Question: What is the best attitude to have when trying to manifest the Light of the Supreme?

Sri Chinmoy: When you have the aspiration to manifest the Light of the Supreme, it gives you tremendous joy. The very fact that I want to climb up the Himalayas gives me immense joy — whether I start climbing or not. Unfortunately, very often talk does not become action. I am imagining that I am climbing; but when the actual time comes, either I run away because I am afraid or I become so busy finding fault with those who have climbed up a few metres ahead of me that I lose sight of my own goal. I say they have climbed up in the wrong way or adopted foul means, and I never begin the climb myself. So it is one thing to think of manifesting the Light of the Supreme and another thing to actually do it.

Every disciple of mine who wants to manifest the Light of the Supreme has to keep one thing in mind: purity. If there is no purity, there is always division in the mind, and this leads to misunderstanding and quarrelling. Speaking of manifestation is like speaking of peace. The very fact that human beings are talking about peace instead of war is a tremendous achievement. But in many cases, in the name of peace we are killing each other. Still, the fact that we are even thinking about peace means that one day God will allow us to realise the real meaning and significance of peace. Similarly, when we are thinking of manifestation, no matter how many mistakes we are making and how many times we are fooling ourselves and fooling others, a day will come when our efforts will become positive.

It is better to manifest, no matter how imperfectly, than to remain silent. When Vivekananda saw that some Indians were idle, he used to say: “Go and play football. You will realise God sooner if you play football than if you read the Bhagavad Gita. He felt that they needed to be active and dynamic. Similarly, it is better to make mistakes while working on manifestation than not to do anything. When some people make mistakes or see that others are makings mistakes, they give up. But you have to know that everybody is bound to make mistakes. In spite of these mistakes, brave people continue working, since they are determined to do the right thing and become the right person. Eventually, they will succeed.