Part III

SCA 444-446. On 25 May 1997, at Annam Brahma Restaurant in Jamaica, New York, Sri Chinmoy invited questions from Mrs. Darshanika Guruge, wife of Ambassador Ananda Guruge, and Mrs. Irina Malikova, Deputy Director, International Relations and Media, The Gorbachev Foundation, Moscow.

Mrs. Darshanika Guruge: I brought with me a textbook my husband has used to teach Hinduism, and I have some questions regarding that.

Sri Chinmoy: I am not an authority on textbooks. I am an authority on love, devotion and surrender. According to our philosophy, love, devotion and surrender are the three steps that lead to God-realisation. Although these three steps are simpler than the simplest, many of us have not taken even the first step. As soon as we see the first step, we get frightened. We feel, “O God, O God, we will get hurt, we will get hurt!” God knows when we will take the first step properly, without any fear.