Question: I once had the opportunity to tell you about a very serious inner problem I was having, and you said that since I was able to reveal to you this problem, you could take it away. If someone does not have that outer opportunity, what is the best way to completely surrender a problem to you? Inwardly I had tried, but I was unsuccessful until I could offer it to you outwardly.
Sri Chinmoy: This question breaks my heart. When someone has a secret inside his heart, do you think that his mind does not know? Do you think that his vital does not know? Do you think that his body does not know? If someone is suffering because he is holding a particular secret, his entire being is suffering. His vital is suffering, his mind is suffering, everything is suffering. Again, if someone is cherishing a sweet secret, a good secret, then his whole being is rejoicing. That is because his body, vital, mind and heart are one. This is the reason a good secret gives joy to our whole being and a bad secret creates problems for our whole being.The moment you can share your secrets with the Master, you have already taken one step forward. Then the Master says, “Now I want you to go ten steps, a hundred steps ahead, and stop doing the thing that you are doing wrong.” For two years or ten years or twelve years you may try to keep a problem hidden, let us say, inside you. Because you have kept your heart-door closed, there is all darkness, darkness, darkness inside. When you tell me your secret, it is like opening your heart-door and letting in fresh air and light. At that time I am so proud of you; you cannot imagine how much I appreciate and admire your sincerity.
But now that you have opened your heart just a little, why do you not open it the whole way? Many people confide their secrets to me; I hear millions of secrets. But they do not take the next step: obedience. They are ready to tell me that they have done something very bad. But when I give them advice and tell them, “Do not do that anymore,” they are not willing to listen. And you have to know that it is not mere advice that I am giving. When I tell you not to do something, I am also giving you the strength not to do that thing. I am giving you the inner strength not to repeat your mistake. But you do not want to receive it.
Most of the disciples’ problems start with disobedience and continue because of unwillingness. First you do something that you know your Master will not approve of. You break the divine rules and do something unspiritual because of worldly temptation or the desire for worldly name and fame or because you think you can make your life happier in some way. Then you do something else wrong by keeping it secret and not telling the Master. Disciples who have established their oneness with me or who want to establish their oneness with me will not be afraid to tell me their difficulties and problems. If they remain silent because they think I will be angry, then where is their love for me; where is their oneness with me?
When your sincerity finally comes forward to save you from your disobedience, you tell me your problems or why your consciousness has descended. But when I tell you what to do, at that time defiance or resistance comes and you do not listen to me. So what happens? Your sincerity is cut to pieces. When you do not listen to the Master, you are only betraying your own spirituality.
Some of my disciples are absolutely in their own world, and their world is millions and millions of miles away from the divine world. They have created hell for themselves, and they are enjoying it, so they try to fool and deceive me. When they finally come to realise that they are living in hell, they tell me that their secret is tormenting them and they are suffering like anything. I say to them, “Please, please, do not stay in hell. For years and years I have tried to create Heaven for you, but you did not want to remain there. Instead you wanted to live in hell. Now you want to become divine again, so I am giving you the capacity. In fact, I am the capacity for you.” But these people do not listen, and both of us are the sufferers.
First you avoid the doctor; then finally you tell the doctor, “There is something wrong inside me.” The doctor says, “It is cancer; take medicine.” But you say, “No, I will not take medicine. I want to enjoy my way of life. I want to enjoy my cancer.” But a spiritual Master is not like an outer doctor. If the patient dies because he does not take his medicine, the outer doctor simply says, “It is not my fault.” But the inner doctor, the Master, is not like that. He suffers and cries because the disciple has not listened to him. When the disciple dies spiritually, the Master says, “If this person had followed my advice, I would have been able to save him.”
The seekers and disciples who have been able to solve their vital and other inner problems have done so only because of their sincerity and their willingness to accept spiritual advice.
Inside your Master you can see the Supreme, the Highest. If the Highest cannot solve your problems, then who will be able to solve them for you? When the Master is in the physical, this is your golden opportunity to make the fastest progress. As Sri Ramakrishna said, the cow’s milk is in the udder. If you want to get milk, you have to press the udder, not the ear or the tail. Similarly, if you want to solve your spiritual problems, you have to go to the right person.
Your Master is the right person to give you wisdom. If you have a problem, then you have the golden opportunity to go to the Master and have the problem solved. When the Master is on the physical plane, it is the easiest time for you to develop spiritually. The Master is the udder of the cow, which is the Universal Reality. Inside the house at one particular place is the shrine. At one particular place in the garden is the most beautiful rose.
If you can establish your oneness with the Master’s will when he is on the physical plane, then you will be able to maintain it when the Master leaves the physical. But if you cannot establish your oneness with the Master here, do you think that you will be able to establish your oneness with him after he dies? It is infinitely more difficult! When I am on the physical plane, if people are disobeying me, are they going to do the right thing when I am on the soul’s plane? You have to build your oneness-bridge here, right in front of me, if you want it to be there after I have gone to Heaven.
