Question: The great souls do not want to come back because it is too discouraging?

Sri Chinmoy: Great souls are tremendously discouraged because they have suffered. Ordinary people suffer, but the higher souls suffer much more. Only if one has realised God, if he has established oneness with a higher Power, does he have a room to which he can escape. When I tell my brother Chitta my problems, he says, “You can escape, but we cannot. When you want to go there, you have a special room. You can go there and hide, but we cannot do that.” Then again, if one has real sympathy, affection and love for mankind, one does not want to remain inside another room. A spiritual Master is like a mother. The mother is being rebuffed again and again by the naughty child, but in spite of being badly treated by him, she comes to him again and again.

In my case, I have said that I am not going to take any more human incarnations. Swami Vivekananda said that even if one dog remained unrealised, he would come back. Now count the dogs in this world! And absolutely Swami Vivekananda is still in the soul’s world. He has not come back. Sri Ramakrishna pointed to a place on the map and said that he would take incarnation there. That place was Russia. Sri Ramakrishna has not gone there. My sister tells me, “He has sent you to Russia; that is enough.”

I do not blame them for making a promise. Their promise was based on their concern, their compassion, their affection, their love for mankind. Those things are absolutely true. But when they go to the soul’s world, they become all wisdom. They say, “Again humanity will kick us, so what is the use?”

This world will never be ready for the spiritual Masters. Why? Because the person who has light will always remain one step ahead of humanity, and those who are behind that person will not be able to follow him. When he tries to give light to the people who are behind him, most of the time they do not take it; it is too much for them, too much. If the person who is ahead wants to give even an iota of light, it may be too much. It breaks the inner vessel. So what can the spiritual Master do? He has not come to break humanity; he has come to illumine humanity.

Anything that is good for mankind, mankind will not believe. Each individual wants to be happy in his own way; that is all. Most human beings do not want to be happy by invoking a higher light. But the human way is nothing other than desire-fulfilment. When his desires are fulfilled, the individual cries and cries and cries. At that time he blames God: “O God, if You really love me, why did You fulfil this desire of mine?”

So many people blame God when He fulfils their desires. What can poor God do? No matter what He does is wrong! Again, there are other seekers, sincere seekers, who say, “No matter what God does, it is for my good.” It depends entirely on the individual consciousness.