Picture

Compassion-Eye in the Vision-Sun

— photo by Bhashwar

We shall wait¹

We shall wait. We shall devotedly wait for the right hour. The right hour is the inspiration-hour.

We shall wait. We shall soulfully wait for the right place. The right place is our aspiration-heart.

We shall wait. We shall unreservedly wait for the right Master. The right Master is the Realisation-King.

We shall wait. We shall unconditionally wait for the right Goal. The right Goal is our constant and inseparable oneness with our Source, our Beloved Supreme, founded upon our soulful surrender to Him.

We shall wait. We shall wait in the Creator’s Silence-Beauty. We shall wait in the creation’s sound-responsibility. We shall wait in reality’s flower-fragrance. We shall wait in divinity’s fruit-substance.

We shall wait. We shall be perfect strangers to teeming worries and anxieties. We shall find our roots anchored in God’s Patience-Light.

We shall wait. We shall wait for our Beloved Supreme to whisper, “Come in, My sweet children.” We shall wait for our gratitude-heart to respond, “Beloved Supreme, we are all Yours. To please You in Your own way is the birth, the continuation and the ever-transcending, ever-fulfilling experience of our soul’s journey.”

We shall wait. We shall wait and grow into God’s Compassion-Height. We shall wait. We shall wait and glow in God’s Patience-Light.

We shall wait. We shall wait.

Progress²

God’s universal Push awakens us. God’s transcendental Pull liberates us.

We worship God because we think that He is far, very far. We love God because we feel that He is near, very near.

Sincerity we need; purity we need. With our sincerity we strengthen our aspiration-heart. With our purity we enlighten our dedication-life.

In our life of aspiration, in our life of dedication, we wish to make fast, faster and fastest progress. How do we achieve this goal? We achieve it on the strength of our faithfulness, cheerfulness and soulfulness. Faithfulness we need in our physical consciousness. Cheerfulness we need in our vital consciousness. Soulfulness we need in our psychic consciousness.

We all wish to make progress, continuous and constant. How is it that we do not make satisfactory progress? We do not make satisfactory progress precisely because we live in the world of complaints. We complain and, because we complain, we do not make any progress. Because we do not love God, we complain, and because we complain, we do not love God. And because we think of the world too much, we make no progress.

There are two lives: the aspiration-life and the desire-life. We started our journey with the desire-life. Then we gave up the desire-life and entered into the aspiration-life. At God’s choice Hour, we shall enter into the realisation-life, where satisfaction will be ours within and without.

Gratitude-heart³

Pure is our aspiration-plant. Purer is our dedication flower. Purest is our gratitude-heart. Sweet is our soulful smile. Sweeter is our inner cry. Sweetest is our gratitude-heart. Gratitude is pure happiness. Happiness is sure perfection. Perfection is complete satisfaction both in man’s world and in God’s world.

Our gratitude-heart ceaselessly receives blessingful love, soulful concern and fruitful oneness from above. Our gratitude-heart feels that its very existence on earth is an unconditional act of God’s Grace. Our gratitude-heart knows that its acts are for God and for God alone.

In this world we are apt not to value anything or anyone, but our gratitude-heart always values everything in God’s creation. It values God the Creator and God the creation. It values God’s Compassion and it values God the Compassion. It also values God’s Justice-Light and God the Justice-Light, for it knows that God, our Beloved Supreme, is always the Author of all good.

Our gratitude-heart never fails God. It carries with it flaming aspiration, the burning inner cry and a constant self-giving reality. At every moment God pleases our gratitude-heart with His boundless Concern, Compassion and all-loving Oneness.

We aspire for the Infinite, the Eternal and the Immortal. The seeker in us constantly is trying to transcend himself on the strength of his aspiration-cry and dedication-smile. Our seeker-heart’s experience-life, realisation-life and God-fulfilling manifestation-life are clearly read in the Face of our Beloved Supreme. Our own autobiography is clearly read in God’s own Face. We offer Him our gratitude-heart and He gives us His constant Assurance that He has chosen us to be His choice instruments, Him to fulfil in His own way here on earth and there in Heaven.

Choice⁴

Who is called? Who is not called? He who needs is called. He who does not need is not called. Who needs? The seeker-lover in us needs. Who fulfils our need? The Beloved Supreme, the eternal Liberator, fulfils our needs and responds to our inner cry.

What does the seeker in us need? He needs God-Truth, God-Light and God Delight. God-Truth awakens him, God-Light illumines him and God-Delight fulfils him. God-Truth he hears. God-Light he sees. God-Delight he feels.

There are two worlds: the desire-world and the aspiration-world. In the desire-world our supreme choices are division and self-assertion. In the aspiration-world, our supreme choices are God-discovery and self-mastery. A sincere seeker, in the process of discovering and uncovering, realises his birthless and deathless inseparable oneness with his Source.

The seeker in us constantly needs God’s boundless Compassion-Rain and God’s Satisfaction-Reign. God the Beloved Supreme constantly needs from the seeker in us our aspiration-plane and dedication-train.

He who chooses the Absolute Supreme has already been chosen by the infinite and unconditional Bounty of the Supreme. The seeker’s soul, the seeker’s heart and the seeker’s very existence on earth, have already been chosen by the Absolute Supreme to be His faithful, devoted and unconditional instruments for His divine manifestation.

The seeker's duty⁵

The seeker’s duty is complete non-cooperation with the desire-world. The seeker’s duty is constant cooperation with the aspiration-world.

The seeker at times gets success from the desire-world, but to his wide surprise he eventually sees that inside his desire, what looms large is frustration. Desire itself is a dissatisfied hunger; when this hunger is fulfilled, it only increases.

In the aspiration-world when the seeker makes progress, he sees that in his progress itself there is satisfaction, abiding satisfaction. The aspiration-world and progress go together; progress and satisfaction go together.

The human duty is to love, serve and become the height of truth. The divine duty is to sing the song of oneness, to dance the dance of perfection and to live the life of fulness. The human duty is to discover God-Reality within and without. The divine duty is to uncover God-Beauty here, there and all-where.

Not to feed the doubting mind is the supreme duty of the seeker. To feed the loving and aspiring heart is the supreme duty of the seeker. To live in the soul and for the soul is the supreme duty of the seeker.

The seeker’s duty is to have inner courage. This courage is an act of inner faith. Faith is an act of self-giving love, and love is an act of God-becoming life. The seeker’s ultimate duty is to offer his soulful cry from the inmost recesses of his heart. When the seeker offers God his soulful cry from the inmost recesses of his heart, at that time God, out of His infinite Bounty, tells the seeker that He also has a Duty of His own. And that Duty is to grant the seeker, His chosen instrument, a blessingful and fruitful Smile.

My God and my Lord

1.

My God and my Lord, I know, I know, there can be no zigzag road to my oneness-heart with You.

2.

My God and my Lord, may my faith and surrender play the role of my constant companions.

3.

My God and my Lord, I promise, my love of You will never be vanquished either by animal arms or by human charms.

4.

My God and my Lord, there was a time when my life-pendulum oscillated between my hope and my despair. But now my life-pendulum oscillates between my perfection and Your Satisfaction.

5.

My God and my Lord, I am equally happy when You ask me to lead a mundane life and when You ask me to lead an ultramundane life.

6.

My God and my Lord, my absence of constant faith is tantamount to my immediate failure-dream.

7.

My God and my Lord, I do not desire to lead a theanthropic life — this moment divine and next moment human. I long to lead always a life divine.

8.

My God and my Lord, appreciation from without titillates the human in me. Aspiration from within energises the divine in me. O give me my aspiration-nectar and not my appreciation-poison.

9.

My God and my Lord, in the morning I love You, at noon I serve You and in the evening I surrender to You. This is how I lead my secret and sacrosanct life.

10.

My God and my Lord, why do I at times enter into the quagmire of stark depression and make my life most unbearably miserable? Why, my God and Lord, why?

11.

My God and my Lord, I do not wish my life to be marked by a plethora of activities. I just wish only one thing: an active surrender to Your compassionate Will, constantly and unconditionally.

12.

My God and my Lord, in all my spiritual difficulties I have come to realise that my purity is a good palliative, my sincerity is a better palliative and my cheerfully surrendered oneness with Your Compassion-flooded Eye is by far the best palliative.

13.

My God and my Lord, in my desire-life Your Forgiveness is paramount and supreme. In my aspiration-life Your Compassion is paramount and supreme.

14.

My God and my Lord, Your Forgiveness obliterates my blunders, Your Compassion obliterates my sorrows. Your Satisfaction obliterates my failures.

15.

My God and my Lord, Your Compassion is the only oasis in the desert of my all-destructive self-doubt.

16.

My God and my Lord, You are my desire-life, believe it or not. You are my aspiration-heart, believe it or not. You are my realisation-breath, believe it or not. You are my perfection-source, believe it or not. You are my satisfaction supreme, believe it or not.

17.

My God and my Lord, although I do not have any occult power, I am sure that there are people who do have occult powers. My question is, what shall I do with those who enjoy sneering disbelief? Shall I forgive them or ignore them, or shall I do both?

18.

My God and my Lord, when I make a serious blunder, do grant me not only a terrible sense of remorse but also an unforgettable sense of remorse.

19.

My God and my Lord, I have come to realise that in the spiritual world a pure and self-giving heart is the only cynosure.

20.

My God and my Lord, I am so happy to tell the world that my inner vacation with pay has been earned by my divine thoughts, my divine words and my divine deeds.

21.

My God and my Lord, there is no difference between the jungle in my mind and the desert in my vital.

Divine Love consoles human loss

A middle-aged disciple of Swami Nigamananda died of an incurable disease. His mother and his wife were thrown into a sea of sorrow. The mother became practically insane. She said to a picture of their Master which was hanging on the wall, “Why do we have to keep you? You have no power; you are useless! I am throwing you into the pond!”

She grabbed the picture and started carrying it towards the pond. All of a sudden she heard someone behind her crying, “Mother! Mother!” with a tearful and sorrowful voice. She turned around and saw their Guru, Nigamananda, with tearful eyes saying to her, “Mother, let us go back home. Do not cry for your son anymore. I will be your son. Your son is with me, inside me and for me.”

The woman was greatly consoled, and returned to her house with the picture of her Guru. But at the hour that all this occurred Nigamananda was actually 400 miles away, giving spiritual lessons to his disciples who were living at his Ashram.

Commentary

Unlike divine love and the divine way of worship, human love and the human way of adoration and oneness are always based on personal interest. Whenever personal interest is in the picture, the closeness of inner oneness can never be achieved. The seeker has to face the division of inner walls all around. Attachment-world eventually has to meet with an atom-bomb destruction.

The Master's protection-arms

Another most striking incident took place in the same family. One night a group of hooligans came to the house of the old mother and the widow, and were about to strike them. The hooligans wanted to take away their valuable possessions and all their money.

Both the mother and the wife shouted, screamed and cried for help at the top of their voices. Who appeared before them to save them? Their Master, Nigamananda. He appeared in a most beautiful and powerful form and threatened the hooligans with a trident, saying he would destroy them all. Then he made a circle and said that if the family stayed inside the circle, they would be safe. In Nigamananda’s presence the two women brought all their valuables and money into the circle, and there they were well protected by their Master’s spiritual and occult power.

Before daybreak the hooligans, finding that they were helpless, left the house before the police came to arrest them.

Commentary

The Master’s compassion-heart can always play the role of protection-arms. The Master loves his dear ones infinitely more than the dear ones can imagine. It is the unconditional love and concern of the Master for his dear ones that keeps the seekers’ aspiration-flames burning and illumining.

Poems

Sri Chinmoy wrote the following poems in June 1978 during his stay in Europe.

I am happy

I am happy
Because I have smiled
At the Beauty of the Universal God.

I am happy
Because I have cried
For the Reality of the Transcendental God.

Mind-road and heart-road

Do you know
Why you are so unhappy?
You are unhappy
Because your mind-road is dangerously overcrowded
By notorious travellers.
Try your heart-road.
Your own luck will travel with
Very few fortunate travellers.

Your new song

Your life does not have to be so dull.
Just sing a new song
To replace your frustration-song.

Your new song is:
“God is all for me.”

Who will remember?

Will anyone remember me
When I am gone?
Yes, my untiringly expecting,
My sleeplessly demanding
And my constantly frustrated
Children-friends.

Out of my element

How long can I remain
In ignorance-night?
Not for long.
Why?
Because there I am out of my place-element.

What is progress?

What is success?
Money-power.

What is success?
Fame-tower.

What is progress?
Oneness-height.

What is progress?
Perfection-delight.

Song and dance

Mine is one joyful song.
God’s is one thankful Song.
Mine is one perfection-dance.
God’s is one satisfaction-Dance.

Two songs

Compassion: God’s Life-Song.
Gratitude: My life-song.
From this very moment
I shall be singing these two songs
In God’s own way.

He will be only too happy

You do not have to use your eyes;
You can use God’s Eyes.
He will be only too happy
To grant you His Eyes.
You do not have to use your ears;
You can use God’s Ears.
He will be only too happy
To grant you His Ears.
You do not have to use even your own heart.
You can use God’s heart.
God will be only too happy
To grant you His Heart universal.
He will without fail,
He will.

I am not like that

I am not like that.
I am not as bad as you think.
I do pray in the morning.

I am not like that.
I am not as bad as you think.
I do meditate in the evening.

I am not like that.
I am not as bad as you think.
I do offer my gratitude-heart to my Beloved Supreme
At midnight.

They do not love

What are the three main reasons
Why people are not happy?

People are not happy
Because they do not love.

People are not happy
Because they do not love God.
People are not happy
Because they do not love God
In God’s own way.

Enough

You say:
Seeing is not enough.

I say:
Feeling is enough.

And our common Lord God says:
Becoming and nothing else is more than enough.

Failure incarnate

I am sorry that you cannot trust the Bible.
Do one thing:
Try to trust God.
If even that you cannot do,
Then you must dare
To trust yourself.
Here too if you fail,
(I hope you definitely won’t),
I will have no other choice than to call you
“Failure incarnate.”

I looked

I looked at the morning dews.
Humility captured my heart.

I looked at the ocean.
Immensity captured my heart.

I looked at the sky.
Infinity captured my heart.

Questions and answers

The following questions were asked by disciples after Sri Chinmoy's lecture at SUNY at Potsdam on 19 March 1978.

Question: In some of your songs it says, "Supreme, grant me your Guru-mantra." Is there a specific mantra which is called this?

Sri Chinmoy: It entirely depends on the seeker’s spiritual development. When the seeker reaches a certain height, a very elevated height, at that time he constantly utters only one mantra to maintain his inseparable oneness with his Guru, and that can be in any language. Right now you can get inseparable oneness for one second, one minute, one day or a few days, but then it is gone. So the Guru mantra is the prayer for constant inseparable oneness with the Guru. That is the highest mantra. And when I say constant, it automatically means unconditional as well. If one maintains constant oneness, then the oneness has to be unconditional. If you constantly pray to the Supreme for your constant oneness, your inseparable oneness with Him, that prayer becomes a Guru mantra, the highest mantra. But it is very difficult.

The aspiration-world tells you to surrender. The desire-world says that if you surrender, then you will have nothing to show, your existence will not be able to prove anything. The aspiration-world will immediately say that you did not come here to earth to prove anything, but only to be utilised by your Supreme Lord. If you are utilised by the Supreme, then automatically you have proven that you are a chosen instrument of His. So the Guru mantra, the highest mantra, is the constant cry for constant inseparable oneness with the Guru or the Supreme.

Question: How can people who are very opposite be such good friends? Kailash and I are such opposites.

Sri Chinmoy: The obverse and the reverse of the same coin complement each other, like day and night. If there is night, then only can we appreciate day. If there were only day or only night, we would not value its good qualities. If you experience night, then you will appreciate light more, and if you experience light, then you will appreciate the opposite.

You are saying that in your outer nature you and Kailash are North Pole and South Pole. But in your inner nature both of you have a very strong bond. In your outer life both of you may be diametrically opposite, but in your inner life you have the same goals: marching, running, jumping, flying and diving. In the outer world some people can even be constantly at daggers drawn, while in the inner world they love each to such an extent that they are ready to die for each other. You and Kailash in the inner world are extremely intimate friends, although in the outer world you may not always see eye-to-eye. But even in the outer world you do see eye-to-eye. Only in your mental arguing perhaps both of you have different opinions.

Your name means the inner code of life, and his name means the aspiration-mountain at its highest height. If one does not have the inner code of life, inner faith, how can one go high? Again, the higher one goes, the more his inner faith increases. Height and faith are inseparable. Just because you have faith you go higher, and just because you want to go higher you have to increase your faith. So your soul’s name and his soul’s name also complement each other and need each other.

Question: In my next incarnation how can I know that I was Ashrita?

Sri Chinmoy: Why do you think of your next incarnation? Why do you have to think of the future? It depends on your present connection. It is our present that gives us our future, as our past has brought our present. You may say that some of you did not have a spiritual past. But if compassion-rain descended so that your unspiritual past was properly washed away, then you can be sure that before your unspiritual past you did have a spiritual past. And now you have got a spiritual present. As you sow, so you reap. Since your present has become spiritual, that means that spirituality was also in your background. Once you have a spiritual foundation, you can have a spiritual edifice also. The past is now dust. The Grace of the Supreme has descended unconditionally, and it has given you spirituality. Once again you are the possessor of spirituality. Spirituality is inside you. He has sown the seed of spirituality. Now you grow the crop.

The closer you come to the Supreme, the more you will be aware of your oneness with Him. But never think of your next incarnation. It is useless. Think that there is no such thing as tomorrow; only today. Today you have to do everything, which means only one thing: to achieve conscious, constant, unreserved and unconditional oneness with the Supreme. Do not think of the future — either the immediate future or the remote future. Think of today and the immediacy of today. Now, at this moment, inside this moment, try to see the entire universe only expanding — expanding in height, expanding in length. Don’t think of tomorrow as something that will come and stand in front of you and delete all your unhealthy past and unhealthy present. Only today, today you have to do everything. At each moment today will be the fulfiller of your aspiration-desire-choice.

I play the role of the messenger, and I tell the Boss, “Since these people are very sincere, if they are a little bit weak, please give them another chance. I see clearly that they are really trying to establish their oneness with You. I have come to them with Your Blessing, with Your Light, with Your Peace and Bliss, and I see that they have very sincere hearts, and they really want to please You, although they are weak.” Then the Supreme gives you another chance, another chance time and again to make a fresh attempt, and quite often you do succeed. The Supreme listens to my request and He grants you people another chance. But when the Master is not involved, then this chance is not given. Then if you make constant mistakes, you have to wait indefinitely for your next opportunity. And God knows how many centuries it will take before the Grace will again descend into your life. When spiritual progress takes its normal course, it deals with Eternity. When there is a spiritual Master in the picture the process is not abnormal, but the process is special, the process is unusual. So when you have a Master, you should feel that you are most fortunate. Your present, past and future are mere words. You as an individual do not need the past, present or future. You do not need anything but the constant renewal of your oneness with your Beloved Supreme. Then the past, present and future have no value in your life. Spiritually they have all become one, inseparable, the eternal Now.

Question: What is the best way to get simplicity, sincerity, purity and humility?

Sri Chinmoy: All the good qualities. The best way to get simplicity is through identification. Just think of one of the Christian saints. You don’t have to follow Christianity, but think of a Christian saint, whoever you like best, for a fleeting second. Most of the Christian saints were very simple, very simple. That is, the ancient ones, not the modern saints. Then comes sincerity. For sincerity, think of a child three years old or four years old. This child will not be able to tell a lie. When he is five, six, seven, he may start telling lies, but not when he is very young. Then comes purity. For purity just enter into a garden and look at a flower, any flower that you like. It will give you purity. Then comes humility. For humility only look at Mother Earth. Look at the ground, how humble it is. It is accepting untold undivine things, accepting and embracing all human and animal consciousness. It could stand against us and say, “No, I don’t want to cooperate with you people. You are all ungrateful and undivine in every possible way.” But it accepts all our impurities and undivine consciousness and makes us feel that these are its own possessions as well. And how humble it is! Or think of a tree. In spite of having fruits, numberless fruits, it bows down. Here on earth when we have something we become proud and haughty. It is beneath our dignity to be one with others. We want to be at least an inch higher. Our possessions immediately make us feel superior to others. But in the case of the tree, possession makes it more humble. When the tree does not have flowers and fruits it stands tall. It is as if it does not care for the rest of the world. But when it possesses flowers and fruits, it bends down to offer them. Its possession brings humility.

On the strength of your identification you can achieve these divine qualities. God has all the attributes: simplicity, sincerity, purity, humility — everything. But God does not appear to you, let us say, in a tangible form. God is an invisible form to you. But God is being manifested in and through His creation. So if you see somebody who is very simple, just identify yourself with him. If you see a little child who is very sincere, then identify yourself with that child. When you go into a garden or just look at a flower, immediately you can identify with the purity of the flower. Then identify with the tree for humility, or with the Mother Earth. Always exercise your power of identification. Identification immediately gives us tremendous joy, success and progress. Touch water, and you get one vibration, one consciousness. Touch fire, and you get another vibration, another consciousness. The very nature of fire is to give you what it has. The very nature of water is to give you what it has. So what do you want? Do you want fire-consciousness inside you, or do you want water-consciousness inside you? If you want fire, then touch fire. If you want water, then touch water. If you want simplicity, then go to the little child. If you want purity, then immediately try to see the flower inside you, inside the very depths of your heart, blossoming petal by petal. And if you want humility, identify with the tree or Mother Earth. In this way, good boy, you can develop simplicity, sincerity, purity and humility.

Question: Sometimes I want to be with you, and let's say you aren't doing anything in particular, you're just sitting there, so someone asks me to do something. Since I really want to be with you, if I go do that thing, there is no cheerfulness in it, and if I say no, then I feel bad also. So what is the best thing to do?

Sri Chinmoy: I know you want to stay with me twenty-four hours a day, since your fondness for me is extremely sincere. But when I am not asking you to do something and somebody else asks you to do something, at that time you should feel that you are the only person needed to do that particular job, and that the message somebody has given you to do it has come from me. That person is only the messenger. If somebody has asked you to do something, feel at that moment that I have asked that person to ask you to do it. Then you can do it cheerfully.

But again, you have to know who the person is — what kind of nature the person has. There are so many disciples. Some are sincere, some are aspiring, while some are only clever, or are jealous that you are near me. They want to get rid of you for a while. If that is the case, you don’t have to help them. But if you see that that person really needs your help, and the actual need is my need, then you do it. You have to be wise, since there are many people who are jealous of you. But if they are good disciples, always feel that the request has actually come from me. So do it and then come back. Try to serve people. The more you serve, the more you can make progress. Usually it will be only a matter of a few minutes to fulfil the request of that particular person and come back. Then you will be happy because you are making me happy and you are making that person happy, and also your own heart will expand by serving the Supreme inside that person.

Question: How can I get rid of expectation?

Sri Chinmoy: How can you get rid of expectation? You can get rid of expectation by establishing more oneness with your Beloved Supreme, with the Supreme in you and the Supreme in me. Here is an example. A beggar expects something from the rich man. He will knock at the door, the owner will open the door, and the beggar will say, “Please give me a few dollars or some food or clothes.” He is a beggar; therefore, he has to knock at the door and beg. Now, if you are not a beggar, if you are the daughter of the owner of that house, then you don’t have to go out and knock at the door. You just remain inside, and it is the bounden duty of your father to support you, to feed you, to clothe you, to take care of your needs, to help you, to illumine you, to fulfil you. He knows that to fulfil his own daughter is to fulfil himself. And the way you have to feel is that when you fulfil your Divine Father, you fulfil your own reality.

You have to know what kind of oneness you have established with the Supreme or with your Master or with your soul. If you have established a strong, sincere, soulful oneness, then you don’t have to expect, for you will automatically get. A true, loving son or daughter, and an all-loving Father, need each other. The daughter’s affection, love and concern, and the Father’s Illumination-Power, Salvation-Power and Liberation-Power should go together. But if you expect, you will be frustrated. Who expects? The beggar in us, not the divine lover in us. If the daughter offers divine love to the Divine Father, the Supreme, then it is His duty to manifest Himself in and through the daughter. But a beggar has not established that kind of oneness. He is a stranger; he is from another world. He is not an intimate and loving member of the family.

If you establish your oneness with the Supreme more and more by virtue of your own inner cry and dedication, then the question of expectation does not arise. While you are giving, you are getting satisfaction. Self-giving is God-becoming; therefore, self-giving is the best kind of satisfaction. There is no satisfaction that can equal the satisfaction of self-giving. If you give yourself totally, unreservedly, unconditionally, inside your giving you will get tremendous joy, boundless joy. But from expectation what do you get? If you want ten dollars, you may get only five dollars, or you may not get anything at all. But while you are giving, you are only increasing the capacity of your heart, which is oneness, universal oneness. In the process of giving yourself, you are getting satisfaction far beyond your imagination. So give unreservedly — body, vital, mind, heart and soul — to the Supreme Cause, to the Supreme. While giving, you are bound to get tremendous, tremendous joy, the joy that you wanted all along. Don’t act like a beggar woman. Act like a daughter; act like a princess. Then the problem is solved.

Question: Guru, sometimes when I meditate or when I am confused, I hear a voice within myself that sounds like yours. Is it you, or is it something else?

Sri Chinmoy: Your soul is giving you the message, and your soul is in direct communication with me, with my height, with my light, with my inner capacities. It is my message which your soul is expressing to your physical mind. If the message comes in pindrop silence, and if you accept it soulfully and devotedly, then it will be most effective. Do not doubt it. Do not use the mind. If you use the mind, it will all be confused. But if you use the heart, it will always be effective. So feel that it is my inner message that your soul accepts and then expresses to your physical mind to execute. The physical mind may doubt it. But if you use the heart, you will accept it immediately. Then you will see that everything is meaningful, everything is fruitful.

The core of India's light

//[Continued, from previous issue]//

131.

Asura

Demon

Impurity is demon’s food. What is impurity? Impurity is constant self-indulgence.

132.

AUM

The three-syllabled word of the transcendental mantra (incantation)

A represents God the Dream. U represents God the Dreamer. M represents God the Dreamland.

133.

Avidyā

Ignorance

To have an eternal hunger for God the Truth and God the Light is to finally come out of ignorance-night.

134.

Avyaya

Imperishable

Only a God-lover’s gratitude-heart remains always imperishable.

135.

Bhagavān

God

Man says to God, “Do give me Your infinite Light.” God says to man, “First give Me your ignorance-sea. Then I shall gladly give you what you are asking for.”

136.

Bhakta

Devotee

Three times God gets tremendous joy: when He sees His transcendental Head, when He touches His universal Body, and when He touches His self-giving devotee’s heart.

137.

Bhakti

Devotion

In the spiritual life nothing is sweeter and nothing can be sweeter than the devotion-cry of the devotee’s heart.

138.

Bala

Strength

Strength challenges the world. Power enjoys the spontaneous surrender of the world.

139.

Bālavat

As a child

As a child when you approach God, He gives you what you have asked for, plus the full assurance that He will give you everything that He has in His universe.

140.

Bhāva

Inspiring emotion in the heart

The fastest way to make progress is always to cry for inspiring emotion in the heart and surrendering devotion to the Lord Supreme.

141.

Bhoga

Enjoyment

Enjoyment is not fulfilment. Enlightenment alone is fulfilment. Give yourself totally. Lo, enlightenment has dawned immediately.

142.

Bhoktā

Enjoyer

The divine enjoyer at once enjoys the beauty of the Heaven and the purity of the earth.

143.

Bhraṣṭa

Fallen

You are fallen because your aspiration-flames are extinguished. You are fallen because your ingratitude-existence is looming large.

144.

Bhūmi

Earth

Earth is great because of its patience-heart. Heaven is great because of its compassion-soul.

[To be continued in next issue]

Interview with the San Francisco examiner⁷

Examiner: Do you have any disciples in India?

Sri Chinmoy: Here in America I have four or five Indian disciples. But I do not have any spiritual centre in India. I have quite a few admirers and followers in India, but I do not consider them to be my actual disciples.

Examiner: A few weeks ago I interviewed Baba Ram Das, and he contended that the spiritual teachers Americans get come here for a different reason than the spiritual teachers the Indians get. In this country we get the people who are still attached to power or wealth or the idea of doing a lot of good for a lot of people, which is still an attachment, he claimed. What is your comment on that?

Sri Chinmoy: What he thinks, he will say. I will say what I know. I am not trying to contradict his philosophy, but I know much better than anybody else does, what I am and what I stand for. But I have no idea why other spiritual Masters have come to the West. It is up to the individuals to answer this statement. In my case, I definitely listened to the dictates of my Inner Pilot. He wanted me to be of service to Him in the sincere seekers in the Western world, who are my spiritual brothers and sisters. He is like a father. A father has every right to have many homes, and if the father wants a particular son of his to go to some other house, and help or serve him inside the aspiration of his other children, then he is perfectly entitled to do so. And the son who is devoted to the father must listen to him. So America is one home of our Father Supreme; India is one home; Russia is one home; Japan is one home. All the countries are the homes of our Eternal Father. And being the Father, He has every right to ask His children to move from one home to another to help His other children.

Examiner: How did you get involved with the United Nations?

Sri Chinmoy: I had a student who worked at the United Nations. She spoke to the authorities and got permission for me to be of service to the United Nations by conducting meditations there. There are now over eighty seekers who attend these meetings. They are delegates, diplomats and U.N. staff. Twice a week we pray and meditate there. Sometimes I give talks and answer spiritual questions.

Examiner: I understand you recently met with Mrs. Lillian Carter. What was the reason for your visit?

Sri Chinmoy: The reason was very simple. She was in India for two years, and she is extremely sympathetic towards India. The suffering India, the poverty-stricken India, has received considerable compassion and assistance from her. Therefore, I wished to offer her my personal gratitude for what she has done for India.

Examiner: I understand that you don’t accept everyone who wants to be your disciple. But you do want to get the word out to those who might want to be. Is that it?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, certainly. This world belongs to the Supreme, and He has many spiritual children who are in a position to be of help to sincere seekers. Now, there are some seekers who will be able to go much faster if they take help from somebody else, rather than from me. If I just accumulate them and keep them in my family for the sake of numbers, their progress will not be satisfactory, so I would be doing an act of injustice to their souls. But the ones who are meant for our path should be encouraged and accepted, for they will make the fastest progress on this path. I will never say that if somebody cannot follow our path, he is not spiritual, or he is not a sincere seeker. Far from it. But they are also my spiritual brothers, and if I know that by following some other path, they will go much faster, then I should advise them to follow that path. I want everybody to reach the Goal as soon as possible.

Examiner: Are you familiar with some of the more popular spiritual paths from the East that people are following in this country?

Sri Chinmoy: Familiar in the sense that I have read about them and heard a little about them from some seekers. But I am not in direct contact with other Masters, either inwardly or outwardly. Only I have a close connection with Pir Vilayat Khan, the head of the Sufi order. We are good friends.

Examiner: He was here recently.

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, I think he was. But I have regards for all the sincere spiritual Masters.

Examiner: Do you think there are a lot of people who will claim to be Masters, but who aren’t?

Sri Chinmoy: In this world there are good people and bad people. In God’s creation there is day and there is night. But I am not in a position to say who are good teachers and who are bad teachers. Only I wish that the sincere seekers will get the good teachers. If they are really sincere, they will not remain with false teachers.

Examiner: How is someone to know who’s good and who isn’t?

Sri Chinmoy: Well, there are a few easy ways to recognise a false Master. If somebody says that he will be able to grant you God-realisation overnight, in the twinkling of an eye, then you have to discard that Master. Nobody can realise God overnight or in a matter of days or weeks. And if somebody says that he will be able to grant you God-realisation if you give him a large sum of money, this is absurd. Like that, a few people claim that they will be able to teach you realisation or spiritual powers for a sum of money. If they make it sound like instant tea or coffee, then it is absurd. Those teachers are undoubtedly not real ones.

Examiner: I’ve often heard lineage mentioned as an important characteristic for a teacher — that a teacher has to have had a teacher.

Sri Chinmoy: He who was the first to realise God, whom did he get as his teacher? It is good to have a teacher, but it is not absolutely indispensable. I always advocate having a teacher. A spiritual Master is like a private tutor. He teaches the student privately so that he will pass the ignorance-test, not fail it. So it is good to have a spiritual Master, but it is not obligatory. There are many who have realised God without having spiritual Masters. But if you get a good one, it is very good; you are lucky.

Examiner: How do you find time to accomplish so much in the way of artistic creation — all the paintings, all the writings, all the compositions?

Sri Chinmoy: It is all through unconditional divine Grace. My mind will not believe it. I will be the first one to doubt it and suspect it. But it is the unconditional Grace that acts in and through me. I am not the doer. Had I been the doer, I would not have accomplished so many things. But I constantly try to be a simple, devoted instrument of His. On the strength of my receptivity, My Beloved Supreme acts in and through me.

Examiner: How many hours sleep do you get each night?

Sri Chinmoy: Sometimes two and a half hours, sometimes three, sometimes more, sometimes less. Sometimes for days and weeks I don’t actually sleep.

Examiner: What about food?

Sri Chinmoy: I am a strict vegetarian. Of course, some people will say that if you take eggs, then you are not a strict vegetarian. I do take eggs and milk, but I do not eat any meat, fish or fowl.

Examiner: Do you do any kind of physical practise of Hatha Yoga, or is that not part of your path?

Sri Chinmoy: No, Hatha Yoga is not part of my path. But I do advise my students to take exercise. Physical fitness considerably helps us in our spiritual journey, so I ask them to run. Recently, about 30 of my disciples ran in the marathon in New York City. I do advise them to run.

Examiner: Your background is athletic too, as I recall?

Sri Chinmoy: I was a champion sprinter and decathlon champion in the community where I lived. According to Indian standards, I was quite good, but according to the world standard I was nowhere.

Examiner: So you’ve always had this interest in athletics?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes. It helps us. If we are physically fit, then early in the morning we will be able to get up and meditate. But if we constantly suffer from headache, stomach upset and other physical ailments, then we will not be inclined to get up early in the morning and pray and meditate. We will tend to be lazy and lethargic, whereas spiritual progress requires dynamism. So in this way physical fitness helps us considerably in our spiritual life.

Examiner: Is it possible to be artistically creative without being spiritual?

Sri Chinmoy: Certainly. Some creative people have free access to the inner world of creativity, but if they are not spiritually aspiring, they are not aware of it. But the spiritual people are bound to be aware of whatever they are doing in their everyday life. Whether they are painting or singing or writing, they will be aware of the depths and the heights of their existence-reality-life. Those who are creative without being spiritual will often find that their creativity is not at their command. That is to say, they cannot create at their sweet will. But those who are consciously aspiring will find that their creative inspiration is tremendously increased, and also that they can invoke the inspiration-bird to come to them whenever they need it.

Examiner: On your path, do you expect that after a certain amount of time the disciple will achieve enlightenment? I think traditionally a disciple is taught for twelve years, and then he graduates or something.

Sri Chinmoy: Our Indian spiritual institutes have four orders of life; four different stages we call it. After childhood the first 12 years is student life. Then they enter another phase. They accept earthly life and become householders. Then after 12 years they go into the forest to lead spiritual life most seriously, and after 12 years of that they become renunciates. First student life, then householder’s life, then proper spiritual life, then renunciation life. But I feel that everything can be done in one life. There is no need to separate them in this way. If you can pray and meditate soulfully, you don’t have to go through these traditional four stages of life.

Examiner: Do you expect that you will be able to produce enlightened disciples?

Sri Chinmoy: I do expect it. If we can’t produce enlightened disciples, then how can we succeed? This is not my mission; this is not my vision. I am merely an instrument of my Beloved Lord Supreme. Similarly, He will make others instruments also, who are right now my students. He will grant them illumination, liberation and realisation, which He has already given to me out of His infinite Bounty. I prayed, I cried, so He granted me this boon. Similarly, if my students are sincerely trying, then at God’s choice Hour, He will grant them the same boon.

Examiner: Is there anything you’d like to tell me that we haven’t gone into?

Sri Chinmoy: I think we have covered everything. This has been a fruitful interview. I am extremely grateful to you for your kind questions, and I am sure many, many people will derive spiritual benefit from our interview.

Examiner: Thank you very much.

Songs

Amare karo ma shunya

/Amare karo ma shunya/
/Purna karite antara mor/
/Tomar kirane punya/
/Amare karo ma adhikar/
/Man buddhir atite jyotite/
/Rayeche sakal pratikar/


Mother, do make me,
My heart,
Complete emptiness-life
So that You can fill it
With Your beauty’s light.
Mother, capture me,
My life within
And my life without.
I know, I know, Mother
My life’s teeming problems
Will be over only when
I far transcend
My thought-world
And my mind-world.

I am happy because

You want to know
How I can be so happy.
Here is my answer:
I am happy
Because my mind is above doubt.
I am happy
Because my heart is above fear.
I am happy
Because my soul is above bondage.
I am happy
Because my God is above ignorance.