Self-sufficiency or God-sufficiency5
I have read your marathon letter. I am such a “great man”! Usually when I get a marathon letter, I do not read the whole thing. I read the first line and then I use my occult power to know what the rest says. But in your case I have read each and every line.You have made it very clear to me that you want to be self-sufficient. Unfortunately, good girl, I have a different philosophy. In my philosophy I only want to be God’s Compassion-sufficient. That is my prayer to God. People who try to be self-sufficient in the financial field, the spiritual field or any other field will never be happy. People who try to be self-sufficient on the physical, vital or psychic plane, or on any other plane, are bound to be miserable.
Ordinary people want to be self-sufficient by having more money or by having more houses. They think that the more material wealth they have, the more self-sufficient they will be. But when they have more money, they start doing all kinds of bad things. And if they have four houses, they will see that these houses are only creating more problems for them. Even on the spiritual plane, if someone wants to have more spiritual wealth — occult power and all those kinds of things — he will only create headaches for himself. So if you try to become self-sufficient, not only on the earthly plane but even on the Heavenly plane, you will end up miserable.
But if, through your prayers, your meditations, your selfless service, your gratitude and your surrender to God’s Will, you try to become more worthy of God’s Compassion, then at every moment you will be happy. You will get the inner assurance from God Himself that He will make you happy — not only today, but also tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
A disciple’s letter can be private, but the answer that I am giving applies to all of you. Your mind is telling you, “If I do this and become self-sufficient, then I will be secure; I will be happy.” But this is not true. You can become secure and happy only if you become more receptive to God’s Compassion. If you pray to God, “Make me worthy of Your Compassion; make me worthy of Your Love,” then one day you will be able to receive God’s real Love, real Light, real Compassion and everything else that God wants to offer you.
So, to all my disciples I am saying this: If you think your security depends on your own self-sufficiency, then you are sadly mistaken. No human being on earth can become really secure by becoming self-sufficient. This applies not only to spiritual people, but to everybody. It is your mind that tells you that if you get a Master’s degree or a Ph.D., then you will become secure. But while you are studying, so many bad forces will attack you. Then where is your security? Where is your happiness? But if you become God’s Compassion-sufficient, if you become worthy of God’s Compassion, then God will guide you at every moment. At that time God’s own Light will be your security.
You are projecting the future with your mind and saying, “If I become this, then I will get that.” But you may not get it, or there may be something else that will sidetrack you and push you away from your goal. You may think, “Perhaps this is not the right thing, so let me do something else,” and you will become unhappy again. Again, even if you do what you wanted to do and become what you wanted to become, still you will not be happy, because these things will not bring you the security and happiness that you expected.
So, good girl, if you want to be happy and secure, just try to be more receptive and more worthy of the Supreme’s Compassion. Try to accept God’s Compassion in God’s own Way. Inside God’s Compassion is infinite Peace, infinite Light, infinite Love. Your whole letter I have read and understood, and your whole letter I have answered. When you are saying that if you do this and that, then you will not have to worry about your finances and your future — all this I have understood. But you are making a mountain out of a molehill — a mountain that will only collapse. On the other hand, if you follow the divine way, if you allow Somebody else and Something else — God and God’s Compassion — to work in and through you, then you will see God’s Light operating everywhere in your life. And that Light is the only happiness and security.
SCA 29. Sri Chinmoy gave this talk in response to a letter he had received from E.↩