Picture

Vision-Reality his soul has.
Reality-Vision his heart is.

— photo by Peter Neumann

Food and God¹

Food has God. God is food.

Food has life. God is life.

Food has reality. God is reality.

Food has sound-success. God is sound-success.

Food has silence-progress. God is silence-progress.

I eat. I eat to survive. From my very birth I have been seeking nourishment. Food saves my life from starvation. Food saves my life from extinction.

Mine is the hunger that does not permit me to think soulfully.

Mine is the hunger that does not permit me to act selflessly.

Mine is the hunger that does not permit me to pray to God constantly.

Mine is the hunger that does not permit me to meditate spontaneously.

Mine is the hunger that does not permit me to love God unconditionally.

I know my food-hunger is reasonable and inevitable. But my power-hunger is unreasonable and unpardonable. Finally, my God-hunger is incomparable and insurmountable.

To my great sorrow, poverty attacks plenty. To my widest astonishment, plenty invades poverty. One of the lofty principles of the United Nations is: “Poverty anywhere in the world is a threat to prosperity everywhere.” Indeed, this is a heart-unifying and life-fulfilling message. The United Nations was founded upon the vision-hunger for world peace. I am sure there shall come a time when that vision will be transformed into reality in spite of today’s teeming, threatening and frightening clouds over the firmament of the United Nations.

O body, I tell you a supreme secret:

“Shortage is poverty.”

O vital, I tell you a supreme secret:

“Rivalry is poverty.”

O mind, I tell you a supreme secret:

“Doubt is poverty.”

O heart, I tell you a supreme secret:

“Insecurity is poverty.”

O life, I tell you a supreme secret:

“Impurity is poverty.”

O truth-seeker, I tell you a supreme secret:

“Disobedience is poverty.”

O God-lover, I tell you a supreme secret:

“Ingratitude is poverty.”

I eat. I eat to live. Indeed, this is my wisdom-light. I live to eat. Indeed, this is my ignorance-night.

God says to my desire-life: “Love to live.”

God says to my aspiration-life: “Live to love.”

God says to my realisation-life: “Love to become a oneness-heart. Live to be a perfection-life.”

Picture

Self-examination

Self-examination:
What is it?
Preparation of my mind.

Self-examination:
What is it?
Determination of my vital.

Self-examination:
What is it?
Purification of my body.

Self-examination:
What is it?
Divinisation of my nature.

Self-examination:
What is it?
Perfection of my life.

Self-examination:
What is it?
Consecration of my heart.

Self-examination:
What is it?
Vision universal of my soul.

Self-examination:
What is it?
Satisfaction transcendental of my Beloved Supreme.

Examination. The human in me wants to examine the world without examining itself. The human in me wants to judge the world without judging itself. The human in me wants to change the world without changing itself.

The divine in me loves the world. The divine in me cries with the world. The divine in me tries to console the world. The divine in me tries to fulfil the world.

Self-examination is another name for conscious and permanent separation from the ignorance-chain of birth and death. Self-examination has many more names: doubt-destruction, faith-invocation, surrender-perfection and gratitude-satisfaction.

Self-examination is for my immediate God-need and not for my disproportionate devil-greed.

Self-examination is the confident success-walk in my outer world. Self-examination is the transcendent progress-march in my inner world. Readiness is the secret of my success. Selflessness is the secret of my progress.

Examination, examination, examination. I examine God to see if He has Compassion-Shower, Forgiveness-Tower and Realisation-Hour for me. God examines me to see if I have a small grain of sincerity in my life, a tiny flame of purity in my heart and an atom of receptivity in my entire being.

Now let me tell you, my seeker-friends, what actually happens when I examine God and when He examines me. When God examines me, my old friend fear advises me to hide immediately, and my old friend anger advises me to fight dauntlessly. When I examine God, He immediately, lovingly and unreservedly quenches my heart’s thirst, and immediately, compassionately and unconditionally feeds my life’s hunger.

Picture

Prayer-harvest

//[Continued from previous issues]//

1.

My Lord Supreme,

do make my life three-dimensional: cry, try, fly.

2.

My Lord Supreme,

yesterday I gave up one thing: desire-life. Today I am giving up one thing: expectation-life.

3.

My Lord Supreme,

to love is to care. I know, my Lord, I know, You care about me unreservedly and unconditionally.

4.

My Lord Supreme,

my earthly devoted life and my heavenly surrendered life are two of the most direct means through which You speak to me constantly.

5.

My Lord Supreme,

Yours are the blessingful Hands and mine are the waiting world and the hungry heart.

6.

My Lord Supreme,

Your transforming-capacity is amazing, and my receiving-capacity is amazing. Something more is amazing: earth’s disbelieving-capacity.

7.

My Lord Supreme,

my pure heart is for You. My impure heart, too. All my possessions, smiling and crying, encouraging and discouraging, are for You, for ever and for ever.

8.

My Lord Supreme,

each day You are Your blessingful invitation, and I am my soulful acceptance.

9.

My Lord Supreme,

my gratitude-heart is the headquarters for building my satisfaction-world.

10.

My Lord Supreme,

I am grateful to You because You have given me a mind that thinks of You spontaneously. I am grateful to You because You have given me a heart that thanks You constantly.

11.

My Lord Supreme,

my prayer-heart is pure, my meditation-life is sure. Needless to say, these two love each other deeply, and are unfailing friends.

12.

My Lord Supreme,

will You let me stay with You alone, only for a day? My Lord Supreme, will You?

13.

My Lord Supreme,

when I pray, I speak to divinity on behalf of humanity. When I meditate, I speak to humanity on behalf of divinity.

14.

My Lord Supreme,

my heart of faith and Your Eye of Compassion have developed tremendous friendship since I have accepted the life of aspiration-dedication.

Letter

Office of the Mayor
City of New York
City Hall
New York 10007

December 19, 1979

Dear Guru:

Thank you so much for your book and for the kind personal inscription. It is unbelievable that anyone could be so prodigious as to be the author of 400 books as you are. I shall read your thoughts.

All the best.

Sincerely,

Edward I. Koch
Mayor

Sri Chinmoy
85-45 149th Street
Jamaica, New York 11432

Poems

I know not why

Two aimless eyes
Are torturing me.
One senseless mind
Is destroying me.
Yet I love to stay on earth —
I know not why,
I know not why.

No extravagant hopes

Because
You nurse no extravagant hopes
Frustration-night will always fail
To arrive at your heart’s door.

Because
You nurse no extravagant hopes
A life of satisfaction-bliss
Shall feed your lofty inner heights.

To brave the sound-life

To brave the sound-life
I sit at God’s Protection-Feet.

To brave the silence-life
I drink in God’s Perfection-Smile.

The mouth of my wild desires

The mouth of my wild desires
I shall boldly seal.
The heart of my high aspiration
I shall sleeplessly unseal.

My life-flute

My life-flute
Invites all.
My death-gong
Rejects all.
My God-silence
Satisfies all.

Beyond the sunrise sky

Sail
Beyond the sunrise sky.
Reach
The Pinnacle-Goal
Before the sunset cry.

Picture

Stories

Babar's heart of forgiveness

The Mogul Emperor Babar was very kind, very generous and very powerful. Once, while he was away from his kingdom, his step-grandmother instigated one of his cousins to stand against Babar. This particular cousin made friends with the chief of the army and a few important figures in the capital.

When Babar tried to return to his kingdom, his whole army fought against him. They wouldn’t allow Babar to come back. But Babar had quite a few followers outside his kingdom, and they helped him to fight against his own people. Babar was so great, so powerful, that eventually he won the battle.

And then what happened? Babar went and knelt down before his step-grandmother. He said to her very kindly, very politely, “I don’t hold anything against you. If a mother likes one of her sons more than another son, what can the other son do? He should not feel miserable. It is up to the mother to love equally, which the mother should do. But if the mother does not love all her children equally, the ones that are not in favour must not feel sorry. They should still have the same love for their mother as the ones who stand high in her favour. So I don’t hold anything against you’ You have done the right thing according to your light. Now let me have peace of mind.” So he placed his head on her lap, and fell asleep.

A few hours later Babar woke up and he saw in front of him the main culprit, his cousin. He had been arrested and was brought to Babar by Babar’s loyal followers. But Babar again very kindly and politely showed his heart’s magnanimity.

He said to his cousin, “You are at perfect liberty either to stay with me the rest of your life or to leave my kingdom. If you leave my kingdom, if you want to live elsewhere, I will meet with your expenses. If you want to stay here as before, you can freely stay. I feel no ill will towards you at all.”

Picture

Babar takes a life

The Emperor Babar was extremely kind, extremely generous and extremely pious, and there was nothing that he would hesitate to do for his subjects. He used to consider his subjects as his own children. From time to time Babar used to go out of the palace grounds alone and walk along the streets to see how his subjects were behaving, and what conditions they were living in. If they were poverty-stricken, he would help them out. The Emperor went out alone many, many times, and people did not recognise him because he dressed very simply at those times. Sometimes he wore a kind of turban, but it was impossible for people to know that it was the Emperor’s crown by seeing only the outside of it.

Now it happened that there was a young man who cherished tremendous jealousy toward Babar because everybody appreciated him, admired him, adored him and extolled him to the skies for his bravery, kindness, nobility and other divine qualities. This young man had long been harbouring a desire to kill Babar. He had heard from people that from time to time the Emperor walked in the city all by himself. So he was waiting for an opportunity to kill Babar, hoping that someday he would meet the Emperor alone. The young man always carried a sword.

One afternoon as Babar was walking along the street he saw a mad elephant. People were all shouting and running away as the elephant came down the street. All the neighbours were panicking. But there was one little child who was helpless. He could not run fast enough to get out of the way. The elephant was about to trample the little child when the Emperor, who was incognito, came running at top speed and snatched the child out of the way. Babar saved the child, but as he was running away with the child, his turban fell to the ground.

When the mad elephant had passed by, some spectators ran to pick up the turban of the brave man who had saved the small child. When they saw the inside, they realised that it was actually the crown of their Emperor, Babar. The young man who wanted to kill Babar was one of the spectators when Babar saved the life of the child. He himself had run away, afraid of the elephant. When he realised what had happened, he fell at Babar’s feet and said, “Forgive me.”

Babar said, “What have you done?”

The man said, “I have been cherishing the desire to kill you for many years, because I was terribly jealous of the admiration you receive. Now I see that you truly deserve it. You are the most precious of us all, but you were ready to give your own life to save an ordinary human being. What I have learned from you is that it is infinitely better to give life than to take. This is what you have taught me. So now, instead of taking your life, I am giving you my life. Please take my life.” And he offered Babar the sword with which he had planned to kill him.

Babar took the sword and said, “I taught you how to give life, but now I am going to take your life. You come with me. From now on you will be one of my bodyguards. I am sure you will be a faithful one.” So Babar took the man’s life only to make it into a useful and fruitful one. Instead of killing him, instead of punishing him, Babar made his would-be killer one of his personal bodyguards.

Picture

The core of India's light

//[Continued from previous issues]//

Kutira

Hut

The body of a hermit lives in the hut, but the heart of the hermit lives in the entire universe.

Kshaya

Destruction

The intimate friend of aspiration is illumination, and never destruction.

Kshana

Moment

A moment of inner cry reveals an entire day of outer smile.

Kshama

Forgiveness

Out of His infinite Bounty God grants His Forgiveness so that once more I can get the opportunity to cry for a new dawn. But how can I ever forgive stupidity’s shameless heights?

Krodha

Anger

Anger is the connecting bridge between man’s destruction-blow and his repentance-flow.

Kripa

Compassion

God’s compassion-dictionary houses countless words, excepting only one word: frustration.

Kratu

Sacrifice

A cheerful self-giving founded upon oneness is always ignorant of sacrifice.

[To be continued]

Questions and answers

Question: I was playing the piano one day and there appeared a green light, a kind I had never seen before. It was transparent, but yet it had a body. It filled the whole room, this very lucid green. I saw the piece of sheet-music in that colour. What does that green signify?

Sri Chinmoy: The green colour in itself symbolises freshness, liveliness and energy. In your case it meant that a new life has dawned in you. It also indicates that you are full of life’s activity, life’s energy and life’s agility. Your entrance into the spiritual life has brought to your soul a whole new life. Everything is now green with promise. A new life has begun.

Question: But what is this supposed to do for you?

Sri Chinmoy: If you are aware of it, it is just like receiving candy. If a mother gives her child some candy once or twice, and the child likes it, then he starts asking for it. He himself goes to his mother and says, “Please give me some of that candy.” These spiritual experiences are like that. They are the first reward, or you could call them the first spiritual temptation. They are not a temptation in the undesirable sense, but a temptation to pursue the inner life for the joy of the experiences one gets. First the experiences come of their own accord, but then you have to earn them. You have to work for them, pray for them. You have to meditate to get them. But at the beginning, they may come of their own accord to inspire the spiritual aspirant. These experiences are the beginning of his spiritual wealth.

Question: About two and a half years ago I had an experience. I lost the consciousness of myself and all I could see was a yellow light with golden rays. After I came back to myself I felt extremely happy and thrilled. But I have always wondered what that light was.

Sri Chinmoy: The light that you saw was not yellow. It was actually golden, a luminous golden colour, which comes from the supermind. There are many planes of consciousness connected with the mind, and many which go far beyond it, like the supermind. I will mention them very briefly.

First, there is the physical mind, which gives the individual the capacity to deal mentally, in a concrete way, with the material world around him. Above that is the intellectual mind, which gives the ability to deal with ideas and concepts as such. The intellectual mind can function on an abstract level. Next is the intuitive mind. The intuitive mind often functions with pure intuition. It sees the inner truth of something immediately and directly, without the use of the human intelligence. It has the Eye of Truth, and it touches the inner truth of things with no intermediate help. Above the intuitive mind is the illumined mind. This mind is permeated by the soul’s light, and is a very illumined and spiritual form of mind. Above this is what is termed the overmind. At this stage, the mind as we know it is not used at all. This is a plane of consciousness on which the cosmic gods live and function. Beyond that is the supermind, where the golden light which you saw came from. In the Vedas, the supermind is known as the Vijnana Loka.

After the supermind there are only three planes of consciousness. These are Sat, Chit and Ananda. These three states of consciousness are interrelated, and at a certain point they merge. Creation itself starts with Sat-Chit-Ananda. Immediately below this is the supermind. The golden colour like a disc or a sun comes from the supermind. You had a very high experience, and it came from that plane. It did not touch the physical plane or your physical body, although you saw it with your physical eyes.

When the light of the supermind actually touches the earth plane, it changes its colour and is suffused with a reddish hue, which is the colour of the material world. Then you see the combination of the golden and the reddish as a luminous golden-red.

Question: I would like to know further the meaning of the word 'intuition'.

Sri Chinmoy: The place of intuition is here, between the eyebrows, just a little above. It is here that we have the third eye. Intuition itself is the direct power or direct light or immediate conviction of the soul. Let me give you an example. When I look at you with my ordinary eyes, I see you sitting there, and I see myself sitting here. Your whole existence is there, and mine is here. That is what I see with my ordinary eyes. But when I use the power of intuition, I see the reality and the vision together as one. The eye of intuition, my third eye, tells me that you and I are absolutely one; I the observer and you, the observed, can never be separated. That is what intuition is. The part that it plays is to unite both vision and reality. Otherwise, no matter what we see with our human eyes, there is a gap, a yawning gulf between the person who sees and the object that he sees. In intuition, however, the reality and the inner vision always go together.

Question: What are the devas? Do they follow the evolution of man, and do they help the evolution of man?

Sri Chinmoy: The devas are the cosmic gods. We were speaking before about the guardian angels, who are also deities. The cosmic gods, however, are higher than the ordinary gods or angels. They do not take human incarnation, but they do bless, protect, encourage and inspire human beings here on earth. It is through their inspiration and their encouragement, through their blessings and concern, that man gets a faster and higher evolution. The devas themselves will not attach themselves to a human soul or enter into a human incarnation, but they do help us and guide us from above. They themselves do not walk on our path or run towards our Goal, but they do push us towards it.

The devas or cosmic gods are not evolving beings. Human beings evolve and evolve and evolve. We are constantly growing beyond ourselves. Our very humanity will be transcended ultimately. The gods, however, are not evolving. They do not want our ultimate Goal; they are satisfied with the consciousness that they have. They are divine, full of divine Light and Delight; they are very pure and very luminous. They are divine instruments of Knowledge and Power. Right now, needless to say, they have more than we have, but, believe it or not, a day will come when we will become fully realised and remain constantly in union with the Supreme. At that time, we will actually have gone beyond them, and will not need their help, and they will not be able to affect us or influence us.

Right now the cosmic gods help man with their love, their concern and their joy. But you may be surprised to hear that a time comes when the cosmic gods actually stand in our way. When we no longer need their help and have the capacity to go to the Highest, to the Absolute Supreme, they do not want us to go beyond them. It is like a father and son: the father helps the son who is a student. The boy studies and studies. When the father sees that the son is going beyond him, if the father is narrow-minded or jealous, he may find some reason to stop giving the son money to continue his studies. But if the father is large-hearted, he says, “I did not achieve what my son can achieve. I do not have the education that he is going to have. But let him have it. Let him go beyond me. Let him surpass me.” If the father is noble, he feels this and does this.

Some of the cosmic gods, unfortunately, stand in our way at the last moment before our self-realisation, at the last milestone of our journey. At the beginning of our journey they push us and pull us, saying, “Go, go towards the Goal!” But when we are about to reach the Goal and we no longer need their help, they stand in our way. In the beginning, though, they do help us considerably in our spiritual life.

Here I am telling you the absolute truth. Otherwise, people will be under the impression that the cosmic gods help us all the time. No, they help us for many, many incarnations, for hundreds of incarnations. But when we are about to merge into the Highest, they do not help. Why? They do not like us to go beyond their jurisdiction. Every conscious being in this whole universe and beyond it, except the Supreme, cherishes his own sovereignty, and guards his own realm. Every authority on earth and in Heaven is gratified by the devotion of his subjects, and does not like to see them go to another authority. It is, on a very subtle level, the old problem of separativity, or we could even say “ego”, but on a very high level. Still, it is there. That is why we have to forgive the cosmic gods. First of all, very few souls ever do get as far as their plane of consciousness. And if they stand in the way at that very high realm, it is only because they fear to lose the worship of that great seeker. It is like a parent who does not want his child to leave home because the parent will lose his influence over the child whom he loves, to whom he is attached.

But as I said, the cosmic gods are not evolving. They want to remain where they are, and they prefer to have their devotees remain where they are. But they do help us for hundreds of lives, and many, many souls would be nowhere if it were not for the compassion of the cosmic gods. They save human beings from disaster, ruin and many, many catastrophes, including death. They are responsible for most of the higher ideas and ideals that human beings get in their inspired moments. In their own way they are great and divine instruments of the Supreme.

Question: Why is Mother Kali represented with four arms?

Sri Chinmoy: First of all, I wish to tell you that this is the conception of the artists. Mother Kali is actually the Divine Mother in Her aspect of divine Power, and she is not at all like the representations which you see in pictures and posters. In the highest world she is golden, most beautiful and most luminous. When she enters into the vital worlds to fight against fear, darkness, imperfection, obscurity and ignorance, she assumes a divinely heroic quality. Yet even in the vital world, she does not look like the pictures that you see. The Indian artists traditionally insist on portraying her this way. They feel that when she is striking the hostile forces, cutting them with her scimitar and so on, she must look like this. But the real Mother Kali, when she assumes human form, even while fighting against ignorance, has only two arms. She is a most beautiful and luminous goddess — all golden.

In the pictures we see four arms, each performing a different action. With the arm wielding the scimitar, Kali is striking the hostile forces. The second arm holds the trident which is the weapon and also the emblem of her consort, Lord Shiva. This weapon symbolises his power. So this second arm is shown holding and using Shiva’s power. With the third arm she is holding aloft the head of the greatest demon, Mahasura, whom she has conquered and killed. And with the fourth arm she holds the vessel which is catching the blood pouring from his severed head.

But this is all the pure imagination of the artist. In India we have a set of sacred books called the Puranas. They are not as well known in the West as the Gita, but in India they are very well known and well loved. They are full of simple, colourful stories about the great Indian deities. In those books you will read about Kali and all her battles in the inner worlds. It is Mother Kali who represents the transforming power of the Supreme, and takes the aspirant as quickly as possible to the Highest. In this aspect she kills the hostile forces in our human nature. She does not kill the human being; she kills only the imperfection and obscurity in our human lives.

I could tell you many, many stories about Kali from the Puranas, but I cannot do it today. But about the four arms, I can tell you categorically that they do not exist in the higher worlds, in the highest world. The Puranic stories about Kali speak about her possessing four arms, and the books had to be justified by the artists, who also added a great deal of their own. In the stories she had four arms, so the artists, with their artistic imagination, enter into the vital worlds and feel that the warrior-goddess must look like that: with four arms, a garland of skulls, a long tongue sticking out, a skirt of severed arms, and so on.

Question: Will you explain the soundless sound?

Sri Chinmoy: When two things are struck together like this, they produce a sound. When I strike my hands together like this, I produce a physical sound. Sound is normally the result of some impact. When we want to produce any sound, two things must be brought together in some way. Then only can we produce a sound.

AUM, however, is called the soundless sound because we do not strike any object with any other object in order to produce it. Because it is unstruck, it is known as the soundless sound. In Sanskrit, this phenomena is called Anahata, which means literally ‘unstruck’. We can hear the sound in the inmost recesses of our heart, but we ourselves do not do anything to create it; it is done spontaneously. We only receive the AUM or hear it. The sound which exists in the inner world, unstruck, is called Anahata.

Question: But in ordinary speech, the air coming out of our mouth produces a sound without striking anything. Is this not the case with AUM?

Sri Chinmoy: Actually, as the linguists will tell you, the various sounds of speech are caused by the impact of the breath upon the vocal cords and upon various parts of the throat and mouth. And of course, the physical sound of AUM when we chant it is made in the same way. On the physical plane, it is a physical sound, like any other. But permeating the physical sound is a higher divine vibration. This spiritual vibration comes from its connection with the inner reality of the universal AUM, which is the life-breath of the whole Creation.

We call AUM the soundless sound although with our ordinary ears we may hear this sound produced in the ordinary way in the outer world. But we can also hear it in the inner world if we have a special kind of hearing. We can hear the unstruck AUM with our spiritual ears. It is not the same sound that we hear with our physical ears. The inner AUM comes from an inner world, and its sound is altogether different. With our human ears we cannot hear it. We must have a different type of hearing if we want to hear the true soundless sound.

Question: How is the inner sound produced?

Sri Chinmoy: It is not actually produced; it spontaneously exists. Everything that can be known or seen in the material world has a source, whereas this soundless sound has no source. Its origin is the Supreme, whom we call Brahman. AUM is a symbolic sound, a symbol of Brahman. It is the Source itself. If we know that the Ganges comes from the Himalayas, we can climb to the top of the Himalayas and see the source for ourselves. But we will never find a source for the soundless sound. It is like trying to find the origin of the Supreme. In itself it is its own origin. That is why it is difficult for us to understand.

Question: What is the effect, if there is one, when we pronounce the name of the Supreme devotedly, soulfully or forcefully when we are in danger?

Sri Chinmoy: When an accident or something serious is about to take place, at that time your utterance is an outburst of your inner cry, and you need not repeat the name of the Supreme in a slow, dragging manner. When I requested, half an hour ago, that the disciples say the name of the Supreme most soulfully, I did not mean that you have to prolong the word as long as you can. You can say the name very soulfully and also with love, reverence and devotion but, at the same time, at a normal speed.

When danger is approaching, at that time if you repeat ‘Supreme’ quickly and intensely, there is nothing wrong in it. It is an expression of the soul asking for immediate safety and for immediate intervention of the divine Protection.

One has to know, when one is pronouncing the Supreme’s name, what is the purpose. At the time of meditation or at the time of the disciple’s inner spiritual discipline, he has to say it slowly and soulfully. But in an emergency, when danger is threatening, if it comes from the depths of the heart like an intense cry, then it is also most soulful, although it is fast.

Question: A neighbour of mine swears very loudly, and when he does that, I always say, "God bless you." Is this the right thing to do?

Sri Chinmoy: In such cases, the best thing will be for you not to say anything to him. If you feel that you really want to help him, then you can expend five minutes of your most precious time in inner prayer to the Supreme, asking the Supreme to give him some illumination. He is ignorant, but if you tell him that he is ignorant, he will only be angry, and he will make no progress. But you can pray to the Supreme if you want to, if you feel from within that it is your duty, or that it will be worthwhile.

But you have to know one thing: whether that man is basically good or not. If basically he is not good, then I do not want you to spend even five minutes on him. Let him, at God’s hour, through the process of evolution, come to some basic understanding of the truth of this kind of behaviour towards God. If basically he is very low, then you don’t have to waste any time, because it will not do him any good. But if he is basically good, you can offer five minutes of your prayer to the Supreme to change his attitude towards God. He is, after all, God’s child, and God Himself is hearing him. As God is hearing your prayers and observing your meditation, so also God is listening to his curses. God has enough strength to bear his insults.

But before you try to help him, you have to see whether he is a good man or if he is basically bad. If he is bad by nature, then forget about him. If he has many good qualities, but he has developed this bad habit of cursing, then offer your prayers to the Supreme for five minutes to change his way of speaking and thinking.

Question: Is it possible to actually curse God, or is the action of this person just a cry of the soul?

Sri Chinmoy: A cry of the soul will never curse God. The individual soul will always cry to become fully united with the Supreme. The soul is always one with the Supreme. It tries to inspire the heart, the mind and the body to run toward the Supreme. The soul will never curse, because it knows that whatever the Supreme does is for the best in the human. How can the soul curse when it knows that everything is done by God to help the soul become strong and divinely powerful?

An unlit person, an obscure mind, does not know the operation of the Supreme’s Will, and that is why this man gets a kind of frustration or an inner disgust. Then he starts cursing. Because he is blind, because his mind is obscure, he finds fault with the Supreme’s Will. The soul cannot do this. The soul is already one with God. The soul lives in light. How can the soul find fault with the Light Infinite when it knows that it is bathing in the Light of the Supreme? The mind does not know all this. The ignorant and obscure mind will deny the existence of God vehemently, because it is unable to see God inside or around itself.

Song

Param pita aghat karo

O Father Supreme,
Strike me!
Strike me hard, very hard.
With all my heart I am begging You
For the dawn of a new life.

/Param pita aghat karo/
/Aghat karo aghat/
/Paran bhore jachi ami/
/Nutan alor prabhat/

Picture