Question: What is the relationship between God and man?

Sri Chinmoy: God has a living Breath and the name of that Breath is man. Man has a living Goal and the name of the Goal is God. In God is man’s satisfaction, achievement and fulfilment. Through man is God’s Satisfaction, Achievement and Fulfilment. God needs man just as man needs God. God needs man to manifest Himself totally on earth. Man needs God to realise the Highest. We are His limbs: He is our body.

Question: How can I best utilise the physical earthbound time that I am living in?

Sri Chinmoy: There are two kinds of time. One is earthbound time and the other is eternal Time. The earthbound time is what we have created, but eternal Time cannot be created. It is within us and without us. When we live in eternal Time, we cannot separate one second from another second. When we live in earthbound time, we know that it is one o’clock and then it is one minute past one. They are two separate minutes. But in eternal Time, we cannot separate the minutes or hours. In eternal Time one o’clock, two o’clock, three and four o’clock are all together. This is the difference between eternal Time and earthbound time. We can see the present, past and future perfectly housed in eternal Time, and this eternal Time we can easily possess when we are Self-realised.

Time for us right now means earthbound time, limited time. Time and life came into existence together and were very close to one another. But unfortunately, when life started playing its role on earth, it became short-lived; and time, being a friend of life, also became short-lived. They are both short-lived, but they know that their Source is eternal Life and eternal Time.

Let us take an ordinary second. This second you can use either for meditation or for gossip. This second you can use either for prayer or to cherish impure and undivine thoughts. When you consciously use time to do something divine, you are entering into divine Time which means timeless Time. When you are consciously thinking of something divine, immediately eternal Life comes and shakes hands with you. Each moment you want to go upward through aspiration, the eternal Time also becomes your friend.

If you pray and meditate, if you play your part in the spiritual life, then even if realisation still remains a far cry, you should not be impatient or worried. At that time, you have to know that God’s Hour has not yet struck. You have played your part, or rather, God has played His Part in and through you, but the hour of realisation has not yet struck.

Question: Sometimes I think that people in the past were much more advanced than we are today.

Sri Chinmoy: The world is in the process of evolution, so the present state is the most evolved. Then, after a few centuries, the world will be more evolved. Four thousand or five thousand years ago our ancestors might have done a few extraordinary things. But when it is a matter of general achievement or evolution, we are much more developed. Five thousand years ago, our forefathers made the sacrifices we read about in the Mahabharata, but the vision of the general masses was not as broad as it is now. What is worse, in those days they did not involve themselves with morality. Now we have the power to destroy; we have the atom bomb, the hydrogen bomb. At the same time, we have the United Nations for peace. We are making progress on both sides of the coin with both constructive and destructive inventions and developments, but we are trying.

You have to know that we don’t go backwards. In spiritual evolution, I am evolving, you are evolving, everybody is evolving. In the process of evolution we are all proceeding towards the Divine, towards the Ultimate. But this evolution is not like a straight line. Its movement goes in a spiral. So we may think that we are not making any progress, but we are.

Question: How does the end result differ when we please God in His own way and when we please Him in our way?

Sri Chinmoy: If you want to please someone in his own way, he will give you much more for your efforts than if you want to please him in your own way. If you please someone according to your capacity, then he will reward you according to your receptivity. But when you please God in His own way, He will actually give you the receptivity to receive His Light, Peace, Bliss — everything. At that time He will say, “Take Me, I am yours.” However, if you please Him in your own way, then He will please you according to your aspiration, according to the capacity or willingness that you have offered to Him. So there is a great difference between pleasing God in His own Way and pleasing Him in your own way.

Question: I know that the mantra Aum is supposed to be very powerful. Please tell me the proper way to chant Aum.

Sri Chinmoy: It is better to repeat Aum aloud, not silently. I tell my disciples that the sound should not come from the throat; it should come directly from the heart. The ‘m’ sound should last three times as long as the ‘au’ sound, and you should feel it vibrating inside your heart. Again, let the mantra vibrate all over your body; let the sound permeate your body.

Question: Just now when I began chanting Aum, all of a sudden I felt fear at the pit of my stomach.

Sri Chinmoy: At that moment fear entered into your physical and then into your stomach. Now, you have to know that Aum is the name of God. When you chant Aum, please try to feel that you are actually breathing in the Breath of the Supreme, the Infinite. But when you breathe in and chant Aum, it should not be done mechanically; at that time you should not feel that you are doing two different things. While you are breathing in and chanting Aum, the name and form should be coming inside you together. Then there will be no fear; it will be all joy and oneness.

Question: I feel that I have fear, doubt and jealousy throughout my entire being. Is this true?

Sri Chinmoy: In your case, you have impurity in your entire being, in your entire life. But if you can overcome fear, doubt and jealousy, then you won’t have to go to purity; purity will come and touch your feet. You may see that others are pulling the light and that the light is pulling others, so you may become jealous of their achievements. But if you want the light to fulfil you, then you must overcome your jealousy, doubt and fear. My constant blessing is there. However, if you cherish these undivine forces unconsciously, not to speak of consciously, then realisation will remain a far cry. If you really want to realise the highest Absolute, you have to know that you and everybody else are part and parcel of the same Truth. So how can you be jealous of anybody? God is omnipotent and He is in you, with you and for you. So how can you be afraid of anybody? And God is omnipresent; He is all-pervading, within you and around you. So how can you cherish doubt, even unconsciously?

Question: What do you mean by the term 'Immortality'?

Sri Chinmoy: Real Immortality is consciousness. Consciousness does not die. When we speak of Immortality, we have to feel that it is the Immortality of consciousness that we are speaking of. This consciousness, which we think of as already immortal, will be enlarged and brought forward only with the transformation of our human nature. Now we are living in an unconscious world, but a day will come when we will all be conscious, divinised and transformed. Immortality means that which will last forever, and what lasts is our consciousness, our aspiring consciousness.

Question: What happens to our physical existence once we achieve Immortality? Do we merge with Brahman, or does our physical existence still stay on this earth?

Sri Chinmoy: After achieving realisation, many people stay on earth. Many spiritual Masters — Sri Krishna, Lord Buddha, Sri Ramakrishna and others — worked for humanity. The Game does not stop after realisation.

Those who attain the highest Truth, Peace, Light and Bliss act from deep within. They act far better than ordinary human beings. A spiritual Master works from deep within and his consciousness is spread all over the world; whereas the ordinary human consciousness is bound to just the members of the family and dear ones.

Question: Is there a certain point at which we can say that we have reached the highest Consciousness and that there is nothing higher?

Sri Chinmoy: We use the term ‘transcendental Consciousness'; again, we speak of the ever-transcending transcendental Consciousness. The transcendental Consciousness, Turiya, is the highest, but this transcendental Consciousness is not static. It is also constantly transcending itself. God is infinite, eternal and immortal; but all spiritual Masters know that God is also ever-progressing. God Himself is in the process of evolution. He is making progress, constant progress, in and through everyone in order to establish perfect Perfection on earth.

Question: Are there different levels of infinite intelligence?

Sri Chinmoy: You use the term ‘intelligence’. But in the spiritual world we call it ‘consciousness’ or ‘intuition’. Intelligence can never be infinite. Intelligence comes from the brain; it is in the mind. Whatever is inside the brain, inside the mind, can never be infinite; whereas intuition can be infinite, consciousness can be infinite, and here we find different levels. Although intuition is infinite, there are layers upon layers or degrees of intuition. So when somebody says that he did something through intuition, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he was acting from the same level of intuition as somebody else.

Question: How does sex affect us?

Sri Chinmoy: In the spiritual life sex has to be gradually given up. If you want to realise God in this body, sex has no place. Now, you have to know that impure mental associations are as harmful as physical relationships. If the mind enjoys lower vital thoughts, then it is practically the same as having gross physical relations.

At the time of meditation, it is especially important not to indulge in any lower vital thoughts, sex thoughts. It will be infinitely more fatal than when the normal consciousness enjoys lower thoughts because, at the time of meditation, your whole power of concentration is extremely intense. If you think of Divinity, Peace, Light and Bliss, then like an arrow you are entering into God’s divine Kingdom. Similarly, if you think of lower vital things, you enter immediately, with the same intensity, into the lower vital. Then there you are caught.

Question: Why do people fight?

Sri Chinmoy: Here on earth you have to know that ignorance is playing its role. If you fight with someone, you do not feel that you are fighting with yourself. You feel that you are fighting with someone else. Why? Because you have lost your feeling of oneness. The moment you feel that he and you are one, only in two different bodies, or that he is part and parcel of your life, you will stop fighting.

The basic problem is our ignorance. Now, what can put an end to our ignorance? It is our conscious aspiration. The more we go up with our aspiration and become one with a higher light, the more we become conscious of our unity. Aspiration will make us feel that we and the rest of the world are one. Then we see that the field of manifestation is like one sea with millions of waves.

Question: Yoga says that God acts in and through man. If we can feel this truth and live this truth, will we be able to better understand the problems of the world?

Sri Chinmoy: If you can offer all your actions, good and bad, to God, then the problems that you are seeing all around you will no longer be problems. You will see that they are only experiences that the Inner Pilot is having in and through you. He is the Doer, He is the experiences and, at the same time, He is the Observer. The moment you can surrender the action and the fruit of your action, your part is over. Then you will see that the way you see the truth is not the way that God sees the truth. He sees the truth from a different angle, from a very high plane of Consciousness. When you become one with Him, you will see that each action has a purpose. Now, nothing seems to have a purpose; everything, everyone seems like a mad elephant trampling here and there. But a day will come when if you budge even an inch, you will understand the reason for it. Outwardly, we see that the Game is very painful; but when we are able to enter into the soul, we find that there is a purpose which only the soul can tell us. The heart is convinced that there is a purpose, but what the actual purpose is, only the soul can say.

Question: Do good and evil really exist?

Sri Chinmoy: From the highest spiritual point of view there is no such thing as evil. But in the field of manifestation, the experiences that we get in our day-to-day life can be described as good or evil. On earth there is good and evil, but in the highest and deepest world of the spirit, there is no such thing. Good and evil do exist for us when we are in ordinary earthbound consciousness. But when we go beyond duality, beyond knowledge and ignorance, beyond this so-called truth and falsehood, we also go beyond good and evil.

The ultimate Truth is beyond the mental conception. Good and evil are located in the front of the mind. When you go beyond the mind, at that time you see that this good and evil are not the ultimate Truth. What is good for me may be bad for somebody else. What is evil for one person may not be evil for somebody else. The poison of the snake is very bad for us, but for the snake it is not.

Again, from the philosophical point of view, what some people call evil or sin, we think of as ignorance — the constant play of Maya or illusion. He who is caught in this play is different from the liberated soul who is freed from this illusion of reality. It is by meditation that we can free ourselves from ignorance, from illusion, and transform our human nature into the divine nature.

Question: How important is patience in the spiritual life?

Sri Chinmoy: Patience is of paramount importance. We have to have infinite patience. We want to reach the Highest sooner than at once, but we cannot reach it by hook or by crook. We are crying for Infinity and Eternity, as a child cries for candy or milk. The eternal Child in us is crying, but we have to have infinite patience. Sri Ramakrishna used to cry every day to the Supreme Goddess Kali: “O Mother, come! Come and stand in front of me.” When the day had passed and the Mother had not come to him, he felt that the following day he would have to pray and meditate with more inner intensity.

On the one hand, we must try our hardest to see our Beloved Supreme right in front of us; on the other hand, we have to feel that we are in the process of eternal Time, and that we must have infinite patience. If we have infinite patience, then the finite earthbound time expands itself into the eternal Time, or the infinite Time enters into the finite time.

Question: Why is it that some of the great spiritual Masters and Avatars do not come back to earth?

Sri Chinmoy: One thing that bothers them is earth’s ungratefulness; but worse than that is earth’s non-acceptance. Ungratefulness they expect; this is the earth-consciousness. No matter what you do, people are ungrateful. But what happens is that today someone is ungrateful and then tomorrow also he will not accept the light. Each time light is offered, earth rejects it. So what is the Master going to do? But if someone shows gratitude, then his strength increases, his receptivity increases, his capacity increases.

Question: Is faith something that increases when we practise meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: If we pray or meditate we can increase our faith. Faith is like a muscle. If we take exercise, we develop our muscles. Inner faith also can be expanded. There are many who enter into the spiritual life out of curiosity. They have very little faith. But they go on, continue, continue. Then later on, they feel within themselves deeper faith, greater faith, more fulfilling faith. So, when one sticks to the spiritual path, one is bound to acquire more faith.

Question: Sometimes I feel that I have power, peace and love, and I was wondering if these qualities that I have are spiritual or just human qualities.

Sri Chinmoy: Right now you do have power, love and peace. But the power that you have is not pure power; it is vital power, aggressive power. You want to dominate others; you want to lord it over them. Then, if you want to show your love, you have to know that it is not pure love that you have. It is just the possessive human love, which is constant frustration, There is no real feeling of oneness in it. And if you want to offer peace to somebody, you have to know that this peace which you have is incomplete. Human peace is just a compromise; but that is no peace at all. Or sometimes when you are totally tired and exhausted, your mind makes you feel that you are peaceful. So you do have these qualities — power, love and peace — but not at the highest level. Power itself is not bad, peace, real peace, is not bad; love is not bad. But human power, human peace, human love — these are bad.

What you have to do is make a choice as to which one of these three you like best. Then, the quality that gives you the most joy you have to try to transform into its divine aspect. If power gives you joy, then try to enter into divine power. Concentrate and meditate on the omnipotent Power of God. You will see that when you get that omnipotent Power, you will not use it to destroy: you will only use it to love humanity, to kindle the flame of aspiration in humanity, to awaken humanity so that it can run towards the Goal. If peace gives you most joy, then try to concentrate on divine Peace; or if love gives you joy, try to enter into divine Love. In this way you will eventually reach your goal.

Question: What is the difference between hypnotism and Yoga?

Sri Chinmoy: I am not an authority on hypnotism. What I am qualified to talk about is spirituality and Yoga. In Yoga, when you are meditating, you are dealing with consciousness. But when you are hypnotised, you are not conscious. In Yoga you are aspiring; there is an inner mounting flame inside you that wants to climb high, higher, highest to reach the goal of realisation and perfection. In meditation, nobody is forcing you to realise the highest Truth. It is your inner cry that is compelling you to realise the Highest.

Question: Is it easier to get all the divine qualities by meditating in the heart instead of the mind?

Sri Chinmoy: When you meditate in the heart, you acquire the capacity to identify yourself with anything you want. But if you meditate in the mind, you don’t identify; you try to enter into something. Now, if you want to enter into somebody else’s house to get what that person has, either you have to have tremendous force and break down the door, or you have to constantly plead with the owner of the house to open the door. When you plead, you feel that you are a stranger and the owner of the house feels that you are a stranger. Then he might think, “Oh, a stranger wants to come into my house.” But if you use the heart, immediately the heart’s qualities of softness, sweetness, love and purity come to the fore, and then the owner of the house will immediately let you in. When the owner of the house sees that you are all heart, immediately his heart will become one with yours. He will feel your oneness with him and he will say, “All right, what do you want from my house? If you need peace, then take it. If you need light, then take it.”

If you enter into the house with your mind, you will see some delicious fruit and immediately try to grab it. Then, when you get it you are satisfied. But you will not have the capacity to eat all the fruit. But if you use the heart, immediately you will identify yourself with everything in the house and call all the fruit your very own. Again, if you use the mind, you will try to make a selection. You will say, “This piece of fruit is better, this one is worse.” But if you enter into the house with your heart, you will feel that everything there is yours and become one with all the fruit. The heart centre is the centre of becoming. First you identify with the Truth, and then, on the strength of your identification, you become the Truth.

Question: What is the relationship between science and spirituality?

Sri Chinmoy: Science is the expansion of the physical mind; spirituality deals with what is beyond the mind, with intuition. The domain of science is practicality. On the material plane science calls spirituality a dreamer and spirituality calls science a rascal. But on the highest plane spirituality and science are brothers. Spirituality says to science, “Brother, I need you. You are God’s Body; God is your body. You are God the Body.” And science says to spirituality, “You are God’s Soul; God is your soul. You are God the Soul.” The body needs the soul for realisation and the soul needs the body for manifestation.

Question: What is peace and how can it be achieved?

Sri Chinmoy: Peace is something spontaneous; it is something that unites us. Peace is something that we have to spread. But unless and until we have peace deep within us, we can never hope to have peace in the outer world. There are two wars: the inner and the outer. The inner war is the war that our inner being or our soul fights against limitations, ignorance, doubt and death. The outer war is the war that man fights against man, that nation fights against nation. These outer wars will come to an end only if the inner war stops first; that is to say, when in the inner world the inner being or soul conquers ignorance, fear, doubt and death. Then in the outer world there will be no necessity to wage war. We fight because deep inside us there is disharmony, there is fear, there is anxiety and worry. When deep inside us there is peace, joy, plenitude and fulfilment, we shall not wage war. Both the inner war and the outer war are bound to end in the process of human evolution.

Question: Who creates H-bombs, God or man?

Sri Chinmoy: We create H-bombs with our ignorance and with the limited freedom that God has given to us. God does not create everything for us; we have received a little freedom from Him. He has given us the freedom to come here and meditate, or to stay home and sleep. But we are using our freedom for a divine purpose, to meditate.

Right now we are not inseparably one with God’s Will. We usually do not know what God’s Will is and, on the very rare occasions when we do know, we may still not act according to His Will. This is what has happened with the H-bomb.

Question: When I'm meditating I feel that my head is becoming heavy and numb.

Sri Chinmoy: What is actually happening is that you are not properly concentrating and meditating on the heart. If you concentrate on the top of the head, it will cause confusion and numbness. But if you concentrate on the heart, no matter how much power descends you will be able to hold it. At that time you will feel the loving presence of the Supreme in your heart, and no matter how much Light and Power you get from above, you will be perfectly able to hold it.

Question: How does one bring the Spirit into his everyday life?

Sri Chinmoy: Early in the morning when the day dawns, one has to feel that God comes first in his life. For a few minutes he has to invoke the Presence of God. The Presence of God is always inside us, but if one feels that God is somewhere else, in the highest Heaven, then that person has to invoke His Presence. Again, if one feels that God is already within him but He is so deep that the seeker is unable to feel His Presence, then that particular seeker must pray to God to come to the fore. So either he has to bring God into his living consciousness through invocation or he has to bring God’s Presence to the fore.

Then, when he feels God’s Presence during his meditation, when he feels God’s infinite Power and infinite Light, at that time he feels that his life is secure. Suppose a friend visits you for a few minutes and then leaves. Even when he leaves, still his presence remains — the memory of how he talked and smiled. Similarly, God’s Presence for ten or fifteen minutes will remain with you during the whole day amidst your multifarious activities. Your reminiscences about a friend remain for many months, many years. Similarly, the memory of God’s Presence — even for a few minutes — remains in you for hours, days, months, years. If you meditate every day and feel God’s Presence for just ten minutes, that is more than enough for you to have peace of mind, joy, bliss, amidst the hustle and bustle of life. If you remember how you felt during meditation in the morning, then that is enough for you to be protected by God during the whole day.

Question: To make contact with the different planes of consciousness, do you have to know their names or will the forces themselves give you their names?

Sri Chinmoy: You do not have to know any names. In the light of the plane itself you see the reality. If you read sacred books, you will get all the names of the higher and lower planes. Here you are using your mental power and with your eyes you are seeing what is written. But when you go to these planes, you do not use the mind. In this case you see everything with the power of your vision. As soon as you have the power of vision and you see the light, the light itself conveys what plane of existence you are on. So you do not have to know the name; and even if you know it, it does not help because the language that is written in the book is not found written in the same way in the actual plane of consciousness. There it only tells through light.

Question: Do you believe that God is to be found both in unity and multiplicity?

Sri Chinmoy: In the beginning God was One, but He wanted to be many. God is like a tree. If the tree has no branches, it has no beauty. The tree looks beautiful only if it has many branches, leaves and fruit. Otherwise, if you see a tree that has only the trunk, you won’t appreciate it. God is the tree with all its branches and leaves. Again, God is also the root. The tree cannot live without the root. God is the root, and from the root the life energy goes to the rest of the tree.

Question: How can we blend our Spirit with our physical being?

Sri Chinmoy: This can be done and is being done every day by those who follow the path of Yoga and spiritual discipline. Yoga means union, conscious union with God. We are one with the Spirit, but right now we are not aware of it. We can be aware of it only when we consciously practise spirituality, and for that we need aspiration. When we desire, we bind ourselves; when we aspire, we free ourselves. If we start desiring one thing today, we will desire more tomorrow, and perhaps even more by the end of the week. In this way, many desires come, and there can be nothing but temporary satisfaction.

But if we care for the infinite Truth, infinite Bliss, infinite Light, then we have to enter into the path of aspiration. When we are marching along the path of aspiration, our Spirit will automatically blend with our physical being and the physical being will devotedly listen to the dictates of the Self. Then we will see that our inner and outer life have become totally one. At that time one complements the other; one fulfils the other. The inner life becomes the embodiment of the truth and the outer life becomes the manifestation of the truth.

Question: What is the best way to conquer depression?

Sri Chinmoy: The easiest and most effective way to conquer depression and all negative forces is to smile inwardly and outwardly with a sincere smile. Smile inwardly and outwardly at your enemy and say, “Oh, you have come. I am ready to conquer you.” If this smile is sincere and soulful, you cannot lose. The greatest strength you have is your inner joy, and this inner joy comes only from faith — faith that whatever is best for you will come from the Supreme. Now, what is best for you can be absolutely the worst thing for somebody else, and what is best for that person can be the worst thing for you. What you really need — not what you want but what you need — the Supreme is bound to give you.

Question: If one doesn't have a Master, how can he know the right thing to do to increase his aspiration?

Sri Chinmoy: If one does not have a Master, what should he do? He has to go deep within and try to see the Inner Pilot. He may not actually see the Inner Pilot, for this is something very rare. But the Inner Pilot is more than ready to act and speak through his conscience. If one listens to the dictates of his conscience, then automatically his aspiration is bound to increase.

Question: How might a person be involved in a work situation and still be in tune with the Supreme?

Sri Chinmoy: In this case we have to know how far we have already walked along the path of spirituality — that is to say, our own development. One becomes an expert gradually. When one wants to be a dancer, he cannot learn all the steps overnight. But the day comes when the dancer can do many things at a time while dancing. For an ordinary person this would be simply impossible. When someone is just learning to drive, he is lost. But when he becomes an expert driver, everything is under perfect control. Similarly, when a seeker becomes advanced and can meditate well every day, naturally he is growing in inner purity and inner strength. Then, when he enters into the hustle and bustle of daily life, inside himself he feels the living presence of his own inner being which helped him meditate well early in the morning. Even while he is answering all the professor’s questions or talking to his boss, inside he will feel the presence of a divine child who is surcharged with light, peace and bliss.

But this cannot happen overnight. In the spiritual life if one practises daily, regularly and soulfully, one is bound to develop this inner capacity. Then one will feel this inner presence guiding him and even if he is speaking about earthly, mundane things, he will not lose it.

Question: I see with my imaginative mind. How can I see with my reality-feeling heart?

Sri Chinmoy: You will see and feel more with your heart when you feel the necessity of unlearning what is unnecessary and of discovering and learning what is energising and fulfilling.

Question: Is it necessary to discard the mind in the spiritual life?

Sri Chinmoy: You have to grab the mind and offer it to the heart. Then the mind will be illumined; it will be obedient. Now the mind is ruling you, but when the mind has been brought under control and offered to the heart, you will rule the mind. When the mind is illumined, it will be able to work most powerfully, in a most fulfilling manner. You are not discarding the mind; you are only trying to take the mind to a proper place, and that is the heart, the heart’s illumination. When the illumination of the heart enters into the mind, the mind becomes a most powerful instrument. The vital also can be used most dynamically when illumined by the light from the heart.

God is constantly transcending, going beyond Himself. He is the Consciousness of the infinite Beyond, which is all the time transcending its own Infinity. With our mind we can never understand this. That is why we do not use the mind to enter into the deepest level of Consciousness. We try with our intuition-light, our intuitive light, or with our aspiration’s light to realise the Highest.

Question: How can a person who doesn't have a spiritual Master tell whether the kind of meditation he as doing is correct or not?

Sri Chinmoy: It is hard for an ordinary seeker to know. This is why a spiritual Master is very important. You may be doing absolutely the right thing, but feel that you are doing the wrong thing because you don’t have the assurance from one who knows the real truth. However, there is one way you can tell. When your meditation is correct, you will feel a kind of joy all over your body. When you get a kind of spontaneous inner joy, then the meditation you have adopted is correct. But if you do not feel that joy, if, on the contrary, you feel a mental tension or disturbance, then you will know that that particular kind of meditation is not meant for you.

Question: You said once that when your eyes move back and forth during meditation you are entering into different worlds. I would like to find out the technique of these eye movements.

Sri Chinmoy: It is not a technique, actually. First one has to realise the Truth; then automatically one can enter into these worlds. I can enter into these seven planes of consciousness on the strength of my inner realisation.

It is like this. When one is very rich, one can have seven houses at his disposal. But when one is very poor, he can have only one house. In the spiritual life also, when one is just beginning, one can have a free access to only one plane of consciousness. Then, as he becomes more advanced, it is always advisable to go to the higher worlds one by one. But when he becomes an expert in the inner life, he can be like a bird flying from one branch to another branch. As there are seven higher worlds, there are also seven lower worlds. These lower worlds one should not go into unless and until one has realised the Highest. We enter into the lower worlds for the purification of our own nature and the earth-consciousness.

But first things first. First we have to realise the Highest with our own sincere aspiration and dedication. Then God will give us the capacity to enter into these higher planes of consciousness. Once we have achieved Peace, Light and Bliss in abundant measure, we can easily enter into these planes. Either we enter into these worlds or they come to us and enter into us. When we enter into these worlds, we bring down their Light, Peace and Bliss according to our capacity, receptivity and necessity. But when they enter into us, they give us only what they would like to give us. Each world has Peace, Light and Bliss and each one also has some special divine quality of its own. When these worlds come into us, they give us their speciality in their own way. When we enter into them, we select. It is like when we enter into a store and select the food that we like best.

So there is no technique; there is only aspiration. But again, we don’t pray to God to enter into these worlds. We should only think of our conscious self-dedication to the Will of God. What we should do during our prayer and meditation is make a conscious attempt to enter into His Will. If He wants us to enter into these worlds, let Him carry us. We should pray and meditate only to realise Him. Once we can please Him, He will give us all that He has and all that He is.

Question: Do you believe that we must always aspire towards God, or do you believe that God in some way will come down to us on His own? Will there ever be a time when all of us will be automatically aware that we are one with God?

Sri Chinmoy: It is true that each and every individual on earth will realise God someday, but that will take hundreds and thousands of incarnations. However, if one consciously aspires, one can expedite one’s journey. There is nobody on earth who will remain unrealised because we are all God’s children and God Himself will never allow us to remain unfulfilled. If we are not realised, we cannot fulfil God. If we do not fulfil God, we cannot fulfil ourselves. So God, out of His infinite Bounty, will come down. But that may take hundreds and thousands of years. If somebody consciously, soulfully and devotedly meditates every day, then naturally he will reach God sooner than those who are still slumbering. Whenever we do something consciously, we get the result sooner. We all have our oneness with God; nobody can deny it. But spiritual people who are meditating and concentrating are crying to have a conscious oneness with God.

Question: How important is aspiration in the seeker's journey towards realisation?

Sri Chinmoy: If you have aspiration, realisation is bound to take place eventually. If you have no aspiration, then you can go to a Guru, you can do anything, but realisation will not come to you. Aspiration is the money-power of the higher realms. If you have money, you can go to the supermarket and buy whatever you want. If you do not have money, you can wait there for hours and still you will not get even a biscuit to take home. If your aspiration is really intense, if you are a multimillionaire in the spiritual world, then you can stay right where you are and order everything brought to you. If you have aspiration, God is bound to come wherever you meditate. But if you have no aspiration, you can enter into every church, synagogue, temple and mosque in the world, but still you will not see the Face of God or feel His Presence.

Question: Is there aspiration in each part of our being?

Sri Chinmoy: Aspiration is in each part of the person. The central aspiration comes from the soul, but the body, the mind, the vital and the heart also have aspiration. When the aspiration of all the members of the being go together, then only do you run the fastest. Otherwise, when the heart wants to pray in the morning, the body wants to remain fast asleep. And when the body is ready to meditate, the heart may not be aspiring. Instead, the heart is cherishing jealousy, the vital is cherishing insecurity, the mind is thinking of school or the office. Then what are you going to do? But when the heart says, “I am pure,” when the body says, “I am ready, alert,” when the mind closes its door to doubt, at that time you will be able to run the fastest.

Question: Sometimes when I pray to the Supreme, I feel that He is too far beyond me to answer any of my prayers.

Sri Chinmoy: No matter where the Supreme is, His Compassion-magnet is pulling us, but we are afraid of being caught by this Compassion. We are very clever. When His Compassion touches us, the mind says, “It is all feminine and passive; it has no power. It is not His Compassion, it is His weakness. He needs us badly.” That is what the physical mind says. Then the tricky vital will say, “Oh no, no, no. There is some motive behind it. I am beautiful, or I have a lot of money, or I am a great artist, so He wants me for something.” This is what the tricky vital will say. And the impure heart will say, “He will take away all my good qualities and give them to undeserving people.” Only the pure heart, which has the capacity to identify itself with the Vast, will say, “No, He has given me the opportunity, the golden opportunity, to fulfil myself and to fulfil Him.” That is what the pure heart says, but how many people have that kind of pure heart? Very few people have that kind of pure heart.

Question: Why is it that sometimes when someone is making fast inner progress it is not reflected in his outer life?

Sri Chinmoy: Sometimes it happens that you are under the impression that someone is making real inner progress, but it may not be so at all. Some people try to show off about their inner progress or they deceive themselves. Sometimes you see someone who is all the time praying and meditating. You get the impression that he is making wonderful progress. But God alone knows what he is doing, whether he is thinking of God or just deceiving himself. But if someone really makes progress, then rest assured that his outer life will also undergo considerable change.

Question: Is it possible that there may be a time lapse?

Sri Chinmoy: Sometimes there is a time lapse, sometimes there is not. You may have an inner experience today, and by tomorrow your life may be changed. It depends on the strength of the inner experience, or on the amount of aspiration you have.

Question: Is it possible for someone who has no teacher or method of inner discipline to be thinking about something and enter into meditation without even realising it?

Sri Chinmoy: There are various ways of achieving realisation. If the aspirant is an extraordinary soul with intense aspiration, and if he does not have a Master or any possibility of getting one, at that time God Himself comes forward and gives him the necessary inner instruction. But thinking will not lead to meditation. Thinking and meditation are altogether two different things. In meditation there should be no thinking. The first thing in meditation is to keep the mind calm and quiet. No thought should enter into the mind at all.

Poems from the first edition

The reason is obvious

My brave day sinks
In my darkening night.
My confident heart sinks
In my trembling fear.
Do you know why?
The reason is obvious.
When I was wearing my victory-crown
And
When I was sitting on the victory-throne
I consciously forgot
To place at God’s Feet
My garland of surrender-gratitude.

Call nobody your own

Call nobody your own.
Look, your own doubt-son
Has deserted you.
Look, your own jealousy-daughter
Has strangled you.
Look, your own impurity-husband
Has buried you.
Only call God your own.
Look, He has resurrected you:
He is feeding you,
He is energising you,
He is immortalising you.

The indispensables

Silence is indispensable,
For silence is concentrated power.

Joy is indispensable,
For joy is meditative light.

Love is indispensable,
For love is contemplative oneness.

Repeating God's Name

You repeated God’s Name
With the clever tongue
Of your mind.
God was afraid of your dangerous deception;
Therefore
He did not dare to near you,
Let alone bless you.
But now
You repeat God’s Name
With the loving adoration
Of your heart.
Look, God is not only embracing you,
But also claiming you,
You alone, as His very own.

You tolerated me

My Lord, You tolerated me
Before I aspired.
Therefore
My vital-horse is all gratitude to You.

My Lord, You tolerated me
Before I realised You.
Therefore
My heart-deer is all gratitude to You.

My Lord, You tolerated me
Before I manifested You.
Therefore
My soul-lion is all gratitude to You.

When they spread their wings

When your aspiration-cry
Spreads its wings,
You will see God’s Face
Without fail.

When your devotion-cry
Spreads its wings,
You will feel God’s Heart
Without fail.

When your surrender-cry
Spreads its wings,
You will become God’s Breath
Without fail.

A big favour

Can you believe
What God has asked me to do?
He has asked me
To do Him a big favour.
From today on,
He wants me to practise
God-love;
He wants me to demonstrate
God-compassion.
I must tell you,
This is not an easy task.
Perhaps you already know it.

God will bless you

You wanted name.
God has given it to you.

You wanted fame.
God has given it to you.

God wanted you
To give Him a smile.
Still you have not played your role.
God will bless you
Since I cannot.

God wanted you
To serve Him in humanity.
Still you have not played your role.
God will love you
Since I cannot.