Picture

Poised in the power-light of tomorrow's dawn.

— photo by Bhashwar

Jasmine-heart

1.

What each seeker needs in this world is the reality-existence of peace that passes beyond the unkind misunderstanding-barriers.

2.

How can there be real peace in our inner and outer lives when God is not invited into our hearts even once a day?

3.

Peace won by compromise is a bird that flies away. Peace that comes from the inner awakening is the peace everlasting.

4.

Peace does not live in a pill. Peace does not live in an injection. Peace lives in self-cultivation. Peace lives in conscious God-possession.

5.

A confusion-mind and an unrest-vital have taken away the peace of the silence-heart.

6.

To seek peace within myself is the only wisdom-­light that I need.

7.

Wait and see. There is no peace. See and wait. There is no peace. Cry and become. There is all peace. Become only to cry. There is all peace.

8.

Since I do not know what to do, can I not at least try to know who I am? Who am I? I am at once God's representative and man's representative. On earth I represent God's Compassion. In Heaven I represent man's perfection.

9.

It is true that I have lost confidence in my prayer and meditation. But can I not at this very moment start to restore my confidence in my prayer and in my meditation? I can restore my confidence in my prayer and meditation just by repeating a soulful message to myself: Mine is the heart that always prays; mine is the life that always meditates.

10.

By this time I must realise that there are certain things in life that are not mine. Again, there are certain things which are entirely mine. The things that do not belong to me, how can I claim them? The things that do belong to me, how is it that I do not claim them?

Insecurity and impurity do not belong to me. How can I claim them? Security and purity, right from time immemorial, have been with me. How is it that I do not claim them as my own, very own?

11.

My sweet children, do not hide anything from me. If you want to increase my faith in you, do not hide anything from me. My children, you have many, many, many desires, but I have only one desire, only one desire, and that desire is to make you supremely chosen instruments of my Beloved Supreme. This is my only desire. Do help me fulfil my only desire.

12.

My sleeplessly soulful dedication develops two invisible forces. Eventually these two invisible forces become totally visible, and then they are known as man the perfection-force and God the Satisfaction­Force.

13.

You want to know how I have changed my past in such an astonishing way? I wish to tell you that it was very, very simple. It was an easy task. I just made a life-transforming decision, and that's all. And what was that life-transforming decision? At dawn and early in the morning I shall always feel that I am in my Beloved Supreme. At noon and in the afternoon I shall always feel that I am with my Beloved Supreme. In the evening and at night I shall always feel that I am for my Beloved Supreme.

14.

Cheerfulness is not an excitement. Cheerfulness is my inner poise, and it is also God's complete Faith in me. Another name of my inner poise is God's unreserved Confidence in me.

15.

It is a very happy day for me today, for today I have decided that I shall not continue to live with my false confidence — my false confidence that I can destroy the world, the entire world. From today on I shall live only with real confidence. My real confidence is this: I shall serve my Beloved Supreme to transform this world into perfect Perfection — a world that will not see the faces of insecurity and impurity, two unforgivable forces that are not allowing this beautiful world of ours to be absolutely perfect.

When insecurity captures my heart, I shall immediately declare: "Larger than the largest am I. Larger than the universe am I." When impurity captures my life, I shall immediately declare: "I am oneness, universal oneness, within and without."

Questions and answers

Question: What type of souls are in animals that are bred just to be slaughtered?

Sri Chinmoy: Since we cannot slaughter the soul or destroy the soul in any way, it is the same kind of soul. Through evolution they go through a specific experience, but this does not mean that they will have a different type of soul. Who knows, perhaps when we were in the animal kingdom, we were also slaughtered, if we were lambs or goats or cows. But now our souls have passed through so many incarnations. Death is an experience, but a certain kind of death does not require a certain kind of soul. It is an experience. While walking from one place to another we can walk along a road that is very beautiful, or along another road that is desolate, but the destination is the same.

Question: Is the Supreme going to create a new world?

Sri Chinmoy: He could definitely create a different world if He wanted to, but it seems that He is not going to create a totally new world. He is like a great-great-grandfather who enjoys watching His children, His children's children, and so forth. He enjoys the game. For Him it is a daily affair that his great-great-grandchildren fight and quarrel. Of course He wants the members of His family to lead a harmonious life, but He does not plan to destroy His entire creation for a new creation. He believes in evolution.

The Supreme has been feeding and nurturing His present creation for so many years. True, satisfaction is still a far cry. But if He decides to start all over from the beginning, He has an apprehension that His next world may be worse. So He continues with the hope that Light will descend on this present family, and it will eventually be illumined. In the process of evolution there is no such thing as Perfection descending from above all of a sudden. Gradually, Light has to be received, and then the difference between Light and darkness has to be recognised. Otherwise we shall not value Light.

Question: Can we reduce our need for sleep?

Sri Chinmoy: Certainly, but we have to know for what — for meditation, or for gossip? For my disciples I always advise six or seven hours. Six or seven hours is necessary, but not eight, nine or ten hours.

Less than six hours if you get, you will get a headache. But if you become like me, then inside one hour of sleep you can make yourself feel that you have slept for five hours. The clock will say one hour, but your mind and body will say five hours. However, until you have that Yogic capacity, six or seven hours is absolutely necessary for you and others. Four or five hours I don't advise. But if you can't get that six or seven hours at night, then sleep sometime during the day. During your lunch break eat for ten minutes and then, instead of talking with your colleagues, go into your office and sleep for half an hour or forty-five minutes. That will help.

Question: Why did God create stars and planets?

Sri Chinmoy: Why did He create you? Why did He create me? For the sake of spontaneous Joy. When astronomers look at the stars, they get joy. In this world you may find that flowers give you joy. Others will like the stars, and still others will like something else. God created everything for His own Joy, and the different parts of His creation get joy from each other. I get joy by seeing something: you get joy by seeing something else. God gets Joy from all of His creation.

Question: Is it really possible to empty your mind of thoughts?

Sri Chinmoy: Certainly, with regular practice. Early in the morning you are meditating for, let us say, fifteen minutes. During your meditation if you are getting twenty uncomely thoughts, restless thoughts, then after a month of serious practice, you watch again to see how many thoughts you are getting. Gradually you will see how many uncomely thoughts you have eliminated. Again, if you get one illumining or fulfilling thought, you can gradually try to get more. Like running in the outer life, from one mile at a time you progress to two, then three, and so on. Perhaps you started at a ten-minute pace, but gradually your regular practice enables you to go faster. Again, gradually you will be able to go beyond the thought-world. There will be some thoughts floating in your mind, but you will not be affected by them. Thought-­power can create problems for us or help us. A really good thought is the soul's vision operating in the mind.

Question: Sometimes during our meditation we reach a certain height and we feel that we can't go any higher. Is there any way we can break through that barrier?

Sri Chinmoy: You have reached a certain height and you feel a block? Suppose you have meditated for fifteen minutes or half an hour, and you feel frustration that you are unable to go higher. On that day give up, but remember that height, and try to remember the joy of that height. Feel happy that you reached a considerable height, and keep up the ecstasy and joy. The next day you do not have to start from the beginning and climb all the way up again. Just by using your will-power and your previous experiences, you can start very high — almost from where you stopped during your previous meditation. You know how far you went up yesterday, and from there you try to go higher. Keep up your joy about the height you reached the previous day, and the following day make an attempt to go beyond it right from the start.

Question: Sometimes you walk back and forth for a while before a meditation. What are you doing at that time?

Sri Chinmoy: At that time I often feel that you are all pilgrims and I am the leader. We are all enjoying the pilgrimage. I am walking along Eternity's Road, and you are all following me. On the outer plane, you are all waiting in place for my blessings, but actually I see your souls following me while I am walking.

Question: On the outer plane we all have two legs, two arms, a head and so forth. Do we all have the same inner structure?

Sri Chinmoy: We have a physical body, a subtle body and a causal body. Whatever we have in the physical body, we have the same in the subtle body. But in the causal body there is no limit. If we want to, we can have five or six arms the way the Indian gods and goddesses have. If the seeker has made progress, if he wants to have a different kind of structure in the inner body, he can, but only for his own fulfilment. If I have ten hands or arms or legs, I will not be able to accomplish something more on the inner plane. There we are dealing with will-power. We don't need a different kind of structure in order to achieve something in the inner world. Somebody can be very thin in the inner world, but still have tremendous strength. If one has made tremendous progress, he can totally change his inner structure. But there are many who do not do that, because it is absolutely unnecessary.

Question: Is there any way to know whether you are happy with us or not in our day-to-day life?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, easily you can know. Outwardly I may bark, scold and insult; that is my great achievement. But if I have any good qualities inside, my best quality is poise. Each time I accept a disciple, I place a portion of my best quality, which is poise, inside him. If you feel that I am absolutely tranquil, absolutely peaceful inside you, then you can be sure that I am really happy with you. If you enter into my poise-world, if you feel it inside you, then I am really happy with you.

Question: Is there any danger of disciples becoming attached to the Master?

Sri Chinmoy: It depends on how they think of their Master. If you take the Master as a God­Realised Soul, there is no problem. But if you take him as a human being, then there may be a problem. If you are attached to the sky, can this cause any emotional problem for you? No. If you are attached to the ocean, is there any problem? But if you are attached to a certain tree or a certain house, then you are in trouble. If you consider your Master as only an inch higher than you are, or only a foot higher than you in inner wisdom, then there is a great danger in becoming attached to him. You have to consider your Master as something vaster than the vastest. If you are attached to the sky or the sun or something very vast, that is not the same as human attachment. That is only your eagerness to grow into that enormous height or expanse or capacity. But if you think of the Master as you would any ordinary person, and consider that he is just a little better than you are, then you are in trouble.

Three or four years ago my brother, who is dearer than the dearest to me, wrote: "I know who you are. You are for the Infinite and in the Infinite. But why do you blame your disciples for thinking of you as another human being? It is so difficult for them. They see you eating like them, shouting, barking, struggling, so naturally they can't fathom who you are." So it depends on how the disciple approaches the Master — what kind of relationship he has. If you have the inner feeling that I am infinitely higher or vaster than you, then you cannot try to bind me. Your attachment is destructive only when you feel you can bind and possess me. But if you feel you cannot, only you are giving me whatever capacity you have for love and devotion, with the hope that I will be able to give you more, then you are safe. You are giving your little capacity to the Master, and he will give you his limitless Capacity. Your own faith, understanding, love and consciousness you have to apply in order to know whether you are trying to grab and possess your Master, or trying to become part and parcel of his universal Existence.

So attachment is very bad if you think of your Master only on the physical plane. But if you take your Master as a God-Realised Soul whose existence is limitless, then you cannot be attached. You can be attached to something which is a little higher than you or better than you. But if you think of something or someone truly vast, then you will be devoted, and not attached.

Question: You say that when we do something really bad, our souls will disown us. But if we are our souls, then what will our souls disown?

Sri Chinmoy: Think of it this way: your mother will try to show the neighbours that you are an excellent girl. But if you do something wrong, the neighbours will forgive you, because they are not connected to you or responsible for you. But your mother will not forgive you; she will feel truly miserable that you have done something bad, because you are her very own. The aspiring soul feels that it is beneath its dignity to have this kind of unruly or unspiritual vital, mind and body. If it is really displeased with your actions, then the soul will no longer try to inspire you — your body, vital, mind and heart — or encourage you to lead a spiritual life.

Poems

Mine is the mind

Mine is the mind
That longs for
A simplicity-smile.

Mine is the heart
That longs for
A sincerity-cry.

Mine is the life
That longs for
A perfection-run.

Mine is the God
Who cares for
My transcendence-flight.

In life's journey

I concentrate for success
In life's journey.

I meditate for progress
In life's journey.

I contemplate for God-process
In life's journey.

My perfection-necessity

What is success?
My expansion-ability.
What is progress?
My perfection-necessity.

God's satisfaction-choice

What is success?
My need for expression-voice.
What is progress?
My need for God's Satisfaction-Choice.

I shall keep my appointment

Never again
Shall I miss my appointment
With God —
Never!
Even when doubt-clouds
Cover my entire being,
I shall keep my appointment
With God.

I have scheduled my time

I have scheduled my time
Carefully and perfectly.
Nothing can dare to interfere
With my appointment
With my Eternity's Beloved Supreme.

Now is the time of rejoicing

Now is the time of rejoicing.
My inner world tells me
That my Lord is all Compassion.
My outer world tells me
That I am all aspiration.

My rich heart will grow

My Lord,
What will happen
If I deepen my faith
In You?

My son,
My rich Heart
Will grow richer and richest
In you.

Aurora-flora

1 December 1980

When we make friends with earth-bound time, it is all sacrifice. When we make friends with eternal Time, there is no such thing as sacrifice. On the human level, time used is all sacrifice. On the divine level, time used is oneness-manifestation.

2 December 1980

God is ready to barter His Compassion-Eye with only one thing, and that is man's gratitude-heart.

3 December 1980

The animal life, in accordance with evolution, makes unconscious progress and reaches the human level. Although man is supposed to go beyond the reality of the cosmic gods, man does not try hard. Man constantly makes Himalayan blunders. If God used His Justice-Light, man would go back to the animal life, the plant life, even the mineral life. But because of God's unconditional Concern for mankind, by using His Miracle-Power He lifts man up to the Highest.

4 December 1980

Self-giving is another word for God-becoming. Self-giving is a tiny seed. The next moment it becomes a delicious fruit: conscious oneness-­distribution.

5 December 1980

A purity-flame in the seeker's heart is infinitely more valuable in God's Eye than the seeker himself can ever imagine.

6 December 1980

Compassion is God's magic Wand that transforms man's frustration and depression into success divine.

7 December 1980

A seeker is not going from darkness to light. A seeker is going from lesser light to higher light. A seeker is not entering into light. He is all the time climbing up the ladder of light. Light exposes the animal in us, illumines the human in us, fulfils the divine in us and gives us the capacity to treasure the Supreme in us.

8 December 1980

In human life, when we achieve oneness, it is all newness. In divine life, when we achieve oneness, it is all fulness. In supreme Life, when we achieve oneness, it is perfection in transcendence and transcendence in perfection.

10 December 1980

O powerful Supreme, You are nearer than my hands. O beautiful Supreme, You are nearer than my eyes. O blessingful Supreme, You are nearer than my heart. How is it that I cannot touch You, I cannot see You, I cannot feel You?

"My child, you will be able to touch Me, see Me and feel Me only when you have realised that I am your only possession. You are using the terms 'my hands,' 'my eyes,' 'my heart.' As long as you have other possessions besides Me, you will never be able to touch Me, see Me and feel Me. So, My child, from now on try to realise that I am your only possession, and claim Me at every moment as your own, very own, in the heart of your aspiration and in the life of your dedication."

11 December 1980

I love all, but I trust only a few. In the inner world I shall fulfil only man the evolving God. And in the outer world I shall fulfil only God the fulfilling man.

12 December 1980

My physical pain needs God's Forgiveness-Sea. My vital pain needs God's Compassion-Sky. My mental pain needs God's Concern-Sun. My psychic pain needs God's Nectar-Delight. My soul pain needs God and God alone.

Picture

Stories

The kindhearted homeopath

There was once a very good homeopath who wanted to live in a very simple manner. He had a big heart, so he used to help the poor without charging them any fee. Everybody was very deeply appreciative of his kindheartedness, except his father. His father used to scold him and insult him, even in front of his wife.

Once it happened that a very poor man developed a high fever and all kinds of ailments. The homeopath went to the man's house to help him, and found that he was shivering violently. The homeopath took off his own shawl and gave it to the poor man, as well as massaging his whole body and giving him medicine. He spent two or three hours there. His fee for house calls was only three rupees, and, as happened quite often, he did not even ask the man to pay him.

When the homeopath went home he was shivering because he no longer had his shawl. His father insulted him mercilessly for his impractical attitude. His wife shed bitter tears, for she, too, had a big heart, and she felt very sad when her father-in-law insulted her husband.

One day it happened that the richest man in the city developed a serious disease. Even the doctors in the hospital could not cure him. Finally the rich man's friends pointed out by way of joke that there was only one doctor in the city whom he had not consulted: the foolish quack homeopath. Although they were joking, the rich man said, "Since I am heading towards the other world, it cannot do any harm for me to try him."

So he sent for the poor doctor, who came and gave him a homeopathic remedy. In two or three days it became obvious that the patient was improving, and in a month's time he was completely cured. The rich man went to the doctor's house and gave him three hundred rupees, but the homeopath said, "But you have already paid my fee of three rupees. Why should I take this?"

The rich man insisted, "Three hundred rupees is nothing for me."

The doctor's father began insulting him, as usual, and was forcing him to take the money.

Finally the homeopath started crying in front of everyone. Looking up into the sky with folded hands, he started praying aloud: "O God, You have really forsaken me. If I become rich, then I will not think of You. You have manoeuvred a tricky plan to test me. If I take the money, I will no longer think of You. Only if I remain poor will I be able to think of You at every moment. No, I will not accept this money under any circumstances." And in spite of his father's unceasing insults, he remained firm in his refusal to accept the three hundred rupees.

Commentary

This seeker happened to be one of the foremost disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. He was devotion incarnate. No other disciple had his kind of devotion. You can call it fanatical devotion, but I call it true devotion. When his Master used to give prasad on a plantain leaf, he used to eat even the leaf, because the leaf was also a great blessingful gift from the Master.

There are many devotional stories about him. One story is that some friends of his came one day to visit him, and he was so poor that he didn't have fuel. So he cut off the beam that was holding the ceiling and used it as fuel so that he could cook for his friends.

When Sri Ramakrishna passed away, for two or three months this disciple was bedridden. He cried and cried, saying, "Now there is nothing to see on earth, nothing to feel, nothing, nothing."

Sri Ramakrishna told many, many people that this disciple was a householder who could truly be respected by all. He deserved everybody's admiration and adoration, no matter how pure and spiritual a life that person was leading. This homeopath was the radiant example of purity, simplicity, sympathy and oneness-heart.

Picture

Songs

Seven visits from my Supreme

Every day my dear Supreme,
My sweet Supreme
And my beloved Supreme
Comes to me seven times.
The first time He comes
To examine my willingness.
The second time He comes
To examine my readiness.
The third time He comes
To examine my newness.
The fourth time He comes
To examine my oneness.
The fifth time He comes
To examine my fulness.
The sixth time He comes
To examine my perfection.
The seventh time He comes
To examine my satisfaction.

Ke jabi go nadir opar

/Ke jabi go nadir opar/
/Ai go ai bela jai/
/Hethai asha hothai bhasha/
/Hethai chaowa hothai paowa/
/Hethai maran hothai jiban/
/Ke jabi go nadir opar/
/Ai go ai bela jai/

All those who want to go to the Golden Shore,
Come, come, time is passing by.
Here is hope; there is response.
Here is seeking; there is achieving.
Here is death; there is life.
All those who want to go to the other shore,
Come, come, time is passing by.