May 17

Diary Entry

by Sri Chinmoy
while in residence at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India

17 May

"Chinmoy, do you know where Kanu Priya works?"

"Yes, I know. He works at 'Honesty'."

"Do you think he could go through some of my Bengali proofs?"

I said: "Certainly he could. Please let me take the proofs to him."

Nolini-da said: "Actually, I need more than one person."

"In that case I can go through some of the proofs."

"But do you have time for that? You have so many other things to do."

"Nothing can be more important than your work," I said.

"In that case, you see the proofs of the new edition of Banglar Pran and let Kanu Priya see Ma."

Published in A Service-Flame and a Service-Sun

Questions at the United Nations

answered by Sri Chinmoy

Question: At our United Nations meetings, should we meditate on specific themes related to United Nations conferences as well as on general qualities like peace and love?

Sri Chinmoy: There are two approaches. Some people feel that if they can organise a peaceful outer situation, then they can have a peaceful life. They feel they have to bring the world into order before peace and other divine qualities can descend. They start from the outside because they feel that this is what will fulfil them. The second approach is to start from inside and try to bring what is within to the fore. This is the way of the soul. According to this approach, first we try to achieve peace, light and bliss in the inner world; only then do we feel, through prayer and meditation, that we can offer it to others.

So these are two different approaches. There is no contradiction between them. Both are aiming at the same goal: peace, love, light and bliss. The approaches are different but the ultimate achievement will be the same.

I personally feel that if we have peace, light and bliss within us, then we can more easily bring these qualities into the world at large. It is my inner conviction that politics is dying to be illumined by inner light. In the political world, quarrels and misunderstandings are the order of the day. Again, on a deeper level, politics knows that spirituality can transcend outer world-divisions. Spirituality is the flow of oneness. When there is oneness, there is no feeling of supremacy. Oneness never quarrels. So if we pray and meditate on peace, light and bliss, we will definitely be able to serve those in the political world.

Question: Is there any way that we can meditate specifically to help the United Nations?

Sri Chinmoy: Inside your heart there is the soul, the direct representative of God. You know that if you pray and meditate every day, your soul will come to the fore and you will have abiding satisfaction in life. Please feel that the United Nations also has a soul. Inside the body of the United Nations, inside this building, there is a most powerful, most illumining and most fulfilling soul, which has to be brought forward. If you can feel the presence of the soul of the United Nations during your meditation, then your meditation will be most helpful.

All those who are working at the United Nations are unconsciously being illumined by the soul of the United Nations. And when they work for the United Nations most devotedly and selflessly, they are aspiring in their own way and doing their own form of meditation. The soul of the United Nations offers each worker its special blessings and gratitude.

The soul of the United Nations embodies the dream of the United Nations: peace, brotherhood and oneness founded upon self-giving and the recognition of the universality of man. If you can cultivate these sublime ideas or ideals during your meditation, you will most effectively and most fruitfully help the soul of the United Nations.

Question: How do you eradicate negativities and imperfections in the soul?

Sri Chinmoy: There is no negativity in the soul. The soul is all divinity and perfection. It is our divine, immortal existence on earth and it carries the message of perfection within us. The problem is that inside our inner existence is not only the soul but also the vital; and inside the vital is a lower vital, an aggressive vital, a destructive vital. Since we are not consciously aware of the presence of the soul, whatever we feel inside our body, vital and mind we take as the soul. But this is a mistake. There are many wrong, undivine tendencies and movements within us, but these have nothing to do with the soul. These are enemies that have accidentally entered into our living room. We wanted to have only our friends, but in an unguarded moment we opened the door and our enemies entered.

These enemies we have to either throw out or transform through conscious and continuous effort. If we want to learn something, we have to practise or study for hours and hours. Similarly, if we want to perfect our nature, then we have to bring to the fore the soul and feel its presence at every moment. How can we do this? Through our prayer and meditation. When our prayer goes up, it reaches the highest Height. And when we meditate most soulfully, peace, light and bliss descend into us in abundant measure. When we can reach the highest Height or feel ourselves inundated with peace, light and bliss, the wrong forces within us are automatically illumined and perfected.

Published in My Meditation-Service at the United Nations for Twenty-Five Years

Sri Chinmoy offers this prayer at 7:28 a.m. before using a standing double-arm machine up to 230 lbs. with both arms simultaneously and 250 lbs. with each arm separately — the morning after the passing of Sri Chinmoy's beloved sister Lily.

Published in My Morning Soul-Body Prayers, part 5

Sri Chinmoy offers this prayer at 7:47 a.m.

Published in My Morning Soul-Body Prayers, part 5