World-destruction: never, impossible! part 2

Part I — Supernatural phenomena

Supernatural phenomena

Question: Could you please tell about any experience you had where the paranormal played an obvious and undeniable role?

In my youth, when I was a champion athlete in my community, quite a few times I predicted how far others would jump in the long jump. When the participants were about to start, I used to write down their distances on the ground, and my predictions always proved absolutely correct. I did this many times.

I also made predictions about my friends’ times in the hurdles. I used to write down their times on a piece of paper and give it to one of my friends in a sealed envelope, asking him to open it only after the race was over. Again and again, my predictions proved correct.

In another instance, a very good friend of mine was criticising Indian sadhus and swamis. He was saying that none of them had inner power. I told him to come to see me the next day and I would show him some spiritual power. The next day we stood face to face and I said, “Now look at me!” He was a great wrestler, but in a matter of seconds he fainted and fell down.

When he regained consciousness a few moments later, he called me a rascal and ran away. Then he started telling everyone that I had tried to kill him, which was absolutely untrue. But the enormous power he had seen in me in those few seconds had frightened him terribly.

Once in 1967 I was a panellist on a TV talk show in Puerto Rico. The weathermen, astrologers and others were predicting that a terrible hurricane would destroy Puerto Rico in a few days. I said that instead of the island being flooded, there would be just a little bit of water. On television there was a fight between me and the astrologers. I finally said, “Say whatever you want, but I see with my inner vision that nothing will happen.”

Question: Do you think that precognition can restrict man's free will? Knowing the future, will he no longer be able to decide freely any more?

To know the future is good only if you have patience, faith and the wisdom to use this knowledge in the proper way. Suppose you see that something discouraging, disheartening and destructive is going to take place in your life in the near future. Because you know in advance, you have the opportunity to pray to God to avert the calamity. If you pray devotedly and sincerely, God may listen to your prayers. In this case, knowing the future is a great help because it allows you the time and gives you the inspiration to pray to God to save you. And even if God does not answer your prayers in the way that you ask, He will illumine your mind in a very special way so that you can bravely face the calamity.

On the other hand, if you see that something good, divine, inspiring, illumining and fulfilling is going to take place in the near future, then you can start offering your sincere gratitude to God, and also you can pray to God to expedite this fulfilling manifestation. God may listen to your prayers and accelerate the process if He sees that you truly value His Blessings.

Question: You have been able to predict many events, such as Carl Lewis' victory at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. How do you obtain these premonitions or visions of the future? Do you search for them? Do you always feel the need to communicate your findings?

Similarly, I predicted what was going to happen with East and West Germany when I was standing in front of the Berlin Wall four years ago. I said that within several years East Germany and West Germany would be united. To my greatest joy, my prophesy has come true. But although I am frequently blessed with the vision to see what is going to happen in the near or distant future, I usually do not communicate this knowledge, since it is not generally helpful for people to know what the future holds in store.

Question: Are there spiritual methods for communicating with those who have passed away?

Question: Is there life after death? Will there be a judgement of what has been done in this life? Will there be punishment, reward or a sentence? If so, will it be eternal?

Right now, death is something unknown, and most people are afraid of the unknown. But we have to realise that death is an important part of God’s Cosmic Game and a natural step in our evolution. An individual works very hard and makes considerable progress during his lifetime, let us say. But after playing the life-game for a certain number of years, he usually becomes tired. One cannot continue playing any game or sport without rest. We need rest so that we can start playing again with renewed energy and enthusiasm. So death is a well-deserved rest for the divine warrior who has been fighting hard on earth for the Lord Supreme.

At the end of the earthly sojourn, the individual soul passes on to the other world and offers to the Absolute Lord Supreme the quintessence of the experience that it had on earth. The Absolute Supreme, from His transcendental Height, evaluates the soul. But there is no hard and fast rule about punishment, reward or sentence. Whatever God does with the individual soul — although it may seem like a punishment or reward — is done from His transcendental Vision-Light for the progress of the soul. But even the worst possible human being will never be condemned to eternal punishment or torture.

Question: Do you believe in reincarnation? Who were you before and who will you be in your next life? Can a spiritual man decipher the mysteries of life?

God has created us. The very purpose of creation is the manifestation and fulfilment of God’s Vision here on earth in and through each individual soul. God will never allow any person to remain unfulfilled. But in one lifetime we cannot accomplish everything. Even on the earthly, material plane we cannot fulfil all our desires. At the age of seventy we may see that some of our desires from our early childhood have not yet been fulfilled. Similarly, on the spiritual plane, we cannot fulfil all our aspirations in the short span of one life. We must come back again and again to make inner progress and eventually transform God’s transcendental Dream into fruitful Reality.

In my immediate past incarnation I was a spiritual Master in India with just a handful of extremely soulful and devoted disciples. In that incarnation, I lived in circumstances of extreme simplicity, perhaps I should even say austerity. Although I offered my inner goodwill to the world, my role in that lifetime was not to work in the world but to concentrate on my own spiritual progress and that of a few excellent disciples. Both God’s Justice and Compassion are needed for the transformation of earth’s consciousness. In my immediate past incarnation, God used His Justice-Light for me, in me and through me more than He used His Compassion-Height. In this incarnation it is absolutely the reverse. Right now it is God’s Compassion that is playing a greater role in inspiring, uplifting, illumining and fulfilling countless God-seekers through me.

With regard to future lives, my Beloved Supreme, out of His infinite Bounty, has repeatedly told me that this incarnation of mine marks the unmistakable end of my earth-pilgrimage. In the future I will continue to love, serve and please my Lord Supreme in His own Way from the inner and higher worlds.

Question: You have devoted yourself to sports and the arts and have achieved exceptional results. What is the basis of your success? You have said that it is natural, that it is sufficient to "open yourself to the Source of divine inspiration." What does this mean? You have also stated that, "Men themselves set their limits, but they also decide when to surpass those limits." Is man omnipotent? You lifted 7,000 pounds, a virtual miracle. If you wanted to, could you surpass other world-class performances?

Whoever wants to create something in any field — whether it be literature, art, music or anything else — needs an access to the source of inspiration. If one wants to create something divine and illumining, then naturally he has to devotedly and soulfully establish a free access to the divine Source that embodies inspiration in infinite measure.

The desiring mind in man sets limits for everything — whether it is something that he already has or something that he wants to possess. But the aspiring heart in man deals with the Infinite — with things that are already infinite or things that eventually will be infinite. When someone lives primarily in the mind or in the desire-world, he is enchained by the limitations of his mind. When the same person enters into the aspiration-world, that means he wants to liberate himself, and he can liberate himself from the world of limitations.

Is man omnipotent? No, man is not omnipotent. But God’s unconditional Grace operating in and through man can do things that are absolutely unimaginable. Needless to say, man as such is not the doer of these unimaginable deeds. The omnipotent God is using man as an instrument. His own Omnipotence He can manifest through man’s pure and humble receptivity.

Question: Does each individual have a predisposition for using divine inspiration to achieve greatness in one specific athletic event?

Question: You have written hundreds of books and thousands of songs, and have painted tens of thousands of paintings. When you are at work, do you function 'automatically'? Are you like a medium, working in an unconscious and passive state, or are you fully conscious of your actions? When you are at work, do you consider yourself more of an artist or more of a medium?

In my case, I do everything consciously and dynamically, in a spirit of sleepless self-offering. I do not do things automatically, but I try to do creative things ‘spontaneously’. The way you are using the word ‘medium’ cannot be applied to me, for I am always quite conscious of what is being done in and through me by the divine Force of my Lord Beloved Supreme.

Part II — The spiritual life

The spiritual life

Question: In your writings you say that there are different levels of consciousness: the inanimate one of stones, the plant world, the animal kingdom and the human state of existence. They are all progressing towards the divine state. Spiritual seekers try to climb up the progress-tree with spiritual methods such as meditation, but sometimes they fail. What happens to them? What do you advise for those who have difficulty meditating and cannot set aside fifteen minutes per day for their spiritual disciplines?

Making spiritual progress is like developing a muscle. Slowly and steadily, through regular practice, we develop stronger muscles. That is also the way we develop our inner muscles, which are inspiration, aspiration and dedication.

If I cannot meditate for fifteen minutes, I shall try to meditate for ten minutes. If I cannot meditate for ten minutes, I shall try to meditate for five minutes or three minutes. But I have to start. Then gradually I will increase my inner strength.

It is the same thing with leading a spiritual and disciplined life. To start with, someone can count how many good things he has done and how many bad things he has done in one particular day. Then each day he will try to decrease his bad actions and increase his good actions. Similarly, he must also try each day to be more disciplined in his actions. In this way slowly and steadily he will change his life.

Question: You are a vegetarian. Is being a vegetarian essential in the spiritual life?

If we eat meat and fish, then the restless and aggressive qualities of the animal kingdom will enter into us. If our minds or other parts of our being are restless and aggressive, then we cannot have powerful and peaceful meditations. But if we eat only vegetables, then the mild qualities of the vegetable kingdom will enter into us and we will find it easier to have high and deep meditations. Therefore, being a vegetarian can be of considerable benefit to a seeker.

But I cannot say that if someone is not a strict vegetarian, he will not have high experiences or that God-realisation will always remain a far cry. No, it is not true. In the past there were great spiritual figures who ate meat and fish; even now there are spiritual figures who do so, and their lofty experiences and sublime realisations cannot be questioned. But I feel that it is good for people to adopt in their lives anything that can help them make fast, faster, fastest progress.

Question: Why does man use archaic sounds in his prayer, such as Aum, Amen, Halleluiah, etc.?

We come from outside the church, where many people may be moving around and talking, to the altar inside, where it is all calm and quiet. God the Sound is like the outside of the church and God the Silence is like the altar. It is easier to stand and look at the outside of a church than to go inside and approach the altar. Again, we cannot imagine an altar without a church, and to have a church without an altar is useless. They complement each other and form a unit.

Although Aum is a Sanskrit word, it is not an archaic sound. Aum embodies the tremendous power of our Hindu trinity: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva — God the Creator, God the Preserver and God the Transformer. So Aum is the sound-expression of the Hindu trinity.

Question: What do you say while you are praying? To whom are you speaking? Have you ever prayed for others, for the world, for peace? How have you done this?

Then again, in the highest sense, there is no separation between myself and ‘others’. After I attained my own conscious union with God, I came to realise that there is only one ‘person’, and that is my universal oneness-life.

Question: In calling on God, should we use the pronoun 'You'? If not, what kind of language should we use?

During prayer and meditation, it is advisable to speak to God in your own mother tongue because the language that you learned right from birth has become inseparably one with your life-breath, which is all simplicity, sincerity, purity and divinity. So it is advisable, especially for seekers, to pray to God in the language they were brought up with.

Question: What techniques do you use in your meditation to achieve inner awareness, an opening up to spiritual strength and the creation of a 'new consciousness'? What do you do and what method do your disciples follow?

In the case of my students, I advise them to meditate on the heart, and to think of the compassionate and personal aspect of God. What God has and what God is is infinite Compassion — Compassion in His creation and Compassion beyond His creation. So we try to meditate on this aspect of God. It is like father and child. The father may be very great; others may be afraid of him or hold him in awe. But the child is all love for his father, and can run to his father and speak to him at any time. So we try to approach God the compassionate Father with our heart’s love, devotion and surrender. But there are many ways to approach God, and others may prefer to approach God in His impersonal aspect.

I do not give my students any secret mantra or incantation to repeat. I tell them that if they want to repeat a mantra, they should say “Supreme”. In general, I advise them to remain calm and quiet and not to allow any thoughts to disturb their minds.

Sometimes I ask them to do different things in order to get inspiration. I may tell them to look at a flower and appreciate its beauty and purity, so that they will be reminded of their soul’s inner beauty and purity. Or I may ask them to get inspiration by looking at the flame of a candle, since this outer flame will remind them of their inner flame. I may ask them to imagine a vast expanse of water and try to enter into its vastness during their meditation. I may ask them to imagine a mountain, because this will inspire them to raise their consciousness high, higher, highest.

Question: What is the difference between the meditation of the heart, spiritual concentration and contemplation of God?

Concentration is one-pointedness. When the seeker concentrates, he focuses his attention on something tinier than the tiniest, and eventually acquires tremendous will-power.

Meditation is another subject. When the seeker meditates, he meditates on something vaster than the vastest in order to acquire infinite peace, infinite light and infinite bliss.

Part III — Personal views

Personal views

Question: You are able to combine the spirituality of India with Western dynamism. This is quite unheard of for a teacher of Indian spirituality. Do you follow a prearranged plan? Do you feel suited for today's world, or do you try to conform to the world while bringing good into it?

I owe my aspiration-heart to India; I owe my dedication-life to America. I feel that the inner life of aspiration and the outer life of dedication are both needed in order to manifest the divine Light of our Heavenly Father here on earth.

I do not follow a prearranged plan. I just obey devotedly, soulfully and unconditionally the express Command of my Lord Beloved Supreme. In the beginning I was absolutely puzzled and confused by the West. But over the years I have been able to accept the Western world, with all its good and bad qualities, as my own.

Question: Does God need man? Did you choose your life-role? Can we draw a parallel between your life and that of the Biblical prophet Samuel and also with the Little Shepherd of Fatima?

I did not choose my life-role. My Inner Pilot commanded me to serve those who want and need my inner guidance, and to be their spiritual teacher. There are many God-seekers all over the world who are searching for a spiritual teacher.

I would not compare myself with either the Biblical prophet Samuel or the Little Shepherd of Fatima. I am only a God-lover who is trying to be a soulful and perfect instrument of God’s Will. But I can tell you that God is able to bestow upon others the same great capacities and good qualities that He bestowed upon the prophet Samuel and the Little Shepherd of Fatima. God’s Blessings are infinite, and He has a special Plan to fulfil in and through each individual on earth who is ready and willing to serve Him.

Question: You have said that from a very young age you knew that your mission would develop in the West. Was it an inner message you received during your first thirteen years, or was it a suggestion of your Guru? How did your knowledge of coming to the West develop?

Question: Your name, Chinmoy (“full of divine consciousness”), seems to tell it all. Why did your parents give you this name? Were they thinking about your future spiritual vocation?

Question: In your writings, you describe an episode in your life where you met or talked to the King of the Universe. Was it a subtle inner vision or could you see Him with your physical eyes? Were you in a meditative trance, or were you in an ordinary consciousness? What did the King look like?

It was a subtle inner vision. In that vision He appeared before me in His Transcendental Form. He was all gold — a beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful being — infinitely more beautiful than I can ever describe! In that particular vision I called Him the King of the Universe. But now I usually call Him the Supreme.

Question: What do you experience while you are producing your works at a tremendous speed? What do you do to reach the proper consciousness? Can you create or compose whenever you want to, or only when you feel a call from within?

In order to be in the proper consciousness for creating something that will be of value to aspiring humanity, I do not pray to God for inspiration or meditate on inspiration. Before I create something or do something most important and significant, I just meditate for God to be supremely victorious in and through the poet or the author or the singer or the artist in me.

I can create or compose at any moment I want to. There are two types of poets, authors, singers, artists and so forth. One type has to run after the inspiration-bird in order to catch it. The other type is divinely blessed by God’s Grace; the inspiration-bird itself flies towards him in order to be caught. But in both cases there can be difficulties. Those who run after the inspiration-bird may not succeed in catching it. Again, those who receive the inspiration-bird when it flies to them may not be soulful and grateful. Therefore, they may also fail — in their case, by not offering the utmost divinity through their creations.

Question: Why is there an abundance of gardens with exotic flowers and wonderful birds in your paintings? The inner garden or garden of the Beyond is a very happy state, but it contrasts with the problems of everyday life. It seems almost to evade them. Is this the case? What are you saying through your colourful gardens?

True, in the inner life everything is happiness and beauty, whereas in the outer life the story is almost always the opposite. But in no way am I trying to avoid or evade the outer life of pain and suffering. Through colourful gardens and flowers I am trying to indicate that the outer life also can have harmony, peace, love, light and delight, for I feel that the inner life must inspire the outer life. With my heart’s aspiration and my life’s dedication I am trying to bring to the fore the beauty and purity of the inner life so that it can bring happiness to the outer life.

All the divine qualities that we see in the inner life eventually have to be brought to the fore in the outer life as well. God wants us to participate devotedly and soulfully in His Cosmic Game by manifesting outwardly all the divine qualities that we have within.

I have done thousands and thousands of paintings, and many of these also deal with the battlefield of life and the hard realities that we find there. My art-world is like a big store where each customer can choose what he likes or needs. If you need the heart’s cry, you will find it. If you need the soul’s smile, you will find it. If you need consolation, you will find it. If you need illumination, you will find it. Whatever you want, you will be able to find in my paintings.

Question: Your weightlifting achievements are unparalleled in this world. Which mental processes do you use to concentrate your physical and mental energies?

Question: Is God Father or Mother to you?

My heart’s streaming tears in no time reach my Mother-God. My soul’s beaming joys reach my Father-God sooner than the soonest. My Mother-God proudly tells the whole world who I am: I am God’s choice instrument. My Father-God smilingly tells the whole world what my ultimate goal is. My ultimate goal is to serve both my Father-God and my Mother-God unconditionally while they are transforming today’s man into tomorrow’s God.

Every day in the small hours of the morning my Mother-God says to me, “How are you today, My child?” And my Father-God says to me, “What are your plans today, My son?” Late at night when I am about to retire, my Mother-God tells me, “My child, sweet dreams, sweet dreams.” And my Father-God tells me, “My son, do not dream of escaping from harsh reality. Fight bravely against ignorance-night. Be victorious! Your Mother and I are all for you.”

A sweet conversation in my fragrance-heart-garden: I say to my Mother-God, “Mother, You forgive me almost immediately when I do something wrong. How is it and why is it that when I do something wrong, Father, instead of forgiving me, illumines me? And that He does so slowly — although steadily and unerringly. Why, why?”

My Mother-God says to me, “My child, your Father is the one who has to answer this question."

My Father-God says to me, “My child, your Mother’s quick Forgiveness does not necessarily change your nature, but My Illumination can and does change your nature. Yes, it always does.”

My Mother-God says to my Father-God, “But if I do not forgive My child first, how on earth are You going to illumine him?”

Part IV — Appendix

Foreword to the first edition

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

Preface to the first edition

Sri 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.