Question: I find that search and doubt are part of the same thing, that part of searching is doubting. I am not sure of your meaning of doubt.

Sri Chinmoy: Unfortunately, you are using the mind. Suppose there are three individuals walking by. You will see three human beings right in front of you, but will feel a kind of affinity with one of them and not with the other two. The one you feel drawn to is meant for you. You have already established your oneness in the inner worlds. It is the same when you are looking for a teacher. There may be three teachers in front of you, but the presence of one of them is going to give you more joy. That particular teacher is meant for you, not the other two. You don’t have to ask anybody which teacher you should follow. You already have an inner identity, an inner oneness.

Here there are so many seekers. With one, perhaps, you have more in common; you have a stronger bond, a feeling of oneness. With the others, you may not have that feeling. All this comes on the strength of inner identification. When you use the heart, immediately you feel something, and this feeling is the reality within you. But if you use the mind to find a teacher, you won’t know which will be best qualified to teach you. Has he studied Indian philosophy? Has he practised spirituality? Has he practised Yoga? Many questions will arise in your mind, and these questions will either be given satisfactory answers or not. Even if you are given satisfactory answers, still you may doubt them. But if you use the heart, immediately you get the answer to your questions and the inner assurance that the answer is right.