Question: What can a seeker do to become sincere?

Sri Chinmoy: Each human being on earth has some sincerity, because inside each individual God abides. God has all divine qualities. Just because God is within us, God's divine qualities have to be in us. We cannot separate God from His qualities. So sincerity is also within us. But we can develop this quality, just as an athlete develops his muscles, by exercise.

A sincere seeker has definitely been sincere many times in his life. Let us say that an ordinary seeker is sincere for one day and for ten days he is insincere. What happened the day he was sincere? No matter what happened, even if he failed in some examination, he was happy. But the moment he became insincere, even when he achieved so-called success in his life, he was not happy. Something inside him was missing. Insincerity always means dissatisfaction. The sincere seeker tries to succeed in the battlefield of life. Sometimes he succeeds and sometimes he fails. If he fails he says, "God, I have tried, but You did not appear before me in the form of success. You came in the form of failure." But the sincere seeker knows that whatever happens will offer him some kind of satisfaction. But when he is not sincere, there is no satisfaction, even if he succeeds.

How can we become sincere? We can become sincere when we know that there is something which comes first and foremost in our life. If a seeker considers his physical body and his own existence as first and foremost in his life, then he is mistaken. God has to be the first and foremost thing in his life. Early in the morning, before the seeker starts his day, if he does the first thing first, he will pray to God to make him what God wants him to be and give him what God wants him to receive and achieve. If he does this, then naturally God will give him everything. If he is wanting in sincerity, then God will give him sincerity. If he is wanting in peace, then God will give him peace. Anything that he lacks, God will grant him. But he has to do the first thing first. When the day dawns he has to pray to God to give him what God wants him to have and not what he himself wants.

If he wants two cars or three cars, he will have only frustration because he is in the desire-world. No matter what his achievement may be in the material world, he will not be satisfied. But if he prays to God to give him what God wants to give him, then God will give him peace of mind and Love, boundless Love. From this boundless Love, he is definitely going to get satisfaction.

If we want sincerity, let us go to the One who has Sincerity in infinite measure. Let us go to Him instead of going to somebody else. If we pray and meditate early in the morning, then naturally God will grant us the thing that we need. He always wants to give us the thing that will be soulful and fruitful in our life. If God thinks that sincerity is what we need, then definitely He will flood our outer life with sincerity. The seeker has to pray not for the fulfilment of his desire-life, but for the manifestation of God-satisfaction in his life of aspiration. Then he will reach the ultimate goal, which is the inner sincerity that he is longing for.