Question: How can one maintain one's inspiration, especially when you are away?

Sri Chinmoy: Inspiration you can get if you stand in front of a tree, looking at the beautiful flowers, fruits and leaves. But perhaps while you are looking at the tree, your mind is somewhere else. I may be looking at the tree, but thinking of pizza. I am hungry, and I need pizza. I am wondering whether there will be mushrooms inside, or cheese. Where is my inspiration at that time? The tree is meant for inspiration. It is a beautiful tree, with so many flowers, so many fruits, so many leaves. Immediate silence the tree offers, but where is my consciousness?

We get such an advantage when we are in front of a tree, or in front of a body of water, if our consciousness is focused there. How much inspiration we get! Again, if I am looking at a pool of water, and instead of appreciating the beauty of a fish that is swimming there, if I am greedily wishing I could eat the fish, where is my consciousness? I can appreciate the beauty of the fish and see how charmingly it is swimming, or I can have my undivine thoughts. We have to see where our consciousness is.

Now, you have seen me millions of times. If you want to see me when I am not physically present, for inspiration, just imagine, “My Guru is right in front of me.” Imagination is not mental hallucination. Never! Imagination is a world of its own. Imagination is reality, but we have to bring it down to the physical plane. First we bring imagination down, and then it becomes concrete. When I write a poem, when I compose a song, when I create anything, it comes from that imagination-plane.

When you go back to New York, I may be in Singapore or somewhere else, but try to imagine that I am standing right in front of you. What is wrong with it? It is not mental hallucination. If I have a dear one in my life, whether it is my mother or my father or somebody else, I want to see that person. True, I may not be able to see him right now with my physical eyes, but with my inner eye, with my inner feeling, I can easily imagine that person to be in front of me. Then, let me make that person very real, very concrete in my life.

I am sitting in front of you here, and some people are inspired, but some people are here only to see who else is present, whether he is here or she is here. Or they say to themselves, “If I am not here, what will people think of me?” So each one has his own reason for being in the Master’s presence. Again, some people are saying to themselves, “I do not care whether anybody else has come here or not. That is not my business. My business is only to be with my Guru and get inspiration from him.”

Here we are talking. On the one hand, I am telling very, very sublime things. On the other hand, you can see that I am talking in such a familiar way. This is our chitchat. Again, you are asking me serious questions, and I am answering very seriously and sublimely. To you I am saying, good girl, no matter where you are, just bring me there. When we repeat “Supreme, Supreme,” where do we feel His Presence? We feel it inside our heart, or right in front of us. When we say, “Supreme, Supreme, Supreme,” although the Supreme is higher than the highest, do we feel that He is somewhere on top of the Himalayas? No! He is right here. Because we are repeating very sincerely, “Supreme, Supreme,” we will feel Him here in our heart or just before us, very near. Like that you can bring me, no matter where I am, right in front of your eyes, or in front of your third eye, and then you will be inspired.

Again, as I said before, I may be looking at a tree and thinking of pizza, and then I will not get any inspiration. Or I may be inside a beautiful garden, but thinking of somebody or something else. When we have a Master, definitely the Master is the greatest source of inspiration, but then we have to take full advantage of that inspiration. If I am in a garden, I have to take full advantage of the beauty and fragrance of the garden. If right in front of us is the most inspiring object or person, then we have to accept from him what we need. Otherwise, we may be facing someone or something special but thinking of something else. Our thinking-power is infinitely stronger than our eyesight. We can look at one person and think of somebody else, fooling so many people.

So in your case I am telling you, even if you are physically away from me, if I am in one country and you are in another, you can easily feel that I am standing right in front of you. There is one disciple whose name I do not want to say, but she is an elderly lady. O God! She says that wherever I go, or wherever she moves, from this room to that room and another room, always she sees me, she feels me. Now, where is her city, and where is New York? She is not in New York. Perhaps I will never in this lifetime see that person on the physical plane. Never, never! But it is not her mental hallucination. Only on the strength of imagination, everywhere she sees me right in front of her, beside her — everywhere.