Part II

SCS 259-264. Questions asked after //Imagination, inspiration, aspiration and realisation.//

Question: I had an experience last year. I don't know where I was, but I felt quite within myself and I turned into currents of water. The source of the water was coming from behind me, and I realised that if the source of the water had stopped, I wouldn't have existed. I wanted to look in back of me because it was all light but I was frightened to turn around, partly because I thought I would break the connection and then I wouldn't exist any more, and partly because I thought it was a bit too bright. Was this all just imagination or did it have any spiritual significance?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, it had a tremendous spiritual significance. Water signifies consciousness. In the spiritual life, we are dealing with only one thing: consciousness. When consciousness is low, we are like animals; when consciousness is high, I tell you we are no longer inferior to the cosmic gods. And when our consciousness becomes part and parcel of the Supreme, at that time we become one, inseparably one, with the Universal Consciousness.

The current that you mentioned is the flow from the Supreme. Current means life. The life-movement will flow towards the ever-transcending Beyond. When you are aware of the Source and, at the same time, you feel that you belong to the Source, then you will not be afraid. But if you separate yourself and feel that you are not with the Source, then fear comes. If you are one with the finite consciousness, with the physical, you are frightened to death when you see the Source. You look behind you at the Source and you are frightened to death, because the Source is like the infinite ocean whereas you are like a tiny drop. Naturally, you will be frightened, because you are seeing something that can devour you at any moment. But if you can feel your oneness with the Source, you will have no fear. Your little finger is not afraid of the rest of your body, because it is part and parcel of the body. When you separate your little finger from your body-consciousness, you feel it is insignificant, it can do nothing. But when you bring your finger-consciousness into the whole body, then the finger feels that it is significant. Let somebody pinch your little finger and immediately your whole body starts screaming, because the body has established its oneness with the little finger.

The Infinite has already established its oneness with you. But the finite gets a kind of malicious pleasure in separating itself from the Source. It is like a mischievous, naughty child who gets satisfaction by staying out late so his parents will think of him and worry. He knows that he has a house, that his parents are waiting. He has a most comfortable bed and everything to eat, but he does not want that. If he can stay outside in the street or loiter somewhere, that is what gives him joy. The finite always wants to maintain its separativity; then, afterwards, the finite feels miserable because it has lost its connection with the Source. It feels helpless, hopeless, useless. When we accept the spiritual life, we have already discovered the limitations of the finite; we know the limitations of our body-consciousness, of our earth life. What do we do? We consciously try to enter into the Source and become the Infinite. When the finite is one with the Source, only then does the finite get a constant opportunity to manifest the Infinite.

So, in your case, in the beginning you came out of your Infinite Consciousness and became the finite consciousness. You were aware of the Infinite but unfortunately you did not establish your oneness with it. The connecting link was not strong enough. If you had had the connecting link well-established, then you would have heard the song of the Infinite in the finite and felt the total fulfilment of the finite in the Infinite. Water is consciousness and the current is the flow of life. This is how the finite and the Infinite can live together when the finite realises its incapacity and enters into the Infinite. The Source always knows that it has to manifest itself through the finite; only then will it get supreme satisfaction. And the finite gets its fulfilment by entering into the Infinite.

If the Vast plays its role in the tiniest drop, then this is a real miracle. Again, if the tiniest drop can become one with the Vast, this is also a miracle. The finite does not try; the finite feels it is impossible. In the case of the Infinite, the Infinite feels that nothing is impossible; only it is a matter of time.