Part I: Questions and answers

FW 259-286. In November, Sri Chinmoy asked members of the Meditation Group to submit spiritual questions for him to answer during the Group's regular meetings. These are questions answered on 16 and 26 November 1976.

Question: Each year, does the United Nations try to achieve something new and if so, what has it tried to achieve inwardly and outwardly this year?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, it is true that each year the United Nations tries to achieve something new. This year, 1976, it was trying to achieve two things — a glowing hope and a searching mind, and a fulfilling promise and a dedicated heart.

Question: When we invite our co-workers who are interested in meditation but know nothing about it, is it preferable to just have them come and learn through silence or is it a good idea to explain meditation as best we can beforehand?

Sri Chinmoy: It is always advisable to explain meditation as effectively as you can, according to their receptivity, before you invite them to come to meditate. Otherwise, they will be totally lost and they will not be inspired to come again.

Question: What is the best way to unite the ways of politics and the ways of the soul of a country?

Sri Chinmoy: The best way to unite the two is to convince the politicians and the political world that there can be no branches without a tree. The tree is the soul. The political world as such has no peace and will never have peace unless and until some illumining light comes to the fore from the inner world. This inner light is always of the soul, and it is always for all who want to remain united and, at the same time, enjoy real freedom in co-existence and oneness-light.

Question: When does God want His Name spoken?

Sri Chinmoy: God wants His Name to be spoken at every moment, at every place, by every human being. We are His fruits. If the fruits can be aware of their seed, then the fruits will taste much better. That is to say, the individuals will be able to become better instruments, more illumining seekers and more fulfilling hero-warriors of God for God’s manifestation on earth.

Question: What stands between the outer goal of the United Nations and the inner goal of the United Nations?

Sri Chinmoy: First of all, we have to know what the two goals are. The outer goal of the United Nations is the expansion of its lofty ideas. The inner goal of the United Nations is the manifestation of its illumining and fulfilling ideals. A lack of self-giving stands between the ideas and ideals. If individuals and nations, instead of being self-centred become self-giving, then there would be nothing to separate the ideas from the ideals, the outer goal and the inner goal.

Question: For how long did the Supreme have the Dream of the United Nations before the soul was born and it became a reality?

Sri Chinmoy: The soul of the United Nations was born the day the Supreme embodied the Dream itself. For the Supreme, the Dream-Reality and the Reality-Dream are always together and are always the same thing. But human beings see the dream one day and the manifestation of that dream some other day. With regard to the birth of the soul of the United Nations, human beings had the dream two hundred years ago when America got its independence. Real independence, real freedom and real union are inseparable. Oneness is within; freedom is without. And the soul of the United Nations became vivid to us the day President Wilson’s dream manifested itself in the form of the League of Nations. It is the same soul that is operating in and through the United Nations, infinitely more powerfully and infinitely more convincingly.

Question: What does the soul of the United Nations need most from the Member States?

Sri Chinmoy: The United Nations needs most from the Member States a true sense of compassion in the inner world and a true sense of co-operation in the outer world. The sooner the Member States become more self-giving and more co-operative, the sooner the world harmony, world peace and world satisfaction will come into being.

Question: What is the spiritual significance of a photograph?

Sri Chinmoy: A photograph is at once meaningful and fruitful. The inner life can be seen on the outer face. The inner reality can be visible on the face of the outer reality. The inner height can be measured by the outer eyes. The inner depth can be felt by the human heart. Each photograph, if it is taken from a higher plane of consciousness, leaves behind a new hope, a new aspiration and a new realisation for Mother Earth to cherish and treasure.

Question: How can we help the speed of the United Nations increase?

Sri Chinmoy: We can help the speed of the United Nations increase by increasing our own inner speed. Our inner speed increases only when we have acquired a peaceful mind, a soulful heart and a fruitful soul.

Question: How can we awaken spirituality in the other workers at the United Nations?

Sri Chinmoy: We can awaken spirituality in the other workers at the United Nations by our own examples. If they see something divine in us, something truly satisfying and fulfilling, then sooner or later, unconsciously or consciously, they will try to emulate us. Then they will be awakened the way we are awakened.

Question: As the United Nations evolves, will it become less of a political centre and more of a spiritual centre?

Sri Chinmoy: A divinely political centre and a truly spiritual centre are not two different things. We have to know that the United Nations has to be both divinely political and truly spiritual. When it is truly spiritual, it covers entirely the inner and outer existence of reality. And then it needs an opening to express itself. The divine politics, which is inside the devoted hearts of the individual nations, can at that time be of great assistance to humanity.

Question: How can we best fulfil our roles at the United Nations?

Sri Chinmoy: We can best fulfil our roles at the United Nations by consciously feeling at every moment that we are divinely chosen instruments of God, divinely chosen to play a significant role at the United Nations. Once we think and feel that we are chosen instruments, then automatically we can fulfil our roles. For inside this feeling of ours, divine fulfilment looms large in a special way.

Question: What qualities on the material and spiritual plane can we offer to the United Nations to best fulfil the United Nations?

Sri Chinmoy: First of all, you have to know what the spiritual qualities are and what the material qualities are. Spiritual qualities are many; material qualities are also many. But the first and foremost material quality on the earth plane is concern. And the first and foremost quality on the spiritual plane is self-giving. So, if our body, vital and mind have true concern for the United Nations, then we have to know that the quality that we have exists on the material plane, on the earth plane. Again, if we have the inner attitude of constant self-giving, if we have the constant message of self-giving, then that is a spiritual quality that we have. This spiritual quality and material or earth quality can be unified only when each is fulfilled in its proper way. That is to say, when we look at the body of the United Nations, we will look with our concern; we will see that humanity is depending on the vision of the United Nations to lead it to greater progress. And when we think of the soul of the United Nations, the inner reality, we have to feel that its fulfilment can take place only on the strength of our own self-giving. We have to give ourselves to the cause, to the vision and to the goal that the United Nations has placed before us: world peace, world harmony and oneness-light.

Question: How can we fulfil the hearts and souls of the children of the world?

Sri Chinmoy: We can fulfil the hearts and souls of the children of the world only by becoming the hearts and souls of the children of the world. What do we mean by that? At every moment we shall have enthusiasm and eagerness to learn more about Truth, more about Light, more about Delight. At every moment we must cultivate an eagerness to learn something illumining and fulfilling. It is our eagerness to learn that will give us a childlike heart, a childlike soul. This is the only way we can fulfil the hearts and souls of the children of the world.

Question: Will the Supreme send more real leaders to help support the United Nations?

Sri Chinmoy: I cannot categorically say what the Supreme is going to do. Already there have been quite a few extremely good leaders. Some of the leaders got the opportunity to lead, while others did not. But if there is a need for more leaders, then the Supreme will definitely grant more leaders. But if the leaders that are already there have the capacity, while others are praying for the capacity in their own way, then the goal of the United Nations will not always remain a far cry. In this case, there is no need for the Supreme to grant the United Nations more leaders.

Question: When and how will the leaders and representatives of the nations of the world, especially of the developing nations, begin to seek spiritual solutions to their problems?

Sri Chinmoy: There is no fixed date or fixed hour. It is only when we as individuals feel the necessity of oneness. Only when the hour has struck for a particular individual will that individual cry for world oneness, world progress and world perfection. The process will be one of constant awareness — by becoming consciously aware of what one as an individual and what one as a nation has to do. It is in conscious awareness that the right things can take place at the right moment in the right way and all the negative forces can be conquered, all the world problems can be solved.

Question: What is involved in establishing an inner connection with the United Nations?

Sri Chinmoy: In order to establish an inner connection with the United Nations, one has to look at the United Nations as the soul and one has to feel oneself as the soul. The soul is the representative of the God-reality, Truth-reality, Light-reality on earth. So if one sees the soul of the United Nations, then one will feel that everything that the United Nations does or stands for is absolutely perfect. Again, one’s own aspiring soul is also perfect in its own way. If one sees both the United Nations and oneself as only the soul, then perfection is meeting with perfection. One perfect soul is meeting with another perfect soul — birds of a feather flock together. It is like this: if one can see one’s own perfection, then only is one going to see perfection in others. So in order to establish an inner connection with the United Nations one has to feel that one is nothing short of the soul. And the soul of the United Nations has to be placed at every moment before this mental vision.

Question: What is the most important thing to remember while working at the United Nations?

Sri Chinmoy: The most important thing to remember while working at the United Nations is the vision of the United Nations. The vision of the United Nations is world peace and world harmony: one nation, one soul and one goal. While working at the United Nations, you have to sing all the time in the inmost recesses of your heart the oneness-song.

Question: What role will music play in bringing about world oneness?

Sri Chinmoy: Music will play a most important role in bringing about world oneness, for music embodies the Universal Heart, the Oneness-Heart. Music transcends the barriers of nations, nationalities and religions. Music embodies universal Light and universal Truth, and music also embodies the oneness-reality which we see in universal Love, universal Light, universal Awareness and universal Wakefulness. Universal Wakefulness we see inside all music. Music has to play a most important role in bringing about world oneness, for music is the connecting link between the One and the many and between the many and the One.

Question: How can you dedicate each task you do to the soul of the United Nations?

Sri Chinmoy: You can dedicate each task you do to the soul of the United Nations only if you feel that by doing this you are expediting and accelerating your own progress. If you separate your own progress from that of the United Nations, then you will not be able to dedicate each task to the soul of the United Nations. So you must feel that your own progress and the fulfilment of the United Nations are one and identical.

Question: Are the ideals of the United Nations applicable to every area of our lives without exception?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, the ideals of the United Nations should be applied to each and every human heart, mind, body and vital. These ideals are found in oneness-song. In every area of our lives there should be the message of oneness. The United Nations means the united reality, which is God’s cosmic manifestation taking place through His cosmic Vision. The different nations here are like the petals of a flower; only if all the petals are together will they form a rose. If the petals are torn, if the petals are scattered, then we can’t call it a rose. There has to be a oneness, and this oneness is based on the collectivity and the unification of reality. So the body, vital, mind, heart and soul of each individual must be united. If the body, vital, mind, heart and soul of each individual are united, that means that all the nations representing God-reality on earth can be united.

Question: How can I feel that my small job at the United Nations is really important to the total spirit of the United Nations?

Sri Chinmoy: Each drop is essential to the ocean. You may be holding a very insignificant job, but if you are taken away, one more drop will be missing from the ocean. And when all the drops are taken away, there is no ocean. It is the unification, the combination, of countless drops that makes the ocean.

Similarly, the whole United Nations right from the Secretary-General is only one body, one soul, one reality, which is composed of glowing thoughts and glowing ideals. You represent a thought in an infinitesimal measure. The capacity that you have is in the form of an ideal. The ideal is always the same, although you may or may not embody the ultimate truth that this ideal holds. But you do represent and embody an iota of the ultimate truth. Some individuals have perhaps a little more light than others, but it is the combination of everybody’s light that makes the whole reality.

So, you as an individual, in whatever capacity you are serving, must feel that you are necessary, that you are needed. Like you there are many who make up the United Nations. If all are excluded precisely because they are not Secretaries-General, or because they are not holding high posts, then there will be no United Nations. When a house is built, there are many bricks, there are many nails. If one or two bricks are missing then there will be a hole. The walls will not be strong and the foundation will not be secure. So each one is necessary, each one is essential. Each worker, no matter how insignificant his task is, is necessary in order to keep the body and the soul of the United Nations together.

Question: Should the body of the United Nations remain fluid, so that the soul of the United Nations can more easily manifest?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, it is really good not to have a rigid way of looking at life. If you have flexible ideas, if you are adaptable to circumstances, then it is infinitely easier to manifest the truth — not only here at the United Nations, but everywhere.

The outer reality or the outer consciousness has to be flexible so that the inner reality can easily manifest itself in and through the outer reality. The inner vision can manifest itself only in and through the outer field of manifestation.

Question: How can we feel and show our gratitude to the United Nations?

Sri Chinmoy: You can show your gratitude to the United Nations by becoming gratitude itself. When you think of gratitude, imagine that a flower is growing inside you. And feel that this particular flower has to be placed at the Feet of the Absolute Supreme. By imagining that a beautiful flower is blossoming petal by petal and offering its fragrance inside your heart, you can easily offer your gratitude. Gratitude is something beautiful, extremely beautiful: beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful. And what is beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful in you or around you or before you? It is a flower. So that most beautiful thing you must try to have inside your heart, which is the real reality in you. So inside your heart, inside your reality, there should be something that is really beautiful, divinely beautiful, supremely beautiful. So if you can think all the time that this flower-heart is your only reality, then automatically you will be offering gratitude to the soul of the United Nations.

Question: How can I increase oneness with the soul of the United Nations?

Sri Chinmoy: Here we have to know that oneness can be found only in aspiration. There is no other place, there is no other reality where oneness can be found. It is in our own aspiration that we can have oneness. And how can we increase our oneness? We can increase our oneness on the strength of our more intense, more sincere, more soulful and all-loving, all-crying aspiration. If our aspiration increases, automatically our oneness increases. This oneness can easily be established, felt or, the best thing to say, realised, with the soul of the United Nations through an intense inner cry.

Question: How can I become self-giving with spontaneity and joy?

Sri Chinmoy: Joy, spontaneity and self-giving always go together. If one has a joyful heart, that means that one possesses spontaneity or a spontaneous heart and also that one is self-giving. Or we can say that self-giving is the hyphen, the connecting link, between joy and spontaneity. So, if one wants to be constantly self-giving to the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent Reality, then one has to constantly cultivate inner joy. Inside this inner joy, without fail one will find self-giving, and this self-giving embodies both spontaneity and joy.

How can you become self-giving? You can become self-giving by constantly feeling joy in every part of your existence from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. If you can feel that a river is flowing in and through you carrying the message of joy, then automatically and spontaneously you can become self-giving in whatever you say, do or grow into.

Question: How can we see through God's Eyes?

Sri Chinmoy: We can see through God’s Eyes only when we feel our conscious, constant and all-loving oneness with our Inner Pilot, the Lord Supreme. First of all, if we live in the mind or in the vital, then we have to try to establish a free access to the inmost recesses of our heart. But if we already live in the heart, then we have to feel the Presence of the One who lives in the inmost recesses of our heart, the Lord Supreme. When we feel His Presence, at that time we have to go one step ahead and feel our inseparable and eternal oneness with Him. Once we feel our inseparable, eternal oneness with Him, then whatever we do, we feel that He is doing it in us, with us and through us and we are doing it in Him, with Him and through Him. So, if we want to do anything on our own, it will be a serious mistake. But if we want to do something in and through Him, then the thing that is of paramount importance is to establish our conscious and constant oneness with God, the Pilot Supreme.

Question: How can we accept everyone who works at the United Nations as our very own?

Sri Chinmoy: We can accept everyone who works at the United Nations as our very own provided we feel that there is only one source. Here let us say that the source is the soul of the United Nations. If we love the soul of the United Nations and can soulfully and devotedly claim the soul of the United Nations, then automatically we will accept all the members of the United Nations as our own. It is like the head of the family. If we love the head of the family, if we claim the head of the family as our own, then all the members of the family also become ours. Also, if we like someone, if that person has a dog or cow or any animal, we also like his animal. Just because we love him, anything that belongs to him we feel is ours. So the soul of the United Nations embodies all the members of the United Nations. Only by becoming consciously one with the source can we claim all the members as our own, our very own.

Part II: BBC interview

FW 287-296. On 11 March 1977, BBC's United Nations correspondent Mr. Brian Saxton interviewed Sri Chinmoy about spirituality at the United Nations for a European radio broadcast. Mr. Saxton also requested a tape of the songs Sri Chinmoy has composed for the United Nations and included "O United Nations" in the broadcast. The songs were sung by members of the United Nations Meditation Group.

Mr. Saxton: Sri Chinmoy, can you explain the technique used in your Meditation Group?

Sri Chinmoy: Certainly. Here we pray and meditate in silence. We feel that when we pray, we speak to God. And when we meditate, we feel that God speaks to us. So in silence we pray and in silence we meditate.

Mr. Saxton: Is this related to any particular religion?

Sri Chinmoy: No, this is not related to any religion whatsoever. This is an approach to God, to the ultimate Reality. We have faith in all religions. We do not speak ill of any religion, for all religions are serving a special purpose to bring about peace, light and harmony. But ours is not a religion. Ours is just a path that leads to God-realisation, our ultimate Reality.

Mr. Saxton: What kind of people attend your meetings here at the United Nations?

Sri Chinmoy: Here at the United Nations we have a few delegates and quite a few members of the staff.

Mr. Saxton: The United Nations is, of course, a very political place. Do politics ever enter into your work?

Sri Chinmoy: Politics, as such, does not enter into our work. But we feel that politics can be illumined and raised to a very, very high state of consciousness so that humanity can be transformed, illumined and fulfilled. We pray and meditate to purify our mind. Once our mind is purified and illumined, then this mind of ours — which creates so many problems for us, which constantly creates confusion, doubt, worries and anxieties — will become a perfect instrument for us to use to have a better world or, we can say, to bring to the fore a new face of the world. We do not use politics as such, but we try to bring into politics the light and the bliss that we get from our prayer and meditation.

Mr. Saxton: And this is what you hope people will gain from your work?

Sri Chinmoy: This is what we are trying to offer to the world at large.

Mr. Saxton: You mentioned a few moments ago that certain delegates attend your meetings. Do you think diplomats gain anything special that is particularly useful to their own work?

Sri Chinmoy: I do hope that they get peace of mind. It seems to me that all human beings have everything save and except peace of mind. The delegates are dealing with the world problems, so what they need first and foremost, as far as I can see, is peace of mind. When they come and pray with us, and become one with us, they do feel peace of mind. And then, when they go back to their respective offices, they can solve the problems that they have been facing with new light, new inspiration, new aspiration and new illumination.

Mr. Saxton: Do you sometimes feel that despite these very high aspirations and targets, that sometimes your work is often overshadowed by politics?

Sri Chinmoy: No, it is not overshadowed by politics, for we do not make any comparison between politics and spirituality as such. Here we pray and meditate in silence. We try to do everything in silence. Politics is in the outer world, whereas our prayer and meditation are in the inner world. On the strength of our sincere prayer and meditation, we try to bring to the fore the peace, light and bliss that we have. And then this peace, light and bliss we try to offer to the world, the political world, so that the political world can also be illumined, perfected and fulfilled.

[After the formal interview, Mr. Saxton continued to ask Sri Chinmoy about his path and about peace of mind with the questions following.]

Mr. Saxton: What is your basic philosophy?

Sri Chinmoy: Our basic teaching is love, devotion and surrender. We love God, not in a human way but in a divine way. In human love there is constant demand — I give you something, you have to give me something. It is always mutual give and take. But in divine love we give unconditionally. Then it is up to God to give us what He wants to give us. We know that in reality God has already given us everything; only right now we are trying to feel that He has done this. This is our divine love. Right now I am one individual, but when I try to love the world in a divine way, at that time I grow into the universal heart. Human love ends in frustration and frustration ultimately is destruction; whereas divine love is constant illumination.

Human devotion is attachment. I may be attached to you and you may be attached to me, but this does not serve any divine purpose. Divine devotion is dedication to a higher purpose, to a higher way of life, to an ideal or goal. It grows out of our promise to our inner being to manifest our inner divinity here on earth.

Human surrender is the surrender of the slave to the master. If the slave does not please the master, the master will dispense with his services. So the slave is all the time afraid of the master. But divine surrender is the surrender of our less illumined part to our higher part. Right now we are not fully aware of our highest height. But once we become aware of who we are, we try to surrender our lower self to our higher self. The tiny drop is not aware of the ocean, but when it merges into the ocean, it becomes the ocean itself. As long as it maintains its individuality and personality, the tiny drop is just a tiny drop. In divine surrender, the finite in us surrenders to the infinite in us and we become inseparable.

Mr. Saxton: How would you characterise real peace of mind? How can someone really come to terms with themselves and be totally peaceful with themselves in their minds?

Sri Chinmoy: When we have peace of mind, when we have tranquillity, we feel that there is nothing that we have to achieve, nothing that we have to do for ourselves. Everything has been done by the Almighty, by our Heavenly Father. Right now we are hankering after name, fame and many other things. But when we have peace of mind, we feel on the strength of our oneness with the rest of the world that everything the world has is ours.

Mr. Saxton: But how do you reach that state?

Sri Chinmoy: Through prayer and meditation. When we pray and meditate every day, our necessities diminish. Right now we may have twenty desires. But if we pray and meditate, over a period of time our desires will decrease. From twenty it becomes ten; then gradually it becomes five or six. Then, when we do not have any desires, if we can live even for five minutes without any desires, then we are bound to get peace of mind. If we can surrender our individual will to God’s Will, then easily we can have peace of mind. Now we separate our will from God’s Will. We may want a particular thing, although we know perfectly well that God wants something else from us. He wants us to be freed, to be liberated from the meshes of ignorance, but we enjoy the worldly life, or pleasure-life. But eventually we will care only for the aspiration-life, Him to serve, Him to fulfil, here on earth and there in Heaven.

Mr. Saxton: It has been very interesting talking to you.

Part III: Questions and answers

FW 297-301. On 18 March 1977 Sri Chinmoy answered these questions, which were put to him in writing by the members of the United Nations Meditation Group in Geneva.

Question: How does one stop the mind?

Sri Chinmoy: There are quite a few ways to stop the mind. One way is to repeat the Name of God and try to forget oneself inside the repetition of the Name. Or one can repeat a particular mantra, which means sacred word or incantation. When one is repeating a mantra or God’s Name, there will be a continuous flow. If it is “God, God, God,” then inside the repetition itself one has to lose oneself. Then the mind stops.

There is also another way. One has to see the mind as a material object. We can take a material object and put it anywhere we want to, or we can throw it the farthest possible distance, according to our strength. So either we can grab the mind like a material object and throw it into the distance, or we can put the mind wherever we want to. If a mischievous child is bothering us, we can take the mischievous child into a corner and threaten him and keep him there. One can do that to the mind also.

A third way is to totally forget about the existence of the mind. Ignore the mind and feel oneself only as the heart. It is not enough to say, “I have a heart.” One must say, “I am the heart, I am the heart.” Then the qualities of the heart will permeate the entire being, and automatically the mind will stop. There are many more ways, but these three ways are quite enough for any individual, and one can choose any of the three in order to stop the mind.

Question: What do you mean by perfection?

Sri Chinmoy: My sense of perfection need not be and cannot be the same as your sense of perfection. Everyone has to define perfection according to his receptivity, according to his realisation of truth. But one thing that everybody agrees upon is that everyone knows he has to make progress. Progress is self-transcendence and self-transcendence is undoubtedly true perfection. According to me, perfection is self-transcendence, perfection is constant progress which is always transcending itself. Otherwise, if I say that this is perfection, you will say no, something else is perfection. So there will be no end to our dispute. My perfection need not be your perfection, but my self-transcendence will always give me satisfaction and your self-transcendence will always give you satisfaction. Where there is continuous satisfaction, glowing satisfaction, illumining satisfaction, we have to know that that is perfection. Perfection is in the satisfaction that glows and grows inside our hearts.

Question: The Yogi believes in realisation on earth after a series of reincarnations; the Christian believes in salvation after death through Christ. How can one synthesise these two great beliefs?

Sri Chinmoy: There is no conflict. A Hindu will speak about realisation, whereas a Christian believes in salvation. In Indian tradition, the ultimate goal is realisation. In the West, the ultimate achievement is salvation. Here we use the term “salvation”; in the East, especially in India, we use the term “realisation”. But we have to know that there is a great difference between salvation and realisation. Salvation is freedom from sin, from darkness, from bondage; but realisation is totally different. Realisation is self-discovery, the discovery of what we truly are. What are we? We are God’s representatives; we are inseparably one with God, inseparably one with God’s ultimate Reality. So realisation is our conscious awareness of our highest Reality or our conscious, inseparable oneness with the Highest. Salvation is freedom from something that is not our own: sin, darkness, bondage, ignorance. These things have come and attacked us and we are trying to save ourselves from them. They are enemies or strangers to us.

These are two ways to approach the reality, but they are not contradictory. We only synthesise when there are contradictory ideas. Salvation through Christ is one way. Realisation is another way. Realisation has to be achieved here on earth through prayer and meditation. Salvation is achieved in Heaven.

With regard to reincarnation, the Indian belief is that this is not our first or our last life. We believe in reincarnation because we feel that God wants us to be happy and fulfilled. Even in the desire world we have hundreds of desires. At the age of four, if we have a desire, it takes forty, fifty or even sixty years to fulfil that desire. In the aspiration world, if we want even an iota of peace, light and bliss, it take us years to achieve it. What we need is boundless peace, boundless light, boundless delight. So how can we get it in one short span of life? It is impossible. If God’s unconditional Grace descends, then naturally we will be blessed with peace, light and bliss. But in general, to get even peace of mind takes many, many years. So we feel that God-realisation, which is the ultimate achievement, is a long way off and we cannot cover the distance in one short life span.

God wants us to realise, reveal and manifest Him on earth. This is His playground. In Heaven He wants to play with us in a different way. There He doesn’t want us to realise Him or manifest Him; that is the place for us to rest. Here at every moment, we are in the battlefield of life. We are fighting against ignorance and wrong forces, and we are trying to know what we eternally, truly are, trying to bring to the fore inner realities, inner divinities. After some time, naturally we need rest. The soul’s world, Heaven, is for rest, not for constant activities. Heaven and earth are two places with two different objectives. Here is activity, there is rest. Here we enter into the hustle and bustle of life in order to realise, reveal and manifest the Highest; there we go to rest.

Question: At our United Nations meetings, should we meditate on specific themes related to United Nations conferences and other things, as well as on general qualities like peace and love?

Sri Chinmoy: It is advisable for seekers to meditate on divine qualities such as peace, love, light and bliss. This is our way, the way of the soul. The other way is perfect according to the wisdom, the understanding, the realisation of those who follow it. Our way is perfect according to our understanding, our wisdom, our inner cry. We feel that if we have peace, light and bliss within us, then we can bring it into our outer life. Others may feel that if they can organise a peaceful situation, then they can have a peaceful life. They feel that they have to bring the world into order first. They start from the outside. They want to dive into the world from outside. We are trying to start inside and bring what is within to the fore. So these are two different approaches. Some feel that if they approach reality from the outside, then they will be fulfilled and we feel that if we can come from the inner world to the outer world, then we will be fulfilled. There is no contradiction. We are both aiming at the same goal: peace, love, light and bliss. The approaches are different but the achievement will be the same.

One approach is from the outside world to enter into the inner world, but we feel that as soon as we achieve something in the inner world, only then shall we be able to bring it and give it to others. Otherwise, if we enter into a conference dealing with politics, we will be totally lost. Politics is dying to get inner light; it wants to be illumined by inner light. But on the mental plane, politics is only a constant fight, constant battle: “I know better than you.” “No, no, I know better; I am right.” Politics here is the battle of ego. “My nation is better; you have to listen to me.” But spirituality is the flow of oneness. When there is oneness, there is no supremacy. Oneness never quarrels. In the outer world there is tremendous misunderstanding, but in the inner world we always sing the song of oneness. Oneness is achievement, oneness is self-giving and self-giving is God-becoming. In the outer world it is all division: I and mine. “You have to surrender to me. Then only you will know what the truth is.” In the inner world it is all oneness. In the outer world division and a constant sense of separativity is satisfaction. In the outer world, binding myself to someone else is satisfaction. In the inner world satisfaction is oneness. Satisfaction comes by liberating myself, expanding myself.

So if we pray and meditate on peace, light and bliss, then we will definitely be able to serve those in the political world. And those who are serving the United Nations according to their own understanding will not be in conflict with us. Our approach will be different. But we will not say that ours is superior, that ours is the best way, no. Only we feel our approach will satisfy us without conflicting with their ideas, and their approach will satisfy them without conflicting with our ideas.

Question: If we are feeling tired, should we still come to U.N. Meditation Group meetings?

Sri Chinmoy: If you are tired, you should come to the meeting in order to get new life, a new flow of life energy. If you are tired, you will get from your meditation new energy, new enthusiasm, new promise. Meditation is a process to awaken or acquire the energy that is not within you at this moment or the energy that is waiting for you to invoke it. In meditation, you invoke cosmic energy.

The energy that we have most of the time is very limited. We work a little and then we have to sleep or rest to recuperate. But if we can throw ourselves into the cosmic energy, we will never be at a loss for energy. Otherwise, if one works for a few hours, one is bound to be tired, exhausted; one has to sleep for a few hours in order to gain back new energy. But in our case, meditation constantly supplies us with energy, for it has the capacity to enter into the cosmic energy which is all around, whereas our physical life does not have the key to enter into the cosmic energy. So it is always advisable to come to the meetings; then you will have new energy. It is most important to come to meditation regularly. Meditation is illumination and illumination is the constant flow of new possibility, new realisation, new perfection in life.

Part IV

FW 302-307. In the spring and fall of 1977, these profound and soulful questions were submitted to Sri Chinmoy by Mr. Robert Muller, Director and Deputy to the Under-Secretary-General for Inter-Agency Affairs and Co-ordination.

Mr. Robert Muller: The first three of U Thant's four categories of needs, namely physical, intellectual and moral needs, do not create any insuperable problems, but the last and most important one in his view, spirituality, gives me considerable difficulties. There are indeed so many definitions of that term. U Thant described it as "Faith in oneself, the purity of one's inner self." Suppose — as I would ardently wish — that humanity would adopt some day his four broad categories of goals. How would you define the spiritual goals?

Sri Chinmoy: The seeker in me fully agrees with our beloved brother U Thant’s four categories — physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual — which are necessary for an individual to become integrally perfect. The term “spiritual” always creates problems, not only in the minds of seekers who are endowed with few spiritual potentialities but also in the minds of those who are endowed with great spiritual potentialities. Each individual must needs have a way of feeling and describing his own spirituality. To some, it is faith in oneself; to others the purity of one’s inner self; to still others, God for God’s sake. Again, there will be no dearth of definitions of the term “spirituality”. According to my inner conviction, spirituality is at once self-giving and God-becoming. This self-giving is not an offering to somebody else, to a third party. This self-giving is an offering to one’s own higher self. This self-giving is nothing short of an act of self-uncovering. Self-uncovering is another name for self-discovering, and self-discovering blossoms into God-becoming.

Now, what is God-becoming? This question can be answered in billions and trillions of ways. Each individual will have an answer of his own in accordance with his soul’s development and his life’s needs. Here again, my inner conviction is that God-becoming is the soulful recovery of one’s own forgotten self, one’s cheerful acceptance of it and one’s fruitful discovery of this realisation: “In my yesterday’s life, I had; in my today’s life, I am. What did I have? God the man as an aspiring seed. What have I become? Man the God as the fulfilling fruit.”

Mr. Robert Muller: I often think that U Thant's four categories of human qualities or needs — physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual — could well form the basis for a world agenda of human goals. From your writings, I notice that these categories are also quite fundamental to you, but you add to it a fifth which you call the "vital". Could you elaborate on it?

Sri Chinmoy: The existence of the vital-reality is between the physical and intellectual. As there are physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual worlds, even so, there is also a vital world. This vital world is situated between the physical and the intellectual worlds. Again, this vital world is divided into two: the human vital and the divine vital. The human vital is nothing short of aggression. It always says, “I know how to become, I know how to become.” But the divine vital says, “I know how to spread. I know how to spread. And also I know what to spread, why to spread and where to spread. What to spread? My love-wings. Why to spread? Because that is the only way I can have satisfaction. How to spread? Soulfully and unreservedly. Where to spread? Where there is a an urgent need, a sincere need, an undying need.”

When Julius Caesar said, “Veni, vidi, vici; I came, I saw, I conquered,” it was the human vital in him that was speaking. This is the vital that enjoys satisfaction through destruction. Needless to say, this kind of satisfaction is absurd. The other way is the way of the Saviour, the Christ, who said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Here the Christ teaches us that true satisfaction comes into existence only through oneness. This oneness can be discovered in any plane of consciousness. On the physical plane, for example, the head is at a particular place, the arms are at another place and the legs are at a third place. But they have established their oneness because they are all part and parcel of the body-reality. This same kind of oneness has to be discovered in the development of each individual. The divine statement of the Christ, with its fathomless magnanimity, identifies itself with the unlit reality of humanity as the Christ asks his Father for humanity’s redemption. For this, what he needs is his Father’s immediate Compassion and express Forgiveness.

The human vital says, “Behold, I have.” And when we see what it has, we are disappointed, distraught and disgusted; we curse ourselves for our stupid action. The divine vital says, “I am, because you have made me. And I shall remain always so by offering to you consciously and constantly a portion of what I have. In this way I become my own universal self.”

Mr. Robert Muller: When I speak to audiences about U Thant's four ways to happiness, I sometimes hear the following criticism: "Life is one and cannot be artificially cut into four. Everything is interdependent and linked. We must concentrate on life as an entity and not on components which are the product of the intellect." I am not over-impressed with this argument, for I have indeed observed that life is richest when I cultivate simultaneously all four categories of needs, namely physical, mental, moral and spiritual. Nevertheless, there is some truth in that criticism and I would be grateful to learn how you would respond to it.

Sri Chinmoy: I am sorry to say that it is not possible for me to see eye to eye with your critic-friends. Indeed, they are right when they say that life is one, but in the same breath when they say that it cannot be artificially cut into four, I wish to ask them where they got the idea of cutting life or the life-tree into four parts. There is no necessity of artificially cutting life-reality into four; it is absurd.

Let us take life as a ladder that serves us and helps us reach the pinnacles of liberation, illumination, realisation and perfection. This life-ladder has four rungs. The first rung we unmistakably call the body-reality. The second rung is the intellect-reality; the third rung, the morality-reality, and the fourth rung, the spirituality-reality. Once we firmly step on the body-reality-rung, the body casts off the ignorance-cover of millennia. Once we ascend from that rung and step on the intellect-reality-rung, we see the vastness inside smallness and the smallness inside vastness, the infinite Beauty inside the finite duty and the finite duty inside the infinite Beauty. Then we ascend the morality-reality-rung. Here we try to illumine our lower self, which consciously or unconsciously enjoys the song of division and the dance of separativity through self-indulgence and by unreservedly and deliberately embracing the earth-bound goal while ignoring the Heaven-free goal. The earthbound goal is: “Possess and become”. But to our sorrow we see that we possess only to lose; what is worse, to get totally lost. Finally we ascend to the spirituality-reality-rung and reach our Heaven-free goal. What is our Heaven-free goal? Our Heaven-free goal is: “Offer and become”.

To quote your singularly momentous and apposite inner depth: “We progress physically, mentally, morally and spiritually towards a higher level of human consciousness, towards that smile of divinity which knows that someday the human race will be able to re-establish paradise on earth. There is no longer much difference between the political approach and this broader, richer concept of human fulfilment.”

I fully agree that these four approaches are not independent; they are interdependent. They are interdependent precisely because they know that they can reach their satisfaction-goal only on the strength of their becoming one, inseparably one. Interdependence is the harbinger of oneness. Human life in itself is an eternal road, eternal journey, eternal soul and eternal goal. While walking along Eternity’s road, if the seeker covers some distance and then gives the distance he covered a name, and if he continues to do this, he is perfectly entitled to do so. But in the heart of his heart, he knows that it is only one road, one journey, one crying soul and one smiling goal. These four are Eternity’s duty, Infinity’s beauty, Divinity’s necessity and Reality’s immortality.

Mr. Robert Muller: Do you think the U.N. exercises a real influence in the world? What is, in your view, its principal contribution? How does it appear to you in the great stream of history and human evolution?

Sri Chinmoy: Not only do I think, but I am positive in my soulful statement that the United Nations exercises certain influences in the world. These are the vision of peace, the mission of brotherhood, the sense of perfection in a oneness-world-family and the total satisfaction of complete oneness.

The principal contribution of the United Nations is the hope-sky that it offers to the world at large. This hope-sky is not a product of vital fantasies, mental vagaries or the idiosyncrasies of weaklings. This hope-sky is the all-illumining revelation of the United Nations soul. The seeker-servers at the United Nations — no matter in which capacity they are serving the United Nations — and the supporter-lovers of the United Nations — no matter in which part of the world they are — are seeing a glimpse of the United Nations soul’s all-illumining revelation. And each glimpse embodies a growing and glowing fullness-satisfaction in man’s life of inner hunger and his life of outer feast.

In the great stream of history and human evolution the contribution of the United Nations is not only to be the great and ultimate pathfinder of the ultimate Truth, but also the good and supreme bliss-distributor of humanity’s Divinity.

Mr. Robert Muller: If you were given the task of laying down the basic principles for the education of all the children of this world, what would be your recommendations?

Sri Chinmoy: According to me, education is self-cultivation and self-cultivation is God-perfection in human life. You want to know the basic principles for the education of all the children of this world. Let us divide this world into halves: the Eastern world or, let us say, the Indian world, and the Western world, or the American world. For an Indian child, freedom is a far cry. For an American child, freedom is an act as easy as breathing in and breathing out. In India, even now I see that a child is taught and learns the message of the world through severe discipline and imposed fear. Here in America, as far as I can see and feel, in most of the cases, if not all, parents get satisfaction in fulfilling their own dreams, but they neglect their children’s needs. They say to the children, “We don’t want to impose anything on you. You find out your truth and you pick out what is best for yourself, for how do we know what is best for you? It is better that you look around and find what you need.” Some will say that this is a broad expression of the parents’ oneness with their children, while others will say that the parents unconsciously, if not consciously, are unburdening their so-called burdens. The parents will say, “Look, we really love you. Here is the proof that we love you. We have given you a TV set. We have given you a tape recorder, a radio — everything in the material world that you long for. Therefore, we expect you to stay with your friends and let us fulfil our dreams in our own way.”

Unfortunately, I can subscribe neither to the Indian method of bringing up a child nor to the American method. Parents should not allow their children to grow up in the Elysian lap of exorbitant luxury; nor should they keep a devouring, intransigent tiger before their children so that at every moment the children will be forced to do the right thing. The parents should tell their children that they are not disciplinary, autocratic parents but unreservedly loving, discerning friends.

The education of the children and the education of the parents must go together. The parents must dream in and fulfil themselves through their creations, their children. As the creation cannot be separated from the creator, even so, the creator cannot be separated from the creation. The creation without the creator is helpless. The creator without the creation is meaningless. Therefore, both the creation and the creator must contribute to each other in order to derive oneness-satisfaction and fulness-satisfaction. It is in the parents’ right decision that we can find the children’s freedom. This freedom is founded on their oneness with their parents’ will. Let us consider the children as finite realities and the parents as infinite realities. The children become infinite and enjoy infinite freedom only by becoming consciously, unreservedly and inseparably one with their parents.

The parents must not think of their children as unnecessary projections of their life; for if these projections are unnecessary, then they can go in their own way. On the contrary, they must feel that their children are absolutely necessary projections of their life. The improvement of the projections, perfection of the projections, considerably adds to the source. The beauty of the leaves, flowers and fruits of the tree only adds to the seed-reality of the tree. It does not diminish the beauty-reality, divinity and necessity of the seed.

Here I wish to quote from your most illumining insights about global education: “A child born today will be faced as an adult, almost daily, with problems of a global interdependent nature, be it peace, food, the quality of life, inflation, or scarcity of natural resources. He will be both an actor and a beneficiary or a victim in the total world fabric, and he may rightly ask: ‘Why was I not warned? Why was I not better educated? Why did my teachers not tell me about these problems and indicate my behaviour as a member of an interdependent human race?’ […]

“Global education must transcend material and intellectual achievements and reach also into the moral and spiritual spheres. Man has been able to extend the power of his hands with incredible machines, of his eyes with telescopes and microscopes, of his ears with telephones, radio waves and sonars, of his brain with computers and automation. He must now also extend his heart, his sentiments, his love and his soul to the dimension of the entire human family and to our total beautiful planet circling in the universe.”

The parents should bring the presence of God, the presence of love, the presence of truth and the presence of purity into the hearts and eyes of their children as soon as the children can see the light of day. They should tell their children that they themselves and the children are great companions and that they have a good Guide, a good Leader, who will guide them, mould them and shape them into perfect Perfection. They know a little more about that Guide than the children, and He has told them to say certain things about Him to the children. Therefore, they are listening to the Guide’s dictates. Right now the parents are asked by the Guide to act as intermediaries between Him and the children. But there shall come a time when the children will not need intermediaries. They will be able to go directly to the Guide, the Source. Until then, the children must listen to their intermediaries, their earthly friends. The acme of the children’s education is their perfection in life and their perfection for God-satisfaction. And to offer their children that, the parents should not impose, nor expose, nor even propose: only they should become the living flame of self-giving in order to realise their own world-satisfying life and to please the Source in its own way.

Mr. Robert Muller: Anthropologists have found a gradation of religious beliefs over the history of mankind: ritualism, animism, ancestor worship, polytheism, monotheism. All these forms were associated with changes in the social structure. Recently, the "age of reason" and the scientific and industrial revolution have rendered religion and spirituality obsolete — even harmful — in the eyes of many. What, in your view, is likely to be the "religion" or "spirituality" of humanity tomorrow as a satisfactory answer to man's queries about his relationships with the universe, his fellow men and the mysteries of life? Is this likely to be reflected in the United Nations as a forum where humanity is seeking new ways for its destiny and fulfilment?

Sri Chinmoy: The spirituality of tomorrow will neither be the merciless rejection of life nor the disproportionate imposition of life; the spirituality of tomorrow will be the devoted acceptance of life and the pure dissemination of the seeker’s self-giving breath in order that he may become a God-blossoming beauty within and without.

Here at this point I am tempted to share with the rest of the world your most illumining ideas and most nourishing thoughts: “Indeed, how can we reach full consciousness and enlightenment if we do not let the entire world and humanity enter ourselves? Humility and the lowering of one’s ego lead in the end to righteousness, happiness and the full mastery over oneself, enriched by the thoughts, dreams and feelings of others. Together with meditation, it is perhaps the clue to serenity in our bewildered, complex world. U Thant was a living proof of it.”

The spirituality of tomorrow’s dawn will beckon the desire-world to show the desire-world that real satisfaction looms large only in the aspiration-life. The real spirituality of tomorrow’s dawn will beckon the aspiration-world to show the aspiration-world that real satisfaction lies only in the seeker’s unconditionally surrendered oneness with his Source, his Beloved Supreme.

The blind world can be sceptical of the reality or it can deny the reality when the reality is in the flame stage. But when the reality grows into the sun stage, even the stone blind must admit that the sun does exist, because of its scorching heat and loving warmth. Today’s United Nations divinity-flame can be denied or challenged, but tomorrow’s United Nations divinity-sun shall give sight to the blind, offer legs to the lame and offer voice to the voiceless to mark the slow, steady and unerring beginning of man’s quenchless satisfaction in God and God’s breathless satisfaction in man.

Part V

FW 308-309. On 18 March 1977 Mr. Robert Muller, Deputy Under-Secretary-General for Inter-Agency Affairs, wrote Sri Chinmoy asking him about the role of the East and the West in today's world. Here is Mr. Muller's question and Sri Chinmoy's reply.

Letter from Mr. Muller to Sri Chinmoy

Dear Sri Chinmoy,
U Thant often said that in his view the West was too materialistic and intellectual, and not spiritual enough, whereas the East was too spiritual and fatalistic, and not caring enough for the material and intellectual welfare of the people. Do you see a synthesis developing between the two and how would you envisage a harmonious, happy world society?

Warmly yours,
Robert Muller
18 March 1977

Letter from Sri Chinmoy to Mr. Muller

Dear Mr. Muller, esteemed brother, illumining seeker and fulfilling advisor:
I readily, immediately and unreservedly agree with our beloved Secretary-General U Thant’s most illumining assessment of Eastern achievements and Western achievements, Eastern possessions and Western possessions, Eastern contributions and Western contributions, Eastern outlook towards the Reality and Western outlook towards the Reality.

The East is spiritual, the West is material. The East cries for the transcendental Spirit, the West cries for the universal matter.

The East is in the heart and for the heart. The West is in the mind and for the mind. The East from within comes to the fore and flowers. The West from the outer existence goes deep within and flowers.

The East wants silence. The West wants sound. Silence embodies the teeming Vast eventually to proceed. Sound inspires the teeming Vast continuously to succeed.

The East sings the song of God the One. The West sings the song of God the Many. The East loves unity. The West loves multiplicity.

This world of ours is beset with countless problems. The spiritual East thinks that the Beyond is the only answer. The material West thinks that the answer is to be found here on earth; it thinks that the answer is: live and enjoy and enjoy and live.

The East believes in fate because it believes in reincarnation. The West does not believe in reincarnation; therefore, it does not believe in fate.

We can endlessly see and determine the differences between the East and the West. But the real question is whether these differences are being synthesised or not. At the very beginning, if we know what the heart can offer and what the mind can offer, then it will be an easy task to synthesise the two. The heart wants to see the oneness, feel the oneness and become the oneness itself. The mind wants diversity in the vital and multiplicity in the mind proper. The heart knows that there is a road that leads upward. The mind knows that there is a road that leads forward. The East wants to walk along the road that leads upward. The West wants to walk along the road that leads forward.

The synthesis between East and West starts because of their feelings of insufficiency. The East sees that if it does not accept the material life, then it will not be able to manifest what it inwardly has. The West feels that if it does not accept the spiritual life, then it will not have a solid foundation. Then everything can be easily shattered.

We can clearly see that the East has already gained considerable knowledge and wisdom from the West, especially in the scientific world. The West has gained considerable knowledge and wisdom from the East, especially in the spiritual world. Here we see that the heart and the mind cannot function separately and individually. They have to function together, provided they feel the need of an integral perfection in life. The mind without the heart will not know what the supreme Reality is. The heart without the mind will not know how the supreme Reality can be manifested here on earth. To our great joy, the East and the West are constantly complementing each other to make each other perfect consciously, and more so unconsciously.

The East is like the body of a bird and the West is like the wings of a bird. If the bird does not spread its wings, then how will it fly? And again, when it flies and reaches the highest Height, at that time it has to know that there is another goal and that goal is God-manifestation on earth. There are two goals: one goal is Heaven-reality and the other goal is earth-reality. When we use the wings to go upward to the Heavenly goal, we go with the earth-reality to the Heaven-reality. And when we come down to the earthly goal, we come down with the Heaven-reality to the earth-reality. It is like climbing up and down a tree. We climb up a mango tree and pluck mangoes, and then bring them down and distribute them. The East says, “Gather!” The West says, “Spread!” If we do not gather, then how can we spread? Only if we gather can we spread. Again, if we spread what we have, then the Source is pleased with us and the Source gives us everything in infinite measure.

For the last quarter of a century, both the East and the West have felt the supreme necessity of receiving light from each other. To quote your own illumining ideals and fulfilling ideals: “Beyond the turmoil, the divisions and perplexities of our time, mankind is slowly but surely finding the ways, limits and new codes of behaviour which will encompass all races, nations and ideologies. It is the formulation of these new ethics which will be the great challenge for the new generation. It will concern not only men’s material fate, but also their mental and spiritual lives.”

There was a time when the renouncer of life felt that it was beneath his dignity to love the lover of life, and the lover of life felt that it was beneath his dignity to mix with the renouncer of life. Now the lover and the renouncer are modifying their views and becoming one. The renouncer feels that to love life because God the All-Love is inside life is absolutely correct. At the same time, God the Lover of life sees that things need not be renounced; He sees that they can be modified, transformed and perfected. After all, perfection only can give humanity abiding satisfaction. So the East, instead of rejecting, gladly accepts the great possibilities, capacities and realities of the West. The West, too, does exactly the same. They are combining their possibilities and transforming these possibilities into divine practicabilities with the hope that supreme satisfaction will dawn in the all-embracing and all-illumining common realisation of East and West.

We will have a harmonious, happy world-society only if this synthesis continues, and we can take East and West as the two arms, two eyes, two feet and two legs of the Supreme Pilot within and without. The other human divisions and distinctions — racial, cultural and linguistic — are destined to disappear from the human consciousness when it is flooded with a higher Light. This is the inevitable consequence of the Hour of God that is dawning all over the world. When the Hour of God appears, diversities will be there, but these diversities will be enriched and enhanced in fullest measure. And they will not disturb the general consciousness; on the contrary, they will harmoniously complement the whole. Humanity will be a true human family in every sense of the term and also in a sense that the human mind has yet to discover. And here I wish to say that this discovery will exceed all human expectations.

The awakened consciousness of man is evolving towards the Divine Existence. This is a most hopeful streak of light amidst the obscurities of the present-day world. This is a moment when human beings do not only join hands, but also join minds, hearts and souls. All physical, vital and mental barriers between East and West will dissolve; and high above national standards, above even individual standards, we shall see the supreme banner of divine Oneness.

Yours in the Supreme,
Sri Chinmoy
1 April 1977

Part VI: Questions from Mr Robert Muller — continued

Mr. Robert Muller: Where so many humans from all over the world come together to talk to each other, to learn from each other, to heal rifts and to devise a better common destiny, isn't that the greatest place on earth? To my mind, the United Nations is no less than a miracle.

Sri Chinmoy: The United Nations is a place where humanity can talk, learn and become. Humanity can talk of lasting peace, learn the secret of love and become the delight of oneness. Because of this, the United Nations is unmistakably the greatest in terms of vision-capacity, which will eventually be manifested as the most fulfilling Reality-perfection and Immortality-satisfaction.

According to our limited body, curious vital, searching mind and crying heart, the United Nations is no less than a miracle. But we have one more member in our family: the soul. The soul has quite a different story to narrate. It reveals to us and tells us that there is no such thing as a miracle. Anything that is uncommon, unusual and unfamiliar in this world we call a miracle. But there are many higher planes of consciousness where these so-called miracles are common occurrences.

God the Creator and God the creation are one. We see God the creation here, there and everywhere. But we find it difficult to realise or accept God the creation so easily, not to speak of so lovingly and devotedly. When God the Creator reveals an infinitesimal iota of His Light and Power through a human life from a new realm of consciousness to which we do not have a free access, we are quite often ready to regard it — that is to say, God’s visible and tangible Compassion-Gift — as a miracle. But just because God the creation is always visible and available, our ignorance-familiarity is badly wanting in appreciation capacity. Otherwise, we would feel that God the creation is undoubtedly as much of a miracle as God the Creator.

Let us see eye to eye with our soul’s revelation that there is no such thing as a miracle. Although we are not aware of something or although something has not yet manifested on earth, it can easily happen that we may become aware of it tomorrow or it may become manifested tomorrow. So there is no need to call it a miracle, for its existence-reality has already been discovered by the highest and greatest member of our own family, the soul.

Needless to say, miracle-power does not and cannot elevate our consciousness. It is our reality’s spontaneity that can and will elevate and illumine our consciousness and fulfil unreservedly the Real in us. And what is the Real in us? The universal oneness of the Transcendental Height. Truth to tell, the soul of our dear United Nations embodies this all-loving Reality’s all-fulfilling divinity.

With your soul’s kind permission, I am bringing this answer to the personal level. I have had the opportunity to hear a good many speeches by a good many speakers. No hyperbole, you top and far outshine the galaxy of my heroes. My searching human mind tells me that each speech of yours is nothing short of a miracle; nay, it is a miracle itself, for it embodies and reveals most striking depths and heights. But my flying soul-bird, which has a free access to the higher planes of reality, tells me unmistakably and shows me convincingly the actual reality which your soul so spontaneously and so beautifully reveals through your aspiration and dedication-life. If I believe in my soul and your soul, which I shall eternally do, your invaluable gifts to the United Nations and to the world at large are not miracles, but a spontaneous self-offering to the Absolute Pilot Supreme on the strength of your aspiration-vision and dedication-mission.

Mr. Robert Muller: The United Nations is the incredible place where human oneness is seeking itself in the endless diversity of the prodigy of life. How is it possible, then, that so few people recognise this great new blessing?

Sri Chinmoy: I fully agree with you that the United Nations is the “incredible place where human oneness is seeking itself in the endless prodigy of life”. Now, how is it possible that so few people recognise this great new blessing? Most human beings are apt to wallow in the pleasures of ignorance. For them, there is no higher reality. For them, there is no necessity for Heaven-freedom. They are totally satisfied with their earthbound lives. Anything that is challenging, demanding, vast and high, they fail to recognise, for they are vehemently unwilling to awaken their acceptance-capacity and widen their receptivity-capacity. What they have is more than enough for them. What they do not have is not only worthless and useless, but also an object of laughter-evoking mockery. These rank fools, to our extreme sorrow, are denying their own real reality, weakening their own true capacity. Finally, they are binding themselves to an extremely narrow vision, which is the precursor of utter destruction.

We see the sun and can become inseparably one with its creative force, illumining reality and fulfilling divinity. This is what God-lovers and Truth-seekers do. But again, there are thousands of people on earth who do not or cannot do so. But just because they do not or cannot do so, they are in no way deprived of the sun’s benevolent light. The sun unconditionally gives its light and warmth to all those who are living on this earth-planet. But the sun knows that a day shall dawn, although it may take millennia, when each and every human being will recognise what a great blessing the sun is. They will then accept the sun lovingly and its gift gratefully. Similar is the experience that the wisdom-power of the United Nations soul — which is a great new blessing to all and sundry — will give to each and every human being that has ever trod the earth-arena.

Mr. Robert Muller: What can we do to open the eyes and hearts of people?

Sri Chinmoy: What can we do to open the eyes and hearts of people? We can aspire more soulfully, dedicate our lives more devotedly and try to become unconditional instruments of God for God alone. If we do this, then our constant and unconditional self-giving will, without fail, expedite the opening of the eyes and the hearts of the people.

Mr. Robert Muller: I often feel that all my speaking and writing is just a drop of water on an infertile field of blindness and disbelief. What more can we do? What would you suggest?

Sri Chinmoy: Revered brother, your speaking-world and your writing-world are not a drop of water. Far from it! They are the oceans of life-transforming light. Today’s “infertile field of blindness and disbelief” need not and cannot remain so forever, for God’s Vision of the infinite Beyond is infinitely more powerful than the man-made blindness and disbelief of a barren field of confusing unreality.

What more can we do? We can try to climb up untiringly God’s Patience-Tower and watch from the highest Height and wait on the highest Height for God’s God-Hour to strike. At God’s choice Hour, the stark blindness and rank disbelief of humanity will be inundated with the ever-illumining Light and ever-immortalising Delight of Eternity’s Beyond, which is slowly, steadily and unerringly manifesting itself on our earth-planet. When God’s choice Hour strikes, we two and others who are sailing in the same boat will offer tears of sleepless gratitude to our Source, our Beloved Supreme, who out of His boundless Bounty has made us His illumining Vision-seers and His fulfilling Reality-pioneers.

Sri Chinmoy Meditation at the United Nations

The first edition also includes Sri Chinmoy's credo for the Sri Chinmoy Meditation at the United Nations Group.

Editor's preface to the first edition

For a number of years, Sri Chinmoy has been serving the United Nations as spiritual leader of the United Nations Meditation Group, recently renamed Sri Chinmoy Meditation at the United Nations. In this capacity, he has been offering regular meditations and lectures for United Nations delegates and staff since the spring of 1970. At these sessions, members of the United Nations community have often asked him spiritual questions, which he has answered extemporaneously. This book is part of a series which compiles all of these questions and answers.