Nolini-da and Athletics
a diary entry by Sri Chinmoy
while in residence at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India
30 June
I was typing in the flower-room when Nolini-da came up to me and said: “Chinmoy, fifty years ago one of my toes was badly injured while I was playing football, but I recovered. Once I recovered, there was no pain at all, but now it seems that the pain has come back and I can’t do athletics anymore.”
I said to him: “Nolini-da, it seems your body does not want you to participate anymore in athletic competition.”
“I see, I see. Chinmoy, I know that you are not going to participate in athletics this year; you have had enough of it. But you must practise every day without fail to keep your body fit.”
“I do that. Prahllad is my witness.”
“I don’t need your best friend to support your case. I believe you. You know, Chinmoy, I don’t like to participate in athletics anymore either, but there are various reasons why I still have to.”
I said: “I fully understand that.”
He said: “I am glad that you understand it.”
Published in A Service-Flame and a Service-Sun
Aspiration and Wisdom
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at a private hall in Milan
Spirituality is a subject to be studied, as we study history, geography, science and other subjects. When we study the subject of spirituality, we discover our inner being, our real being, our true existence. When we become spiritual, that is to say, when we aspire, we see that there are four important things on earth: desire, aspiration, knowledge and wisdom.
Desire is something that binds us constantly. It will not allow us to free ourselves from ignorance. Aspiration is something that tells us about the Infinite and carries us into infinite Peace, Light and Bliss. Knowledge is something mostly of the mental world. Very often what we call knowledge is nothing but mental information. This kind of knowledge is not sufficient; it disappoints us quite often. We soon come to realise that knowledge does not carry us very far. Wisdom is something that comes to the fore from within, from the Light of the soul. When we discover wisdom, we feel that we are in conscious oneness with the Almighty Father.
Since we are all seekers here, let us deal with aspiration and wisdom. When a child cries, his mother runs to him immediately with food. A seeker is a spiritual child. When his aspiration-cry begins, the Almighty Father flies to him with the nectar of Immortality. Wisdom is the Light of the soul. We achieve the Light of the soul, we grow into the Light of the soul, on the strength of our inner cry. The more sincere we are, the sooner our inner wisdom dawns.How do we get aspiration and wisdom? It is through positive thoughts. There are two types of thoughts, positive and negative. When we follow the spiritual life we always welcome positive thoughts. A positive thought is: "I am of God, I am for God." A negative thought is: "I am nothing, I am useless."
How can we have positive thoughts? We can have positive thoughts, God-thoughts, when we associate with people who pray to God and live a simple, sincere, pure and humble life. But there comes a time when we go beyond even positive thoughts and enter into God's Will. We surrender consciously to the Will of God at every moment. At that time, for us there is no positive thought, no negative thought — only God's Will to regulate and direct our life.
Published in My Rose Petals, part 2