Question: As I understand it, some traditions hold that some of the Masters who are in seclusion or who may have contact with humans only mildly are nonetheless very involved in service. They simply don't focus on physical contact as the primary method, even if they have bodies. Is this possibly an avoidance of embracing life?

Sri Chinmoy: Excuse me, I can only speak about myself. I can only tell you what I have in my room. About other spiritual Masters, I am not entitled to say anything. I happen to be a spiritual Master. I am their spiritual brother. There is only one Guru and that Guru is God. For my students, I happen to be the elder brother in terms of spirituality. I tell all of my students all over the world always to remember one thing: that I am not the Guru. The real Guru is God Himself. The real Master is God Himself. My purpose is to take my students, who are my younger brothers and sisters, to the Father, our common Father, God. I know a little more than they do, but I will never claim that I am God or I am their Guru.

So, to come back to your question, I can say what I have and what I am. But if I say what you have and what you are, I will be totally wrong. So how do I dare to say anything about other spiritual Masters when I do not practise their way of life? I can tell you only what I have inside my heart and what I stand for here on earth.

My philosophy is very simple: love and serve. Love God the Creator and serve God the creation. If we love someone, then we have to serve that person. In our case, we try to love God, our Inner Pilot, unconditionally. Quite often, we fail and fail and fail. It is very difficult to love someone unconditionally; we always expect something from that person. But still we are aiming at unconditional surrender to God’s Will. The Christ said, “Let Thy Will be done.” No prayer can be higher than this. This prayer is the supreme prayer. But we have to offer this prayer unconditionally. So our philosophy is unconditional love and unconditional service to God the creation. We are trying to serve God the creation, and we are trying to do it unconditionally, without any expectation.

In our philosophy, we give utmost importance to our heart, because we feel the heart unites. The human mind quite often divides, doubts and creates many problems for us. Here you can feel my heart and I can feel your heart because you have a good heart. You have come all the way from Boston. If I have to use my mind, this moment I will doubt you, I will doubt him. But once our heart comes to the fore, it is all love, it is all oneness and peace. This is our very simple philosophy.