Question: Is there a link or a bridge between the inner world and the outer world?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, there is a link between the inner world and the outer world. Now what actually happens is that we are not paying any attention to the inner world. Most of the time we are on the surface. We pay all attention to the outer world. We don't get five minutes to meditate or concentrate on our inner, real world. Twenty-four hours a day we are moving, talking, shouting and living in the hustle and bustle of the world.

Now a true spiritual seeker feels that there is a link between these two worlds. And something else he also feels. He feels that if we feed the inner world, then only can the outer world have its true meaning. The body is the outer world. Daily we feed the body three times without fail. We have been doing it and we shall keep on doing it until we breathe our last. But again, there is deep inside us a divine child called the soul. We don't get time to feed this child. To keep the body alive we eat, but to help the soul, to fulfil its divine Mission on earth, we have no time. Unless and until the soul, which is the conscious representative of God in us, is fulfilled, we can never be fulfilled in our outer life.

Now how do we make the connecting link? If we know the art of concentration, if we know the art of meditation, if we know the divine art of contemplation, easily and consciously we can unite these two worlds. And to our widest surprise we shall see that the outer world which is now full of complexity, disharmony and so forth, is bound to be harmonious, simple, straightforward and genuine. The inner life has the capacity to simplify the complexities of the outer life. The inner world and the outer world must go together. Otherwise, what will happen? The inner life will have to wait for millennia to offer God's Truth to the world at large and the outer life will remain a barren desert for millennia.

There is definitely a link between these two worlds. We have to consciously feel this link and finally we have to touch and strengthen the link with our soul's determination and our body's dedicated service and willingness. Now the body listens to the mind when the mind says, "Go this way." The body goes, but the next moment the mind says, "No, no, no! That is the wrong way to take. Follow some other direction," and the body follows. In this way the body is caught by limitations. But far beyond the domain of the mind is the soul. This soul is flooded with light. Now if we consciously try to have a free access to the inner being, to the soul, then naturally the light of the soul will come to the fore and it will help us at every moment to deal with the tenebrous darkness in us and around us. And finally, we will see that either we have transformed darkness into light or we have come millions and millions of miles away from darkness and are bathing in the sea of infinite Light.

So if the physical body listens to the soul and not to the doubtful, doubting and sophisticated, complex, destructive, unaspiring mind, at every moment the link between the two worlds will be strengthened and one will complete the other. That is to say, the inner world will need the outer world as its chariot and the outer world will need the inner world as its charioteer. If there is a chariot without a charioteer, it is useless, for without a charioteer the chariot cannot move. Again, if there is a charioteer without a chariot, he is also useless. So both the charioteer and the chariot are necessary. They are of equal importance. Similarly, the outer life and the inner life are of equal importance.