Obedience and discipleship

The role of obedience in the spiritual path is most important, most significant. The day an aspirant loses his obedience, which is his inner strength, he has to know that he has fallen from the top of the tree. A seeker may have made great progress. He may have walked very far along the path of spirituality. But then he feels, "Since I have covered a long way, naturally the Master is pleased with me. I can have a kind of pure, intimate feeling of oneness with him and he will not criticise my mistakes or object to my emotional demands or activities." When this is what a seeker feels, at that time he is making a most deplorable mistake. If there is no obedience on the part of the disciple, then no matter where he is on the spiritual path, he will never be able to realise the Highest, the Absolute. He will have to be satisfied with limited achievement, limited joy, limited peace and limited conscious awareness of the Truth.

In the spiritual life, as in the ordinary human life, very often we see that familiarity breeds contempt; or, let us say, familiarity very often takes us away from our goal. We try to become familiar with an individual, a spiritual Master, in order to realise the Highest in him. But the moment we become outwardly close to him we feel that we have reached his Highest. Just because he smiles at us or says, "You are very good; you are very nice; I like you; I am fond of you; I am proud of you," immediately we feel that we have achieved everything.

But in these cases we have to know that the Master has spoken according to the seeker's receptivity, not according to his inner achievement. In the ladder of consciousness, there are various rungs. There are hundreds of rungs, but just because the disciple has reached the first rung, which many have yet to reach, the Master is so pleased. Just because the aspirant has made a conscious effort and, with the Master's Grace, has touched a particular rung, the Master says, "I am so pleased with you, I am so proud of you." Certainly he is proud, because the seeker has touched the rung, whereas others have not yet touched that particular rung. But this same aspirant has to feel that there is not only one rung, but hundreds and thousands of rungs in the Master's consciousness. When he touches the first rung and the Master is pleased with him, he should not think, "Oh, I have touched the Master's highest rung." He has to know that if he can see the Master's absolute Highest, his Transcendental Consciousness only once during his lifetime, he will be most blessed. Then either in this life or in his next life, or in God knows how many incarnations, he has to enter into the infinite sea of the Master's Consciousness-Light.

People speak of Sri Ramakrishna and Vivekananda in the same breath, but Ramakrishna's status as the Guru and Vivekananda's status as the disciple are unimaginably different. There is a yawning gulf between Vivekananda's realisation and Ramakrishna's realisation. Sri Aurobindo once said that Vivekananda only got a few glimpses of the sea that Ramakrishna lived in all the time. So why do we speak of Vivekananda and Ramakrishna together? It is because we feel that Vivekananda, the greatest disciple of Ramakrishna, became totally one with his Master. Because he became totally one with Ramakrishna's consciousness, we think that what Ramakrishna had, Vivekananda also had. But it is not true. Ramakrishna appreciated and admired Vivekananda. He said, "You are very great, I have brought your soul down to earth," and so on. But Ramakrishna consciously saw how far Vivekananda had reached and how high his own height was. Again, when modesty and humility entered into Vivekananda, he said, "From this very speck of dust, Ramakrishna can make thousands of Vivekanandas."

Now I have dealt with quite a few cases in which I have actually lifted the consciousness of my disciples from the gutter, forgive me to say, to a little higher level. The progress they have made with my help is far beyond their imagination. How have they done it? They have done it only on the strength of their obedience. It was their obedience that was able to draw the Master's affection, grace and compassion.

Obedience is a disciple's greatest strength. He who cannot have obedience to the end of his life must know that a time will come when his progress will come to a standstill. Someone may be satisfied to remain on his own level. He will say, "Oh, I have got this much and I don't need any more. There are many who are far behind me." There are many who are satisfied with their achievements and they don't want to go farther because they see that still there are many, many hundreds and thousands lagging behind them. So they say, "This is enough for this lifetime. Next time I will make a further move." So where do I stand in that case?

In real obedience, there is always progress. In his obedience, the aspirant has to feel his total oneness with the Master. His obedience has to be spontaneous. The commander orders and immediately the soldiers obey: "Left turn, left turn, right turn." The command has been given, and the soldiers are obeying it out of duty. It is not inner joy that compels them to listen to their commander. But in the spiritual life it is not like that. In the spiritual life nobody is compelled to follow a spiritual path. An aspirant comes to the Master and says, "Master, I am going to fulfil you and, by fulfilling you, I myself am going to be fulfilled." Then the Master gives the aspirant constantly growing inner joy and inner strength.

When the Master tells a disciple to do something, immediately the disciple must feel that this is the greatest honour that he is getting from the Master. Whether the Master asks him to sweep the floor or to write a most wonderful poem, the very fact that the request has come from the Master makes it the greatest blessing. At this time, the disciple should feel that it is not an order that he is getting; it is conscious oneness which the Master is offering to the disciple so that they will fulfil the Mission of the Supreme together. The Master is saying, "Look, I am with you. I am entering into you and I have become one with you. My mission and your mission are one."

Then, when the disciple fulfils the Master's request, the Master has to feel that it is he who has done the thing. Similarly, when he accomplishes something, then the disciples have to feel that it is they who have accomplished it. In the case of human friendship between disciples, oneness means that when you do something, your friend immediately has to feel that he has done it, and when he does something, immediately you have to feel that you have done it. In the case of the eternal friendship between Master and disciple, this oneness has to be infinitely stronger. The Master is being constantly fulfilled by the disciple and the disciple is being constantly fulfilled by his oneness with the Master, who is the Highest.

Unfortunately, in our ordinary day-to-day life, what happens? I have disciples who are seventy and eighty years old. So some of these disciples act like my father and mother or my older brothers. They think, "Oh, he is only thirty-eight years old and we have seen many, many more summers. What does he know about the practical side of life and all that?" Here I wish to say that perhaps I have not gone through the life-experiences that some of you have gone through. But you have to know that I am a conscious chosen instrument of the Highest Absolute Supreme. I tell some of you, "Do this," and immediately you say, "No, if I do it the way the Master wants me to, then it will not be successful." Since you feel this way, you can try in your own way to make it successful.

But here you are making a mistake. When something comes out of a God-realised Master's mouth, it is not just chatter or useless gossip. No, even when I tell you to do something in a joking manner, I represent the Highest Power. Even if you feel that by following my advice you are entering into the greatest danger, I tell you, I have the power to turn this danger immediately into the greatest success. But when you see difficulty and danger, immediately you lose faith in me. My mission is your mission, true. But since I am acting as leader, I have to be given the full opportunity to act as the supreme commander. I am the pathfinder; I am paving the way. Even if you see that there are other ways which you feel would be more effective, for God's sake leave the responsibility to me, because I know the way. When I ask you to do something, do it the way that I ask you to do it. Then, if you see any apparent mistake, I tell you I have the power to rectify that mistake.

Even if you feel that what I have said is totally wrong, if you want to make progress, you have to know that it is through obedience to my inner dictates that you will make the fastest progress and not through correcting me. By correcting one mistake that I have made, if you feel that you have accomplished something great, then you are mistaken. But when you listen to me, even if it is a mistake, your obedience enters into me and my overflowing love and compassion enter into you. When I tell a disciple to do anything, and if this thing is done in the way I say it should be done, then I am responsible; whereas if the disciple makes one decision and I make another decision, then I am not going to be responsible for his decision. If the disciple wants to mould his life according to his own superior wisdom, then I am helpless. Why should I be responsible for somebody else's decision? Even if I have accepted someone as my closest or dearest disciple, still I cannot do it. The Supreme will break my head! He will say, "What is this? It is your weakness, nothing else." There is somebody superior to me and that is the Supreme, whom I call my Dearest. But that Superior can break my head if He wants to, and He will break my head if I tell you anything wrong. So the relationship between the disciple and the Master should be made very clear. At the end of his spiritual life, the disciple has to be totally surrendered to the Supreme in the Master if he wants Self-realisation.

India's great Avatar, Sri Chaitanya, had one dearest disciple whose name was Nityananda. When Nityananda reached a ripe old age, Chaitanya asked him to marry. At that age people don't marry, especially in India. But Nityananda happened to be the dearest disciple of the Master. He sang spiritual songs all the time and preached the Master's philosophy. So when Chaitanya said, "You have to marry," immediately Nityananda got married. Then Chaitanya said, "Now I want you to have a child." Nityananda was willing to have a child, but his wife unfortunately died. Immediately Chaitanya said, "Now you have to get married again." In India, a second marriage is considered absurd at that age. But the disciple got married. Then Chaitanya said, "I am not satisfied. You have to have children." So Nityananda said, "All right, I'll have children." Somebody asked, "Master, what have you done with his life?" But Chaitanya said, "What? I have just achieved the greatest success."

Chaitanya knew well why he did it. He wanted to show the world that a real spiritual person can be far above the world of ignorance even if he is married and lives in the world. How? On the strength of his immediate obedience. The Master knows that if everybody wants only to realise God, if everybody leaves the world and nobody gets married, then the world will be one-sided. But the world wants to be fulfilled. God wants to fulfil the world and be fulfilled in the world, and man and woman have to go together. In some cases the Master does not ask for marriage, and in some cases he does want marriage. When he does not want marriage, at that time the aspirant has to know that it is God who does not want it. But if God wants it, then he has to do it.

Obedience has to be immediate, spontaneous, soulful and full of inner joy. In obedience there is no compulsion. Only if there is constant inner joy will obedience make the disciple absolutely one with the Master's highest Consciousness. So the dearest disciples should be totally surrendered to the Master. This does not mean blind surrender. There is no such thing as blindness. There is only the inner wisdom of identifying oneself with the Highest in one's Master.

Arjuna and Sri Krishna were once walking along the street. Sri Krishna asked Arjuna, "Look, what do you see on that tree? What are you seeing?" Arjuna said, "I am seeing fruits." Krishna asked, "What colour are they?" Arjuna said, "Red." Then immediately Krishna said, "I think they are black." Arjuna replied, "Yes, they are black." Now again Krishna said, "Oh, it seems they are grey. No, they are green." Immediately Arjuna said, "They are green."

Now you can say, "Look at this fellow. He has no personality of his own. He is like a sheep or a slave. If the Master says something is black, he says it is black; if the Master says it is white, he says it is white." This is the ordinary way of judging the truth. But the moment we go deep within, we see that when Arjuna listened to the Master say, "They are black," he identified himself with the consciousness of the Master and saw what the Master was seeing with the Master's own Light. What can be a greater achievement in a human being than to identify with the Master's consciousness and see the Truth the way the Truth is seen by the Master himself? There are so many ways to justify your cause in your human life. But if you really want to be one with the Highest, and if you call your Master or the Supreme your Highest, then you have to try to see the Truth with the Master's Light. If the Master's Light seems wrong or faulty to your vision, then you have to know that your oneness is not complete. If your oneness were complete, then when the Master said to do something, immediately there would be no second thought in your mind, no contradictory thought, because you would have already become one with your Master. If you have already become one with your Master, then how will you be able to think differently from him! If the Master says, "This is north," and if you have become totally one with your Master's will, then naturally you will say that it is north. If you are not one then you will say, "No, this is south." Then both of you will have a sad discussion, a sad argument, and with your vision you will say, "Master, you are wrong."

Your Master may be wrong, but ultimately the Master can never be wrong. If you feel that your Master is wrong, this is a dangerous failure in your consciousness, because the moment you have your own way of seeing the Truth, at that time you are thousands of miles away from the Master's consciousness. When you are away from the Master's consciousness, the Master feels sorry with his human heart, because he wants you to be his dearest and closest. The Supreme wants him to show this Light in order to guide the world, but the world does not want to be guided. With his highest, purest divine heart, the Master becomes one with the Supreme's Will, and there is no sorrow there. But with his human heart, when he tries to identify with the disciple's present state of consciousness, he feels sorry. He feels sorry because the gulf between him and the disciple is very vast.

So the question of obedience is most important for all the disciples. If the Master says to accept something, you should accept it immediately. And when the Master says to reject something, if you ask, "Why? How? What for? When? Where?" then immediately you have to feel that you are not in your Master's consciousness. When you are in your own consciousness, the Master can inspire you to become good, to become faithful. But if you have no second thought, no contradictory or even complementary ideas, but only one thought, the thought that flows from your spiritual Master, then your own understanding of the Truth will be absolutely one with the understanding of the Master. In that way your Master's mission can be fulfilled in a very short time. You won't have to wait hundreds of years to fulfil your Master's mission on earth.

So obedience should be offered by each disciple as soon as possible. When I say disciple, I mean real disciple. We can never, never accept obedience from the false disciples. This moment they will ask me to save them, and then tomorrow they will go to some other Master and say, "Oh, save me, save me!" Then they will totally forget me. Those who have implicit faith in the Supreme in me will think of me even at the time of death. They will say, "Master, come," and at that time their Master will come. But this kind of thing cannot happen when one has twenty Masters. I am shocked when I enter into some of the disciples' consciousness and see that they feel that there are millions of Avatars, millions of spiritual Masters, millions of Saviours. There is only one Saviour and that is the Supreme. That Supreme is inside your Master and also He is inside another Master. But you have to approach only one person. Otherwise, you will be the first person to enter into the sea of ignorance. So obedience also has to be offered to only one individual whom you call your Master. And who is that Master? He is your highest part, your most luminous part.

So I wish to tell all the disciples, if you have obedience, you don't need anything else. Suppose you don't have intense aspiration, and I tell you that you have to have aspiration. Then you will say, "He has told me to have aspiration, so I will have it. I will try from now on to have intense aspiration." So you try. I may see that you don't have the capacity, but you are willing, you are more than willing to try to have intense aspiration just because I have asked you to have it. And when I see that in spite of your best efforts you have not cultivated aspiration, I will jump into your sea of ignorance and give you all the aspiration that is required, just because I know that you have tried. But if you say, "How can I have aspiration? I am so backwards, I have so many family problems," and so on; if you use all of these arguments, I will be helpless. But the moment I say, "You have to have aspiration," then if you try, immediately I will be there to help you. The moment I see that my request is taken most cheerfully, gladly and spontaneously, the moment I see that an effort has been made by the disciple to abide by my request, then I am there. When I ask you to do something, if you are sincere, if you are one with me, you will feel that I not only gave you the command but also the necessary strength to fulfil the command. You will feel that I have given you infinitely more than the necessary strength.

Some of you work very hard in serving the Supreme. I am most grateful to you. To all those who are doing selfless service, I wish to say that I am most grateful to you. I am not bragging or boasting, but at the same time, I wish to say that I have given you more than the necessary strength to do the needful for the fulfilment of the mission. Nobody can say, "Guru, you have not given me enough strength or capacity." No, the Supreme in me has given it to you. My philosophy is like Vivekananda's philosophy. Vivekananda said that it is better to wear out than to rust out. But you will not wear out because the Supreme is inside you with His infinite Light, infinite Energy, infinite Power. So how can you wear out? There can be no end to your progress; there can be no end to your success; there can be no end to your manifestation, simply because the Supreme is constantly transcending Himself.

So let us be obedient to each other. When I ask someone to do something or to say something, from now on I wish to feel that it is done, no sooner said than done. If this is the assurance that I can get from the selected or chosen disciples, then I can say that actually these particular disciples are placing me on their shoulders. They are carrying me. Otherwise, I am just carrying all the unwilling, unaspiring, unlit and obstructing disciples as heavy burdens on my shoulders. And unfortunately, there are many of that type. They are not willing to march according to the speed and tempo that I wish. Then what happens? There are some sincere ones who really want to run faster, but their progress is hampered by the insincere, unaspiring, unprogressive and unwilling disciples. So from today, I would like all the members of my spiritual family to be most aspiring and most obedient, so the Supreme will feel in this era, in this incarnation of ours, we have pleased Him most. Let us try. We shall succeed if it is the Will of the Supreme.

The Master's inner life: The Master's miracle-power

The inner life of a spiritual Master the world will never know. One disciple has written my biography and others have written about me, but if I had to record my inner life, there would be hundreds of books, many, many volumes, like the Indian Mahabharata. The inner life of a spiritual Master is infinitely more meaningful than his outer life.

All spiritual Masters have an inner life. In that inner life, billions of things take place; only unfortunately, they are not recorded. And if the Master himself does not tell them, if he himself does not write them down, then who is going to record it? In the outer life how many things take place? In my outer life I have shown a few miracles. I am totally against showing them, but I have shown a few miracles. But in the inner life, there is not even a single day, I tell you, that I do not perform miracles.

Here we have to know what kind of miracles a Master performs. Let us say that a disciple allows himself to fall into the depths of depression, into the abyss of depression. At that time, if the Master pulls up the individual even one inch higher, is this not a miracle? The disciple is going down, down; and the Master is pulling. To raise the consciousness of a seeker in the inner world, is this not a real miracle? In the case of my disciples, if I did not hold and raise their consciousness at every moment, then I tell you my boat would become empty immediately. This is the real miracle that I do in the inner world.

We have to know what kind of miracles we need. The kind of miracles that some Masters do will not elevate our consciousness even an iota. If we have curiosity, our curiosity will be fed by these kinds of miracles. But when it is a matter of elevating our consciousness, raising our standard to where we are receiving Peace, Light and Bliss, that is the real inner miracle. The outer world does not have any peace of mind. The outer world is like a mad elephant. But when we pray and meditate, the joy and peace that we receive, is that not a miracle? In this world to get a little peace, an iota of peace, is the real miracle. For human beings to have a little peace for a few seconds, is a real, divine miracle.

Questions and answers

Question: Guru, could you tell us about some of the inner experiences you get while meditating during your regular meetings at the United Nations?

Sri Chinmoy: I could write a very large book with thousands of pages, not just hundreds, about my inner experiences at the United Nations. In these hour sessions, the experiences that I get with the Avatars, Yogis, spiritual figures and the Absolute Supreme would make a very juicy book. But these experiences are sacred and when you tell sacred things, they become polluted. If these experiences are offered to people who won't get any benefit from them, they will only cast them aside.

Sri Aurobindo said something very nice about his life. He said the real biography of a spiritual Master is his inner life, not his outer life. No matter how great are his outer accomplishments, what he achieves in his outer life is practically nothing in comparison to what he accomplishes inwardly.

In the outer life, if I had to say how much I have accomplished, I may give myself the score of two out of one hundred. I won't give more than two. I tell you two, and this is being indulgent. If I am strict, perhaps I can't give myself even that much. My outer capacities and my outer achievements are so disappointing. But in the inner world, my achievements, realisations and capacities I know. There I don't have to show my false modesty.

And again, I have to say my capacity depends on my disciples. If a particular disciple's depression goes away, then my capacity increases like anything. When you don't doubt, when you have no jealousy or insecurity, my capacity increases and I become a divine elephant in the inner world. When you give me a smiling face, I can operate like a spiritual lion with you. When you give me a sad, gloomy face, I become a feeble insect. So I am at the mercy of my disciples.

If the children always give their human father a gloomy face, the human father may be able to ignore them. But I am your Eternal Father. I can't escape seeing your suffering and at the same time, I have to take responsibility for it. The human father may sometimes get disgusted and give up with his children. But the spiritual Father never accepts any defeat, so he is ready to see his child's suffering face not only with the hope, but also with the conviction, that he will be able to change it into a smiling face.

Question: How can I resolve the fact that I feel my Master is an Avatar, but others do not?

Sri Chinmoy: If you feel that your Master is an Avatar, it will help you in your spiritual progress. But if somebody else denies it, if somebody else does not subscribe to your view, he has every right to question your belief. At the same time, you have every right to believe in your own spiritual awakening, and have faith in your Master. You will gain much if you have faith in your Master. If you feel that he is an Avatar, that will not take away your aspiration; on the contrary, it will increase your aspiration. But if there is someone who follows some other Guru and does not want to believe your judgement, it does not matter. You will be helped if you have absolute faith in your own Master.

Question: When an Avatar or a realised Master is in a human body, what's the limitation of the knowledge available to him. I'm not asking about occult power, but normally, in day-to-day life with his disciples, how much does he know?

Sri Chinmoy: I do not know how many calories or vitamins you take each day. These things I don't have to know at all. But in a second I can ask your soul whether you are properly nourished or not. The soul will be able to tell me just as a bird will be able to tell if his cage is beautiful and strong enough. Inside the cage is the bird, and if I ask the bird whether it is satisfied with the cage, if the cage is in proper form, then if the bird is not satisfied immediately it will tell me.

Devotion for the Master — The disciple's devotion: a talk to disciples

To all my disciples I wish to say that your hearts are not at my feet. They are already well placed in the inmost recesses of my heart. My heart is composed of two things — Eternity's Concern and Infinity's Love.

What you need is receptivity, more receptivity and most receptivity. The more receptive you are, the sooner I shall be able to give you what God wants from you, what your soul wants from you and what I want from you. Only be receptive. When you are receptive you not only get divine qualities, but you also get God Himself.

I cherish your hearts. I cherish and treasure each disciple's heart, for that is the only thing that I shall eternally need from each of you. To all the members of the Centre I wish to say that your hearts are invaluable. It is your hearts that have compelled me to give you what I have and what I am. What I have is Eternity's Concern and what I am is sweetest love.

I love you all. I love you infinitely, infinitely, infinitely more than you love yourselves. You doubt yourselves, you belittle yourselves and you hate yourselves. Sometimes you even go to the length of destroying yourselves. But I do not do that. I would never, never dare to hate you or belittle you, not to speak of hurting you, striking you or killing you. I know who you are. You are God's chosen instruments. In you not only do I see God, the Supreme, but there have been quite a few occasions when I have seen some of you as God Himself. I want to see everybody as God Himself.

Some of you, perhaps, have seen me meditating early in the morning at the playground where we go to practise athletics. You would stand in a queue and I would stand facing you. With folded hands we would meditate. There were quite a few mornings when I saw all the disciples, without exception, as God Himself. My vision was absolutely correct. I didn't see God inside them; I saw them as God Himself.

So, dearest ones, your hearts are not at my feet. Your hearts are inside the very depths of my ever-increasing gratitude. When you place your heart at my feet, it is not my aspiration, my realisation, my revelation or my manifestation that is glorified. When you place something at my feet, at that time your devotion increases, your oneness with me increases, the perfection within you increases. My realisation has not increased one inch on seeing that you have placed your aspiring heart at my feet. But my realisation tells me that all those who have placed their hearts at my feet have increased their devoted oneness with me. They have done absolutely the right thing in order to increase their own spiritual height and spiritual depth.

When I ask you to fold your hands, please feel this is a supreme necessity. When you fold your hands, please feel that I am not the one who is getting your devotion. I don't deserve it. It is the Supreme in me who gets it. When you fold your hands, at that time your entire being swims in the sea of devotion and your physical being becomes conscious of the reality inside you. The physical mind is very treacherous, but even the physical mind gets devoted qualities when you fold your hands or show your devotion.

So the supreme secret is always to approach the Master with utmost devotedness. Devotion is the sweetest relationship between a Master and the disciple. Inside this devotion, what will eventually loom large is your inseparable oneness. The Master does not get and does not deserve your devotion. Only the Supreme in you and the Supreme in him deserves your devotion. When you fold your hands or when you place something at my feet, immediately your devotedness, your aspiration and your divinity increase. So the only way to approach the Master is with utmost devotion.

Tomorrow I shall be leaving this Centre and going back to New York. When I go, I shall not be going alone. I shall be carrying you inside the very depths of my heart. And when you go somewhere, you will not go alone. You will go with my heart's blessingful gratitude and pride.

Now, what I am about to say applies mostly to the disciples who have been with me for at least six months, and who claim to be my devoted disciples. In order to achieve perfection in your life, compassion is the only answer. But along with compassion, sometimes there has to be divine justice, which is another form of compassion. Divine justice is also a form of compassion in disguise. Unfortunately, some of you disobey me, even on the outer plane. In the inner world all of you disobey me. Otherwise, if you had not disobeyed me in the inner world, by this time all of you would have become God-realised souls. If you disobey me in the outer world, that is the worst possible mistake that you can make. It is a crime against your own soul. Among all the undivine qualities — impurity, insecurity, jealousy and others — disobedience is the worst. We are all human beings; we are all prone to weaknesses, true. But when you disobey, at that time you do not see eye to eye with your Master. You separate your consciousness from me. When your consciousness drops, when your consciousness is not with me, in me and for me, then that is your spiritual death. And, no matter how close you are to my physical being or how much you do for me, if your consciousness is not with me, in me and for me in the inner world, then you cannot make progress.

Questions and answers

Question: You once said that in your last life your disciples were ninety-nine per cent devoted to you. Why didn't they come to you this time?

Sri Chinmoy: Why do first-class disciples leave our Centre in this incarnation? After staying with me for six, seven or eight years most devotedly, and after becoming first-class disciples, how do people disappear? As you do not eat most delicious food every day, so your meditation, your sincerity, your devotion and your surrender do not last forever. But if you become a real spiritual Master, then your aspiration and realisation become permanent. Before you reach a certain height, there is no certainty. Then, even after you have reached the height, there is also no certainty, because temptation may pull you down. But once you reach the highest Height, and if you are in a position to stay there permanently, then there can be no fall.

You have come here, but temptation is pulling against you; so you easily fall down. But if you can stay here for some time after reaching a certain standard, then if you get a pull from above and if you also have the intense urge to go up, then you go higher. It is like that in ordinary human beings. For six months someone can meditate well; then for two years he takes a rest. Somebody can meditate for one day and then for three months he takes a rest. You are very devoted, but in this undivine world nothing is permanent. Today when somebody becomes a first-class disciple, I am so proud of that person. But then, in five minutes, that person does something wrong. Then, oh God! I cannot even call that person a sixth or seventh-class disciple. He is now an eighth-class disciple. But disciples should maintain the same standard and only go up. The problem is that they don't maintain it.

Question: How may a disciple consciously identify with you as often as possible?

Sri Chinmoy: You want a closer identification with me, or, to be more precise, with the real Guru, the Supreme in me who is the same as the Supreme in you. But here on the physical plane, I represent the Supreme for you and for the other disciples.

There is only one thing you can do and everybody can do to identify more with me. You must ask: 'Who comes first in your life?" This has to be the question. "The Supreme comes first." This has to be the answer. That doesn't mean that the mother will not think of the son or daughter, or that the husband will not think of the wife. No. But just before the mother thinks of her children or husband, she should think of the Supreme. The Supreme has to come first in your life and in everybody's life. If the Supreme comes first in everything you do, in everything you say, then automatically you can identify yourself with my consciousness. If you feel the Supreme comes first, you don't have to think of me, you don't have to meditate on me.

For my disciples, I am the bridge between the Supreme and them. The Supreme is all Compassion. The disciple, let us say, is all aspiration. That Compassion and aspiration have to be united by somebody. I am that person to unite the Compassion of the Supreme with the aspiration of the disciples. The Supreme is always ready to offer His infinite Compassion to us, but we are not ready to accept it. We can be ready only by thinking about, meditating on and dedicating ourselves to the cause of the Supreme. Every day when morning dawns, we must feel that the Supreme comes first in our life, and then we have to see that our dearest ones are dearest just because the Supreme is a living Reality in them.

So if the Supreme comes first in your life, then automatically you will be able to unite yourself with me. Once you think of the Supreme, you will remember that there is somebody who has seen the Supreme, who can talk to the Supreme and who is the representative of the Supreme for you and for the other disciples. That somebody is me, your Guru. If you feel this, then it is extremely easy to identify yourself with me twenty-four hours a day.

Meditation with the Master — Meditating in front of the Master

Some disciples say, "Every day I am perfect before I see you, but when I see you, all the evil thoughts of the whole world come to me. When I don't see you, when I don't think of you, I am perfect. But when I think of you everything comes forward. Why is it? Why do they come?"

You have to work on these evil thoughts. Now you have enemies and your enemies are telling you that they exist. You have to fight them. But if you are asleep, you may feel that you do not have these enemies. But if they do come, don't feel responsible for them. Just throw them into me immediately. You have to totally separate your existence from them, and feel that they are not yours. Either you have to say, "Consciously I am not cherishing them, they are not mine," or you can say, "They are mine; I am giving them to you to take." But instead, fear and a feeling of unworthiness come to you people. If you are afraid and scared to death of what I am giving you, then at that time you are not receiving at all. When you people come to meditate in the meditation hall and I am looking, gazing at you, and showing my utmost compassion, you may feel afraid. It may not even be that I am placing my hand on your head and blessing you, but still you are afraid.

Sometimes when I am blessing a person, my back, my human back feels like it has been cut deeply at two or three places. Today this happened at least fifteen or sixteen times at meditation. It happens almost everywhere. It happened when I was looking at an individual before I went up to the podium. At the public meditations sometime people come and sit in the front row. Some of the people are familiar, and naturally I know the disciples. I know what kind of force I can give and what force they can accept. But when I look at the new people who come, who are not my disciples, I see that they are trying to judge me to see whether I am sincere or not. I come with my utmost compassion and try to give them a little Light. But they think, "Is he a fake or something?" Why do they take the trouble to come to the meditation with the idea of judging me? I don't know. They come and I look at them and, oh God, what kind of forces these people have in them. Some of them are very bad. It also happens at all the Centres. You do all sorts of things with utmost sincere aspiration, but what kinds of things they are throwing!

Questions and answers

Question: Can you describe our inner aspiration and how we can share it with others?

Sri Chinmoy: Aspiration is like a bird spreading its wings and going up. When we start our journey in the spiritual life, we have a tiny aspiration-flame. This flame is always looking upwards and nowhere else. The Compassion-light from above enters into it and immediately this flickering flame responds to the higher Light and expands. Like a magnet the higher Light pulls it up, and while it is being pulled up its own light increases. Just because the flame has accepted the higher Light as its own source, the higher Light has descended like a bird.

When we meditate, that means that we have gone higher. The moment we come out of the meditation room and see our family and friends, we have a feeling of oneness. When we receive some Light during our meditation we feel happy. Then afterwards we feel a sense of affinity and identification with others because we have established our oneness with them, and we share the happiness and Light we have received with them.

When we get something from above, that very thing is pulling us up. And while it is pulling us up, the ones whom we take as our own are also being carried up, because of our oneness with them. When we have established our oneness with the Transcendental aspect of Light, our oneness is also immediately established with the Universal aspect of Light. If we establish our oneness with one aspect of Light, transcendental or universal, the other will also come. If we can love everyone as our own, as in universal Love, then the transcendental Love will also pull us. Either we go up from the one to the many or from the many to the one. Either we can go to the Transcendental through the Universal, or we can go to the Universal through the Transcendental. This is the Game.

Question: Can you give me some advice as to how to best continue meditating if I can't come back frequently to this Centre?

Sri Chinmoy: You have come for the first time, and have meditated here for a few minutes. If you feel that you can follow our path — the path of love, devotion and surrender — then I advise you to take home some of my writings, especially Food for the Soul and My Lord's Secrets Revealed. If you read them, you will have an idea of my path. If you have spiritual friends in your university, then try to invite them to your house, preferably once a week, to meditate with you. Or if it is not possible to hold meditations at your house, then you can go to your dearest friend's house and meditate there. If you have meditated a little, then you are not a beginner. If it is possible, meditate early in the morning by looking at my Transcendental picture. Ten minutes is more than enough. And in the evening, if you can, also meditate for ten minutes. Only look at the picture and try to identify yourself with my highest Transcendental Consciousness. Those who are my students and disciples do this kind of meditation. In your case, if you try for one week only to concentrate and meditate on the picture, you will get inner messages as to what to do and what not to do.

If you can come here from time to time, it will be most important and helpful in your spiritual life. Or you can do something else. Here there are quite a few disciples. If you can just make an immediate friendship with some of them, they will be able to keep in touch with you and you will be in touch with them. They will tell you about our activities. Every week there is something new happening. In this way you will have a family feeling in your spiritual life. Each aspirant must have a family feeling. As you have your human family with a father, mother, sister and brother; so also in the spiritual life there must be a spiritual family. Then we can grow together. So, if you can make friends with some of the disciples here, you will get additional inspiration from your friends. What you need right now is inspiration, so that every day you will stick to your meditation. You will get inspiration from having some friends who are on this path and who come to meditate with me regularly and devotedly.

What is most important is to meditate on my picture, without having any thoughts. Please try to establish your oneness with my Transcendental Consciousness. Try to look at the picture and try to listen to the messages it will give you. In this way you will make very fast and satisfactory progress.

I am telling you all this, assuming that you want to follow our path. If you want to follow some other path, then it is not at all necessary for you to meditate on my picture. But if you want inspiration, then I wish to tell you that my disciples will be able to help you. They can inspire others in spite of their having a different path. If you want to follow our path, please meditate on my picture and read my writings; and if you are not sure that this is your path, then what you need right now is constant inspiration. In that case, the disciples here can be of real help to you.

Question: When we receive Light and Peace from our meditation, is it assimilated and stored for our gradual use, or do we constantly use it as we use food?

Sri Chinmoy: You have to assimilate what you receive from meditation. If you do not assimilate it, then it is almost useless. Once something becomes assimilated, it becomes a solid realisation, an absolutely permanent experience. Then it is not only a conscious part of you, but also inseparably one with your existence. But you cannot live today on yesterday's food. So the next day, you have to go again and get the same amount of Peace, Light and Bliss.

If Peace, Light and Bliss are not assimilated, then it is just as if a friend came into your life and then left you after a few hours. This friend you did not make your lifelong friend, your eternal friend. If you do not establish an eternal friendship, then you do not give your friend the opportunity to be with you, to inspire you, to guide you, to mould you, to shape you, and to share with you his divine capacity or qualities. Then naturally your friend leaves you. So, it makes a great difference whether you assimilate your meditation or not.

Inner and outer contact with the Master: anniversary talk

Today we have completed one year of our existence here. What does it prove? It proves that your teacher is not bad, after all, and you students are not bad, after all. I am good and you are also good. That is why we were able to stay together. If it had been otherwise, then we could not have stayed together for one year.

In the human life, to stay together for one year is extremely difficult. Very often we can't stay together even for a day. Even with ourselves, we can't spend one day peacefully and harmoniously. As an individual, how often we have problems within us. How many hours a day are we happy with ourselves? Inside our body there are so many beings. These beings are ours and we are part and parcel of these beings, but they are in constant battle. This moment we take the side of one being, and the next moment we take the side of another being. We go on, go on, fighting and fighting; there is no peace, no harmony. But if we really become spiritual, then all these inner beings take only one side, the side of the Supreme.

Here we are all spiritual people. Even those who are not following our path are sincere seekers, extremely sincere seekers. They may not follow our path, but they will follow somebody else's path. As long as they follow any path, I tell you, I will be the happiest person. We need a boat in order to go to the other shore. Now, you can be in my boat or you can be in somebody else's boat. But if you remain on this shore and your goal is the other shore, the Golden Shore, then you will never reach your goal, never, never. You will only be watching the boats that are going to the other shore. You do not have the fee that is required by the boatman. What is the fee? It is sincere aspiration. This boatman will not ask five dollars or five million dollars to take you to God. He will only look at you and see if you really are aspiring. Again, you will look at the boatman and see if the boatman is sincere or not. If you are thinking of entering into his boat, then you have to know whether it will sink or not. If you feel that his boat is going to sink, naturally you won't go in that boat. You will go to some other boat. But if you stay on the shore and don't go inside any boat, then how are you going to reach the other shore? By swimming? That you can't do. The ignorance-sea is very vast; it is boundless. The English Channel is twenty-two miles wide, and some people can swim across it. But no one can swim across the ignorance-sea. It is impossible. If you try for a few years your life-energy will go away and you will just sink. Then you will have to wait for two hundred or four hundred or eight hundred years to get another chance to cross the sea.

I wish to tell all the seekers who have been coming here, please do not misunderstand me. In no way am I inspiring or instigating or compelling you to accept my path. Far, far from it. But again I wish to say that if you follow one path, that means you are in a boat. That boat is destined to carry you to the Golden Shore. My path is one path; it is not the path. I am not such a fool as to tell you that mine is the only path, and if you don't come to my path, then for you there is no goal. No, no, no, I am not that kind of fool. Only I will say that here we definitely have a path, we definitely have a boat. So, if you have faith in our boat, in our path, then we shall definitely take you to the other shore.

Again, if you do not follow our path, if you do not want to follow anybody's path, if you say that you have your own path, then you can try to swim across the ignorance-sea all by yourself. But you have to know that this ignorance-sea is so vast. It is boundless.

I am so glad and grateful to all those who have been with us for one year and all those who have joined us recently. Especially to those who joined us right at the start of our journey here, I wish to offer my deepest gratitude. You are the pioneers of our Saturday Group. But again, whenever you are awakened, that is when God's Hour strikes for you. It may be sooner or later, but better late than never. Your hour may strike quite late; but whenever you come, that is the best time for you. A year ago it was the best time for those pioneers who joined us at the very beginning. Again, if you joined us six months ago or four months or just one month ago, that was the best time for you. But I wish to say that these pioneer-members did inspire you to continue coming here. If they had disappeared, if they had deserted us, then after one or two weeks we could not have continued this Centre. So I am most, most grateful to each of the pioneers for coming here regularly and devotedly and inspiring others. Your contribution of love, devotion and surrender and aspiration to this Centre is most significant. You have really helped me in building a foundation. And for that I am most grateful to you.

Now, to those who have been with us for six months, I wish to say that I am also grateful to you. I am extremely grateful that you have been with us for six months. Please feel my deepest blessingful gratitude. And I wish to assure you that I shall not fail you. As you will not fail me, I also shall not fail you in this world. Our success, our progress depends on our mutual faith. If you do not have faith in me, then what am I going to do? But if you have faith in me, then I will also have faith in you. And your spiritual Master has much more faith in you than you have in yourself. This moment you feel that you are something very great, but the next moment you doubt yourself most powerfully. You may even go to the length of saying, "The spiritual life is not meant for me. The best thing will be for me to give it up. Why should I waste my precious time?" This kind of idea you may cherish. But once I accept you as my disciple, that doubt has to leave you. I take you as a chosen instrument of the Supreme. If you become a chosen instrument of the Supreme, then I cannot doubt you, because I know that the Supreme is inside you. I cannot doubt you; it is impossible. In your case, this moment you see Light inside yourself; the next moment you see darkness inside yourself. But I see the Light of the Supreme all the time inside you. So I am most grateful to all of you who have been with us for six months. Please continue to stay in our boat so that we can reach our destination together.

Now, to all those who have been with us for three months or less, I offer my loving appreciation and my blessingful gratitude. Right now you are beginners. You have chosen my path and I have chosen you. You have chosen to place your spiritual existence inside me and I have chosen to place my inner realisation inside you. For that I am so happy, so proud and so grateful to each of you. The spiritual life is a lifelong journey. It is an eternal journey. It is not a matter of one day or one year or one incarnation. We are dealing with Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. Now that we have become good friends, intimate friends, most intimate friends, we shall work together, we shall travel together to our destined goal.

All of you, please come to the Centre regularly. I am very proud of you. You do not have to be proud of me; only I am begging you to be proud of yourselves; that is to say, to be proud of your spiritual awakening and your inner cry for God. Please feel that you are doing absolutely the right thing by following a spiritual path. And since you are following my path, I am all loving gratitude to each of you.

Questions and answers

Question: What is the relationship between the Guru's soul and the disciple's soul? Are they one?

Sri Chinmoy: I have a soul and you have a soul, but in what sense are they one? When you love me with all your heart and soul, when you devote your entire life to me, when you surrender your whole existence to me, then we become totally one; we fully merge. The drop enters into the ocean and becomes the ocean itself. So on the strength of absolute love, complete self-giving, one-pointed devotion and unconditional surrender, the Guru's soul and the disciple's soul become totally one. When the disciple's self-giving becomes constant, at that time the Guru sees himself constantly through the disciple's heart and soul, and the disciple sees himself through the Guru.

When you look at my Transcendental picture, you will see your own highest Existence. My Transcendental picture is your own existence in its highest form. But right now, this Existence is not at your command. It is at my command because I am a realised soul. When you are also realised, when you become totally one with me, then you will not be able to separate my Transcendental Consciousness from your consciousness.

But right now it is not like that. Sometimes you try to enter into me with fear, or with some doubt in your mind. Or sometimes you feel that I am acting like a judge, an autocrat. You feel that if you are doing something wrong, then I will punish you, and if you are doing something nice, then I shall love you. But this is the wrong approach. You should have only the feeling of total oneness. The Guru's soul and the disciple's soul are really one only when the disciple loses his sense of individuality and personality. The disciple becomes one with the Guru on the strength of his utmost humility in the physical, in the vital, in the mental, and in the psychic. He becomes one with the Guru's soul through utmost humility. If humility is there, then the Guru's soul can never be separated from the disciple's soul.

Question: Guru, were all your disciples destined to come to you in this incarnation?

Sri Chinmoy: In most cases it was destined that you would come to me. There are many souls who have been connected with me in previous incarnations, and there are quite a few whom I knew in the soul's region — friends, admirers and others. Here on earth they started to aspire, so they looked for me.

Today at the United Nations, the friend of a disciple said to me, "When I come here I get joy from you, but I have accepted someone else as my Guru." His soul is pulling him towards me, but his vital is pulling him away. I didn't encourage him. I only told him to stay with his Guru.

Not all souls are meant for me. But most of the souls that have come to me are meant for me, even those that have left, except for one or two whom the Supreme didn't want me to have and whom He took away in His own Way. He will take care of those people, but the others will have to wait for me to give them a push again. Disciples who have left may leave me on the physical plane, but on the inner plane their souls remain with me. There they are my real disciples.

Question: But when disciples come to you, do you already see that they will go up very high or fall down, or is it all open?

Sri Chinmoy: In some cases I definitely know, and in other cases I deal with possibility. In some cases I can totally break and mould them. There, as the Christ said, "I am the Way and the Goal." In these cases I know the outcome. In other cases, I am only the way, and then I am dealing with possibility. Here my grace, the Light of the Supreme, gives the fastest progress according to the disciple's capacity. In most of the cases, I am the way. But in some cases I know that I am also the Goal. Where I am the Goal, I totally break those individuals and mould and shape them. But mine is not my way; it is the Supreme's own Way.

Why with some do I break their mould and make my own impression on them, whereas with others I will leave the speed either slow or fast, according to my own grace? In the cases where I break, the disciples have come to a position where they were able to accept that kind of breaking. Someone may want to become a first-class disciple, but if I ask that person to do something, he will say, "Oh, what will my father think, what will my mother think?" But if I ask the other disciple, there will be no father, no mother — only cheerful obedience.

When we started here, we gave the same chance to everyone. When I accept someone as a disciple, each person starts from the same starting point. But some run very fast, and others do not run fast at all.

Question: Is it spiritually good for us just to be near you?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, it is extremely good if you can be near me because my inner and outer presence are one. If you have a spiritual friend in me, then you can't separate my inner existence from my outer reality. If you can live near me, and if you can utilise the opportunity properly, then you will make very fast progress.

Again, you may stay near me physically but at the same time only be thinking of others: "Oh, today I have the opportunity to come to a special meeting and see Guru. Many others were not invited, but I am allowed to go." If you have these thoughts, then pride will enter into you. Again, you may be very afraid that since you are not the only one who is invited, your glory will go away. Then you will become sad, depressed, and you won't get anything from me. The soul has to convince the vital and the mind that I am doing the best thing for you and I am also doing the best thing for others whom I have not invited to something. When you go deep within, you will believe it.

Sri Ramakrishna and many other spiritual Masters used to say that the whole cow has milk but there is a particular place in the cow to get the milk. When you squeeze the udder, you get the milk; you don’t get the milk if you cut the tail. But first you have to come to the cow and then you get the milk. Similarly, if you can be with your Master, if you can come to see me, then you receive my blessings, my compassion and my concern. Then if you enter into my heart, and you can constantly stay inside my heart, you will get Peace, Light and Bliss.

So by staying here, you get more of an opportunity. The negative side is that you may be bloated with pride or afraid that somebody else will come and take me away, or you may feel that if you don’t meditate well today, then Guru will not ask you to come back to work at the Centre. Then you are not utilising the opportunity properly. If you can utilise the opportunity then you are really gaining something. When you are in my physical presence, if you can utilise each second in a divine way, then you can make the fastest progress. This is why some people are dying to remain with their Master. But for others, this can create doubt or other problems, which is why some spiritual Masters do not keep their dear ones near them.

There is an old Indian tradition in which the Master says, "I will initiate you, but on the condition that you will leave." This is because if the particular disciple stays with the Master, he will not aspire at all. He will think that his Master will do everything for him. Some of my disciples who have become close to me are now relaxed. They have become relaxation-kings and queens. They think that I will do everything for them. But some people who are away from me will have the fear, "Oh, if we don't do the right thing, why should Guru? We have to do everything we possibly can, and only then he will do the rest."

If those disciples who live here in the vicinity feel that they can rest, then this is the end of their progress in realising Peace, Light and Bliss. And what they have already gotten is nothing in comparison to what they could have received. Disciples who are near me get the best opportunity to run the fastest because they are receiving from me in both the inner and the outer worlds. If they do not properly utilise their time with me, it is a veritable curse. But if they do utilise it properly, then naturally they run the fastest.

Question: How can we tell whether an idea we have came from you or not?

Sri Chinmoy: If you are devoted and totally surrendered, then any idea that you have will come through me. If that is the case, you can take your own initiative. But if you are not totally surrendered, you may do something, and then I will say, "No, this is not what I want." If the channel is perfect, then it is I who pass through that channel.

When I leave the body, I will see how many people really want to stay in the spiritual life and work for me, and how many people will go back to normal life. Those who leave the spiritual life are totally lost. They enjoy neither the joy of spirituality nor the pleasure of the normal life. That is why I say to people, "If you don't want to please me when I am on earth, do you think you will be able to please me when I have left?" When the Master is in his physical body you can make the utmost progress. Then, if you have established your inseparable oneness with the Master, you can continue at the fastest speed. Now is the time to make the greatest progress.

Question: Do you mind getting gifts from disciples?

Sri Chinmoy: On the contrary, I get utmost joy that a particular person cares for me. Occasionally while opening up presents, I get attacked. Tremendous wrong forces are there. I do not know whose present it is, but when I open it, it is just like eating some fire. It is not the fault of the shopkeeper or the shop from which the gift was bought. It is the consciousness of the disciple who bought the gift for me. This has happened only six or seven times. At those times, the gifts went right to the wastepaper basket without my even opening them. At such times, unfortunately, I did not dare to open the gifts. Again, of the thousands of gifts I have received, it has only happened a few times.

Question: What should I do if I see you on the street?

Sri Chinmoy: You have to remember your relationship with me. If I am your Father, your eternal Father, then you don't have to always reach a certain height in order to come near me. A child runs to his father whether he has said his morning prayers or not. He knows he is in his father's heart, and he is happy. Whether he steals something or quarrels with someone or does any other undivine thing, he feels his presence is inside his father's heart. He doesn't have to become something in order to approach his father.

Everything in our life has to be spontaneous. If you are in a meditative mood when you see me, well and good. But if you are in your ordinary consciousness, do not worry. As I have said, if you meditate twenty-four hours a day, you will become insane. So, if you see me in the street, just get an inner thrill, an inner joy, and do not try to hide anything. Just because you think you are not in your highest meditation, do not try to hide. The whole problem is that you are hiding. You have forgotten something which you are trying to discover. You have to come forward and look for it. I am the person who will help you look for it. I am your eternal Father. But as soon as you see me, if you start hiding, then how am I going to help you?

When you see me in the street, sometimes I am deeply absorbed, and very, very serious. Sometimes I am in a childlike consciousness. Just look at me and if I am in the mood to speak, then come and talk. If I am not, then just repeat the name of the Supreme with utmost, soulful devotion until I pass by. If I call you and cut jokes with you, don't think that I am not in my highest consciousness; far from it. For me highest and lowest are the same. When I cut jokes, it is the best time for you people to catch me. Always have confidence in yourself and in me. Confidence in yourself means you feel that you have established an inner connection with me. You don't have to acquire something or prove something in order to speak to me. If I have pressing things to do, then you should not approach me. But there should be no fear separating your existence from my existence. Do not have fear, either in the mind, the vital or the physical. If fear enters, at that time, I become a different person. But I am not a different person; I am the most illumined part of your own existence. If you have the capacity of oneness, then this problem will not arise. No matter where I am, if you see me, then you will get an inner joy and thrill.

Question: When I think of you, are you aware of my thought?

Sri Chinmoy: While you are eating potatoes and tomatoes, if just an idea comes to you that Guru is nice or Guru has a sweet smile, that idea will not come and strike me. But when you think of me sincerely and devotedly, immediately that idea comes to my soul's abode. If it is a most urgent thought, immediately my soul will give me the message. When a major decision is going to take place, if something most important is taking place, if something is changing your nature, if you are aspiring like a mounting flame, then these thoughts immediately knock at my heart's door. Then my soul will come and tell my physical being, and I will respond immediately.

At night when I meditate, I get all the important messages from my dearest disciples. I might not say anything in the outer world because the Supreme has told me that it is not to be dealt with on the outer plane, but if anything has gone wrong, I will know. My inner beings are like my emissaries. They come and give me information about everything. Sometimes I get such sad information about the impurity of the vital, and sometimes good news about the aspiration of the soul. My inner beings roam and they give me authentic information. Sometimes I shed tears of joy; sometimes I shed bitter tears.

We have to know where we actually stand. Those who have accepted me as their Guru, as their spiritual Master, have made an inner connection with me. In some cases, it is extremely tight; in others it is looser. If a disciple is extremely close to me and wholeheartedly devoted to me, if he soulfully listens to my inner and outer requests, then this disciple is bound to have a close inner bond with me. If the Master tells him to jump from the Empire State Building, this kind of disciple will do it immediately. There will be no hesitation. That does not mean that the Master will ask him to jump from the Empire State Building. No! But his inner love, his inner oneness will make him feel that his Master is totally and unreservedly for him. For disciples like this, no matter what I am doing, even if I am in my highest meditation, if they are in need of help, I have to go to them. Others I cannot help in this way.

Again, if I want to know something about my other disciples, immediately I can do it. But that kind of intervention I will not make. When I was in India, I did it many times, but I felt that I really created more problems for these people. Then, they would never dare to think of anything. It was all torture for them, since they knew that I would be able to tell. It was because of my love for them that I did this, but still they were tortured.

So I always say, "Enjoy. But do not enjoy to such an extent that you will feel that you are totally lost." To the disciples I say, "When you are in front of me, try to remain in your highest consciousness. When you are outside my immediate aura, try to remain your purest." But I wish to tell all my sincere disciples not to do anything which you cannot do right in front of me. If you want to be my dearest disciples, do not do anything that you cannot do right in my presence. Do not say anything that you cannot say to me. If you have that kind of living connection and living oneness with me, then no matter where I am, whether I am here or in India or Japan, you are protected by the Supreme in me.

So I am praying to all of you, always try to feel the Supreme inside your heart. We have to always behave as though the Supreme is not only inside us, but outside us, around us and constantly aware of us. Otherwise, the moment you leave this meditation hall, you will go to the cafeteria or some place and squander all your spiritual truth and spiritual achievements. I have seen many times that when you leave the meditation hall, you throw your spiritual wealth into the street.

Notes

Inner and outer contact with the Master: anniversary talk Sri Chinmoy made these remarks on 9 March 1974 on the first anniversary of one of his newer Centres in Connecticut.