Fear and courage¹

We are afraid of God. God’s infinite Vastness frightens us. God’s transcendental Height frightens us. God’s immeasurable Depth frightens us.

God is both Truth and Light. God the Truth tries to lead us to the perfect Truth. But we unfortunately feel that God the Truth is always examining us. We feel that since we are a mountain of falsehood, since we are making mistakes at every moment, God the Truth will punish us. But God is all Compassion. He does not punish us. On the contrary, He tries to illumine our mistakes and make us perfect. In the process of evolution, He tells us that falsehood is nothing but lesser Truth. We have to transcend falsehood and then enter into Truth. And for that, we need a constant inner cry, which we call aspiration.

Just as we are afraid of God the Truth, so also are we afraid of God the Light. We feel that God the Light will expose us, since we have done many undivine things. If someone commits a theft, he wants to hide. He is afraid of light. He feels that if he is in light, he will be exposed. But God the Light is totally different. Here the Light does not expose us; it illumines us. The Light tells us that darkness also has a little light, that night too has a little bit of light. God, being all Light, is all-pervading. Therefore, He is bound to be in darkness as well as in Light. Of course, when He is in darkness, He will have only a very small amount of Light, whereas in an aspiring human being He will manifest boundless Light. Again, even if there is just a little light, this light will grow into boundless Light. It is like the seed that grows into a Banyan Tree.

Fear and courage. Fear has capacity in a negative way. It rejects oneness. It wants to remain always individual and separate. Fear is like the tiny drop that does not want to merge into the vast ocean. It wants to maintain its individuality and personality. The finite is afraid of the Infinite and, at the same time, it does not want to confess its fear. But the vast ocean knows that its individuality and personality are composed of countless drops of water. The infinite knows that it has become infinite precisely because it houses the finite in infinite measure.

On the physical plane, there are two types of fear: fear of the imaginary and fear of the real. Imaginary fear is far worse than real fear because we are afraid of something that we can only imagine. We are afraid of death because we feel that death will take away all our earth’s wants, all our earth’s love, all our earth’s oneness. Here we achieve, here we accomplish; but we have no idea what is going to happen to us in the other world. We have no idea if we shall go to Heaven or to hell. Here on earth at least we know that we have our dear ones and relatives to look after us. But we do not know whether we shall meet with our dear ones in the other world or whether there will be anyone to look after us. In fact, we do not even know if there is another world. Therefore, the very thought, the very idea, the very conception of death frightens us.

Like imaginary fear, we can have imaginary courage. The worst possible imaginary courage is the courage of an atheist. He is infinitely more insignificant than an atom in that he challenges and denies God’s existence. God is infinite. God is eternal. God is immortal. Yet the atheist challenges God’s existence; he denies God’s existence or speaks ill of God.

There are some human beings who do not pray and do not meditate, yet they feel that they have boundless peace to offer to the world at large. This is their imaginary courage. Or there are some human beings who feel that they can have the world drop down at their feet at the twinkling of an eye. Like Julius Caesar, they feel that they will be able to say, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” This is all imaginary courage, for they are afraid of something or other. They are afraid of a tiny, imaginary thought. A tiny thought will enter into them, say, that their parents or dear ones are being attacked and are in very serious condition. Then for quite a few years this wicked thought can command them most mercilessly. Yet these human beings say that the whole world can be placed at their feet if they want it.

Fear of the known, fear of the unknown and fear of the unknowable. We have done many things undivine; therefore, we are afraid of the consequences. We know that as we sow, so we shall reap. The law of karma nobody can deny. If we have done something wrong, then we have to pay the penalty. Here what we fear is quite known. But there is also the unknown fear. If we do something wrong today, then we feel that in the near future we are going to suffer for it. We have no idea if the punishment will be severe or not. But we do know that we will be punished. The very thought of the punishment tortures us. Although the real punishment we shall get later on, right now the unknown fear, the fear of the unknown, tortures us.

Fear of the unknowable is fear of what is going to happen in our life or after our death — fear, for example, that there may be a catastrophe and this world of ours will not last. This unknowable can be positive or negative. Infinite Light is an unknowable Reality and it can frighten us. Infinite night, darkness, is also an unknowable reality that can frighten us. The infinite Light is a positive force; the infinite night is a negative force.

We speak of the Universal Consciousness; we speak of the Transcendental Consciousness. We achieve both the Universal Consciousness and the Transcendental Consciousness on the strength of our inner courage. Inner courage is nothing but constant self-giving. Here we are all seekers. Before we became seekers we stayed with our desire-friends, but now our friend is aspiration. God granted courage to our body before we were spiritual, before we aspired. He thought that with this courage we would be fully alert. He gave courage to our vital. He thought that with this courage our vital would be dynamic. He gave courage to our mind. He felt that with this courage our mind would be completely clear. He gave courage to our heart. He thought that with this courage our heart would be totally pure. Then we became seekers. Now God has given our heart the power of oneness. He has given our mind the power of wideness. He has given our vital the power of compassion. He has given our body the power of sacrifice.

Then He tells us, “Children, don’t be afraid of the known, don’t be afraid of the unknown, don’t be afraid of the unknowable. Have courage in the known. And then, after a while, you will have courage in the unknown. And have courage that even the unknowable will one day become not only knowable but completely known.

“Your parents, your grandparents, your ancestors prayed to Me. Therefore they received Light from Me. Their light has entered into you and you have become spiritual. And now, if you pray and you meditate, you will also get Light from Me. Your light far surpasses that of your parents, grandparents and ancestors. There is no competition, but in the process of evolution I am manifesting Myself in and through human beings more and more. There shall come a time when I, the Unknowable, will appear before you with My infinite Peace, Light and Bliss, and these will all become known to you. At that time, you shall have courage within, courage without. When you dive deep within, with your inner courage, you play with God the Creator. And when you bring your outer courage to the fore, you play with God the Creation. This is how you participate in My cosmic Game.”

The cry and the smile²

I wish to give a short talk on the cry and the smile: the outer cry and the inner cry, the outer smile and the inner smile.

The outer cry is for name and fame. The inner cry is for Truth and Light.

When we walk along the road of name and fame, there comes a time when frustration makes friends with us. This frustration-friend takes us to destruction and there our journey ends.

When we walk along the road of Truth and Light, perfection becomes our friend and perfection leads us to satisfaction. But there our journey does not end; on the contrary, there a new and unprecedented journey starts. For this satisfaction is nothing but the ever-transcending Reality. Each time we are satisfied, a new reality inspires us to transcend ourselves.

The outer cry lives in the outer world. The outer cry is to possess the world, to bring it under our dominion, under our jurisdiction for us to use in our own way. We want to possess the world precisely because the outer world is not within us. Anything that is not within us, we feel is not ours.

The inner cry lives in the world of aspiration. Aspiration ultimately grants us realisation. Realisation means oneness with the Infinite. As individual seekers, we become inseparably one with the Infinite when we realise our transcendental Self. Inside our transcendental Reality we see the entire world with its cries and smiles.

The outer smile is the smile of the face. Quite often the outer smile consoles us, although it is not always encouraging and illumining. We notice at times that there is a motive behind the outer smile. The outer smile at times wants to be reciprocated; we smile and we want the world to smile back at us.

The inner smile is the smile of the heart. This smile inspires the seeker and elevates his consciousness. When the inner smile manifests itself through the outer smile, it reminds the seeker of his promise to the Absolute Supreme. His promise is to realise God, reveal God and manifest God here on earth. When the outer smile manifests itself through the inner smile, it is assurance that the outer life offers to the inner life. The outer life says to the inner life, “I am sorry I have stayed away from you for so long. But from now on, I shall become inseparably one with you. I shall help you in every possible way. Not only that, I shall please you and fulfil you in your own way. I shall fulfil you in your own way because I know that your way and God’s Way are absolutely one.”

Human life itself is a cry right from dawn to sunset. The moment a child is born, he offers a cry to Mother Earth. Again, when he is about to pass behind the curtain of Eternity, he offers a cry to Mother Earth. From the outer point of view, the child cries because the world is a stranger. The world is a stranger to the new-born babe; therefore he cries. And the same person, when he is ready to die, is afraid of the other world. Therefore, he offers a cry. This is a human, outer explanation of the reality that we see.

But there is also an inner explanation, an esoteric explanation of the cry. When the soul enters into the world of manifestation with a human body, it offers its gratitude to Mother Earth through its cry. The soul enters into the world-arena and it offers gratitude to Mother Earth for accepting it. And the same soul, at the end of its journey, again offers gratitude to Mother Earth through the physical cry, for the physical body was granted the opportunity by Mother Earth to realise, reveal and manifest Truth and Light on earth.

The human child cries for the mother’s milk. But this human child, on the strength of his aspiration, becomes a divine child. When he becomes a divine child, he prays to the Universal Mother, to the Absolute Supreme, to grant him Nectar, Delight, Immortality. In his human existence, he cries for the milk which nourishes the human existence. In his divine existence, he cries for something divine and immortal.

The human cry and the divine smile at times go together. The human cry in the physical world and the divine smile in the vital world at times go together. When a dear one dies, we cry. When we cry, the soul that is close to us smiles in the vital world. In the vital world, the souls that are attached to us, that still have kept a close connection with the world, get tremendous joy when we cry for them, and their joy they express with a smile. But if these souls are in the inner worlds that are far beyond the vital world, in the intuitive world or in the soul’s world, they only watch the progress of the individuals on earth. If they see that their dear ones who are on earth have manifested everything that they were supposed to manifest before leaving the body, then they are happy. If not, then they feel sad and miserable for their dear ones.

The souls that remain in the soul’s world always abide by the Will of the Supreme. Sometimes the Will of the Supreme tolerates certain things, sometimes it approves and sometimes it is totally committed to certain things taking place on earth. When the soul mixes with the vital, especially the lower vital, it loses its pristine divinity for the time being and it does not always abide by the Will of the Supreme. But it never loses its inmost divinity, which is eternally immortal. The souls that lose a bit of their universal Reality, a bit of their divinity, become one with ignorance and become a miserable cry. Again, the souls that do not mix with the lower vital and remain always above the vital world, here and elsewhere, remain always in perfect peace and bliss. These souls constantly offer smiles both to Heaven and to earth. Again, it is not only ordinary human beings who cry and smile, but also the spiritual Masters of the highest magnitude who offer their cries and smiles to mankind.

Here in the West, the Saviour is Christ. The Christ cried for humanity’s salvation from sin. And sin is nothing but limited consciousness, which unfortunately we claim to be ours. Again, out of his infinite Bounty, the Christ gave us the most luminous Smile when He said, “Let Thy Will be done.” When the human in the Christ became one with our cry, he said, “Father, what have I done? Why hast Thou forsaken me?” Again, when the Christ became one with his own divinity, his own transcendental Reality, he offered to the world at large his highest wisdom, his smile: “I and my Father are one.”

In the East, we recall the Buddha’s human cry for a little bird before he got his enlightenment. To save the life of a bird his heart literally bled; and he did save the bird. Again, in his later years, the Lord Buddha cried for the enlightenment of humanity. He got his illumination and his heart cried to offer it to the world at large. He told humanity two most sublime things. First he said, “This world is transitory. Here, if you expect abiding satisfaction, then you are bound to be disappointed.” The second message he offered to the world at large was this: “Discover the Light within. Be the Light unto yourself.”

The Christ taught us to free ourselves from sin-consciousness. The Buddha taught us to free ourselves from ignorance and bondage-consciousness. The Christ, out of his infinite Compassion, taught us the message of salvation; and the Buddha, out of his infinite Compassion, taught us the message of liberation. When we achieve salvation, anything within us that is inferior to the highest Reality becomes one with the highest Reality. When we achieve liberation, anything within us that is limited, anything within us that limits or binds us, becomes totally liberated, illumined, perfected and fulfilled.

Aspiration is an inner cry; again, aspiration is an inner smile. When we aspire to reach the highest Height, it is an inner cry that we embody. When we climb down to serve God in each human being, we are embodying an inner smile. Each human life is composed of a cry and a smile. The cry strengthens, the smile expedites. Therefore both the cry and the smile are of paramount importance.

God’s Vision is the inner Cry to manifest His infinite Divinity. God’s Reality is the inner Smile that grows and glows in humanity’s aspiring consciousness. As long as man and God exist, man will cry to God for fulfilment in his own human way and God will cry for fulfilment in and through man in His divine Way. Man will cry to God to give him the capacity to bind the world; God will cry for man to liberate himself and to liberate others. If someone is a desiring person, there will come a time when he becomes an aspiring person. At that time he says to God, “O Lord Supreme, I shall be pleased only when I please You in Your own Way.” God and the seeker smile simultaneously. The earth consciousness accepts the divine Consciousness and the divine Consciousness accepts the earth consciousness for Reality’s transcendental Satisfaction.

Questions and answers

MRP 82-89. American Church, Paris, France, 15 June 1976.

Question: How can a sincere seeker distinguish a true teacher from an untrue teacher?

Sri Chinmoy: A sincere Master will always say that he and the seeker have to work together. The Master says he will not be able to grant the seeker realisation overnight. If the Master says he will grant the seeker realisation if the seeker gives him millions of dollars, then that Master is false. The true teacher says to the seeker, "You show me your aspiration and I shall show you God's Compassion. I shall unite both God's Compassion and your aspiration. When they come together, then you become perfect." The real Master will always tell the seeker that there is something called God's Hour. It is then that God grants the seeker realisation. There is an hour for preparation and an hour for realisation. When we sow a seed, it takes time to germinate; then gradually it becomes a sapling and finally a tree. Until it becomes a tree, until it offers fruit, it is in the process of preparation. But when the tree bears fruit, it completes its journey. It is no longer preparation; it is realisation.

Question: I feel that there is a reality which is expressed through different religions, but I have read in the Upanishads that one must be able to transcend this reality. However, I find it very difficult.

Sri Chinmoy: You have to pray and meditate. Each religion has a way of expressing the Truth. Reality is One. But it expresses itself through each religion according to the receptivity of that particular religion. When you realise the Highest, then naturally you go through all the religions at once and, at the same time, you reach the Highest.

Question: There are many different spiritual paths to reach the one Reality. What is the difference between these paths and do they all go to the same point?

Sri Chinmoy: If the paths are real, then they lead to the same destination. It is like a school. A school has hundreds of students. Suppose ten or twenty students walk along one road to come to the school. Again, there are a few students who will walk along another road to come to the same school. So there are many roads, but the school remains the same.

But you have to know that some students are more advanced than others. Some will go to kindergarten and some will go to college or university. Again, the kindergarten student will one day graduate and go to elementary school, high school and college and eventually he will get his Master's degree or Ph.D. So today's goal may not be tomorrow's goal. In the beginning, the seeker aims at a particular goal. Then he wants to achieve a higher goal, grow into a higher goal. So collectively, all individuals are coming to the same goal according to their receptivity and capacity. If one's capacity right now is the high school capacity, then he is coming to the high school. If his capacity is for college, then he is going to college. And no matter what level he goes to, there are many of his standard who will come to the same school. Many will come to the high school; many will come to the college. But the goal for the seekers of one height will be one particular thing, and for the seekers of another standard there will be another goal.

Question: Who determines the capacities and standards?

Sri Chinmoy: The capacity is aspiration; the capacity comes from the inner cry. If you really do need God, if you desperately need God, then your standard is very high. If God comes first, Truth comes first, Light comes first in your life, then automatically the inner cry increases.

Question: Is there a way to increase the inner cry?

Sri Chinmoy: Certainly. Suppose there are four or five good swimmers. If you want to become a good swimmer, then you will mix with the swimmers. If somebody knows how to swim better than you do, then you will mix with that particular swimmer in order to learn how to swim better. Similarly, if you want to accelerate your spiritual progress, you have to mix with those in whom you have some confidence, some trust that they will be able to guide you and accelerate your progress.

Question: How does one come to know which is one's dharma?

Sri Chinmoy: If one really wants to know, one can. If one wants to learn, one goes to school. If one wants sing, one goes to a musician, a singer. If one wants to know anything, then one goes to someone who already knows. If someone wants to know what his dharma is, then he has to go to someone who knows everybody's dharma.

Question: What exactly is realisation?

Sri Chinmoy: Realisation is self-discovery and God-discovery. When one realises God, or the highest Truth, one becomes inseparably one with humanity's cry and Divinity's Smile. When he identifies himself with humanity, he cries for humanity because humanity is hungry; and when he identifies himself with Divinity, then he becomes happy because he has got the opportunity to feed humanity. Oneness with Heaven, oneness with earth — conscious, complete, inseparable and eternal oneness — is called realisation.

Question: What role does conscious will play in the spiritual life?

Sri Chinmoy: Conscious will is of paramount importance in the spiritual life. Unconsciously we do many things, good and bad. But when we do them consciously, with conscious will, then we get the effect immediately.

If we use our conscious will, then we shall get up early in the morning, take a shower and pray to God. But if it is unconscious will, we shall keep in the back of our mind the thought that we have to pray, and that is all. Meanwhile, we shall remain lying down. While sleeping, we may repeat God's Name once or twice, and then we shall feel that we have prayed or meditated. But we are lethargic, idle; we will not leave the bed. For one second we shall meditate and for ten minutes we shall sleep. This is called unconscious will.

Conscious will is like an express train. It just starts and then it goes to the destination as fast as possible. Unconscious will stops at many stations before it reaches the destination. Each time it reaches a station, it takes a rest there and relaxes its capacity. Then it has to regain its capacity to go to the next station. This way it takes a very, very long time. People who pray and meditate unconsciously will take thousands and millions of years to realise God.

Conscious will values time. It knows the necessity of time. Conscious will teaches us that time is very precious. If we do not realise God today, then how are we going to reveal and manifest God tomorrow? Therefore we have to realise Him as soon as possible. Again, realisation has no end, revelation has no end, manifestation has no end. So we feel that it is the supreme necessity to realise at least some height and then reveal and manifest that height.

The third eye⁴

Dear seekers, I am extremely happy to be here with you. This art gallery is called the Third Eye Centre; therefore, I shall give a short talk on the third eye. I wish to invoke the third eye of all the seekers here, and if you want to, you can be of help to me. There is a special way to invoke the third eye, and that is to chant AUM. We have six major psychic centres. Each centre has a sacred seed sound. The seed sound of the third eye is AUM. Before I begin my talk, I wish the seekers to join me in chanting AUM three times.

AUM… AUM… AUM.

AUM is a Sanskrit syllable. It is the combination of three letters: A, U and M. A represents God the Creator. U represents God the Preserver. M represents God the Transformer. There was a time when seekers felt that God the Creator needed God the Preserver, and that God the Preserver, as necessity demanded, would need God the Destroyer. But in the spiritual process of evolution, seekers of the highest magnitude have discovered that God does not destroy. He only transforms. Anything that is unlit, obscure or impure in us, He transforms into purity, beauty and divinity. So when we chant AUM, at one time we invoke God the Creator, God the Preserver and God the Transformer.

The third eye is located between the eyebrows, a little above. This eye is also called “the commanding eye”. What does it command? It commands our past, our present, our immediate future and our distant future. That is to say, past, present and future are at its command. The third eye, when it envisions the past, feels and sees the beginning of humanity’s evolution. When it enters into the present, into the immediacy of today, it sees the capacity and receptivity of humanity. And when it enters into the near or distant future, it sees not only the possibility and practicality, but also the inevitability of humanity’s progress, perfection and satisfaction.

There are quite a few ways one can open the third eye, but the two most significant ways are through prayer and through concentration. If one soulfully prays to the Absolute Supreme to open one’s third eye, the Lord Supreme may open it. And if one concentrates on the third eye soulfully, devotedly and consciously, then one can open the third eye oneself. But even in this case, the seeker owes his success ninety-nine per cent to the divine Grace, for without it he cannot even make the sincere effort. Although he may want to become sincere, sincerity does not come to the fore all at once. It takes a very, very long time. Therefore, the seeker has to know that God’s Grace has given him the necessary sincerity to open his third eye.

Some of you may be curious to know what actually happens before the third eye opens. Before the third eye opens, the seeker feels a kind of sensation in that spot. In the beginning, it may feel as though a tiny ant were moving around there. A few days or a few months later, the seeker will inwardly see a disc. At first it rotates from left to right. Then, when it starts rotating very fast, it changes its direction and rotates from right to left.

After a few months or a few years, the seeker will see a fully illumined sun in his forehead, like a bright midday sun. This sun indicates the complete opening of the third eye. When the third eye is completely opened, the infinite Vast, the eternal Height and the immeasurable Depth can be seen inside the third eye. At that time, the seeker sees himself as the seed of the entire creation, as the tree of the entire creation and as the fruit of the entire creation. The seed is the past, the tree is the present and the fruit is the future.

For absolutely sincere seekers, highly advanced seekers and seekers who have totally surrendered to God’s Will, to have the third eye opened is a veritable blessing, a great boon. But if the seeker still has many earthly desires to be fulfilled, then it is nothing but a curse. There have been many seekers who made considerable progress before their third eye was opened. But when their third eye was opened on the strength of their eagerness or on the strength of their dynamic will, and not on the strength of their surrender to God’s Will, their progress stopped almost immediately. When the third eye is opened while the vital is still impure, the power of the third eye creates problems for the seeker. The impurity of the vital enters into his divine vision and blinds it. Then the human being, at times, acts like a mad elephant.

If the seeker wants to open his third eye in order to know his past, and if he sees that in his past life he was an atheist, then despondency assails him. He feels that if he did not even believe in God in his previous incarnation, how can he realise God in this incarnation? If the past was not satisfactory, being able to see it with the third eye can create problems for the seeker. And if the distant future is not promising, the seeker will feel doomed to disappointment if he can see the future. If the future is threatening and frightening, then the third eye may create tremendous fear. But when the third eye is opened in accordance with God’s Will, no matter what the seeker did in the past, no matter what is going to happen today or tomorrow, no matter what will take place in the distant future, the seeker will not be affected, for God’s Will will liberate him, illumine him, perfect him and immortalise him.

There are some spiritual Masters who tell their students that it is not advisable for them to try to open the third eye. What is of paramount importance right from the beginning is to surrender to God’s Will. The easiest and safest way to become aware of God’s Will and to surrender to God’s Will is to open the heart centre. If the seeker opens the heart centre first, then he becomes inseparably one with God’s Will. After that, if God wants to grant the seeker that Vision which He Himself is, if God wants to open the seeker’s third eye, then it will not cause any problem. At that time the happenings of the hoary past, the immediate present or the ultimate future are no longer matters of concern to the seeker, for the seeker has become inseparably one with God’s universal Vision and transcendental Reality. Inside God’s universal Vision and God’s transcendental Reality, all the things that he sees, feels and grows into can be perfectly housed without any problem whatsoever. So if God wants to give Vision to a certain seeker, He will give it. Why? Just because the hour has struck for Him to make a perfect instrument of that person. But if a seeker untimely pulls the Vision-Reality of the third eye, it will be a disaster for him. The third eye is the eye of illumination for sincere seekers. But for curiosity-mongers the third eye is nothing but temptation.

The third eye is like a toy that a child plays with. After a few years he does not want to play with toys any more and he gives it up. At that time he studies for knowledge; he prays and meditates for inner wisdom. After the seeker has played for a few years with the third eye toy, he wants to acquire infinite wisdom-light. This wisdom-light he gets on the strength of his constant surrender to God’s Will and by virtue of his inmost cry.

The opening of the third eye does not determine God-realisation at all. Some people think that if the third eye is opened, that means they have realised God. No, the third eye can see the Face of God, but this does not indicate that conscious oneness with God has been established.

The third eye can see the past, the present and the future, but it cannot change humanity’s cry into divinity’s Smile. With it we can see something, but we don’t have the capacity to change it. If we can’t change it, then it remains imperfect. But if we see something and have the capacity to perfect it, then it is worth seeing. If one has discovered oneself and has realised the highest Truth, then if one sees something that needs perfection, at that time he can perfect it. It is the seeker’s self-discovery that can make the third eye an effective divine instrument. When the third eye observes something that needs perfection, the third eye can get the necessary help from the inner light of the seeker’s self-discovery.

The earthly eyes, the two human eyes, are side by side, but they cannot see each other. Why? Because of the human limitations, because of the earthly bondage that each eye embodies. But if we stand in front of a mirror, then we see both the eyes at once. Similarly, when we stand in front of our highest Reality, God, and see God with our third eye, then only can we see human life in its acme of perfection. Otherwise, the third eye will see, but what it sees will not offer any abiding satisfaction to the seekers of the ultimate Truth. Only if it sees God, only if it sees infinite Truth and Light, only if it can embody God’s divine Presence at all times and feel God’s universal Reality inside its Vision, only then can the opening of the third eye be a perfect spiritual experience.

Ignorance and knowledge⁵

Dear seekers, dear brothers and sisters, I wish to give a short talk on ignorance and knowledge. This subject is familiar to each and every human being. Again, each human being deals with ignorance and with knowledge according to his inner receptivity and his outer capacity.

Ignorance wants to conquer; knowledge wants to illumine. Ignorance wants to conquer the world by fighting, strangling and killing. Knowledge wants to illumine the world by loving and by becoming one with the world. Ignorance is hunger for constant separativity. Knowledge is hunger for constant unity. Ignorance teaches us how to consciously or unconsciously bring to the fore the destructive, animal qualities of the world. Knowledge teaches us how to dive deep within and bring to the fore the illumining, divine qualities of the world.

I come, I see, I conquer: this is the message of ignorance. I love, I serve, I become: this is the message of knowledge. I come into the world, I see and feel God's creation around me and I want to conquer it, dominate it, lord over it. This is the message of the ignorance-teacher within me. The knowledge-teacher within me teaches me to love and serve the world and to become God's instrument in the world. By listening to the knowledge-teacher within me, I love and serve God and I grow into my inner Being, the Highest Reality that is at one with God Himself.

When we pray to God to fulfil our desires — our teeming, countless desires — at that time it is ignorance that is playing its role in and through us. When we request God to take our side, to be on our side, then again it is ignorance that is playing its role in and through us. But when we pray to God to fulfil our aspiration and grant us the capacity to be on His side, at that time it is knowledge that is playing its role in and through us.

Aspiration is our inner cry, the cry that climbs up high, higher, highest. While climbing, it illumines the unlit human in us, purifies the impure animal in us and serves the divine in us for God’s manifestation on earth. When we are on God’s side, the finite in us consciously merges into the Infinite and the individual “I” becomes one with the Universal Reality.

In the world envisioned by God, there are two divine members of God’s family that have been playing the eternal game of Light and Delight on earth: faith and purity. Each human being is constantly attacked by ignorance-forces. These ignorance-forces are doubt and impurity. Faith is the Supreme within us, the divine representative within us, the divine child within us that is growing and glowing, illumining and fulfilling. Doubt tries to conquer the faith within us and poison it. Faith also wants to conquer doubt. But when faith conquers doubt, it does not poison doubt, it does not destroy doubt. Only it illumines doubt, for faith regards doubt as the younger member of its family. Therefore, faith feels that it is its bounden duty to illumine doubt, which is a younger, destructive member of the family.

Just as doubt tries to destroy our faith, so does impurity try to destroy the purity that is within us and around us. It tries to destroy not only our purity, but also our divinity. If impurity is successful, then it does destroy our purity, but it can never destroy our divinity. Purity is of the heart and for the heart, so it can be destroyed. But divinity is of the soul and for the soul; therefore, it can never be destroyed. In the course of time, slowly, steadily and unerringly purity and divinity conquer impurity. They do not destroy impurity, but they purify its very existence. They show impurity a part of the divine reality that is within.

Doubt is a destructive force that will destroy not only faith but also itself. Impurity also is a destructive force. When faith, purity and divinity conquer these ignorance-forces, these forces are illumined, perfected and fulfilled. Let us say ignorance is a thorn that has entered into our foot. It takes another thorn to rid ourselves of this ignorance-thorn. This second thorn is temporarily our saving-power. Then what do we do? We throw away both the thorns because we fear that the thorn that has become our saviour will eventually create problems for us.

At this point, wisdom has to enter into the picture. Wisdom is not the information that we get from the world around us. Wisdom is what we get from our soul.
Wisdom at every moment energises the physical in us, the vital in us, the mind in us and the heart in us. When the physical is energised, it opens its door to the supreme Reality. When the vital is energised, it opens its door to the supreme Power. When the mind is energised, it opens its door to the universal Peace. When the heart is energised, it reaches the height of transcendental Oneness.

The finite in us is not aware of the Infinite, but when it is made aware of the Infinite, it has an inferiority complex, and it does not want to be consciously one with the Infinite. The finite is an ignorance-force. But the Infinite feels its oneness with the finite. It feels that there was a time when it was not the entire ocean. It was just a tiny drop, like the finite. And then, from that tiny drop, it widened its consciousness and expanded into the ocean itself. This occurred through the process of evolution. Again, the Highest, the absolute Truth, was originally One. God was One, and then He decided to become many. The Infinite consciously decided to become the finite. Knowledge tells us that within the Infinite, there we can find the finite; and within the finite, there we can find the Infinite. Just because God is infinite, He can enjoy Himself in the tiniest atom as well as in the infinite Vast.

Knowledge tells us something more. Divine knowledge tells us that the many and the One were, from the very beginning, identical; they were made together. The One is the Vision; the many is the Reality. God the Vision and God the Reality are all the time together. From God’s Vision-power, immediately Reality came into existence. Again, with Reality-power, Vision came into existence. God wanted to enjoy Himself. He wanted to offer Nectar, Immortality, to His whole creation. With the creation He felt the expansion of His Self-Form, His manifested Form. When He first created the world, with His inner Vision He saw the ultimate future. Now, slowly, steadily and unerringly, He is unfolding His Vision.

Ingratitude and gratitude⁶

Dear seekers, dear brothers and sisters, I wish to give a short talk on ingratitude and gratitude. These are two forces. Ingratitude is a destructive force, whereas gratitude is a constructive force. Every day in our multifarious activities, either we express ingratitude or we express gratitude to our fellow beings.

Ingratitude is not our inability to acknowledge the gifts we receive from others. Ingratitude is our deliberate unwillingness to acknowledge the gifts we receive from others. Gratitude is receptivity, the receptivity that acknowledges others’ gifts, others’ love and concern. Each time we express gratitude, we expand our hearts.

Receptivity can be increased. How can we increase our receptivity? We can increase it by cultivating it. The farmer cultivates the ground and then he sows the seed. He waters it and eventually the seed germinates and grows into a sapling and a tree. Here also, when we cultivate our gratitude-heart, we get the opportunity to sow our pure love there. This pure love grows into true concern, and true concern eventually becomes inseparable oneness.

When we want to pick a beautiful flower from a tree, we look around to see if anybody is observing us. We feel that nobody should know that we had to take the flower from some other place. We want to show the world at large that this flower was ours right from the beginning. In order to do that, we try to destroy the branches of the tree.

We receive gifts from our friends in the inner worlds but we don’t want others to know about it. So we speak ill of our inner friends, consciously or unconsciously. We want to make the world believe that we are self-sufficient, but the rest of the world knows that we are receiving something from others. Ingratitude is nothing but a sense of inferiority, an inferiority complex. The gifts we get from others we do not want to acknowledge. We are afraid to expose ourselves to others.

Ingratitude, impurity and the doubting mind go together. It is impurity that divides and separates us and does not allow us to have the feeling of oneness or gratitude. And this impurity unconsciously or consciously is treasured by the doubtful mind. Gratitude, purity and the loving heart always go together. The gratitude-flower grows in our purity-heart. Purity expands our heart. Purity awakens our entire being within to the highest level of consciousness. The heart is self-giving. And what is self-giving today becomes tomorrow God-Delight and God-Perfection.

Here we are all seekers. Some of us are extremely sincere, while others are to some extent sincere. Those who are sincere seekers of the highest magnitude are all gratitude to the Supreme. When they observe their relationship with the Beloved Supreme, they see that He showers upon them Peace, Light and Bliss in abundant measure from above. If they forget to offer their gratitude to their Inner Pilot, the Inner Pilot does not mind. He immediately forgives them. The Beloved Supreme is bound to forgive even insincere seekers if they forget to offer their loving gratitude while on the way to the Ultimate Goal. God is infinitely above our ingratitude-heart. But although God may forgive the seeker, the sincere seeker may find it impossible to forgive himself. When his sincerity-flower petal by petal fully blossoms, he gets tremendous pangs in the inmost recesses of his heart if he has not offered gratitude to the Supreme.

God does everything unconditionally. We try to become His perfect instruments and we try our utmost to become worthy of His infinite Compassion, infinite Love and infinite Light, Peace and Bliss. Our ideal is to be like Him. Our inner cry is to become exactly the same as our transcendental, universal Pilot Supreme.

Within us is the animal kingdom, the human kingdom and the divine kingdom. The animal in us does not allow us to become fully human. The human in us does not allow us to be fully divine. The animal in us is anger, jealousy, impure thoughts; these are the animal forces within us. They don’t want us to become properly human. The animal in us is a hungry tiger. The human in us often feeds the tiger. But instead of being grateful, sometimes the tiger devours us. The human in us is our sense of division. The human in us wants to control itself without being part and parcel of any collective group. Always it wants to remain off by itself. It does not want to go to the divine, to the all-pervading, the all-loving, all-illumining and all-fulfilling divine. The divine in us brings us joy, love and satisfaction. But the human in us devours this joy and then does not care for the divine. It speaks ill of the divine. It falls short of the divine and then it becomes totally indifferent to the divine. It remains aloof and makes us feel that the divine does not exist. So the animal in us does not want the gift that it gets from the human in us, and the human in us does not want the gift from above.

But again, we are all evolving. The animal in us is evolving into the human and the human in us is evolving into the divine. The divine in us wants to go to its Source, the Supreme. The human in us tries to become divine by mixing with someone who consciously embodies divinity and spirituality. When we see a spiritual Master, when we see a saint or a sage, someone who is embodying Peace, Light and Bliss, we try to serve him, please him, become a member of his inner family, spiritual family. Then when we become spiritual, we try to please our Eternity’s Beloved Supreme. We try to become the exact prototype of His universal and transcendental Existence.

The animal grows into the human by serving, the human grows into the divine by serving, the divine grows into the Absolute by serving. While serving, we offer our gratitude, for it is the higher force that has granted us the opportunity to develop through our service. There are millions and millions on earth who are still fast asleep. But we have been awakened. By whom? By a higher force. So each time we get the opportunity to serve, we feel that it is because a higher force has kindled the flame of aspiration and dedication inside us. Therefore we are grateful. Gratitude looms large when we are given the opportunity to be of service to the Supreme in mankind. This gratitude-power is our expansion-power, our self-expansion-power. Each time we offer our gratitude to the Supreme, we expand our hearts and grow into the universal Heart and transcendental Reality.

Satisfaction⁷

Dear seekers, dear spiritual brothers and sisters, I wish to give a talk on satisfaction from the spiritual point of view. It is only human beings that need satisfaction from God. God Himself is all Satisfaction. At the same time, He wants to see and achieve satisfaction inside each and every individual. Here we are all seekers. Inside us is the animal existence to some extent, the human life as such, and the divine life that we are longing for. Finally, Light Supreme abides within us, in the inmost recesses of our hearts.

The animal in us wants satisfaction through destruction. The animal in us is jealousy, doubt and anger.

The human in us wants to aspire, but then it drowns in the pleasures of ignorance. At times it does want to aspire, and when it aspires it feels the supreme necessity of realisation: realisation of its inseparable oneness with the world of Love, God’s Love.

The divine in us consciously and constantly longs for satisfaction, satisfaction within and satisfaction without.

The Supreme within us wants the supreme Satisfaction. God is granting us His unconditional Satisfaction. He is showering His infinite Compassion on us. And we receive according to our inner receptivity and capacity. Our capacity is our devoted head and our receptivity is our surrendered heart.

We want satisfaction; therefore, we make a personal effort. From our personal effort we gain satisfaction. Again, from our inner surrender to God’s Will we gain higher satisfaction. When we combine soulful personal effort with surrender, at that time we get supreme satisfaction.

Being a seeker myself, I wish to say that there are three principal ways to achieve satisfaction in life. First is the way of concentration, second is the way of meditation and third is the way of contemplation. Through concentration, meditation and contemplation we achieve satisfaction. Dear, dearer, dearest satisfaction; sweet, sweeter, sweetest satisfaction. Satisfaction that is dearer than the dearest, sweeter than the sweetest.

Concentration is speed; it wants to grant us satisfaction sooner than at once. When we concentrate, we can achieve and receive considerable satisfaction on earth. It is like a man reaching his goal; deep in our destination is satisfaction.

Meditation is slightly different. Meditation will give us peace, which is another kind of satisfaction.

Contemplation gives us satisfaction through delight. It helps us to discover the delight within us. Contemplation tells us that delight is our Source, that in delight we actually grow and that at the end of our earthly journey, into delight we shall retire.

Concentration is speed-satisfaction, meditation is peace-satisfaction and contemplation is delight-satisfaction. Concentration, meditation and contemplation are the three members of the divine self. Each member plays a distinctive role in bringing satisfaction. Concentration plays the role of the hero-warrior. Meditation plays the role of the wisest instrument of the Supreme. Contemplation plays the role of the divine Lover and the Beloved Supreme.

Concentration joyously declares, “God is for me.” Meditation soulfully declares, “I am for God.” Contemplation unconditionally declares, “God and I are eternal. I am for God and God is for me. I am unconditionally for God and God is unconditionally for me.” This is the blessing and wisdom-light that contemplation offers to us.

Concentration has the capacity to discover the tiniest drop inside the vast ocean and to concentrate on it. It can separate the tiniest drop from the infinite Vast and then it can do anything it wants to do with the tiniest drop.

Meditation has the power, on the strength of its inner spiritual capacity, to transform the tiny drop into the vast ocean. The power of meditation has the capacity to transform the finite into the infinite Vast.

Contemplation has the capacity to see unification between the tiny drop and the vast ocean. In contemplation, they combine their capacity in order to achieve satisfaction.

Creation is satisfaction and the Creator is satisfaction. If we see creation with the eye of our Inner Pilot, it is nothing short of satisfaction, supreme satisfaction. But if we see creation with our own human eyes, with our limited vision, then we see and feel nothing like satisfaction. If we use our limited vision, we see all around us confusion and frustration. But if we invoke God-Vision, we see God’s creation in us, through us and around us. Then, we notice continuous preparation and ever-transcending perfection in His creation. Confusion and frustration offer dissatisfaction: continuous preparation and ever-transcending perfection grant us divine satisfaction.

Expectation is satisfaction when we want something from others. We expect something from others; others expect something from us. Each of us gives and we both derive satisfaction. Then we go one step ahead and feel that there is no satisfaction in expectation. If we expect, we act like a beggar. A beggar is one who does not have the things that he wants. If we have expectation, I tell you that we act like beggars; but we are like an emperor if we don’t expect. Instead of expectation, we have to have surrender, constant surrender to God’s Will. We shall evoke God’s Presence and then it is up to Him if He will grant us satisfaction. If we seek only to be His perfect instruments, and if He allows us to be His perfect instruments, at that time we shall derive true satisfaction.

Each individual seeker can pray and meditate and in this way grow into satisfaction supreme. When he wants his satisfaction to be high beyond the skies, he climbs up high, higher, highest in order to see His Heavenly Father and thus grow into divine, supreme satisfaction. And the same seeker, when he meditates, realises that God’s Heavenly satisfaction is not only in Heaven but also on earth. Therefore, when he wants to feel his Father’s Heaven in the highest realm of consciousness, he climbs up on the strength of his prayer; and when he wants to see His Father’s Universal Form as well as His Transcendental Form, at that time he prays.

We pray, meditate, concentrate and contemplate only for one thing: the satisfaction of our Lord Supreme. If we fulfil ourselves in our own way, out of His boundless Compassion, God without fail will grant us satisfaction in our own way. But just because we are spiritual seekers, our sincerity will not allow us to derive supreme satisfaction unless and until we can please God in His own Way.

How will we please God in His own Way? There is only one way and that is through self-giving. Self-giving is founded upon our constant inner cry. This inner cry we see, we feel and we grow into only when we put God first in our life.

Greatness and goodness⁸

I wish to give a very short talk on greatness and goodness. Here we are in Oxford. Oxford is a place of greatness and goodness. Oxford, I bow to your greatness and I bow to your goodness. Your greatness is divinely meaningful and your goodness is supremely soulful. Anything that is great in England is to be found here in microcosm. Greatness and goodness combined are what Oxford is.

Students who want to cultivate mental knowledge of the highest degree come here from all over the world to achieve greatness. Then they go back to their respective countries to offer the knowledge-light that they have achieved from here. This knowledge-light that they spread is goodness.

To have greatness is to have faith in oneself: in one’s physical, in one’s vital, in one’s mind and in one’s heart. If one has a strong body, he has faith in his physical strength. If one has a dynamic vital, then he has implicit faith in his vital. If one is blessed with a brilliant mind, then he has faith in his mind. And if one is blessed with a pure heart, a pure and unalloyed heart, then he has tremendous faith in his heart.

Goodness is faith only in God, in Truth, in Light. When one becomes part and parcel of Truth, then one takes the side of Truth and Light. And when one is always for God, this is nothing but goodness. Goodness always has faith in God, Truth and Light.

Greatness is a universally acknowledged fact. Goodness is also a universally acknowledged fact. But it is something more. It is universally loved reality. Greatness we observe in our outer life. Goodness we observe in our inner life. With our human eyes, we observe greatness around us, all over the world. With our divine heart, we feel goodness within us and within others.

God is great because He has created this world. This is a fact that we have been taught by our parents, by our friends, by the world body. God is also good, kind, compassionate. He is our Source within us; He is for us, eternally for us. He wants to liberate us, He wants to illumine us, He wants to grant us realisation, satisfaction and fulfilment. He is the Author of all good. This is God the Goodness. God the Creator is Greatness and God the Lover of His creation is Goodness. We love God not because He is supremely great, but because He is universally, transcendentally good. Greatness astonishes us. Goodness illumines us, liberates us from the shackles of bondage.

Greatness we can express in an animal way when we quarrel, fight and try to destroy one another. When we stay together in a family and love one another, then greatness is expressed in a human way. When we try to elevate one another and help one another reach the highest heights, at that time greatness is expressed in a divine way. Finally, greatness is expressed in the supreme way when we tell the world that God the Eternal Reality is also eternally good; He is the Source. He is waiting for us, Him to please in His own Way. Here we reach greatness, supreme greatness, on the strength of our conscious and constant surrender to God’s Will.

Usually our human mind craves greatness, whereas our divine heart longs for goodness. Sometimes we notice a yawning gulf between the mind and the heart, between the goal that the mind wants to reach and the goal that the heart wants to reach. The mind tries to see its goal by separating one reality from another. Everything it wants to see in an infinitesimal measure, whereas the heart wants to see the goal, the reality, as a unit, one and inseparable. The mind and the heart approach reality in different ways, but they cannot always remain separated. They have to be unified in order to achieve the highest truth. There are two kinds of mind: the physical mind and the illumined mind. The physical mind is bound by the physical world. It wants to lord it over the world. It wants to stay at least an inch above others so that it can dominate others. Consciously or unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly, it gets tremendous joy from its sense of separativity. The illumined mind is totally different. It longs for vastness within and without. It wants nothing but vastness; and inside vastness, it wants to grow and glow.

The human heart, which is very near the vital centre, is quite often insecure. It does not want to house others inside it. It feels that when others want to take shelter in it, they may break the vessel. It feels it is too small. Therefore, the human heart is quite often insecure, timid. And just because it is quite near the vital, unconsciously or consciously, like a magnet it pulls impurity from the undisciplined vital. But there is also the spiritual heart. This heart is always united with the soul; it has established its oneness with the soul. The soul, which is the direct representative of the Lord Supreme, has Light in boundless measure. And the spiritual heart has a free access to the soul. Therefore, it can easily bring down the soul’s light into its system.

The oneness of the spiritual heart and the vastness of the illumined mind must be brought together. Oneness we can establish with another individual or with some tiny object. But if we have vastness along with the oneness, if we can establish our oneness with God’s vast creation, then we become perfect. Likewise, vastness without oneness is of no avail. God’s creation is very vast, but if we fail to establish our oneness with this vastness, then vastness remains a barren desert. In order to become perfect, we have to create within us vastness and oneness, and we have to grow into both vastness and oneness.

There are two worlds. One is the world of desire; the other is the world of aspiration. When we remain in the desire-world, greatness looms large. But when we remain in the aspiration-world, goodness looms large. Just because we are seekers, we are consciously trying to come out of the domain of the desire-world and establish our abode in the aspiration-world.

The desire to know the world and the desire to know oneself are totally different things. When we want to know the world around us, without caring for our oneness with the world, unconsciously we are aiming at greatness. And this greatness, without fail, separates us from the world. But when we want to know ourselves implicitly, what we realise is that we are part and parcel of the whole, of the integral reality. Even if we start with the desire-world and try to become great, no harm. It is far better than remaining in the world of lethargy and somnolence. But there shall come a time when we see that our greatness has not given us an iota of satisfaction; for inside greatness what we see is frustration. There comes a time when our greatness is challenged. An individual feels that he is a great singer. But sooner or later his pride is smashed when he sees that another singer is far better than he. Then what does he do? He resorts to goodness.

Goodness is not in competing with the world around; only it offers the message of self-transcendence. If we at all have to compare, then the comparison is with ourselves. If we at all have to compete, then we will compete with our own previous capacities. Here there is no other world. There is only our own world of constant and continuous progress. We try only to transcend ourselves. In the desire-world there is comparison and competition. But in the aspiration-world, we do not want to make others feel that we are superior. No. When we feel that we have an iota of light, we aspire to have abundant light, infinite Light. Only by virtue of our constant aspiration do we transcend our own capacities. We feel that the more we increase our capacity and the more we utilise our capacity to please the Inner Pilot in His own Way, the sooner we become His perfect instruments.

Editor's preface to the first edition

During the summer of 1976, Sri Chinmoy embarked on his fourth European lecture tour. The talks that he delivered, and his answers to selected questions, have been collected into a three-part series, My Rose Petals, parts 5-7.

Lectures from Sri Chinmoy's earlier European tours have been published in My Rose Petals, parts 1-4.