Question: I think one of the reasons I, as well as other people, experience this doubt is because there are so many bad teachers in the world.

Sri Chinmoy: You are absolutely right. There are false teachers. But just because there are twenty bad teachers who are deceiving themselves or deceiving others, I can’t say that you are also a bad teacher. That is why we are given the opportunity to choose. There are twenty spiritual Masters and you are given the choice. You say, “How am I going to know that I am choosing the right one?” The answer is that the one who gives you the utmost joy, whose very presence gives you joy, is the right one. He has already established his oneness with you in the inner world. In the inner world your soul has a free access to his soul’s reality. Any teacher who does not give you the same joy, the same delight and feeling of oneness, is not meant for you. You follow the one whose very presence gives you immediate joy. This is where the heart plays its role most satisfactorily.