Question: How do you know if your inner being or your mind is talking to you?

Sri Chinmoy: How do you know if it is your mind or the inner voice speaking? If the inner voice is speaking to you, then immediately you get tremendous joy. Suppose you have a desire and the inner voice tells you not to fulfil this desire. By listening to the inner voice you will get infinitely more joy than by fulfilling the desire. Whereas if you get the message from your mind, for a split second you will get joy or satisfaction. Then your mind itself will tell you that you have not done the right thing, that you are a fool, or that you could have asked for something better.

If the message is from your mind, even if the desire has been fulfilled, you will not be fulfilled. What you wanted you have received, but you will feel miserable and you will say, "Oh, God does not care for me; that's why He has given this to me. I wanted to have this particular thing and God has given it to me just because He wanted to get rid of me since I am bothering Him and nagging Him all the time. He has given it to me but He does not really care for me."

But if the inner voice has given the message, even if it says no to your desire, you will immediately say, "God is so kind to me. He has saved me. If that desire was fulfilled then I would have been doomed. Out of His infinite Bounty He has warned me and He has saved me. I am so grateful to Him." If the message is from your inner voice, you will feel great joy that the inner voice has taken the trouble to be your guide, that it has such concern for you. This is the way you can know whether it is the voice of the inner being or whether it is the mental voice talking to you.