You belong to God

_Question: I would like to ask what the basis of your meditation is._¹

When we pray, it is like climbing a tree. We feel that God is at the top of the tree and we are begging Him to come down and give us His inner Treasures. Again, we are climbing up the tree and going high, higher, highest.

When we meditate, it is like climbing down the tree. We have received many delicious fruits, and now we are bringing them down and we shall offer them to our dear ones and to humanity at large. With meditation we come down and share our fruits — that is, our joy — with others.

_Question: Is your meditation like a religion?_

But ours is a way of life. We want to become good citizens of the world, and for this we have to love the Divine in humanity. There is not a single religion that does not love God. When we only care about loving God and we do not worry about whose religion is the best, then there is no problem. Our love of God becomes a way of life. But if we remain in the competition-world, we will claim that our own religion is the best.

_Question: So you can say you are still a Hindu?_

_Question: What can you say about world peace?_

The problem is that everybody wants peace in a very peculiar way. I may say that as long as I am your lord and you are my servant, we can have peace. I want peace provided I am allowed to stand in front of you. It is not enough for me to stand alongside you. No, I have to be one step ahead of you and you have to remain behind me; then only there will be peace. This is what the world thinks and feels.

_Question: Your meditation group wants world peace, but I do not think it is a big enough group to make an impact on world leaders._

The soul has infinite peace. The heart has peace to a certain extent because it is receiving peace from the soul. But if we can regularly pray and meditate, then our heart will be in tune with God all the time and it will definitely get peace in abundant measure.

_Question: Do you believe that world peace will be a reality?_

_Question: I was invited to your musical performance, but I see that you do not play music by composers like Mozart or Beethoven. You play in a different way._

Question: Is it all right if people call you a prophet?

Question: Before you received the inner Command to come to America, did you feel you were in preparation? Were you waiting consciously?²

If your father, let us say, told you everything that would happen from A to Z, from the beginning to the end, you would not value B, C, D and E, because they are all in the beginning. Step by step we have to value our life.

While climbing up the staircase, if you place your right foot and then your left foot, you will not break your legs. But if you try to jump, you may break your legs. You have to go slowly.

Question: You were waiting for a long time.

Sometimes a whimsical idea to go to America would come to me, but a solid feeling to go to the West — that God did not give me. I had only a solid feeling to go to the Himalayas. A few years ago, my eldest brother was feeling that one day I might come back to India and go and live in the Himalayas.

When I was fourteen years old, I wrote a short article called, “A Sea of Light.” There I said that I was going to give up, I was going to leave this mortal world for my eternal abode in Heaven.

Then the Supreme said to me, “If people like you withdraw, who is going to manifest Me?” That was my revelation. That was my solid experience.

Question: What happened after Siddhartha attained enlightenment? Did he not see God? Why was it impersonal?³

After his enlightenment, the Buddha did not want to come down. He wanted to stay in that state where it is all peace. There are two aspects. One is the extinction of all earthly sufferings. If you can go to that realm, there will be no suffering at all. The other aspect is that if you climb up to the top of the tree and eat the most delicious mango yourself, you do not want to come down; as soon as you reach the foot of the tree again, you will see that there are many, many thorns. You feel that the best thing is to remain at the top of the tree, eat and never come down.

The Buddha attained nirvana. Then, after nirvana, he spoke about parinirvana. First comes the extinction of suffering. Then one becomes so completely immersed in the Universal Consciousness that one does not take human incarnation again. The bird has gone out of the cage; it does not want to come back into the cage any more.

Question: Did the Buddha see God?

In my case, I see both, but I prefer the personal. I am one hundred per cent for the personal. Once in Woodstock I was seeing the impersonal God. I was in front of a bus stand. I was waiting there for the bus to come back to New York from Woodstock. The bus was not on time. I wanted the bus to come, so that I would not be late. I was only watching and watching for the bus.

Then I saw the impersonal Supreme. I said, “I do not need the impersonal. I am dying for the personal!” Then immediately I saw the personal Supreme. At last I noticed that the bus was already there. It was waiting only for me, perhaps.

You can talk to the personal God. With the impersonal, it is like talking to a wall. If you can approach the personal One, you can do anything you like — talk, cry, get scoldings or anything else. With the impersonal God, it is all mental hallucination!

I will give you an example. Some disciples are dissatisfied with me. Inwardly they are saying that they need a better Guru, that I do not care for them. A few days ago, here at the hotel, I was telling God, “O my Lord Supreme, what have I done wrong? You have blessed me with some undivine disciples. Can You not inwardly inspire them to leave my boat?”

He said, “Keep quiet! Shut up!”

I said to the Supreme, “Here, when I am asking You to take some people out of my boat, You are asking me to shut up. Why are You so unsympathetic, why?”

He said, “You fool! You made a conscious, unconditional commitment to Me. You have realised Me. Where are they? Realisation is a far cry for them. They have not made even an unconscious or conditional commitment. Based on your commitment, I tell you to shut up. Based on their standard, I tell them, ‘Try other boats, try other boats. And if you need My Help, I will help you.’”

This is not my mental hallucination. It happened only three or four days ago in this famous place. When it is a matter of the personal Supreme, I can talk to Him face to face. The impersonal will turn a deaf ear.

Sri Ramakrishna was utterly devoted to Mother Kali. Sometimes he used to get mad, furious, and say nasty things to Mother Kali. Would he say these things to the impersonal God? He knew the impersonal would not listen to him.

I am in the physical. If some of my disciples get angry with me, immediately they refer to the personal. At that time, they do not think of my inner vastness, peace and light. One person’s consciousness descends and, if I have concern and compassion for that person, I take his anger or jealousy in the form of an attack on my physical body. This morning, about seven or eight minutes before four o’clock, I was standing in my room about to take exercise, when I got such pain, such pain, in my right ankle. What an attack! Somebody in New York was doing me a ‘favour’ by attacking me with wrong forces.

I shall tell you another incident. Today my weightlifting career could have ended for a few months. I entered into the car and closed the door. Alas, my left thumb was caught between the car and the door. I hurt it badly. I came out of the car and screamed and screamed. In this case, the attack came in the form of my own carelessness. My right arm is bad, and that is why I try to lift more weight with the left. Had I damaged my left thumb, I would not have been able to lift for a long time. But my Supreme’s Compassion saved my thumb.

In this way, the personal aspect deals with compassion. The impersonal is like a solid wall. There is no response.

Question: If the Buddha's theory was to disdain the personal God, did it also apply to the personal Guru?

And the Buddha had some unfortunate disciples. After listening to his talks, they would go to another spiritual Teacher only to make a comparison. Then, when they found that the Buddha’s talks were better, more inspiring, they used to come back to him.

If the Buddha had not cared for the personal aspect, he would have said, “Who cares? I gave you my wisdom. That is the most important thing. If you find more wisdom in the other Teacher, then go to him. It is all impersonal.” But the Buddha did not do that. He used to feel miserable, not because he was losing his disciples, but because they constantly changed their Guru. Then he used to give talks and bring them back.

The personal and the impersonal are inseparable, but we prefer one to the other — that is all. In essence, they are one, inseparable, but we like one more than the other. Most people prefer the personal God.

In the Buddha’s case, it was not that the impersonal God came to him. It was not that Somebody stood in front of him as the impersonal God, no. From within, everything became fully illumined, like a million-watt bulb. God was inside, outside, everywhere. The Buddha’s inner beings were fully illumined, enlightened. He separated himself from his inner beings. He saw his inner beings right in front of him, and they were fully illumined. He took them as his own impersonal aspect. This is the Buddha’s way: to feel that, inside, you are fully illumined, you are another God.

The other way is to feel that through love, devotion and surrender to the personal God, you will get everything. Look at a teacher and his student. In many cases, the student has already learnt as much as the teacher knows, but the student has such humility, adoration and admiration that he still wants to keep that individual as his teacher. Sometimes the student even goes beyond the teacher. He knows more, but he does not want to show it because the teacher taught him for so many years with utmost affection, compassion and fondness.

My eldest brother became a Sanskrit scholar. When the village priest performed rites, so many things he did incorrectly, but my brother used to touch his feet because he first received his knowledge of Sanskrit from the village priests.

When the Buddha’s inner beings were illumined, he was fully satisfied. He did not care for the personal aspect. He did not need it. Once he felt himself as the Highest, he was fully satisfied.

In my case, when I realised God, I knew that there was Somebody else, but there was no difference between my Highest and that Somebody else. From that Highest I came. Again, the Highest in the form of realisation and the Highest in the form of manifestation I keep together. In the Buddha’s case, the Highest in the form of realisation he took, but the Highest in the form of manifestation he did not care for. I immediately take both — realisation and manifestation. This moment, when I am in the form of realisation, Somebody is being manifested in and through me. Next moment, when I am playing the role of manifestation, Somebody is expressing realisation in and through me. The Buddha followed the realisation way, not the manifestation way. That is why his philosophy is a little bit different from mine. But in the end, it is the same thing, the same thing.

Question: It seems that the followers of the Buddha worship his personal aspect.

Question: How can we protect ourselves when we are around unaspiring people?⁴

Question: In your writings, you talk about the Goddess Kali. Is it necessary to believe in the Cosmic Goddesses?

Then they took me to my house in a rickshaw. My case was still quite serious. For three days and three nights I could not move, but the entire time I was seeing my Mother Kali at one particular corner of the wall. It was not my imagination. She was watching me and, with infinite compassion and love, she was telling me that I would be physically all right.

Many hundreds and thousands of experiences Mother Kali has given me. But I want my disciples to be devoted to one Person, and that Person is the Supreme. Inside the Supreme is Mother Kali. Mother Kali is a portion of the Supreme. Your Guru, my Guru, everybody’s Guru is the Supreme. I will not say to anybody that they should give up the Supreme and take Mother Kali as their all, no.

Then again, right now you cannot see the Supreme, but I can. Since your third eye is still sleeping and you are unable to see the Supreme directly, you can look at my Transcendental Picture. If you have faith in me, if you believe that your Guru has realised God, then this picture can immediately help you to reach the Highest. My Transcendental Picture is inseparably one with the Supreme. Since you cannot see the Supreme directly, you can see the representative of the Supreme in my Transcendental.

In the same way, you may want some divine quality-purity, for example. Since you cannot see your own heart as a most beautiful flower, since right now you do not smell the fragrance of your heart, what can you do? You can keep a flower in front of you to make yourself feel that you are going to be as pure as the flower. A flower embodies purity. When you look at the flower, you are receiving purity in infinite measure. With the help of the flower, you are going to the purity-world. The flower is taking you to purity-consciousness, fragrance-consciousness, nowhere else.

Always we have to have something that takes us to what we want. For my disciples, my Transcendental Picture is the bridge between earth and Heaven. If you do not have a bridge, how are you going to make the crossing? What are you going to do? Heaven is a little higher than earth! Again, always we have to keep something in mind to inspire ourselves. For my disciples, that something is my Transcendental Picture. My Transcendental Picture is also inside you.

In my case, what do I do? I see Someone who is so affectionate to me and so fond of me, Someone who has the power aspect. When I lift thousands of pounds, at that time I see my Mother Kali dancing on my head. This is not my mental hallucination.

Question: Guru, I have a skin problem. I have had it ever since I was a baby and it drives me crazy. I itch and I cannot sleep. I was wondering if you could please suggest some outer or inner remedies.

Question: When we are born, are there different possible futures that we could have?

Many times it happens that there is a short cut, but there are high hurdles if you go that way. Again, the other way may be a long journey, very long, but without so many obstacles. But the problem is that it is a very slow process, incarnation after incarnation.

When you get a genuine spiritual Master and when your aspiration is very sincere, he shows you the short cut, plus the obstacles in your path are considerably removed. Again, if there are no obstacles at all, then you will not value the spiritual life. If you get everything for the asking, you will not value it.

When you become spiritually developed, you will see that when you do get what you are asking for, it is because of God’s unconditional Compassion. If I have not given you one dollar, let us say, why should you be grateful to me? Again, if I do give you something, will you not give me a smile? Here on earth always one person has to give something and the other person has to give something in return. It is mutual give and take. We cannot convince our mind that God loves us unconditionally. But when God gives us something, He gives it unconditionally.

Only when we have our spiritual life in the forefront can we convince our mind that God loves each person unconditionally. Ordinary people will never, never be able to believe this. To convince their mind is next to impossible. But spiritual people are different. If we are spiritual, immediately we see that what we give is next to nothing in terms of love of God, devotion to God, service to God. We feel - and it is absolutely true — that God loves us infinitely more than we love Him. Whether it is affection, love, fondness, concern or compassion, He gives us much more than we give Him.

Just because your vessel is so small, you cannot hold what God wants to give you. God comes with a very large quantity, but you cannot hold it because your vessel is so small. He is standing right in front of you, but you are unable to expand, you are unable to have a larger than the largest vessel so that He can pour His Love and Blessings into you.

If, at that moment, you can show God your gratitude, you will immediately get a larger inner vessel. Even by repeating and repeating daily, “I want to love my Lord Beloved Supreme unconditionally,” you will not achieve your aim. You are only hammering away. But, along with your prayer, if you can offer God your gratitude, then immediately your prayer becomes pure. Then your vessel expands automatically.

With gratitude you are increasing the receptivity of your inner vessel. And when gratitude increases, you will be able to see that the road ahead of you becomes quite visible and the journey is shortened.

I wish to tell each and every disciple: offer gratitude to God for what you have already become. Only think of what you have become and what you would have been if you had not followed the spiritual life. Look around and see the outer life. Do you want that life? If you want that life even now, you are free to go back. You gave up that life for a higher life. Now if you see that this higher life is also full of obstacles, perhaps you feel that you had better go back to the other life. Let us not call it a ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ life. Let us call it the ‘other’ life.

If you follow this other life, the ordinary life, I tell you, the process will be very, very slow. One day you will have to realise God, whether in this incarnation or one hundred incarnations from now. Why, why, why, if you know that the Goal is oneness with God’s Will and, in order to reach that Goal, you need faith in God, why do you not cultivate more faith in God and faith in yourself, faith that you do have the capacity to love God unconditionally? Just say to yourself, “If He can love me unconditionally, I can also love Him unconditionally, because I am His creation.” Each individual needs this faith.

If a mother is eating something very sweet and delicious, she is bound to share it with her children. God is infinitely kinder and more affectionate than our mother or our father, so if He is drinking nectar, then He wants to share it with us. Similarly, if He is loving us and blessing us unconditionally, that means He has also given us the capacity to love Him unconditionally.

When you are born, your soul is bound to know this truth. Each soul has very high experiences when it comes into the world. At that time, the soul renews its promise to the Supreme. Sometimes it can be on the day of your birth, sometimes it can be a few days earlier, sometimes a few days later. It does not have to be on the actual day. It can be five, six, ten or even twelve days before your birth.

You have seen that whenever there is a special function somewhere in the world, some people come many hours or days early. They come and sit outside, waiting for the doors to open. In the same way, if the souls are ripe, they come four or five days early to renew their promise that in this life they will love God unconditionally in and through the body, vital, mind and heart.

The soul is the pioneer. The soul says to the other members of its family, “I am loving God unconditionally. My brother heart, you also do the same. My brother mind, my brother vital and my brother body, all of you do the same.” These are the messages you get from your soul on the day of your birth and also when you observe your soul’s day, your birthday, on earth.

How to love God unconditionally? In one sense, there is no short cut, whatever the distance is. The distance from Sydney to Melbourne, let us say, is fixed. You can cover the distance by plane or by boat. The plane can bring you in one hour’s time. Will the boat be able to bring you in one hour?

In the spiritual life, gratitude, love and surrender are like the plane. They will bring you to the Goal much faster. If you have to depend on your personal capacity — your austerity and so forth — then it will be like a long boat journey. A little boat will carry you slowly to the Goal. The distance is the same, but one way is much faster than the other.

I shall give you an example. Today, during our Peace Concert, eleven souls came to me in the inner world. They were eager to make unconditional surrender to the Supreme in me. Four of them were not my disciples. They were seekers, but they wanted to make unconditional surrender to God’s Will in me. I was so happy. My music inspired these people who are not my disciples and who may not become my disciples at all. But their aspiration was so intense, and I was able to intensify it much more. Perhaps they do not have a spiritual Master, but their Master is God. God is everybody’s Master. These souls came to our Peace Concert and they were so moved that they made unconditional surrender to God’s Will. They renewed their promise to the Absolute Lord Supreme. Just an hour ago it took place. I know those four seekers are still maintaining that experience. Perhaps it may continue for a few days or a few months, or even for one year.

I was able to inspire those seekers today. They made their surrender directly to God, but I was the one who helped them to intensify their aspiration. In your case, if you can renew your promise to the Supreme every day, the way you do all your daily activities, then it will become easier for you to make unconditional surrender.

It is the greatest opportunity that people get when they are with other spiritual people. Immediately they respond to the consciousness. I was very, very moved by this experience.

Question: If you are singing one of your Bengali songs that has our name in it, will we receive something at that time?

The day before yesterday, when I came back from the radio station, one of the disciples took me to eat something. Did he not see that I was practising my new song with his name? I was inspired to play my flute there in the restaurant. We were sitting outside, almost in the street.

We were drinking soup and I was playing my flute. Nobody was bothering me; people were eating and I was playing, playing, playing, enjoying that song. They were such nice people that they did not mind.

The song is, Ashar pradip nibe jadi jai... It means, “If ever I allow my hope-dream-flame to be extinguished in my life, then death will immediately use its death-chains to strangle me, while smiling and dancing.”

Hope is absolutely necessary. The moment we give up hope, that is our death. Hope is not expectation. There is a great difference between hope and expectation. I give you one cent and then immediately I want two cents from you: that is expectation. But hope is not like that. When you are hoping, at that time you feel that you are helpless. Hope makes us humble. Expectation does not do that. Expectation is a kind of haughtiness inside confidence. Confidence is good, but expectation is haughty confidence.

When the son feels that he has the right to expect something from the father, that is called expectation. But if he hopes that the father will give him something, then there is some prayerful feeling, some humility inside him. Hope carries more divinity in it, real divinity. Hope is a kind of soulful feeling. We feel, “I am not perfect, but still I have hope. I have not conquered all my weaknesses — jealousy, insecurity and so on — but I do hope that one day I will conquer them. I have not reached my goal yet, but one day I will be able to reach my goal. I have not done it, but I will be able to do it.” Never give up hope! If hope goes away, then we are in trouble — we are spiritually dead.

Question: What is the best way not to be bothered by the faults of others?

Or let us think of a blackboard. You see that children have written some undivine things on the blackboard. They have practically ruined it; it is defaced very badly. What kind of inspiration are you going to get from the blackboard? If you are not getting any inspiration, then you have to be very wise and turn around. As soon as you turn around, you will see a garden or something else that is beautiful.

Always the answer is not to look at someone else’s faults. And again, if you look at someone else’s defects, you have to feel that your own weaknesses are like a magnet. You also have defects, and like a magnet they draw the weaknesses of the other person. Those very things that you hate, your inner magnet draws into your own system.

Insecurity, fear and stupidity — how we cherish them! How cleverly we try to hold on to them and hold on to them! We feel that they are absolutely necessary. Insecurity, we feel, is necessary; it keeps us alert. Insecurity makes us feel, “Somebody is behind me and he is going to go ahead of me. Those who are ahead of me are not bothering me so much because I am dying to be equal to them. But people who are behind me are creating more problems for me.” We are dying to be equal to those who are ahead of us, but it is the ones who are behind us who make us feel insecure. If a world champion goes ahead of me in a race, it is nothing new. But the moment an old lady goes ahead of me, my insecurity kills me! When we are insecure, we are always worried that our inferiors will try to go ahead of us.

To become like Hanuman⁵

When the disciple loses faith in the Master, what happens? It is the spiritual death of the disciple. In exactly the same way, when the Master loses faith in the disciple, it is the Master’s death. Outwardly I will not be able to explain it to you, but when you dive deep within, you will see that what I am saying is absolutely true.

The race is for the brave. The race is for the swift. If you are brave, you will be swift in the inner world; and if you are swift in the inner world, you will be brave in the outer world. I do hope — I hope against hope — that in this incarnation some Hanuman-like disciples will come into my life or, among the ones that I already have, some can grow into my best disciples. And I do hope that all the messages that I have offered over the years, here, there and everywhere, will be manifested even during my lifetime. Otherwise, when I am gone, physically gone, either slowly and steadily my disciples all over the world will manifest my light, or some new souls from Heaven will descend to expedite the manifestation of my divine and supreme promises that I have offered to the world.

Question: How can we be more like Hanuman?

It is a matter of faith. Faith and surrender go together. If you have faith, then you can have unconditional surrender. If there is anything that you cannot do or cannot become in your life, no matter how difficult it is, just say, “I can do it, I have done it!” You are not fooling yourself. When you say this, you can establish your faith. On the one hand, it is extremely difficult; on the other hand, it is extremely easy.

If you have a problem, and for years you have been unable to conquer that problem, simply say, “No, I can do it.” Next you can say, “I have done it.” If you have implicit faith in your Master, sleepless and breathless faith, then say, “I can do it and I have done it!”

It is only a matter of changing direction. You know that there are two directions. There is something called forward march and something called backward march. If you are marching backward because you feel that is easier, then I will say, “Go forward, march forward! Who is preventing you from marching forward? Again, who is begging you to march backward?”

Each time you lose faith, each time you lose a divine quality, you have to feel that you are marching backward. And each time you regain your good quality, you are going forward. No matter how many days, how many months or how many years you have marched backward by not listening to your Inner Pilot or your Master or your own soul or your inner being, start again at this moment and say, “The past is dust.” That is our philosophy. Just say, “The past is dust. If the past has not given me this Hanuman-type faith, if the past has not given me unconditional surrender, then let me have it in the present, so that I can carry it into the future all my life.”

Question: You said that the race is to the swift. Some people are born with a lot of natural dynamism. If you do not have a lot of energy, can you develop that speed through will-power alone if you are on a spiritual path?

Just look at me. I did not want to become a world champion in weightlifting — far from it. But I had faith in the Supreme. I had faith that if the Supreme wanted me to lift heavy weights, He could easily lift in and through me. That much faith I had and I have. If He really wants me to do something, then He will do it in and through me.

There is a theory that poets are born and not made, but I do not agree with it. Some poets are born, true. At the same time, if a seeker wants to be a poet, Grace can descend from Above and turn that person into an excellent poet. It happened in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Sri Aurobindo had quite a few disciples who became excellent poets, but they were not poets in the beginning of their lives. At that time, their poetic capacities were a far cry.

Once you enter into the spiritual life, it is like a river entering into the ocean. If the river has the eagerness, then the ocean will immediately come and meet it. Today I happened to be reading a book about some of our South Indian saints. There it was written, “Who says God does not become impatient?” The Master said it in a very emotional way. I asked myself, “How can God become impatient?” Then he explained, “To see a true devotee and meet with him and converse with him, God definitely becomes impatient.” This theory, from a certain point of view, is absolutely true.

Coming back to the point, if one has the eagerness to become a singer or an athlete, or to shine in any other walk of life, he does not necessarily have to have talents. God can endow him with those talents and capacities. My philosophy is that one per cent is our capacity and ninety-nine per cent is God’s Capacity, God’s Grace. But again, the same God has given us even that one per cent capacity.

Here there are many disciples who are doing very, very well in running, singing and other activities. If they had been left alone with their own capacities, the progress that they have made over the years in these fields they would not have made. The Supreme in me has been extremely, extremely generous. If you think that because you worked hard, very hard, in a certain field you have made this kind of progress, I wish to say that is not true. Other people may have worked harder, infinitely harder.

I used to go to a gym. The owner was a former Mr. Universe. He was a very nice man and he always said such encouraging things to me. When he saw my weightlifting capacities, he said, “You can do it, you can do it!” Then one day he told me how he thought I did it. He said that I remain a few inches above my head. He said that he had worked so hard in weightlifting all his life. In comparison, I had done nothing, according to him. So how was it possible for me to lift up these heavy weights? He said that he could not lift such heavy weights, but because I live a few inches above my head, I could do it.

But I wish to say that I live inside my heart. Very deep inside my heart I live. That is why it is possible for me to lift heavy weights. When you also live inside your heart, Grace from Above will descend most powerfully and most generously.

Right now you may not have the capacity to shine in a certain field, but you cannot say that just because you were not born with this capacity, it will be useless for you to try. No! If you have the inspiration and aspiration to become something, whether in music or in sports or in any other field, the Grace will descend.

Where is the talent in my case? Some people say I am an artist. In our family, nobody went in that direction; nobody showed artistic capacity. In primary school I did study art once a week, but did I ever think of becoming an artist? And did I ever think of becoming a weightlifter? Like this, there are many, many fields which I have entered where I did not have any background.

In the field of literature, my goal was to write two hundred books. Then I went far, far beyond that goal. Sometimes it happens that if God is pleased with you, then when you set a goal, God laughs at you. He says, “You are such a fool! I know what kind of receptivity you have.” Then, with God’s Grace, you go far beyond anything that you have done previously. I had a set goal in the field of literature — not that I would climb up the Himalayas, just that I would go a few metres. But God’s Grace enabled me to climb up higher and higher.

I always say that our goal is not fixed. Today’s goal is tomorrow’s starting point. Who gives us capacity? Somebody above us, Somebody within us gives us the capacity. Why does He not give it to others? We have to say that He is pleased with us. That means we have done something good for Him. If someone has done something good for God, God is not going to remain indebted to that person.

At this point I wish to say that many, many people have served the Supreme in me over the years. In the outer life perhaps I will remain indebted to you; but in the inner world I will never, never remain indebted to anybody. In the inner world, I will definitely give you more than you deserve. And I do hope that if I can give you something — which I shall do — in the inner world for your aspiration and for the dedication which you have offered over the years, it will compensate for what you have offered to me.

Outwardly many of you are serving me in so many ways, and it is true that, outwardly, I do not thank you adequately. At times I do not express my gratitude in public. Some people feel that unless I express my gratitude in public, that gratitude is no gratitude. But I tell you, when I offer my gratitude to you privately, inwardly, it is infinitely more powerful than when I offer my gratitude outwardly. Outwardly when I give it, at that time the insecurity and undivine qualities of others, like hungry wolves, will try to take it away from you. But inwardly, privately or in silence, let us say, if I offer gratitude to you, and if your heart is at that time receptive, then I assure you that nobody can take my gratitude away from you.

Question: If somebody is totally pure, is it really possible for him to lose his purity?

But there is something called aspiration. When we enter into the spiritual life, we do not allow the mind to think wrong thoughts or to direct us in a wrong way. The mind itself cannot say, “This is pure; that is impure.” No, only the heart can be the judge of purity. The heart will be the judge by virtue of its implicit faith either in the soul or in something deeper than the heart.

Many human beings do not know about the existence of the soul. I use the term ‘soul’, but others may not use this term. But they do know that there is something that can be deeper, infinitely more beautiful and infinitely more powerful, let us say, in their life. That something they have to think of.

The heart everyone knows. Immediately we think of the muscle, or we just feel our heart palpitating. But something is inside the heart. Let us call it the soul, or we can say it is God. God is everywhere. He is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. But if we meditate on the heart or concentrate on the heart, either the soul or God will tell us what is right and what is wrong, what is pure and what is impure.

When the mind becomes the judge, many wrong things the mind will say are right. Similarly, many undivine things the mind will say are pure. The mind cannot be the judge; the heart has to be the judge. Again, the heart is not the actual judge, but the heart begs the soul or God to be the judge. When the heart has faith in either the soul or God, then the heart waits for the message from within. And when the heart gets the message, it can keep the entire mind, vital and physical body pure.

Purity is in oneness with God’s Will. When we accept God’s Will in God’s own Way, there is always purity. But in order to accept God’s Will in God’s own Way, at every moment we need faith in God. For anything that we want, whether it is purity or something else, the first thing God will ask us is, “Do you have faith in Me?” And we also have to ask ourselves if we have faith in God.

The second thing that we have to ask ourselves is how many times we have become happy by pleasing ourselves in our own way and how many times we have become happy by pleasing God in God’s own Way. We will see the difference between making ourselves happy by saying something or doing something in our own way and making ourselves happy by listening to our heart or our soul or our Master.

One second of joy if you can get by pleasing me, then this one second of joy can last for days, for weeks, for months. When you have pleased me by doing something or by becoming something, then immediately you can say, “I have pleased Guru in his own way.” The joy that you get at that time will last for a very long time. Again, if you have pleased yourself by doing something in your own way, then you may be happy, but that happiness is nothing in comparison to the other happiness — nothing, nothing, nothing.

Purity is only a part of divinity. There are so many other good qualities: simplicity, sincerity, gratitude, oneness with God’s Will and so on. These good qualities we can lose, and again, we can get them back. It is not that once we lose them, we shall never regain them. But a time comes when, if we go on losing our divine qualities for days, weeks, months and years — losing and losing and losing — we will have no inclination, no eagerness to regain them. That is what happens. Not only purity, but all the divine qualities that a seeker has, he can lose, he can lose, he can lose.

Real purity is your oneness with God’s Will and your one-pointed faith in God’s Will. All the divine qualities can be found in your oneness with God’s Will. If you want these divine qualities to blossom, if you want them to increase, abundantly and infinitely, then this is the way. There is no divine quality that cannot be increased in boundless measure if you have constant and conscious oneness with God’s Will.

I wish to tell you a humorous story about oneness with the Master’s will. One day I asked one of my ‘famous’ disciples to do something. I said to him, “On other days I have asked you to do something in a totally different way, but this time I am requesting you to do something else. I am making it very clear to you. Now tell me what I have just said.”

He repeated what I had said. Then he did exactly the opposite! I said, “What did I ask you to do?” Again he repeated what I had asked him to do.

“Why did you do otherwise?” I asked him. He answered, “Usually you ask me to do it the other way.”

I asked him to do it one way, and he repeated my request. Then he did it the other way! I said to him, “For centuries and centuries, I meditated inside the Himalayan caves and prayed to God. What for? Only for one disciple like you. God did listen to my prayer, and He gave me you!”

Tenerife⁶

Question: What is the purpose of the monuments that we have inaugurated?

When we look at a flower, we try to be as beautiful and soulful as the flower. We want to be full of fragrance inside our heart. Similarly, the word ‘peace’ on these plaques and monuments reminds us of our inner peace.

I wish to offer love, joy and gratitude from the very depths of my heart to the owners of this bird park. They have been so kind to me. Each bird, according to me, symbolises the soul. The soul comes down from the highest Heaven and gives us the message of freedom, infinite freedom.

Question: What is your opinion about the pollution of the environment?

Question: To what degree does the Eastern philosophy influence the West?

Question: Do you mind giving interviews and answering questions?

Question: In your recent concert, you wanted people to be conscious of Mikhail Gorbachev and you dedicated the concert to him. I was wondering why you did that, since he is no longer serving in the same capacity as he was before.

Question: What is your attitude towards war? What is the best attitude to have in a situation of war?

Question: Many Heads of State have spoken to you about peace, but in their hearts have they really received the message?

Question: Your philosophy is that individuals must feel peace inside themselves before we can have peace in the world. Is meditation the best way to find this peace in ourselves?

Kamakura⁷

Question: During meditation sometimes my hands shake or my body trembles. Sometimes my body bends backwards. Today during the meditation I could not stop crying. What is the meaning of these symptoms?

Now let me say something about the symptoms you mentioned. When you meditate, you have to breathe in as slowly and quietly as possible, so that your subtle nerves can get nourishment. Some of your subtle nerves are not strong enough. That is why you are assuming all these peculiar poses. There is some disharmony in your subtle nerves.

Question: What is the most important thing to have in mind when I am taking care of my child?

Question: I heard that, spiritually speaking, sometimes when a person becomes very sick, that sickness may be from the person's past deeds. It is the law of karma. When that is true, how can a spiritual seeker be cured if he does not want to go running for medicines?

The human doctor has learnt something from someone, and that someone has also learnt it from somebody else. This way, if you go back to the first doctor on earth, whom did he get to teach him? The very first doctor had someone who taught him in silence, either intuitively or spiritually. That first teacher was God.

Perhaps you do not want to go to a human doctor because you do not believe in the doctor, or you feel that it is the law of karma that you are suffering from. You feel that your illness is due to your previous incarnations. You did something-call it wrong deeds or misdeeds, or something which was not advisable, and now you are meeting with the karma. In that case, you have to go to the Source. To negate the karma, or to do something infinitely more powerful than the so-called uninspiring, unaspiring or undivine thing you did in the past, you have to pray to God and meditate on God. Your prayers for perfect health will definitely reach the real Doctor inside your heart, provided they are sincere and provided they are enduring — that is to say, provided the prayers have been going on for years and years.

Press conference in Tokyo⁸

Question: It turns out that on the calendar today is the anniversary of the massive bombing of Tokyo during World War II. How do you feel about the coincidence of your Peace Concert being held on this particular day?

Question: What is the main message that you would like to give to the people of Japan through your concert here?

This is the message that I will be giving this evening to the audience: “Today’s Peace Concert I am most lovingly and most gratefully dedicating to President Gorbachev, whose Perestroika-Vision-Light ended the Cold War and sowed peace-seeds inside the heart-garden of the world-home for the transformation of the human mind and the perfection of human life.

“About a year ago — to be precise, ten months and twenty-three days ago — President Gorbachev came to visit Japan, Beauty’s Land and Duty’s Hand. At a dinner in the Emperor’s Palace his oneness-heart voiced forth, ‘Our countries and peoples are neighbours. Our ties are many centuries old. There are many historical documents testifying to the mutual attraction between the Russians and the Japanese.’

“At the same dinner, the unparalleled peace-lover in him also proclaimed, ‘Allow me also to express the wish that the presciently chosen name of the era of Your Majesty’s rule — Heisei, which means “achievement of universal peace” — may also come true in relations between the Soviet Union and Japan.’

“May the morning light of Japan and the serving heart of President Gorbachev together grow and glow to accelerate the perfection-promise of humanity.”⁹ This is the message I shall offer this evening.

Question: I understand that Mr. Gorbachev is now in a time of trial. Circumstances around him are not favourable. At this crucial time for him, do you have any advice for him?

Many great kings, emperors and monarchs of the past used to express their confidence by saying, “I came and I conquered.” That kind of theory they had. But President Gorbachev says, “I have come into the world to love you and to become one with you, and together we shall bring about a better world.” The vision of his perestroika is to think in a new way, to feel in a new way and to see the world with new eyes, to feel the world with a new heart, and to become inseparably one with the success and progress of the new world.

I am happy to tell you that I have already written three books about President Gorbachev, and one more book that is in now in preparation will come out shortly. This is my soulful appreciation and prayerful admiration for what he has done for the world at large. How many East European countries, how many people on earth — countless people — he has made happy! Perhaps he could not make all his countrymen happy, but he has made countless people in Eastern Europe happy.

Today there is only one Germany. There is no more East Germany and West Germany; it is all one. Similarly, President Gorbachev liberated Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. I have students all over the world. I know that to make even one student happy is a Herculean task. In spite of my best intentions, I find it so difficult to make them happy. But in Germany, for example, how many families which were doomed to destruction, doomed to disappointment, he has brought together! Family members are now together, whereas before they were completely separated. The Berlin Wall is no more; there is only one heart.

What President Gorbachev has done for humanity is far beyond our imagination. It far exceeds anybody else’s achievement. Over the centuries, people have achieved many, many things; but history will bear witness to the fact that there was one person on earth who ended the Cold War, who gave us a new hope: that we could depend on each other, we could trust each other, we could walk and run together. That was President Gorbachev. He made us feel that there should be no fear, no doubt in our lives; we belong to a oneness-world-family.

Question: How many times have you visited Japan in the past?

Being a seeker, when I come to Japan, I see Japan as the most beautiful flower. For me, Japan is nothing other than a most beautiful flower. And what does a flower have? A flower has fragrance as well as beauty. This beauty and fragrance Japan offers to the four corners of the globe.

As soon as we see a flower, our own good qualities come forward to appreciate the beauty and fragrance of the flower. Before we see the flower, we feel that our heart is not so pure. When we think of our mind, we feel that it is full of fear, doubt, anxiety and many, many other undivine qualities. But the moment we see a flower, we feel purity inside our heart, and clarity and luminosity inside our mind.

When I come to Japan, I see the beauty of Japan and the purity of Japan. And Japan gives me another experience which is so significant in my life. Japan is a small country composed of a few islands. There are many countries which are infinitely vaster than Japan. But what does Japan do? Japan embodies the message of the Infinite. Inside these tiny islands, we see the achievements of the Infinite. Look at Japan and the achievements of Japan! How many things Japan has created! That is why I say that Japan gives us the message of the Infinite.

Question: The prosperity of our economy has been noticed throughout the world. But the profound spirituality that Japan has may not be so prominent at this stage.

Japan does not talk; Japan acts. Sleeplessly Japan has been working for material success, material prosperity. If we do not have inner awakening, we cannot make progress in any field, whether it is the material field or the spiritual field. Now the question arises whether Japan is spiritually as well as materially awakened. I wish to say that the answer is definitely yes. Japan’s spirituality and Japan’s material success are going side by side.

A few minutes ago, I said that when I think of Japan, when I look at Japan, I see a flower. What does a flower signify? A flower signifies aspiration. When I look at a flower, immediately my good qualities come to the fore and I try to become a good person. Similarly, as soon as I see Japan, my own aspiration increases.

Now, where does this aspiration come from? It comes from the heart, where there is an inner hunger. This is not only the mind’s hunger to become prosperous, but also the heart’s hunger to love the world and offer to the world the good qualities of the heart. I can sincerely tell you that the spiritual aspect of Japan is also most encouraging and most inspiring.

Yesterday I visited the Lord Buddha’s statue at Kamakura. Except for a few regions, I have visited most of the countries of the world. I have visited many countries that love and adore the Lord Buddha. I come from India and the Lord Buddha came from India, but his message has been spread infinitely more in foreign lands than in his own land of India.

Again, there is no such thing as India or Japan or France or Russia; there is only one home, one world-family. The world is like a house with many rooms. If in one room Lord Buddha is not appreciated, as he rightly deserves to be, but people in other rooms appreciate him, admire him, adore him and love him, then it is quite sufficient.

Now let me come back to my answer. I have been to many parts of the world where the message of Lord Buddha is being followed, adored and fulfilled. But when I stand in front of the statue of Lord Buddha in Kamakura and offer him my soulful obeisance, my prayerful love and adoration, I feel that my life has seen something and achieved something most, most valuable. What Japan is, I am saying from my heart’s inmost conviction. If an individual feels that Japan is spiritual, and if that particular person stands in front of the statue of Lord Buddha at Kamakura, then the entire spirituality of Japan that person has to feel inside the Lord Buddha, the son of Asia, the beloved son of Asia.

It is very easy for human beings to discredit other nations. It is very difficult to appreciate others. One needs a very powerful heart to appreciate the good qualities of others. Just this morning I wrote something on this subject which I would like to read out:

“It is, indeed, a difficult task for some people — including, perhaps, world figures — to appreciate the lofty achievements of other people and other nations. But, to our extreme joy, President Gorbachev has not studied at the same school. Therefore, on April 19th, 1991, while addressing the Japanese Public Committee, his heart most beautifully and hauntingly sang for the soul, for the heart and for the life of Japan. This is his message: ‘Beautiful nature, sakuras in blossom, the combination of the past and the present to the visible breakthrough into the future, friendly people with a strong feeling of self-esteem and respect for others, curiosity and interest in life, the desire to make talents and ambitions a reality — in a word, the Japanese people are a wonderful product of nature and culture. All this is very fascinating and arouses feelings of fond affection. I am glad to have been able to feel the living pulse of the country and to see with my own eyes its achievements, which have rightfully given Japan a place among the leaders in world progress.’”

This kind of appreciation Japan has received from President Gorbachev. In his own way, he is also saying that Japan’s spirituality is being expressed through material success. The inner beauty is being expressed through the outer prosperity. A visitor does not have to go to various places in Japan to see and feel the spirituality of Japan.

If one goes to Kamakura alone, it is enough for him to find the tremendous spirituality of Japan. The vibration that Kamakura gives — not only the statue, but the entire town — embodies spirituality in abundant measure. Kamakura alone can feed the aspiration of any human being with boundless spirituality.

Question: I have been living for one and a half years in Japan. I listen to the lectures about spirituality without understanding them because the lectures are in Japanese. Is it possible for me to understand what is being said beyond the language?¹⁰

Question: What does it mean when people talk about spiritual development? Does it mean that one's desires are demolished?

The other reality is desire. Desire starts in the mind. With desire we are trying to go from one to many — one house, two houses; one car, two cars. We are only heading towards more and more possessions. Each possession of ours is only binding us, binding us, binding us. We look around and see that someone has more possessions than we have, and so we try to acquire more and more. There is no end to our greed.

Question: I feel that my heart or my soul has been very, very dry. Does that mean I have desire? How can my life become more joyful?

Question: I have been practising Hatha Yoga. I would like to achieve inner progress and inner development. Will I be able to achieve inner development through the practice of Hatha Yoga?

Question: I have been practising the exercises of _prana_ energy. Quite often I see purple light spreading around my forehead and then it moves forward. Today also, when I was meditating with you, I could not stop shedding tears.

Question: I am interested in the divine relationship between dance and music and sports.

If you are dancing for a spiritual purpose, then it can increase your devotion. But if you are dancing to attract the attention of people to your own vital life, to please your emotional life, to be more attractive to the public and to be appreciated and admired by the audience, then it is my feeling that dancing will definitely destroy your spiritual life. So it is you who have to decide whether you want to please God with your devotion, love and gratitude or you want to please your own emotional life.

The same applies to music. We can sing soulful songs. Again, we can sing vital songs, rock and roll and so forth. A seeker will not choose to sing emotional and vital songs. A seeker will choose only soulful and prayerful songs.

Then comes sports. Are you doing sports in order to make progress, or to defeat others? If you are competing with others to increase your own capacities, to see how far you can jump or how fast you can run, no harm. But you have to feel that you are doing it for your own progress and not to defeat somebody by hook or by crook.

Suppose you know how long it takes you to sprint 100 metres. You will be happy by setting a new personal record. While you are making your personal record, if somebody falls behind in the race, it is not your fault. But, while running the race, if you say, “By any means, I have to defeat that person,” then it will be a terrible mistake.

Competition helps you only if you are doing it for your own progress. You practise hard and then you see that gradually, gradually you are improving. But if you compete with others only to defeat them, then you will be doing the wrong thing and also you will feel miserable. Today you may defeat someone, but then you will look around and see that there is somebody else who can easily defeat you. When you see that there is somebody to smash your pride, all your joy goes away.

But if you are entering into competition for your own progress, you will get tremendous inner joy. You will say, “This much capacity God has given me, and if God is pleased with me, tomorrow He will give me more capacity.” In that way, no matter what the result is, you will be satisfied. But if you want to get joy by defeating someone, I tell you, that joy does not last. If you look around, you will see that there is somebody else who is far, far better than you.

Question: I feel that I am drawn towards something which I do not know. It is something unknown. I am attracted to something, but I am not sure what it is.

But suppose you enter into a forest. Immediately you get frightened. Then you go deep into the forest and you hear the noise of a tiger. When you go deeper still, all of a sudden the tiger is right in front of you, ready to devour you.

Question: Besides reading your writings, are there other things that will help the seekers?

Let us say you go to a swimming pool. You are getting inspiration from watching the people who are swimming there. Then you may say, “I am getting inspiration, but I do not want to swim in this particular swimming pool. I would like to go and swim in some other pool.” Again, you may say, “This swimming pool is giving me so much joy. I do not have to go to another swimming pool.”

Question: I read that Sri Ramakrishna, just by his touch, was able to send some of his disciples into trance and ecstasy. How was it possible?¹¹

Immediately this old lady saw who I was. She was taking such light from my divinity. Did I put my hand on her? No, there was no contact. Without touching her I was able to do it. And I was so proud of her, this eighty-year-old lady. Just yesterday it happened. The pictures will show that she was literally in divine ecstasy.

Question: Guru, that was the third time she tried to come and see you. She got lost the first two times. Yesterday she left home at eight in the morning and she arrived at one o’clock. She came on the subway alone, and she does not speak any English at all.

Sri Chinmoy: From Brooklyn she came, and from eight o’clock to one o’clock she took to come here!

Question: A few years ago you were saying that the Vedic Seers meditated for years to achieve a certain consciousness, and now that consciousness is available for humanity.

Sri Chinmoy: Parents take years to build a house. Their children are so much more advanced that they can do it in a month. Sri Aurobindo attained in three days what his Guru had taken years to realise.

Sri Ramakrishna said that when an Avatar comes, the Avatar is the udder. If you press the right place, you get milk. Do you get milk if you press the leg or the head or the ear of the cow? The udder is the right place. You press it and you get milk. Avatars are like that.

I give, but how many people take what I give? I give through the eyes. Some receive, some do not receive. I was so moved yesterday, so moved by that old lady and so proud that she was able to receive so much from me.

Question: What is your opinion about television?¹²

The material world is good, to a certain extent. It expedites material prosperity. But no matter how rich we become in the material sense, God-realisation will never, never come from material success, material achievements. The two can go side by side, but God-realisation itself can only come from the inner life, the spiritual life.

If I want to know all about world history, then I have to study history. Geography will be of no avail. Similarly, those who want to study science will go in that direction. But I do not think that one day science or computer technology will come forward and say, “This is God. He is standing in front of you.” If this were ever the case, then all the spiritual Masters would have to come back from Heaven and surrender to the computer.

Question: When so many things have to be done at the same time, it is hard for me to decide what I should actually do first. Is there always something that is best to do at a particular time?

Let us say there are four things you have to do on a particular day. The mind cannot say which is the most important thing. But the light from your own meditation will tell you. It will guide you: do this, do this. Your meditation will tell you. There is no other way.

Meditation early in the morning is of supreme, supreme importance. In the morning you have to get the message. In your office, your boss tells you what to do. Meditation is the boss here. You are asking the boss what to do. Again, if you can talk to my Transcendental Picture, it will tell you. But I am saying that you do not have to do that. Only try to have a very good meditation, a solid meditation. Meditation embodies light. That light will take you to the right thing. It will tell you the first thing to do.

Please meditate for a minimum of ten minutes each morning. I am not saying you have to get up at five o’clock or six o’clock. Whenever you get up — even if you get up at ten or twelve or one o’clock — that is your morning hour. Even if you get up at one o’clock, please meditate for ten minutes. Just keep the curtain closed. Do not allow the sunlight to come in, because it will disturb you; it will make your life miserable. Only keep the room dark so that you can feel it is still dark outside. You can feel that it is early in the morning and still the sun is not yet up; the sun is also sleeping.

Every morning kindly meditate for at least ten minutes. Then, at the interval of three hours, or at least three times — I am not saying every hour; that may be difficult — kindly be in a meditative consciousness. Early in the morning you will meditate, and then again at around two o’clock, five o’clock and once more. Make sure that at least three times during the day you become most sincerely aware of your meditation.

Question: I work on the computer eight to twelve hours a day for my job, and I have not been able to figure out how to be in my heart and be soulful while working on the computer.

Similarly, when you are working on the computer, your mind or brain has entered into the machine. But if you know that there is something inside you, inside your heart, that is also entering into the machine, then you are bound to feel soulful. When you are focusing your attention or concentration on an object, you feel that this concentration can come only from your mind and not from anywhere else. But you can also concentrate with your heart. Kindly try. A day will come when you will become soulfully one with the machine. Then you will see that everything is coming from the heart. Now we are desperately trying to grab the mind. It is like an unruly monkey. We are trying to grab the monkey and threaten it. In our spiritual life, we are trying to grab the restless mind and put it into the heart.

Question: There is an aspect of science that is very joyful, regarding discoveries that are made and so forth.

Science is always discovering something, and every time it discovers something, we get tremendous joy and pleasure. We say, “Ah, a new discovery!” But science does not consider that thing as its very own. It is only self-expression, self-revelation, not self-manifestation.

In spirituality, when self-discovery is achieved, the achievement itself is the manifestation of its own reality, its own existence. When we say ‘self-discovery’, it is the same thing as God-discovery. There is no difference between God-discovery and self-discovery. When I discover myself, at that time I do not feel it is something else that I am discovering; it is my own reality. I have become more aware of my own eternal, infinite, immortal reality.

Science does not do that. Science discovers something and immediately feels that it is a new creation. But spirituality says that it is not creation; it is self-unfoldment and self-revelation. I am only revealing myself; now I know who I am. Each time we discover something spiritually, we are only discovering our own immortality, our own infinity, our own eternity. We are diving deep within, and these are our discoveries.

Each time a spiritual seeker discovers something, he is discovering a portion of his birthless and deathless reality. Science does not subscribe to this view. A scientist discovers something out of the blue, and he thinks that he has received it from a planet or from the sky or from the ocean. From somewhere else he has received his discovery. By virtue of his imagination or aspiration he has got it. But he does not feel that it is his own divinity that is emerging, and therefore he cannot claim it as his own. A scientist can claim his scientific research or discovery as his property, his belonging. But he cannot claim it as his own, the way a spiritual person can claim his self-discovery as his own.

A spiritual person is only realising his own highest and deepest. A spiritual person looks inside a drawer and says, “O my God! I did not know that I had kept five dollars inside this drawer.” Then he opens up the other drawers and finds ten, twenty, fifty or one hundred dollars. Each time he makes a new discovery, he is not separating himself from what he is getting. He is only becoming identified with it, one with it, like a flower with its fragrance. Where is the difference between the two?

Now we shall consider science. Let us say science has come to know how to make a knife. The scientist is holding the knife and he has got a fruit. I always say that with a knife you can cut a fruit and share it with your friends or you can stab the person near you. Now I am adding something.

Suppose the scientist has cut the fruit and given it to his friends. Then one of them says, “Your fruit is not delicious at all. I saw a much better mango.” What does the scientist do? He may become furious. Either he may throw the mango at the other person or he may even go to the extent of using the knife against that person because he has criticised the mango. Science may react by destroying something. Like this, if a weaker party says to a more powerful party, “You are very bad,” immediately the one with superior strength may drop a bomb on the weaker one.

When a spiritual Master has discovered himself, on the strength of his self-discovery he does not act in that way. Suppose he is holding the same knife and the same piece of fruit. If somebody criticises the mango or the knife, he will say, “All right, if you do not need my mango, there will be somebody else to appreciate it. Since you do not care for my mango, my brother also has one. Perhaps you can go and see if you like his mango.” Or he will say, “If you do not have any appreciation for my mango, no harm. A day will come when you will have to appreciate somebody’s mango, because if you do not eat a mango, you are not going to be nourished and you will remain weak. And if you do not have a knife, how will you cut the mango?”

Self-discovery immediately brings us universality, a feeling of universal oneness. You do not appreciate what I have? Then go to this side; there is my brother. Go to that side; there is my sister. Go in that direction; there is my friend. Real spirituality sings the song of oneness. But science does not sing the song of oneness. Science sings the song of supremacy.

Self-discovery spreads. It goes here, there and everywhere. But science, whether it is going this way or that way, brings with it the emotion of supremacy. Spirituality will always carry the message of intimacy, the message of oneness, oneness, oneness. Scientific discovery will be found in the competition-world. But in self-discovery is the feeling of the universal reality.

Question: Do you feel that your disciples have made progress over the years?¹³

Question: Sometimes you say that this is your last incarnation and you are so happy about it. I find it difficult to keep a positive view of life's game when the champion player is so overjoyed that he is leaving the game.

Question: How can those of us who are left behind feel that it is God's Compassion that is giving us life while you, who are the best at it, are happy to be leaving?

Now the question arises, when grace is descending most powerfully, why to waste time? When the sun is so bright, will you enter into a dark room and hide? The grace is descending now. Sri Ramakrishna expressed it in his simple way. He said that the cow has milk, but the milk is not in the tail, not in the legs, not in the ears. The cow’s milk is in the udder, where it is supposed to be. Here also, when a spiritual Master of my height enters into the earth arena, my very existence is compassion, my very existence is love. Every second I only breathe in and breathe out love, love and compassion.

I have achieved whatever I was supposed to achieve. But whatever I am supposed to give, unfortunately I am at times unable to give. I give a flower to an individual with the hope that the person will appreciate the beauty of the flower and smell the fragrance of the flower, and then he will try to see the beauty and feel the fragrance inside his own heart. But instead of that, in some cases, the moment I give love or affection or a smile, it is thrown away. Like a mischievous child, the person just throws it away. This is what is happening in some cases.

How much do you value me? That is the question. Again, you do not have to value me; the most important thing is how much you value your spiritual life. Your spiritual life and I are inseparable.

Now let us come to another subject: manifestation. The Supreme started with aspiration, then He added dedication, and then He added manifestation. First, when you started the spiritual life, the Supreme said, “Aspire, aspire!” Then the Supreme said that aspiration and dedication cannot be separated. Finally He said to bring forward manifestation.

During this trip, has manifestation given me joy? Alas, in many cases, “no” is the right answer. Why? Because at times among my disciples there are disputes, there is disharmony — not in the outer world, but in the inner world. At times it happens that each one wants to be the supreme leader.

For whatever you have done, I am grateful. But I wish to say that happiness may be something else, something else. Yes, we have achieved some significant things. These are historical facts. But the attitude is the most important thing. Can you say, “By doing this I made tremendous progress”? The most important thing is to serve lovingly, devotedly, unconditionally.

When I see internal disputes, they make me cry and cry. One person will say, “This is my domain,” and another will say the same thing. Sometimes manifestation becomes a kind of wrestling match or tug-of-war between two parties. Then what shall I do? Have I come here to enjoy a tug-of-war? Yes, I enjoy the tug-of-war between the hostile forces and the divine forces, with the hope that the divine forces will win. But I do not enjoy the tug-of-war between people who are supposed to be all the time on the divine side. Where is oneness at that time, where is oneness?

Again I wish to say that aspiration, dedication and manifestation all have to go together. Whatever you have done, whatever I could do, we have done; but our joy and inspiration could have been far greater. Therefore, during this trip I have meditated in my own way. I say that I have realised God, yet even now I meditate much more than you people. Lord Krishna said that he did not have to pray and meditate, but for the sake of humanity he did it. In my case, I have spent hours in my room and in the car meditating. But here in our meeting room when we meditated, I did not get joy at those times when I saw that the intensity which some individuals had twenty or twenty-five years ago has gradually, gradually diminished. Again, it has also happened that outer circumstances have not encouraged me.

Try to bring back your inner joy. Surprise your own thoughts, your own actions, your daily life! Your surprise I will value infinitely more than if two politicians decide to tell the truth and that truth lasts for five minutes. The fact that they have decided to tell the truth is a great surprise, but I care far more for the progress that each individual makes.

The Supreme has told me that there will be surprises this year. There may be something world-shattering or world-illumining for the newspapers to tell the world. Again, since we are all spiritual people, if we do something totally new, different, encouraging and inspiring, that progress is nothing but a surprise. And that surprise is also our progress.

Question: If we are not advanced enough to ask you all the questions that we should, is there any way we can find those questions?

Again and again I am saying that I do not have to get all these questions if you cannot come up with them. There will be many, many questions that you yourselves, as individuals, will be able to answer. Right now there are many questions that you as an individual, he as an individual or she as an individual cannot answer. But there is a particular place in the inner world. If you can go there, if you can knock at the door, the answer is bound to come.

There is one question that embodies all the millions of questions that can be asked, and that question is: do I need God sleeplessly and breathlessly? Do I really need Him? If that one question we do not have deep within, then we shall have to wait indefinitely for all the answers. Only one question we need: do I really need God, desperately, sleeplessly and breathlessly? Inside this question are all the answers to all the questions.

Today, by God’s Grace, I am answering your spiritual questions, but I wish to tell you that there is no spiritual question, born or unborn, that I will not be able to answer. When it is a matter of scientific questions, I am not in that line, so what am I going to do? But again, from the inner world I will be able to answer any question. If my physical mind does not know the answer, in a second I can go and ask my soul, or the Supreme will tell me the answer.

I sincerely needed God. That is why He became the Question, He became the Answer. When you also really need God, then inside your question you will find the answer. What more can I say?

Inside each question, there is the answer. It depends on the need. It may happen that for five minutes someone needs God and then for ten hours the same person does not need God. But if that individual can add those ten hours to his five minutes, do you not think that he will make much more progress?

I have answered thousands of questions and I may answer a few thousand more. But the question is, from these thousands of answers, how many people have derived benefit? I have four thousand disciples. Do you think that after I leave this world I will be confined to four thousand? No, my boat will contain many, many passengers! At that time, millions and millions of non-disciples will read my writings. Now if they do not read or cannot read, it is because my writings are not available.

But I shall not have to wait for any prize to be known by the world at large. After twenty years or thirty years, or even ten years, you will see what happens. My disciples will all live on earth for ten years, twenty years or more. Soon you will be able to know how many thousands and millions of people are reading my books. The time has already come but, unfortunately, the books are not yet available.

To come back to your question, I have already answered thousands of questions. Again, there are many, many questions still unasked. I have the capacity to answer and I get joy by answering your questions. That is why I am begging you to ask.

All of you know so much about my philosophy. My philosophy encompasses all the philosophies, believe me. The essence or quintessence of the Vedas and the Upanishads, which is our Indian philosophy, and even the Christian Bible are all inside my philosophy. I have gathered everything and perhaps I have gone beyond. Even if some people say that I have not gone beyond, at least they can say that I have gathered the fragrance of Eastern spirituality and Western spirituality. In my case, I give the honey right from the heart, very delicately, very lovingly and very affectionately.

If I get the opportunity to answer more questions, I will answer them. Some people have definitely derived benefit from my answers. But, to my sorrow, I have to say that there will be people who do not get me as their direct Master who will derive much more benefit from my writings than many of my present disciples. Future generations will take me much more seriously than the present generation, much more.

And again, if more of the present generation, who have been with me from the beginning, had taken me more seriously, then I could have been of greater help to humanity. People who have not accepted my path consciously or openly, I could have helped much more. I am saying this in all sincerity.

Sri Ramakrishna’s sixteen main disciples were with him only for six years. Look at their receptivity! For the last two years or two and a half years Swami Vivekananda did not live at home, but most of the time the disciples were coming and going from their Master’s place, to be in his presence. My disciples have had me for thirty years, perhaps even more. Definitely Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples took him much more seriously than many of my disciples have taken me.

Now, you can say that to get the Master for a long time is either a blessing or a curse! I can say the same: to have disciples for a long time is either a blessing or a curse. God knows which is the truth! I can easily say, “For the first two or three years they were so good that it was a blessing. Now, in the case of those who have descended, it is a curse.” Similarly, you can say, “For the first two years after we joined the path, Guru was so compassionate, so affectionate, that it was a blessing. Now, if he does not look at us, it is like a curse!” But by saying it is a blessing or a curse, we will not go one step ahead. Only by becoming something, becoming somebody, will we make progress.

When you read The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, you see that most of the time in the evenings Sri Ramakrishna and his disciples had conversations. Sri Aurobindo also had some conversations for a few years with a small number of disciples. At that time Sri Aurobindo answered many, many questions. In my case, I have said many things and, by your grace, it is all recorded. I have also written considerably. I say it is like a supermarket. Hundreds of items are in the supermarket. You take whatever you like and place it in your heart-home; another person will take whatever he likes and place it in his heart-home.

There are some spiritual Masters who have not written, who have not spoken. They did not get the opportunity to tell the highest Truths. There are many, many questions which you have asked me over the years, for example, which are not in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. In no way am I criticising Sri Ramakrishna or his disciples. Sri Ramakrishna could have answered any spiritual question, but his disciples got him for only six years. It is unfortunate that they could not ask him everything during this time. I am fortunate that I got you for thirty years. Again, this moment we feel we are fortunate, and next moment we feel we are unfortunate!

There is such a difference between reading Sri Ramakrishna’s own Bengali words in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and reading the English translations. The English is perfect, but the very breath of Sri Ramakrishna’s Bengali words, how can you translate? His affection-flooded village words cannot be translated. Great writers have tried, but I do not know how much justice they can do, no matter how perfect their English is. But somehow the world has to get Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings. If you cannot get nectar, at least be satisfied with milk. And if you do not get milk, then you have to be satisfied with water. At least water is giving you life. People who know Bengali will definitely profit more from the original Bengali.

In my case, I am writing and speaking in English and you are all English-speaking people. You are lucky and I am lucky that you are getting the message firsthand.

Question: I believe you said that Bengali and Italian are closest to the language of the soul.

Question: In 1994 you said that we should meditate at six o'clock sharp, and then you said the earlier, the better. Is it better to try for five-thirty?

Some people think more of their physical than of their spiritual existence. If they have to leave their home at eight o’clock, at a quarter to eight they get up. For five minutes they run, and then they go to work. Instead of meditating, there are some disciples who run and then go. Their inner run they do not do, but they are ready to do the outer run so that they can be good in their outer running. Perhaps nobody will believe me, but it is true!

Some disciples do not do either the inner running or the outer running. They are wonderful! Some do the inner running and not the outer running. Some do the outer running and not the inner running. But if one does both the inner running and the outer running, that is the best. If you cannot meditate for fifteen or twenty minutes, at least meditate for ten minutes.

Some people who are more advanced can enter into their highest, or reasonably high, in a few seconds. I can enter into my highest in four seconds, but I doubt very much that in four seconds you will be able to enter into your highest consciousness. If you know that it takes you fifteen minutes or twenty minutes, you should be wise and spend the necessary time to enter into your highest. In my case also, God knows, in my previous incarnations perhaps I took four hours to enter into my highest. In this incarnation it did not happen in that way.

We have to be always wise. If we really want something, we have to be wise. On the one hand, I have said that five o’clock or six o’clock is the best time to meditate. On the other hand, I have said that no matter when you get up, that is the best time for you. Think of it in this way: if you are good, then become better. If you are better, then become best. If you are best, then become better than the best.

If you are having a good meditation when you get up at midday, then try to make it earlier. At six o’clock, if you meditate sincerely, you will have a better meditation because nature is not agitated; nature has not yet become restless.

In the morning, people can meditate much more than they are now doing. And in the evening, except for those one or two nights a week when we have our collective meditation, the result could be much better. I said that before you go to bed, you should meditate for a few minutes. But now I see that some people are watching television or reading novels, even romantic novels. Some are enjoying inner romance. So many girls and so many boys read novels. At night if I call some disciples and ask, “What are you doing?” they will say, “I am reading.” Then I ask, “What are you reading?” When they tell me that they are reading a novel, I do not have the heart at that time to scold them. They feel they do not have to read my writings because they know my philosophy. They do not have to practise my philosophy; as long as their mind knows it that is enough. Their heart does not have to follow it.

Question: Guru, you always say we should have eagerness and willingness. But why is it that people who have the light, the advanced souls, do not have eagerness to come back and help humanity? They should have the most eagerness because they have the light, they have the peace, they have the joy. How is it that they do not want to come back and help humanity?¹⁴

Question: I am not talking about the Avatars, but the advanced souls who do have more light than the ordinary person, but are not God-realised. Even then, they do not want to come back.

Question: If they do not get joy from the battle, how can they expect ordinary human beings to get joy from the battle?

Even some of my disciples who are now in the soul’s world are begging, begging, begging to take another human incarnation, and they have not been there for eight or nine years. Here on earth perhaps they did not listen to me, and now they are promising me that they will become good, divine instruments. Do I have to believe that they will fulfil their promise?

Question: The great souls do not want to come back because it is too discouraging?

In my case, I have said that I am not going to take any more human incarnations. Swami Vivekananda said that even if one dog remained unrealised, he would come back. Now count the dogs in this world! And absolutely Swami Vivekananda is still in the soul’s world. He has not come back. Sri Ramakrishna pointed to a place on the map and said that he would take incarnation there. That place was Russia. Sri Ramakrishna has not gone there. My sister tells me, “He has sent you to Russia; that is enough.”

I do not blame them for making a promise. Their promise was based on their concern, their compassion, their affection, their love for mankind. Those things are absolutely true. But when they go to the soul’s world, they become all wisdom. They say, “Again humanity will kick us, so what is the use?”

This world will never be ready for the spiritual Masters. Why? Because the person who has light will always remain one step ahead of humanity, and those who are behind that person will not be able to follow him. When he tries to give light to the people who are behind him, most of the time they do not take it; it is too much for them, too much. If the person who is ahead wants to give even an iota of light, it may be too much. It breaks the inner vessel. So what can the spiritual Master do? He has not come to break humanity; he has come to illumine humanity.

Anything that is good for mankind, mankind will not believe. Each individual wants to be happy in his own way; that is all. Most human beings do not want to be happy by invoking a higher light. But the human way is nothing other than desire-fulfilment. When his desires are fulfilled, the individual cries and cries and cries. At that time he blames God: “O God, if You really love me, why did You fulfil this desire of mine?”

Question: Why have so many Bengalis realised God? I can think of Sri Ramakrishna, Troilanga Swami and Sri Aurobindo. There must have been hundreds.

Then there was my own maternal uncle, Tara Charan, who saved our family so many times. He lived in the village. Once it happened that my father had to appear before the Chittagong High Court. My father had written that he would be responsible for the debts of my distant uncle. This uncle badly neglected his business and accumulated enormous debts, so the lawyers decided that my father would have to pay everything. In the meantime, my mother went to this maternal uncle, Tara Charan, and begged him to do something. He was very fond of my mother. He said to her, “Do not worry, do not worry.” Then, what did he do? On the morning of the trial, occultly he removed my father’s signature from the piece of paper. How happily the lawyer was showing the piece of paper to the judge, but when the judge examined it, the signature was missing. Therefore my father did not have to pay.

Question: Was this uncle realised, or was he a great occultist?

Question: What is it about Bengalis that enables them to realise God quicker and better than others?

These great spiritual figures cared more for the mother aspect of God, the relationship of the mother and the child. In the beginning, the child does not even know who the father is. The father is in town, the father is in the court, the father is a big shot. It is the mother who takes care of the child. And in India, not only at the age of four or five, or even when one is a teenager, but to the end, people have more fondness for their mother.

In the West, what happens is that when the father gets name and fame, the children go to that side. They want to stay with the father because the father is president of a big corporation, the father is manager of a bank and so on. Always they try to identify themselves with the father. But Bengali children, most of the time, try to identify themselves with the mother. It may happen that the mother is illiterate; she cannot even write a letter. But the mother aspect is all heart.

Question: It seems that Bengalis can realise God without the guidance of anybody.

The way Bengalis describe the heart in their writings, believe me, others have not done. From the writings you can see it. Forget about everything else; when Bengalis use the term ‘mother’, you will see tears in their hearts. No matter how many times Bengali children call their mother, the mother’s heart will be melted.

Question: Is there any change in the Bengali heart since Bangladesh was created? Has it affected the spiritual heart and consciousness?

But the loving heart of Bengal is a totally different subject. That heart East Bengal and West Bengal have both kept. Their crying heart for God is the same, although the mind, the vital and the physical consciousness have got all kinds of ornamentations; they have been Westernised. But the heart that they had, their crying and bleeding heart for God, that heart they have still maintained; it is the same.

About the book _Fifty oneness-heart-songs of a perfect God and a perfect child_¹⁵

If teachers can teach their students with the same feeling, the students will get tremendous joy from learning. In a child’s game, if a grown-up who is very strong and stout joins, and if this person just shows off and scolds the other players, then the children will get tired of playing with him. Why do they need him? But if the same grown-up comes and plays with enthusiasm, and if in spite of being an excellent player he makes mistakes, then the children get such joy. Similarly, when you are teaching children, you have to feel that you are seven years old. Do not feel that you are the oldest and wisest person. Do not think of your power-aspect. Think of your love-aspect.

Children are our dreams. Children are our heart-flowers. If we can welcome them with our hearts, it is to our great advantage.

Question: In your book, you present an ideal vision of childhood. What of those people whose childhood experiences were not sweet?

In wartime it is different. During a war, there are horrible stories. There may be a dearth of food. But these stories are very rare. In general, no matter how poor a country is or how poor a family is, as soon as a child takes birth it receives affection. Affection does not depend on material prosperity.

I tell you, many poor people in India have more affection for their children than some wealthy people in America, forgive me to say. I come from Bengal, India. There, in one of the poorest countries, we have more affection and love than many people in the so-called rich countries. In America and in other Western countries, people have money. They can have a maidservant, this and that. Then the parents can go out to work and the children will be with the maidservant in the home. But in India it is not like that. When the children are born, the mothers give up their jobs. No matter how poor the family is, it is a matter of heart. What I am saying is a matter of heart.

Question: What if your childhood experiences were of suffering rather than sweetness?

Always try identification. You did not receive love and affection, perhaps, but now you can definitely apply your imagination and imagine love and affection. Just think of one particular family where the parents were so indulgent to their children. That imagination will definitely give you sweetness, happiness and a feeling of inner fulfilment. Just spread your imagination-wings! You are like a bird. Spread your wings and just fly to a country, imagine a village and see a particular place. What you are seeing is so true!

Again, you cannot separate your existence from your parents. You were born into a particular family. Definitely you had a father and a mother. If you are dissatisfied with them, with their way of being, you will go your own way. Children grow up and start their own families. But after going their own way, can they say that their parents are no longer their parents? Never!

Now I am coming back to the question. If your parents were not kind, just imagine sweetness, sweetness, sweetness. Early in the morning, look at a flower, look at the dawn. If you can identify yourself with nature, you are getting tremendous joy. At that time, are you thinking about how your parents struck you black and blue? You are the same person, but your wisdom has to work. You have to bring forward sweet memories, sweet memories, sweet memories. If you do not have sweet memories in your immediate family, that cannot prevent you from getting sweetness from your childhood.

Now that you are mature, you have to use wisdom at every moment. Exercise wisdom, wisdom, wisdom! Sometimes in a family, parents get angry. They stop their children when they want to go to university, or they do not pay the costs. Then days turn into weeks, weeks into months and months into years. In the end, if one accepts the spiritual life, it means one has to forgive them. It is very difficult sometimes, when we do not forgive a person, to bring sweetness out of our memories of that person.

Question: How much does our childhood influence us?

It all depends on the individual. There are many people who have received tremendous, tremendous affection as children. It is stamped in them. I was mischievous to the extreme, I was notorious, but this did not prevent my parents from showing me affection. I still have the source, the inner source. My parents were good, kind and compassionate.

Sometimes, at the very end of one’s life, the parents’ affection and compassion remains because they have influenced the person’s life so much. Again, after fifteen or twenty years, some people do not care for their father’s good qualities or their mother’s good qualities. They want to stay on their own.

One particular disciple is one of those who thought of their parents’ strengths. She was not yet on the wrong side of fifty when her father died. Look how much affection she had for her father! By that time, he was unable to see; he was blind. How lovingly she took care of him! If she had not been a good daughter, she could have said that she had her own life, she had her own husband and children to look after. But the affection and love which she received from her father when she was a little child became so solid and permanent in her heart that at the very end of his life she was full of gratitude to him. Otherwise, during those last years of his life she could have said, “Oh, no — I have other things to do now.”

Many children keep no connection with their parents. When they hear that their parents have gone to the other world, only then they come for two or three days. Even for one day some children will not come. And, to my greatest astonishment, even if they live in the same state it may happen that they do not come. Even for two or three weeks at the very end, they cannot take care of their parents. They think that somebody else will do it, their brothers or their sisters will do it. They feel that they have played their role and the parents have played their role.

Question: Sometimes an aspirant goes through difficult times in the spiritual life, and the forces of nature hinder and overwhelm his aspiration. At that time, you live in a desert where you know there is aspiration, but you cannot get to it because you are overwhelmed. What can a disciple do at that time to get to the point where aspiration is on the front line again?¹⁶

Let us approach it this way. Take these hostile attacks as mud, clay and sand. A child is playing in a field. At one place there is clay, mud and sand. His whole body becomes besmeared with dirt. He knows he is now dirty, whereas before he was not. Again, he has the inner feeling that only his mother can wash him and make him decent and beautiful once more. He goes to his mother, and what does his mother do? Immediately she starts washing and cleaning the whole body of her child. Then her beloved son becomes clean.

This is one way. Just feel that you are God’s little child, chosen child, supremely chosen child. When you cry and cry inwardly, God will immediately come and do the needful.

There is another way. The seeker has to feel that he is a flame, a tiny flame, and the wind is blowing very hard. This wind is the hostile force. Then the seeker will cry inwardly, “O God, protect me, protect me! I really do not want to be destroyed by the wind, by the hurricane that is blowing.” Then the Supreme is bound to come in response to the sincere cry of the seeker, His child. The Supreme will put protection all around the seeker, like a fence. Here the fence is nothing other than Light.

There is a third thing that you can do. Right now it is night. If we turn off the light, it is all darkness, darkness, darkness. Take the hostile force as darkness. In the outer world, how long does it take to illumine darkness? Only a fleeting moment. You turn on the switch and then it is all light. It is the same in the inner world. Who turns on the switch for you? The Supreme, your Inner Pilot or your Master. Light is already there in the form of God’s Compassion. In this case, God plays the role of an electrician. He brings down Compassion, which is like electricity in the outer world, and then He gives it to you.

An ordinary electrician repairs the problem and goes home. Then the person who lives in the house knows that when he turns on the switch, the electricity will be there. Similarly, the seeker knows that when all wrong forces are attacking him, when his life is surrounded by darkness, God has given him the key, the wisdom, to inundate his life with light once more.

Again, if you feel that you are God’s little child, you will also have to feel that no matter which floor your mother is on, she will come running. Let us say that you are on the first floor, and your mother is on the third or fourth floor. You are crying, crying, crying either for milk or for a toy, or for something else. Do you not think that immediately your mother will come down from the other floor to make you happy? Whatever you need, your mother will give. Of course, if a child is asking for a knife, the mother is not going to give him the knife. But if the child is asking for a little sweet or a little food, or a toy, the mother will give it. The child has no wisdom. If he asks for a knife, the mother will not give it; but anything else — food, sweets, milk, toys — the mother will give immediately.

Similarly, the seeker, the disciple, must have that inner cry. He must cry to God, “I need this, I need that, but what do I really need now, when the hostile forces are attacking?” Then God will immediately give His Protection.

I have a little dog named Chela. When the weather is bad and it is raining, he will just go upstairs. I am seated on my bed and he stays on the floor near my bed. Even if I do not say a word to him, he feels he is well protected. Again, if he starts crying because he is afraid of the thunder, I come down and comfort him. Here it is exactly the same. The mother will come when the child is a little baby. When the child is five or six years old and any kind of fear enters, he will just go to where his mother or father is for protection.

Our difficulty is that we do not believe in God’s Protection. Why? Perhaps yesterday we told a lie or we scolded someone or insulted someone. This kind of idea enters into our mind: we did something wrong, we did something wrong, we did something wrong. Therefore, why should God protect us? If we ask ourselves, “Is God pleased with me?” the answer that will come to us is, “No, He is not pleased with me.” We have made up our mind that because we did something wrong a few days ago, God is so displeased with us that today, when we are in trouble, He is not going to help us, He is not going to protect us.

This is what the mind is saying. But where was this tricky mind when we were doing something wrong, when we were telling a lie or something else? How is it that the same tricky mind did not tell us at that time, “It is a wrong thing that you are doing. Do not do it!” The tricky mind allows us or secretly instigates us to go away, farther than the farthest, from our heart. Then the tricky mind will say, “Who asked you to listen to me?” Can you imagine! Three days ago perhaps the mind begged us to do something. The mind came in the form of temptation and said, “Ah, how nice it is to smoke and drink!” Later the same roguish mind will say, “Why did you listen to me? Why did you listen to me?”

Many years ago, I told a famous story about a disciple. The disciple said, “I am supposed to get up in the morning at six o’clock.” At six o’clock the following morning, the mind came and said, “Oh, it is still so dark outside. Just for today, why not meditate and pray a little later?”

Instead of six o’clock, it became seven o’clock. At seven o’clock, the mind again came and said, “I think I will be able to do my prayers and meditations quickly today just before I go to work. Therefore, let me sleep a little longer.” Each time the disciple woke up, the mind was instigating him to take more rest, more rest.

Alas, at nine o’clock the disciple finally woke up. Then he said, “What have I done? What have I done? It is nine o’clock, and I am so late! When I go to work, my boss will scold me. I do not even have time today to meditate.” Then the seeker became angry with his mind. He asked the mind, “Why did you act like this? Now I am so late. The whole day will be difficult for me.” The mind’s reply was, “Who asked you to listen to me?”

This is the mind we all have. Whenever we think of doing things that the heart tells us are wrong, undivine, the mind will say, “No, no, just a little.” It is like taking chilli. If I take a small portion of chilli, I enjoy it. Then I think that perhaps I will be able to take a little more. But when I take a large quantity of chilli, how I suffer! My whole throat burns and burns! I should not take chilli at all. Knowing that it will create problems for me, I should not take it. It is the same when we are about to do anything wrong in our spiritual life.

We have to feel that in our spiritual life we are at a certain height. Once upon a time we were lower. In the course of evolution we were also animals. Now, if the forces are attacking us to bring us down, there is someone to protect us, and that is God. There are billions of people on earth. How many are praying to God sincerely and seriously? Is it not God’s Duty, when somebody is sincerely and seriously praying to Him, to protect that person?

Then the question comes: how sincerely can we claim God as our own? Our main difficulty is that when we do something wrong, immediately we separate ourselves from God. We say, “God is angry with me. God will never look at me. He may even punish me.” All these wrong thoughts come into our mind.

Instead of that, immediately we should say, “Yes, I have done something wrong, but my Father is there. He is not coming to punish me. He is only coming to show His Compassion. God will tell me, ‘My child, do not do this again. Do not do this again. It is wrong, wrong. You see, you are hurting yourself. You are hurting Me.’” We have to have that closeness, that intimate feeling for God.

In your case, you have such a beautiful son and beautiful daughter. Which philosophy will you apply when they do something wrong? Will you come with affection, compassion and forgiveness or will you come with an iron rod? I am sure you will use your affection, compassion and forgiveness.

For God, forgiveness will always come first. Again, who will forgive whom? God forgives whomever He calls His own. When a member of the family does something wrong, the father and mother have so many divine weapons. The first is forgiveness. Then comes compassion. Then comes affection.

Similarly, because God has Affection for you, He is showing His Compassion, and because God has Compassion, He is showing His Forgiveness. Now God is coming in the form of Affection, Compassion and Forgiveness to save you. But the same mind that came in the form of temptation and instigated you to do the wrong thing is now telling you, “Oh, no, God will not even look at you. You are such a bad fellow! God is not going to love you anymore because you did something undivine. Now God will be billions of miles away from you.”

That is not God’s Way. God’s Way is to take each and every human being to his highest, highest, highest. God’s other Name is Affection. God’s other Name is Compassion. God’s other Name is Forgiveness. In so many ways we can invoke God and He will come in the form of Affection, Compassion and Forgiveness. The dark day does not last forever. When God’s Forgiveness operates, the seeker becomes very sincere and devoted again. Once more he goes to the highest.

If I drank nectar for a few years, will I be satisfied with drinking rainwater from a ditch? No, I will not. If I had the taste of nectar once upon a time and now I am drinking water from the street, I will say, “O my God, what am I doing?” But the hostile forces darken our mind; they damage our mind. The hostile forces say to the mind, “Tell this person there is no difference. He can drink a little street water for a few days.” But if I drink street water, it will not take a few days; in a few seconds I will have to go to the hospital.

Always think of God as Someone who loves you infinitely, infinitely more than anybody else can love you, because He created you. He brought you into the world. He created your soul, He created your body, vital, mind and heart. How can the Creator not think of the Creation and love the Creation?

A little child, four or five years old, has a doll. If she sees that the doll is not properly dressed or if something is wrong with its hand, her whole world revolves around fixing the doll. That is her creation. She is responsible for the little doll. Such affection the child has for her little doll. God the Omnipotent, out of His infinite Compassion, has created this universe. Will He not have Compassion for His Creation? Will He not have Concern for human beings?

Always we must think that God is all Forgiveness, all Love, all Compassion. No matter how many bad things we have done, even if we have done countless bad things, God will forgive us. The human way, when somebody has done something wrong, is to punish that person. The human way is tit-for-tat. If I do something wrong, you retaliate. But the divine way is not like that. The divine way is immediate forgiveness and compassion.

Then we have to think that God the Omnipotent has infinite Power. Can His infinite Power not take away our little wrongdoing? He is infinite. He is the Possessor of infinite Power. No matter how many times we misbehave, no matter how many times we fall down, if He wants to use His omnipotent Power and lift us up, He can.

I am a tiny drop, let us say, and the ocean is so vast; it is infinite. If I want to remain on the ground instead of entering into the ocean, the ocean may say, “Who cares if you do not want to enter?” But if the ocean sees that I am so eager to enter into it, then the ocean comes and takes me, the little drop. Then what do I become? I become the ocean. Nobody will be able to say, “Oh, that silly little drop, where has it gone? Where is the little drop?” It has become the ocean.

Always think of God as Someone who is all eagerness to forgive the people who make spiritual mistakes. He is all ready to forgive, but we do not believe in God’s Forgiveness. We feel that our crime is infinitely stronger than God’s infinite Power. Is it not a joke? I am an individual and God is all-pervading. Omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent He is. Is His Capacity not infinitely greater than my capacity for doing something wrong?

It is a question of faith. I have to feel that He loves me, He needs me. As I need Him, similarly, He needs me to do His Work on earth. Now I am helpless. I have done something wrong, so I am praying to God, “Please forgive me and take me back.”

God replies, “I am taking you back. And I am doing something more: as you need Me, I also need you to do My Work on earth.”

Look at this! The omnipotent God is telling the individual, “Forget about your weaknesses. Again come and remain inside My Heart. You need Me, you need My Forgiveness, you need My Compassion. I am ready. I am giving you what you need. But again, I am telling you that I need something from you. I need you to spread My Light. I want you to take My Light and spread it here, there and everywhere, throughout the length and breadth of the world.” We need God for His Light, so that we shall always remain illumined. And God needs us to spread His Light here, there and everywhere.

When we do something wrong, with our helpless cries we say to God, “I was Yours, but all of a sudden I feel I am not Yours.”

God says, “You fool! You are always Mine, throughout Eternity. Since I created you as a soul, throughout Eternity you are Mine, Mine, Mine.”

When I feel that God is mine and I am all His, there is no problem. But unfortunately, when I do something wrong, I feel that God is somebody else, a third party. Such being the case, why should He forgive me? But He is not a third party. He is my own, very own. Alas, unconsciously, or consciously and deliberately, I try to go away from Him. God is running after me, chasing me, to catch me and put me into His Heart once again.

Always try to feel that the human weaknesses are no match for God’s Compassion. Human weaknesses are so limited in comparison to God’s infinite Compassion. If I feel deep within that there is something which is infinitely better, higher, deeper and stronger, and that very thing is ready to help me, then that infinitely higher existence will grab me, embrace me and make me feel once more that I belong to God only. I do not belong to anybody else. I belong only to God, my Inner Pilot.

The one thing to do from now on is to feel that you belong to God. No matter how many things you do wrong or have done wrong, He is there to awaken you once again, to illumine you and make you feel that you are all His, all His. You belong to Him; He belongs to you. You need Him because you feel that you are helpless. He says, “You are not helpless. You are Mine, but you have allowed wrong forces to enter into you. Now kick them out of your system and claim Me!”

When we claim God as our own, very own, God will not remain fast asleep. He will not be snoring! He will come running and running. God will say, “My child is claiming Me as his own, very own. I will do everything, everything for him to make him see his inner light and inner height again.”

Everything God will gladly do for you, for me, for everybody — for whoever needs Him, whoever most sincerely claims Him.