How to Live in Two Worlds
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at the Sarah Lawrence College
Bronxville, New York
If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain."
— Emily Dickinson
My dear Sisters and Brothers: I have come here to serve you. Serve I must. If I can serve even one amongst you in her endeavour towards self-discovery I shall not live in vain, nay my life on earth will have its purposeful meaning. Sisters, you are entitled to cherish pride for being devoted students of this unparalleled college in the United States. And today God presents me with matchless opportunity to discover in you an aspiring heart.
The Sarah Lawrence College is for women, as we all know. I wish to say a few words about the Hindu women. I am sure by this time you have learned that I am a Hindu. I come from India. A Hindu woman is the living embodiment of sanctity, devotion and faith. Purity is the hyphen between her life and her deeds. Intellectual education she does not care for. Her heart cries for the inner education, the education of the soul. No hyperbole. Her life of spontaneous and unending sacrifice is the soul of the Hindu race. In the hoary past, it was a Hindu woman Maitreyi, who said to her husband, Yājñavalkya, the peerless sage of the Upanishads, that nothing would satisfy her, save and except Immortality.
When she said Immortality, she did not mean the prolongation of her physical body for millions of years. She meant that she wanted to have the immortal consciousness, the consciousness of immortality, within and without.
"After thirty years of research into the feminine soul, the great question which I haven’t been able to answer is: what does a woman want?"
— Freud
On behalf of women all over the world, Maitreyi’s soul tells us what a woman wants.
There are two worlds: One is the world of Truth, the other is the world of Falsehood. Who shall decide when Truth and Falsehood disagree? Acceptance. Their mutual acceptance. Truth will accept Falsehood to transform the life of falsehood. Falsehood will accept Truth to manifest the breath of Truth.
Two worlds: One is known as Acceptance, the other as Rejection. I accept. I accept with my deepest gratitude what God has for me: Illumination. I reject with adamantine determination what the world has for me: Frustration. Two worlds: Condition and Situation. Condition says: "God gives when you give." Situation says: "You are helpless. God alone can give and He does give."
Unlike others, my God has two names: Delight and Compassion. In the inner world, I call Him by the name Delight. In the outer world, I call Him by the name Compassion. My God has two souls: the soul that He has in the inner world embodies His Dream. The soul that He has in the outer world reveals His Reality. My God has two bodies: His outer body is my Inspiration. His inner body is my Emancipation. Heaven and Hell represent two worlds in our consciousness. Heaven surprises Hell with its boundless Joy, Hell surprises Heaven with its ceaseless cry. Heaven says to Hell:
"Hell, I know how to dance and I can teach you if you want." Hell says to Heaven: "Wonderful, you know how to dance and you are ready to teach me how to dance, but I wish to tell you that I know how to break my legs and I can break your legs too, if I want to."
Science and Spirituality are two different worlds. Science wants to shorten distances. Spirituality wants to unite distances. For me it is not enough. My vision wants to divinise and transform distance.
East and West: Two worlds. We must unite them.
The awakened consciousness of man is visibly tending towards the Divine. This is a most hopeful streak of light amidst the surrounding obscurities of today. This is a moment, not merely of joining hands, but of joining minds, hearts and souls. Across all physical and mental barriers between East and West, high above national standards, above individual standards, will fly the supreme banner of Divine Oneness. The outer world is a world of reasoning mind. The inner world is a world of experience. Hard is it for the outer world to believe in the existence of God. In the inner world the existence of God always looms large. Sri Aurobindo said:
"They proved to me by convincing reasons that God does not exist and I believed them. Afterwards I saw God, for He came and embraced me. And now which am I to believe, the reasoning of others or my own experience?"
Can we live in two worlds? Certainly we can. If we have spontaneous inspiration we can successfully live in the outer world achieve our outer goals. If we have soulful aspiration we can live in the inner world and achieve our inner Goal. The outer world is the body. The inner world is the soul. It is up to us whether we want to stay in the body, or in the soul.
If we stay in the body, then constantly we have to abide by the dictates of the soul so that the body, instead of being a blind tool of fate, becomes a perfect channel for the Supreme for His divine manifestation in the physical. And if we want to live in the soul, to experience infinite Light, Peace and Bliss, then we must not neglect the body, we must not destroy the body, for it is inside the body that the soul abides on earth.
Published in AUM – Vol. 4, No.11, June 27, 1969
Self-Examination
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at St Thomas Aquinas Chapel, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut,
Dear seekers of the infinite Truth, just because we are all seekers we are all in God's Boat. God's Boat will carry us to our destined Goal. Today I wish to give a short talk on self-examination. Most of us here are students. To be precise, all of us are students. Some of us are studying at the university, while others are studying in the outer world or in the inner world. We work very hard to pass our examinations. Our teachers and professors work very hard to be impartial.
When the human teacher wants to examine us, very often his pride pleads with him. It wants to examine us on the teacher’s behalf. When God, the divine Teacher, wants to examine us, His Compassion pleads with Him. It wants to examine us on God’s behalf. The human teacher gladly agrees to the proposal made by his pride. The divine Teacher immediately agrees to the proposal offered by His Compassion.
When the human teacher examines us, we either pass or fail the examination. But when the divine Teacher examines us, we never fail. Why? We never fail because the divine Teacher is at once our examiner and our private tutor. He privately teaches us what He is going to ask us on His examination. Naturally we never fail. First He teaches us devotedly, constantly and unconditionally. Then He openly examines us, and we all pass His examination without any difficulty.
Self-examination and deception are total strangers. They are constantly at daggers drawn. Deception hates self-examination. Self-examination is fond of perfection, and perfection is proud of self-examination. Deception runs backward. Self-examination runs forward to its goal of perfection. At the end of the backward journey, Satan, the evil force, shakes hands with deception. And at the end of the forward journey, God, the Supreme Pilot, garlands self-examination.
Self-examination is our aspiration for the higher world and the inner world. The higher world is immortal Light. The inner world is infinite Peace. Light shows us the face of Truth and then makes us the body of Truth. Peace makes us the body of Truth and then shows us the face of Truth. Light says to Peace, “Sister, I need your Length. What you have and what you are is Infinity’s Length.” Peace immediately tells Light, “Brother, my Length is equally yours. What you have and what you are is Transcendental Height. I need your Light and your Height.” The immortal Light says, “My sister, take it. My Light and my Height are equally yours.”
Unlike us, God examines Himself constantly. We are reluctant to examine ourselves, but God is fond of examining Himself at every moment. He examines Himself in order to see whether His infinite Compassion is operating most effectively in the heart of mankind. And unlike us, God is fond of perfecting Himself at every moment. He feels that He is perfect only when we can offer Him a soulful smile. We pray to God for countless things, but He inwardly prays to us for only one thing: a smile, a soulful smile.
Self-discovery and God-discovery are one and the same thing, but they usually work in two specific ways. In God-discovery, we see the infinite Infinity crying in the heart of the finite. In self-discovery, we see the finite smiling through the soul of the Infinite.
Self-examination leads us to self-control. Self-control leads us to self-mastery. Self-mastery is the denial of ignorance-sea and the affirmation of Illumination-sky. Self-examination is our journey’s start. Our first Goal is self-discovery. Our second goal is God-revelation. Our third and last goal is God-manifestation.
God-discovery or God-realisation, God-revelation and God-manifestation: these are the three rungs in the ladder of our spiritual evolution. Early in the morning, Mother Earth offers God-realisation to Father Heaven as her first gift. At noon, Mother Earth offers God-revelation to Father Heaven as her second gift. And in the evening, Mother Earth offers God-manifestation to Father Heaven as her third and ultimate gift.
All seekers of the Transcendental are receiving Truth, Peace, Light and Bliss according to their capacity and receptivity. Everyone starts his spiritual journey as a beginner-seeker. When a beginner-seeker examines his body, he discovers a stupid donkey. When he examines his vital, he discovers a mad elephant. When he examines his mind, he discovers a restless and mischievous monkey. And when he examines his heart, he discovers a feeble ant. His sincerity sees and feels it. But at the end of his journey’s close, his sincerity makes him see and feel something else. He examines his body and discovers a sea of Purity. He examines his vital and discovers a sea of divine Power. He examines his mind and discovers a sea of infinite Peace. He examines his heart and discovers an infinite expanse of Light and Delight.
[The University of Connecticut in 1973 became the first academic institution to offer a credit course on Sri Chinmoy's philosophy. The course was developed and taught by Professor Peter Pitzele (Brihaspati). The following remarks were addressed by Sri Chinmoy to Brihaspati's wife, Indira, and to Brihaspati's students, who attended the talk.]
[To Indira:] You are Brihaspati's inspiration. You inspire him outwardly and I inspire him inwardly. He needs inspiration both from the outer world and from the inner world. Our deep inspiration and his lofty aspiration have made him what he is — a professor who is loved and admired by all his students. In the name of the Supreme, I offer my loving gratitude to you and to Brihaspati.
[To Brihaspati's students:] I am most grateful to you. You have studied our philosophy. I pray to the Supreme to shower His choicest, highest blessings upon your devoted heads and your aspiring hearts. By studying our philosophy, you have given us the opportunity to serve the Supreme in your aspiring hearts. Brihaspati will offer our light to the Supreme in you. For that I am offering you my soul's deepest love and my heart's blessingful gratitude.
Published in Fifty Freedom-Boats to One Golden Shore, part 1
Indian Stories
by Sri Chinmoy
Have faith in Vishnu!
Once a great devotee of Vishnu went horseback riding. He was enjoying the ride, when he happened to come near the house of a washerman. The washerman had just washed some clothes and put them out to dry. Unfortunately, the devotee’s horse ran over the newly washed clothes, leaving its footprints on them. The washerman got furious and ran after the devotee, pulling him down from the horse.
The devotee started screaming, “O Vishnu, Vishnu, save me, save me!”
At the time, Vishnu was having his feet massaged by his consort in Heaven. All of a sudden he ran away. His consort cried, “What are you doing? Where are you going? Did I do anything wrong?”
Vishnu replied, “Don’t worry, I am coming back soon.” He opened the door, walked only a few steps outside his house and then returned.
His consort said, “Well, what happened? You ran outside, but there was nobody there. What were you doing?”
Vishnu said, “You don’t know what happened? On earth my greatest devotee was being chased by a washerman. First he ran away, afraid for his life, and prayed to me to save him. But as soon as I ran to save him, suddenly he decided that he had strength enough to fight the man himself, so he didn’t pray to me anymore. He just threatened the washerman and frightened him. The washerman felt that my devotee was much stronger than he, so he stopped chasing him. My devotee got back on his horse and continued his morning ride to enjoy the beauty of nature.”
The consort said, “Since he had invoked you, he should not have changed his mind. He could have got hurt!”
Vishnu said, “Either one has to have faith in me or faith in oneself. If one has faith in me, then he is always safe. But if one has faith in oneself, sometimes ego enters into the picture. If the seeker has very intense aspiration and if he can establish his oneness with me, then faith in me and faith in himself are the same thing. But if he has not established oneness with my Will and my Consciousness, then his faith in himself is only a parade of ego. That kind of seeker is one day bound to fall in his spiritual life, without fail.”
Spirituality is for those who are careful
Once there was a beautiful woman who was very spiritual. Her husband was also quite spiritual. Often they used to invite seekers to their home for spiritual discussions, prayer and meditation. The two were very generous, and after these meetings the wife would usually serve dinner to everyone.
Once the husband had to go out of town on business for a few months. The seekers who previously had been coming to her home asked if they could continue meeting there. But she said, “Oh, no! My husband wouldn’t like the idea. Only when he is here can I invite you over.” That was not the real reason, however. Several times in the past, when her husband had been out of town, the wife had continued meeting with seekers. But now, during her husband’s absence, she had become very friendly with one of her servants and eventually fell in love with him. Because she was deeply interested in the servant, she found no need for spirituality in her life.
One day, a spiritual Master was walking near her house. He looked very sad. When the wife saw him, she asked, “Why are you so sad?” The Master said, “I am very sad because from my childhood I have always carried a special toy with me. The toy was my friend, my only friend. Whenever I did anything very private and intimate, I allowed only this toy to accompany me. Nobody else would ever know what I was doing. The toy was like my collaborator, and it always suffered whenever I did anything wrong. But now I have done something so bad that, out of shame, the toy has fallen down and broken its head.”
The woman was very sympathetic. “Let me buy you another toy so that you forget about this one,” she said.
But the Master said, “No, I can’t do that. How can I have another toy? This toy represented my inner being. It was part and parcel of my nature, my character, my life. If I get a new one just because it has smashed its head, then it will have another consciousness.”
The lady got the point. Here she was married to a good and spiritual man, and now she was in love with a servant, of all people. She cried and cried at the feet of the Master. “Oh, forgive me, forgive me,” she said.
The Master said, “I will forgive you for what you have done. Even your husband will forgive you, immediately he will forgive you, for his love for you is boundless. But your soul — the only real reality inside you — may not forgive you at all, or for a long time. It may withdraw and not come to the fore again this whole incarnation.
“Once one accepts the spiritual life, once one becomes a real seeker, at that time if one falls and enters into the vital and emotional life, indulging in unthinkable things, then the punishment is unbearable. One is compelled to lead a miserable, miserable life, without forgiveness.
“So, be careful before you accept the spiritual life, and then, once you have accepted the spiritual life, be constantly careful. For if you fall at that time, darkness-life will not care for you and wisdom-light will not care for you either. Aspiration-life will not care for you if you do not aspire and desire-life will not care for you, for it will feel that it cannot trust you totally. It will say, ‘Again he may go back to aspiration-life.’ And aspiration-life will not trust you. It will say, ‘Oh, he left me to go back to desire-life.’
“So, you will be caught in between aspiration-life and desire-life. You will not get joy from desire-life, for you have already told aspiration-life that you will be its eternal friend. And once you betray desire-life and go after a higher life, desire-life will only torture you. So be careful! Spirituality is only for those who are always careful in what they say, do and become.”
There was once a king named Samudra Gupta who had two sons: Rama Gupta and Chandra Gupta. Everyone liked Chandra Gupta, the younger of the two, because of his bravery, sweetness, politeness and humility. Chandra Gupta had all the divine virtues, whereas Rama Gupta was very haughty and undivine in every possible way. Even their father couldn’t help liking his younger son better. All the members of the royal family and the court favoured Chandra Gupta, except for one very bad minister. This minister was a rogue of the first water, and he liked Rama Gupta for his own undivine reasons.
The two princes had many friends among the sons of ministers and high officials. One day, Chandra Gupta came to his father and asked “Father, can we go out to the river and play?”
The father said, “Why not, my son. Go and enjoy yourself.”
The two brothers and eight or nine of their friends went to play by the river. All of a sudden, a ferocious lion came and everybody became frightened and ran away. Only Chandra Gupta stayed. He started fighting the animal and finally killed him. Afterwards, all the other children started appreciating Chandra Gupta.
His brother became very jealous and said, “Oh, he just killed a lion. Anybody can do that.”
The friends said, “Anybody can do it? Then why did you run away, you coward?”
The brother said, “I ran away only because everybody else was running away. They would have pulled me with them, and would not have allowed me to stay.”
“You liar!” everybody shouted. “Your brother didn’t run away. He challenged the strength of the lion and killed it!”
Rama Gupta became furious. “I hate my brother! Everybody appreciates him and admires him. It isn’t fair. I am also the King’s son, the prince of this kingdom, but nobody appreciates me.”
Everyone said, “You are a coward, like us; that is why we can’t appreciate you. But your brother set his strength against that of the wild beast and came out victorious. Indeed, he is destined to be King one day.”
Rama Gupta said, “How? I am the older brother. It is my kingdom. It is I who will get the throne.” Everyone continued to argue with him.
By now it was getting late, and still the children had not returned to the palace. The King became worried, and he sent a messenger to see if they were all right. When the messenger reached the river, he told the princes, “Your father is very worried. You must come back to the palace now.” “We were enjoying the death of this lion,” the children said.
When the King came to hear of the story, he couldn’t believe his ears. He personally came to the river with his whole entourage of ministers and important people. “Chandra Gupta, you have done this?” he said. “This is beyond my imagination. I have had many dreams about how powerful and great you will be, and this only makes me more certain.”
Everybody was shouting with joy that Chandra Gupta had killed the lion, but the rogue minister was very sarcastic. “At last Chandra Gupta has done something great,” he said.
“Shut up, Minister,” everyone said. “Why are you mocking him? Chandra Gupta has performed such a great feat, almost a miracle. He is the great hero in the family.”
The minister became afraid he would be fired. He said, “I am sorry. I don’t know why I said that. I really meant to say that you should give him a reward.”
“What kind of reward should I give him?” asked the King. “Whatever I give him will be inadequate. On the one hand, I am so proud of him. On the other hand, I feel that he will get his reward for his virtuous life when the day comes for him to take care of the kingdom.”
“What?” Rama Gupta cried out. “How is that possible? I am the older brother. The throne belongs to me.”
The King answered, “No doubt, Rama Chandra, you will become King after my death. But I feel that somehow, someday, Chandra Gupta is destined to rule.”
“Father,” cried Rama Gupta, “you always speak well of Chandra Gupta. In your eyes I am nobody, just a speck of dust.”
The King said, “Don’t be a fool. You are also my son. Only be grateful that your brother has saved your life.”
“I hate him!” screamed Rama Gupta. “I can save myself.”
“Look, I am the King,” the father said firmly. “Come back home peacefully. Otherwise, I will throw you out of my kingdom.”
Rama Gupta became frightened and returned to the palace. Because his older brother felt so miserable, Chandra Gupta said to him, “O brother, I have killed a lion. But you and I are brothers, so easily you can feel that it is you who have killed it.”
“You fool!” said Rama Gupta. “You killed the beast, and I will say that I did it?” He became furious.
“But what is the difference?” asked Chandra Gupta. “We are members of one family. Our parents, our relatives, even our father’s subjects are all one. When you do something great and good, at that time I feel that it is I who have done it.”
“What have I ever done?” asked Rama Gupta.
“You will do very great things,” Chandra Gupta consoled him. “And I will claim them as my very own. Although I have killed this lion today, please feel that it is you who have done it. And one day when you do something significant, I will claim your achievement as my own.”
When King Samudra Gupta died, he left two sons: Rama Gupta and Chandra Gupta. Rama Gupta was supposed to become King, since he was the eldest. But everybody spoke ill of him because of all his undivine qualities. Some said that the King would have really wanted Chandra Gupta to succeed him. The subjects also wished that Chandra Gupta could take the throne but, according to law, Rama Gupta was meant to become King.
There was an evil minister in the royal court. Rama Gupta took this evil minister into his confidence: “Immediately I have to become King, before it is too late. Otherwise, I fear that my brother will somehow win the throne.”
The minister said, “You will become King without fail, but why don’t we wait a few days. People are still mourning your father’s death.”
In his heart of hearts, the minister was very happy that Rama Gupta was anxious to take the throne. “The sooner the better for him,” he said to himself. But outwardly he did not want to appear disrespectful to the King.
A few days later Rama Gupta came to the minister and gave him a very large amount of money as a bribe. The minister said, “Money I need, and also I am one with you. I don’t like Chandra Gupta either. Everybody always appreciates him, whereas nobody even cares for my own son. When I think of the way you are treated, I am reminded of my own son. Let me make you King.”
The minister called in the priest and told him to perform the ceremony making Rama Gupta King. Chandra Gupta did not feel sorry because, after all, he was the younger brother and was not supposed to be King. He was sincerely happy that his brother was becoming King, and he participated in the ceremony, giving everybody joy.
In a few years’ time Rama Gupta married a most beautiful girl named Dhruva Devi. They had an intimate friend named Madhavi, who used to tell the Queen that Chandra Gupta was so great whereas her husband was not so great. Dhruva Devi all the time heard stories about Chandra Gupta’s goodness and her husband’s undivine qualities.
One day Dhruva Devi said to her husband, “I have heard so much about your younger brother’s greatness. Is it all true?”
Rama Gupta became furious: “Everything you have heard from that Madhavi. I shall kill her! You shouldn’t believe that stupid woman. What she says is not true. It is I who am great, greater, greatest. That’s why I have become the King. I will banish Chandra Gupta from my kingdom.”
The Queen said, “No, don’t do that. I will not speak of him anymore. And even if you wanted to throw him out of the kingdom, do you really think you would be able to? The whole kingdom likes and admires him. Wait and see. You can’t throw him out.”
When Madhavi heard about this, she said to the Queen “Without Chandra Gupta, would there even be a kingdom? Rama Gupta is only King by name. The strength and power of the kingdom come from Chandra Gupta.”
Rama Gupta was furious when he heard what Madhavi had said. “I need some rest,” he said. “I am tired of always arguing with these rogues. They stay in my kingdom, eat my food and then speak ill of me. I don’t need this kind of subject. I am going away for some time. O Queen if you want to come and enjoy some rest with me, you are most welcome. We shall take a few soldiers with us in case anything happens.”
So with a small army, the King and Queen set out for a short vacation, wandering here and there. Alas, one day they came near the border of King Shaka’s kingdom. Shaka’s soldiers thought that they were coming to do battle. Since they knew the area so well, they circled around Rama Gupta’s soldiers and caught them by surprise. Then they drove them across the border into Shaka’s territory proper. As soon as they crossed the border, another army of Shaka attacked them from the front. Rama Gupta’s men, caught off guard, were defeated and the King and Queen were held captive.
While King Rama Gupta and his Queen, Dhruva Devi, were out on a holiday, accompanied by a few of their soldiers, they were captured by the army of King Shaka.
King Shaka sent the captured King a message: “I will allow you to go back to your kingdom only if you give up your wife and allow her to marry me. Dhruva Devi rightfully belongs to me, because originally I was supposed to marry her.”
Rama Gupta was surprised. “Dhruva Devi, is this true?” he asked. His wife admitted, “It is true. My father arranged for me to marry King Shaka, but at the eleventh hour he changed his mind. Shaka is such a bad man; he is undivine in every way. And I was so beautiful, so good and divine, that my father decided not to allow me to marry him.”
Rama Gupta said, “Indeed, you are so beautiful that I will never part with you. I will fight Shaka.”
When Shaka heard this, he laughed and laughed. “Already you are conquered,” he told Rama Gupta. “What kind of fight will this be? You are practically dead. How are you going to fight if you are half dead? Now you are going to see your wife for the last time. I will force her to come and marry me. But for a few days let me allow you and your wife to stay with your conquered army. I am enjoying your imprisonment and mistreatment.”
Afterwards, Rama Gupta said, “O Queen, if I don’t give you to King Shaka, I will lose my entire kingdom. Again, if I give you away, I will feel miserable. But to be very, very frank with you, I want to remain king. So I am going to send you to this brute. When you get married, I will feel sorry, for I will miss you, but I want to go back to my kingdom.”
The Queen was horror-struck: “I knew it, I knew it!” she cried. “What a rogue you are! Your brother would not have done this kind of thing.”
Then Rama Gupta became furious: “Don’t bring Chandra Gupta into the picture. Why has he not come to help us, if he is such a great hero?”
“He does not even know what happened to us,” said the Queen. “If I could only send a message to him!”
“How will you send a message? Our army is now in chains, and many people have been killed,” the king said.
But it happened that Chandra Gupta was wondering why his brother had not yet come back: “He left the palace for only a few days’ rest; now he has been gone two weeks. What is delaying him?”
So Chandra Gupta decided to go searching for his brother and the Queen. He asked some of his friends and soldiers from his brother’s army to accompany him. It was not long before Chandra Gupta heard that his brother was being held captive by King Shaka, and he went looking for him. When Shaka’s soldiers saw Chandra Gupta coming, they laughed and laughed. “They have so few people. Let them go and see how badly we are treating their royal king and queen.”
When Chandra Gupta came, Dhruva Devi started screaming and weeping. “Your brother is giving me away to King Shaka so that he can go back and rule his kingdom,” she said.
Chandra Gupta was shocked. “How can you do this kind of thing? Think of how great our father was! For your kingdom you will give up such a kindhearted and beautiful woman?”
“Enough of your wisdom!” Rama Gupta said. “I need name and fame. I will get infinitely more by being King than by remaining with this wife.”
Dhruva Devi was so horrified that she fell down on the ground. Chandra Gupta said to her, “Sister, I will not allow my brother to give you away. I will fight for you, and I will take you back.”
So, with his very limited army he fought King Shaka’s soldiers and won. Then he went to King Shaka, and also killed him. Afterwards he came and freed his brother and his wife and took them home.
Chandra Gupta returned home after slaying the evil King Shaka, bringing with him his brother, King Rama Gupta, and the Queen, Dhruva Devi, who had been held captive for several weeks. Everybody was appreciating and admiring Chandra Gupta for his heroism. At the same time, they were criticising and cursing the King, for agreeing to give his own wife away in order to regain his kingdom. Everybody was filled with hatred for the undivine King.
The King felt miserable that everybody was appreciating his brother. “Something should be done,” he said. “Why has this happened to me?”
His evil minister read the King’s mind. “O King, you were a fool to expose your cowardice.”
But Rama Gupta said, “Still I am the King. Yet nobody gives me any importance.”
“What can you expect from your subjects?” the minister asked. “They all love and admire their Queen and they are angry that you wanted to give her away.”
Rama Gupta became very agitated. “Even my own wife is more venerated than I am. This is my fate!” A friend of the undivine minister happened to overhear this conversation. He was extremely jealous of Chandra Gupta and had a clever idea.
“O King,” he said, “I could not help overhearing your words. I fully sympathise with you. But I must tell you that you will never be happy as long as your brother stays on earth.”
The King said, “Indeed, I fear you are right. I should banish him from the kingdom.”
“He would only gather an army and return to challenge you. But,” the friend continued, “O King, if your brother were dead, everybody would forget all about him. Then all the glory in this kingdom would be totally yours.”
“I need glory, name and fame,” agreed the King. “But alas, my brother will live on earth for many years.”
“We can change his fate and our fate,” said the minister. “What if poor Chandra Gupta were killed mysteriously in his sleep?”
“An excellent idea,” said Rama Gupta.
“Tonight!” said the minister’s friend. “You should kill him tonight, before another day passes and you lose more glory, name and fame.”
“We shall help you rule the kingdom without him,” said the minister. “Boundless will be our wealth and power!”
That night Chandra Gupta was sleeping when he heard a loud sound. “Who is there?” he demanded.
Someone was approaching him in the dark, sword in hand, and was about to stab him. “Villain!” Chandra Gupta cried out. “At this hour you have come to kill me?” With that, he pushed aside his assailant, grabbed the sword and stabbed the person.
When Chandra Gupta turned on the light, he saw it was his own brother that he had stabbed. “What can I do? Forgive me, forgive me. I didn’t know it was you. If I had seen you, if I had known it was you, I would have allowed you to kill me and put an end to all your suffering. You should have asked me to leave the kingdom. I would have gladly gone away. I don’t need name and fame. I am happy with what I have and what I am.”
Chandra Gupta could do nothing to save his brother, who died in his arms. “What have I done, what have I done!” Chandra Gupta cried out. “I did not know it was my brother. Alas, my father was so great and good. Is this the fate of his sons and kingdom?” Chandra Gupta buried his head in his hands totally crushed and heartbroken.
A father's dream becomes reality
With the death of Rama Gupta, his brother, Chandra Gupta, became King. The whole kingdom came to his inaugural ceremony. Everyone was crying with joy and relief, for they felt that he would be a just and kind King and that the land would flourish and prosper under his rule. The soldiers all pledged loyalty to their new King and said they were honoured to serve such a brave and heroic ruler.
After several days of festivities, the wife of Rama Gupta, Dhruva Devi, came to the new King. “Please,” she said to him, “you have to marry me.”
Chandra Gupta was surprised. “Dhruva Devi, your heart and soul are forever bound to my dear brother. Unfortunately, I took away his life, when I slew him without knowing who he was. I could never take away his Queen also. You will forever remain beloved to my kingdom as Rama Gupta’s kind and beautiful Queen.”
“No, Chandra Gupta,” said Dhruva Devi. “You have saved me from that dreadful King Shaka. You have given me a new life. It is you who deserve my love and loyalty.”
“But how could I ever marry my own brother’s wife?” Chandra Gupta asked. Dhruva Devi fell at the King’s feet: “Please, I have always admired your kindness and affection for humanity. I have always adored your valour and heroism. It is you who saved your brother when he was about to lose his kingdom and it is you who saved my prestige and honour.”
“Speak no further,” Chandra Gupta said. “My sense of loyalty to my brother would never allow me to accept your proposal. What would my subjects think of me?”
“Where was your brother’s loyalty to me when he was ready to give me away to that King Shaka? He did not value me at all,” Dhruva Devi cried. “Only you valued me enough to fight for my freedom and honour.”
Chandra Gupta remained silent.
She continued, “In no way am I trying to exploit you or your new position. Because of your divine qualities, I have always appreciated you. I want to be as divine and spiritual as you are. Divine love is the only reality. You have to marry me.”
The King said, “Dhruva Devi, my heart is deeply moved by your words. You shall again be Queen.”
At that moment the undivine minister who had always supported Rama Gupta against his brother rushed into the room: “You are fulfilling your father’s wish. Your father wanted you to become King, but I opposed it. I wanted Rama Gupta to be King because of my weakness for him. He reminded me of my own son. Forgive me.”
Chandra Gupta said, “My father was not only great and good, but he was also all forgiveness. I want to become like my father. Whether or not I have got his greatness or goodness, God alone knows. But I have prayed to God to give me the power of forgiveness, and this He has given me. That is why I am forgiving you.
“I also pray that God will forgive me for having killed my brother, for I did not do it intentionally. I would have allowed him to kill me had I known that he was my attacker. I always tried to make him happy. His happiness was my happiness. God gave me capacity and I want always to use this for a good, divine purpose. Alas, this capacity has caused so much trouble for me. My own brother wanted to destroy me. O God, capacity is a boon; again, capacity is a great problem.”
Then the minister said, “You will rule the kingdom peacefully and gloriously. I could not help overhearing your conversation with Dhruva Devi. She loves you, and it is you who deserve her. You should marry her. This is what all your subjects want. They are all hoping that she will again be Queen.”
“They shall get their wish, O Minister, and you shall get my forgiveness.”
Dhruva Devi said, “And your father is finally getting his wish. His dream has become a reality, now that your greatness and goodness will rule the land.”
Published in Great Indian Meals: Divinely Delicious and Supremely Nourishing, part 3
Sri Aurobindo and Suresh Chandra Chakravarty Drink Tea
A story by Sri Chinmoy
In the Sri Aurobindo Ashram there was a super-excellent Bengali writer. His name was Suresh Chandra Chakravarty, but he was known as Moni. He was extremely close to Sri Aurobindo. He was the one who first went to Pondicherry at Sri Aurobindo’s request to arrange for Sri Aurobindo’s accommodation there. Everything was done in secret so that the British would not come to know of it. This young man took such a risk because the British wanted to kidnap Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo arrived in Pondicherry by steamer on 4 April 1910.
Sri Aurobindo had very few companions at this time. Suresh Chandra Chakravarty was one of these young men. They used to take turns making tea for Sri Aurobindo and cooking. When Sri Aurobindo used to drink his tea, he had the habit of placing his legs on the table and this young man did the same. He used to put his feet up on the table. Nobody else dared to do it, but he was so close to Sri Aurobindo.
Then, when the Mother came to Pondicherry in 1914 and saw this behaviour, she was horrified. How could a disciple put his legs up on the table in front of the Master? So she stopped it. She was also very strict with Sri Aurobindo’s diet. From eight or nine cups of tea a day, she brought it down to one.
Published in My Book of Tea and Coffee Experiences