Part I

SCA 926-939. On 26 May 1990, Sri Chinmoy met with Dr. Felix Kuznetsov of the Gorky Institute, Moscow, at Annam Brahma Restaurant in Jamaica, New York. These are some excerpts from their conversation.

Dr. Kuznetsov: In the old days the monks used to pray and meditate, and they would get occult powers. But they did not actually care for the powers as such. They cared only to please God with their prayers and meditations.

Sri Chinmoy: In our case also, we want to have what God is, not what God has. With our prayers we try to make God happy and to please God the Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient. We do not ask God, “Give me this power or that power.” But if we please God, we will get everything that He has in the same way that a child, when he grows up, will get everything that his father has.

Today a child may beg his father, “Give me five dollars or ten dollars.” Tomorrow he may say, “Give me a house; give me a car!” The father may give whatever the child asks for, although he has infinitely more wealth. Similarly, God may give us what we pray for, whether it is occult power or something else. But God will say, “You are such a fool! You are asking merely for occult power, whereas I am able to give you the whole world, the entire universe.”

If we can please God the Father, then He gives us everything that we need. On the other hand, when we ask Him for something in particular, He can give that very thing, but it may only create problems for us. The best thing is to tell God, “Give me only what is best for me.” Then God will do what He feels is best for us. He will not give us anything that is harmful. Occult power is something that can easily create problems for us.

In Russia, people who have been praying to God have not usually cared for power as such, although power may have come automatically. There has never been a decade when there was no prayer-life in the Russian villages. Elderly village women have always prayed with their utmost love and devotion. They prayed only to love and please God, and not to get God’s Power.