for His creation.Again, it is also true that even among talented musicians, all of them do not have the same extraordinary talents. All may be excellent players, but some are definitely more talented than others. Even God-realised Masters are not all of the same calibre. Right in front of you, let us say, is the God-realisation-tree. I may have come with greatest difficulty from a remote place to sit at the foot of the tree. Another person not only has come to the same tree but also has climbed up the tree to an appreciable height. A third person has climbed up the highest branches. He has reached the highest, but he is not coming down again since he is afraid of being devoured by the ignorance-tiger roaming around the foot of the tree. Then there is a fourth person who is very brave. Not only has he climbed up to the highest but he also has picked quite a few most delicious fruits and brought them down to the hungry truth-seekers and God-lovers who were watching him with utmost love, joy and admiration.
Needless to say, all four are definitely God-realised souls. The one who has reached the foot of the realisation-tree is a God-realised soul. The one who has climbed up to an appreciable height is a God-realised soul, and the one who has climbed up and then climbed down to share the fruits with others is also a God-realised soul. But in terms of God-manifestation, they are not the same.Yes, I believe in one God, one Source. Love of God is like a tree — the life-tree — and it has many branches. Each of the branches has its own identity and its own name, such as Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam and so forth. But they are still branches of the same tree.
Even in our human life we see that the same person is called various names by different people. You call your father ‘Dad’, whereas I will call him by his surname because I do not know him. Your father’s brothers and sisters will call him by his childhood name, and perhaps your mother will have her own affectionate nickname for him. So his dear ones call him by various names, and his friends and acquaintances also address him differently. But he is the same person. Similarly, people of different religions call God by different names, but it is the same Being that they are referring to.
I also believe that all religions are ways to provide us with the experience of God, completely independent of the historical context of their messages. True, each religious teacher or prophet comes with a special message that suits the people of his time. But humanity’s ignorance and lack of receptivity are such that whenever a prophet comes, he always seems to have come ahead of his time. When God sends a prophet, a Messiah, a great religious teacher, it is definitely in order to serve Him and manifest Him during that particular period. But even though the world does not appear to be ready to receive the message that he brings, that message still plays a special role in the earth-consciousness. The teachings of the Saviour Christ, for example, have guided, uplifted and illumined humanity for almost two thousand years, and they will continue to do so for centuries to come.In our own being there are many members — the body, vital, mind, heart and soul — and we claim all of them as our own, very own. The body, too, has so many parts, but when we want to achieve something, all the parts work together. In exactly the same way, when we want to do something good for mankind, then all the religions can and should work together. All the world’s faiths — which differ in appearance but in essence are one — must work together.
Since we all have the same Source, we all have the same ultimate destination. No matter which path we take, eventually we will arrive at the same destination. Since “all roads lead to Rome,” and we are all heading ultimately to the same Source, it is ridiculous to fight against others who are following different roads. Some people may choose a very short and direct road, while others may take a longer route. Some may want to fly while others are content to walk, but the destination is the same.
When all religions work together, they can achieve something great and good for both God and humanity. It is the collective prayers and good will of the seekers and followers of all the world’s religions that will bring down the highest Love and Compassion from above. And it is only God’s Love and Compassion descending into humanity’s heart and life that can change the face and fate of the world.As the beloved Son of God, Jesus Christ came into the world to become part and parcel of earth’s existence, and to transform its consciousness from human to divine. True, his mortal years numbered a mere thirty-three, but birthless and deathless is his immortal sacrifice for Heaven and earth.
As an unparalleled prophet, he offered the message of divine love and divine surrender to God’s Will. “Let Thy Will be done!” What could be a greater prayer than this? These words of the Saviour will echo and re-echo always inside the very depths of our hearts. To surrender unconditionally to our Lord Supreme is the very purpose of our existence; it is every soul’s ultimate mission on earth.
As the true oneness-friend of mankind, Jesus Christ flooded the earth-consciousness with Compassion and Forgiveness. His immortal prayer, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” will forever draw down God’s Compassion and Forgiveness from above for the inwardly hungry and thirsty truth-seekers and God-lovers. Indeed, Jesus’ self-offering life and earth-illumining message will shine bright, brighter, brightest in the aspiring heart and God-loving life of humanity throughout Eternity.Let us say somebody comes to me and tells me that he has been to a garden that has many beautiful and fragrant flowers. While he is telling me about the garden, unconsciously or consciously he is injecting some light into my being. I am getting joy from the garden just because he is telling me about it. When I go there myself, I am able to enjoy the garden to the fullest extent. But the joy that I previously got from my friend definitely adds to the joy that I get from the garden itself. When he tells me about the garden, it is like he is giving me a dollar. When I go to the garden and see it myself, it is like getting one hundred dollars. So then I have one hundred and one dollars.
But if my friend tells me about the garden, and I say, “No, I can’t believe anything from him,” then it is only when I go there myself and see that what he says is true that I will get the joy that I deserve. But if I had believed him when he first told me about the garden, my total amount of joy would have been greater. His own joy, which he was so eager to share with me, would have entered into me and been added to the joy I got myself when I went personally to the garden. Then naturally I would have been happier.
I do believe in an individual approach to God. Each sincere approach ultimately leads to the goal. When we come to the Vatican to be blessed by the Holy Father, I may come by boat, you may come by plane, a third person may come by car and a fourth person may come on foot. Each one has used his own means to reach the goal, but the destination, which is flooded with infinite Light and Delight, is the same. Therefore, I give value to each and every individual approach, since all ultimately lead to the destination.We want to love God unconditionally in order to please Him in His own Way. We want to devote ourselves to God unconditionally in order to please Him in His own Way. We want to surrender our earth-bound will to His Heaven-free Will unconditionally in order to please Him and fulfil Him in His own Way. Everything has to be unconditional. This is the path of the heart.
The supreme message of the Saviour we have to apply to our everyday life: “Let Thy Will be done.” When we love God, devote ourselves to God and surrender to Him unconditionally, our finite ‘self’ grows into the Infinite in exactly the same way that a drop enters the ocean and becomes the ocean itself. When we become one with the Infinite, and claim it as our very own, then we can truthfully say that we ourselves are infinite.In our prayers, when we appreciate, admire and adore God’s infinite capacities and qualities, unconsciously or consciously we hope to get some blessingful reward or boon in return. In a sense it is like we are trying to flatter God, and in return we expect something.
But when we say, “Let Thy Will be done,” it means we have become fully aware of our measureless limitations, incapacities and ignorance, and are aware of God’s measureless Compassion, Concern and Love for us. Because of our fathomless ignorance, we admit that we do not know what is good for us. We realise we may ask for the wrong thing, which instead of helping or satisfying us will only make us miserable. So we ask our divine Father, who loves us infinitely more than we love ourselves, to take control of our lives and make the decisions for us.
When we humbly offer our earth-bound will to God’s Heaven-free Will, we feel that we are a tiny drop entering into the boundless ocean and becoming inseparably one with the ocean. The ultimate goal of each seeker is to achieve infinite Peace, infinite Light and infinite Bliss, and this can be done only by fulfilling and pleasing God the Omniscient, God the Omnipotent and God the Omnipresent in His own Way.When a spiritual aspirant has become inseparably one with the highest Absolute and knows that he has become a real instrument of God’s transcendental Will, he is entitled to say that he has become like God, or even that he is one with God or that he has become another God. When the tiny drop has merged into the ocean and become part and parcel of the ocean, you cannot tell it apart. Similarly, if an individual becomes one with the universe on the strength of his aspiration and realisation, at that time it is absolutely true to say that the finite has become the Infinite.
I am very grateful that you have read my writings. My philosophy is founded upon love, devotion and surrender. The message of love, devotion and surrender comes from the spiritual heart and finds its fulfilment in the universal oneness-heart.I was fortunate and blessed to be able to meet with Pope Paul VI three times. Each time I met with him, I had significant inner experiences. When I looked at his eyes, I saw an illumination-sky, and when I entered into his heart, I felt a compassion-ocean. It is very rare to find an illumined mind and a compassionate heart together, but in one frame Pope Paul VI definitely embodied both compassion and illumination in boundless measure. I also discovered in him a soul’s smile which was truly psychic, yet touched with a subtle sadness. He had the capacity to quickly penetrate the human heart and dispel the sufferings of human life.
I remember so vividly the first time I met with His Holiness in a private audience. At one point he said, “This meeting of ours has been most essential.” He also told me, “I admire your philosophy — the Hindu life and the Christian life shall go together. Your message and my message are the same.” Later, I was deeply moved when the Pope said, “When we leave this world, you and I will meet together.” And the Holy Father was all kindness in presenting me with the Papal medallion.
The second time we met, I was fortunate enough to be in the front row when the Pope was holding a public audience. He was not physically well and had to be carried on a chair to the podium. After his talk, he came over to me, and again he was extremely compassionate. He told me that he had read and enjoyed the books that I had given him during our first meeting, and he appreciated my activities and selfless service at the United Nations. As you know, I have been leading meditations for delegates and staff there since 1970. The pope told me, “I am truly proud of your service to the United Nations. You are an Indian. I am also proud of your country.”
The third time we met, His Holiness granted me another private audience. This time I presented him with a book I had written about him, and he was very happy and pleased with it. When he looked through the book and saw the picture of U Thant and myself, he asked if I bring down new inspiration and aspiration from above when I conduct meditations at the United Nations. I answered, “Holy Father, I do try to bring down all the divine qualities with my prayers and meditations.” Again, he was full of kindness and compassion.Man can liberate himself from sin only by invoking God’s constant Grace. God’s Grace always descends abundantly and powerfully, but most human beings do not try to receive it. If the individual wants to free himself or herself from ignorance, and cries to receive God’s Compassion-Rain, then definitely he will be liberated from the snares of imperfection-sin. But this liberation comes gradually as the seeker becomes more illumined. We must not expect sudden and miraculous overnight transformations, although these do occasionally occur.
In a very broad sense my philosophy does include the concept of redemption, but it puts more emphasis on human liberation from ignorance. It is through conscious liberation from ignorance that today’s man the finite grows into tomorrow’s God the Infinite. According to my understanding, the Saviour Christ lived and died to liberate humanity from ignorance and imperfection-sin through the example of his own earth-experience.I fully agree with the Christian mystics. They use the term ‘empty’ and I use the term ‘receptive’. Unless we feel that our heart is empty, how can it be filled with peace, light and delight? It is like a football before it is filled up. Once we fill it with air, it becomes an instrument to play with.
Similarly, when we are receptive, then God’s divine qualities can enter into us. Once we are filled with good and divine qualities, at that time God can use us as His divine instruments.Sri Chinmoy’s deep love for God is known world-wide. Long revered as a spiritual force for peace at the United Nations, this humble, God-directed author asks the people of this planet to look within, to rediscover the essential truths of spirituality that have so blessed his own extraordinary life.
This book lends itself to a wide audience. Christians, Jews, Muslims and other believers will find many passages of deep insight and helpful suggestion.
Sri Chinmoy suggests that the spiritual life’s goal is self-transcendence. While man reaches up to God, God in turn reaches down to man. The connection occurs and deepens as each person aspires to open himself to the Light of God, the Will of God and a higher state of consciousness.
Sri Chinmoy believes in reincarnation. He articulates the notion that the soul progresses to a higher state in each incarnation. He roots his teachings in prayer and encourages his readers to adopt a “cheerful acceptance of the world with a view to transforming the fate and face of the world.” He beckons Westerners to avoid trying “to possess the world” while encouraging Easterners to see that “austerity isn’t the answer.”
He is a champion of peace, attracting believers from all religions to see the oneness of the world. He suggests that true religions are recognised by their forgiveness, tolerance, compassion, oneness and brotherhood.
For those trying to find their way, he proposes a form of prayer that includes: concentration, the focusing of all attention on a small object to become more aware; meditation, reflection on and identification with the vaster universe and the larger issues; and contemplation, an awareness of God so complete that one feels the oneness and love that comes from God and lives in each person and in all of creation.
Sri Chinmoy doesn’t shrink from the exigencies of everyday life. While he does promote soul growth and inner peace, he follows a long tradition of religious teachers who implore truth-seekers to exhibit and live a life of ‘dynamism’ that is transformative of this world.
The name Chinmoy, meaning ‘full of divine consciousness’, bespeaks the mission of this deep soul. He lives to be an unconditional instrument of God. He trusts God. There is a sympathetic oneness with God and people throughout his reflections. He becomes sad when he thinks of how people have used religion to separate themselves from one another.
Sri Chinmoy believes that God will save our world. The Light of God is stronger than the force of evil. While he has deep confidence in God, his tranquil reflections portray an urgency which calls out to mankind: “Wake up! Grow deeper! Love in such a way that ‘God’s Will be done’.”
I found the book to be personally helpful. In an age when stress is real and it is hard to find the proper amount of time to pray, Sri Chinmoy reminded me that placing God at the centre of my life, my work and my prayers will help me make this a better, more peaceful world and become the person of faith and love that I am called to be.
Monsignor Thomas J. Hartman
Director of Radio and Television Diocese of Rockville Center, New YorkSri Chinmoy met with these two men in New York and Rome, where several magazine articles and television specials about Sri Chinmoy’s life and activities were being completed. The first television documentary, aired nationwide in Italy on 23 July 1989, featured a probing interview with Sri Chinmoy at the United Nations, footage of Pope John Paul II receiving Sri Chinmoy in Vatican City and a testimonial to the astonishing power of Sri Chinmoy’s meditation by champion weightlifter Bill Pearl.
As Mr. Tarzia and Mr. Ciampa became more intrigued with Sri Chinmoy, they resolved to produce a unique volume of his spiritual wisdom which would appeal to a popular audience but still offer a glimpse of the salient depth and luminosity that have characterised his writing for decades.
In May 1990, Mr. Tarzia and his staff in Milan prepared some fifty questions, in Italian, for Sri Chinmoy. Mr. Ciampa edited and translated the questions, and in four intensive sessions during the ensuing summer months in New York, Sri Chinmoy dictated his answers.
The subject matter is wide-ranging, punctuated with rare autobiographical elements and fascinating personal anecdotes that serve to unravel complex mysteries. Some of the questions touch on traditional religious ideologies; here the author’s non-parochial sentiment and multicultural background allow new and profound treatment of these issues.From:Sri Chinmoy,World-destruction: never, impossible! part 1, Agni Press, 1994
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