Picture

Compassion-Sea for the world around

— photo by Shraddha

Prayer-plants

1.

My sweet Lord, forgive me when I bring You my imaginary problems and my illusory complaints.

2.

My sweet Lord, do make me feel that one unfathomable Smile of Yours is infinitely more valuable than all my earthly possessions and all my Heavenly achievements.

3.

My sweet Lord, do make my responsibility-life always dependable. Do make my gratitude-heart always inexhaustible.

4.

My sweet Lord, what I eternally need is Your God-Oneness. What I daily need is Your Heaven-Love. What I at every moment need is Your Compassion-Ocean.

5.

My sweet Lord, I have but one very, very serious problem. I am terribly afraid of Your transcendental Height.

“My sweet child, I too have one very, very serious problem. I am terribly afraid of your division-day and your separation-night.”

6.

My sweet Lord, do tell me when, at what point, I am far away from You.

“My sweet child, you are far away from Me when you are not devotedness-light in your outer existence-life and oneness-delight in your inner existence-life.”

7.

My sweet Lord, I am grateful to You not because You have given me, out of Your boundless Bounty, a serving heart to proclaim You all-where at every moment, not because You have given me a discriminating mind to lead a peaceful detachment-life, not because You have given me everything I need, not because You have not given me the things I do not need, but because I am enchanted with Your Eternity’s Vision-Perfection and Your Infinity’s Reality-Satisfaction.

WMCA-radio interview

On 8 April 1977 Sri Chinmoy was interviewed by Steve Powers on WMCA radio in New York. Following is a transcription of the interview.

WMCA-radio interview

Steve Powers: What I have found in my previous interviews with him, and learned from my friends who are his followers, is that Sri Chinmoy is very well learned in the whole spiritual aspect, and I also find he has his feet firmly on the ground. So I guess we can start out by saying that you don’t believe that people should lead a totally monastic life, but should have a normal life in this world, with spiritual overtones?

Sri Chinmoy: True spirituality is the acceptance of life. God has created us, and He has accepted us as His very own. If we start to pray to God and meditate on God, then we must know that we are doing all this because we want to have Him. But if we do not accept Him fully, then how can we really have Him? Each individual on earth is representing God, consciously or unconsciously. If we want to approach God, then we have to accept His representative, man. But just because we are not His perfect representatives, we have to try to become perfect so that God can utilise us in His own Way.

Steve Powers: Well, what do you think of the religious groups that advocate withdrawal from the world — the groups that don’t advocate living in ordinary society and having a job and perhaps a family and the rest, but more or less total withdrawal from the world?

Sri Chinmoy: Unfortunately, I cannot see eye-to-eye with them. Today they are afraid of society, of the community; tomorrow they may be afraid of their own minds. Their own doubting and suspicious mind can easily create problems for them. Today it is easy to escape from society, but tomorrow how are they going to escape from their own minds?

Steve Powers: But very often we feel most alone when we are surrounded by many people.

Sri Chinmoy: If we feel a kind of inner loneliness, that loneliness is good. We feel that something is missing or someone is missing, and that is God, our Beloved Supreme. So we try to discover Him again.

Steve Powers: What do you think of the people who don’t believe in God, but believe in a rational way of life, and seem relatively content in their life without the concept of God taking part?

Sri Chinmoy: They do not believe in God, but they do believe in something. We who believe in God know that God is omnipresent. If they say that there is no such thing as God, then we ask them what is the thing that they feel does exist on earth? They cannot name it. The thing that they cannot name, the thing that is nameless according to them, for us is God. Our God is omnipresent; He is everywhere.

Steve Powers: There are a lot of people who feel there is nothing there. They feel that they were biologically brought into this world, and that everything happens either by coincidence or accident or planning. I would call it a totally non-spiritual view of the hereafter. And I think that view is gaining in our society.

Sri Chinmoy: I wish to say at this point that ‘nothing’ is also something for us. Let them say ‘nothing’, let them repeat the word nothing’, but inside that ‘nothing’ there is something. If we repeat the word ‘nothing’ for five minutes, then that word becomes part and parcel of our life, and inside the word ‘nothing’, everything grows.

There has to be a seed first; then there can be a plant. The seed will germinate into a plant, and then it will become a tree. If there is no source, how can there be an effect? There has to be something as the source. Others may call it nothing, but we will call it the divine Source, the Supreme. Others may not call it God, but we will say that what they call ‘nothing’ is nothing other than our God.

Steve Powers: I think there are people who look out on the world and see a lot of chaos, a lot of man’s inhumanity to man in everyday events — nothing cataclysmic, just the way people treat one another in the subway, on the job or in the family, and they wonder whether religion is the answer to these kinds of problems. They’re having problems, perhaps, paying for their heating bill, having problems with their boss, problems with their wife, problems with their children, afraid of being mugged…

Sri Chinmoy: Religion as such is not the answer and cannot be the answer. Religions are limited. I say my religion is better than yours, and you say your religion is better than mine. Religions quarrel and wrangle, but prayer and meditation do not quarrel or fight. Spirituality, proper spirituality, will not find fault with any religion. Religion is a house. You stay in your house and I stay in my house, but we can go to the same school to study together. Spirituality is the inner school where we get inner knowledge and wisdom. So religion is not the answer, but spirituality is the answer. Spirituality means soulful prayer and meditation.

Steve Powers: One of the problems I think people have is that even if they pray and meditate or if they just try to be “good” as it were, when they go out into the world they find there are people there just waiting to rip them off. The sharks are circling them constantly, so they come back and say, “What good is it if I am kind and good? When I go out in the world the sharks take a chunk of me, and apparently prosper as a result of it.” I think that’s a dilemma of modern America — that the people who do rip them off often prosper, and they see no justice.

Sri Chinmoy: There is justice, but we do not know what God’s Justice is, or how it operates. Again, God’s Justice and His Compassion are inseparable. Good people and spiritual people can pray and meditate for divine protection, and also to illumine mankind. If we are assailed by undivine people when we go out, we can easily pray in the morning not only for our own protection, but also for the illumination of unlit people. If we can sincerely pray for the transformation of the undivine people in the world, then this world of darkness and chaos cannot remain as it is.

Steve Powers: You are telling me we can transform humanity as the direct result of prayer?

Sri Chinmoy: Prayer and meditation can solve all our problems. But we cannot expect immediate or overnight results. Everything takes time.

Steve Powers: But don’t you think people are living in very difficult circumstances who do pray, and then watch their children fall prey to drugs and crime and all sorts of abuses in the society?

Sri Chinmoy: Unfortunately, many people feel that this is their only life. Some people feel that this incarnation is the first and last. But we believe in reincarnation. There is a Sanskrit word, Karma, the law of action and reaction. Who knows what we or our children did in our previous incarnations? Now we are totally oblivious of these former lives. Sometimes we do something wrong and only after a few years we pay the penalty. But we do not realise that we may also have to pay the penalty for things we did wrong in previous lives. That is how God’s Justice works.

Steve Powers: I have enough problems with this life, never mind paying a penalty for a previous goof I might have made! Sri Chinmoy, I’d like to open our telephone lines now to receive questions from our audience.

Question: Good morning. I would like to ask this gentleman a question and I want to assure you I do it with the greatest respect, because I am a believer in the Deity. I want to know why, when he speaks of God, he uses the pronoun 'He'. Does he believe that the Spirit he is speaking of is masculine?

Sri Chinmoy: For me God is both masculine and feminine. But since we have to use a pronoun, it is more natural for us to think of God as masculine. The Christ constantly referred to the Heavenly Father, so in the Western world God is thought of as a masculine Being. But God is Father, Mother, Sister, Friend, everything. If the term ‘Spirit’ pleases you most, then you are at perfect liberty to use it. Whatever name we use for God does not change His Essence.

Steve Powers: On the practical level you don’t have a lot of choice. It’s either He, She or It. I guess He or She would be more acceptable than It.

Question: I was brought up in my daily life to ask God to help me with the things that I wanted out of life. But now I find that I don't have any of the things I wanted, and now God is asking me to do things for Him rather than to expect things from Him.

Sri Chinmoy: God will never demand from us more then we can offer Him. We are His beloved children. The mother will not place a heavy load on the shoulder of a small child. Even an ordinary earthly mother knows how much a child can carry. If the mother sees that the load is too much for the child, then she will not ask him to carry it. God is our eternal Father and Mother. He is everything to us. He will not demand of us something we cannot do. God is not imposing on you. God does not impose. Either you are making yourself feel that God expects something from you, or you are making yourself feel that you do not have the capacity to fulfil His expectations.

Question: This gentleman must have come from India. One thing about America is that it is very rich. We have plenty of everything here, and a dozen kinds. There is no reason to be without anything here as far as material wealth is concerned. Tell me, if you are a man of God, why did you leave the people of India who really and truly need help of every kind — spiritual and material? Why did you leave the country that needs it so badly to come to the richest country, and perhaps the richest city in the world, that really doesn't need anything more? Also, how have you gone up in the material scale in your own life since you left your country and came here?

Sri Chinmoy: I feel sorry for you. Unlike mine, your world is very small. This entire world is God’s Creation. India and America are both God’s Creations. If the Father wants the child to move from one place to another and stay there for some time, I don’t see anything wrong in it. India belongs to God and America belongs to God, like two houses. If the Father asks the son to go and live in another house, then the son must obey. I as an individual cannot save India from poverty, disease and ignorance. It is God alone who can and will do it in His own way, and at His own time. I only obey His Commands. He asked me to come here to serve people in the West in their spiritual quest. Tomorrow He may ask me to go back to India and serve the seekers there again. For me there is no division between India and America. There is only one thing: God’s entire Creation. I abide by His Will in all my movements.

Steve Powers: I think you’re answering the question very straightforwardly, but I don’t know if the question was asked as directly as perhaps the woman wanted to. So I’m going to rephrase the question. I think what she really wanted to know was, didn’t you come to the U.S. in order to make money and not to tend a spiritual flock? I think that’s what her real question was.

Sri Chinmoy: First of all, believe it or not, I do not charge any fee for my spiritual guidance. I depend entirely on my disciples’ love offerings and on the sales of the books I have written. God is there to see that I do not starve, but I have not come to the West to become a multimillionaire, and I am not a rich man by any standards.

Steve Powers: From the spiritual aspect, what do you think of the Gurus who do come to this country and set up like big businesses? It is almost like a Guru industry, if you will. They live in mansions, fly in private planes and have limousines, while their students are selling merchandise in the streets. Do you think that is part of the spiritual discipline?

Sri Chinmoy: I personally do not and will not do those things, but I do not know and I cannot say why others are doing them.

Steve Powers: I didn’t mean to put you in conflict with them, I’m just trying to get your views.

Sri Chinmoy: Amassing tremendous wealth will not help anyone in realising God. If money-power could have bought God, then by this time all rich people would be God-realised souls. Money-power and spirituality rarely go together, but again, money is not a bad thing. How we utilise it is what makes it good or bad. If we use it for a good cause, then money is a blessing. But if we use it to dominate others or to wallow in the pleasures of luxury, then money-power is spiritual destruction.

Steve Powers: Again, I don’t mean this to draw a line between you and another religious sect, but there has been much controversy over the practices of Sun Myung Moon. Without specifically getting into his religious beliefs, I was wondering if you would comment as far as a religious leader separating children from their families.

Sri Chinmoy: I will be the last person to separate children from their families. Whenever I accept minors, I ask them to bring written permission from their parents. But when they are adults, when they are at an age when they have left their families or are ready to go out on their own, then I accept them freely. But when they are children, I have no desire to separate them from their families or to cause family problems. I think it is not advisable to take children away from their parents.

Question: I had a deeper study of religion for about seven years, which gave me a closer relationship to God. I tried to see the good in everyone around me, always to see them as God, as spiritual beings, as good children. At this time I lost a son in an accident. How am I supposed to accept this in my life? Is it God's Plan, or is this my reward for being good? I was sincerely trying to do good at this time. I was a nurse, and I did my work saying, "God, this is for You. I can do anything, no matter how unpleasant it is, since it is for You."

Steve Powers: Before we get the answer from Sri Chinmoy, I would like to know what you did next. What was your next action concerning your spirituality?

Question: It took me down a peg, and I went back to the religion I was born to. But I still study the religion that I thought would take me closer to God.

Steve Powers: Your question, then, is how on one hand you can commit yourself to God and on the other hand see tragedy occur in your own life? How do you justify the two things?

Sri Chinmoy: If we really sincerely pray to God, then we develop a specific quality within us of oneness with God. Eventually we develop the capacity to say soulfully and sincerely, “Let Thy Will be done.” We ultimately feel that it is for a necessary experience that we have had a catastrophe in the family. After all, God loves the child whom we have lost infinitely more than we do. When we love God, we realise that His capacity for Love is infinitely greater than ours. You are God’s child, and the son whom you have lost is also God’s child. The Supreme Father always knows what is best for each individual.

Steve Powers: But you still suffer the loss on a human level?

Sri Chinmoy: We do not suffer very much if our identification and oneness with God is complete. On the strength of our oneness we shall feel that for a few years God gave us another person to stay with us, and now he is needed somewhere else. We will suffer very little if our oneness is complete. But if we have established only a little oneness with God, then we shall suffer miserably on the human level.

Steve Powers: I think you’d also have to establish a belief in the hereafter in one form or another, wouldn’t you?

Sri Chinmoy: Absolutely.

Question: I would like to know how much money you have in the bank?

Sri Chinmoy: You can ask the bank manager. I have my bank account with the Marine Midland Bank.

Poems

When I went to visit

When I went to visit
The outskirts of death,
My old friend, failure,
Not only greeted me
Lovingly
But embraced me
Unreservedly.

Yesterday and today

Lo, yesterday
With my heart’s glad light
I ascended and ascended.

But today
With my mind’s sad shadow
I am descending and descending.
Alas, alas!

It takes time

It takes time
For love to reach
The heart of incomparable devotion.

It takes time
For devotion to reach
The soul of unsurmountable surrender.

I am so poor and weak

Man, I am already so poor,
Why do you have to dash me
To the brink of fears?
I am drawing the curtain
On my humiliation-life.

God, I am already so weak,
Why do You have to dash me
To the brink of tears?
I have already drawn the curtain
On my humiliation-breath.

Stay within me

Stay within me,
O my heart’s soundless sound!

You paint a rainbow
Of Beauty’s Glory supreme,
Which none else can do.

Stay within me,
O my heart’s soundless sound!

Yet you smile

Your vital is a puddle
Of diffidence,
Yet you smile.

Your mind is a muddle
Of indifference,
Yet you smile.

Your heart is the world
Of difference,
Yet you ignore.

Three kinds of faith

What the vital has
Is ferocious faith.

What the mind has
Is ungenerous faith.

What the heart has
Is melodious,
Generous
And
Prosperous faith.

The Core of India's Light

//[Continued from previous issue]//

82.

Âṭma-jnāna

Direct knowledge of the Transcendental Self

He who is blessed with the direct knowledge of the Transcendental Self is also blessed with the supreme Pride of the Absolute Supreme.

83.

Âṭma-prakāśa

Self-revelation

Self-revelation in the animal world is world-destruction. Self-revelation in the human world is ego-assertion. Self-revelation in the divine world is God-manifestation.

84.

Âṭma-ṭṛpṭi

Self-satisfaction

Unless and until God-satisfaction dawns in our aspiration-life, there can be no true self-satisfaction even for a fleeting second.

85.

Âvarana

Veil

How can we remove the veil of ignorance-night? We can do so only by becoming an untiring cry in the inner world and an unending smile in the outer world.

86.

Baḍḍha

Bound

God’s Grace has bound you; therefore, your presence is found in every aspiring and serving human being.

87.

Bahuḍhā

In many ways

In many ways I can please God. One of the ways to please God is to stop spreading the expectation-net.

[To be continued in next issue]

Story

Laosen does the impossible

There was once a king named Karnasen who was a great hero. For many years he defeated all his enemies in battle, but eventually he lost to a most powerful king. King Karnasen lost his wife, he lost his hero-sons, and he lost all his dear ones. He himself would have been killed by his opponent, but that king showed him compassion. He said, “You are an old man. I don’t want to kill you. I have killed your wife and sons and all your relatives. I have destroyed your army. Now you can go peacefully on your way.”

Karnasen felt miserable. Since nobody was left alive in his family, he went to another kingdom and there he took shelter. The king of that particular kingdom, whose name was Gaur, was very kind to him and showed him great hospitality. He invited Karnasen to spend the rest of his life there. One day King Gaur said to Karnasen, “If you would like to marry, I will ask one of my sisters-in-law to marry you.”

King Karnasen said, “I am an old man. At this age, why should I again enter into family life?”

But King Gaur replied, “No, no, you will be happy. It is good to have some near and dear ones.”

King Karnasen finally agreed, and soon he married a sister-in-law of King Gaur named Ranjabati.

Now Kripan, Ranjabati’s brother, was at that time away from the kingdom. On his return, when he heard that his sister had married without his knowledge, especially to someone who was now a true beggar, although he had once been a great king, he became furious. King Gaur was showing Karnasen considerable affection and love, so Kripan became jealous. He had hoped that he would become the dearest to the king, but now he saw that somebody else was becoming the dearest. He could not insult King Gaur, but he wanted to punish Karnasen.

Karnasen and his wife lived together for a number of years, but unfortunately Ranjabati was not blessed with a child. According to stupid Indian tradition, if you do not have children, then you are not a woman of good character. So one day, in an assembly, Kripan said to her, “You are a useless woman. You are a barren field!”

Poor Ranjabati felt miserable. She prayed and prayed to the sun god to grant her a child. Finally the sun god listened to her prayer and she did have a child. Karnasen gave this son the name Laosen.

Laosen was extremely beautiful. Right from his childhood he showed tremendous physical strength. He became a great wrestler in his youth. He could defeat three or four wrestlers at a time. Laosen even used to fight with tigers and whales. Now Kripan, Laosen’s maternal uncle, once again became extremely jealous. First he had been jealous of Karnasen because he was getting so much affection from King Gaur. Now he was jealous of Karnasen’s son because he had become so powerful.

Kripan tried in many ways to kill Laosen. Once he hired ruffians to kill him. Another time he cleverly invited his brother-in-law and nephew to visit him so that he could honour them, and then he put two mad elephants along the route to kill his so-called guests. In many ways he made their lives miserable and caused suffering for them.

One day Kripan became so desperately angry that he said to King Gaur, “I shall leave this kingdom if you do not banish Laosen.”

King Gaur said, “How can I do it, and why should I do it! Laosen is unconquerable. I am so happy that he is a relative of mine. If anyone attacks our kingdom, he will be able to defeat the enemy.”

Kripan said, “Do you think that he can defeat anybody?”

The king said, “He is unconquerable. Nobody can defeat him — nobody, nobody.”

Kripan said, “Can he do the impossible?”

King Gaur said, “I will call nothing impossible. There is nothing on earth that Laosen cannot do.”

“All right, I will believe it if he can compel the sun to rise in the west.”

King Gaur said rashly, “Yes, he will be able to do even that.”

Kripan was delighted to hear this. He knew that Laosen could never compel the sun to rise in the west.

When Laosen heard of this, he went immediately to the king. King Gaur was extremely fond of Laosen’s father and extremely proud of Laosen. But now he was worried. On the one hand, he believed that Laosen could do the impossible because he had so much faith in the young man. On the other hand, he could not help feeling that to make the sun rise in the west was an impossibility.

But Laosen said to the king, “Don’t worry. If you have made a promise, I will fulfil it.” Then Laosen started praying to the sun god as his mother had done many years before. Soon the sun god came to him and said, “Please continue to pray. I will see if it can be done. Just pray, pray, pray.”

So Laosen prayed and prayed. His maternal uncle was very happy. He was sure that the sun would never rise in the west. One day he said to King Gaur, "Laosen is unable to fulfil your promise. Now you have to fulfil my desire. He has to leave the kingdom since he can’t do the impossible.”

King Gaur said, “Give him some more time. He has said that he will be able to do it. Just give him some time.”

Laosen prayed and prayed. One day one of his maids said to him, “Don’t worry. The sun will be pleased with you someday.”

Laosen said, “I have been praying and praying for such a long time. I am afraid he will never grant me this boon.”

Then the maid said, “Just cut off your head and he will be pleased with you.”

Laosen said, “If I cut off my head, then I will only die, and if the sun does not rise in the west, I will not be able to do anything more. But if the sun god agrees to fulfil my desire, then I am ready to kill myself.”

The maid said, “Do it. The sun god will definitely be pleased with you.”

So Laosen chopped off his head and immediately the sun god appeared. He brought Laosen back to life and said, “Now I am truly pleased with you. I shall fulfil your desire. Tomorrow the world will see that instead of coming from the east I will appear in the west. You can go and tell King Gaur and your father.”

Laosen was filled with joy. He ran to tell his father and King Gaur. Both of them always believed him. Then King Gaur told Kripan, “Tomorrow morning you will see that Laosen has really done the impossible.”

Kripan said, “Tomorrow morning. You yourself have given the time. If Laosen doesn’t make the sun rise in the west tomorrow morning, then you have to throw him out of this kingdom.”

King Gaur said, “Yes, but he will do it.”

Kripan was the first person to disbelieve it, and the following morning he got up long before anybody else to see the sunrise. And to Kripan’s amazement the sun did rise in the west. Then the sun god appeared before everyone and said to Kripan, “You have caused so much suffering for Karnasen and his son Laosen. Laosen is my devotee, and you have tortured him for many years. Now you deserve some punishment. From now to the end of your life you will suffer from leprosy.” This was the worst possible punishment he could give.

Then King Gaur asked the sun god, “How could you do it? How could you rise in the west?”

Then sun god said, “Is there anything that I will not do for my true devotee? If somebody were to insult me and say, ‘Sun, you always have to rise in the east. Obviously you can’t appear in the west; you don’t have the power,’ immediately I would agree. I would say, ‘You are right. I can’t do it!’ But my devotee is dearer to me than my life itself. When he accepts a challenge, I also have to accept. Kripan could have challenged me personally, but if he had done it, I would not have taken the trouble of breaking the cosmic Law. But he challenged my true devotee, who is so dear to me. He was ready to sacrifice his own life in order to keep his promise.

“You can defeat me, but not my devotee. A true devotee can always do the impossible. God Himself will not want to do that thing, because there is no need for Him to show the world that for Him nothing is impossible. But God does want to show the world that there is someone else who can do everything, and that is a true devotee. So don’t challenge a devotee. You will always lose.”

To-morrow's dawn

//[Continued from previous issue]//

89.

My aspiration is my mountain-cry. My aspiration is my fountain-smile.

90.

Try to believe in your next thought. You are definitely going to become another God.

91.

Whoever is anchored in his purity-heart is completely secure.

92.

Your life of self-giving proves that you will not swerve from the path of oneness.

93.

The doer in me needs God. The hearer in me God needs.

94.

Man the giver and God the Lover are but one person.

95.

There is only one shortcut to God-realisation: an inner cry and an outer smile.

96.

Accept first, and then you will understand.

97.

What gifts do I value? A pure heart and a sure life.

98.

My past was God’s preparation in me.
My present is my adventure with God.
My future will be God’s Satisfaction-Oneness with me.

99.

Don’t be afraid of your meditation-power. Don’t be a fool. It is your meditation that can and will give you the indomitable courage to do the very things that you fear.

[To be continued in next issue]

Questions and answers

These questions were asked at the New York Centre Church on 1 May 1977

Question: In the pictures I take of you blessing people I see you blessing them at various places on their heads. Are you giving them different types of blessings?

Sri Chinmoy: Usually, when I put my finger on the third eye, I try to open it a little — whatever it can — because the third eye in most cases is rusty and dusty. So I try my best.

When I bless on the top of the head, I try to raise the person’s consciousness to the highest possible height for him.

When I bless someone on the back of the head, I try to make that seeker see how good he was once upon a time and how bad he has become, or to show him how bad he was once upon a time, and how good he has become.

These are the main reasons for blessing at different places. There can be other occult reasons, but these are the usual ones.

Question: I imagine that there is a thousand-petaled lotus up on the top of the heads, and you can see the petals and, with accuracy that I really study, touch the different parts.

Sri Chinmoy: Right, it is absolutely a thousand-petaled lotus. I touch it and petal by petal it blossoms.

Question: Guru, whenever a really spiritual or devoted feeling comes to me, I always sneeze. This breaks the mood completely and I never regain it.

Sri Chinmoy: Sneezing has two inner meanings. In one sense, sneezing means approval. When you sneeze, then what you are feeling has been totally approved of. Of course, you know that if you have caught a cold or something, then your sneezing is to be expected. But if there is no rhyme or reason why all of a sudden you have sneezed, that means something has been approved of or sanctioned by some higher force. The other reason for this kind of sneezing is that somebody is thinking of you in a positive way, with good will. At that time your soul is responding to that person’s good will. So in your case, either somebody is soulfully thinking of you, or you have got a good experience, and that experience has been fully sanctioned from Above.

Question: Guru, will the soul of the painting that you did yesterday take an incarnation, and if it does, what will happen to the painting? ³

Sri Chinmoy: The soul will be replaced. It is like a tenant. When one tenant goes away from a house, another tenant comes. When the present soul takes human incarnation (and God knows how long that may take), at that time a suitable soul will replace it — a suitable soul which will be good for the painting. Naturally the human soul will be higher than the painting soul. When this soul eventually takes a higher incarnation, there will be another soul which will be good enough to replace the present soul of the painting.

Actually, instead of one soul there are many souls inside that painting. There is one main soul, and each significant portion also has a soul. There are many places where the painting is very good. At each of these places the souls are very prominent. These tiny group souls, instead of remaining separate individuals, can become one strong soul. When the main one leaves for a higher incarnation, then these little souls can become one soul, and that soul can easily remain as the soul of the painting.

But all this entirely depends on you people. If the painting is destroyed, let us say, even before we leave the earth, then what will happen to the soul? Many of my paintings perhaps will not last because of negligence and carelessness. I am afraid we may lose some good paintings because of the disciples’ carelessness. You and Sanatan are wonderful curators, but there are people who do not take proper care of them when they are in the gallery.

And one thing I have told you many times, that when you appreciate my paintings, your own consciousness goes much higher, plus you definitely add beauty to the paintings. Yesterday I told everyone to go and look at the painting to find the place that you like most and stand in front of it. You don’t have to appreciate the entire painting, only become one with that particular section, the portion that you like the best. Then you are bound to make your own consciousness large, plus add beauty to the painting. Many times I have written poems, and just by reading them or reciting them I increase their beauty. Even the poems I wrote many, many years ago become more beautiful when I read them now. If somebody else reads them, the poems are bound to get more meaning, and the consciousness of the reader will also be elevated. If somebody can soulfully become one with the creation, then the beauty of the creation increases, along with the elevation of their own consciousness.

Question: Guru, yesterday when you looked for a place to sign and date the painting, you walked the whole length of the painting, and then came back. Then you put the date in the most dynamic part of the painting. Was there any special significance to that?

Sri Chinmoy. Very good. You have got the point. I was only looking for the place where I got the most dynamic vibration. It is not that the other places are less spiritual or less beautiful, but they are a little bit milder, or perhaps the colour is not very dazzling. But when we notice the particular place that I chose, even from a distance it is very attractive. I wanted to sign it there because at that particular place there is a communication between the outer beauty and the inner silence. At other places the inner silence may be very prominent, but the outer beauty may not be so easily perceptible, and vice versa. But at that place even children will perceive something. As you said, the spontaneous dynamic appeal was already evident in that particular place; therefore, I signed it there.

Question: Has the soul of America taken human incarnation?

Sri Chinmoy: No, good boy, the soul of America is still lingering. The soul of America is still in its original form. It has not yet taken human incarnation. God alone knows when it will. It will not be in the near future. The soul of America is quite satisfied with its role. Sometimes souls become disgusted, as sometimes human beings are fed up. But the soul of America is quite satisfied. Right now taking human incarnation is out of the question for the soul of America.

The soul of America is very strong, very powerful, very beautiful, but something is missing, and that something is called maturity. I am not criticising your country’s soul, but the souls of some countries are more mature in the inner world than the American soul. The American soul has tremendous power and many other qualities in boundless measure. But when it is a matter of maturity, there are some souls which are much more mature than the American soul. Maturity in the soul’s world means experience, experiences of different types. Millions of experiences America still needs. Then the soul of America will become much more mature and, at the same time, maintain these most powerful and beautiful qualities that it has. Then will come the time for the soul of America to enter into a human incarnation and embody these qualities. But it will take time.

Question: I take the vibration of other people easily. How can I transform this into a divine quality?

Sri Chinmoy: Why do you take the vibration from others if afterwards you are going to suffer from that vibration? It is better at that time to close your inner doors and inner windows. How do you close your doors and windows so that you don’t get wrong vibrations from others? If you can strengthen your inner being with purity, then it won’t happen. It is when we do not have a sufficient amount of purity that we suffer from the vibrations of others. It does not mean that you have no purity, but when the amount of purity that you have is not enough, then it is very easy for others to attack you. When you are physically weak, you become susceptible to colds, let us say. So in the spiritual world, a cold is impurity. If you become spiritually strong, if you can surcharge yourself with purity, then you won’t be susceptible to the vibration of others. Their vibration will not be able to hurt you. You are lucky that you do not have to try to transform or illumine this capacity. You just maintain your purity, and they won’t be able to attack you.

It is not good at all to take the vibration from others. You have enough headaches. The load that you have on your shoulders is very, very heavy, so why take others’ loads on your shoulders as well? The best thing is to take care of your own burden, and not to accept anybody’s vibration — good vibration or bad vibration. It is better not to take any vibration. Remain absolutely neutral and unperturbed. Remain in your own height or in your own depth.

You don’t have to try to transform others’ vibration. Just don’t accept it. Only keep yourself receptive to the Supreme in me, to your Inner Pilot, to your own aspiration and inner meditation, and don’t be receptive at all to others. If you show receptivity, then their forces will come and take shelter in you like thieves. It is very difficult to get rid of these thieves once they have entered into your heart-room.

Question: Guru, what is the significance of the Bengali in your songs, as opposed to the songs that are in English?

Sri Chinmoy: There are two reasons why most of my songs are written in Bengali. One reason is that I am a Bengali and I know Bengali infinitely better than I know English. But if I am in a divine mood, I will call this a silly reason. The real reason is that the English language, although we say it has tremendous majesty, at the same time has become the commercial language. If you want to be generous, you can say it has become the universal language. The English language undoubtedly has universal appeal on the practical plane, but it does not have that universal appeal on the inner plane, the spiritual plane, whereas Bengali has it. Italian also has the soul’s approach. We can say it has a very free access, like Bengali, to the soul. But the English language does not have this. Of course, if somebody has written an exceptionally soulful prayer or poem, these soulful words will have an approach to the soul’s reality. But on the whole the language does not have an immediate appeal to the soul. It will appeal to our mind, to our vital and to our aspiring physical.

The Bengali language outwardly is sweeter, much sweeter, than the English language. It has to its credit an inner reality, let us say a divine reality, a very subtle, haunting reality which the English language, unfortunately, lacks. The English language has many, many good qualities, but the immediate inner approach to the soul, to the inner reality, the sweetness and the heart quality of oneness you don’t get in English as immediately or as powerfully as you get it in Bengali. This is my yogic reason.

Right now, believe it or not, English comes to me more freely than Bengali. Sometimes it is difficult for me to speak to my sister fluently. There was a time when I used to speak Bengali unbelievably fast, our own Chittagong dialect and also the real Bengali. But now, because I do not have much practice, I can’t speak as fast. People say that thoughts always come in the mother tongue first, even when you know quite a few languages. I have heard this many times. In my case, this was true many years ago. But for the last six or seven years when I write, give talks or answer questions, I never, never think in Bengali. I don’t get the words or ideas in Bengali first and then immediately translate them. Everything comes to me directly in English. It may be incorrect, it may be imperfect English, but the ideas and words definitely come to me in English.

So to come back to your question, Bengali has soulful qualities and capacities much more than English. English has its own strengths in many ways, but if the songs are less soulful, then they will be of less assistance to your spiritual life. If they are spiritual and soulful in every way, they will become a permanent possession and treasure of the world. In a few years’ time India, and especially Bengal, will accept all my songs. I can prophesy that in a few years many, many songs of mine will be sung all over India, like Tagore’s songs. All Bengali villages will be inundated with these songs. And at that time the girls and boys who are the pioneer-singers of my songs will be appreciated, admired and adored by the Bengali-speaking people. It is a matter of a short time before India accepts my music. At that time a new consciousness will dawn not only in the Bengali people, but also in those who are singing my songs now, sometimes with reluctance, sometimes out of a sense of competitiveness, sometimes with tremendous lack of inspiration. At that time those singers will see much more, they will see something really meaningful and fruitful in my songs.

When it is a matter of soulful reality existence, Bengali far surpasses English. But when it is for universal appeal, or on the practical plane, the commercial plane, the physical plane, vital plane and mental plane, English undoubtedly has a wider scope. But in my songs we are dealing with the heart and the soul. As long as we can remain in the heart and the soul, our oneness with our Beloved Supreme will always remain perfect. That is why I feel my Bengali songs should be learned properly. They are not just songs, but a new, illumining and fulfilling way to communicate with our inmost reality and divinity.

This August I will offer 700 songs, and the sincere seekers and singers will take these songs as blessings. They will be able to meditate for quite a few hours while the songs are being sung. It won’t be in one day, but on three or four days. And those who are not blessed with a musical ear or with the capacity to appreciate Bengali songs, will undoubtedly feel miserable. It will be torture to them, so they can go and do something else. But the singers and the music lovers should be there without fail. They will derive considerable spiritual benefit from these songs. These 700 songs will be gratitude-flowers from the garden of my aspiration-heart to the divinely inspired singers and music lovers.

Songs

For a knowledge-teacher he did not care

For a knowledge-teacher he did not care
He had wisdom-tutor rare.

Knowledge is preparation
Uncertain and slow.

Wisdom is realisation
And perfection-glow.

Ai ai ai

/Ai ai ai chandra taraka/
/Nil nabha rabi ai/
/Parane bajiche amarar banshi/
/Jiban ajike asimer hasi/
/Nai hetha nai/
/Dainya timir/
/Jyoti nirjhar/
/Bishal e nir/
/Ai ai ai antara pakhi/
/Ajike sabare chai/
/Ai ore ai/
/Chandra taraka nil nabha rabi ai/


Come, come, come, O moon, O stars,
O sun of the blue-vast sky,
Come to hear the flute of Immortality in my heart,
To watch the smile of Infinity in my life.
Here there is no human poverty, no darkness-life.
Here in this heart-nest of mine
There is only an endless fountain-light.
Come, come, come.
Today the bird of my heart desires everyone.
Come, come, come, O moon, O stars,
O sun of the blue-vast sky.