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Meditations

//On 16 October 1976 at 8 a.m., Sri Chinmoy held a public meditation at All Angels' Church in New York City for absolute beginners in meditation. Following is the text of Sri Chinmoy's directions to the beginners. On the same day, at 1 p.m., Sri Chinmoy conducted another meditation; this one was for highly advanced seekers and was held at the same place.//

Meditation for absolute beginners

To say that you are beginners is to prove that you are true, sincere seekers. A sincere seeker always runs the fastest. I wish to give a short talk and then I shall demonstrate to you how to meditate.

“My Lord Supreme, I am an absolute beginner. I need some advice from You.”

“My eternal child, before I fulfil your desire, let me first fulfil my desire. I am extremely grateful to you. I am extremely proud of you, for today you are conscious of what you are saying and you are conscious of what you are going to do. Today is a most important day both in your life and in my life. Yours is the heart of aspiration and mine is the heart of dedication. Meditation is a divine ball that a seeker eternally plays with and spirituality is a vast, infinite field. Now I wish to offer some advice, my chosen instrument.

“Be simple. To start with, be simple. It is simplicity that grants us peace of mind. A child is simple. From now on, think and feel that you have another name and that name is simplicity.

“Be sincere. It is your sincerity that can claim me as your own, very own. It is your sincerity that can make you feel that you are of Me and I am constantly for you.

“Be pure. It is your pure heart that can make you feel at every moment that I am growing inside you, that I am glowing inside you, that I am fulfilling Myself inside you.

“Be sure. Be sure that you are doing absolutely the right thing. Meditation is the only right thing. To meditate is to please Me in My own way. To please Me in My own way is to meditate.”

“My beloved Lord Supreme, I shall meditate; I am meditating.”

Now in silence kindly repeat the word “simplicity” inside your mind, inside your head. (Sri Chinmoy places his hand, on the topmost portion of his head over the Sahasrara Chakra or crown chakra.) In silence, please repeat the word “simplicity” seven times, and concentrate only on this particular area of your head.

(All do this and a few moments later…)

Now kindly repeat “sincerity” seven times inside the heart, in silence, soulfully. Concentrating on your heart, please repeat the word “sincerity” silently, seven times.

(Again all do this and a few moments later…)

Now kindly repeat the word “purity” inside your navel centre or around the navel. Please repeat the word “purity” seven times in silence, please, most soulfully.

(All try to do this.)

Now kindly meditate here on the third eye, on the forehead in between the eyebrows, a little above. Kindly repeat the word “surety” seven times. (Sri Chinmoy places the third finger of his right hand on his third eye centre, or Agni Chakra.) Repeat “surety,” here, seven times please, in silence.

Now, if you do not mind, please place your hand here on the top of your head and just say three times, “I am simple, I am simple, I am simple.” Please all of you join in and say this. Thank you.

Now, if you do not mind, please place your hand here on your heart and just say three times, “I am sincere, I am sincere, I am sincere.”

Now, please place your hand here on your navel and just say three times, “I am pure, I am pure, I am pure.”

Now, if you do not mind, please place your hand here on the third eye and just say three times, “I am sure, I am sure, I am sure.”

Now here we are all beginners. We are all sincere seekers. To tell the truth, there is not a single seeker on earth who is not a beginner. No matter how high he is spiritually or otherwise, he is undoubtedly a beginner. If he wants to make progress, continuous and constant progress, then he has to be an eternal beginner in something. Self-transcendence is the only thing that can satisfy us. Each time we sing the message of self-transcendence, we become true beginners. Again, when we can call ourselves beginners that means we are constantly transcending our previous achievements. A beginner is he who has the inner urge to do something, to grow into something, something more divine, more illumining and more fulfilling.

Early in the morning we shall meditate before the sunrise. In the evening when the sun is setting, again we shall meditate. At least twice a day we shall meditate. Early in the morning before Mother Nature becomes agitated it is the safest and the most effective time to meditate. In the evening when the sun sets it is the best time to meditate because nature becomes inwardly calm, quiet. The human nature becomes tired, exhausted, for Mother Earth has completed its multifarious activities. So morning and evening meditation are of paramount importance for the beginners.

Now regularity is of paramount importance. We must meditate regularly. We cannot live on yesterday’s food. Yesterday we ate. Today again we have to eat. Today we eat and yet tomorrow we shall also eat. We feed the body two or three times a day. Similarly, we have to feed the soul two or three times a day. When we feed the body, we get energy, and derive the necessary nutrition and strength to continue our life-journey. Similarly, when we feed the soul on the strength of our prayer and meditation, the soul reveals and manifests the divinity within. Therefore we have to meditate soulfully and regularly every day. And this regularity is like a measuring tape, measuring rod with one metre, two metres, three metres on it. Suppose our goal is situated at a particular place which has to be covered by ten metres. Ten times we have to use the measuring stick. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. This way we finally reach our destination. If we do not have regularity we may go part of the way but we will never really reach the goal; we will only start out on the road and never complete the journey. Regularity is of paramount importance. So here we are all beginners; we must pay all attention to regularity.

Now we have to know something more: “How are we meditating, sincerely or not?” And if there is anything that can add to our sincerity, then we will accept it.

A flower increases our inspiration. A candle flame or burning incense increases our aspiration. If we do not have a flower or candle or incense, no harm. But we have to feel before we start our morning meditation, that our mind is simple, our heart is sincere and our life is pure. We have to feel that here on earth we have come only to reveal and manifest God. We must be absolutely sure about this. So here is simplicity, here is sincerity, here is purity, here is surety (pointing to the various parts of the body or psychic centres, as before). And then we shall pray and meditate. Now if you prefer a particular concept of God, for instance, love, then please inwardly repeat the word “love, love, love”, most soulfully. While uttering “love” most soulfully, please try to feel that this word is reverberating in the inmost recesses of your heart. “Love, love, love.”

If you care more for the concept of peace, divine peace, then please chant the word “peace” inwardly or repeat it to yourself. Try to hear the sound, the cosmic sound that embodies that word. The word “peace” will be a seed-sound reverberating in the very depth of your heart. If you want light, then please repeat the word “light, light, light.” While uttering the word, chanting or soulfully repeating, please feel that you have become that word, or divine quality. Feel that your very existence, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head, has become love, or the quality you are repeating. All your nerves, your subtle body, your physical body, everything, everything is flooded with love. The quality has that magic power. Love. Peace. Light. Delight. You choose the divine quality which you wish to embody and become.

One more exercise. Now please feel that you are standing at your heart’s door and you have invited your friends, love, peace, light, delight, power, other friends that you cherish and treasure, to enter. You will stand at your heart’s door and wait for them to arrive. When you see that they have come, you will please let them in. But if others arrive whom you have not invited, then please do not allow them to come in! Complexity, insincerity, impurity, insecurity, doubt, jealousy and other negative forces are all uninvited guests. If you see them at your heart’s door, please do not let them enter. Please feel that love has taken the form of a human being, peace has taken the form of a human being, light has taken the form of a human being, delight has taken the form of a human being. Similarly, jealousy, insecurity, doubt, impurity, complexity and other negative forces have also taken human forms and human shapes; you can see them with your human eyes. So please allow your invited friends to come in, but those who are not friends, who are uninvited, will be compelled to stay outside. They will not be allowed to enter your heart’s door. If every day you can think of even one friend and invite that friend to stand at your heart’s door, it will be the beginning of a divine friendship. Say to yourself, “Today I will allow only my friend love to come in and not anybody else. Tomorrow I will allow my friend joy to come in and the day after tomorrow I will invite my friend peace to come in.” Again, if you say, “I have developed considerably. I have the capacity to invite more than one friend in. I shall definitely invite all my friends in — love, joy, peace, light and delight. But I did not have enough means to feed more than one friend at a time, therefore I could only invite one friend. Now I can invite all my divine friends and allow them to enter into my heart-room.”

Now I wish to tell you that I am not a teacher but a tutor. A teacher examines you and if you do well, then the teacher gives you good marks. If you don’t do well, then you fail. But here I am a tutor, a friend who helps you in your studies, so that you can do well when you sit for the examination. Since I am a tutor, it is my bounden duty to be of service to you, that is to say, to meditate with you and pray for you. So I shall meditate with each one of you for a couple of seconds on each one. If you would like to give me the opportunity to be of service to you, then please, kindly be seated in front of me, twenty at a time, so that I can pray and meditate on each one individually.

Before I meditate on each of you, kindly do one thing for me. Please breathe in and hold the breath. Feel that you are holding the breath here, in the third eye, for a couple of seconds. Your concentration will be here. You are holding the breath, the life-energy, here. The second time you breathe in, hold the life-energy here in the heart centre. The third time you breathe in, hold the breath in the navel. Please repeat this, first in the third eye, then heart, then navel. Now I shall meditate on each of you. Kindly observe inwardly with a loving heart. Feel that I am your divine tutor, the friend who is going to be of some service to you. In return, you have only to offer me your loving, cheerful heart, and when I meditate on each of you, kindly keep your eyes open, slightly open.

[Sri Chinmoy repeated this last exercise with each of the successive groups of seekers.]

Meditation for highly advanced seekers

Sri Chinmoy: Now I wish to meditate with the highly advanced seekers. Advanced seekers do not need any instructions, especially mental instructions. Therefore it is not necessary for me to tell you anything. It is my fervent wish to meditate with you soulfully, devotedly and unconditionally. We are invoking more peace, light, power and delight. I wish to share with you the iota of divine peace, light, power and delight that I have. If you wish to meditate with me, then please come up and sit in front of me. We shall meditate on peace, divine peace, and then we shall meditate on divine light. Then we shall meditate on divine power and then divine delight.

(Sri Chinmoy invoked each of these divine qualities at various intervals and all felt the consciousness of these qualities and received them according to their receptivity.)

The core of India's Light

[continued from October 1974 issue]

21.

Abhēda

Absence of difference

The absence of difference is the presence of satisfaction-sun in perfection-sky.

22.

Abhimāna

A sulking nature

A sulking nature is nothing but an ego-identification game which is eventually followed by the self-perdition game.

23.

Abhinaya

A dramatic performance

In God’s cosmic Play, each individual soul takes a God-revealing and God-manifesting part.

24.

Abhōkta

Non-enjoyer

A non-enjoyer of earth’s body-consciousness is the supreme enjoyer of Heaven’s soul-consciousness. From body-consciousness we learn how to possess. Something more. How to regress. From the soul-consciousness we learn how to proceed. Something more. We satisfy God in God’s own way.

25.

Abhyāsa

Practice

Practice is at once life-perfection in us and God-satisfaction in us.

26.

Adhikāri

A qualified person

In the spiritual life a qualified and God-manifesting instrument is he who at once learns the instructions given by the inner Pilot and unlearns the instructions offered by ignorance-night.

27.

Aḍvaita

Non-duality

When we look up, the Non-duality Lord blesses us.
When we look forward, the duality God embraces us.

28.

Aḍvitīya

Without a second

God the Compassion-Light is without a second.
Man the gratitude-heart is without a second.

Sri Chinmoy visits Puerto Rico

Sri Chinmoy visits Puerto Rico

From 24th October to 29th October, Sri Chinmoy visited his Puerto Rican Centres. During this time, Sri Chinmoy was very busy with his multifarious activities, playing concerts on his Indian bowed instrument, the esraj, conducting public meditations, meeting and meditating with various heads of state and prominent figures of Puerto Rico.

24th October: Esraj concert, meditation and question and answer period at the Caguas Sri Chinmoy Centre, private to disciples of Sri Chinmoy and selected guests, one of whom was Secretary of State of Puerto Rico, the Honourable Juan A. Albors. All were very appreciative of the evening.

25th October: Sri Chinmoy met with Governor Hernandez Colon during the day and in the evening Sri Chinmoy conducted the first “Sri Chinmoy Sangit” at La Casa Blanca. All music performed by the musicians was written by Sri Chinmoy. Music students of Rio Piedras Heights High School competed against each other to be chosen the group to play Sri Chinmoy’s music best. The winners received trophies from Sri Chinmoy. At the end of the concert Sri Chinmoy played on the esraj and received a standing ovation.

26th October: Sri Chinmoy was greeted in Ponce, Puerto Rico, by Mayor Luis Antonio Morales and his wife. Sri Chinmoy planted “The Meditation Tree” in Belgica Park, a park dedicated to educators, where Mayor Morales welcomed him and read out the following Proclamation:

Mayor Morales: I would like to take advantage of this occasion to welcome the Master for the second time during my period of incumbency as Mayor. And once again I have the privilege of declaring him distinguished guest of honour in our city, especially at this symbolic event planting the Tree of Meditation in our Park of Belgica which is dedicated to the Puerto Rican teacher and where we hope that under the shadow of this tree new ideas and new hopes will flourish for our city. Our resolution, the seventeenth resolution of this year, says:

Today, October 26, 1976, Master Chinmoy Kumar Ghose will visit our city of Ponce to plant the Tree of Meditation here at the Park of Belgica so that it may be as a live symbol of the ascending human aspiration and so that it may inspire all those who see it grow and that they may find refuge under its shadow.

WHEREAS: Our distinguished visitor is the most respected authority in the world of Yoga and Hindu philosophy;

WHEREAS: He is the Director of the United Nations Meditation Group and Mentor to an international spiritual organization which was founded in our country, Puerto Rico in 1966;

WHEREAS: A poet, writer, dramatist and, above all, spiritual Master, his message is universal and his disciples come from all religions, cultures and races;

THEREFORE: I, Luis Antonio Morales, Mayor of Ponce, on behalf of the authority granted me by the Law, hereby declare him Guest of Honour of the Pearl of the South and admonish all the citizens to offer him the honours and respect worthy of a great spiritual Master.

In testimony of which this official resolution is issued.

I stamp my signature underneath the Great Official Stamp of our City, today, October 26, 1976.

Signed by the colleague Secretary of the Municipal Government, Mr. Cruz Ortolaza and this servitor, Luis Antonio Morales, Mayor of Ponce.

I declare you our distinguished guest again, Master.

Sri Chinmoy: Dear Mayor, dear friend, dear brother, to your heart’s magnanimity I wish to say a few words and whatever I say will be equally applied to your wife, your better half. Again and again I wish to offer you my heart’s gratitude. You have just declared me today distinguished guest of honour but I wish to say, that to me this is a day of Sri Chinmoy’s gratitude. Each day has millions, billions and trillions — countless flames of light. My soul is a flame, one of the flames out of these millions, billions, trillions, countless flames. My soul’s flame I wish to offer to you and to each citizen of Ponce. It is a gratitude day that I am observing in the inmost recesses of my heart and this gratitude day I am offering soulfully to your heart’s magnanimity, dear Mayor. We have just planted a tree. The tree symbolises aspiration. Aspiration means self-giving — constant, unreserved and unconditional self-giving. You, as the Mayor of this place, are the true symbol of aspiration. You are all dedication to each citizen of Ponce, nay, to each member of Puerto Rico. To them we dedicate our body, vital, mind, heart and soul, unreservedly and unconditionally as the tree does. Right from the root to the topmost branch with its countless leaves, then flowers and fruits; all are ready for dedication. Similarly, you and I and all of us present have millions and billions of thoughts inside our mind, inside our existence. So each thought can be dedicated, must be dedicated, to the service of mankind. Your dedication to Ponce, not only to Ponce but to all the Puerto Ricans is most exemplary. Four years ago, I happened to be here. Again it was your heart’s love, joy and concern for the aspiration that I embody that made me see you at your distinguished office. Today again you are offering me a signal honour by planting this tree and declaring me guest of honour.

My students and my aspiring consciousness are all one hope, one will, one determination, one aspiration. We pray to the Absolute Supreme for your re-election which will take place on the 2nd of November. Our soulful prayer without fail will be due, dear Mayor, dear friend and brother, for your re-election is the re-election not of a human being but of a dedicated, devoted, loving and concerned son of Puerto Rico. You, as a most exemplary, dedicated son of Puerto Rico will once more be of service to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

That evening Sri Chinmoy conducted a public meditation and esraj concert at the Ponce Museum of Art.

27th October: The Mayor of Caguas declared this day “Sri Chinmoy Day” in the municipality of Caguas. Following is the proclamation he presented to Sri Chinmoy:

Proclama del alcalde de Caguas, Puerto Rico

THIS IS TO OFFICIALLY PROCLAIM THIS 27th DAY OF OCTOBER, 1976 AS SRI CHINMOY DAY IN THE CITY OF CAGUAS, PUERTO RICO.

WHEREAS: SRI CHINMOY is the central figure behind a profoundly spiritual and creative movement throughout the world and whose direct Realization of God has been manifested in and through his unending services to humanity,

WHEREAS: Through meditation, the Master is constantly invoking the highest Peace, Light and Joy into the world which he has expressed in the outstanding accomplishments in the fields of art and literature, proven to be of a deeply inspiring and instructive nature to man's spiritual search;

WHEREAS: His example and teachings based on his inner vision of the Divine and unlimited potential within every human being, and his spiritual work of drawing this to the fore in others, has brought a new life of dynamic service and growing inner satisfaction to countless individuals;

WHEREAS: Being Director of the United Nations Meditation Group, Sri Chinmoy has displayed his outstanding capacity in guiding and inspiring those in the highest ranks of world power to strive for peace and universal brotherhood;

WHEREAS: Sri Chinmoy came to Puerto Rico in 1966 where he established his first Center for meditation and has since constantly brought the fruits of his unending accomplishments and services to the people of Puerto Rico,thereby being an invaluable aid to their spiritual progress;

WHEREAS: SRI CHINMOY, who has rendered such unparalleled selfless spiritual service to uplift the consciousness of the people of Puerto Rico, is deserving of our highest recognition, respect and gratitude;

NOW THEREFORE:

I, ANGEL O. BERRIOS, Mayor of the City of Caguas, pursuant to the provisions of the law and faculty vested upon me, do hereby declare this 27th day of October, 1976, as SRI CHINMOY DAY in the City of Caguas,

HON. ANGEL O. BERRIOS
MAYOR, CITY OF CAGUAS,
PUERTO RICO

In the evening a public meditation was held but all could not be accomodated.

28th October: Sri Chinmoy visited with the Honourable Juan Cansel Rios, President of the Senate of Puerto Rico.

29th October: Sri Chinmoy gave a concert at the Puerto Rican Music Conservatory. The concert was attended by music teachers and students and Sri Chinmoy was introduced to the audience by Ms. Vanessa Vassallo, President of the Music Professors Association of Puerto Rico. Sri Chinmoy answered numerous questions from the audience concerning both music and the spiritual life.

Proclamations

Tomorrow's dawn

1.

An open mind is what you ultimately can have. A receptive heart is what you eternally are.

2.

I learn from the roots of all the religions the message of compassion-height and I see in the branches of all the religions the message of perfection-light.

3.

To love only your own religion is to love the body-reality of sound-division. To love all the religions equally is to love the soul-immortality of silence-oneness.

4.

Human voices there are countless; only the divine voice is wanting.

5.

Our inner world goes to rack and ruin if we do not consciously go beyond the blind belief-barriers of unawakened religions.

6.

As years advance upon you, the desiring man in your human life remains at your journey’s start; and the aspiring man in you not only runs towards the destination but also reaches the destination.

7.

You are appreciative. Therefore you are good. He is sympathetic. Therefore he is better. I am loving. Therefore I am by far the best.

8.

Because you are ignorant, I am afraid of you.

9.

Because you are innocent, you are not afraid of me.

10.

Non-resistance is the supreme power that eventually conquers the disproportionate power of militarism.

11.

Your mind-idea was meaningful. Your heart-ideal is soulful. Your life-reality shall be fruitful without fail.

12.

Selfishness-cat opens its eyes in the narrow mind-room and closes them in the shallow vital-lake.

13.

Selflessness-lamb opens its eyes in the heart’s beauty-room and keeps them open in life’s duty-palace.

[To be continued in next issue.]

Stories

Sri Chinmoy told the following traditional Indian stories to his disciples on 13 October 1976.

The Prayers of Ramjan

There was a very poor Muslim man who used to deal in donkeys, monkeys and dogs. One day he was returning from the village market. He had not been able to sell either his donkey, monkey or dog and he was to some extent unhappy. It was getting dark and night had set in. It was the month that the Muslims call Ramjan. For that month Muslims fast during the day and eat only at night. On a specific day of that month, when the sky becomes very favourable, they feel that no matter what one wishes for, he will get it.

The donkey knew this and he said, “How long shall I play the role of a donkey? O Allah, O God, make me the emperor of the world.” Then the donkey said to the monkey, “Our prayers will be fulfilled because it is a most auspicious day. I have prayed. Now you pray.” The monkey said, “I want to be the strongest man in the world.” The monkey also believed that his prayer would be fulfilled. Then the dog said, “I want to become the commander-in-chief of the world. ” They all prayed and they knew their desires would be fulfilled.

They said to their boss, a human being, “We have prayed. Our desires will be fulfilled.” The poor man said, “Yes, I am also praying.” Immediately he prayed to Allah, “O God, O God, O God, this is my only prayer. Before You grant their prayers, please make me blind. I don’t want to be ruled by a donkey, a monkey and a dog. Please grant my prayer first. Let me be blind so that at least I don’t have to see them if I have to be under their control.”

Who carries bad luck?

One day early in the morning the Emperor Akbar met with an ordinary man and on that day something unfortunate happened. While the Emperor was having breakfast, he ate a strand of hair that was in his food. He said that just because he had seen that man, this had happened and he wanted his guest to be punished. Some others in the Emperor’s court said the same, that that man carried very bad luck. Akbar said, “Then he should be hanged, killed.”

The poor man was supposed to be killed the following day. He knew that the Emperor’s court minister knew his plight. He went to the minister and prayed, but the minister said, “The Emperor wants to kill you. How can I dare to save you? Impossible!”

“No, you must save me, you must save me,” begged the man.

“How?” said the court minister. “I can’t.” Suddenly the minister whispered something in the man’s ear.

The following day the time came for the man to be hanged just because he carried bad luck. Akbar said, “Are you ready?” The man said, “Lord, you are saying that because of seeing me, your fate has become most deplorable. Now, can I not also say that because of seeing you, today I have to die? You are killing me. If I had not seen you, I would have remained alive. Because I saw you yesterday, today my fate is so bad. You will stay on earth but I have to die.”

The Emperor said, “I have lost the case.” The man was set free.

The farmer and the zamindar

Four divine farmers, idle talkers, were chatting. A young village man happened to pass by. One farmer said, “Where are you going?” The young man replied, “Don’t bother me. I am going to the home of the zamindar, the rich man in the village. I have some important business with him.”

“You don’t have to be proud,” one of the idle talkers said. “I can go to visit the zamindar and eat anytime I want.” The young man became furious. He said, “Why do you cut jokes with me? Will it ever be possible for you to go to the zamindar’s place? You are such an insignificant person.” The farmer in question said, “Don’t brag; I can.” So the young man said, “If you can eat with the zamindar, I will give you two absolutely new bullocks. And if you cannot eat with him, then for six months I will appoint you to plough my field with your own bullocks.” The farmer agreed. “Then let us see who wins,” said the young man, setting out again for his destination.

The farmer reached the zamindar’s house before the young man because he took a short cut. He knew the way quite well because he lived in the same vicinity as the zamindar, whereas the young man was from another village. The farmer entered and offered his pranam to the zamindar. “What are you here for?” the zamindar asked. “I have something very special to ask you,” replied the farmer. “I know you will forgive me.” “What is it?” the rich man said. The farmer said, “I have found a piece of gold which is as big as an egg. I can’t trust anybody, only you, because you are the zamindar. You are very sincere and honest. Please tell me what its value is.”

The rich man said, “Oh, I am so happy for you. First sit down and let me order food. You have brought such good news. I am so pleased with you, I am so happy you have found it. Now you will be rich like me. You don’t have to worry anymore; you won’t have to beg or work at all. But first of all, eat. We can discuss this later. Later I will tell you the exact price of that piece of gold. Now let us start.” Immediately the servants brought food and both of them started eating. At that time the young man came in. When the meal was over, the zamindar said to the farmer, “Now show me your gold.” The farmer answered, “I didn’t tell you that I was going to show it to you; I wanted only to know the price. You told me to eat with you, so I did, but you didn’t ask me to show it to you. I only came to know the price, to evaluate it.” The zamindar got mad. He shouted, “Get out of here! Get out of here!” The farmer left, but he was waiting outside the door when the young man came out later. The young man had lost. So the farmer went to the zamindar’s place plus he got two bullocks.

Psychic power and will-power

This lecture was given by Sri Chinmoy on 8 October 1976 at the Loeb Student Center of New York University in New York.

Psychic power and will-power

AUM. I wish to offer a short talk to you on psychic power and will-power, but before I do, I wish to make a fervent request to all of you. That is, to make a sincere attempt to become one with the psychic power-consciousness and the will-power-consciousness. We shall meditate together and this meditation will be founded on our spiritual imagination. For a few seconds or for a minute or so we shall try to imagine inside the very depth of our heart, the golden dawn. We shall imagine the golden dawn. This golden dawn is nothing short of our psychic power-consciousness.

All present try to meditate on the golden dawn with Sri Chinmoy.

AUM. Now let us meditate on our forehead. Let us imagine that it is now midday. It is twelve o’clock and the sun is very, very bright. It is a blazing sun inside our forehead, in between the eyebrows but slightly above. There burns a blazing sun and it is twelve o’clock noon. This is for our identification with the will-power consciousness.

Seekers present join Sri Chinmoy in meditating on this blazing sun.

We have meditated on the psychic power consciousness by imagining the golden dawn inside the very depth of our hearts. We have meditated on the will-power consciousness by imagining the blazing sun, the midday sun, inside our forehead, inside our third eye.

Now I wish to give a short talk on psychic power and will-power. Psychic power is the power of our aspiring heart. We have a human heart which is just a muscle, and we have a spiritual heart which is an aspiration centre. When we use the term aspiring heart, we refer to our spiritual heart. So psychic power is the power of our spiritual heart which is within us, in the very depth of our human heart. Will-power is the power of our daring mind, the mind proper that is inside our head. It constantly challenges reality to bring about perfection in reality or to get satisfaction from reality.

Psychic power is the power of oneness, conscious oneness, constant oneness, illumining oneness and fulfilling oneness. It is oneness with others, oneness with many and oneness with all. It is oneness with Infinity.

Will-power is the power of newness: conscious newness and continuous newness, newness in thought, newness in deed, newness in dream, newness in reality.

Psychic power is a friendship-power. It awakens the friend in all. It sees no enemies around it, only friends. It looks around and sees nothing but friendship. Friendship reigns supreme.

Will-power quite often plays the role of a leader. Consciously or deliberately it manifests itself through leadership. Again it very often unconsciously plays the role of a leader and subsequently does not know what its objective was, i.e. whether it was perfection or satisfaction, illumination or salvation. It totally forgets about the objective because it made an unconscious effort. So in a broad sense, psychic power is friendship and willpower is leadership.

Psychic power is the truth-power that ultimately prevails. India’s motto runs, Satyameva jayate: “Truth alone prevails;” nanritam: “not falsehood.” Psychic power always feels the necessity of truth-realisation. It feels that if it can identify itself with the Ultimate Truth, then it will last forever, as the Truth itself will last.

Will-power is constantly daring, challenging, becoming and fulfilling the reality the way it feels the reality has to be manifested and fulfilled. Sometimes before it exercises its power, it enters deep within to get inner light. But quite often, by dint of the force accumulated inside the mind, inside the brain, inside the forehead or inside the third eye, it exercises its own capacity or reality. This is what will-power does.

Psychic power is our soulful oneness, oneness with the Source, oneness with God’s Silence-Reality, oneness with God’s Sound-Reality. It is oneness with what God has and what God is. This oneness we have felt and heard in the supreme utterance of the Saviour Christ: “I and my Father are one.” This lofty, supreme utterance was founded on the Christ’s soulful identification or oneness with his Heavenly Father. This is the psychic power that expressed, revealed or manifested the supreme reality. Then again, the Christ exercised will-power boldly, unfalteringly, unmistakably, with utmost inner conviction, when he declared: “I am the Way and I am the Goal.”

Psychic power is the blossoming flower of our consciousness. Inside us there is a gratitude-flower. This gratitude-flower slowly, steadily and unerringly blossoms, and the world devotedly, sincerely and unreservedly enjoys the beauty and fragrance of the gratitude-flower that is blossoming within us.

Will-power is the elephant-power that we feel within us and around us. This will-power we can use in a constructive way or in a destructive way. The sincere seekers, not to speak of the spiritual Masters, always use will-power in a constructive way. But the insincere seekers use this power in a destructive way. Psychic power is always used in a constructive way. It is the power of a little child. The psychic being acts as the soul’s representative on earth. It always tries to please the eternal Father in the Father’s own way; so it is constructive. But he who has will-power is, in terms of earthly years or in terms of evolution, like an adult. He may not ask his father how to operate, for he thinks and he feels that he knows how to deal with everything; that he knows the whole world. As a result, while he is using his will-power, he may make a himalayan blunder. Although he is using it for a constructive purpose, the result may be totally destructive.

Psychic power is softness, sweetness and forgiveness. But forgiveness is actually justice-light which operates in and through compassion-reality. This compassion-reality is the oneness-reality with the blind earth-consciousness. By virtue of his complete, constant and inseparable oneness with the world, the Christ said: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” But if an individual wants to challenge the world, wants to lord it over the world, wants to maintain supremacy all the time, then he will not walk along the road of sweetness, softness, kindness, affection and love, not to speak of forgiveness. No, he will always play the role of an autocrat, a dictator, a sovereign. He will try to identify himself with Caesar: “I came, I saw, I conquered,” or with Napoleon Bonaparte. With indomitable energy either he will try to conquer or devour the world.

Psychic power is the child-consciousness, the divine and immortal child-consciousness within us. This child-consciousness says to the Father Almighty: “Father, eternal Father, infinite Father, I love You and I need You. I love You only and I need You only…” The Almighty Father immediately says: “My child, you already have Me. You have Me in My entirety. You have My Vision, transcendental Vision. You have My Reality, universal Reality. Both My transcendental Vision and My universal Reality are all yours. You are part and parcel of their existence and they are part and parcel of your existence.”

Will-power is the adult consciousness within us. The adult says to his Father: “Father, I want You and I have You.” The Father says: “Are you sure that you have Me?” The son says: “Yes, I am sure.” The Father says: “Then prove it.” When the son can prove to the Father that he has got his Father and can claim his Father as his own, divinely, triumphantly and supremely, then the Father says: “Son, you are right. Now conquer ignorance. If you conquer ignorance, you will totally satisfy Me. This ignorance is the root cause of world perdition, world-destruction. I want My world to prosper, to grow and glow. Conquer world-ignorance.”

To the psychic-child consciousness the Father says: “My child, I have already told you that you have Me. Now claim Me here, there, everywhere; within and without, claim Me. If you only claim Me, that will be more than enough for you to satisfy Me in My own way. Just claim Me at every moment as your own, very own. That is what I want from you: your acceptance. And the moment you can claim Me soulfully, devotedly, unreservedly and unconditionally, you can become what I have and what I am. What I supremely am and what I eternally have, you shall become.”

Psychic power is the growing, glowing, illumining and fulfilling divinity within us. Will-power is the daring, challenging, marshalling, devouring, conquering, fulfilling and manifesting reality within us. These two powers can work together if they want to. If the younger brother and the older brother want to work together, then that is absolutely the right thing, the ideal thing. The older one will get softness, sweetness, kindness and all charming qualities from the younger one; and the younger one will get all dynamic and ignorance-challenging qualities from the older one. The younger one will get the capacity to manifest divinity on earth triumphantly along with the older one.

Let us call psychic power our eye-power and willpower our arm-power. With our eye-power we envision reality. This is undoubtedly a power of the highest order. Our arm-power is our strength, physical and otherwise. When we use our willpower, we want the reality to act in our own way. But our own way can easily become God’s way provided we exercise our eye-power and become one with God’s Will.

If we dive deep within before we use our willpower, then it can never be an obstacle, it can never be a hindrance. Far from it! Only we shall become one with God’s adamantine Will and God’s ever-transcending Reality. Will-power as such is not bad or discouraging. It depends on who uses it and how it is used. If the sincere seeker uses it on the strength of his oneness, in accordance with God’s Will, then will-power is a veritable blessing, instead of an unfortunate curse.

Psychic power right from the beginning plays the role of dependence, divine dependence on the loving, compassionate Will or guidance of his Beloved Father Supreme. In psychic power the question of making deplorable mistakes does not arise. This power is safe. The child feels that the Father, the Source, will always take care of him, will guide him, mould him, shape him, perfect him and satisfy him the way the Father eternally wants to.

Poetry

Am I not yours

O Truth-lover,
I love you.

O Truth-teller,
I need you.

O Truth-possessor,
Am I not yours, only yours?

Aspiration-pangs

My inner life informed
My outer life
About God’s unbelievable
And
Impossible visit.
But alas, my inner life
Unwisely or deliberately forgot
To mention the Hour, the Hour of
Eternity’s Aspiration-Pangs.

I have touched and I have felt

God’s Hands I have touched.
Therefore My mind and I
Shall be saved.

God's Feet I have felt.
Therefore My heart and I
Are forever safe.

Sleep not, sit not

Fast as light and high as God —
Don’t sleep!
You will be able to run as fast as light.

Don’t sit, stand up!
You will be able to fly as high as God.

Jharna-Kala

Exhibitions

The Fountain-Art of C.K.G. has been on display in the middle of the lobby of the Eastern Airlines Terminal at J.F.K. International Airport since May 1976. The display is housed in four glass cabinets and viewed by hundreds of people every day. (See photo opposite page.)

On 3rd October, the Jharna-Kala Gallery opened up in Zurich exhibiting two hundred C.K.G. originals. These two hundred paintings make up a travelling European Jharna-Kala art show, although a portion of them will always remain at the Zurich Gallery.

Picture

In the Eastern Airlines Terminal at J.F.K. International Airport.

Pablo Casals' Birth Centenary

Pablo Casals' Birth Centenary

On the 5th of October, 1972, Don Pablo Casals welcomed Sri Chinmoy at the maestro’s home in Puerto Rico for a memorable exchange in philosophy, meditation and music.

On the 5th of October, 1976, Sri Chinmoy wrote the following song in honour of Don Pablo’s birth centenary. The song was sung on 11 October 1976 by the United Nations Meditation Group during a program at the United Nations which Sri Chinmoy held in memory of Mr. Casals.

O Pablo Casals song

Poster