Part III — Aggression and possession

Question: Could you speak about possessiveness?

Sri Chinmoy: Certainly. Possessiveness arises only when we want to be satisfied with a very limited portion of reality. As an individual we want to possess another individual. But when we try to possess another person, we see that either he has already possessed us or that he cares for and wants to possess somebody else. If we are clever enough, we will ask, “Is there anybody on earth who has possessed everyone?” Then if we go deep within, we will answer our own question, “Yes, the Inner Pilot has possessed everyone.” That being the case, if we can please the Inner Pilot, then we can possess everyone in a divine way.

If we go to a mango garden, we see mangoes there. We want to take one mango, but while we are plucking even one mango, and eating it, we are full of fear. We are afraid that the guard will come and catch us. He will insult us and scold us. God knows what he may do to us.

If we are wise, we will not try to possess the mango. Rather we will try to please the person who has planted the mango tree, the owner of the mangoes. We want to please him instead of possessing the mango, because if we can please him in some way or other, then he will tell us to eat the mangoes to our heart’s content and to have as many as we want.

Each individual is like a mango. We want to possess someone, but before we possess him, we see that someone else has possessed him or that he does not care for us. He cares for somebody else. Now where is your possession? But if we know that Somebody is the owner of that person, just as the same Somebody is the possessor of our life, then we go to Him. That Somebody is God.

So when we go to the real Owner, the real Possessor, and please Him, then we will see that the person or thing we need is right in front of our nose. To please the One who is the real Owner, the real Possessor is to get everything. In this world, we try to possess someone or something who is not the actual possessor. Unfortunately, we feel that if we can possess that person or thing, then we have achieved everything. But we have achieved nothing. We have only accumulated and added to our ignorance. The moment that person or that thing enters into our life, then we will see that it only creates more confusion for us. In our ignorance we try to possess someone, thinking that he is better, superior, or more illumining than he actually is. But when that thing, that person, enters into our life, we feel that this has only created more confusion and nothing else.

If we know that there is some Person or Reality within us who possesses everything and who has the capacity to illumine everything and everyone, we should go to that Person. If we want to possess anyone, then we should possess Someone whom we can rightly claim as our very own. And that is God. We can’t claim even one second of our existence as our own. We don’t know where we will stand or on what plane our consciousness will be from one moment to the next. We are at the mercy of the moment. Now we are on earth, and we feel that we can claim our next moment. But at one moment we may be meditating and the next moment we are at the mercy of temptation or some other evil, destructive thought such as jealousy, fear or doubt. We are not under our own control. We have no capacity to control our next moment. Yet we try to possess somebody else who has millions of undivine and wrong forces of his own. Because we do not know what will happen next, and because we neither can possess the next moment as our own or utilise it in our own way, we shall try to possess Someone who is eternal, and who has the capacity to control all thoughts. By possessing this Someone, we can fulfil ourselves.

Let us think of God as our own most devoted Servant. We can forget about God as being Omniscient and Omnipotent. Let us think of Him as someone who is really devoted to us. Let us cry to have this most devoted Servant in our life. If we have Him, we can fulfil all our desires. Everybody wants to have someone who will listen to him. I want someone who will listen to me, and you want someone else to listen to you. God is the perfect Listener. So let us be clever. Let us try and cry for the most devoted Servant in life. That most devoted Servant is not a human being, He is God.