Question: How do the hostile forces enter us? How do we open ourselves to them?

Sri Chinmoy: It is like you are a building full of various holes and the dark forces enter into you through these holes. One big hole is called doubt. Then there are other holes called depression, fear, anxiety and worry.

The dark forces attack you most vehemently, especially when you want to make a major decision in your spiritual life. This is because if you are successful in the spiritual life, then you will enter into the sea of eternal Joy. You will be constantly playing with God’s Consciousness and dancing in God’s Consciousness. You will be totally freed from bondage, ignorance and death.

When you are asleep, when you are weak, nobody bothers you. But the moment you assert yourself, the moment you want to show that you are something and that you want to do something for the world, then all the forces will plague you. If you are very weak, if you can’t walk, people will show you sympathy. They will not come to attack and kill you. But if you assert that you are going to do something great and get divine Light, or that you will enter into the spiritual path and do wonderful things for the Supreme, then naturally you are creating a new rhythm, a new harmony and a new divine fulfilment on earth. If you are successful, you will create a new world in yourself and in all of humanity. So, the hostile forces will want to stop you and prevent you from doing the right thing. But if you do not care for the inner life, the spiritual life, and if you are satisfied with ordinary human life, then they will not attack.

We see millions and billions of people on earth who are most ordinary. For them either God does not exist, or God is all in the mind, or He is, God knows, somewhere in Heaven. And where is Heaven? Nobody knows. So it is all vague. But when you become conscious, then you try to act. First you become conscious of something and then you try to act on it. You want to realise and possess the highest; so you make an effort. Either you will be successful or you will fail, but if you make a sincere effort with tremendous, soulful inner aspiration, then you are bound to succeed. Your success means boundless realisation and infinite wealth.

Why should your enemies, darkness and the hostile forces, allow you to become the richest person in the inner world? If you remain a beggar they are satisfied and they won’t bother you. But if you really want to be the richest person, an emperor in the inner world, then naturally darkness, your worst enemy, will try to stop you. So you have to fight. If you have spiritual light, darkness becomes more arrogant, conscious and vigilant in its attempt to disturb you and prevent you from realising and achieving the highest and deepest Truth.