Why is it easier to disbelieve than to believe¹

Why is it easier to disbelieve than to believe?

It is easier to disbelieve than to believe because disbelief is an act of descent, whereas belief is an act of ascent. Descending is easier than ascending.

It is easier to disbelieve than to believe because disbelief is an act of breaking and belief is an act of building. Building is more difficult than breaking.

It is easier to disbelieve than to believe because disbelief is an act of our self-centred mind, whereas belief is an act of our self-giving heart.

Disbelief begins its journey from the doubting mind and ends in the destructive vital. Belief begins its journey from the illumining soul and continues to march in the vast kingdom of the aspiring heart.

AUM

A man of disbelief, with his eyes firmly closed, tells what others are, what the world is and what he himself can do for the entire world if he wants to. A man of belief, with his heart’s door wide open, tells what God has done for him, what God is doing for him and what God will do for him.

AUM

Disbelief has a perfection of its own. Disbelief finds its perfection in the cyclone of separation.

Belief has a perfection of its own. Belief finds its perfection in the music of the universal oneness.

Disbelief tells the world, “Be careful, be careful. If not, I shall devour you.”

Belief tells the world, “Come in, come in please. I have been eagerly waiting for you.”

AUM

The human eyes most often believe only themselves; they do not believe others. The human ears most often believe others, even if it is the worst possible gossip. But the divine heart believes in God, in mankind, and in its own aspiration.

Disbelief hates the world. Why? It feels that the world is never of it and can never be for it. A man of disbelief always feels that this world does not belong to him and that he can never lord it over the world. This is precisely the reason why a man of disbelief dares to hate the world.

A man of belief loves the world. Why? He believes that this world of ours is verily the aspiring body of God, the glowing dream of God and the fulfilling reality of God.

In the spiritual life, if one cherishes disbelief, one is simply lengthening the distance of the ultimate Goal. But if a seeker has abundant belief in his spiritual life, in his own quest for the ultimate truth, then undoubtedly he is shortening the distance. Finally, if his inner being is surcharged with boundless faith, then he feels that the Goal itself, the Goal of the Beyond, is running towards him. He feels that the Goal is fast approaching him, instead of he trying to reach the Goal.

There comes a time when a man of disbelief, being totally frustrated, wants to kill the world all around out of exasperation. But to his wide surprise he sees that the wild ignorance of the world has already stabbed him. With his proud knowledge he wanted to kill the world, but before he could kill the world, the world, his own wild ignorance, has killed him.

A man of belief wants to love the world. To his wide surprise he sees that his entire existence is in the very heart of the world. The world has already placed a throne in the inmost recesses of its heart for the man of belief to sit upon.

In our spiritual life, disbelief is nothing short of crime. When we disbelieve we pour slow poison into our system. It is we who kill our possibility and potentiality. It is we who wallow consciously, deliberately, in the pleasures of ignorance.

Unfortunately, even before the highest illumination, in the cases of some spiritual Masters, disbelief firmly, powerfully, knocked at the door of these spiritual giants. But by God’s Grace they overcame this disbelief. Again, there are other spiritual giants who were blessed with belief right from the beginning of their spiritual journey.

Why do we disbelieve? We disbelieve because we are afraid of oneness, afraid of the vast. We feel that when we enter into the vast we lose our identity, we lose our individuality, we lose our very existence. But we forget the true truth that when we enter into the vastness, this entering is not mere entering, it is nothing short of enlargement of our divinised consciousness.

A seeker finds it infinitely easier to believe the truth, the reality, for his is the life of conscious awareness. For an ordinary person, an unaspiring human being, it is extremely difficult not to disbelieve. An aspiring person, an aspiring seeker, knows that there is something within that is pushing him forward to the Light, to the Reality. An unaspiring person feels that something from without is pulling him backwards, pulling him to something unknown, something that will bind him.

When we consciously disbelieve someone, we do not realise the fact that the inner magnet within us pulls the undivine quality of that particular person into us. What happens when a person has achieved something but we do not believe it? The person and his achievement remain the same whether we believe it or not. But the person has also imperfections, limited capacity, impurity and our disbelief is a magnet which pulls only the imperfections of the human being in question. If we have belief, if we offer our belief, then we have to feel we have a magnet which draws the good qualities, the divine qualities, the illumining qualities, of the other person.

The more we enter into the spiritual life, the more we become aware of the capacity of disbelief and belief. Disbelief is nothing short of destruction. Belief is nothing short of a new creation. Each time we believe in something, we see the face of a new creation within and without us. And when we go one step ahead, when our inner faith looms large, then we see in us a perfected man and a liberated soul.

Again, when we dive deep within we see that the so-called man of disbelief will also have a time to knock at the proper door of realisation. Let him disbelieve to his heart’s content; let him run with his disbelief towards his self-chosen destruction. When he is about to reach the door of destruction, God’s omnipotent Compassion will send him back to the starting point to start his march once again towards the real Goal. Even if the man of disbelief is going on the wrong path, let him march, let him not sit inert. Let the world judge him, let the world offer its comments. A day will dawn when a man of disbelief will come to the right path.

In disbelief the question arises. In belief the answer dawns.

In the spiritual life, in the life of aspiration, in the life of inner awakening, even if one does not have abundant belief or faith in oneself, one need not and must not be doomed to disappointment. Let that person feel that he is sick, he is weak, he needs treatment, he needs hospitalisation. Let him feel that there are people who are physically strong, vitally strong, mentally strong, psychically strong and let him mix with these people. If he really wants to see the face, the real Face of the real Goal, then let him mix with a man of belief even for a fleeting hour daily and he will see the power of belief, the power of inner faith.

When we disbelieve God, when we disbelieve the Reality, God remains the same for the seekers, for the lovers of truth. But what happens is this: Ignorance, the teeming vast, gets the opportunity to envelop the disbeliever more powerfully and more completely. And when we believe in God, God’s Compassion gets the utmost opportunity to work in and through us most powerfully.

We start our journey with belief, but when the mind starts functioning, disbelief secretly, like a thief, enters into our system. A child always believes his parents. To him everything that his parents say is true, unquestionable. But when he enters into his adolescence the questioning mind, the doubting mind begins to work. Always he says, “Why? How?” Why and how enter into his mind. “It is not possible. It is impossible.” At that time it is easier for him to believe even the impossible, than to believe something that is possible, natural and quite obvious. This is what we see in the adolescent life. But again opportunity knocks at our door when we see that the mind has not given us any real satisfaction.

When we enter into full-blooded youth, when we see that the mind, by suspecting and doubting has not given us a moment’s satisfaction, we want to walk along another road and that is the road of the heart, the aspiring heart, the self-giving heart. Here we enter into the realm of spirituality. Here the lotus within our heart begins to bloom, petal by petal. Each time a petal blooms, we see that our inner divinity is being manifested more and more.

Then there comes a time when we see a thousand-petalled lotus within us, fully bloomed and we see consciously our divine Pilot, our divine Comrade, our eternal Friend, The Supreme, right in front of us and He makes us see and feel that through eternity we shall be not only with Him, but also for Him. In our conscious awareness, in our conscious seeing of His Presence, in our conscious feeling of inseparable oneness with Him, we shall establish here on earth, here and nowhere else, the Kingdom of Light, Truth, Peace and Delight.

AUM

The journey's start, the journey's close²

AUM

The journey’s start and the journey’s close. Human aspiration is the journey’s start. Divine manifestation is the journey’s close. Again, birthless is the journey’s birth and endless is the journey’s end.

We came; we shall return. We came from the Supreme Being. To the Supreme Being we shall return. We embody the earth-consciousness and the heaven-consciousness. The earth-consciousness inspires us to meditate on the transcendental Truth and realise the transcendental Truth in the soul of heaven. The heaven-consciousness inspires us to meditate on love and manifest love in the heart of earth.

We know, we grow, and we become. We know in heaven. We grow here on earth. Again, we become the transcendental Truth. We know. What we know is reality. What we grow into is immortality. And what we eventually become is divinity’s perfection. Reality embodies immortality and divinity. Immortality and divinity manifest reality.

The Upanishads teach us the significant truth that each individual seeker must have inner peace and outer freedom. It is in inner peace that we can have true outer freedom. From the Upanishads we learn how to discover man, God the inner man, and see man, the revealed God. The Upanishads tell us that the dedicated human beings, the surrendered human souls are God’s necessity and each realised human being, human soul, is with God’s unreserved, infinite capacity.

Here is the secret of the Upanishads: love, serve and become. Love God’s life in man: this is what we learn from the Upanishads. Further we learn: serve God’s light in man, and finally become God’s perfect perfection here on earth.

In two words we can sum up the message of all the Upanishads: aspiration and manifestation. Aspiration is the way and manifestation is the goal. Aspiration is the song of the infinite, eternal consciousness abiding within us. Manifestation is the dance of unity’s multiplicity within and without us. Aspiration is the height of our delight and manifestation is the light of all-nourishing, all-fulfilling delight.

AUM

Each soul needs involution and evolution. When the soul descends, it is the soul’s involution. When the soul ascends, it is the soul’s evolution. The soul enters into the lowest abyss of inconscience. The soul evolves again into Sat-Chit-Ananda — Existence, Consciousness and Bliss, the triple Consciousness.

The soul enters into the inconscience. For millions of years it remains there, fast asleep, and all of a sudden one day a spark of consciousness from the ever-transcending Beyond opens its eye and then the hour strikes for self-inquiry. Who am I? The answer is Tat twam asi: That thou art. The soul is thrilled. Then again it falls asleep. Again it enters into self-oblivion. Again more questions arise after some time: Whose am I? I am of That. Where have I come from? From That. To Whom am I returning? To That. For Whom am I here on earth? For That.

Then the soul is satisfied. The soul now is fully prepared for its journey upward, high, higher, highest. At this moment the soul sees the Self, an exact prototype of the Supreme Being here on earth. Then the evolution of the soul starts properly. The soul, from the mineral life enters into the plant life, from the plant to the animal life, from the animal life to the human, and from the human into the divine life. While in the human the soul brings down peace, light and bliss from above. First it offers these divine qualities to the heart, then to the mind, then to the vital, then to the gross physical. When Illumination takes place, we see it in the heart, we see it in the physical mind, in the vital, in the gross physical body.

The Upanishads are also called Vedanta. It means it is the end of the Vedas or the cream of the Vedas, the essence of the Vedas. Again, it is said Vedanta is the end of all difference, where there can be no difference between the lowest and the highest, between the finite and the infinite.

AUM

Our journey starts with aspiration. What is aspiration? It is the inner cry, inner hunger for the infinite vast. Aspiration has the most sincere friend: concentration. How do you concentrate, where do you concentrate? We concentrate on an object or on a subject or on a being or on a form or on the formless. When we concentrate with the help of the mind, we feel that eventually we shall see the vastness of the truth. When we concentrate with the help of the heart, we feel that one day we shall feel the intimacy with the universal consciousness and God the eternal Beloved. When we concentrate with the help of our soul’s light, we feel that man is God in his preparation and God is man in his culmination.

The unaspiring mind is our real problem. The human mind is necessary to some extent; otherwise we shall remain in the animal domain. But we have to know that the human mind is very limited. The human mind is insufficient. In the human mind there cannot be any abiding light, life, or delight. The human mind tells us that the finite is the finite, infinite is infinite. There is a yawning gulf between the two. They are like the North Pole and the South Pole. Whatever is infinite can never be finite and vice-versa. Infinity, the human mind will take as God. When it is something finite, it is simply impossible for the human mind to feel that that too is God. Also this mind quite often feels that because of His greatness God is aloof and indifferent.

Now when we meditate in the heart we come to realise that God is infinite plus God is omnipotent. If He is infinite, on the strength of His omnipotence He can also be finite. Because of His omnipotence He is the finite, He is a little, small, tiny insect. He exists in our multifarious activities; He is everywhere. He includes everything, He excludes nothing. This is what our inner meditation can offer us. Our heart’s meditation also tells us that God is dearer than the dearest and that He is our only Beloved.

Inspiration, aspiration and realisation — these are the three rungs of the spiritual ladder. When we want to reach the infinite from the finite with God’s boundless bounty, the first rung is inspiration, the second rung is aspiration, and the third rung is realisation and then we reach our destined Goal.

To achieve the Highest, we become inspiration, aspiration and realisation; and to manifest the Highest here on earth, we become Compassion, Concern and Love. This is how we start our journey; this is how we end our journey. Again, when we become one with the Inner Pilot, inseparably one with the Inner Pilot, there is no beginning, there is no end. His cosmic lila, divine Game, is birthless and endless. In human realisation, God within us is aspiration and realisation bound by earth-consciousness, bound by earthly time. But in a divine realisation, God is the Beyond, the ever-transcending Beyond. He plays the Game of the ever-transcending Beyond. He Himself is the aspiration of the ever-transcending Beyond and He Himself is the manifestation of the ever-transcending Beyond. And when we consciously know Him, realise Him, become inseparably one with Him, we play His divine Game, the Game of Eternity, Infinity and Immortality.

AUM, AUM, AUM…

Only one hope

Break asunder all my hopes.
Only keep one hope,
And that hope is to learn
The language of Your inner Silence
In my utter unconditional surrender.
In Your clear and free Sky
I shall be calm and perfect.
The bird of my heart is dancing today
In the festival of supernal Light.

The Cosmic Gods — Agni³

I wish to give a short talk on Agni. Agni is one of our cosmic gods. He is second only to Indra. Indra, Agni, Varuna, Mitra and Rudra are some of the cosmic gods and there are many, many others. Today I would like to speak on Agni, the Fire-God.

You all know that the Rigveda is our most ancient, most sacred and most hallowed scripture. It is most sacred and at the same time, most profound, this Rigveda. In the Vedas you will read about Indra, the Lord of the Gods, who is considered the most important of the cosmic gods. Next to him is Agni. About two hundred verses were offered to this particular god, Agni.

Agni means fire. The fire refers to the aspiring flame that rises from our inmost being; again Agni refers to the Fire-God himself. We are all aspirants. We are all seekers after the infinite Truth. It is we who have to embody Agni, the flame of aspiration, in the inmost recesses of our hearts; again we have to grow upwards with this flame until we become the embodiments of Agni, the Fire-God himself.

There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Samadeveda, the Yajurveda and the Atharvaveda. The Rigveda happens to be the most ancient and at the same time, the most significant of the Vedas. In the Rigveda Agni is the first of the cosmic gods to be invoked; not Indra, not any other god. Our Hindu scripture starts with Agni. Before I began this talk, I quoted and sang several times, the following shloka from the Rigveda:

aghnimīḷe purohitaṃ yajñasya devaṃ ṛtvījam hotāraṃ ratnadhātamam

aghnimīḷe means “I adore or worship the Flame, Agni”. purohitaṃ yajñasya means “the priest, the household priest, of the sacrifice”. Devam is “divine” and ṛtvījam is the priest or minister who officiates at the sacrifice. hotāraṃ is the summoner or the invoker. Ratnadhā means “the one who founds or establishes the jewel of ecstasy, the inner wealth, the nectar”; tamam is the superlative of Ratnadhā. It means now Rat nadhātamam “the one who most founds the inner ecstasy”. So the first verse to Agni runs thus in free translation:

Now here at this point, I would like to mention one thing. Translation can never do justice to these sublime and profound Sanskrit words. I use the English words priest and minister and so forth, but I beg to be excused for doing so. These English equivalents can never convey the word ritvik, the Invoker, the Summoner of the Supreme, the one who officiates at the sacrifice. Anyone who knows both Sanskrit and English will immediately feel that there is a yawning gulf between the Sanskrit words ritvik, hotāram and the English words priest, minister and so forth.

Let me explain a little about the priest, Agni. He is at once three different priests: first he is the praying priest. He is praying on our behalf, on behalf of the earth-consciousness. Then he is the officiating priest, closer to what we might call a minister of the church. He officiates at the divine sacrifice on our behalf. In his third aspect he is the priest who bestows the divine wealth upon us. This last priest carries our aspiration to the highest and brings down the message of the Highest for us. As I have said very often, a spiritual master enters into the disciples’ ignorance and carries the ignorance up into the highest. Then he brings down God’s Peace, Light and Bliss. So the Master is a messenger boy. Here also Agni plays the part of a messenger. He takes our human aspiration to the Absolute Supreme and brings down Divine Grace into our unlit and crying humanity.

Now I wish to tell you something about the origins of our Sanskrit language. About the beginning of our physical creation, we do not know a great deal in terms of concrete facts. But we know that all the ancient cultures had their own way of understanding and describing the origin of the creation. Hindu books describe the beginning of the universe in various ways. The Bible explains it in another way. Almost all scriptures, even those of the primitive tribes, have their own unique way of dealing with the beginning of creation. Now about the beginning of language or the beginning of human aspiration in the form of language, there is a particular pattern that many languages followed.

In Sanskrit, the mother of all our Indian languages, A is the first letter of the alphabet as it is in English. Agni is the first and foremost priest and his name starts with A. The beginning of the Veda starts with a hymn to Agni, so the Veda starts off with A. Now let us look very briefly at some Western languages. Hebrew begins with aleph and Greek with alpha, the same sound approximately as our A. Latin and the various languages derived from it, such as Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, etc. also begin with the letter A. So also do the Teutonic languages. In fact, probably all the languages of the Indo-European language group begin with the sound “a” and many other language groups also start their alphabet with this sound. We can be proud of our human oneness. It seems that the first sound that arose from the human consciousness at the very beginning of the awakening of the human race was the sound “a” symbolised by the letter A. When people first tried to communicate with each other, the first sound that came from their lips was undoubtedly “a”. Even an infant’s first cry is the sound “a-a-a”. So A symbolises our root sound. The source is one; one source.

To be continued

Meditations

1.

Unlike us, God has only two friends.
But, in God’s case, His friends are real, dependable and fulfilling.
With His friend, Love, He made His appearance.
With His friend, Joy, He is manifesting Himself.

2.

To love God soulfully and constantly is to cancel our determined appointments with ignorance and death.

3.

Suffering is not punishment. Suffering is an experience of God in man crying for the reality’s perfection.

4.

A totally dedicated soul can easily pass God’s examination without meditation.
Now, what is dedication?
Dedication is the secret of meditation.

Introduction

These stories are not my stories. They have been told and retold by countless people and God alone knows who the first authors were. Each person tells these stories with some colouring, in a slightly different way. Most of the stories involve the great Mogul Emperor Akbar and his minister and court jester, Birbal; and the King Krishna Chandra and his minister and court jester, Gopal Bhanr.

I do hope that my spiritual comments will inspire the sincere seekers of the eternal Truth to lead a better, higher and more inspiring life.

The son of an ass

There was once a King and he had a minister. The minister was also the court jester. He used to amuse the King with his wit, his talent and his earthly wisdom. The King was very fond of this particular minister.

One day the King was a bit upset. His favourite minister displeased him while he was in this mood and he burst out, “You are the son of an ass!”

The minister immediately replied, “You are perfectly right in your statement. That is why I consider you to be my true father.”

Spiritual comments

The son reflects the light of the father. If I am a spiritual man and you accept me as your true father, that means that you are also a spiritual man.

God is Divine. Since we are all His children, we are nothing but divine.

Don't insult a fool

One day the minister asked the King, “Why is it that the sun always rises in the east and sets in the west every day? Can it not sometimes rise in the west and set in the east?”

The King said, “Only a fool like you can ask this kind of question and only another fool like you can answer it.”

“Yes, I know that,” replied the minister, “and that is why I have come to you.”

Spiritual comments

When some of you ask me questions, no matter what kind of question it is, I never tell you that you are stupid to ask such questions. Go and ask somebody else this kind of silly question — even ask one of my more advanced disciples — and they will simply laugh at you and tell you to use your brain. No, no matter what kind of question you ask, even if it is a kindergarten question, absolutely childish, I try to answer it wholeheartedly. If your standard is of the kindergarten, I try to enter into that class and take you, with my inner assurance, to the highest class.

Why do I do it? Always we have to feel that the other person really does not know and that is why he is asking us. There are some mischievous fellows who know the answer and ask the question just for the sake of asking. There are some smart-alecks when I talk at the universities, who have read some books. They know the answers to the questions they ask me, although from the mental level. Yet they ask me the questions just for the sake of argument, fun, to show off, or to challenge me. But again, there are some people who have the same question, not from the mental level. They are undeveloped, but they are sincere, they are aspiring. When I answer the questions of the smart-alecks, they themselves don't get any benefit, but the sincere ones who are still undeveloped get the benefit.

When you need something from someone who has it, you have to feel that he is the extension of your consciousness. If I want to get something done, in the physical plane, I won't be able to do something like paint the walls and ceiling of the church myself. But I extend my consciousness to my disciples. When I tell them to do it, they do it. When it is a matter of inner awakening, spirituality and all that, I know it better than you do. That is why when you need something I give it to you. But in the physical world, when it is a matter of physical labor, you have more capacity than I have. That is why I ask you to do it.

When you do work for me, at that time you are not a fool. At that time you are entering into your larger consciousness which has illumination, realisation and perfection. And when I enter into you, I enter into my larger consciousness, where I have the capacity to do physical labor. In this way we fulfil one another. The Master enters into the physical aspect, dynamic aspect, which is required in order to live on earth. The Master does not think that he is foolishly lowering his own consciousness. He is expanding it by entering into you. Then, when you, as disciples, come to me for Light, Peace and Bliss, you have also come to the right person. You are wise to come to me to get what you need inwardly, for I am the right person. I can give it to you. I also go to the right person, to you, to get the things I need outwardly.

You disciples can renovate the outer building. And when you want to erect the inner building in your heart, where you can keep the inner shrine safe and where you can grow into the Highest, then it is your wisdom that brings you to me. Here there is no stupidity at all. It is our real wisdom light that brings the Master to the disciple to get things done in the outer world and the disciple to the Master to get something inner, something divine, that he would not be able to get elsewhere.

The depth of gratitude and the height of ingratitude

The king wanted to see two creatures: the most ungrateful and the most grateful beings on earth. So he asked his favourite minister to bring him, on the following morning, the most ungrateful creature and the most grateful creature on earth.

The poor minister was thrown into a sea of doubt and worry. Whom should he select as the most grateful and the most ungrateful creature on earth? The minister had never lost in any of these little games with the King, but tomorrow if he could not bring these two creatures to the King, the King would be terribly disappointed. Also, everybody would know that at last the minister had lost the game and perhaps the King would try to appoint somebody else in his place. The minister thought and thought and at last he decided who he would take to the King.

The following day he asked his son-in-law to come with him to the palace and he also brought his own dog. When he entered the King’s presence with his dog, the King became angry. “You fool, why do you bring your dog into my palace?” he shouted.

“Please wait, your Majesty,” said the minister.

“I told you to bring me two persons,” said the King. “I see only one human being and one dog. Now, how are you going to fulfil my yesterday’s wish?”

“Your Majesty, this is my son-in-law,” said the minister. “No matter what I give him — thousands of rupees, clothes, furniture, anything — he will never be grateful. On the contrary, he always feels that he deserves more and more. He feels that he has done me the greatest favour possible by marrying my daughter. All sons-in-law think that when they marry someone’s daughter they are doing him a tremendous favour and naturally they deserve everything. So you see, I have given him my dearest daughter, my money, my house, my prestige, everything and even then he is not satisfied. He will never be grateful. He will always feel that he deserves something more. ”

“Now look at this dog, I give the dog practically nothing — just a little food (and sometimes I even forget to give him that) and a floor to sleep on — and even then, how grateful, how faithful, how devoted he is. All the time he stays in front of my door, eager to protect me. If somebody wants to commit a theft or hurt me, he will bark, bite and chase the culprit away. All dogs are like this. Give them a piece of bread and they are ready to die for you. The dog is ready to offer his own life for you and what does he get in return? Nothing but a little food.

Look at the gratitude of the dog. This is the difference between the most ungrateful being and the most grateful being.”

Then the King said, “Why should we keep this ungrateful being on earth? The best thing is to kill him. Your son-in-law must be killed immediately. I don’t want such an ungrateful person on earth. All ungrateful persons should be killed.”

But the minister quickly said, “Why only my son-in-law? If my son-in-law must be killed, all sons-in-law must be killed. They are all ungrateful almost to the same extent.”

“Yes,” agreed the King. “All sons-in-law have to be killed. Since all sons-in-law fall into the same category, they all have to be killed.”

The King was about to order all sons-in-law to be brought to the palace and killed when the minister said, “Wait, your Majesty.”

“Why?” asked the King.

“You are also somebody’s son-in-law,” said the minister. “Why, the queen’s father is living right here in the palace. That means you also have to be killed.”

At this, the King changed his mind and nobody was killed.

Spiritual comments

Now, who is grateful and who is ungrateful in the spiritual life? In the spiritual life, the most grateful person is he who feels that the Master has accepted him out of his infinite bounty, not that he deserves the Master’s kindness, compassion and everything. Gratitude will flow only when you see that you do not really deserve it. If you feel that you do not even deserve to be his disciple — you are not even in the world of aspiration — but he is bringing, bringing, bringing you to the Light; then your gratitude will come. This feeling is not false modesty, far from it. False modesty I never appreciate. But if somebody feels that he is really in darkness and the Master brought him to the Light even before he cried for it, then only one can have real gratitude.

You people are under the impression that you came to the Centre and that is why I saw you. But I wish to say no. The Divine in me, the Supreme in me brought you to the Centre. This should be your attitude. He who chooses God has already been chosen by God. God here means the Divine in me. He who chooses the Divinity inside me has to feel that I had long ago chosen him. If I had not, there are many schools that you might have gone to. Why did you come to me? Just because one of my inner beings or the Supreme in me had gone and kindled the flame of aspiration in you, that is why you came. You have to know that only when you feel, that I had chosen you before you even dared to think of my existence on earth, then only will gratitude come. If you feel that you came to me, therefore you don’t have to feel gratitude, it is not true. I came and knocked at your heart’s door. That is why you came to me.

Ungrateful persons are those who deliberately think that they are not the chosen children of their Master. Everybody is chosen; everybody has to feel it. Each person must feel that he has to be grateful. If a person thinks, “No, the Master thinks only about others. He has no time to think of me”, it is not true. This year’s Father’s Day message said, “I shall not fail you if you can dare to think that I care for you.” This is my Father’s Day message to each and every disciple of mine. “I shall not fail you if you can dare to think that I care for you.”

An ungrateful person is he who can never think that I care for him. If any of you think that Guru does not care for you, he is the most ungrateful person on earth. If I don’t care for you then why did I enter into your heart and bring you into my boat, into my inner house, to my door, into my very room? Just because I care for you, that is why I brought you into my heart’s room. And just because I care for you, you are still in my boat. If I did not care for you, you would not be here. If you think that I don’t care for you, it means that you are cherishing your own self-imposed ignorance.

I shall not fail you if you can dare to think that I care for you. Ungrateful persons are those who constantly cherish the idea that I do not care for them, I do not care at all. And grateful persons are those who feel that I went to them first, I entered into them, I brought them into me so that they could have Light.

At least in one way I must please you, Master

There was a rich man who wanted to hire a new servant. He told the applicant, “I will hire you provided that you please me.”

The servant said, “I shall please you in every way.”

“Then cook for me today,” said the rich man. “Make me a delicious meal.”

“I have never cooked in my life,” replied the servant.

“All right,” said the rich man. “If you do not know how to cook proper food, then bring me a mango from the tree over there. ”

“How shall I get it?” asked the servant. “I have never climbed a mango tree. I will fall down and break my legs. I had not better try it.”

“All right,” said the master. “Then bring me a glass of water. Here is a glass.”

“I can bring it,” said the servant, “but if I drop the tumbler it will break. I shall bring it, but if it breaks please don’t blame me.”

The master said, “When I asked you to cook, you said you couldn’t cook. When I asked you to bring me a mango, you said you couldn’t climb the tree. Now I am asking you to bring me a glass of water and you say that on the way the tumbler may drop and break. In that case, let me do everything.”

So the master cooked a delicious meal, brought mangoes from the tree and brought water to the table. Then he said to the servant, “Come now. Sit down with me and let us eat.”

“At least in one way I must please you,” said the servant. “On three occasions I could not perform your task, but this time I can easily do it,” and he sat down to eat with the master.

Spiritual comments

In the spiritual life also, when I ask two or three unfortunate disciples to do something for me, they say, “Ah, that is too difficult for me. No, I cannot do it, it is impossible.” Then, the following day I say, “Do this,” and their immediate reply is, “O, that is also not possible for me to do.” If they are young, then they say, “If I do this, what will my parents think of me? Since I am staying under their roof, I have to listen to them.” Whatever I ask of them, that is the one thing they cannot do.

Then I may say, “From tomorrow you come and work with me, right in front of me in my house.” They have done nothing else that I asked. Whether I am pleased or displeased I won’t say. But if they cannot do anything else, then the last job is for them to come and just be in my room in front of me, or move around me, do some gardening work or do some cooking or something in the Centre itself. Then they say, “O that I can do. I have displeased you before, but this work I can easily do.” This is the reply I get from those disciples.

When it is an important matter, when we want something to be done which needs sacrifice, which needs real love, real devotion, at that time we don’t get any co-operation from the disciples. But when it is a matter of showing off, that somebody is in front of the Guru, talking or chatting, that kind of job they can do for 24 hours. But when I am not around, “out of sight, out of mind”. If I ask them to do some work it will take a long time.

Here is Nivedan. When I come to Puerto Rico, in one week he can finish three magazines, whereas in my absence, it takes him three months to finish one. I am saying this now, but he has improved. Now he does it. Previously, when I was not here, when Chaitanya was in charge, six months, seven months the magazine was in arrears. When I came, six months’ job was done in two weeks. Like that, everyone wants attention. If I am right in your presence, then you get joy from your work and everything is done. When I am not around to encourage you, inspire you and flatter you, then the work seems like a real work and nobody wants to do it. But that is not the right attitude. You always have to do what the Master asks, when the Master asks. Whether I am here in Puerto Rico, or in Jamaica, or elsewhere, do it. Do it for me. Then only is it real dedicated service. If you only work when I make it easy and fun by being around you, that is not enough.

Beyond the physical body is the soul. This body will last here for a few years and then it will die. At that time will you stop working for me altogether? My physical body will no longer be on earth but my soul, my inner beings will continue to help you, inspire you and work for you in every way. If you care for the soul, my soul, then you will always try to please me in my own way. Otherwise, whenever something will please you, give you joy and satisfaction, that thing you are ready to do immediately. And if it can be done in front of others, then you are ready to make every possible sacrifice. But if it is not done in front of others, sometimes even if it is in front of me only, then devotion is less, love is less. But when there are twenty disciples watching and you are asked to do a particular thing for me, at that time devotion comes. As if from above, it descends like a torrent of rain.

But that devotion is all false, absolutely false. True devotion is when, in the Master’s physical absence, you do something for him. Then if nobody is observing, when you do something for him that is second. In my physical absence when you devotedly work for me, you will get one hundred out of a hundred. In my physical presence when nobody is watching, if you devotedly work for me, at that time you will get ninety. But if you can only work with so-called devotion in front of others, when there are others to observe you and admire you, then you will get zero. You are a fool. You think that others admire you when you do something for the Master, but they are only inwardly cursing you and your forefathers.

When you work for the Master, the best thing is always to do it like a divine thief, secretly. Otherwise, everyone’s jealousy will enter into you. Nobody should see what you are doing. If you can do dedicated service, selfless service in that way, then you can please me most.

Music section

Alo

Alo, Alo, Alo
Mukti shikha jwalo
Alo, Alo, Alo
Kripa sindhu dhalo
Alo, Alo, Alo
Amaratar bhalo
Alo, Alo, Alo
Laho amar khalo

Alo, Alo, Alo!
Kindle the flame of liberation within me.
Pour down the ocean of Compassion into my heart.
You are Immortality’s Divinity.
Accept my darkness, bondage, ignorance and death.

Ami gahi gan

Ami gahi gan
Tumi gaha bale
Tumi hasa bale hasi
Banshari bajao hriday gabhire
Taita hayechhi banshi
Tumi je amar, ami je tomar
Ei mor parichay
Ekadhara tumi janaka janani
Chinmoyi Chinmoy

I sing because You sing.
I smile because You smile.
Because You play on the flute
I have become Your flute.
You play in the depths of my heart.
You are mine, I am Yours.
This is my sole identification.
In one Form You are my Mother and Father eternal,
and Consciousness-moon,
Consciousness-sun all-pervading.