Europe-Blossoms

AUM 1165e2. During his lecture tour in Europe this summer, in addition to giving twenty lectures, Sri Chinmoy also wrote one thousand poems. The poems will be published under the title: //Europe-Blossoms//. Each of the following ten poems was selected from a group of one hundred.

God-embrace²

I fasted to realise God;
Therefore
God laughed at my earth-life
Of stupidity.

I cried to realise God;
Therefore
God smiled at my Heaven-life
Of necessity.

I prayed to realise God;
Therefore
God appreciated my earth-life
Of sincerity.

I meditated to realise God;
Therefore
God embraced my Heaven-life
Of reality.

The guide³

You want to know the way
To the kingdom of falsehood.
Just give a chance to your proud mind.
Your mind will easily prove
To be a matchless guide.

    You want to know the way
To the kingdom of truth.
Just wake your soulful heart.
Your heart will immediately prove
To be a faultless,
peerless and deathless guide.

Try a little more⁴

Father, bless this little heart;
It really tries to fulfil You.

Daughter, tell your heart to try a little more.

Father, bless this little mind;
It really tries to listen to You.

Daughter, tell your mind to try a little more.

Father, bless this little vital;
It really tries to be sincere to You.

Daughter, tell your vital to try a little more.

Father, bless this little body;
It really tries to serve You.

Daughter, tell your body to try a little more.

Lord, bless me⁵

Lord, bless me with a cry,
And let my cry come to You
Immediately.

Lord, bless me with a smile,
And let my smile come to You
Slowly and steadily.

Lord, bless me with a surrender-heart,
And let me place my surrender-heart at Your Feet
Cheerfully, unreservedly and unconditionally.

Keep me in your heart⁶

Father, keep me in your heart.
I am afraid
You will leave me.

Father, stay in my heart.
I am afraid
I shall lose you.

Daughter, I shall place you
In God’s Heart,
I shall keep God In your heart,
So that I cannot leave you,
So that you will not lose me.

Lean upon me⁷

Lean upon my heart;
I shall give you
What I have and what I am:
Aspiration-drop.

Lean upon my soul;
I shall give you
What God has and what God is:
Compassion-sea.

She blossomed⁸

She blossomed in perfect Beauty
To embody God.
She blossomed in perfect Duty
To reveal God.
She blossomed in perfect Immortality
To manifest God.

God is listening⁹

God is listening;
Just speak quietly.
God is listening;
Just speak devotedly.
Believe me,
God is not and cannot be deaf
To your heart-longing.
His Compassion-perfection
Has caught the very first faint cry
From your oneness-heart.
God is listening;
Just speak quietly and devotedly.

It really happened¹⁰

It really happened:
God asked me to come down
    And work for Him on earth.

    It really happened:
I begged Him not to throw me
    Into the Truth-devouring,
    Light-devouring earth.

    It really happened:
God told me that my service-might
    Was badly needed for earth-transformation,
And that I was supremely chosen
    By His own Height supreme.

Each thought¹¹

Each thought is a golden opportunity:
Each thought can be a prayer.
Each thought can be a God-lover.
Each thought can be a man-transformer.
Each thought can be a world-liberator.
Each thought should be an
Ever-transcending preparation
And an ever-manifesting perfection.

The Master's hundredth birthday¹²

There once lived a spiritual Master who was very, very old. On his hundredth birthday God came to him to bless him for his many long years of service. While he was receiving God’s blessing, the Master said to God, “Father, are you blessing me or cursing me?”

“Son, what is the matter? What is wrong with you?” asked God.

“Father, I am afraid of what you are doing now.”

“Why are you afraid of me?”

“I am not afraid of you, but I am afraid of your request and loving demand. I am afraid that you will ask me to stay on earth for another hundred years. At the age of twenty I realised you. You asked me to reveal you, manifest you and help you establish perfection on earth. Perhaps you do not know, Father, what kind of suffering I have been going through. Your earth is blind to my soul’s light. Your Heaven is deaf to my inner cry. Had I known that God-manifestation is infinitely more difficult than God-realisation I would not have cared for God-manifestation at all. You want me to illumine humanity, but the power that is required to illumine humanity either you have not given me or you have given me, and I do not know how to utilise it. In any case, whether I have the power or do not have the power, all my efforts are useless unless and until the power takes effect on earth. Do you agree with me, Father?”

“To some extent I do agree with you. But I wish to tell you that it is not your fault that the world is not accepting you and listening to you. It is earth’s lack of receptivity that is responsible.”

“Then tell me, Father, who is responsible for earth’s lack of receptivity?”

“Son, it is I who am responsible not only for earth’s lack of receptivity, but also for all earth’s weaknesses, imperfections and limitations. It is my Dream-boat and my Reality-shore that are responsible. My Dream-boat does not sail as fast as I want it to, and my Reality-shore does not satisfy my Dream-boat as soon as it reaches the shore; therefore, neither my Reality-shore nor my Dream-boat are happy with each other or with themselves. I try to keep the boat and the shore together. I try to feed them together, please them together and fulfil them together. But very often when earth plays the role of the Reality-shore and Heaven plays the role of the Dream-boat, earth’s achievements, possessions and treasures are so limited, so insignificant, that when the Dream-boat reaches earth’s shore it is frustrated. And when Heaven becomes the Reality-shore and earth the Dream-boat, when the Dream-boat reaches Heaven, either Heaven’s superiority complex, its indifferent attitude, its reluctance to share its plenitude or the bewilderment created for earth by the magnificence of Heaven’s treasure disappoint the Dream-boat badly. Anyway, I do not blame you, my son; I do not blame my Dream-boat or my Reality-shore; I blame myself.”

“Father, I do not want to blame you, but I wish to make a suggestion, if I may.”

“Son, let me hear your suggestion.”

“Father, your game should be played by four separate persons. As in a relay race four runners are required to complete the race, even so in this divine race we can have four runners. The first runner will realise you; the second will reveal you; the third will manifest you; and the fourth will complete the race and establish perfection on earth. Since you are by far the fastest runner, the fourth one will be yourself.”

“Son, there are some runners who feel that if they alone complete the race that will give them the most happiness. There are some students who, instead of covering a certain distance and leaving it to others to complete the course of study, want to go straight through from kindergarten to university. They feel that if they go to the end of their course, then alone will they be satisfied. Of course, I must say, my son, that there are some children of mine who make most sincere promises that they will manifest me after they have realised me. I give them realisation on that condition, but they are so clever that once they get their realisation they cry and cry for their heavenly existence. They don’t want to stay on this ignorant and imperfect earth. There are also some really clever children of mine who tell the world before they die that they will come back again. They tell their disciples and the world that they will come back again and again to illumine mankind until all human beings have realised me. Of course, there are some who really mean what they say. They do try to keep their promise for earth’s transformation by coming back to earth again. But unfortunately, most of them do not. Also, there are some to whom I give rest because they have worked very hard; and I know that if I want to send them into the world to work for me again, they will gladly go, not only once, but as many times as I want them to. Naturally, those children of mine are closest to me. Because they have pleased me to such an extent on earth, I feel obliged to please them in Heaven, and I do.

“Now, son, let me change the subject. Tell me, is there any special reason why today, on your birthday, you are so sad and depressed?”

“My sadness has been a daily experience since I began to accept disciples. Needless to say, I accepted disciples at your express command. Father, I tell you a supreme secret: to accept disciples is to lose one’s inner freedom.”

“Son, why do you say that?”

“Father, you take human incarnation and accept disciples. Then see if you have to lose your inner freedom or not.”

“Son, explain to me in detail what you mean by losing your inner freedom.”

“It is very simple, Father. I have thousands and thousands of disciples. Now you know it is you who asked me to take certain close disciples in whom you had faith, to work for your manifestation on earth. But you do not realise that those in whom you do not have much faith feel miserable. They feel that I do not care for them personally, and that is why they are not close to me. They feel that they can do much better than those who are close to me. They feel that it is sheer blind partiality that makes me keep some disciples closer to me than they are. Their sufferings, not to speak of their jealousy, anger and other undivine qualities, take away all my joy. Also, there are some disciples whom you wanted to be close to me for your own reasons which I do not myself understand. I keep them close to me only to please you, but they have disappointed me hundreds and thousands of times. When they disappoint me, all the joy goes out of my life. And you never listen to me. I tell you that everybody should be given an equal chance. As they fail me, all those who are close should be thrown aside, and others should get the opportunity to please me. They are also your children.

“I could keep all the work on a day-to-day basis and have new disciples do the jobs each day so that nobody will feel that he is important, not to speak of indispensable. But you tell me that each seeker is like a plant. It has to grow slowly and steadily into a huge tree. If I change the plant to a new place every day, it will not develop properly. In fact, it may totally die. But you expect much from your children, especially from your selected children, and the frustration that I go through when I see that the plants I am caring for so lovingly are not growing at all satisfactorily is beyond measure. Through my disciples you teach me the lesson of renunciation most powerfully.

“You made me the spiritual leader of thousands of people. When you ask me to tell them to do something, I do tell them. And when I see that they are not doing what they are supposed to, I feel miserable because either I have not conveyed your message to them clearly or they do not love you in me to such an extent that they will do the things you have told me to tell them. And I also feel miserable that I fail to please you because they are such imperfect instruments. Why I cannot make them more perfect I do not know. Perhaps I do not have enough concern for them.”

God felt very sorry for the frustration of the poor Master. He said, “You do have concern for them. It is their own ingratitude that prevents them from giving importance to your advice at every moment, and thus becoming perfect. When you ask your dear ones to do something in front of others, they get a lion’s strength. They get such joy and pride that out of thousands of people you have chosen them to do a special thing for you. But when you ask them to do the same thing privately, they feel that nobody is there to appreciate and admire them. Then they feel that it can be delayed, and even if it is not done at all, nothing will happen, for you will forgive them. Son, I now also feel that you should not keep anybody permanently close to you unless and until that person consciously, devotedly and unconditionally tries to please you at every moment. Use your occult and spiritual power and know in the inner world whether they are really trying to please you in your own way, which is my own way. In front of others they will try to please you at every moment because there are people around to see how great they are. But inwardly they are behaving in a very undivine way. Use your occult power to know what they are doing in their everyday lives, in their inner activities.

“Those who are one step behind can easily come forward if they develop real love, devotion and surrender to me in you. You have to give them the assurance that they need not always lag behind. Equal opportunity is given to everyone. The journey starts at the same point, but some walk fast and pass their fellows considerably. Alas, those fast walkers may become tired. They may become proud. Pride is one thing that makes disciples weak so that they do not work well or divinely any more. Another thing is insecurity. Although others are or were far behind in spiritual progress, they become afraid that at any moment these people will catch up with them and surpass them, and they will lose all their glory and their position. This feeling of insecurity also weakens disciples considerably. Because they think constantly of others, they cannot walk any farther. So, son, make it clear to all your spiritual children that their love, devotion and surrender to me inside you have to be replenished not only every day, not only every hour and every minute, but every second if somebody wants to be your best and most perfect instrument, your closest and most beloved child.”

“Father, I am really grateful to you for granting me the inner and outer freedom for acceptance and rejection, for concern and indifference, according to each disciple’s merit. Let everyone get you in me according to his or her aspiration and dedication at every second, and not like old men and women who have served the government faithfully and now receive a pension although they no longer do their jobs. There is no pension in the spiritual life. Love, devotion and surrender can and must increase every second so that divinity can manifest more perfectly and completely every second.”

“Son, I fully agree with your philosophy.”

“Father, this is your philosophy, and today I am telling you outwardly so that you can hear whether I have learned it correctly.”

God’s Light is Infinity’s Life, Immortality’s Soul and Eternity’s Goal.

1.

Love is Life.
Life is Light.
Light is God’s Meditation and man’s salvation.

Interview with the President of Ireland

At 4:00 p.m. on Monday, 1 July 1974, Sri Chinmoy had a private meeting with the President of Ireland, Mr. Erskine Childers, at Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland.

Sri Chinmoy and President Childers discussed the importance of meditation for all people and the involvement of President Childers’ ancestors in Far Eastern affairs, as well as their interest in the religions of both East and West.

During his meeting with Sri Chinmoy [picture above], President Erskine Childers of Ireland commented, “I really believe that in these days of turmoil and strife, we all need something like meditation.”

Interview with the President of Iceland

At 10:00 a.m. on Monday, 22 July 1974, Sri Chinmoy had a private meeting with the President of Iceland, Dr. Kristján Eldjárn, at the presidential offices, Reykjavik, Iceland.

The President and Sri Chinmoy spoke about India’s ancient scriptures, the Vedas, about the common origins of Sanskrit and the Icelandic language, and about Sri Chinmoy’s work at the United Nations.

During his meeting with Sri Chinmoy [picture above], President Kristján Eldjárn stated, “I should imagine that there would be quite a high level of interest in what you say here in Iceland.”

Questions on God

AUM 1177-1185. New York Centre

Question: When does God show us what work we must do?

Sri Chinmoy: God shows us what work we must do if we can soulfully promise to Him that our work will be nothing but an extension of His divine Manifestation. Then He is bound to show us our work. But if our work is an expansion of our ego, God does not recognise us. At that time we are nothing but strangers to Him.

Question: How can I see myself as God sees me?

Sri Chinmoy: God sees you as another God. If you want to see yourself as another God, just become one. In order to become one, abnegate your little ‘i’ and claim your big ‘I’.

Question: God is one but His earthly manifestations are many. How does a Japanese soul reconcile itself aesthetically with an Indian God?

Sri Chinmoy: Poor God! Let us not confine Him either to India or to Japan. Since God’s Beauty is all-pervading, a Japanese soul will not be denied the opportunity to appreciate, admire and grow into God, the ever-increasing Beauty.

Question: Does God like everything that everyone does?

Sri Chinmoy: Let us take God as the supreme Singer. In the morning He sings, in the afternoon He judges His musical talents and in the evening he makes His Song absolutely perfect. God is the Singer, God is the Judge and God is the Perfection-Lover. When God the Perfection-Lover has played His role, He likes everything that He does. God being everything and everybody, ultimately He is bound to like everything that everybody does.

Question: Why does God have so much Compassion that He has to suffer so much for man?

Sri Chinmoy: The best friend of the worst suffering of man is God’s Compassion. God and His Compassion are inseparable. God finds that of all His weapons the Compassion-weapon is the only one that can eventually transform human suffering into divine Bliss; therefore, He uses His Compassion-commander to fight against the commander of suffering, Ignorance. The soldiers that obey the commander of Compassion are concern, patience and forgiveness. The soldiers that fight for the commander of suffering are lethargy, darkness and impurity.

Question: How can we purify evil while walking along the path to God?

Sri Chinmoy: We can purify evil just by making friends with the universal purity. And to make friends with the universal purity we have to give up all that we have and all that we are. What we have is unwillingness and what we are is a mass of ignorance.

Question: How can I be God's child and how can I be God's soldier?

Sri Chinmoy: You can be God’s child if you know how to offer a cry of gratitude to God inside your heart. You can be God’s soldier if you know how to offer a smile of fortitude to God inside your soul. Try, you can and you will succeed.

Question: Is God lonely?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, God is lonely when people consciously and deliberately do not want to participate in His cosmic Game. He is lonely when nobody sails in His Dream-boat to reach His Golden Shore. He is lonely when He sees that nobody attempts to be His eternal friend. He is lonely when He sees that earthly beings do not want to become as divine and supreme as He is.

Question: Does God consider it important for the aspirant to understand his past in order to be free of his unconscious enslavement to its influence?

Sri Chinmoy: God does not consider it at all important for the aspirant to know all about his past before he can free himself from his unconscious connection with it. On the contrary, it is not advisable to understand one’s past. Understanding is an act of the mind. This understanding is of no avail in the inner world. Feeling is of great importance, and oneness-reality is of paramount importance, for feeling and oneness are the products of the heart. If we want to free ourselves from the fetters of the past, we shall not enter into the past, for the past is still unlit, obscure and impure. We have to march forward to where there is hope, light, assurance and promise. Eventually we shall bring into the past the divine wealth of the future to transform and illumine the past. We can take the past as our own home. If we do not go out and work and get a salary, how are we going to survive? Similarly, we go out of the past, enter into the future and bring back with us the wealth of the future once we have received it. Not by staying in the past can we solve the problem ties of the past, but by going beyond and transcending the experiences of the past we can illumine the heart of the past and fulfil the life of the past. When the future illumines the past, the Hour of God dawns for the present, and inside the Hour of God man hears the message of God’s eternal Now: the message of man’s continuous self-transcendence and God’s supreme Satisfaction.

1.

If you are poor in your acceptance of God’s Light, then try at least to be rich in your rejection of the world’s ignorance.

Questions on purity

Question: Can you please tell me why purity is so important? Perhaps I do not actually know what you mean by purity.

Sri Chinmoy: Purity is the light of our soul expressing its divinity through the physical, the vital and the mental. Purity means following the dictates of our Inner Pilot without allowing anti-divine forces to enter into us. Wherever there is a lack of purity there is obscurity, and obscurity is the pioneer of death. What we call obscurity today, is death for us tomorrow. Purity is the only thing that can sustain our divinity. If there is no purity, there is no certainty. If there is no purity, there is no spontaneity. If there is no purity, there is no constant flow of divinity inside us.

Once purity is established, especially in the vital, much, much is accomplished in one’s inner life and outer life. In human purity abides God’s highest Divinity. Man’s purity is God’s Breath. If we have purity we have everything. Purity is tremendous power. We can accomplish anything with purity. But if we lose our purity, although we may have power, wealth or influence, we will crumble; we can easily fall.

Question: Is it possible for a person to become unintentionally involved in the vibrations of someone who is impure?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, it is quite possible. In spite of being absolutely pure oneself, one can become a victim of others’ impurity. What actually happens is that the person who has purity does not have enough power of soul to prevent the impurity of others from entering into his system. That is why spiritual teachers very often tell aspirants not to mix with the outside world, with people who are not pure. The aspirants may be absolutely pure themselves, but if they are not also very strong, then they are helpless. Their purity can be torn to pieces like a rose. The rose is beautiful to look at, and it is the embodiment of purity. But if someone wants to, he can easily tear the rose to pieces.

In our day-to-day life we very often come across people and places that are very impure. While walking along the street a spiritual person may sense tremendous impurity at a particular spot where an ordinary person may not notice anything at all. To an ordinary person all places are practically the same. But a spiritual person knows that purity and impurity vary tremendously from place to place and from person to person. So what you are saying is absolutely true. One can easily be attacked by the impurity of others. The only way to prevent this is by energising oneself with our soul’s power. The soul’s power is always alert and can easily come to our aid.

Question: If we must end the lower vital or sex life for a higher life, then why did God create it? Also, what will happen to the world's population if so many people abstain from the sex life?

Sri Chinmoy: God created the lower vital life to propagate the human species when man had just emerged from the animal kingdom and was still governed largely by his animal propensities. But he expected and fully intended that as man evolved he would purify and divinise his lower vital life. By the time every human being on earth has become so divine that all lower vital activity has ceased, mankind will have evolved a totally new system of reproduction, but this will not happen for thousands of years.

Meanwhile, if you lead a pure, strict spiritual life, God’s creation will not suffer. If you are a celibate of the highest order, the world will not suffer from lack of population, because everybody is not accepting the spiritual life right now. You can see in your own family that your brothers and sisters do not care for the spiritual life. Let the world’s population depend on them. You think of God-realisation now. There are more than enough people on earth to take care of the population problem while every aspirant takes care of his God-realisation problem.

Another spiritual Master was asked this same question about forty years ago. He became furious. He said to his disciples, “If you have to think about that instead of about God, then why do you stay in my ashram? Ask me questions that will help you with your immediate spiritual life. You have come here to become God’s children, not to create children of your own.” Spiritual aspirants, as well as those who have not accepted the spiritual life, must remember that each child that a person brings into the world is a tremendous responsibility. Each soul is a spark of the divine Light. When you bring a child into the world, God gives you the responsibility to take care of it in a divine way. If you do not fulfil the responsibility, then not only are you harming the child, but also, because you are not fulfilling God’s Will, you are harming yourself karmically. So it is better for those who still feel the need to indulge in lower vital activity but who do not want to accept the responsibility of caring for children to use some method of birth control. The world population will not fall dangerously low because of this. All the souls that want and need to reincarnate will always have the opportunity.

Question: When we are on the spiritual path, when difficulties and desires come forward is it because the Supreme is bringing them to expedite our spiritual progress, or are these just wrong forces which we have to overcome so that we will run faster?

Sri Chinmoy: The Supreme will not bring extra desires and impurities into our mind or life because we have entered into the life of aspiration and spirituality. It is He who has given us aspiration, so why should He give us desire, which is directly opposite to aspiration? No, He will not deliberately impede our progress in this way. These desires seem suddenly to appear, but they are not really new to us. They existed before in our life, but we did not notice them so much because our life was totally enveloped in myriad desires.

When we become conscious of the divine inner life, when we begin praying and meditating, we realise that desire is a tiger, a ferocious animal which we have been feeding and feeding, and we realise that we must not feed it any more. Then our desires become enraged at us. They say, “All this time you were feeding us and we were most grateful, but now you have started starving us.” Then all the frustrated desires form a league and attack us in every possible way, causing troubles with the family, friends, jobs, emotional relationships and so on.

While we are in the ordinary life there is no intensity. Today we have one desire, tomorrow four and the next day ten or twenty. But we are rarely intense even in trying to achieve and fulfil our own desires. Our desires are mere wishes. We do not have the capacity or the willingness to work to fulfil them. We want to be rich or famous or great or brilliant or beautiful, but far from working to achieve these desires, we will not even pray sincerely for their fulfilment.

When a seeker enters into the spiritual path, if he has not wholeheartedly accepted it, or if he is not far advanced, then during his meditation the same desires may come forward. He will begin to think, “This person is very rich, this person is very beautiful, this person has some good qualities which I do not have.” While he is praying for Peace, Light and Bliss, one part of his being may be consciously and deliberately cherishing the desire to become a multimillionaire. At that time, the intensity of the seeker’s meditation meets with these earthly desires. Then what happens? The intensity enters into the desires and makes them much stronger than they previously were.

Unconsciously or consciously we allow thoughts to come into us, and the intensity of our meditation increases or strengthens them. But the Supreme has not given us these obstacles. He has given us the aspiration to pray for Peace, Light and Bliss. We have associated with desires for many, many years. When we want to break off the connection, these old friends of ours say, “Where are you going? Why should we allow you to go into another room? Are you not satisfied with us? Even if you are not satisfied with us, you have eaten at our table. Now you have to pay the fee. We will not allow you to go.” They will fight with all their strength to bring us back to their domain. With great difficulty we come out of their room and enter into aspiration-room. Then they come and flatter us. They make us feel that we do not need these aspiring qualities; that Peace is unreal, Light is unreal, Bliss is unreal. They say, “Don’t stay there. Come back to us, where everything is real. We shall fulfil you and you shall fulfil us.”

It is through the unillumined mind that desires try to approach us even after we have entered into the life of aspiration. The best thing we can do is never to allow any impurity in the form of desire, doubt, anxiety, jealousy or any unaspiring thoughts to enter our minds during meditation. If a desire comes to us while we are not meditating it is not good to cherish it, but it is infinitely worse to cherish it during meditation. If we cherish desire or any impure thought during meditation, then we are simply strengthening the power of the negative forces and making our own spiritual journey more difficult.

To all seekers I wish to say, at the time of your meditation please be very careful. If you cannot remain in your highest, purest, deepest meditation for more than five minutes, no harm. When the mind begins roaming you can silently recite spiritual poems or chants or sing spiritual songs. But do not allow the mind to enter into desire-land. It is better to build castles in the air where there is only sweetness and imagination, for if you begin cherishing desires, then you will fall.

But when desires come into our life of aspiration, we must not be afraid of them. We must take them as hurdles. It is true that if there are no obstacles or impediments in our way we will run faster. But if there are impediments, each time we cross one hurdle we get additional strength and encouragement to try to cross another one. If we have no hurdles we are fortunate. But if we do have some because of our long association with ignorance, we should feel confident that we will be able to transcend them because we have aspiration, the inner impetus to pass all obstacles and reach the Goal.

If we go deep within, we can see each difficulty as a boon. Formerly we were alone with our difficulties. Now we have become conscious aspirants, so God’s Grace has entered into our lives. God’s Grace is constantly helping the seeker. It stands between the difficulty and the seeker. If one sees millions of difficulties when he sincerely enters into the spiritual life, then he can see them also as millions of blessings, because God’s Grace is in them, illumining them. The sooner difficulties appear before us, the better, because we can surmount them right away. We should not be ungrateful to God, nor should we curse our fate when difficulties appear. We should be grateful that God has brought out all our impurities to be illumined and transcended as soon as possible. We have to face and conquer our enemies either today or tomorrow. If we make ourselves worthy of God’s Compassion and Grace, we will easily be able to overcome our difficulties.

If we find fault with the Supreme’s Law or His way of operating, we are making a mistake. We have to feel that we are lucky that we have entered into the spiritual life. Those who have not launched into the sea of spirituality, who are still wallowing in the pleasures of desire, do not even see the difficulties which surround them. They are totally satisfied with pleasure, which is always followed by frustration. They do not know that there is something else that they need, and that is God’s inner Freedom, inner Light, inner Bliss. Those who are awakened should be pleased that they at least have the ability to see the Goal ahead of them. If there are obstacles in their way, these obstacles cannot prevent them from running toward the Goal.

1.

Light is the real food to eat.
Life is the real opportunity to meet.

Concentration — University lecture¹⁴

Dear seekers, I wish to give a short talk on concentration. In the spiritual life concentration is of paramount importance. Without concentration we cannot make any satisfactory progress. With concentration we can run like a deer. Concentration accelerates our progress toward the Golden Beyond.

Concentration in the physical is attention.
Concentration in the vital is penetration.
Concentration in the mind is observation.
Concentration in the heart is assimilation.
Concentration in the soul is illumination.
Concentration in God is perfection.

Concentration is a seeker’s capacity. His capacity is reality, his reality is divinity and his divinity is immortality.

Concentration is the connecting link between man’s aspiration and God’s Compassion, between earth’s excruciating pangs and Heaven’s liberating Smile.

Concentration is at once the power of rejection and the power of acceptance. A seeker, on the strength of his concentration, rejects the superficial body-substance. On the strength of his concentration, the seeker accepts the inner soul-essence. Concentration is the seeker’s unfailing companion. It is the seeker’s commanding captain and his illumining liberator.

In the morning, when we concentrate on God, we come to realise where God is: God is in the inmost recesses of our hearts. In the afternoon, when we concentrate on God, we come to learn why God exists: He exists precisely for our satisfaction. In the evening, when we concentrate on God, we come to learn who God actually is: God is our unrealised depth; God is our unmanifested height.

Concentration is at once the evolving man’s triumphant success and the manifesting God’s continuous progress here on earth and there in Heaven.

Man concentrates on God. He fights against his teeming doubts and brooding ignorance; therefore, he is a divine hero-warrior. God concentrates on man. In spite of knowing man’s weaknesses, imperfections, limitations, and ignorance-night, God concentrates on man with His infinite Love, eternal Compassion and immortal Life; therefore, God is the Supreme Lover.

When we concentrate on the past, the past awakens our sympathy, our concern, our love for our old life. But a seeker of the highest Truth says that the past is dust. He says so precisely because he sees that the past has not given him God-realisation, so he feels that the past is of no avail. But again, the seeker feels that he needs a solid foundation. If the past had something special to offer him and if he still carries that momentous, precious wealth, then that wealth adds to his present capacity.

Now, when the same seeker concentrates on the present, if he has a free access to his heart and soul, then his spiritual journey is safe. But if he still remains most of the time in his mind — his doubting, suspicious mind, his earth-bound physical mind — then this seeker is suspected by the present itself. The present questions his motives for meditating on the present. The present examines his sincerity to see if he really wants to see the face of Reality in the heart of the present.

Finally, the seeker concentrates on the golden future. This future is in the immediacy of today’s aspiration and tomorrow’s realisation. The future tells the seeker that in today’s heart God is his Dream-boat, and in tomorrow’s heart God will be his Reality-shore.

Concentration has two brothers: meditation and contemplation. Concentration paves the way for the seeker to walk along the path. This path is sunlit, for concentration does not permit any shadow of doubt, any iota of thought to enter in as we proceed to our transcendental Goal. Meditation makes our mind calm and quiet and empties our heart so that the Inner Pilot can have free access to His Throne. Contemplation tells the seeker to play the cosmic Game together with the Supreme Pilot. Concentration is the first rung on the ladder of highest realisation. Meditation is the second rung on the ladder of highest realisation. Contemplation is the last rung on the ladder of highest, supreme realisation.

Each seeker has a specific way to concentrate. Each seeker has a specific thing to concentrate on. Each seeker has a specific way to offer his concentration-power to the world at large, to aspiring humanity. Each seeker has the power of concentration to give constant, dedicated, devoted and unconditional service to God.

1.

Never does God’s divine Light say one thing and man’s real height say another.

Questions and answers

AUM 1194-1195. University of Wyoming

Question: In learning to concentrate, what forms of self-discipline do you use? Sometimes it seems that learning self-discipline is selfish.

Sri Chinmoy: Not at all! Self-discipline is not at all selfish. If I do not discipline myself, if I do not pray and meditate, then how am I going to be of any use to the world or to God? If I pray and meditate, it does not mean that I am neglecting humanity. That is wrong. But there are various ways to offer our dedicated service to humanity. When we pray and meditate, we enter into the root of the life-tree. The root of the life-tree is God, and the branches are the human beings. If we do not water the root, then how are we going to nourish the leaves on the branches? If we do not start at the foot of the tree, how are we going to climb up the tree and reach all the branches? When I pray and meditate, I feel that I am radiating something that I have just received from God: Peace, Light and Bliss. These are the very things that my colleagues, my friends, my relatives, my dear ones desperately need. I am meditating in one corner of the room, but while I am meditating, I am giving inwardly to others what I am receiving from above. If this is not a form of service, then what else is service?

You may think that service is only outer help, but this is not true. Outer help is necessary, but inner help is more important. If somebody is poor, I may give him a dollar because I have money and I am generous. But tomorrow again he will need money and he will have to go to someone else, and also the day after tomorrow. But if light enters into me during my meditation, then I will be able to inspire him and help him permanently. I will inwardly say to him, “Why are you wallowing in the pleasures of lethargy-ignorance? You are strong. Go and work!” Or God will listen to my prayer and in some way or other He will remove that person’s poverty, if it is His Will.

There are many ways to be of service to mankind. The outer way is one way, but the inner way is also most effective. And sometimes, the inner way is more effective than the outer way, for if we help someone in an outer way, again and again he will have the same problem. But if we can go to the core of the problem and help the person who is suffering in an inner way, then his problem will be illumined for good, and he will not have to suffer from it again.

Question: What does it mean to please God in His own way?

Sri Chinmoy: We love God because we feel that He is all love. Just because we love God, we feel that it is our bounden duty to devote ourselves to Him and please Him. But we see that our love and service are not enough; surrender is also necessary. If we do not surrender our individual will to His Will, we will make many mistakes when we try to love Him and serve Him in our own unillumined way. But if we surrender to His Will, then we shall love Him and serve Him in the way He has chosen for us, which is the right way.

I am a spiritual teacher. If a student of mine happened to be here, he might notice that there are no flowers near me. He might think, “The best thing is for me to bring him some flowers.” Now, this student wants to please me by bringing me flowers, because he knows that a spiritual Master always appreciates flowers. But suppose I am thirsty, and right now I need water more than I need flowers. If my student tries to please me by bringing me flowers, he will be pleasing me in his own way, because what I actually wanted from him was something else. In God’s case also, unless we surrender to God’s Will, we will try to please Him in our way. We may think that if we do this, then God will be extremely pleased with us. But how do we know that God wants us to do that thing? He may want something else from us.

In the spiritual life, when we please God in His own way, unconditionally, then we will feel really satisfied. In His satisfaction is our satisfaction. Many people try to derive satisfaction from the fulfilment of their desires. But when one desire is fulfilled, another desire looms large. In the fulfilment of desire there is no satisfaction, only constant greed, constant need. But if we enter into the life of aspiration, we want to reach the Highest, to fulfil and manifest God. But how can we reach the Highest unless and until the Highest pulls us toward Itself? It is the Compassion-light of the Supreme that elevates our consciousness and lifts us up. This takes place only when our surrender is complete.

Our surrender to God has to be unconditional. We will give God what we have and what we are, which is ignorance. If we can give our ignorance to God unconditionally and permanently, then God can fulfil Himself in and through us. Unfortunately, one day we want to get rid of our ignorance and the next day, when our aspiration is not strong, we cherish and treasure our ignorance. But if we can totally and unconditionally surrender our ignorance, which is our coveted possession, to God, then it will not come back. At that time, we will get total satisfaction from our life, and we will truly be pleasing God in His own way.

Mugdha ami tomar gane

/Mugdha ami tomar gane/
/Shunbo kahar gan/
/Tushto ami tomar dhane/
/Sabar shera dan/
/Chalar pathe jatai badha/
/Tatai amar jai/
/Ami tomar alor dulal/
/Ananta akkhoy/

/Bengali Transliteration/

Delighted with and enamoured of Your songs,
Whose songs else have I to hear?
Satisfied with Your gifts unparalleled,
The more obstructions I encounter on the way,
The greater will be my victory.
I am the child of Your Light Supreme, infinite and eternal.

[English Translation]

Aphorisms on Light

1.

The Light of the Supreme is His Life’s Soul, His Soul’s Goal and His Goal’s Role.

2.

The dance of Light awakens the wings of life to soar into the Silence of the Absolute Supreme.

3.

When I obey the command of God’s all-illumining Light, God obeys the command of my snow-white devotion.

4.

God needs man to reveal His Light.
Man needs God to conceal his night.

5.

I hate ignorance not because it stays with me, but because it does not care for God’s transforming and fulfilling Light.