December 16

When some disciples meditate well, they have intensity in their heart. Some others may have a kind of self-styled confidence; it is not real spiritual confidence. But in the case of the first group, when they do well, there is tremendous intensity.

If you can add intensity to your devotion, then it is of great, great help.

My request to the English Channel swimmers is to work on speed, speed, speed. I advise all my disciple swimmers to do speedwork! The less time you can remain in the water, the better.

Speedwork gives stamina. Stamina does not mean only to swim long distance. There is another type of stamina. When you do speedwork again and again, that speedwork itself gives you stamina.

Some people think that if you run ten miles you will get stamina. That is one theory. Another theory is that if you run 100 metres again and again and again, it is very good for stamina. Our famous champion Emil Zatopek ran 400 metres again and again and again. Then he performed miracles in long distance! With 400 metres he did speedwork.

So many people who attempted to cross the Channel gave me the message, “The tide changed.” Why did they allow the tide to change? Before the tide changed they could have gone across!

Speedwork is very, very necessary. If you can concentrate on speedwork — even if you do only six miles, not ten miles — that will help you tremendously.

A seventy-year-old man has swum the Channel. I lifted him on the 13th of November.

He was very moved, and he stayed at our function for a long time, because he appreciated being in the company of such spiritual people! He said that was what he needed.

A disciple has told me that he wants to become a carpenter. At the Sri Aurobindo Ashram we worked at a place called a cottage industry. All kinds of things were made there. They used to make sweets also. On rare occasion we had to wrap sweets. My third job there was carpentry. This was my selfless service. Alas, the first day I was given the job of making a lead pencil. I spent hours, but I got nowhere!

The owner-manager of the place was so kind and so affectionate. He saw my capacity, and then he gave me the job of supervising! I was supposed to supervise the binding of old books. I was a little bit older than he was. I sat in a small chair while he was working. I would only look at him and see what he was doing. I only observed him. The boss said I did not have to learn anything!

That kind-hearted boss went one step farther. He said, “If you feel like reading, you can read. How long can you just watch?” That was a great relief. I started reading, and occasionally, while he was very devotedly working, I looked at him. Where can one find that kind of boss?

I am sure you have heard my famous story about that place. A lady from Calcutta came to the Ashram to become a permanent member. She had had the vision of an Avatar, and at that cottage industry she discovered me. Twenty metres away from the very place where I used to work, the following incident took place.

My brother and the manager of the cottage industry were very close friends. Some years ago, when I was in America, the manager wanted to read my writings. My brother was all pride! He went to get some of my books for his friend to read.

In those days we used to print my Transcendental Photograph at the end of each of my books. My brother gave his friend a book to read. At that moment a lady was passing by, and she saw the picture. She was stunned! She started screaming, “Who is this? Who is this?”

He said, “This is Chitta’s youngest brother, Chinmoy, who used to work here.” Again, very attentively, she looked at the picture. Then she said, “This is the Avatar! This is the face that Sri Aurobindo showed me!”

Four or five years earlier, in Calcutta, she was crying and crying one evening in front of her shrine, where she kept pictures of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. At that time she was not yet a member of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, but she was a disciple. She said, “I have not seen Sri Ramakrishna, who was an Avatar, and I have not seen you.” Sri Ramakrishna she could not have seen, because Sri Ramakrishna passed away before she was born. And she had not seen Sri Aurobindo on the physical plane, because Sri Aurobindo left the body in 1950. Crying and crying, she said, “I want to see an Avatar! I missed Sri Ramakrishna and I missed you!”

She said that while she was praying, Sri Aurobindo, from his photograph, was telling her to look at the sky. Then she looked at the sky, and there she saw my Transcendental Photograph. It was all illumination. But she did not know my name. Sri Aurobindo only said, “Look there,” so she looked at the sky and saw my Transcendental Photograph. She was so moved. From then on, she was all the time thinking of that picture, because she felt that Sri Aurobindo had shown her an Avatar. She was crying to see that person in the physical form. When she saw my Transcendental Photograph in the book, she was thrilled.

This lady came to our house, and she spoke to my sister. She became very close to our family. Just two months ago also she wrote to me, “I do not expect anything from you, if you could only take the trouble of reading my letter.”

When I went to the Ashram, this lady fell flat at my feet and looked at me for my blessings, because she said that I am an Avatar. And my Transcendental Photograph does not resemble me! When I am in my normal consciousness, my appearance is totally different. In the Transcendental Photograph I am in my highest height. But after seeing the Transcendental Photograph, she did not have any problem in recognising me! When she came to see me, I was cutting jokes with my sisters and my friends, but in front of everyone she fell flat at my feet and started telling the story. My sister was begging her not to narrate the story, because our friends were there, but she did not care.

The last time she met me, she went one step ahead with her story. She said that she saw my Transcendental Photograph merge into Sri Krishna’s picture, and I disappeared. Then Sri Krishna entered into my Transcendental Photograph, and he disappeared. She said that Sri Krishna and I are one.

My story started with one lead pencil! A disciple said he wanted to become a carpenter. My carpentry job lasted for four or five hours, and then the kind-hearted boss saw my capacity.

That lady and her husband run a restaurant at the Ashram. Three or four years ago two of my Indian disciples went to their restaurant. They happened to bring with them a book with one of my pictures. When the husband saw the book, immediately he said, “Oh, he is my wife’s Guru! Please, please come this evening!” They went there in the evening, and the wife again started telling her story.

To those who work for manifestation, again I wish to say that if you have not succeeded, it is not your fault. It is not due to lack of inspiration, aspiration and dedication on your part. When you do not succeed, at times you feel that you are a complete failure. You are not a complete failure! God wanted to give you a special experience. If you know that you have worked very hard, sincerely and self-givingly, then the result can never be your failure and it can never be God’s failure. It is only an experience God has given you, and God Himself has experienced that failure. But there is no such thing as failure. There is only one message: more enthusiasm, more dynamism, more self-giving.

You may say that you have given your utmost, and yet your sleepless selfless service was not able to bring about success. But who is the Giver of your success? God. If He does not give you success, then there is some special reason. It has nothing to do with your aspiration and dedication.

At times you make yourself feel that a particular thing has to be done. That feeling is absolutely wrong. The most important thing is to abide by God’s Will. God has given you the capacity to throw yourself into a project. I have not told you that if you do not succeed, then I will lose faith in you, I will be displeased with you. This kind of wrong feeling please do not harbour. I know who serves me soulfully and self-givingly twenty-four hours a day.

God wants your sincere, most sincere efforts. He does not expect and He does not want anything else from you. You feel that your success will glorify you or glorify your Master, which is true. But from the spiritual point of view, when we have surrendered, you and I and all those who are doing manifestation work must realise that God will not be more pleased if we bring Him success. Never! God will remain pleased with you in the manifestation-world if you throw your heart and soul into a project.

Success depends upon Him; failure depends upon Him. If you cherish wrong feelings, frustration looms large and you feel that you are useless. No! People who work for manifestation are all useful, extremely useful. There are people who are doing manifestation work day in and day out. I am extremely, extremely proud of them. I see their sincerity, I see their readiness, I see their willingness, I see their eagerness. What more do I need? Those people who are working very, very hard towards the manifestation are extremely, extremely pleasing me, to say the least.

If you do not work on manifestation, please keep yourself happy on our Christmas Trip by singing my songs, mixing with your friends and enjoying the beauty of nature. If you can keep yourself happy, then I am extremely, extremely proud of you. Those who do not do manifestation work should have only joy and pride in their brother and sister-disciples who are all the time thinking of manifestation. Do not be jealous of those who are day in and day out sleeplessly doing manifestation work. And those who are working prayerfully, soulfully, day in and day out must not think ill of those who are not involved in outer manifestation.

Each individual has a way of keeping himself or herself happy without interfering in others’ activities. Anything that you do, please try to remember that you are doing it with a view to giving me joy.

Earlier I gave a very, very nice talk, and many people were not here. Their souls and their hearts have heard it.

When I give a special message, you do not have to be in my physical presence. My soul conveys my message to your hearts and souls. Then it is up to you to utilise my advice.

I am so, so grateful to the disciples who go faithfully to Pujaloy. Minati sends me the report. I look at each and every name, and I bless each individual. Sometimes there are even forty disciples present, in spite of the fact that so many Germans are now here on our Christmas Trip.

Obedience has sweetness in it, tremendous sweetness. The people who are satisfying me by going to Pujaloy are really true disciples, true disciples. In my physical absence if people do the right thing, I get much, much more joy than I get when they do good things in my physical presence. In my physical presence, out of love or for various reasons people try to make me happy. Some people who are with me physically have taken me very seriously and are doing absolutely the right thing. But if I am not physically with some disciples and they please me, believe me, I get much, much, much more joy, because they are carrying my message inside the depths of their heart. They are proving that they really, really love me, and they have taken me very seriously.