AUM

Man is Infinity's Heart.
Man is Eternity's Breath.
Man is Immortality's Life.

The Bhagavad-Gita —- The Song of the Transcendental Soul

Introduction

I read the Gita. Because it is the Eye of God. I sing the Gita. Because it is the Life of God. I live the Gita. Because it is the Soul of God.

Arjuna is the ascending human soul. Krishna is the descending divine Soul. Finally they meet. The human soul says to the divine Soul, “I need you.” The divine Soul says to the human soul, “I need you, too. I need you for my self-manifestation. You need me for your self-realisation.” Arjuna says, “O, Krishna, you are mine, absolutely mine.” Krishna says, “O, Arjuna, no mine, no thine. We are the Oneness complete, within, without.”

The inspiration of Hinduism is the Soul-Concern of the Gita. The aspiration of Hinduism is the Blessing-Dawn of the Gita. The emancipation of Hinduism is the Compassion-Light of the Gita. To pronounce that the Gita is the sole monopoly of Hinduism is absurdity on the face of it. The Gita is the common property of humanity.

Questions and answers

How can one reach God in one's lifetime?¹

Sri Chinmoy: Let us change the word “reach” and instead let us use the word “realise”. When we use the term “reach” we feel that we have to come to a certain place. Now you are sitting over there and if you want to reach me, you have to come to me by either walking or jumping or flying. But when we use the term “realise”, there is no separation. Where is God? God is deep within us. But God-Realisation in one life, in one short span of time, by one's own personal effort, is next to impossible. But along with one's personal effort, if the aspirant has absolute aspiration, one-pointed dedication, if he has the blessings, grace and concern of a very great spiritual master who represents God to his disciples and if he has been assured by his spiritual master on this point, then, in one life, he can realise God.

If one does not have a fully realised master, a Guru, but if his aspiration is most intense, then God's Grace showers on him and God Himself plays the part of the human teacher, that is to say, the spiritual master. If God sees that the particular aspirant is absolutely sincere and he deserves self-realisation in this life, then, as I have said, God plays the part of a human Guru. Otherwise it is a spiritual master who plays the role of a pilot and takes you across the ocean of ignorance to Light, Wisdom, Peace, Bliss and Plenitude.

You have got a Guru, Agni, so your problem is over and your aspiration is most intense. I say it with the very depth of my heart that this Guru of yours will never fail you. You will always be in the inmost recesses of his heart. He will carry you, carry you to the Golden Shore of the Beyond.

Question: God could have made man perfect to begin with. What was His reason for putting us to all the trouble that we are going through to attain perfection?²

Sri Chinmoy: Good. God could have started His creation with perfection. But fortunately or unfortunately, that was not His intention. What God wanted was to go through ignorance to Knowledge, through limitation to Plenitude, through death to Immortality.

In the outer world, we see limitations, imperfections, doubts, fear and death. But in the inner world we see Light, Peace, Bliss and Perfection. When we live in God's consciousness, there is no imperfection. It is all Perfection.

God is a divine Player. He is playing His divine Game and He knows the Ultimate End. At each moment He is revealing Himself in us and through us, in spite of the very fact that we see, nay create, a vast gulf between ourselves and God. In addition to this, we feel that God is in Heaven and we are on earth. In the physical world, the miseries, troubles, frustrations and despair that we are going through are nothing but experiences on our way to the Ultimate Goal. Who is, after all, having all these experiences? It is God and God alone. And when we consciously identify ourselves with God's consciousness, we observe that there is no imperfection because God is perfect Perfection. But if we do not live in the Divine Consciousness and if we feel that we are the doers, naturally we will be yoked to the imperfection of the outer world. What actually is happening is the self-revelation of God in His manifested creation. A seeker of the Supreme, living in the Supreme, being one with the consciousness of the Supreme, sees and feels that his consciousness, his life, both inner and outer, are the projections of God's ever-transcending Perfection, growing into perfect Perfection.

Life³

Life has an inner door. Aspiration opens it. Desire closes it. Aspiration opens it from within. Desire closes it from without.

Life has an inner lamp. This inner lamp is called aspiration. And when we keep our aspiration burning, it will, without fail, transmit to God's entire creation its effulgent glow.

Life has an inner Voice. It is the Saviour of mankind. This Voice is the Light of the Supreme. Life is protection, life is perfection, life is fulfilment when we open to this Light of the Supreme.

Each day is the renewal of life. Each day is the rebirth of our inner assurance that each individual is the chosen instrument of the Supreme to reveal and fulfil the Infinite Divine here on earth.

The outgoing life finds nothing but trouble, torture, misery and frustration. The inflowing life discovers the Sea of peace and bliss.

How to start life's inner journey? With the simple idea, the spontaneous thought that God-realisation is your birthright. Where to start? Here. From within. When to start? Now. Before the birth of a second.

Life is love. Love is life. Life fulfils God through love. Love fulfils God in life.

To illumine our life we need pure thoughts. Each pure thought is more precious than all the diamonds of the world, for God's Breath abides only in man's pure thoughts.

Life is always at work. It is ever active, dynamic. It tries to help the soul to complete its yet unaccomplished task, the divine Mission. The soul needs life's help to unfold itself fully. Life needs the soul's help to fulfil itself both physically and spiritually.

Birth and death play. They play together. Their game is the game of harmony. And it is always played on the infinite breast of Life.

Life is a thick cloud to him who keeps on brooding. Brooding and despondency are the worst foes that kill life in all its divine inspiration and high ideal. No more brooding, no more despondency. Your life shall become the beauty of a rose, the song of the dawn, the dance of the twilight.

God is in life. But life must awaken to the light of His Presence, His Transcendent Feet.

The seeker⁴

What am I? I am a climbing cry. Who am I? God’s ever-expanding sky.

The life of the advanced aspirant is an epitome of the pilgrimage of the human soul in search of the Ultimate Truth in the universe and beyond.

If you seek God in God's own ways, you will meet God as fulfilment. If you seek God in other ways, you will meet God as frustration.

God says to a sincere seeker that ignorance, no doubt, is in him, but not of him. Alone you are to know what you truly are. Alone you are to realise that you are your only help. Alone you opened your eyes upon earth. Alone you are to work out your own salvation. But your very existence is flooded with His infinite Grace.

An ordinary man must think logically and act sensibly to prove himself worth living. A spiritual seeker must think intuitively and act divinely to prove himself worth living.

A bridge of steel spans a mighty river. And what is needed to build that bridge? A combination of a creative brain and a vast mathematical knowledge. A bridge of sacrifice spans Heaven and Earth. And what is needed to build that bridge? A combination of God's Compassion and the seeker's aspiration.

A sincere seeker of Truth has three inseparable friends: Peace, Faith and Receptivity. Peace says to him: “I shall show you that there is nothing but God.” Faith says: “I shall make you see God within you.” Receptivity says: “What else is God if not all your life?”

Daring and Achieving are the two inseparable blessings of Heaven for the seekers of Truth.

We want to hear a soul-stirring song, no matter if it is sung just for a minute. Likewise we need a godlike life to raise our consciousness into the Supreme, even if we do not see many winters on earth.

A spiritual seeker must know that austerity is an abnormality inasmuch as it is a disturbance of the natural balance of forces in the different parts of our consciousness. Austerity does not give self-mastery. In true detachment is the real self-mastery. Earth has temptations for an ordinary man. Heaven has temptations for an advanced seeker.

Experience is the open and conscious eye of a seeker. Realisation is the all-seeing eye of a Yogi. To have an experience of truth is to discover at long last an oasis in the desert of life.

“France has more need of me than I of France,” said Napoleon. Likewise the world has more need of a realised soul than he of the world.

Questions and answers on the soul (Concluded)

AUM 274-277. These questions were asked by Indrani

Question: It is often said that the soul needs certain experiences even though they may seem adverse at the time. How are we to distinguish between the experiences the soul needs and our own desire to forge ahead through egoistic stubbornness?

Sri Chinmoy: The soul does not have any experience which is unnecessary. Whenever the soul has an experience, there is a divine purpose behind it. But on the physical plane, we often fail to see that divine purpose. We see it as a mere incident in our journey here on earth. There are many things which our physical mind cannot comprehend while our soul is having the experiences. It is also true that through our stubbornness, we impose some insignificant experiences on the soul. But what we call “adverse experiences” are not adverse to the soul because in the soul's wide vision of light, these experiences are all possibilities to grow, to develop, to manifest a higher truth or to fulfil a greater mission on earth.

Question: In this age of Kali Yuga, are more people becoming aware of their soul's mission, or is this kind of awareness for future generations?

Sri Chinmoy: One cannot give a categorical answer to this question because what the golden future will look like is uncertain and obscure, with all kinds of possibilities and impossibilities intermingled. It is very easy to appreciate the past dawns. Living in this era, we cannot judge the aspiration of the past or the aspiration of the future. But we do know that since the world is evolving, human consciousness is awakening towards a brighter light. Since the world, from the spiritual point of view of least, is progressing, there is more than a mere possibility for a higher consciousness to dawn upon earth. The achievement of the past does not and cannot satisfy the present. The present demands something higher, deeper and more fulfilling. The role of the Kali Yuga will sooner or later be over. The Golden Days will unmistakably dawn.

To come back to your question: we all know that the present-day world is more aware of scientific discoveries than it is aware of the soul's mission. The future generations will have both science and spirituality at their highest, not as two dire competitors, but as two complementary forces. Both science and spirituality will achieve the perfect perfection of matter and spirit. The gradual evolution of the earth-consciousness will grant the soul more opportunity to know why it has come and what it has to do in the great drama of the Supreme.

Question: Does our soul have contact with the mind of the so-called higher planets like Venus and Saturn?

Sri Chinmoy: First of all, Saturn and Venus have no mind, either human or divine. Secondly, only the Yogis can have free access to the planets Venus, Saturn, etc. Ordinary souls cannot have this capacity, but they can have a glimpse of these planets in their dreams, or in a very high state of meditation.

Question: There is always talk about this world destroying itself; then people become personally alarmed. Would the end of the physical world as we know it be a threat to the soul?

Sri Chinmoy: If the physical world is destroyed, it would not be a threat to the soul, for the soul can stay in the souls' region. But if the soul wants to manifest the divine in all its aspects, then it must incarnate in a human body in the physical world.

Blossoms of the Heart

II. Here

"H" represents humility.
Without humility
    my spirituality is curiosity,
    my spirituality is futility.

"E" represents eternity.
With faith
    my spirituality is eternity's wealth,
    my spirituality is eternity's delight.

"R" represents revelation.
Without devotion
    to God's self-revelation in me, my life is
    a breathless hush, my life is the song of death.

"E" represents evolution.
With my surrender's light,
    I am God's ever-blooming and expanding evolution.
    I become the selfless link between His Infinity
    and His Immortality, I become His Vision's
    Reality and His Reality's Vision.

III. Now

"N" No.

I needs must say 'No' to desire's arrival,
'No' to fear's embrace, 'No' to doubt's poison,
'No' to ignorance's leadership and 'No' to death's reign.

"O" Open.

I needs must open myself to the smile of the farthest beyond, to the love of the deepest beyond and to the blessings of the highest beyond.

"W" Without and with.

Without God's Dream, I was. Now, with His Dream, I am. Without the living, protecting, transforming and immortalising God, I was. That past of mine is buried in oblivion's hush. With me NOW is God's living Breath, His protecting Silence, His transforming Will and His immortalising Delight.

Aphorisms

The Seeker

A Truth-Seeker must always be heartily sick of fear and pride.

A true aspirant is one who feels more and more cautious of the least ignorance and limitation in himself.

As I am within, so am I without. If I can build a definite ideal, a decisive goal within me, others' attention can never escape this truth.

Morality

Morality is man's choice cage to live in. Spirituality is God's choice palace for the aspirant in man to live in.

Although morality has a universal necessity, it can never claim a place in the spiritual arena.

Don't make a display of your virtue or vice. You may ask why? Because an exhibition of the former is truly harmful, while the latter is absolutely unimportant.

Self-discipline is the foundation of a moral human life on earth. Self-sacrifice will be the foundation of a supramoral life on earth.

Lecture-course on the Gita

Sri Chinmoy has started a Course on the great Indian spiritual epic, the Bhagavad-Gita. The Course of lectures began on Tuesday, 13 Feb. 1968 with the Introductory Lecture, from which we have printed the three paragraphs shown on the opposite page.

The course will continue for eighteen weeks until 18 June 1968. Each lecture will deal with one chapter of the Gita's eighteen chapters.

Those who are interested are welcome to attend the Course. Lectures are held each Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m.; the fee is Aspiration.

Aum Centre, Inc.
504 East 84th Street
New York, N. Y. 10028

The Gita Course in Puerto Rico will be conducted by Miss Carmen Suro (Sudha). She is translating the whole series of lectures into Spanish for the Aum Centre, Puerto Rico, at 659 Miramar Ave., Santurce and she will read these out each Monday night along with the original English.