Part I

RF:94-117. On 30 August 1999, Sri Chinmoy spontaneously commented on these spiritual words offered by his disciples.

Reincarnation

According to some spiritual Masters, to talk about reincarnation is the height of stupidity. Again, according to other spiritual Masters, knowledge of reincarnation is of tremendous help. In my case, I subscribe to both views.

When you meditate on your previous incarnations, if you see or feel that you were not an important person, that you were most ordinary, then you can easily be doomed to disappointment. You will say, “Oh, I was so ordinary! There is no hope for me.” Again, if you take a positive view of your life, you will say, “That was just my beginning. Now, in this incarnation, I have got such a great spiritual Master and I have such sincere inspiration and aspiration! I must go forward, I must go forward!”

If you can take the right attitude, then knowledge of reincarnation and your past incarnations can be of tremendous help. But if you take the wrong attitude, if you feel doomed to disappointment because you were an ordinary person or even a thief, it will only discourage you.

We have to be brave to know about our past incarnations. If our past was bad, then we shall go forward right from today. And if our past was good, then we shall march forward at top speed.

The message of one of the prayers I offered this morning was, “By Your infinite Grace, I am paving my progress-road by sprinting, not by walking or running.” You can see how this message applies to the question of reincarnation. With Grace we sprint and sprint, no matter what we were or what we did in the past. Let us not be curious to see what we ate in the past. If we ate spicy food yesterday and it gave us trouble, then we will simply say, “I am not going to eat spicy food again. From now on I will eat fruit and other nice food.” In this way we will go forward, always forward, without thinking about the past.

So, some spiritual Masters say that to talk about reincarnation is simply a waste of time, while others say that, if it inspires you to go forward, you can know about your past incarnations. I belong to both categories. My philosophy is that if you want to know, if you feel you have to know, then go forward from your previous standard. If you were good, then become a better person. If you were bad, then become a good person right from this very moment.

Devotion

We enjoy Indian sweets and many other sweets. Each individual will have some sweets that he likes best and feels are most delicious. But devotion is infinitely, infinitely sweeter than the sweetest sweet that has ever been made by any human being, because devotion is made of God’s ever-transcending Breath. Like us, God has breath, but His Breath is always transcending, transcending, transcending. Our human devotion is made of God’s own ever-transcending Breath. Therefore, it has to be sweeter, infinitely, infinitely sweeter than any man-made sweets.

When you have true devotion, you will feel what true sweetness is in your life. Otherwise, without devotion, nobody will be able to imagine real sweetness.

Speed

From aspiration we get speed. From dedication we get speed. From manifestation we get speed. Aspiration we have to maintain. Dedication we have to maintain. Surrender we have to maintain. We must aspire, we must dedicate ourselves and again, we must manifest God’s Light. But along with aspiration, there should be surrender. Along with dedication, there should be surrender. Along with manifestation, there should be surrender. If unconditional surrender is available in our aspiration, in our dedication and in our manifestation, then we will definitely get the fastest speed.

You are aspiring. There should be surrender in your aspiration. You are dedicating yourself. There should be surrender in your dedication. You are manifesting God’s Light. There should be surrender in your manifestation. If there is surrender in your aspiration, dedication and manifestation, then your speed will be faster than the fastest.

Faith

Faith is spirituality’s spine, spirituality’s backbone. If the spine is not in good condition, then the body is useless. Similarly, if one does not have faith in one’s Master or in oneself, then that person’s spirituality is bound to be a complete failure. Again, if one has faith in one’s Master and in one’s own spirituality, then that person will be stronger than the strongest in the spiritual life.

God-realisation

If God-realisation is the object of our curiosity, it is useless. If it is a whim, it is useless. If it is a hope, then we shall accept it in our inner life. But if it is a promise to God and to ourselves, then we must take it as our living breath. Without breathing we cannot live. Similarly, if we take God-realisation as a most solemn promise to God and to ourselves, then God-realisation is an inevitable reality both for the seeker and for the Master.

So, we have to see if God-realisation is a matter of curiosity, a whim, a hope or a promise. If it is a promise, then it is absolutely inevitable, and it is the real fulfilment of life.

Concentration

When you concentrate, whether you are in your mind or in your heart or in your entire being, think of the whole world as smaller than the smallest. Just feel that the entire world is tinier than the tiniest. Then your mind will not act like a vagabond or a stray dog. If you take the world as something very vast, then your concentration can never, never be effective. But if you take the entire world as a tiny thing, absolutely as small as your fingertip, then your concentration will be most powerful.

For concentration, everything has to be smaller than the smallest. Otherwise, our eyes will be roaming from this side to that side and our concentration will go away. We will not be able to focus; we will not be able to penetrate the object of our concentration. If you are lifting weights, whether it is 90 pounds, 100 pounds, 120 pounds or 200 pounds, do not think of the size of the weight. Just take the whole object that you are lifting as absolutely smaller than the smallest. Whenever you concentrate on something, you have to feel that that particular thing is very, very tiny. On the strength of our imagination, we make the object of our concentration extremely small.

For meditation, it is just the opposite. We have to imagine something as large as possible. On the strength of our imagination, we meditate on something vast. Meditation is vastness, while concentration has to be focused on the tinier than the tiniest object to be successful.

Poise

Once you have God-realisation, at that time your highest and best quality is poise. When disturbing, discouraging and disheartening things happen, outwardly they do bother me, absolutely as if I were an ordinary person. As a matter of fact, I am more profoundly affected than anybody else, because I am one with the entire world, so I am fully responsible for what is happening. When anybody does anything wrong, on the strength of my oneness with that person, I may become very upset and angry; I may be full of anxiety and worries. But in the inner world, I am not at all affected. Worries and anxieties may be ruling the outer world but, for a God-realised person, poise is ruling the inner world.

Once we have oneness with God’s Divinity, whether that Divinity is manifested or yet unmanifested on earth, we shall definitely have boundless poise. We know that although today the creation is moving the wrong way, eventually it will move in the right direction. It is like a child playing football. This side and that side the child is running, but the mother knows that, after playing for a few hours, the child will come back home.

Poise is the real home of a spiritual Master. Outwardly he experiences the anxieties and worries of the whole world because of his identification with the world. Then again, he knows that he has a home where there is perfect peace, infinite peace, and that home is his poise.

Experience

Some people have countless experiences before they realise God. Again, others have very, very few — perhaps twenty or thirty experiences. In one way, people who get hundreds of experiences can be proud of their experiences. But God decides who will have hundreds of experiences before God-realisation, and who will get only ten or twelve experiences. In both cases it entirely depends on God’s Will. We cannot say that the one who had few experiences had the shortest road. No! The road is the same, but God did not want one individual to have to eat so much on the way. During a 26-mile marathon, some people drink perhaps four or five times, but poor me! God alone knows, countless times I drink! Yet the destination is the same. Some drink after each mile, while others drink every five or six miles. We are drinking water at various stations, but our destination is the same. When you get many experiences, it is like drinking water at every water station.

Everything depends on God’s Will for the seeker. God knows who needs more experiences and who needs fewer experiences to arrive at the goal. The only important thing is that, if you have a very high experience, you should always keep that experience in mind. When your consciousness descends, when you are suffering from physical, vital, mental, emotional and other kinds of problems, at that time think of your highest experience. That particular experience will be your saviour.

Swami Vivekananda received so many higher than the highest experiences before he realised God. At times, he forgot his experiences, but when he remembered them, he used to imagine, imagine, imagine that on such and such a day at the foot of a particular tree he had the highest experience. Then, on the strength of his imagination, he used to get back that highest experience. Staying in the same place for a few hours, he would make his imagination as real as the experience itself. First he forgot the experience that he had had ten years earlier. Then he remembered the experience, but he wanted to go back to his previous height to achieve the experience once again, and he definitely went there. First he climbed up to a certain height. Then he stayed there, at that particular height. There he made his experience absolutely as real as it had been five or ten years before.

At times you may be doomed to disappointment. Let us say that everything is going wrong. Your consciousness has absolutely touched the abysmal abyss. Just remember that five or ten years ago you had the highest experience. Now use all your imagination to go back to the height of that experience. Then make the experience as living, as real, as possible. Your imagination is not false! Swami Vivekananda did that very thing. Just go to your highest height of ten or fifteen years ago and imagine one particular experience. You do not need ten experiences; take one experience as your highest. Then, when your consciousness is at the lowest point, you will be able to go back to your highest. You can say to yourself, “I was there,” and then you can return to that height.

Like that, imagine, and then go up, up, up to reach your highest. I always say that imagination has a reality of its own. It has its own world. It is not a false experience; it is real. You need a ladder to climb up, and that ladder is your imagination. When you first climbed to that height, you needed a ladder. That ladder you have thrown away, but you can bring back another ladder, which is imagination. Then you can go up once again.

Oneness

Oneness has to become fulness. Oneness has to become complete and perfect, and that perfection comes only from expansion, expansion, expansion. The imagination of the mind will try to get joy by saying, “I am one with the whole world.” But the mind’s oneness is all theoretical. The heart will say, “Am I one with my own body, first of all? Have I established my oneness with my big toe, with my defective knee, with my back pain?” I have to know if my oneness with my whole body is perfect. If any part of my body is dislocated or defective, have I established my oneness with that part?

Many times, if something is bothering us, we do not establish our oneness with that thing. We establish our oneness only with goodness. It is so easy for me to appreciate my biceps and triceps. When I look at some other part of my body, I do not get that same joy. But I must also get joy from the places where I am weak. If I see a very strong person, I get joy. Again, if I notice somebody who is weaker than the weakest, I may not get joy. But oneness has to be universal, because God created both the strong man and the weak man. I have to be one with the strength of the strongest man, and again, I have to be one with the man who is weaker than the weakest.

Oneness has to spread. We have to have oneness with the little flower and with the big tree. As soon as we see a flower or fruit, it is so easy for us to have the feeling of oneness, but we may totally ignore the huge tree. We look at the flower or fruit and we are satisfied; we do not pay any attention to the tree. But who produced this little flower and fruit? It was the tree. Again, who produced the tree? It was God Himself. Some human beings have achieved so many things. But who created those human beings? Again, it was God. By expanding our feeling of oneness with the creation, we can reach God.

Discipline

If there is anything in us that is going to make God truly happy and truly proud of us, then it is our discipline. In our daily life-activities if we have discipline, then we are bound to get a most powerful Smile from God. If we are disciplined during the entire day, then in the evening when we meditate and imagine God, we will feel and see God’s brightest and most powerful Smile. A life of discipline God takes as our greatest achievement.

Grace

If we want to see the Beauty of God’s Face, the Divinity of God’s Face, the Immortality of God’s Face, if we want to see God’s Face in His own universe, then we shall have to entirely depend on God’s Grace. Our capacity comes only from God’s Grace.

We separate our capacity from God’s Grace. We say, “I practise; that is why I am able to lift heavy weights.” But God will say, “Who gave you that readiness, willingness and eagerness to get up early in the morning and lift weights?”

God’s Grace always comes first. God’s Grace is inside everything, but we do not believe it. When we achieve something on the physical plane, we give credit to our own physical activities. But who gave us the inspiration, who gave us the readiness, willingness and eagerness to achieve that thing? It was God who gave us His Grace.

God’s Grace is always responsible for our success, for our progress, for our perfection and for our satisfaction.

Surrender

You do not know where God is. You do not know who God is. You do not know where your soul is or what it looks like. You do not even know what your heart is. But you can imagine the spiritual heart, and you can surrender to the heart. You can surrender to something tinier than the tiniest.

Let us say that your youngest brother is very, very cute, extremely cute. Whatever he is doing, you are enjoying. While he is playing with sand or pebbles or marbles, you are getting joy because you have surrendered to him. You are so strong, and his strength is nothing in comparison. But your whole life you are surrendering to this little child, because he is giving you boundless joy. You are getting such joy while he is throwing, playing and moving around.

Now, God you do not know. Your soul you do not know, and your heart you do not know, but you have to feel that inside your heart there is something or someone very cute. You can allow yourself to surrender even to the whims, let us say, of the little child who is always playing, playing, playing inside your heart. If you can surrender all your will to this little child, you will get tremendous joy.

It is very easy to surrender when you love someone. Even on the ordinary vital plane, how many sacrifices a boyfriend and girlfriend will make for each other! But in your case, you are surrendering to something sweet, something divine, something immortal. By surrendering to something sweet, something divine, something immortal, what are you losing?

Always the mind thinks that it knows better. The human mind will never say that somebody else can be better. The human mind will always say, “I am the best.” But that mind has to say, “No, there is something sweeter, something more beautiful, something more perfect than I am, and that is the heart.” Always think of yourself as the heart. Do not think of your mind. If you feel, “I am the heart,” there is nothing wrong in it. Let people think you are crazy. If you say to yourself, “I am the heart, I am the heart, I am the heart,” all the divine qualities of your heart will come forward.

In India they say, Brahmosmi — “I am the Brahman, I am Lord Shiva.” Yes, we may be full of imperfections, but we can say, “I am Lord Shiva, I am Lord Shiva,” when we do japa. We can repeat that mantra. In your case you can repeat, “Surrender, surrender, surrender, surrender, surrender, surrender.” Let this be your japa: “Unconditional surrender, surrender to my Guru, surrender to God, surrender to my soul.” If you do japa like this, easily the beauty, the fragrance, the capacity and the divinity of surrender you will be able to get. But always remember that surrender is in the heart, not in the mind. The mind never surrenders. Even if it surrenders for one day, for ten days it will revolt. Why do you need the mind when you have something else which is far superior? If you are identified with the heart, once the heart surrenders, it is very difficult to take that surrender away from the heart. So the best thing is always to remain in the heart and repeat the mantra: “Surrender, surrender, surrender.”

Self-giving

Each time you give yourself, you have to feel that you are becoming closer and closer and closer to God. Each time you perform an act of self-giving, you have to feel that you have come one step closer to God, without fail.

Optimism

Optimism keeps the seeker alive in God’s Heart. Something more: God also remains alive if there is optimism in the seeker’s heart. If there is optimism, there is hope. Optimism means the positive aspect of life. Optimism is always positive, positive, positive. If we have optimism, then God is alive inside our heart. And if God has optimism, which He has, then we are alive in God’s Heart. Optimism keeps both God and the seeker alive in each other’s hearts.

Forgiveness

If we want to make ourselves truly happy, perfectly happy, unimaginably happy, then we must develop the power of forgiveness. And this forgiveness not only shall we apply to people who have done wrong things to us, but also we shall have to apply most powerfully to ourselves. We have to forgive ourselves for all the bad things we have done. Otherwise, we will not be able to go forward — never, never!

If we do not forgive ourselves for what we did ten years ago, then what will happen? Our guilty conscience will be like ten dead elephants that we have to drag along with us. But if we want to have deer speed, then we shall not only forgive others, but we shall also forgive ourselves. In order to be truly happy, unimaginably happy, infinitely happy, we have to apply forgiveness both to the world around us and to ourselves. Otherwise, we will only carry with us countless dead elephants. Who can be happy when he is forced to carry hundreds of elephants?

Forgiveness is of utmost importance. Forgive the world around you, those who have done something wrong to you, and forgive yourself for what you have done, but with the view that you will not commit the same mistake again. Before, you committed the mistake of not identifying yourself with the whole world. That is why forgiving the world was such a difficult task. But forgiveness becomes easier than the easiest if we take the right attitude, which is that we have to go forward, we have to go forward, we have to go forward. We cannot allow the weight of dead elephants to make us fall behind all the time.

The quickest method to become happy is to forgive the world. Sooner than the soonest the miracle-power of forgiveness will give us happiness.

Inner connection

The outer connection comes and goes in the twinkling of an eye, but the inner connection does not go. Once we form an inner connection, we may say, “I have cut off all connection, inner and outer, with this person because I am so disgusted,” but it is not true. If you form a true, divine inner connection, it is not possible to snap that inner connection.

When the son does something very bad, the father or mother may say, “I have cut off all connection with him — inner and outer.” Yes, the outer connection the parents have cut off. They may stop giving the son his monthly allowance. But the inner connection it is not possible to cut off. If the inner connection was founded upon divine feelings when the child was born, then no matter how bad the child becomes, the inner connection cannot be cut off.

The outer connection is man-made, but the inner connection is God-made. This is the difference. A God-made connection is eternal. The man-made connection, the outer connection, we ourselves create. When we make an outer connection, we can break it and again we can rebuild it. It is like a house. We can build it and break it, build it and break it at our sweet will. But the inner connection is not like that. The inner, divine connection remains forever. The inner connection can become better. It can be improved. It can be made pure. It can be made more illumining. But the inner connection cannot be snapped if it is based on divinity.

The outer connection comes and goes, comes and goes. It is all based on opportunity. We are opportunists. We keep our outer connection when we get something from someone. Then we snap the connection when we do not get what we want. I have had that experience millions of times. I cannot tell you how many friends have become enemies in this lifetime! When they see that they are not going to get anything more from me, or that I will not be able to fulfil them any more in a significant way, they not only cut off their connection with me, but they practically become my enemies. What am I going to do? That is the outer connection. But because of our inner connection, if anything goes wrong with them, I will still feel as miserable as I would have felt before. I will be as miserable as they are, or even more so. Because of my oneness with God, every experience is either more painful or more cheerful for me than it is for them.

Again, there may be a connection which is totally outer, but we call it an inner connection. Sometimes, after two or three months, friends will feel that they have developed such an inner connection. In that case, the outer connection is only fooling them. It is not an inner connection. When something happens to your friend, if it is an outer connection, you will only pay lip-service to your friendship. But if it is an inner connection, early in the morning you will get up to pray for him, at noon you will pray, and in the evening also you will pray. Your inner connection will make you feel as if your own life is in danger and you are going to die. With this feeling you are praying. When you have an inner connection, you will see how deep your feeling is. With the outer connection you only make one phone call and say, “Please tell me what you need. I am all ready to be of service to you.” But with the inner connection, because of your complete oneness with the sufferer, his suffering will be in the forefront of your consciousness twenty-four hours a day.

Love

If there is true love, then we will never see the world as imperfect. We say that this world is imperfect, we see it as imperfect, we feel it as imperfect, we know it as imperfect because we are not expanding ourselves. The more we can expand ourselves, the deeper will be our love. When there is love, there is no imperfection.

God loves us; therefore, He never sees us as imperfect. We do not love the world. We do not even love ourselves. How many times we hate ourselves when we look in the mirror early in the morning and see that our face is so undivine! How many times we hate ourselves when we look at our big stomach, when we look at our ugly face, when we look at our puny biceps and triceps. We look at our weaknesses, and then we see how much we hate ourselves!

But if we see with God’s Eye, it is not like that. If God is our All, and if He sees His creation as perfect, we are also bound to see His creation as perfect. When God uses His Love-Power, He sees that His creation is perfect. We also have to use love-power. Then the world becomes perfect.

A child may be born half-blind or deaf, but if you ask the mother, she will say, “My son is perfect!” The mind will say that he cannot see and he cannot hear, but the mother’s love is spreading and percolating throughout the length and breadth of the child’s existence, from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. That is why the mother proclaims, “My son is perfect!” The mother is not using her mind to see whether her child is deaf or blind. The mother feels that her son is perfect because she is claiming him as her own, very own. Similarly, God is also claiming us as His own, very own.

This world is God’s creation. If we use our divine love, then the whole world is perfect. If we see something perfect, are we worried? Do we become agitated? No! Our love-power has to spread everywhere. The way God sees us as perfect beings, we also have to see the world as perfect. We will say, “He is at that stage, and at that stage he is perfect. I am at another stage, and here I am perfect.” But to say that where we are is perfect and where others are is imperfect, that only our body is perfect, only our soul is perfect — no, that we cannot do. God has made everyone in His own image. Wherever we are at this point is perfect for God. If I am here, I am perfect for God here. Others are perfect where they are.

In a game where eleven players are playing, each one is taking a particular place. To say that only the goalkeeper or the centre forward is perfect is absurd. If each one stays in his place and plays his role, he is perfect. If I stay in my place, I am perfect. Where you are staying, you are perfect.

In a play, there may be a king and a servant. The king should play the king’s role well, and the servant should play his own role well. Each one we have to take as a representative of God. Each representative we have to see with love, love, love, love. The king is playing his proper role, and God sees perfection in the king. Again, God has made somebody else the king’s subject, and in that role he is perfect. God has made still another person the minister, and as the minister he is perfect.

If God the Creator feels that God the creation is perfect, we also have to take the creation as perfect. If we use our mind, we say that somebody is superior and somebody is inferior. As long as there is superiority and inferiority, there will be no love. Divine love is all-spreading. Divine love will make us feel that God is manifesting Himself in and through everyone. In your case He has attained a certain state, and in the case of somebody else He has attained another state. God is happy with what He has, and He has given to each individual His own Happiness. Because of His Love, He is happy. Our love also has to be like that. Because of our love, we can be happy with each human being.

Rainbow-light

A rainbow has seven colours. The seven colours are representative of the seven higher worlds. A rainbow signifies the happiness of the entire being. When we see a rainbow, immediately each part of our being gets joy. Even the muscles and the bones get joy, although we are not spiritually conscious of our muscles and bones. A rainbow is something that gives joy to each individual, right from the little boy to the octogenarian. Why? Because we all have an inner cry for the higher worlds. Some are conscious of this inner cry, while some are not. When we see a rainbow, immediately something within us, whether we are conscious of it or not, reminds us of the higher worlds and our own higher existence. A rainbow immediately takes us to the higher worlds. If we are conscious, we go consciously into the higher worlds.

The inner rainbow-beauty is reflected here on earth only in an infinitesimal way. The rainbow-beauty that we see with our human eyes is nothing in comparison to the beauty of the inner worlds. But again, from the finite we go to the Infinite. If we get a little joy from a tiny thing, then we can imagine how much more joy we will get from something that is larger than the largest.

A rainbow means happiness. The outer rainbow gives us happiness in a very small measure. But happiness we will get in infinite measure if we can enter into the higher worlds. A rainbow brings the beauty of the inner worlds to the outer world for us to appreciate, admire and adore.

God-manifestation

Some people say that they must realise God first, and only then manifest God. But I say that God-aspiration, God-realisation and God-manifestation must go together. Let us concentrate on God-realisation and God-manifestation. In God-realisation there is God-aspiration. In God-manifestation there is also God-aspiration. God-realisation and God-manifestation are two hands. With one hand, how much can we lift? With one leg, can we walk? We can only hop. The two legs must go together. Similarly, God-realisation and God-manifestation must go together, the way God-aspiration and God-dedication must go together.

We need two arms. One is God-realisation and one is God-manifestation. Again, one is God-aspiration and one is God-dedication. We must have eagerness in both aspiration and dedication, in both realisation and manifestation. This moment I go to God, and I make myself happy. Again, I feel that God is also happy. But God says, “You have seen Me, and by seeing Me you have immediately made yourself happy. But you can make Me happy only if you serve somebody else. You are thinking of that person as somebody else — but like you, that person is also My creation. He is also My manifestation.”

The mind is telling me that that person is somebody else, but he is only an extension of God. God-realisation and God-manifestation are also only extensions of God. They are like two sides of the same coin. This side is God-realisation, and that side is God-manifestation. They have to go together. We cannot separate them.

The theory of first realising God and then manifesting God is absurd! That is an old theory. If I want to make myself happy, I want to realise God. But again, if I want to make God really happy, then I have to manifest Him. God is saying, “Go here, go there and spread My Light.” In that way, God-realisation and God-manifestation have to go together.

Newness

Newness is of supreme importance. Every time we invoke newness, newness gives us hope. Newness gives us promise. Again, newness brings us the message of fulness. Anything that is old is not complete. Anything that is new is full of hope. In newness there is the hope and the promise that we will be complete. Oldness can never embody the complete reality. It is the ever-transcending newness that will carry the message of completion.

Every day, think of yourself as a new flower. In the morning you can think of yourself as a bud. Then at noon, feel that this bud is blossoming. Finally, in the evening, you can think of yourself as a fully blossomed lotus. It all started with newness. When the flower was a little bud, it was new. While it is blossoming, it is again new. Then in the evening, when it is fully blossomed, again it is new. In the morning, the newness of the flower is just tiny. At noon it becomes a little bigger. In the evening it becomes the largest. This is the life of eternal newness.

Newness always carries hope. Newness always carries promise. What we need in life is hope and promise, hope and promise. Newness always carries the message of hope, the message of promise and the message of fulfilment, divine fulfilment.

Balance

There are two realities: one is happiness and the other is unhappiness. Happiness lifts us up to the skies. Unhappiness makes us infinitely more miserable than we can bear to be. But if we take God as our only Reality, then we can maintain our balance. We will see that at one point He is simply approving of something, and at another point He is eager for something to happen, because it is the manifestation of Divinity.

If we look at the negative side of life, we see unhappiness, sorrows, anxieties, fear, doubt and so on. If we look at the positive side, we see faith, love, joy, readiness, willingness, eagerness and so many other divine qualities. Now, we want to balance our life in such a way that the negative forces will not be able to conquer the positive forces. Balance means that ultimately, nothing destructive will happen, that God is always there to bring the whole world to perfection — in His own Way, at His own Time.

Balance comes from inner poise. If we do not have inner poise, there can be no balance in the outer life. But if we have inner poise, we can take the suffering, the negative side of life, as part of God’s creation. God is also inside that negative aspect, and God will work inside the negative aspect of life in His own Way. If God asks us to enter into the negative, destructive aspect, we shall do so — not with fear, but with enthusiasm and eagerness.

We human beings want to have balance in our life only to have happiness. But our idea of happiness is no happiness. We feel that happiness itself will make everything balanced. No, happiness does not do that. Our way of happiness will never make our life balanced. It is only God’s Way that will give us balance. Otherwise, at every moment one side of the scale — either happiness or unhappiness — will carry more weight. Only by entering into God’s Heart and becoming one with God can we have a balanced mind and a balanced life. Otherwise, it is not possible. We have to see that at every moment God is keeping His own Heart-Door open. His Heart-Door is open to you, open to me, open to everybody. But if we want to enter into God’s Heart, then we shall pray for His Happiness in His own Way.

Balance in the mind, balance in the heart, balance in life itself is of utmost importance. If we have balance in our inner life, we shall never be shattered by what happens in the outer life or in the inner life. At every moment confidence will come to the fore in us. On the strength of our confidence, we will be able to say: “I am of God and God is of me. And I am not only with God, but I am also for God.”

To all my disciples — those who are around me and those all over the world who have accepted me — I wish to say that their balance is achieved the moment they can say, “I am for Guru,” not “I am with Guru.” Many people are in my physical presence right now. How many can sincerely say, “I am for Guru”? You will get balance not just by being with me or around me in the physical, here in New York or in America. Balance you will get only if you are for me.

The other day during one of our play performances, one disciple was saying about his Master, “I will not only die with him, but I will die for him.” If one has that kind of feeling, then his balance will be perfect. It is not enough to say, “I am with him; I am singing and dancing and even crying with him.” No! The disciple has to be able to say, “I shall cry for him; I shall die for him; I shall manifest him.”

If I know that my Master is omnipresent, I can realise his omnipotent, omnipresent reality only by diving into him, by crying for him, by giving myself to him. When I give myself, I feel that I am a tiny drop and he is the vast ocean. Only for him I am offering myself. When I enter into him, I become the ocean itself.

Yesterday, a crazy fellow tried to enter our Aspiration-Ground. Everyone was with me, as always. But again, who was for me? When two boys ran to protect me, they proved that they were for me. So many people were there with me. If those two guards had not been attentive, if they had been meditating with their eyes closed or sleeping, could they have run to protect me at that time? If something unimaginable had happened, if any disciple had been attacked, would I myself not have been attacked? Those two boys proved that they were for me. In your mind you may be with me, but you may be just enjoying yourself, with your eyes closed. When something dangerous happens, are you for me?

So, balance means that not only am I with my Master, but I am for him, I am for him, I am for him. Then my life is always in perfect balance.

Transformation

Transformation we need in three areas: transformation of the mind, transformation of nature, transformation of life. Let us start with the mind. There are many subjects that are difficult, but transformation of the mind is the most difficult subject.

In order to transform the mind, we have to bring light into the mind from the heart. We have to take the mind as a jungle, nothing else. We have to clear the mind, and to clear the mind we need light from the heart. Mind-transformation can never become a reality unless we bring light into the mind.

Then comes transformation of our nature. Nature does not mean trees and other living things; it means the way we formulate thoughts and ideas, the way we look at anything that is coming into our view. Every time we take one step, a wrong thought may come to the fore, a wrong feeling may come to the fore. Thinking, feeling, becoming: this is our nature. In our thinking, feeling and becoming, we have to establish purity. While any thought is coming to our mind, let us repeat the word ‘purity’. While any feeling is coming to our heart, let us repeat ‘purity’. While any incident is taking place in our life, if we repeat, “Purity, purity, purity,” then our nature will be transformed.

Then comes transformation of life. Life-transformation comes only from identification, from the feeling of oneness. Human life can never be transformed unless we can feel that the One has become many; and again, inside the many we have to feel the One.

Life-transformation is not like the transformation of the body. Today I may be physically strong, vitally strong or mentally strong, and tomorrow I may become stronger, but that is not transformation. Transformation means expansion, universal expansion. For the transformation of nature, purity is needed. But for the transformation of life, the individual life has to become not only collective, but universal.

Again, we have to feel both dependence and interdependence. When we are concentrating on God, we have to think that we are entirely depending on God. Then our transformation will come about. But when we are dealing with human beings, or with earth itself, then we have to think of interdependence: I depend on you, you depend on me. Again, God is so kind that He says He depends on us, which we cannot believe. Although God created me, God does not have to depend on me. He can kick me out at His sweet Will. But He gives me importance. He tells me, “You are indispensable, you are great,” and so on — only to give me joy. God Himself is always independent; He has the last word. But He gets joy by saying, “O My child, you are also great, equally great!”

If we have the humble feeling of dependence on God, if we can sincerely say, “I depend on God for everything — for my inner life and outer life,” then we get joy. But when we deal with other human beings, we need the feeling of interdependence. This is the way life’s transformation can take place. I depend on your good qualities, and you depend on my good qualities. While depending on others’ good qualities, I as an individual am becoming many. So, transformation of life is expansion of one’s heart and of one’s life-breath.

Contemplation

There are three steps: concentration, meditation and contemplation. Concentration is the first step. Meditation is the second step. Contemplation is the last step. During meditation, I am a God-lover. But when contemplation comes into the picture, at that time God is both the Lover and the Beloved.

When we come to the level of contemplation, God tells us, “Now I want to play this game in a very specific way. This moment I want you to play the role of a God-lover. You are My lover and I am your Beloved. The next moment I want us to change our respective roles. You will be My beloved, and I will be the Lover.” Contemplation is at a very high level — higher than the highest. How many people can contemplate? It is difficult to concentrate and to meditate. But contemplation is a very high state of the spiritual life, a very, very high state.

Contemplation is like playing a game. In ping-pong or tennis, at times you serve from one side, and at times you serve from the other side. You are constantly changing sides. If you change sides in an ordinary game, your name remains the same. In contemplation, you may also think that even if you go to the other side, you will keep your identity and God will remain God. But God says, “No! When you come to this side, at that time immediately you have to say that you are God, and I am you.” Like that, on one side you are putting on the clothes of a slave, and on the other side you are putting on a king’s dress. Again, it is like the Master and the disciple. If you come to one side, you are the Master. If you go to the other side, you are the disciple.

Contemplation is the experience of the lover and the Beloved, on the strength of their oneness. This moment we see God as God, in His highest Divinity, and we worship God. But then God says, “You have realised Me. You have realised the Highest. Now allow Me to worship you as the Highest.” It is a divine game. In contemplation, the lover also plays the role of the Beloved. At that time God says, “Now I am putting you on the Throne.” First, God is sitting on the Throne, and the lover is getting joy by seeing God on the Throne. Then God says, “I am on the Throne, and you are getting so much joy because you have seen Me, your King. Now I want to get joy. I want you to sit on the royal Throne. I want to worship you!”

Contemplation is when the lover becomes the Beloved and the Beloved becomes the lover. At that time God the human and God the Divine become one. Man and God — man, who is tomorrow’s God, and God the Eternal — are playing the same game.

When we are in contemplation, at that time it is a hide-and-seek game. I am searching for God, and God also plays the game by searching for me. When I see God and I catch Him, I get such joy. And when God searches for me and catches me, He also gets tremendous joy. That is contemplation.

Receptivity

I was born in a tiny village, smaller than the smallest. Even this area, Briarwood, is larger than my village. It was divided into three parts: East Shakpura, West Shakpura and Middle Shakpura. I do not even know where the middle part started and where it ended, because it was so small. Perhaps it was not even two blocks! East and West somehow I could distinguish, but the middle I could not. At that time the limit of my receptivity was my East Shakpura. Such a small village! Beyond that I could not identify myself with anything else, believe me.

First my receptivity was confined to my little home. My home was enough for me. I could not think of anybody beyond my home. Then my receptivity expanded when I got joy by saying that something was happening in my village, East Shakpura. At that time I was identifying myself with East Shakpura, where I was born. Then I began identifying myself with West and Middle Shakpura. Then my receptivity expanded to include not only my village, but my aunt’s village and other places. After some time I was getting joy if something was happening in different places around me.

I started my receptivity with my house. First I got joy only if something was happening in my room or in my house. If anything good was happening, I was getting joy. If anything bad was taking place, I was crying. Then I got joy if something was happening in East Shakpura. Gradually I got joy when something was happening all around my village. Then I came to know that I was born in East Bengal. When the word ‘Bengal’ was uttered, I got such joy! Then I started identifying myself with India. The more I expanded myself, the more joy I received.

My receptivity is my oneness with both the suffering and the happiness of the world. Gradually, gradually, gradually my receptivity increased. Now, if anything good happens in the entire world, I get so much joy because I have spread my wings. Again, if anything bad happens in the world, it definitely affects me.

The expansion of oneness immediately creates receptivity. Now I am able to receive everything inside myself, not only the happenings of my own family or of my little village, but of the entire world. Because I have become one with the whole world, good happenings everywhere are giving me joy, and bad happenings are making my life miserable.

If I can accept both the suffering and the happiness of the world, then I feel that I am really meant for God and I am able to do something for God. Otherwise, if I welcome only good news and do not pay any attention to the bad things that are happening, then where is my oneness? Just recently, so many people were killed in a hurricane. When I see how people have been suffering, I feel miserable, absolutely miserable. Again, when something nice is happening, I am so happy.

Receptivity increases only through expansion. By expanding ourselves more and more, by claiming an ever larger part of God’s reality, we increase our receptivity. From our home, we can expand to claim the entire world. Receptivity comes only from becoming one with the large, larger, largest reality of the existence of God on earth.

Part II

RF 118-128. On 6 September 1999, Sri Chinmoy invited disciples who had been on his path for under two years to offer him a spiritual word, on which he then elaborated.

Surrender

There are many roads that lead to God-realisation, but the surrender-road is the shortest and, at the same time, the safest.

Love

When we love God without any expectation, we become not only God’s Heart, but also His universal Breath.

Purity

Human life is full of complexity. But when we have purity, we simplify our life. When our life is simplified, God multiplies His own Divinity — His Eternity, Infinity and Immortality — inside us. Purity is of supreme importance, not only in our heart, but also in our mind, vital and body. With purity, we get the assurance from God that we shall succeed in the battlefield of life.

Humility

When we have true humility, not false humility, God blesses us with a new name: luminosity. When we have luminosity as our true name, God blesses us with His Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. Humility is the secret key to open up God’s Heart-Door.

Devotion

Devotion is the magnetic power within us. When we have true devotion, like a magnet we pull our Lord Beloved Supreme into our aspiration-heart. Devotion is the sacred way of recognising our Lord Beloved Supreme.

Truth

Truth is the capacity of a human being to claim God as his very own. Love is the divine capacity which God uses to claim humanity as His very own.

Gratitude

The more we can develop gratitude in the depths of our heart, the sooner we shall not only feel the Presence of God inside our heart, but also grow into the very image of God.

Peace

There are numerous ways to please God. But when we can offer God a peaceful mind, God Himself declares our supreme victory over ignorance, over the divided world and the dividing world.

Dedication

With our aspiration we go up high, higher, highest to realise God. With our dedication we go far, farther, farthest throughout the length and breadth of the world to distribute what God has and what God is. What God has is Concern, and what God is, is Compassion.

Unconditional

The life of desire is conditional. The life of aspiration is unconditional. ‘Unconditional’ is not a mere dictionary word. ‘Unconditional’ is a state of consciousness. When we are unconditional, we feel there is only one Reality that is always ready to give us joy in a divine, supreme way, and that Reality is God’s Compassion-Tears and God’s Forgiveness-Smile.

We can never become unconditional in any way unless we become one with God’s blessingful, unconditional Self-Offering to humanity. We have to become one with God sleeplessly, breathlessly, birthlessly and deathlessly. Then only can we grow into unconditional love, unconditional devotion and unconditional surrender to our Lord Beloved Supreme.

Sincerity

Sincerity is always available in the heart. Sincerity is quite often absent from the mind, the vital and the physical existence.

With simplicity we can go right up to God’s Door. But God will open His Door only if He sees sincerity in our mind, in our vital and in our physical existence.

Sincerity needs cheerfulness. Sincerity needs intensity. Sincerity needs soulfulness. Sincerity needs bliss at every moment. Then only can it act faster than the fastest.