1. Question: Is God the only Reality?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, God is the only Reality. He is the only Reality here on earth and there in Heaven. But Reality has its children, which we call realities. In the field of manifestation, Reality becomes realities. But each individual reality embodies the absolute Reality. Reality is the root and seed, and realities are the millions of branches, leaves, flowers and fruits of the Reality-Tree. To our limited understanding the one Reality becomes infinite realities in infinite forms. But when it is a matter of the only Reality, God is the only Reality, the Reality-Seed, the Reality-Tree, the Reality-Branches and the Reality-Leaves. God is eternally the only Reality. We ourselves become the only Reality only when we realise God and serve Him in His own Way.

2. Question: What is the best way to harmonise the inner and the outer worlds?

Sri Chinmoy: The best way to harmonise the inner world and the outer world is to become the message of self-giving. When we are in the outer life if we give ourselves to the inner life, and when we are in the inner life if we give ourselves to the outer life, then we harmonise both the inner and outer world. What do we mean by giving ourselves when we are in the outer life? When we are in the outer life we have to feel that the satisfaction that we have is due to the inner cry of the inner life. When we have that kind of feeling, we automatically give ourselves to the inner life. We become the real satisfaction and give full credit to the inner life. And when we are in the inner life if we want to give ourselves, we have to feel that only having an inner cry is not enough. We have to bring the inner cry to the outer life and transform the outer life into constant joy and delight. If we do that, then we can feel that we are giving ourselves to the outer life. The inner life is perfect only when we see a smile in the outer life; the outer life is perfect only when we see that the outer life can do nothing without the conscious and constant self-giving of the inner life.

3. Question: Can human weakness ever be divine?

Sri Chinmoy: Human weakness can never be divine. If we are speaking about an ordinary human being, then his weakness will be really human; so how can it be divine? But if we see a similar quality in a divine person, we feel that it is like our own human weakness. But we have to know at that time that what appears to be human weakness is just a mask. When somebody is dying, at that time if he says, "O God, why have You forsaken me?" naturally it is human weakness we are observing in him. But when the Christ said, "Father, why hast Thou forsaken me?" it was not actually human weakness in him that spoke. It was his identification with human ignorance. When he identified himself with human ignorance he said, "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" But when he identified himself with the Divine, the same person said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

If the Christ had not identified himself with the human but had all the time remained with the Divine — which he had and which he was — then nobody would ever try to imitate him or become like him. People would say, "Oh, you are divine, you are great, you are supreme. You always remain in the highest height, so how are we going to become like you?" If he becomes one with us in our understanding, if he also accepts the suffering that we go through on the same level, if he says the same things which we ourselves say, people may say this is his human weakness, but the Supreme will know that just because he is doing this, humanity will have the hope and assurance that one day it will also be able to grow into Divinity. For human beings will see in him someone who one moment is as helpless as they are, but who the next moment can become complete, whole, perfect, divine, supreme in everything. To take the weakness of a divine person as a human weakness will be a mistake. We have to see what he is doing and why he is doing it: is it because he is ignorant or is it because he feels that this is the only way he can take human beings to the divine Goal?

A divine person will act like a mother teaching a child. The child is crawling and wants to stand up. What does the mother do? Sometimes the mother pretends that she also cannot get up. The mother intentionally falls down and the child is very happy that the mother is also falling. Then when the mother stands up once or twice, the child gets up too. If the mother always remains standing and the child sees that the mother never falls, it is very difficult for her to teach the child. But when the mother also falls, the child sees that it is a real game; then when she gets up, the child gets a little hope and inspiration that he will ultimately be able to get up.

The Christ was hiding the Divine inside the human. He was saying that the human need not and cannot remain always human; it can and must become the Divine. But the weaknesses of an ordinary human being who has countless emotional problems, vital problems and all kinds of undivine problems, are undoubtedly totally human and not divine. But these weaknesses can be transformed eventually. Today's anger can be transformed into divine virility, divine strength. Today's weakness can easily be transformed into tomorrow's divine strength and capacity. But until it is transformed, while it is still in the ordinary, unaspiring human being who is on his way to becoming perfect, we have to say human weakness is human weakness. We cannot compare ourselves with the Christ or the other world-saviours, because we do not know what we have within, whereas they did know. They were only putting on a mask so that humanity would not see a yawning gulf between their height and its own.

4. Question: What is the difference between sharing and gossip?

Sri Chinmoy: Gossip only pleases the vital in us. It only satisfies the undivine in us, the destructive forces in us. Once it destroys the world around us — and unfortunately we are not aware of the fact until it happens — then it destroys us. It destroys our inner good qualities. Gossip will never illumine others. On the contrary, it tries to eclipse others' hearts and eclipses our own aspiring heart.

In sharing there is an expansion of one's consciousness in a divine way. If we share something with someone, it is not with a sense of pride, not with a feeling that "I heard it first." When we share we feel an extension of our knowledge. When we have any news — whether it is bad news or good news, sad news or divine news — when we share it with others, immediately we feel a sense of expansion. If it is sad news, we will share it with others to strengthen ourselves. If we hear sad news, we feel that we are being forewarned and forearmed. If it is good news that we share, we feel that we are achieving it ourselves. This is the foundation-stone, and here we shall build a tall edifice.

But gossip is not an expansion of one's consciousness. It is an offering, unconscious or conscious, of a message of destruction. If I offer gossip, it means that I am telling you something bad about a person. I am offering destructive news to you so that you can also use this weapon and destroy the person about whom we are speaking. No matter how important or unimportant it is, in back of gossip there is always destruction. You can't kill a person when he is standing right in front of you. But when you gossip, rest assured that in the inner world you are killing him. If you hear gossip or spread gossip about someone, you are stabbing him in the inner world. And because you are not satisfied with what harm you have done you are asking somebody else to stab him also, so that he will be totally destroyed. You have destroyed someone, but you are not satisfied; so you tell your friend, "Destroy him more, so that he does not stay on earth." This is gossip.

Sharing does not have any bad motive. You have heard something and you are sharing it with all innocence. But when you indulge in gossip, you have to feel that you are only stabbing a person in the inner world. And you are stabbing not only the person whom you are gossiping about, but also the divinity within him, the divinity which is the real message of inseparable oneness. The moment you indulge in gossip you are breaking the ribbon of universal oneness. In the outer world you will try to do it in such a way that others will not recognise it. But even though others may not recognise it or catch you as the culprit, in the inner world you are already caught. There you can't escape. Gossip is a deplorable tendency in human nature that we cherish.

5. Question: How can human nature be transformed?

Sri Chinmoy: There are many ways to transform human nature. But two main ways I would like to mention. One way is to bring down into the system the divine, all-illumining Light of the Supreme, enlarging one's receptivity-vessel. This is the most important way. Before human nature is transformed, it is full of darkness. Darkness can be removed only by bringing in light, and not by anything else. We have to bring down light from above consciously and constantly and then expand our receptivity. The more we expand our receptivity, the more we can hold light inside ourselves.

Another way is to see the divine light in each human being and not to see anything else. Just because we see something undivine in ourselves and in others it has become impossible for us to transform either our own nature or human nature in general. But no matter what they do, what they say or what they are, if we consciously and constantly see only the divine light in others — the light we are bringing down from above — then automatically human nature has to be transformed. If we see light in each individual and in our own nature, then it is not only possible but also inevitable to transform human nature and earth's nature. While bringing down light and enlarging our receptivity and while seeing light inside others, we transform human nature and our own nature.

6. Question: Is insomnia a blessing or a curse?

Sri Chinmoy: For an ordinary person insomnia is really a curse. He needs sleep. Insomnia will tell upon his health and he won't be able to function properly in the world-scene. But for a spiritual seeker who has learned the art of meditation, if he does not get much sleep or does not want to sleep because he wants to meditate more at night, this is good. If he can meditate well and, at the same time, if his health is not affected, then if he wants to meditate three or four hours a night, it is wonderful.

Some people are very sincere and they want to meditate for hours and hours. During the day they have the capacity to meditate for four or five hours, and at night also they want to meditate. They try their best, but after a while they fall asleep. But if nature does not give them sleep and if this does not in any way disturb their health, it is a real blessing. Then they don't have to fight against sleep during their meditation; they don't have to think of conquering sleep. In their case, sleep is kind to them if it does not visit them.

In India there is a special god named Shani. You call him Saturn. He is the god of renunciation. Ordinary people are afraid of him and pray to him to bless them by staying away from them. Other gods people invoke to come and bless them, but to Shani they say, "Please grant us the blessing of not coming to us. If you ignore us, that is the best blessing." Similarly, the seeker will consider it a real blessing if sleep does not come to him. The few hours that he can meditate at night will add to his meditation during the day. And the more he can meditate soulfully and devotedly without his body being adversely affected, the better it is. But for the non-seeker who is not meant for spiritual life right now, if he does not get enough sleep, it is a curse. Something will go wrong in his physical body, or something may already be amiss.

7. Question: How can I maintain my joy permanently?

Sri Chinmoy: You can maintain your joy permanently when you feel that the joy you are having is not yours. It does not come because you have done something for yourself or for God or for humanity. No! You have to feel that it is an unconditional gift from the Supreme. Then you have to feel that the joy you are experiencing is nothing other than the Supreme Himself. The Supreme has come to you in the form of Joy; so because the Supreme is permanent and eternal within you, your joy is also permanent.

First try to feel that the Supreme has given this joy to you not because of what you have done but because He loves you. It is not a result of your action but something that the Supreme Himself wants to give you. Then when you are experiencing this joy, you have to feel it is not joy as such but the Supreme Himself that you are enjoying. It is not that He has sent you joy and He is somewhere else. No, He Himself has come to you in the form of Joy. If you have this kind of inner awareness, you will be able to maintain your joy permanently, for He who has come to you as Joy is permanent and infinite. If you can see and feel Him as infinite Joy, then your joy will remain permanent.

8. Question: Are God's Blessings unconditional?

Sri Chinmoy: God's Blessings are always unconditional. He gives us Peace, Light, Bliss and Power according to the capacity of our receptivity. He gives us always in an unconditional way. But if we offer Him our gratitude, then His gifts increase. He will give us one dollar unconditionally, but if we offer Him gratitude, then He will give us ten dollars. It is not that He wants something from us; but if we accept His gifts wholeheartedly and devotedly, then He is pleased and He gives us more. When He gives us a little bit of Peace we do not have to give Him something in return. No, He is giving just because He feels like giving. It is not even because we have cried for the thing. But if we accept His gift with joy, with love, with gratitude, then His satisfaction in us increases. If we take it with joy and gratitude, then He gives us much more because He feels that in us His gift will grow and grow. In us His Capacity will grow, His Light will grow, His Divinity will grow and grow, whereas in somebody else they will be suffocated.

But even if we do not accept His Blessings with gratitude, even if we take them ungratefully and don't pay any attention to them, still He will continue giving to us in the same unconditional way. Even then He offers Himself, because He feels that if He does not give to ungrateful people, then their very life will be totally destroyed. So out of His infinite Bounty He gives to everyone, and according to their receptivity, everybody receives. But while receiving, if one offers gratitude, love and joy, naturally his receptivity will increase. God feels that there is a passage, a door, that is wide open in him. God can come in at any moment and remain inside the room, and there He can grow most easily because the gratitude of the seeker nourishes and cherishes God's Blessing-Seeds.

9. Question: What gives God the most joy?

Sri Chinmoy: God gets the most joy when a seeker claims Him as his very own on the strength of his full awareness of what God is to him. When a seeker feels that God is his most illumined and perfect part and that he is part and parcel of God, then God gets most joy. When he feels that his undivine or unlit part will be transformed totally and that it is only a matter of time before he himself will grow into his highest, most illumined part, which is God, at that time God gets the most joy. Even a seeker's undivine part is God, for God is everything. But a seeker wants to grow into his divine part in order to become God.

Let us take his head as the absolute perfect God and his feet as the imperfect God. So he wants to transform his ignorance-feet into the wisdom-light that is his head. He does not want to remain at the foot of the perfection-tree; he wants to climb up to the very top. If one takes God as his own highest and most illumined part, if one feels that right now he is part and parcel of the highest Reality but that he has still to become conscious of it, grow into it and then manifest his ultimate Height — if one feels this — then God gets the most joy.

10. Question: What is man's greatest treasure?

Sri Chinmoy: An ordinary man's greatest treasure is world-recognition and world-possession. A spiritual man's greatest treasure is his conscious, constant, cheerful and unconditional surrender to the Will of the Supreme. Also, we can say that, before he realises God, his heart's ascending cry is his greatest treasure; after he has realised God, his soul's descending smile is his greatest treasure.

11. Question: Should we expect reward for selfless service?

Sri Chinmoy: The question itself is self-contradictory. When we use the term 'selfless service', we cannot and we must not expect anything. If it is devoted service, we can expect some reward; but when it becomes selfless, then we cannot expect any reward. When we are able to do real selfless service with no desire or expectation of reward, the result we shall get will be far beyond all our expectations. Also, during the performance of real selfless service, we get abundant joy. We don't have to wait for any result or aftereffect. Selfless service itself is the greatest joy and highest reward.

12. Question: How can self-deception be avoided?

Sri Chinmoy: First we have to know what we have achieved from self-deception. We have achieved nothing. On the contrary, what we have done is only to create conscious destruction inside us. Each time we deceive ourselves, our ordinary life may feel that since it is only we ourselves who are involved, nobody cares what we do. Even if we deceive ourselves, there is nobody to watch it. But God cares and God is watching; the Divine in us, the real in us, is caring and watching. When the real within us observes our self-deception, it loses its own strength. The more we deceive ourselves, the more we weaken ourselves.

Once we know how much we actually lose by self-deception, we readily try to avoid it. The best way to avoid self-deception is to accept consciously and constantly the light that is more than willing to enter into all our activities and into each second of our existence. If we accept light, if we sincerely cry to have light in all our actions at each moment of our existence, then there cannot be any trace of self-deception in us.

13. Question: Is God economical or extravagant?

Sri Chinmoy: God is neither economical nor extravagant. He is what His Compassion-Light or Wisdom-Light wants Him to be. He uses His Compassion-Light for those who are still sleeping spiritually and He uses His Wisdom-Light for those who are fully or partially awakened. But God's Compassion is not extravagant and His Wisdom is not economical. These are just two mighty weapons that He uses. By using these two formidable weapons, God inspires and energises both the non-seeker and the seeker to do the right thing. The non-seeker He inspires to come out of sleep, and once the person is awakened and has become a seeker, He inspires him to run the fastest towards his Goal.

14. Question: How can one go alone and yet experience oneness?

Sri Chinmoy: First of all, we have to know the difference between being lonely and being alone. Loneliness we can feel even when we are amidst hundreds of so-called friends or even when we are among real friends. If we do not feel the presence of God inside our heart, then we are bound to feel loneliness no matter how many friends or how many hundreds and thousands of people are around us.

To go alone does not mean to have indifference or aloofness. To go alone means that the hour has struck for us. Now we have to run toward our Goal without waiting for our dear ones, whose hour has not struck. If somebody's hour strikes one minute before yours or one minute after yours, it is not your responsibility. When your hour strikes you go, and if it so happens that at the same time somebody else's hour strikes, then you can go together. But if someone starts before you or after you, that does not mean that you will not be able to establish your oneness with him. You can easily feel your oneness with the ones who are ahead or behind and you can maintain your oneness while going alone. You are alone because nobody is right alongside you. But someone is behind and someone is ahead, and you can easily experience the feeling of oneness as long as they are walking along the same road and towards the same destination.

15. Question: Does humility mean taking a back seat?

Sri Chinmoy: No, humility does not mean taking a back seat. When you take a back seat consciously and deliberately in order to show others how humble you are, you are not being humble at all. Again, if you know that somebody is superior to you, and if for this reason you sit behind him rather than in front of him or beside him, this is not actually the heart's humility either. This is only a recognition of the fact that if you are inferior to someone, naturally he deserves to be in front of you. It is his due.

True humility is something totally different; it is the feeling of oneness. Humility means giving joy to others. If you have not established or cannot establish your inner oneness with others, then you can try to make them feel that they are as important as you, if not more so. On the outer plane if you can make people feel that they are really important, then they will value you. Here on earth we want to get joy. But how do we get joy? We get joy not by coming forward before others, but by bringing others to the fore. The real joy we get by self-giving, not by possessing or by showing our own supremacy. When we allow others to get joy first, then we feel that our joy is more complete, more perfect, more divine. By making others feel that they are either equally important or more important, we will show our true humility. Offering joy to others first is the way to show true humility.

16. Question: Can self-denial transform the lower vital?

Sri Chinmoy: No, self-denial cannot transform the lower vital. Never! Today we shall deny the lower vital; tomorrow we shall deny the physical; the day after tomorrow we shall deny the mind; the day after that we shall deny even the heart. A few days later we shall deny the soul; and finally we shall deny God Himself. Once we start singing the song of denial there is no end to it. A day will come when we will very cleverly deny God Himself.

Self-denial is not and cannot be the answer. Acceptance and transformation is the answer. There is the higher vital that is aspiring and there is the lower vital that does not aspire at all. The lower vital we shall accept for transformation. But after acceptance, we have to know when we should enter into it. We have to wait until the hour is right. When the heart and mind are fully illumined and fully surcharged with light, only then can we enter into the lower vital. If we enter into the lower vital before we are fully prepared, then the darkness of the vital will devour whatever light we already have. Until the hour is right, we shall not deny the vital's existence or needs. We shall accept its existence, but we have to be careful. We know that right now our strength is very limited. So first we have to develop our inner muscles. Once we become very strong inwardly, then we shall deliberately enter into the lower vital to transform it, because if any part of our being — whether body, vital or mind — remains untransformed, then we cannot be complete or perfect instruments of the absolute Supreme.

17. Question: Is suffering necessary for self-purification?

Sri Chinmoy: From the highest spiritual point of view, suffering is not at all necessary for self-purification. But here on earth some people are very clever. They feel that when they suffer, only then does God come into their mind. Otherwise, they never think of God; He is a forgotten story, an unnecessary story.

In the Mahabharata, Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas, was very clever. She used to pray to Lord Krishna that she always be kept in suffering so that she would always think of him. She felt that if she were happy, there would be no necessity on her part to think of him or meditate on him. Most human beings do not pray to God to give them suffering so that they can think of Him and make progress. But they actually pray and meditate only when they are caught and compelled to swim in the sea of suffering.

But suffering is not at all necessary. From joy, more joy, abundant joy, eternal Joy and infinite Joy we make progress. But if suffering comes to us, we have to accept it as something that has to be conquered or has to be transformed into joy. We have to act like a hero-warrior who has to accept and conquer all obstacles and transform all bondages into freedom. Ordinary people will never learn anything unless they go through suffering. Suffering has its own value in their case. For people in the lowest plane of consciousness it is necessary. But as we evolve spiritually we feel that suffering is something unnecessary. We can easily do without it. If it comes, of course, we shall try to transform it with our inner light so that it can eventually be an added strength. But we shall not invoke it.

We try to conquer darkness. Why? If we conquer darkness, then it becomes our good friend, light. But when darkness conquers us, at that time darkness tries to lord it over us. When there is a fight between light and darkness, darkness will try to conquer light with a view to dominating it. But light tries to conquer darkness with a different intention. It wants to conquer darkness so that it can transform darkness. When darkness becomes like light, it will be a perfect instrument for the Supreme to use. We have to conquer suffering and transform it into joy so that it can be added to our already existing joy. And this joy is what we need for self-purification and for God-manifestation on earth.

18. Question: Does an ambitious nature help one make faster progress?

Sri Chinmoy: In the spiritual life, ambition is a dangerous thing. Ambition itself is a downfall. In the ordinary life, if you exist without ambition then you are like a sheep; you won't make any progress. But once you accept the spiritual life your aspiration itself is like the fastest deer. If you want to reach the goal at a particular hour or at a particular date because of your ambitious nature, then you are making a Himalayan blunder.

Ambition is in the vital; aspiration is in the heart. When there is ambition there is always an unfortunate competitive spirit. You are ambitious because you want to surpass someone; you want to achieve something which others have not achieved. When there is ambition there is a great danger that you will not go toward your real goal. Ambition wants to take you to a destination which may not be your real destination but somebody else's destination. Because the song of ambition is the song of superiority over others, consciously or unconsciously it takes us to another goal. But when you are aspiring, you are not aspiring just because others are aspiring or because you want to outdo them in aspiration. No! Here there is no competitive spirit. It is your own inner absolute necessity that you are fulfilling. You are aspiring because you feel that it is your bounden duty to reach your destined goal, so that you can be of greatest service to the absolute Supreme. Your aspiration takes you to God so that you can realise Him, reveal Him and manifest Him. Without realising Him, revealing Him and manifesting Him you do not get any sense of satisfaction.

If you are not following the spiritual life, then ambition will help you to make progress. If you are ambitious, then you won't sleep twenty hours out of twenty-four. You will conquer lethargy and face the buffets of life so that you can gain your desired end. Vivekananda used to tell the Indians who were wallowing in the pleasures of lethargy to go and play football. "You don't have to read the Gita," he would say to them. "If you play football you will realise God sooner than if you read the Bhagavad Gita." These people were so lethargic that they had no life-energy. For them to read the Gita was impossibility itself. As soon as they opened it they would enter into the other world, the world of sleep. Vivekananda knew that if they played football and got quite a few kicks from their opponents, they would get some strength and energy. Then if they started reading the Gita, they would be able to stay awake for five minutes at least. Our Indian sages have proclaimed most powerfully: Nayam atma bala-hinena labhyo, "The soul cannot be won by the weakling."

Vivekananda also used to tell some of his followers to go and tell lies; he said that he would be responsible for their lies. These people wouldn't budge an inch. They would simply tell the truth because they were too lazy to make up a lie even to save their own skin. Vivekananda used to say, "If you think that just by not telling lies you will get salvation, then any tree or chair or inanimate object is closer to salvation than you are. A tree will not tell any lies; a chair will not tell a lie, but a human being will realise God long before a tree or a chair." So he used to say, "Now go and do something. Tell a few lies. I will be responsible." What he meant was that if these people told lies, they would get a few slaps and then they would be awakened. One will say, "What have I done? Why should I tell lies? Instead of telling lies, let me start my spiritual journey by telling the truth." But Vivekananda used to say, "The important thing is to start your journey. In your case, you will start your journey only if you start telling lies. So tell lies, and then if this is the wrong path, the world's criticism will help you to discover and walk along the right path."

This is where ambition enters the picture. Ambition is necessary for those people who are fast asleep and for those who are still in the world of vital supremacy. But once they enter into the world of the heart, where the feeling of oneness reigns supreme, ambition has to end. At that time they have to feel, "If I reach my destination today, it is as good as your reaching your destination, because you and I are one. We are like members of a family or of a team." If one particular member has achieved something great, the rest of the members have a legitimate reason to be bloated with pride, because they belong to the same group.

When there is aspiration there is oneness, and in oneness there is no need of competition. But if there is no aspiration and no sense of oneness, if someone is in the desire-world, then naturally ambition has to play its role. Before we enter into the spiritual life ambition is a helper, but that ambition eventually becomes a great obstacle, a real enemy, if it is not transformed into pure aspiration once we accept the spiritual life.

19. Question: Is there a simple approach to God-realisation?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, there is a simple approach to God-realisation. That approach is the approach of surrender. If surrender is our approach to God-realisation, then we will realise God most easily and most quickly. When we surrender we have to know if we are surrendering because of our helplessness or because we are not able to get the result that we want from our actions. If we surrender to God for these reasons, that surrender is useless. We have to feel that the Supreme has asked us to play the role of surrender. By listening to His decree, we are pleasing Him. Then, if we go one step further, we will feel that it is He who is playing the role of surrender in us. If we identify ourselves with Him on two different levels of consciousness, we see that God as the human in us is playing the role of surrender, while God as the divine in us is playing the role of the Lord. If we can feel this, our realisation will be complete and perfect.

20. Question: Why is our path so difficult?

Sri Chinmoy: First of all, I do not agree that our path is difficult. I agree when I sympathise with the unaspiring disciples, but I totally disagree when I identify with the aspiring disciples. Why is our path so difficult? On the one hand, no path can be easy. On the other hand, no path can be difficult when we understand the real value of the Goal.

Why do we accept a spiritual path? We accept a spiritual path just because we feel that if we walk along the path, eventually we shall reach a destination which is flooded with all the divine qualities of the absolute Supreme. This is our Goal. The higher the Goal, naturally the more difficult will be the journey.

We have to know that we are walking along a path. That means we are doing something which others are not doing. As long as we are doing something which others are not doing, our Goal, our satisfaction, will be totally different from theirs. Also, our satisfaction will be more valuable, more lasting, more fulfilling. When we go to school and gain knowledge and wisdom, our satisfaction increases just because you have gone to school and gained something. If I stay at home and don't study, that means I want to remain a fool. Yesterday you were a fool like me, but today new light has dawned on you and you want to move ahead; you want to become a man of learning and wisdom. Yesterday you and I were on the same footing, but today you have gone one step ahead. Yesterday the satisfaction that you had, I also had. Today you have gone one step ahead in order to get a new satisfaction, a more fulfilling satisfaction.

Naturally you have made an effort to achieve your aim. When we do something new, immediately we feel it is difficult. When we were an infant who could crawl, for us to get up and take one step was really difficult. When we first began to walk we found it a little difficult. Once we could walk, when we wanted to march we found it difficult. Then, when we tried to run, that was difficult. Every time we did something new it seemed difficult. In the spiritual life also, before we walk along any path, it is quite easy for us to stay in the ignorance-sea. But the moment we want to swim across the ignorance-sea and enter into the sea of knowledge and wisdom, we find it very difficult. Any new movement in life is difficult. It is not our path that is difficult. All paths are difficult at the beginning. Path means movement and movement brings newness. Anything new is difficult because it is something seemingly unknowable. But once we have taken one step and we know we are ready to take the next step, we find the first step to have been so easy. When we have just entered kindergarten, how difficult it is to go to school. But when we complete our kindergarten course and enter into primary school, when we are well established in the primary school, we feel how easy it was to attain the kindergarten knowledge and wisdom.

Anything that we do is difficult in the beginning because it is something unknown. But what is unknown need not be and cannot be unknowable. When we enter into the unknown world, immediately we feel that we are totally lost. But that unknown world does not remain unknown forever. We become the master of it after we have stayed there for a while. Then the difficulty disappears. What is unknowable today is only unknown tomorrow. The day after tomorrow it becomes known, the following day it becomes just a fact, and finally we feel, "Oh, I knew it all along."

Today a little boy has asked me the question: "Did you know God always?" My answer was, "Yes and no." Before I realised God I felt that I did not know God always but the day I realised Him I came to know that I had known Him all along. Right from the beginning of creation I knew Him, when He and I together were responsible for creation. When you realise God, you will also feel that you and He were equally responsible partners, always together. He wanted you to play the game of sound while He played the game of silence. So He said, "Let Me stay here and you go down. I will be inside you while you play the game of sound. I will play the game of silence from here above." Before God-realisation we cannot say frankly or wholeheartedly or convincingly that we knew God all along. It would be a mistake for an unrealised person to say that he knew God always. But once we have realised God, if we say that we didn't know God always, that would be a mistake, a real mistake. It would be a kind of false modesty.

21. Question: Can God eliminate the suffering in the world?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, God can and does eliminate the suffering in the world. But who sincerely wants the elimination of suffering? We are all acting like camels. The camel eats cactus thorns until its mouth bleeds; then it goes and again eats thorns. In some way, consciously or unconsciously, the camel cherishes thorns. We human beings also cherish suffering, unconsciously or consciously. As long as we cherish suffering, there will always remain suffering on earth.

22. Question: What is the purpose of suffering?

Sri Chinmoy: The explanation of suffering is twofold. On the human level, suffering purifies. Although suffering is not our goal, through suffering we try to become pure. We don't want to do the same thing again and again for which we are suffering. But on the spiritual plane, suffering is not necessary. There, from light to more light, abundant light, infinite Light we go, from a little love to more love, abundant love, infinite Love. At that time, there is no suffering.

Right now we do not love the truth in us; we do not love the real in us. That is why we suffer. On the physical plane, on the human level, when we love something unreal, we suffer. If suffering comes to us, what can we do? We have to make the best out of it. We have to take it as something unavoidable or as a blessing. It is a blessing in the sense that we have to derive some advantage or some benefit from it. The benefit we derive is that we will not repeat the same error, we will not commit the same mistake again and again.

If we are suffering, we have to be conscious of the mistake we have made. By being conscious of our mistake, automatically a sense of purification dawns in us. But in order to achieve purity, we do not have to go through suffering. No! For God-realisation, suffering is not necessary. What is needed is love of Truth, love of Light. Again I wish to tell you with all my spiritual knowledge that from light to more light we shall go. If we allow light to enter into us and light to remain inside us, then there will not be any suffering.

23. Question: Which is better, a questioning mind or an accepting heart?

Sri Chinmoy: First let us deal with the questioning mind. You may say, "I question because I don't understand. I want to understand." But you have to know that the questioning mind is the precursor of the doubting mind. You do not stop with the questioning mind. Today you question someone, tomorrow you doubt him. Again, just because you doubt, you question. So it is better not to have a questioning mind. You can have a searching mind. With the searching mind, you are searching for the reality. That is good. But in the other case, either the questioning mind is the harbinger of the doubting mind or they are most intimate friends, bosom friends. Therefore they are very bad.

The accepting heart is always good. The Reality you accept, but ignorance you do not accept. If you accept what you see, then the soul inside the heart will reject what is to be rejected and transform what is to be transformed. You yourself don't reject anything; you just accept the reality as you see it. Let the soul reject whatever is to be rejected. Let the soul transform what is to be transformed. That is the right way always.

24. Question: Does the soul ever cry?

Sri Chinmoy: Now you have to know what kind of cry you mean. Desire compels us to cry for name and fame, for material prosperity and so forth. But the soul does not cry in that way. The soul has an eternal cry and that cry is for God-revelation and God-manifestation on earth. The soul comes into the world to reveal God and to manifest God. While it is in the process of revealing God, it feels that so much is still to be done. The revelation that is taking place is nothing in comparison to the revelation and manifestation that is going to take place.

So the soul does have a cry. It is not the human cry, the earthly cry, the cry for earthly possessions. It is an inner cry, a divine cry, an immortal cry for God-revelation and God-manifestation.

25. Question: Does the heart ever smile?

Sri Chinmoy: The spiritual heart, the inner heart smiles only when it sees God and feels God-satisfaction. When it sees that God is smiling, then it smiles, not even one second before. If the aspiring heart sees that God is smiling, then it feels that it has a purpose for its existence on earth. Only when God is smiling does the aspiring heart smile, not before.

26. Question: How can I help my soul to smile more often?

Sri Chinmoy: I can help my soul to smile more often by becoming a conscious instrument, a devoted and surrendered instrument of God, the Inner Pilot. Now how can I do this? How can I become a devoted instrument? I can become a devoted instrument by remembering what once upon a time I was and what I have now become. That does not mean that I will always dig into my past. Only for a second I shall try to recollect what I was twenty years ago and what I have become. Who has made me what I am now? It is God within me, through my soul, who has done it. When I know this, then automatically gratitude comes to the fore. If I can offer gratitude to God, then He increases my power of dedicated service, love, devotion and surrender.

27. Question: Are man's will and God's Will always in opposition?

Sri Chinmoy: To some extent it is true. Man can unconsciously stand against God's Will and, again, man can consciously stand against God's Will. Sometimes it happens that we know what God's will is. Our conscience tells us, but we don't pay any attention to it. We feel that if we listen to the dictates of our conscience, then we will not be satisfied. Here, satisfaction means gratification, our ego will not be satisfied. So we don't listen to our soul. Naturally, then we are standing against God's Will. Again, many times it happens that we are not diametrically opposing God's Will, but we don't know what God's Will is. We know what our will is, but we don't know what God's Will is. At that time, we are not consciously standing against God's Will. We cannot say that at that time our will is in opposition to God's Will.

But we have to know that either consciously or unconsciously, if we do not fulfil God's Will, then we enter into ignorance and we delay our progress. A child may not know what fire can do to him. But if he touches fire, then the fire will burn him. I know that fire will burn me. But in spite of knowing this, I touch fire and I get burned. So the result of unconscious opposition and conscious opposition is the same. But if somebody does it unconsciously, then he is helpless. In that case God's Grace descends sooner than otherwise. If somebody knows the after-effects of his action, but in spite of that he does something wrong, then God's Grace will not come down immediately. It will take time. The individual has to aspire again most sincerely and devotedly to bring down God's Grace from above. Then, naturally, God's Grace will descend.

28. Question: Can music express more than words?

Sri Chinmoy: Certainly. Real music does not depend on words. But if the music does have words, that does not mean that it is not divine or soul-stirring, heart-elevating. Far from it! Music can embody words; again, music need not embody words. When it wants to express its reality, divinity and immortality, it need not have words. Without words it can offer its immortality to the aspiring soul in the seeker. But if music has words, there is nothing wrong in it. With words music can also offer its immortality to the aspiring soul.

From the highest point of view, music is not mere words; it is not a concept, not an idea. Music is Reality in its highest form. God is the Supreme Musician and He is playing the supreme Music in and through us, His chosen instruments. He is playing on us in His own Way. He does not need any human instruments or words to convey His Message, to convey Himself. This He can do in silence without taking any help from the sound-world.

29. Question: Is meditation the highest reality?

Sri Chinmoy: Now, for a beginner-seeker meditation is the highest reality. But when he becomes an advanced seeker, then he knows that meditation leads to the highest reality. He who has been for a long time or all the time in ignorance, who has never prayed in his whole life even for a minute when he starts meditating, at that time his meditation is naturally the highest reality in his consciousness. But when he has practised meditation for a couple of years, he knows that meditation itself is not the highest reality. The highest reality is something he achieves or grows into when he walks along the road which is called meditation.

30. Question: Is Peace the child of divine Love?

Sri Chinmoy: Peace is the child of divine Love and at the same time Love is the child of Peace. If we pray to God or meditate on God in our vital life, then when divine Love descends from above, our emotional life is purified. When our emotional life is purified, at that time we become peaceful. Then Love gives birth to Peace; Love is the mother. But when we meditate in the physical world, that is to say in our gross physical body which can be restless, aggressive or lethargic, we try to bring down Peace from above. When peace descends, we get a kind of satisfaction or joy. And that joy we try to transfer to others in the form of Love. Love that is founded upon Peace is naturally the child of Peace.

If we have Peace, then only we can love. When a mother has peace of mind, then she loves her child. If she has no peace of mind, then she strikes the child right and left. Where is love at that time? She will tell the child, "It is for your good that I am doing this." But no, it is only her lack of wisdom, her own undivine nature that is compelling her to strike the child. If the mother has Peace in boundless measure, then naturally she will be a continuous and constant expression of Love for her children.

Editor's introduction to the first edition

These questions were asked by D, President of the New York Sri Chinmoy Centre.