Sri Chinmoy Answers
questions at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, New York
Question: You once said that there is a new consciousness growing in Austria. What is it?
Sri Chinmoy: Long live the Austrian consciousness! In the Austrian consciousness I am seeing both dynamism and eagerness. Some people are dynamic, but they have no eagerness. Still others are eager, but they have no dynamism. But the Austrian consciousness has both. I am very, very pleased with Austria.
Question: Is there any special significance to the town one is born in?
Sri Chinmoy: Definitely your soul selected that particular town. There are countless towns on earth. Why did your soul choose that particular town? So here the choice itself is something significant.
Question: There is a saying that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Is that true in the spiritual life?
Sri Chinmoy: Spirituality is not a matter of pulling and pushing. Those who pull and push are eventually pushed aside and pulled behind. Pushing and pulling is not spirituality. Spirituality is surrender to God’s Will, patience, tolerance, acceptance of the situation for its transformation.
Acceptance of the situation does not mean that you are surrendering to the situation. But you have to accept something in order to transform it. If you do not accept it, how are you going to transform it? If you see some obstruction on the street, some dry wood for example, if you do not pick it up, how are you going to keep the street clean? Spirituality is like that. You accept something, then you transform it.
If somebody tries to come near me by pushing others aside or by pulling them out, then that person can never be close to me. In spirituality there is no pushing, no pulling, but only cheerful acceptance, a cheerful feeling all the time.
Whether you have come late to the meeting and you have to sit at the back, or you come before anyone else and you can sit at the front, be cheerful. Cheerfulness if you have, no matter where you are — right in the front row or at the back — that is how you will receive the utmost.
You have to know that the Master hides. He can be looking at one person, but his heart will be looking at someone else, his heart will be working inside someone else. So try to have that cheerful consciousness no matter where you are; my eyes can be looking at another person, but my heart will be working inside your heart.
Question: If we are aspiring to do something like swim the English Channel or run 1,000 miles, how can we know if it is your will or just a desire on our part?
Sri Chinmoy: You can easily ask me, “Shall I do it?” Then if I see that you have the capacity, I will say, “Do it.” If I do not see the capacity, I will ask someone else to try. I am very proud of one German girl who has swum the English Channel and, again, six German girls have swum it in a relay. So one has done it all by herself and six have done it together. How can you know if you should try? Just ask me. And if you get permission, then you can try. And if you fail, do not give up. But first you have to know whether you have the capacity.
Question: I have a hard time finding joy in running. Do you think if I play tennis it will help my running?
Sri Chinmoy: Tennis will never help your running, far from it. But running will help your tennis, especially if it is sprinting. Stretching exercises and speed work definitely will help your tennis. That is what Arthur Ashe does. Again, if you want to play five sets, if you want to become a world champion tennis player, then you need stamina. For that you have to practise long-distance running.
Tennis is not going to help your running speed, that is absurd. But if running does not give you joy and tennis gives you joy, then you can play tennis for joy.
Question: How can I get more joy in running so that I can continue running?
Sri Chinmoy: If you do not get enough joy from running itself, then you have to do something with your running to get joy. Try to bring in some variety. Seven days a week you run, so you can vary your schedule. Do not run each day at the same speed or for the same distance. One day you can run one mile, the second day two miles, the third day seven miles, then again one mile. Every day change the distance and change the speed. If you run at seven minutes per mile, then one day go deliberately at a nine-minute pace. The next day do something different: 100 metres walk, 100 metres run, 100 metres walk, 200 metres run. In that way, you will develop a different kind of joy and confidence.
That is what I do. In one mile, if you can have all kinds of variation, then you may get joy. I find that it gives me joy. Otherwise, if I have to run one full mile, sometimes it is so boring.
Another day you can run according to your mood. Just let your mind or your heart decide. Sometimes you will run for 20 metres and walk for 200 metres, then again you will run for 800 metres. Allow yourself to be carried by your inspiration. Do not have a fixed distance in mind. You just surrender to your mind’s whims. Then afterwards you will get so much joy when you see that you have covered so much distance.
There are so many ways to get joy from running, but if you are badly injured, like me, then there is no way to get joy from running. At that time, just enter into a different field.
Published in Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 35
