Part I: The fairy world

The fairy world: conversation on a birthday

On the morning of R’s birthday on 31 March 1974, Sri Chinmoy concentrated on R’s third eye and told her that he would enable her to see a fairy that day. The following conversation took place that morning, after Sunday morning meditation at the Master’s house.

I have brought three fairies here. They are all the time playing inside the house, doing all kinds of things. I have told them to let you view them during the day or at night. They will listen to me. You don’t have to do a thing. I am giving you the receptivity so that you can see them today. I don’t believe in boons and all that, but today I am giving you a boon. And others also can see the fairy world today. But if you don’t see, what can I do? I cannot force receptivity.

I see right now in front of me three fairies who are playing, jumping near your left shoulder. I have kept your third eye open, only this opening of your third eye and the opening of my third eye are a little different. God is very, very bad. It takes such a long time to realise Him, and He says that He is very close to us, dear to us. All kinds of things He tells, but when it is a matter of realising Him, He shuts the door for us. Even for us to see a fairy He won’t allow. (laughter)

Question: How do you know that you are actually seeing a fairy and that it isn't your imagination?

Sri Chinmoy: If I see you right now, is it my imagination? It is so vivid. The fairy world, like other worlds, is also a reality. You can either enter into these worlds or these worlds can enter into you. Only then will these worlds be a reality for you. I say that I was born in India and that such a place exists. Your mind will believe this to some extent, because you have studied about India in school. But when it is a matter of India’s becoming a real reality for you, then you have to see the place. Here also, the fairy world one can really see. But unfortunately my disciples are not blessed with that capacity. It is not at all necessary to use the third eye. If one can have a childlike consciousness, the consciousness of a three-year-old, then one can easily see the fairy world. For that world is a children’s world; it is not the world of grownups and mature individuals. So you can use either your third eye or you can use your innocence and simplicity to see the fairy world. Again, if you can remain in my consciousness for even two minutes, you will definitely see it. So this is not a mental hallucination. The fairy world is a reality.

Question: Will the younger disciples find it easier to see the fairies?

Sri Chinmoy: Where are the younger ones? You people are all grownups. The mind is operating very nicely, very nicely, in all of you. Nobody here is in the child’s consciousness. You are all trying to work with your minds. Otherwise, in minutes you would see the fairy world.

This is all lack of receptivity. There is one disciple I was blessing on his birthday. For seven years I had been trying, but there was nothing, no receptivity. If receptivity does not come even on his birthday, then, Oh God, what am I going to do? So I had to use force. Then, after six or seven minutes, I was able to give him what I really wanted to give him. But it is very bad to use force. If you keep your heart’s door closed, if you keep all your windows and doors closed, then how will the sunlight come in? It is the nature of sunlight to enter into us; but if the windows are closed, then the sunlight cannot come. Again, sunlight is very powerful, and in some way it will enter. Force you can use, but that is very wrong. Sometimes it can damage the individual.

Question: If we see a fairy, then will we be convinced that the fairy world exists?

Sri Chinmoy: Our difficulty is that if we don’t see a thing every day, then we won’t be convinced. If we see something once, then we will only interpret it as imagination. Twenty times we have to see; only then will the human mind become convinced that a thing does exist or does not exist. Otherwise, we think, “How is it that I am not seeing it at once if it really exists? If it really existed for forty years, what have I been doing? I would have seen it.” If we see it only once, still we can deny its authenticity. Our difficulty is the mind. Only if we see something twenty times do we feel that it is real. The first time we see something, we feel it is all hallucination because others have not seen it. But if I have a mango, then whether others believe it or not does not matter. It is their problem. I have got it and I have eaten it. It is all inside me. Where is the proof? The proof is inside me. It is in the taste. It is in my satisfaction. The real proof is in my satisfaction: not your satisfaction, but my satisfaction.

Question: What is fairy language like? Do they speak like us?

Sri Chinmoy: No, you won’t understand their language, but you can hear it with the subtle ear. Again, you can get it with the third eye. Many times the third eye gets the voice infinitely sooner than the ear. It is not a language with words. The language they use is light. The message is in the light. They can sing and do everything through light.

Question: Y saw a fairy once.

Y: Well, I don’t think it was actually a fairy. It was in the old Connecticut Centre. Downstairs, in the living room, as you looked towards the altar on the right hand side, was a dresser. I think a statue of Guru’s head was on top of this dresser. It was four feet high. I was sitting in the ante room and I couldn’t see the altar itself, because I was too much to the side. I was looking at the dresser, and I was sort of half asleep, perhaps, or not in a completely awake consciousness, when I saw something very small. It appeared to be a girl wearing something long. I immediately got the feeling that it wasn’t anything of great importance; it was just some little being coming there and looking to see what was going on. But immediately my mind came forward, and said something like, “Is that an angel?” And when that happened, it disappeared.

Sri Chinmoy: From the highest point of view, it is not at all essential to see a fairy. Not at all. You have to know that the world of fairies is a world that cannot be higher than this world. No. In this world you will realise God. You will not only realise God; you will actually become God. That is God’s Dream. Look at a fairy. It is just like a child! Compare the fairy’s capacity to your capacity, when it will be all blossomed. Even your present achievement cannot be inferior to the achievement of the fairy world, not to speak of your future capacity one hundred or one thousand years from now. The fairy world is a delicate, sweet, childlike world. It is like children playing in the garden. You get joy. But when you think of the children’s capacity, it is very limited. Their capacity is to give us joy. They are moving around; they are playing, dancing, singing, and that gives us joy. But when it is a matter of real accomplishment or achievement, it is a different thing.

So, in your case, what you saw was a fairy, not an angel. If you had seen an angel, your mind would not have said that it was of no importance. An angel is definitely of real importance. But again, it is not of infinite importance to see an angel. No, not at all. Still, when it is a matter of capacity, there is a tremendous difference between a fairy and an angel. Angels can do many things. In the Bible they do all kinds of miracles. These stories are true. Fairies cannot do these things. They are children. Fairies can give you joy, they can give you inspiration, they can give you enthusiasm and make you feel that you are a child.

So, what you saw was not an angel. But you were right when you said not to use the mind. While you are eating a mango, if your mind comes to the fore and says, “After all, it is not so important to eat a mango,” then the taste that the mango embodies, you will not be able to get. While eating something, if you say, “It is not essential,” then whatever little taste or capacity the thing has, you won’t get it. If you are doing something or feeling something or trying to achieve something, if you immediately say, “It is not so important,” then the capacity or wealth of that particular thing, you will not get to the fullest. Even if the capacity that it has is eager to come into you, still you will not get it.

Let us say that I am giving you a flower with utmost love. I am giving you a flower, but I have much more than a flower. Today I am giving you a flower to see how much devotion you have for me. If you take it with utmost joy, then tomorrow you will get something more, because the thing that I wanted to give you, you have taken with utmost joy, gratitude, love and delight. I came to you in the form of a flower and you have accepted me. Then, tomorrow, I will come to you in the form of a lion. But if you do not accept me in the form of a flower, then I will hesitate to come to you in the form of something infinitely more meaningful.

Question: What do fairies do?

Sri Chinmoy: Fairies give joy: inner joy, outer joy. They give joy to sweet, innocent people through dreams. Sometimes, during meditation, they dance around. On a limited scale, they can fulfil wishes. They are always happy. They don’t create any problems. They are divine to some extent. We have disciples who are very well-liked by the fairies.

Question: Are fairies very tiny?

Sri Chinmoy: In size they are small, very light — like children. In India I have seen fairies only one-and-a-half feet tall. They can be masculine or feminine.

Question: Are fairies cute?

Sri Chinmoy: Some look cute, but sometimes they look clumsy. Right now with my third eye I am seeing some fairies which are not beautiful. Just because they are like cute children, we like them. No matter what children wear, say or do, we like them. Sometimes, the way the fairies dress, they are very untidy and unclean. Of course, we feel this only when we are using our purity-heart to see them and judge them.

If we see an angel, our whole being will be swimming in a sea of delight. But if we see a fairy, we may get an altogether different experience. At times the fairies are quite restless and, like human beings, they have a tendency to quarrel and fight and adopt undivine means. This can create a headache in the innocent human observer. Again, many fairies are good, like good human beings. These fairies undoubtedly give enormous delight to the human observer.

Question: What do they wear?

Sri Chinmoy: Usually fairies like many colours. They like gaudy clothes, all different colours: green, red, black. But angels don’t like gaudy colours. They like subtle, ethereal, delicate colours. Their beauty is very ethereal, simple, shining. If you see an angel, you really feel something. But if you see a fairy, it is like going and mixing with a child.

Question: Do you often see fairies?

Sri Chinmoy: A few days ago, on our way back from Washington D.C., we went to a service station to buy chocolate. I was outside the car. Two young American men came out. They were looking at me with utmost contempt, but I was smiling at them. One was a bad fairy and the other was a good fairy. Bad and good were mixing together. If the good one had seen me alone, perhaps his reaction would have been different. But because he was with the bad one, they both looked at me with contempt.

Question: Do fairies have different incarnations or do they just exist?

Sri Chinmoy: The world that the fairies live in does not follow the process of evolution. Therefore, fairies do not and cannot evolve and they do not feel the necessity of coming into the world in different incarnations. Again, fairies don’t die. If they want to dissolve and end their fairy life, they can do so.

Question: Would a human soul go into a fairy world or become an angel?

Sri Chinmoy: On very rare occasions it can. Every rule admits of exceptions. Otherwise, usually it is the other way around. From the fairy world, fairies will take human incarnation because they see the limitations of their own world. But this also is rare. Fairies or angels see that human beings have more capacity because human beings can pray, they can meditate, they can realise God.

In Puerto Rico, one of our disciple’s granddaughters was a beautiful fairy. After she died, she went back to the fairy world. Fairies come to the human world and think that they will change their fate. But usually they don’t like it, so they go back to the fairy world where they will be happy again.

Question: Are fairies conscious of the existence of God?

Sri Chinmoy: They are. Only they are not trying to become one with God consciously, like the human beings who want to realise God. They are happy with what they have and what they are. It is not necessary for them to realise God.

Question: Where do fairies live?

Sri Chinmoy: They don’t live on the physical plane. They have their own land.

Question: If fairies have their own world, why do they come here?

Sri Chinmoy: Because I invited them. [laughter]

Question: On other occasions why do they come to this world, Guru?

Sri Chinmoy: They like it. Do you mean that you don’t like to visit some other places? You don’t always have the means, but if somebody supplies you with the capacity, you will go. Suppose you don’t have money but somebody says, “I will give you money, come.” Then you will go with that person. Aren’t you curious to go to some other part of the world? Fairies are also curious. But they need tremendous purity. Otherwise, they won’t be able to stay in a new place. So I supply them with purity in the new environment so that they will be able to come and stay. Otherwise, they will die. It is my purity that is holding them here. But it is only for today. Then I will take them back safely.

Question: How far away is their world?

Sri Chinmoy: Quite far. But it is an inner world. The distance is not in terms of height. It is inside the heart, the universal Heart.

Question: Must angels also be given special purity to function on earth?

Sri Chinmoy: Angels don’t appreciate it if we are impure, but they will be able to operate inside our impurities. But fairies cannot. Fairies usually die. They are like fresh flowers.

Question: Sometimes children have imaginary friends. Are they fairies?

Sri Chinmoy: The mother tells them that they have a friend. They have such faith in their mother; so who knows? Children are full of imagination. Y mentioned an experience that she had as a child, of a goddess who came to her in a dream. In Y’s case, it was Athena, the Greek goddess. That goddess has some connection with her. A being of Athena’s visited her six or seven months ago. I don’t know which time it happened — when she was a child or just recently, six or seven months ago — but first the being came to me for a blessing.

Question: Why do they come?

Sri Chinmoy: Because they like an individual. An inner affinity is there. There are quite a few hundred people they like. It is like visiting old comrades. How many beings just move around! They have nothing to do.

Question: When they visit you, what do they do? Do they talk to you?

Sri Chinmoy: Sometimes they will bless you or they will talk to you. They do it out of good will. When they visit you, you may not get the result until a few days later, but you will get something. When I visit you people in your dreams, you never see. Only X has given me a full description.

Question: How can you invoke an angel?

Sri Chinmoy: The way you invoke the Supreme. If you see an angel, you really feel something. Everything changes for a few minutes or a few days. Your consciousness changes; you are flowing. It is so beautiful.

Question: Do you have any disciples who are angels?

Sri Chinmoy: First you. You are the first, and the absolute second is B. Third is C. These are all, all, all, all angels. When a mother tells you about her children, she makes you feel that they are all angels. It is because of her love. We are all angels, if we really lead a better life.

Question: Can we see guardian angels?

Sri Chinmoy: Easily you can see them. You call them guardian angels; in India we call them presiding deities. But the capacity of an angel also is very limited. An angel has much more capacity than a fairy, but still it is limited.

Question: Once we become your disciples, do we need a guardian angel? Do they still stay with us then?

Sri Chinmoy: Once you become a disciple of a spiritual Master, you don’t need anything except the Supreme inside that Master. You don’t need anybody. Angels you don’t need, presiding deities you don’t need. You don’t need Gabriel. Before I came into your life, you all had guardian angels. After I came into your life, they all left. They were no longer needed. If they want to help without creating any problems, then you may take their help. But their help has to be unconditional. Very often their help is conditional. Then, if you want to go beyond them or pass them, problems start. But eventually you do have to go beyond the world of the angels. At that time, you will see how they will try to hold you back. Personal deities often do that. They help, they help, they help and feed you. Then, when you want to go beyond them, they try to cut your throat. But if you are strong enough, then you go beyond them.

Question: Are angels large?

Sri Chinmoy: They are not larger than human beings. Some are tall, some are short. But in the subtle world, angels can be six feet or ten feet tall. Usually, baby angels are three feet tall. Baby angels are very cute. They grow usually. By nature, angels are not fat. Angels are always beautiful. The Archangels, in terms of spirituality, are more important because some of them enter into the field of creation and manifestation.

Question: Are all angels masculine?

Sri Chinmoy: Angels can be masculine or feminine. Female angels are more dynamic than male angels. The female is always more dynamic.

Question: I don't know how much of this I can believe, Guru.

Sri Chinmoy: Dearest child, live in the heart. There are many things which the eye sees that will have no value unless the heart also feels them. The eyes will see something. But if the heart does not identify with that particular thing, immediately we will discard it. Who will say that if we see with our naked eye, then we shall believe? No, no, no! With our naked eye many things we see, but immediately we discard them, because our heart has not identified with those things. Unless the heart has identified with some reality, no matter how many times we see it with our eyes, immediately we discard it. We feel, “It cannot be true. If it had been something else, some different shape or some different colour, then it would have been true.” This is what we feel.

Question: When we imagine something, is that a mental process?

Sri Chinmoy: Imagination is not mental hallucination. Hallucinations come from the subconscious plane. This subconscious plane can be in the mind, it can be in the vital or it can be in the gross physical. But when you imagine, there already reality exists. There would have been no scientific discoveries if there had been no imagination. Imagination itself is a reality, but you have to be in the flow of imagination.

There is a world of imagination. Either you enter into that world or you let the world enter into you. Some people sit and try to imagine so many things. But all the time they are using the mind. That is not imagination. Only make yourself receptive and then just fly and fly. But don’t think of going north or south or east or west. Feel that you are in an airplane and that you have just left the ground. Then take the plane in any direction. Do not say, “If I go north, then the plane will crash.” Just throw yourself into the flow of some reality. Feel that there is a flow going on, like a river, and just throw yourself into it. That is real imagination. In false imagination, all the time you are limiting yourself. “If I imagine this way, then the world will appreciate me, adore me.” That is false imagination. But if you just throw yourself into the flow, then that is sincere imagination.

Imagination and creation cannot be separated, but you have to know the difference between real imagination and false imagination. Real imagination is a continuous flow. It is flowing, flowing, and you can take as much as you want. But false imagination is when you are trying to grab something, trying to shape something in your own way.

Question: What is the relationship between God's imagination and God-realisation?

Sri Chinmoy: In God’s case, imagination, realisation and manifestation go together. In our case, when we imagine something, it may take many years or even incarnations to give reality to that particular thing. In His case, it is not like that.

Question: What is the difference between the Indian gods and the Western gods, like Zeus?

Sri Chinmoy: There is no difference. I am an Indian and you are an American, but where is the difference between your heart and my heart? There is no difference if you really use the heart. But if you don’t use the heart, if you use the mind, then you will say that these are two separate entities. Just because I use the heart and you people use the heart, that is why you are in my boat. But if you don’t use the heart, if you use the mind or the vital, I tell you, we won’t be together.

Part II — Witchcraft, the planets, dreams

//The following conversation occurred during an informal gathering at Sri Chinmoy’s home on 12 January 1976.//

Question: Do demons manifest on the physical plane?

Sri Chinmoy: Demons do manifest on the physical plane. Sometimes these undivine forces attack our disciples, and sometimes the disciples leave the Centre. If I see that somebody has been attacked, I use power. Then it frightens the demons and they hide. But I try to trace them and fight against them and, by the Grace of the Supreme, I try to transform them. For demons, like other undivine creations of God, are meant for transformation, not destruction. The very purpose of God’s creation is transformation, not destruction. No creator wants his creation to be destroyed. But the Supreme definitely wants His creation to be transformed, illumined and perfected.

Question: Do demons have a form?

Sri Chinmoy: They have a form. But even if they don’t take form, their subtle body I can see.

Question: Are these the same things that Christians would call devils?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, the same. Some are afraid of water. Some are afraid of other things. We have some absolutely destructive forces even among the disciples. I don’t know how they stay with us. Ramakrishna used to say, “Examine their eyes. If they are a little bit defective, don’t accept them.” If the eyes are defective, they have done something absolutely terrible, the worst type of thing. They have deceived someone or killed someone. We have two or three disciples in one of our Centres like that. But my name is Compassion. When I see them, I don’t curse them; I curse myself. On that day when I accepted them, they were in absolutely the highest consciousness. There is one person in particular. I felt that if I could transform this one, then good people could easily be transformed.

Question: What is the difference between a ghost and a transcendental spirit?

Sri Chinmoy: Ghosts are in the vital world. They can be seen because they are taking form. Ghosts have a subtle physical. You can touch them and feel them. But the transcendental spirit won’t take form.

Question: How do you fight with hostile vital beings?

Sri Chinmoy: These beings are fought with occult power — with occult power that you manifest. They don’t have physical form, but they can damage physical objects. We fight them with occult and vital power: subtle vital power, which is not on the physical plane. We fight entirely with energy, yet people can hear the sound several blocks away. No human being could produce that kind of sound; only vital beings can do it. These subtle beings don’t have physical form, but they can take any form they want. They don’t have a human appearance, but they do have some appearance.

Question: What is the difference in the actual fighting between spiritual power and occult power? How do they manifest?

Sri Chinmoy: When the occult power goes, it is just like a bullet. But the spiritual power is like a large wave. I am telling you this only to give you a rough idea; it is not actually like that. Spiritual power is like a well-trained army. It will cover the enemy’s territory in all directions. But occult power won’t do that. Occult power will see where the person is and just go and strike. But if the person is not there, if by chance the person has moved away, then occult power won’t work; it is all gone. Occult power is like an arrow. If you can’t pierce the person, it is finished. But spiritual power goes this way, that way; it captures the enemy like a very well-trained army.

Question: Do the hostile forces have a commander?

Sri Chinmoy: They have many leaders.

Question: To fight hostile forces, does one have to be a very, very great spiritual Master? Or can an ordinary occultist do something?

Sri Chinmoy: Occultists also can do it. But there is a difference between occult power and spiritual power. Occult power can do something immediately. But while doing it, you may be breaking something. Spiritual power may take a few hours more, but spiritual power is more powerful. It is like an elephant. Right now the elephant is sleeping. But when the time comes for the elephant to get up, it will show you its strength. Or you can say it is like those heavy wrestlers. They are very lazy by nature; they don’t move. But when they start wrestling, oh God, how powerful they are! Occult power works faster, but with occult power you have to be very, very careful. With spiritual power also you have to be careful. But if spiritual power is properly used, you can rest assured that you will have almost one hundred per cent success. With occult power, you cannot be sure. Occult power sometimes may even turn out to be your enemy. It is like playing with a knife; it is possible to cut yourself. But this will never happen with spiritual power.

Question: What are witches?

Sri Chinmoy: Witches are tremendously hostile, destructive forces. They can easily destroy someone if they use a little bit of their witch-power. Then the person won’t be able to budge an inch. Or tongue-power they take away and the person won’t be able to talk. In India they destroy nostrils, ears. Each one has a certain destructive power, but it is not always of the same type. If they want, they can look at someone who is very young, four or five, and then that child is finished. If they want, they won’t give the child any more height. In the circus there are some who are midgets because of witches.

Question: Were the so-called witches in Salem really witches?

Sri Chinmoy: Many were witches. One day I went to the supermarket in Manhattan. You can’t imagine what I saw: five witches! They didn’t know each other. How will a witch know another witch? In the past they were witches, and in this incarnation they were also absolutely undivine.

Question: Do they actually use spells?

Sri Chinmoy: Some chant incantations. As we have will-power, they also have a kind of will-power. They don’t have to use spells. In America I have seen many cases of this. Usually they will operate by creating fear. They are mesmerising people. I have one disciple who had five hostile forces attacking her. Her mother had practised black magic for years. The mother tried to attack her daughter, but she failed because I was protecting her. Then the mother confessed.

The story never ends. The mother had a lady friend who used to go to the same black magic teacher. The lady bought a book of mine and saw my picture. Now this lady has given up this practice and wants to become my disciple. A few days ago the mother came to the Centre out of curiosity because her daughter is with us. The mother saw her friend and asked, “What are you doing here?” The mother’s friend has become a real disciple. Perhaps this mother will change also.

Question: Would a person who is spiritually developed do it?

Sri Chinmoy: Sometimes it happens. If a person is not conscious of his development, then there is some possibility that he will surrender to wrong forces and will be compelled to do witchcraft instead of being a good occultist. Somebody can be developed in humility, somebody can be developed in some other good quality; but if he does not develop wisdom, then there is danger. If a bad fellow invites him, he may join that person.

Question: Do witches actually use concoctions or voodoo dolls?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes they do. I have personal experiences of some witchcraft in Florida, where I came across an occultist who was expert in all these undivine things. Those who are black magicians also have all kinds of undivine forces around them or in their room. Only occultists will see something on the physical plane. But ordinary people may feel tremendous uneasiness if these things take place around them.

Question: Do the forces leave immediately when these people accept your path?

Sri Chinmoy: Not so easily. Sometimes yes and sometimes no. People come to us and say that they are victims. They themselves practise black magic, but they don’t have enough strength to fight the wrong forces. One woman used to come and cry that her husband had asked a witch to create an undivine force around her. Then later she admitted that she herself used to practise witchcraft.

Question: Was the Medusa a freak of nature?

Sri Chinmoy: It is all from undivine, occult forces. Occult forces can create these things. That is why sometimes when you read Greek mythology, you are frightened to death. Some of the fairy tales are also true. If you don’t believe them, nothing happens. But sometimes, if you do believe, they can have power. I shall give one incident. You are cooking and you are using a spoon. You are about to place the spoon here when the thought comes that if you do this, then your brother will die in a plane crash. You may say it is all a silly idea, but you are frightened. Then, that particular force will tell you to put the spoon in another place. Or an idea has come that if you walk this way, your mother will die. So you walk a different way, and immediately the thought comes that your mother is not going to die. But the fear that she may die has entered into you. The very fact that you have changed your route means that you have surrendered to these forces. Then tomorrow, something may say, “Open the book to page sixty-four before you start studying; otherwise, you will fail in your examination.” The force has attacked you. So you open to page sixty-four out of fear and you are finished. Then, tomorrow that force will tell you that if you read the book, you will fail. Then you surrender and you don’t read the book. Fear can constantly worry you and take your mind away. In my case, I have told stories about how I used to put a black dot on my heel before I did the pole vault. But that was not superstition. It was only divine forces playing with me.

Question: I just finished reading a book about the Bermuda triangle. It is a place where planes and ships disappear into thin air, or ships with full crews are found abandoned with no people on board and no signs of any chaos. Can you explain what happened here?

Sri Chinmoy: Some occult power, forces, have the capacity to disintegrate existence-reality. Therefore, we notice the disappearance of the ships.

Also, some Indian spiritual Masters have consciously and deliberately taken away the five elements that constitute the physical body and dissolved them for a couple of hours. Then they revitalised them at a different place.

Question: When the beings take people off the ships, what kind of experience do the people's souls have?

Sri Chinmoy: It entirely depends on the Supreme’s Will. But these occult forces have malicious and childish qualities. Sometimes the souls don’t want to go, but they are forced.

Question: Guru, I read somewhere that scientists have found that the pyramid shape has very strange effects on certain things. For example, when a person sleeps in a pyramid-shaped room, they say he needs very little sleep.

Sri Chinmoy: There is no such place, where you need only two hours of sleep because of the shape. Your need of sleep depends on the condition of the inner body; it does not depend on outer circumstances. It is not possible that the pyramid shape is causing people to have these experiences. Perhaps there is a special kind of force, a conscious force, working there, but it has nothing to do with the shape. What can shape do? If you have faith that the shape is the cause, then you may convince someone else. He will tell a third party, and so on. But it is not true.

In this world we do believe and we do have faith. Recently, I read in a book about a kind of shaver which the astronauts had used. Immediately when we hear the name of the astronauts, it is almost like hearing about God. We think that since they used something, it must be special. Just because the astronauts used something, people buy it. When I was in Europe, I went to a store where they had one of the shavers which I had read about. I bought the shaver; but I tell you, that shaver was far inferior to my regular one.

Question: When the astronauts landed on the moon, did they bring a different consciousness to the moon?

Sri Chinmoy: The moon is in touch with an infinitely higher consciousness than any ordinary human being can offer. But a human being who has realised God can easily transcend the moon’s consciousness. I have millions of times entered the moon world. When the astronauts went to the moon, I felt miserable because the astronauts couldn’t see anything. But there are so many beings there. When the astronauts landed on the moon, there were so many beings welcoming them. I was watching on television that day, and on the television screen I saw three beings — such beautiful, powerful beings. Usually when a foreigner comes, immediately we become suspicious: is he good, is he bad? But in the case of the moon, the beings there felt that they were appreciated and loved and that was why the astronauts were coming.

Question: Are there canals on Mars?

Sri Chinmoy: There are some pathways that look similar to canals, but they are not actually canals. They are strong, powerful streaks of light which come from the Source and move continuously forward without losing their oneness with the Source, the Light Supreme.

Question: Is there life on other planets?

Sri Chinmoy: On the other planets, there is no actual plant life or human life. When it is a matter of physical existence, you have to know that it comes only from the five elements, and these are found only on earth. But there are living things in other worlds. The soul itself is a living thing. The subtle physical is living, the subtle vital is living, the subtle mind is living. Anything that is in its subtle form is real and has life.

In the higher worlds which we call Heaven, you will see big, big trees. But there is no actual physical tree in this plane of consciousness. Form is there, although with your physical eyes you cannot see it. But with the intuitive eye, with the third eye, easily you can see it. In these other worlds, there are also beings, but they are not like us. If you use the mind, the mind will bring forward a form; the mind conceives of everything the way it does on earth, so you will see them as human beings. But if you try to touch them to see if they are flesh and blood, they won’t be there. You won’t feel bones or muscles or anything like that, because their form is not on the physical plane. Also, they can take form themselves. They can take form and frighten you. When they come from the vital world, they can really be frightening. They actually bring solid power with them, undivine power. When you conquer them on the physical plane, they burst like a balloon.

Here on earth we identify with the physical form. Once we see the form, it is recorded in our mind. This is Joe’s face. If somebody else’s face comes, we recognise that it is not Joe. In other galaxies it is different. Even if the form totally changes, it doesn’t matter, because the identification is with the soul proper, and not with the physical form. If someone saw you at the age of ten, and now you are forty, he will not recognise that it is the same person. But in other galaxies, no matter which form the soul takes, the soul will be recognisable. You will be able to know who you are and others can also know because you are the same soul.

The planets themselves are all living and when I go to the planets I talk to them. Just today I was talking to Jupiter. The planets can take any form they want to. It can be the form of a human being, it can be the form of an animal, it can be the form of a tree. It may look as though they have a physical form, but it is not on the gross physical plane. Our physical is composed of five elements, whereas the reality of these beings is composed of Peace, Light and Bliss. But life is definitely there; otherwise, how could I talk and mix with them?

So, life is in all the galaxies. But life that takes physical form is found only on earth. There is physical life, there is universal life, there is transcendental life and there is immortal life. Inside earth-bound life, this span of fifty or eighty years, immortal life is there, hiding. Again, universal and transcendental life is also there. Immortal life is in all the galaxies. It is our aspiring consciousness that is aware of the immortal life inside the transitory life.

Question: So is earth the only place in the entire universe that has physical manifestation? What about Heaven?

Sri Chinmoy: Here on earth, not only physical manifestation but all kinds of manifestation can take place. Heaven is perfect from one point of view. You can take rest there after you have played your game on earth. But in Heaven there is no realisation, no manifestation; for this we have to come to earth.

Life is everywhere, and the existence of the soul is everywhere in all the galaxies. But some souls enter into the earth for the transformation of the physical consciousness. On this planet, the souls that enter into the physical plane care for physical transformation.

Question: Is it possible to travel on the astral plane to the other planets?

Sri Chinmoy: It is quite possible to travel to other planets. The occultists usually use one process; the Yogis use another process. Again, there are some spiritually developed seekers who are neither occultists nor Yogis, and they use still another process. The mediums also use a means. Some people travel through the astral tube, which they develop through the practice of kundalini yoga and specific concentration on the chakras. But the Yogi usually does not do that. If he wants to do it, he can; but in his case, by virtue of his intuitive power, he can immediately enter and become one with the astral plane or any plane of consciousness. Because of his oneness with the universal Reality, he has a free access to the astral plane. Or if he uses his intuitive power, he sees that he is already there on the other planets. He does not have to go there. He does it through identification and oneness.

Question: Do human beings ever establish some inner connection with certain planets?

Sri Chinmoy: The souls of human beings may pass through the planets when they are coming down from the soul’s world and entering into this world. While coming down, they may create some special connection or friendship with a particular planet. Spiritual Masters do it while they are here. Spiritual Masters, while living on the physical plane, can bring down qualities and capacities and realities from these planets. If they care for the beauty aspect, they will get it from one planet; power they will get from another planet. They can bring down Light, Peace and Bliss from these higher worlds on the strength of their concentration and meditation power.

Question: When you speak of bringing down Light and Peace from the planets, are you speaking of the physical planets like Mars or Jupiter, or are you speaking of the higher worlds?

Sri Chinmoy: Who thinks of them in that way? The planets to me are worlds. Mars is a world, a plane of consciousness. Jupiter is a world. Jupiter is most dignified. It has wisdom. Pluto is the most beautiful planet. Venus carries the love aspect. It is like that.

Question: Do the planets put together their good qualities and create harmony?

Sri Chinmoy: It is like human beings on earth. Each one has good qualities, but these qualities are not all coming together at any one point. When you come out with all your best qualities, at that time I may bring out all my undivine qualities. Usually, the best qualities of all the planets are not put together. Each one will keep its best qualities to itself.

Question: Do the planets ever fight?

Sri Chinmoy: Some of the planets are in perfect harmony with one another. Some of them are friendly. Others fight like anything. They don’t want other planets to enter into their territory. When one planet starts building, then another planet comes and ruins everything.

Question: When planets fight, is the earth affected?

Sri Chinmoy: When two planets are not on good terms, when they are fighting, the earth consciousness usually changes for the worse. The inhabitants of earth don’t know why, but they are unexpectedly unhappy or depressed or frustrated.

When the year ends, the earth usually passes through a dark tunnel. It is all depression, frustration. Then, when the new year comes, it brings a new light. Definitely the planets have something to do with it.

Some good planets want the seekers to make fast progress in the new year which is on the earthly calendar. Other planets don’t want this. Human progress in no way can threaten the planets or take away any of their glory. Still, some don’t want to become one with the earth-consciousness. They don’t want human beings to make progress and become fulfilled.

Question: Can we see the fighting if we go to these planets?

Sri Chinmoy: It can take physical form. But the only thing is, with this gross physical we can’t go to these worlds. The soul can take physical form, but the physical cannot take subtle form. You, as an individual can take any form, but your body will not be able to take the soul’s form.

Question: Was there ever an Atlantis?

Sri Chinmoy: Believe, believe, believe! It is true. If you don’t believe, seeing will not give you realisation.

Question: Were Indians the first human souls on earth?

Sri Chinmoy: No. They were in many places: Egypt, China and other places.

Question: Did the people of ancient days ever fly?

Sri Chinmoy: They did. They used flimsy planes, like the Japanese planes during wartime. It started in the Ramayana era. There were very few planes, only two or three. They didn’t have petrol or gasoline. But they knew how to control the life force, life energy, with occult power. They used consolidated energy; it was tangible, not fluid. It was energy you could grip, energy in solid form. But you had to know how to use this energy. I used to do it in my previous incarnations. When I did it the first time, it was such magic. You won’t believe it.

Question: Can it still be done now?

Sri Chinmoy: It is no longer possible. That particular game is over. Spiritual Masters can fly in the subtle body. They don’t need a physical airplane.

Question: What will you do with us in the inner world? Will we have dinner and things like that?

Sri Chinmoy: It depends on the individual. Each spiritual Master has a special world of his own, a well-protected world. Naturally, his close disciples will be together there. They do go and enter into their relatives and close friends for God-manifestation. Also, they watch which souls are going to take human incarnation. So they do participate. There is no end to their work. They are all the time offering good will to mankind — this way, that way, here, there.

Question: Do you ever get together with your inner beings and have parties and talk about us, or are you always serious?

Sri Chinmoy: We are not always serious. If every second we only do serious things, we can be neither in Heaven nor on earth. Most of the time we do serious things. If you want to make a comparison between silly and serious things, then I must say that our amusement is nothing in comparison to the serious things that we do. Here also, I am talking to you for three or four hours. But the rest of the time I am doing serious things. Again, I know how many things I am doing right now. You people can also do several things at a time if you just develop your capacity. You can do it with the power of concentration in the inner world.

Question: Are there good days and bad days in the inner world?

Sri Chinmoy: Certainly! There are very good days and very bad days in the inner world.

Question: If we get a little capacity in the inner world, what should we do?

Sri Chinmoy: Know me more, know me more, know me more. If you have some capacity, it will be easier to know me more. Right now you can only see my face, but you are eager to know more. The more capacity you have in the inner world, the more you will try to learn from me and know me.

Question: Last night you moved your hand down when blessing X.

Sri Chinmoy: I was bringing down Compassion-Illumination in a special way. Of all the disciples, whenever I do something special, he receives the most. But some don’t receive at all. Some soldiers!

Question: I don't think I receive prasad soulfully.

Sri Chinmoy: In your case, most of the time when you come up you have two problems. One is shyness. You feel that if you make a fast movement, if you just grab the prasad and go, then everybody will appreciate your fast movement. You have heard that some people don’t leave me soon enough after I give them prasad, so when you come near me, you get a kind of shyness. Then, a stupid guilty consciousness comes. Fear comes and you try to cover that fear. Sometimes you give me a smile; sometimes you just run away from me so that the thief will not be caught red-handed. You look at my face and run away. I say, “For God’s sake,” but what can I do? Some people, when they come to me, they give me all their frustration and all their lower forces.

One question you people have not asked. It has happened that, on my birthday, for example, the whole day somebody is praying to God. His mind is very pure. Then, when that person comes to me for prasad, immediately wrong forces, lower forces, will attack. He comes with the hope that Guru will be very pleased. All day he was absolutely pure. But when he comes to me, wrong forces attack and he feels, “Master is seeing how bad I am,” and he feels miserable. Here the answer is, don’t associate with those forces. All day you have prayed and meditated, so just feel that this is a golden opportunity: “Master has seen everything. Now out of his compassion, he won’t allow these forces to remain in me.”

Question: When I first hurt my foot, immediately after that, within thirty seconds, it was all better. How did I lose the force that you put on it?

Sri Chinmoy: There was no gratitude. It is absolutely true. First you couldn’t even walk, and then you were running and hitting the ball. But then you felt that it would have got better anyway. So the force got disgusted and it left.

Question: When I hurt my foot, after you knew about it, was I wrong to bring it to your attention again when it wasn't getting better?

Sri Chinmoy: The only wrong thing was accepting others’ suggestions as to whether you should go to a doctor or not. Because doubt had entered into you, because this other force had entered, I had to put a special force on your foot. Otherwise, it would have gone its natural course. It is like a patient. The patient is getting well in a natural, normal way, but then the patient does something more undivine, so the divine doctor gives him a more powerful dose of medicine.

Question: If you didn't know about my foot on the physical plane, would you still know about it inwardly?

Sri Chinmoy: If I know something physically, this convinces your mind: “Oh, Guru really cares for me, whereas he does not care for others who are not in his boat.” When one is convinced in the mind, then one gets more satisfaction. Otherwise, one may not be accepting what I have, or he may not feel that I have anything to do with it. If you remain in the soul’s world, you will say that Guru’s immediate concern has cured you; but if you remain in the mind, you will say, “Oh, it is just a fluke, a chance, that I was cured.”

Question: When you put a force on someone, do you throw out light? Like when M got accepted into the mountain climbing team against all odds?

Sri Chinmoy: It is done with will-power. I see which way that will-power will be accepted. There are many ways in which will-power can work; it is very clever. It will enter into the individual who is the boss and then take the form of compassion. It is tremendous will-power, but it will enter into that person as compassion. He will say, “Poor fellow, let me accept him.” Five minutes earlier he was in an undivine consciousness, but now he is feeling extremely sorry. Occultists may create fear. They make the individual think, “If I don’t take this person, our whole expedition will be ruined. O God, let us take him; otherwise we will fail.” But I don’t do this. I always try the positive side, so that the boss will see something which he never saw before. When you are in a cheerful frame of mind, you are ready to give everything. When you are happy, you are ready to empty your heart, empty your pockets. But when you are unhappy, you don’t give even a cent. Here it is a matter of happiness. But when we use will-power, this is infinitely more powerful. It goes much faster than a bullet. Like a rocket it works.

Question: Sometimes I dream that I fly through the air. Is that good or bad?

Sri Chinmoy: Very good, very good. It means that your vital can fly. In the subtle vital plane you can fly very high, higher than the airplane. And that vital plane is the divine vital plane, not the lower vital plane. When you are on earth, you have to walk; but when you are in the inner world, you can fly. Here in the physical, the vital does not get the opportunity to fly. But when you are in the subtle vital, at that time God lets you fly. Very good!

Question: How can we have good dreams?

Sri Chinmoy: If you want to have really good dreams, meditate at three or four o’clock in the morning. But you have to take a proper shower. To get a good dream, first concentrate on your navel for total purification. Concentrate on the navel and try to bring the forces upward. If you can, then you are bound to get very good dreams.

Question: How do you concentrate on the navel, and why?

Sri Chinmoy: You concentrate on the navel because, from there, the life energy can take two courses. If it flows downward, it enters into the lower vital. If it flows upward, it enters into the cosmic energy. In the back of the spine, in the subtle world, are all the chakras. But it is easier to concentrate on the front side of the body. To concentrate on the back of the spine is much more difficult. It is easier to concentrate on the navel than on the corresponding place in the spine. Then repeat ‘Supreme’ as fast as possible. For purity, the most immediate and effective result comes when you chant outwardly so that the outer ear can hear. But this result is temporary. If you want to have abiding purity, then you have to do it in silence. If you do it outwardly, each time you say ‘Supreme,’ try to imagine one hundred ‘Supremes’ inside it, so that your mind feels that you have repeated it hundreds of times. Imagination is a world of reality. Make up your mind that you have done it, and then you will be successful.

Editor's preface to the first edition

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This book offers a rare glimpse at the kind of intimate conversation that Sri Chinmoy has from time to time with his disciples during informal gatherings. Disciples ask their Master any question they think of, and Sri Chinmoy answers them from the point of view of his highest God-realisation.

Sometimes the subject matter is focused on a particular subject, as in the conversation on Radha’s birthday, which deals with fairies and angels. Sometimes it ranges the whole gamut from life on other planets to personal questions about the disciples’ own spiritual problems, as in the conversation at the Master’s home. Conversation of this kind, with all their spontaneity and sweetness, help reveal the true essence of the Guru-disciple relationship