Picture

Sweetness-Delight feeds newness-height.

Appreciation, admiration, adoration and love¹

I appreciate, I admire, I adore and I love. I appreciate God the Power. I admire God the Light. I adore God the Delight. I love God the Compassion. Power is great. Light is good. Delight is immortal. Compassion is all-fulfilling. My God-appreciation multiplies my joy. My God-admiration multiplies my strength. My God-adoration multiplies my beauty, inner and outer. My God-love multiplies my satisfaction, within and without.

In the desire-world there was a time when I was a total failure. Nobody gave me a helping hand. I accepted my total failure, which was undoubtedly a blessing in disguise. Then I left the desire-world and entered into the aspiration-world. Here, at times, I am assailed by doubt, fear, teeming anxiety and worry. Yet sometimes I am also encouraged and inspired by the higher worlds of Light and Delight.

The world of desire separated me from the world of satisfaction. The world of aspiration, at the present state of my evolution, does not guarantee me abiding satisfaction. But there will come a time when I shall enter into the realisation-world, and my realisation-world — which will be founded upon my aspiration-world — will grant me everlasting joy and everlasting delight.

In the desire-world, when I failed, nobody blamed me. In the aspiration-world, when I was half-successful and half a failure, the world around me did not care for me. But when I succeed in the realisation-world, the entire world will care for me, for the realisation-world is the world of oneness.

The desire-world is the world of division and possession, where each individual tries to lord it over others. In the aspiration-world fear and doubt and other negative ideas assail my human mind, and my aspiration is at times thwarted by undivine, unhealthy, uncomely forces. But the realisation-world, which is the world of inseparable, eternal and all-pervading oneness, can never be assailed by teeming doubts and negative forces. For this is the world of oneness and perfection, and inside perfection what looms large is satisfaction: satisfaction of the universal Soul, which the seeker in me embodies, and satisfaction of the transcendental Reality, which my seeker-life also embodies. It is only in the realisation-world that I can have satisfaction, and this satisfaction of mine I can share with my fellow-seekers, who are sailing in the same boat toward the Golden Shore of the ever-transcending Beyond.

Success and progress²

Confidence in myself I need. Assurance from God I need. Confidence tells me that eventually I can become a perfect instrument of God. Assurance tells me that this goal of mine is within my easy reach.

Confidence means to have the key to God’s Kingdom. Assurance means to have the willingness and devotedness to open the door. Once I have opened the door, I see the face of success and feel the heart of progress.

Success is in the desire-world. Progress is in the aspiration-world. We succeed in life. We succeed in fulfilling our ambitions. But in outer success there is no assurance that we will be happy, even if we have great success, greater success and greatest success. Whereas with progress, even when we make just an iota of progress, we become happy, and our happiness is abiding.

Success belongs to our earth-consciousness. Progress belongs to our Heaven-consciousness. Success makes us feel that we have the capacity, that we can do everything. In success we feel that it is we who are the actual doers. Progress makes us feel that we are not the doers. It makes us feel that there is an unseen force deep within us that encourages and inspires our progress, and that inside this progress is our constant happiness. This unseen force is the doer; God is the doer. This is what we learn from our progress.

The seeker marches along the road of success, but that road ultimately fails to show him the destination. Then the seeker walks along the other road, progress. Here at every moment he meets with joy and satisfaction, for at every moment he sees a destination. Needless to say, this destination is only the starting point for a further, more illumining and more fulfilling goal.

Success makes the individual feel that might is right. So in the world of success, the individual human being comes first and God comes next. This is what success tells us. But progress tells us that might is God’s Compassion and right is also God’s Compassion. Progress also tells us something else most significant: God is first and God is last: in between is the seeker’s place. Man finds his eternal place between God the Leader and God the Follower. God the Leader and God the Follower grant him a place in the inmost recesses of the Universal Heart. In this place, the seeker at every moment sees that God the Leader and God the Follower are taking him to his destination, where he will become one with the transcendental Vision and the universal Reality that he has been longing for throughout Eternity.

Our human life and our divine life³

Our human life is not a bitter complaint. Our human life is not a serious problem. Our human life is not a heavy burden. Our human life is not a deplorable failure.

Our human life is a God inspired aspiration-journey. Our human life is a God-intoxicated dedication-road. Our human life is a God-fulfilling manifestation-song. Our human life is a God-satisfying perfection-mission.

Our divine life is not a mental hallucination. Our divine life is not an escape from the hard realities of the world. Our divine life is not the total negation or destruction of our earthly life.

Our divine life is the only true reality. Our divine life sings the song of the Infinite inside the very life-breath of the finite.

Our human life is Time’s possibility-seed. Our divine life is Eternity’s inevitability-tree.

Our human life is the flowering of our love, devotion and surrender. Our divine life is God’s supreme Victory in and through us.

In our human life we see man the evolving God. In our divine life we see God the manifested man.

Time changes⁴

Time changes. This is an old lesson. We all have learned it. Today we are going to learn a new lesson. The new lesson is that we change, too.

What do we change? We change our consciousness. Consciousness is the thing that connects us either with death or with Immortality. In the desire-bound world death reigns supreme. In the aspiration-free world Immortality reigns supreme.

Why do we change? We change because even after the fulfilment of our desire-world, still we are not satisfied. Even an iota of satisfaction does not dawn on our mental horizon, vital horizon or physical horizon. But in the aspiration-world we do not need anything to satisfy us. We do not need anything to please our inner urge and inner quest. The moment we cry deep within, we feel a sense of satisfaction. While we are crying we get a sense of satisfaction. We do not have to wait for the result. The most satisfactory result is in the cry itself.

How do we change from the desire-world to the aspiration-world, from the chasm of death to the sea of Immortality? We change on the strength of our inspiration and aspiration. Inspiration is the divine reality that carries us forward far, farther, farthest. Aspiration is the divine reality that lifts us up high, higher, highest. Inspiration gives us the forward movement; aspiration gives us the upward movement.

When do we actually change? We change when God’s Hour strikes. What is God’s Hour? It is the hour when everything is done sooner than at once. It is all done not by human beings but by God, the Eternal Pilot, in and through human beings. At that time God does not expect anything in return. His Justice-Light is replaced by His Compassion-Height. Here God consciously makes the individual feel that he is of infinite Light and for immortal Delight. At God’s choice Hour man becomes a constant burning flame of gratitude that eventually grows into a sun. And inside this sun humanity’s aspiration looms large. Finally, there comes a time when the Absolute Supreme finds humanity to be His perfect instrument to please Him in His own way.

Time changes. This is our old lesson. We change, too. This is our new lesson. When time changes, quite often we are helpless, hopeless and useless. We are at every moment forced to act like true beggars. Time does not wait for us, and we have not been able to accomplish what we wanted to accomplish. But when we learn the new lesson, that we change, too, we feel that at every moment we are listening to an inner call. At every moment we are preparing ourselves to fulfil an inner need. At every moment we are preparing ourselves to learn the art of self-giving, for in self-giving lies the supreme Message of God. Our goal is not only to see the Face of the Golden All, but also to eventually grow into the Golden All.

We change. We change for the better, precisely because in us is the eternal hunger, the perennial hunger, to become one with the universal Truth and the transcendental Reality. We change. We change always for the better, for the ultimate Truth in us is the message of God-perfection and God-satisfaction.

The core of India's light

//[Continued from previous issue]//

125.

Amitābha

The Buddha of measureless Light

The Buddha inspires our mind. The Buddha illumines our life. The Buddha fulfils our heart. The Buddha satisfies our soul.

126.

Amrita

Nectar-delight

Self-giving is today’s nectar-delight. God-becoming is tomorrow’s nectar-delight.

127.

Ānanda

Bliss

My soulful cry is divinity’s bliss. My fruitful smile is humanity’s bliss.

128.

Ārupa

Without form

Our inner beauty increases when we pray to the Reality without form. Our outer beauty increases when we make friends with divinity’s outer form.

129.

Ārya

The noble and the holy

The Godward march is only for the noble and the holy.

130.

Āstika

A believer

A God-believer is he who at once lives in Divinity’s Compassion-Heart and on humanity’s inspiration-head.

[To be continued]

A mere God-Lover

Swami Nigamananda’s disciples always considered their Master to be an Avatar, although he had never told them that he was one. But they all believed that this was the case, and they did not hesitate to speak of his greatness to others.

One day Swami Nigamananda told his small group of disciples that he was not an Avatar. “Nobody should call me an Avatar,” he said. “Nobody should even think of me as one. I am a mere God-lover.”

The Master continued, “Like you, I have been evolving from the stone life, and I have had quite a few human incarnations. In this incarnation I have realised God, I have achieved perfection, and I know what the transcendental Truth is. I want to give you all my possessions. I have already given you the key. You have just to unlock my heart-door and then take whatever you want to and as much as you want to. It is not necessary to have an Avatar of the highest order to be your Guru. An ordinary God-realised soul can give you everything you need for your own God-realisation.”

Commentary

It is the Love-Oneness aspect of God, not the Sovereignty-Height aspect of God, that makes us truly love God and worship Him as the universal Beauty and the transcendental Reality.

Dream becomes reality

Once a well-known military officer decided to accept the spiritual life. He wanted to give up the world of attachment for good, so he began praying to God every day to take him to his real Guru.

One night in a dream he saw a most beautiful luminous being, and at the same time he saw a word written on his heart: Nigamananda. This officer knew nothing about Swami Nigamananda, who was then living a thousand miles away from his city, but the officer made inquiries about a Master named Nigamananda. Soon he found someone who knew of Nigamananda, and could tell him where the Master was to be found.

In a few day’s time the officer-seeker reached Nigamanada’s ashram. As soon as he saw Nigamananda he knew that this was the Master he had seen in his dream, and he fell at his feet.

Nigamananda said to him simply, “So, you believe in dreams?”

Commentary

The dream-world is next door to the reality-world. Today’s beautiful dreams are tomorrow’s fruitful realities. A seeker’s soulful aspiration-dreams are usually transformed into fruitful manifestation-realities. A sincere self-giving seeker can easily acquire a free access to the dream-moon-world and to the reality-sun-world in the process of his inner evolution.

Silver Thought-Waves

//[Continued from previous issue]//

Manifestation

When we try to manifest God in our own way, what we actually manifest is our puny little ego, our unconscious or uncontrolled ego.

But when we try to manifest God in His own way, we see and feel that we are fulfilling the promise that we made to God before we came into the world-arena. If we try to manifest God in His own way, that means we are keeping our promise to God which we made before we entered into the world of creation and manifestation.

Obedience

If we obey God out of fear, then God will shed bitter tears. If we obey God out of love, but with an ulterior motive, then God will shed bitter tears. But if we obey God because that is what we have known how to do from time immemorial, then God offers us His Eternity’s Smile. Not out of fear but out of oneness we have to obey our Inner Pilot.

Progress

Who is to determine my progress? You? No. He? No. Myself? No. Earth? No. Heaven? No. Then who is to determine my progress? My progress has to be determined by the sole Doer in me, my Inner Pilot. Only he who does the task has the right to determine the progress. The Doer in me is the Inner Pilot. He Himself has to determine the progress that He makes in and through me.

Psychic cry

The psychic cry is the cry of the heart which always transcends not only its own limits, but also earth’s limits. The possessor of a psychic cry is the lover of God’s Smile and the fulfiller of God’s Dream.

Silence

Silence is God’s beginning-Height. Sound is God’s continuation-Might. God’s Compassion of the inner world for the outer world is God’s Perfection-Delight.

Sincerity

Sincerity is to discover the Truth in its own way. Sincerity is to reveal the Truth in its own way. Sincerity is to know what God consciously and constantly wants from us. Sincerity is self-awareness for God-manifestation.

Sweetness

Sweetness is the conscious revelation of inner wealth: the wealth of oneness, the wealth of perfection and the wealth of the many for the One.

Truth

Love is Truth. Truth is Love. With Love the Truth, man finds his place in the Heart of God. With Truth the Love, God finds His place in the heart of man.

Vigilance

Vigilance is of paramount importance to make the fastest progress. Vigilance is of tremendous need when earth fails to see what we eternally are. Vigilance is of paramount importance. Through vigilance we smash the pride of ignorance-night and inspire world-height.

Will-power

Will-power is the light of the soul that reveals and manifests God on earth in the physical, in the vital, in the mind and in the heart. When it manifests God in the physical, it is dedication. When it manifests God in the vital, it is determination. When it manifests God in the mind, it is illumination. When it manifests God in the heart, it is realisation of the Absolute.

I have offered, I have received¹

What have I offered to my Beloved Supreme? I have offered my Beloved Supreme my soulful cry. What have I received from Him in return? I have received from Him His blessingful Smile.

What have I given to man? I have given man my devoted service, my selfless service, my loving service. What have I received from man in return? I have received from man his suspicion-night.

What am I offering to my Beloved Supreme? I am offering my Beloved Supreme my surrender-heart and my gratitude-life. What am I receiving from my Beloved Supreme in return? I am receiving from Him His Satisfaction-Sky.

What am I giving to man? I am giving man my determination-vital. What am I receiving from man in return? I am receiving from man his total indifference.

What shall I offer to my Beloved Supreme? I shall offer my Beloved Supreme my doubting mind. What shall I receive from my Beloved Supreme in return? I shall receive from Him His illumining Assurance.

What shall I give to man? I shall give man my sleepless, untiring body. What shall I receive from man in return? I shall receive from man his deliberate and endless ridicule.

Shall I stop serving mankind? No, never, for mine is not the way to stop. I walk along Eternity's Road not serving man as such, but serving the Inner Pilot in each individual being. My Inner Pilot is my own Eternity’s All. Him to please in His own way in His creation is my only goal. To love Him, to serve Him, what I need is a fleeting aspiration-flame. To love Him and serve Him in mankind what I need is Eternity’s unconditional self-offering. My Lord Supreme, the Author of all Good, wants me to serve Him in all of His creation: in His desire-creation and His aspiration-creation, in his earth-bound creation and His Heaven-free creation.

It is my bounden duty to love my Beloved Supreme and serve my Beloved Supreme in each member of His creation. Therefore, to the president of this international organisation, I wish to offer my soulful gratitude from the inmost recesses of my heart, for he has given me a golden opportunity to be of devoted service to hundreds of sincere seekers present this evening. Nothing gives me greater joy, greater satisfaction, than to be of service to my Beloved Supreme in sincere seekers. Therefore, to you, dear president, I am extremely grateful, and to all the sincere seekers who are present here, I am offering my heart of soulful gratitude.

¹ International Fair of Philosophies and Religions, Montreal, P.Q., Canada, 6 April 1978.

Prayer-harvest

[Continued from previous issue]

48.

My Lord Supreme,

Today I have learned that there are no small acts of self-giving and that there are no big acts of self-withdrawing.

49.

My Lord Supreme,

You want me to grow day by day in wisdom, glow hour by hour with light, flow minute by minute with energy, row second by second with my soul. You want me to do all these, and I shall.

50.

My Lord Supreme,

Yesterday I decided to be with You. Today I am choosing to be at Your Feet. Tomorrow I shall please You in Your own way.

51.

My Lord Supreme,

Do give me the capacity to translate my mind’s great intentions into my heart’s good actions.

52.

My Lord Supreme,

My life is a gift. I have accepted it gratefully. Now do give me the capacity to cherish it soulfully.

53.

My Lord Supreme,

because of Your Compassion my life is not a failure. Because of Your Satisfaction my life is perfect Perfection.

54.

My Lord Supreme,

My mind says that I have to reach up to find You. My heart says that You have been knocking and knocking at its door.

55.

My Lord Supreme,

Today I am really happy because Your assurance is complete, and my surrender is unmistakable.

56.

My Lord Supreme,

Your Compassion deserves all my human treasures — endless tears — and all my divine treasures — gratitude and cheerfully surrendered oneness.

57.

My Lord Supreme,

Just because I did not look back yesterday, today I have been able to step forward. And just because I have stepped forward today, tomorrow I shall reach my Goal of goals: the Golden Shore.

58.

My Lord Supreme,

Just because I smile at You my life is replete with sincerity. Just because I cry for You my heart is complete in perfection and satisfaction.

59.

My Lord Supreme,

Do accept my gratitude-life’s gratitude-heart.

60.

My Lord Supreme,

When You are in my prayers, I know what to do. When I am in Your Thoughts, I know I have already become what You wanted me to become.

61.

My Lord Supreme,

My heart’s soulfulness is Your Grace. My life’s fruitfulness is Your Face. Your Grace is Your Eternity’s Assurance. Your Face is Your Immortality’s Beauty.

Amusing questions on God

//[Continued from previous issue]//

Question: Does the Supreme send His laundry out, or does He do it at home?

Guru: As you know, the Supreme believes in economy. Therefore, He feels it is not advisable on His part to send His laundry outside. It is too expensive. After all, if He has to send it outside, He will need the help of the cosmic gods to carry His laundry. Therefore, He does it at home. Rather, He gets it done. The Supreme asks His Goodwin horse to carry the laundry from Heaven to earth. The horse carries it, and to everybody’s surprise, the horse that carries it down to earth from Heaven is transformed into the seeker Lustre. Then the seeker Lustre does the laundry as a form of dedicated and selfless service free of charge.

Question: Does God wear sneakers?

Guru: Yes, God does. He wears sneakers because He feels He has to absorb some of the emotional heat of earth. This heat is composed of anxiety, worry, fear, doubt, suspicion, jealousy, insecurity, and all other undivine qualities. It is a tremendous heat, so God wants to reduce it. Out of His infinite Compassion, God wants to take some of the load away from earth. So God’s sneakers considerably absorb the heat that earth suffers from.

Question: How long is God's hair?

Guru: God the Man and God the Woman have two different lengths. God the Vidhu-man has hair an inch and a half long and God the Radha-woman has the sesquipedalian length of hair. And something more. God the Radha-woman enjoys the continuous growth of her hair, and God the Vidhu-man does not mind it. God the Man is not jealous of God the Woman’s hair, because at least in one place in God’s entire creation jealousy is not to be found.

Question: Do you or your inner beings play jokes with us on the inner plane?

Guru: On the inner plane I don’t get much time to cut jokes with my disciples, for on the inner plane my Boss the Supreme is much more strict with me than on the outer plane. But I do enjoy cutting jokes with my own inner beings, and even with my Beloved Supreme — innocent jokes, of course, not painful or destructive jokes.

If I see a particular god or goddess who is closely connected with a particular seeker, and then I see that seeker on earth, and his inner beauty is much less than the beauty of the god or goddess, perhaps I will cut jokes with that particular god or goddess by saying, “You don’t take care of your people, of your inner subjects. How is it that you don’t make them as beautiful as you are?” Then the god or goddess will immediately say to me, “Whose fault is it? You have a connection with both earth and Heaven. It is your duty to make everything clear to the seeker what will help him, what will increase his spirituality.” I say, in my own justification, “I pray with them and meditate on them, and if they are receptive, then definitely they will get light from me and they will always do the right thing to constantly increase their inner beauty.” This happens with the cosmic gods and goddesses who have a special connection with some seekers, with a particular boy disciple or girl disciple.

In your case I can say that when you wear violet coloured saris, instead of adding to your spiritual beauty, it takes away from your beauty, whereas if you wear yellow or orange coloured saris, it adds to your beauty. That does not mean that from today on you will only wear orange and yellow. Other colours also help you, but orange and yellow help you more than other colours. But if you wear violet colour, that does not help you at all. So these are not painful, but innocent jokes.

Question: You mean violet is not good to wear?

Guru: For her. For you violet is very good; for Akuti is it very good. For Shephali it is no good. For Ranjana and Akuti violet is so good. But for Shephali violet is not right. I meditate on her and pray with her, but why has she not opened her third eye? If she had opened her third eye, she would not have worn a sari that colour.

Question: You mean Shephali really shouldn’t wear purple? Or is it a joke?

Guru: On the inner plane it does not add anything to her spirituality. It just detracts.

Question: Are there colours that all of us should not wear, Guru?

Guru: Black, of course. You shouldn’t wear black.

Question: Does God ever wear a tie?

Guru: Divine Hashi, God wears ties at every moment, from His birthless Silence to His deathless Sound. From the beginning of His creation and throughout the ever-continuing creation He always wears ties. When a human being wears a tie, it is for a few hours. Then he changes his tie or he takes it off. But in God’s case, He has been wearing His ties since the creation of humanity. Birthless and deathless ties He has been wearing all throughout His creation, and He will continue to wear these ties, ties of oneness which He will eternally wear.

Question: What is Indian humour?

Guru: Many years ago a seeker from North Dakota made her first promise to her Indian Master. It was that she would be in the hotel lobby at a particular time early in the morning to take the Master to the airport. Now the Master had implicit faith in this North Dakota seeker. But the North Dakota seeker did not fulfil her first promise to her Master. So the human in the Master said, “She is a perfect Indian disciple, for she believes in eternal time, not earth-bound time.” The North Dakota seeker came quite late, but the Master was lucky enough not to miss his plane.

Question: Why is your hair so grey, while your sister, who is older than you, has dark hair?

Guru: There are various reasons why my hair is so grey, and why I have very little hair. When I was a teenager I revolted against sleep, and also I developed a most intimate friendship with aspiration-flames, almost beyond the capacity of my physical body. When you start developing occult power and spiritual power in profuse measure, you get unbearable heat inside your spinal column, and quite often it goes up to the head and destroys the hair. In many cases this has happened. There are some Masters who take special care. They apply soothing oils and quite a few things to their head. But in my case, fortunately or unfortunately, I did not do that. Once or twice I did take homeopathic medicine at the express request of my dearest mentor, a homeopath who knew all about diseases and cures. Once or twice I took it, but after that I saluted his medicine from a distance. Also once or twice a very close friend of mine applied lemon juice to my head. But it only aggravated and irritated my head like anything, so I didn’t use it more than twice.

Then, when I came to America, my disciples were kind enough to offer me all their worries and anxieties, and their undivine forces used to come and attack me like the surges of the ocean. I housed them and tried to illumine them, and in the process they found their right place, my head, to offer me constant awareness of their suffering. This resulted in more loss of hair. So now I am forced to enjoy baldness, but I don’t mind it, for any experience I get either from Heaven or from earth or from God or from humanity, I cheerfully welcome, for each experience adds to my oneness-realisation with my Beloved Supreme.

Question: Did God ever have an over-eating problem?

Guru: We eat and overeat, but in God’s case there is no such thing as overfed or underfed or unfed. Whatever God does, He does according to His Necessity, and His Necessity is always supported by His Capacity. His Necessity and His Capacity always go together. What He eats most is our ignorance-sea. Anything that He wants, no matter how large the quantity is, He eats, for He knows that He has boundless Capacity. So in His case it is not a problem, it is a necessity. If He does not devour our ignorance, our ignorance will devour us. But He does not suffer from over-eating, for He is all-Capacity and all-Willingness.

Question: What makes the fire: the match, the stick, the flame, the heat, or the smoke?

Guru: Chandika, I thought that you were my disciple. Now something in you wants to change Masters; it wants to become the disciple of the Upanishadic sages and the Vedic seers. In that case you can get a copy of the Upanishads. In the Upanishads the sages tell you what makes fire and all that. So if you change your Guru, then immediately you will get the answer. To answer these questions is not the domain of this Guru. It is not his forte. But if you turn the pages of the Upanishads, either the Vedic seers or the Upanishadic sages will bless you with the answer to this question.

Question: How did God realise God?

Guru: God realised Himself by playing His fondest game, which He calls Hide-and-Seek.

Question: Why do you sleep a lot when we are riding on the bus? Is it to do your important inner work or to escape from us?

Guru: True, I sleep on the bus considerably. My body is here in the bus, and I find it difficult to read or write here. But my power of concentration does not depend on my sleeping or waking. I can most powerfully meditate even when I am enjoying so-called perfect sleep. The body may rest like a dead elephant, but at that time I am the soul itself. I have the body, but even in sleep I am the soul itself. While the body is sleeping I can enjoy my realisation and my perfect oneness with the creation and the Creator.

Here on earth I have quite a few problems. When I look at someone or speak to someone, in a fleeting second there are quite a few others who immediately attack me with jealousy. Jealousy-arrows are immediately hurled at me. When I say something nice to someone, others become sad, mad, furious and in a moment they start, quite cleverly, taking away the joy that I have given to that particular person, by talking. It has happened on the outer plane many, many times.

On earth, as soon as I open my eyes, I am at fault or I am misunderstood. Let us say “misunderstood.” If I say something, I am misunderstood. If I say something nice, people ascribe motives to it. If I don’t say anything, they feel miserable that I don’t pay any attention to them. So no matter what I do, immediately I am subject to criticism. But when I am sleeping, at that time your minds will say, “He is useless, as he is sleeping now.” If you call me useless, no harm, as long as I can enjoy my own inner reality and divinity. Inwardly if I bless you, others will not be able to see it, so they won’t become jealous. And if I say something to you in the inner world, your doubtful mind will not pay any attention or try to interfere. Whatever I say or do there, I don't have to get the support, approval or acceptance of your body, vital and mind.

In the inner world, no matter what I say, no matter what I do, your aspiring soul knows my heart and will accept it gladly, devotedly and cheerfully. I can accomplish much more in the inner world, because there I get no resistance when I do something. All the resistance starts here on the physical plane because of a sense of separativity. In the inner worlds there is no separativity; it is all oneness, oneness. So when I am resting or sleeping, I can accomplish much more than when I chat with you. Some of you will get a kind of excitement or pleasure or fleeting joy when I chat with you. But there will be others who are sitting in the back of the bus who will curse themselves and curse me because they are too far back and they can’t hear or enjoy the conversation. Again, when I pay special attention to someone, there are many who will become totally jealous. But in the inner world I can act like a clever thief. If I want to pay attention to an individual, I can do so to my heart’s content, and if I see that an individual is aspiring, then I can help that person as much as I want to. In the outer world even if one is aspiring, I often find it very difficult to speak with that person because of others who are what you call vultures, v-u-l-t-u-r-e-s. And they have vulture-eyes, very keen eyes, to see what I am doing. Then they inwardly curse my forefathers, and I can’t bring my forefathers from Heaven to fight with them, so I have to accept their curses. So instead of all this, what I do is to do the needful in the inner worlds, while outwardly you may say that I am enjoying sleep. As long as I can do the needful, as long as I can act satisfactorily and fruitfully in the inner worlds for the individuals who are aspiring, let the world think that I am peacefully sleeping. I know that I am more that justified in my inner approach to the real in you, to the soul.

Question: Why did God give me big feet?

Guru: God gave you big feet in order to match with your big nose! If you feel that God has given you big feet, then develop some sympathy in your heart and try to feel oneness with someone who has much larger feet than you have. If you find it very difficult, then you can try to identify yourself either with your sister-disciple Nandita in the Seattle Centre, or with your brother-disciple Adhiratha-the-Great. Adhiratha’s feet are exceptionally big…large…huge. His feet once upon a time have enjoyed intimate friendship with the feet of elephants. But that friendship was nothing but destruction. He killed many, many, many elephants. So the elephants blessed him with a curse. They wished him to have big feet. It was their dying wish: “Since you are killing us, you should have feet like ours. If you have huge feet, it will not be dignified. So let us curse you with our feet-consciousness.” In the Mahabharata, the elephants in the battle at Kurukshetra blessed him with elephant-feet in this 20th century.

Call it punishment or call it reward. If you take it as a reward, you will be happy. If you take it as a punishment, you will be unhappy. When you go to the store you may be unhappy, because they will not be able to give you shoes immediately. But you will be happy again if you can tell the world that you are the possessor of exceptional feet. Poor Adhiratha can’t get shoes in any store. He has to get a special order for his feet divine.

Amal dhabal pal tuleche — talk⁵

After his talk and concert at Cornell University, Sri Chinmoy told of an experience he had had that night while the Bengali singers were singing his song _Amal Dhabal Pal Tuleche. His description of the experience, and a few questions that were asked about it, appear below. The musical notation of this song appears at the end of this issue. I have told you that _Amal Dhabal Pal Tuleche is one of my favourite songs. But today something most special has happened. As soon as you started singing the song, immediately I saw literally hundreds and hundreds of tiny boats with my third eye. These boats were so beautiful, and the boatmen were also very tiny and extremely beautiful. Their boats were all of different colours, but the boatmen, the little children, were all wearing only one colour — green — exactly the colour that Srinvantu wears. The boats were green, red, yellow, purple and all kinds of colours. The sails were also of different colours. All the children were so eager to have me in their boat. They wanted to take me to the Golden Shore. The problem was that I felt that if I entered into one boat, the others would feel sad that I am not entering into their boats. So I only looked around with sadness.

Then I concentrated for a second, and God blessed me, my concentration-power. Immediately all the hundreds of boats became only one. They all became one boat which covered the width of the river. There was no place on the river to sail, because the river was totally covered by one vast boat. As soon as I entered into that boat, I saw all the green boatmen, little children, all around me. I told them, "Just because my daughters sang ‘Amal dhabal pal’ I got the inspiration to see you, so let me bring the souls of these singers.” So immediately with my occult power, occult vision, I took away your souls. In terms of heavenly time it was not even one fraction of a second, but in terms of earthly time it was more than two and a half minutes. So all of you singers were inside the boat, and around us were hundreds and hundreds of most beautiful children. With my infinite Compassion I put you with those divine children. Then I blessed you people, and after blessing you I told your souls to return. They returned with a little bit of sadness, but you knew perfectly well that I would definitely come back. So there was not much sorrow.

I stayed with the little boatmen for a few heavenly seconds. In earthly time it would be at least twelve minutes that I was waiting with them. When I finally decided to leave the boat, they all started running after me. Then the Golden Purusha who is the Supreme, the Highest, absolutely the Highest, appeared before them and said to them, “You are doing the right thing. Only those who run after him will get Me as the Absolute Supreme.” This was His message. And those hundreds of children all entered into my heart. They all entered into my heart and came back with me to the earth plane. “Only those who run after Him …” that was the Supreme’s message, “… will get Me as the Absolute Supreme.” So they all entered into my heart, inner heart, spiritual heart. They are all here. Those were emanations of my highest Reality, the Absolute Supreme, those hundreds and hundreds of children.

This boat that I always talk about — the Golden Boat — today you would have seen hundreds and hundreds of boats if you had been in a little higher consciousness. You would have seen, felt and become one, absolutely one, with those divine children. If you people meditate tonight most soulfully, you will be able to see the boats and the children. They are all inside my heart. After tomorrow they will live in my universal heart, the proper place. But right now they are inside my human heart, those hundreds of children. I am telling you the full experience. They are all little, little children, like J, but I have to tell you frankly, they are all masculine. They are all boys, little boys, not girls. They are all boys, most luminous little boys. They brought their beautiful boats, and they were all wearing green, but their boats were of different colours. And all the sails were so beautiful, too. I was so thrilled.

Question: What is the significance of this experience?

Sri Chinmoy: This is the journey that I always talk about, the golden journey. I am the boatman, but there are inside me so many little, little boats. These beautiful children, extremely beautiful, are bringing their boats to carry me to the Golden Shore. The whole significance is the journey, inner journey, spiritual journey, the journey of the soul.

Question: Did the sails match the boats?

Sri Chinmoy: The body of the boat could be one colour and the sail could be another colour. But the boatmen were all green.

Question: What colour was the big boat, when they all became one?

Sri Chinmoy: Golden; at that time it became golden. All the different colours disappeared when it became one. At that time it became one boat and only gold. Everything was gold, everything. At that time there was no blue, no white. Everything was gold; but the children all maintained their green colour.

Question: What connection did it have with our singing?

Sri Chinmoy: Nothing; only out of compassion I took you people. I got tremendous joy from this experience, so out of compassion I took your souls to see the boat. There is no direct connection. As soon as you said “Amal” it started. It was not that you people wanted me to have the vision or the experience or anything, far from it. Only I got a most intense thrill, and I wanted to see what was actually happening in the inner world, so I opened my third eye and saw that this was what was happening in the inner world. Previously I have said that I got joy from that song, but today I got the utmost, utmost joy. When you uttered "Amal” it was from the inner joy that I got the inspiration to open my third eye.

Question: Did it happen because of the song?

Sri Chinmoy: Because of the essence of the song, not because you people sang soulfully. You sang soulfully, but it was not after hearing the song that I got this experience, but absolutely when you started. As soon as you people started “Amal” I opened up my third eye and this experience started.

Question: Were they happy that you wrote this song?

Sri Chinmoy: It is understood. They were very, very happy.

Question: They existed before you wrote the song?

Sri Chinmoy: Those beings? They existed long before, long before. In earthly time they are only children, but in terms of their purity and maturity they are ancient. They are children in terms of their consciousness. It is like fairies, although they are not fairies at all. But they stay in a childlike consciousness. Sometimes people see me in a childlike consciousness, but my childlike consciousness is infinitely more mature than theirs. But they are divinely mature. They are not like earthly children, ordinary children, who are so immature. They maintain their highest beauty, highest purity, highest divinity, constant oneness with the Supreme. In size they don’t grow big, but they are not like our circus midgets. Far from it! They are not like that. They are short, thin, beautiful and most luminous.

Question: When something like that happens, is there a right time for it to happen? When we sang the first time tonight, we were supposed to sing that song, but I forgot and I sang another song instead. So when we came out the second time, we started with that song. It was a mistake on my part. I was wondering, if we had sung it earlier, would this have happened?

Sri Chinmoy: If you had sung it earlier, perhaps I would have got the same experience. If something is destined, you understand, a matter of two minutes or three minutes will not interfere. It will definitely take place if it is supposed to take place. If it is destined, even if you change the method, it will still happen. It is not because you changed the timing that it came. It is something that was destined, let us say. In your case it was your forgetfulness. Your forgetfulness changed the order. But the actual experience that was going to happen was not changed. If you were not forgetful, if you had sung the song earlier, this would still have taken place. Your forgetfulness did not stop it, because it was already destined. If you had been in a higher consciousness, let us say, if you had been in your highest, then you would not have forgotten. But again your forgetfulness on the earth plane is not so serious that it will change God’s Will. This experience did not depend on the exact moment that you sang the song. Just because you did not sing it at the moment you first intended to, it is not such a crime. No, no, no.

Amal dhabal pal tuleche

/Amal dhabal pal tuleche/
/Amar jiban tari/
/Kata jatri bhir kareche/
/Ei taranir pari/
/Tumi dhare acho hal/
/Khule achi ami pal/
/Tomar prane paran amar nache/
/Ami achi nitya tomar kache/

My life-boat is about to sail
With its purity-breath.
All the soulful pilgrims
Have arrived.
The boat will carry them.
Lord, Supreme, You are the Pilot absolute.
Therefore our aspiration-cry
Shall without fail reach
The Golden Shore of Perfection-Satisfaction.