Question: I feel that both aspects of man, the animal and the divine, are part of God. In order to enter into the spiritual life, is it necessary to deny or run away from the animal aspect in ourselves?

Sri Chinmoy: In the field of manifestation, God is everywhere. God is in pure water and He is in filthy water. Why do you drink pure water and not filthy water? Because you know you will get sick if you drink filthy water. Similarly, we have to know what things are necessary for us to reach our Goal. God is in everything, but what we cannot utilise in our journey has no place in our aspiring consciousness. If the animal quality is obstructing our way, then we have either to illumine it or to destroy it. Our philosophy is the philosophy of acceptance. One has to accept life as it is and then try to transform and illumine it. In the Yoga of acceptance, we do not destroy anything; we transform it. When we transform something, it loses its original unlit, destructive quality. When night is transformed into light, you will see the total extinction of night, because all becomes light. It is the same with the animal in us.