January 11

Inspirational Stories

the first of which is dictated by Sri Chinmoy
in the car on the way up to his lecture at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. This is the first of one hundred stories he plans to write this year.

The Master surrenders

“Master, Master! Today at least I would like you to be sincere with me. Of late you have only been cutting jokes with me. I pray to you to be sincere and serious today.”

“When have I been insincere to you, my son?”

“Master, forgive me. What I actually meant was that you do not go deep within nowadays to answer my questions.”

“My child, my answers depend on the kind of questions you ask me. They entirely depend on the kind of questions you ask me.”

“All right, Master, today I am going to ask you a few most serious questions. My first question is, how many years or incarnations did it take your Master to realise God?”

“Seven long incarnations.”

“Seven long incarnations? I can’t believe it!”

“Who wants you to believe it? Who is begging you to believe it?”

“I am sorry. Master, my second question is, how many years or how many incarnations did it take you to realise God?”

“Three quick incarnations.”

“It took you three incarnations to realise God? You are such a great Master. How is it that it took you three incarnations?”

“What is wrong with that, my son?”

“Nothing, Master. But three whole incarnations? Anyway, I am very glad that my Master realised God in only three incarnations, whereas his Master took seven incarnations.”

“So you are proud of your Master?”

“Of course I am. I am positive that you have far surpassed your Master. Therefore, I should be more proud of you than I am now.”

The Master gave his disciple a sweet smile and said, “I love your innocent wisdom.”

“Master, this is my third question. How many incarnations shall I take to realise God?”

“Just one brief incarnation.”

“O Master, now you have lost all your seriousness once again! How can I realise God in one incarnation, when it took you three incarnations and it took your Master seven incarnations? It is impossible!”

“Why, my child? Why?”

“Master, I have never understood you, and I shall never understand you.”

“You don’t have to understand me. You just have to believe me. Let me make my philosophy simpler and clearer to you. Let us take my Master as a villager. A villager does not get as much opportunity to study as a town-dweller. With great difficulty he goes to school. With great difficulty he learns and becomes a man of knowledge. This was the case with my Master. But I was like a town-dweller. Naturally I got more opportunity to study than my village Master. So I didn’t have as much difficulty as he in studying and becoming a man of knowledge. Now, you are my spiritual son. You are like a city-dweller. You are getting every possible opportunity to go to school and become a man of learning. So for you it will be easy to acquire knowledge.”

“But Master, I still don’t understand you.”

“You will never understand me. I have decided from now on to understand everything for you on your behalf.”

“Master, I really don’t want to equal you in spirituality.”

“My child, I want you not only to equal me in spirituality, but to surpass me.”

“Master, on your part this is a most kind, blessingful wish, and on my part the thought is nothing but sheer stupidity and absurdity.”

“My son, my Master realised God, I realised God and you will realise God. Now, I surpassed my Master. And the way I surpassed my Master, you will also surpass me.”

“But Master, how will I dare to bless you? You know perfectly well that a son is not entitled to bless his father no matter how great he becomes and how ignorant and illiterate his father is.”

“Son, you are giving me earthly wisdom. I want to give you heavenly wisdom. When a son realises God, he is in a perfect position to bless his father, for he is in constant touch with the Highest. When he blesses his father at that time, it is just as though God Himself were blessing his father.”

“But Master, if both son and father are equally realised, how can the son bless the father?”

“Why not? They can bless each other. And as I said before, you should not only equal me but surpass me. So, without the least possible hesitation, I can say that you will be entitled to bless me.”

“O Master, I have pleased you in thousands of ways, hundreds of times. Of course, it was your compassion that made me succeed every time. You have made me an unconditional disciple of yours. Will it ever be possible, Master, for me to ask you to become unconditional to me, even once in this lifetime?”

“Son, I have always been unconditional. Had I not been unconditional ever since I accepted you as a true disciple of mine, by this time you would have left me. And this applies not only to you, but to all my spiritual children. I have always been an unconditional Master to my disciples. God Himself has taught me this supreme, secret lesson. Had I not been unconditional, no disciple would have or could have stayed with me even for a day.”

“Master, this time I really believe you. But will you fulfil my last prayer on earth?”

“Certainly I will.”

“Then, Master, never allow me to be your equal, let alone dream of surpassing you. I wish to be always at your feet. I wish always to kiss the dust of your feet. You have told me repeatedly that you have come into the world to make everybody happy. Such being the case, please make me happy. Please stick to your philosophy that we are all progressing ceaselessly into the ever-transcending Beyond. Just as you are far ahead of me now, I wish you always to remain far ahead of me. You sing the song of your highest self-transcendence from your own height, and let me constantly sing the song of my self-transcendence from my own height.”

“Son, in this world, when two persons do not see eye-to-eye with each other, in order to create a compromise it is always advisable for one to surrender. So I shall surrender to your most fascinating philosophy, since you are unwilling to surrender to my most illumining realisation.”

Deception and God-Realisation are two eternal strangers

Venu and his wife, Rekha, were leading a very spiritual life. Venu and Rekha had two children, who were also very spiritual. When Venu reached middle age, he felt the necessity of entering into an ashram to devote himself to the spiritual life. Rekha wanted to do the same, and their son and daughter, who were now teenagers and leading a pure life, gladly followed the example of their parents.

Venu was a very rich man. He was a diamond dealer by profession, and also he had inherited a very large sum of money at the time of his father’s death. Venu gave up his business, collected all his money and offered it to his spiritual Master. Then he and his whole family went to the Master’s ashram to live.

The Master gave Venu tremendous affection and special attention. Some disciples thought that the Master was doing this just because of the money Venu had given him. Others thought that it was not because of his money, but because of his love, devotion and surrender to his Master’s will that Venu had become so close to the Master. Venu and all the members of his family were liked by hundreds of people at the ashram because of their simplicity, sincerity, kindness and deep feeling for the spiritual life. They were extremely close to one another as well. Indeed, it was a remarkably happy family.

Days passed into weeks, weeks into months, months into years, and a day came when it was time for Venu’s family to celebrate Venu’s sixtieth birthday. They had been in the ashram for ten years, and therefore this birthday had a special significance for them. That significance was added to the joy and glory of Venu’s most auspicious sixtieth birthday. But alas, their heart of light, delight and joy was captured by destruction-night. On his very birthday Venu was attacked by cholera, and in three hours’ time death snatched him away. The entire family was thrown into a sea of grief.

The Master was simply shocked at Venu’s abrupt departure from the earthly scene. He invited the whole family to come to him for consolation. Venu’s wife and his son and daughter went to their Master shedding soulful tears. The Master blessed them one by one. He said to Venu’s wife, “Rekha, you have lost your husband and I have lost my spiritual son. I do not know whose loss is greater.” Then the Master said to Venu’s son and daughter, “Your father is inside my heart. I have two homes: one is here on earth; the other is in Heaven. Soon I shall take him to my other home with my occult and spiritual power. As you know, I rarely use my occult power, but in this case I am more than willing to use it, for Venu’s soul is extremely dear to my heart.

“I shall tell you something else: your father is bound to come back in five years. He will take birth under my inner guidance in a very spiritual family. All this I shall do because his soul is extremely dear to me. And I assure you that when the child comes to my ashram, I shall let you know.” Hearing all this, the stricken family was greatly consoled. The Master’s precious words had assuaged their grief. They went back home and shared the secret news with all those who came to console them.

Three years passed by. Eager to see her father again, Venu’s daughter, Mula, asked the spiritual Master if her father had taken a new incarnation yet. The Master said, “Yes, Venu has taken a new incarnation, and in two years you will see him here at my ashram.” Venu’s whole family was highly excited at this blessingful news, and they started counting the days. Two years later, a spiritual family came to the ashram with a son who was two years old. This child’s name was Kush. The young husband and wife prayed to the Master to give their child a spiritual name, and the Master gave him the name Venu.

Soon the family of the departed Venu came to learn about this Venu. Once more Mula went to the Master and enquired whether this Venu had any connection with her father. The Master said, “Not only does he have the deepest connection, but this Venu is none other than your father.” On hearing this, Mula went home hurriedly and shared the news with her mother and brother, Tushar. They were all excited, and immediately went to visit the new Venu. Rekha took some grapes for her child-husband, Tushar took a toy flute for his child-father and Mula took a crayon for her child-father.

Venu’s young mother greeted the family with great love and with all the natural warmth of her heart. She, too, was excited when she heard the news. Since the Master himself had given this news, no one had even a shadow of doubt about its truth.

Every day Rekha came to visit Venu. She gave the child most delicious fruits and candies to eat and often brought him expensive toys. Venu’s mother and his former wife became very close friends. Venu’s son and daughter also used to come and visit their child-father quite often and offer him toys. They got tremendous joy by playing with him.

But only one thing bothered Tushar a little. He did not notice anything in the child Venu which would make him feel that this child had been his father previously. So one day Tushar went to his Master and said, “Master, forgive me. I don’t deny your inner vision. You are the greatest living Master on earth. But how is it that I don’t see anything of my father in this child? His face does not resemble my father’s at all. His movements and gestures are not in any way like father’s.”

The Master replied, “My son, the soul is not bound by anything. The soul has every right to assume a different consciousness and a different mode of life each time it enters into the physical world. Your father’s soul did not feel the necessity of assuming and revealing the same qualities that it had before. His is a very progressive soul. It cares only for the ever-transcending new. New peace, new light and new height are entering into this child. What you actually want and need is the highest achievement from your father and not the outer likeness.”

Tushar touched the feet of his Master and said, “Master, you have removed all the doubts from my mind. You have immensely increased my heart’s faith in you. From now on I shall never argue with you or doubt you again. My life of ignorance I place at your feet of Light.”

Alas, human life is not always smooth sailing. After some time, Venu’s mother and his former wife were at daggers drawn. His mother, observing the way Rekha was gaining love and affection from her child, felt that Rekha would take Venu away from her. She noticed that her son had become more fond of Rekha than of her, his own mother. Sometimes he would cry inconsolably when he did not see Rekha around him. This pained and irritated his mother deeply. So she wrote a sad letter to the Master explaining in detail everything about her most deplorable situation.

The Master consoled her and asked Rekha to stop going to Venu’s house daily. Only on rare occasions could she go and visit her child-husband, who by this time was four years old. Venu missed his dearest friend when she did not come and he cried for her and told his mother he wanted to see her every day as he used to. Helpless, Venu’s mother wrote another letter to the Master, bringing to his outer notice the deplorable situation in the family. In the meantime, Rekha was also feeling miserable because she was not able to visit her child-husband regularly.

After receiving the second letter from Venu’s mother, the Master told her that he would ask Rekha not to go to visit Venu at all. And this was only the beginning of their suffering. The Master said that both the parties must remain totally apart. He asked Venu’s mother to tell the boy that Rekha had left the ashram. There were seven thousand disciples living at the ashram, so it would take Venu a few years to discover that his friend had not actually left. The Master then strictly ordered Rekha not to go to Venu’s house any more. He said, “For forty years you enjoyed the company of your husband. Now let this poor woman enjoy the company of her son for forty years. God is always kind and just. You had Venu; now let her have him.”

The human mind and doubt are inseparable friends. Tushar again started doubting the Master. Granted, this child was his father, he argued. But how was it, he asked himself, that the child never impressed him in any way? He never had any inner feeling for the boy. He thought that something was wrong. Meanwhile, at home, his mother was miserable because the Master had prohibited her from seeing her former husband. His sister, Mula, was also extremely sad over this situation and Tushar was not in a position to console either of them. Who could console them after the Master had made this irrevocable decision? Finally an idea entered his mind. He decided to go and visit another spiritual Master of great eminence, whom he had heard much about from his friends and acquaintances. This Master had a very small ashram, with only forty disciples, as compared to Tushar’s Master who had thousands of disciples.

So one day Tushar went to this Master’s ashram and asked to have an interview with the Master. The interview was granted. Tushar narrated his sad story to the spiritual Master and asked whether all that his Master had said about the child was true.

The spiritual Master said, “First of all, I must tell you that it is quite immaterial whether or not the child was your father. You will not be able to claim him as a member of your family in any case. You were curious to know about your father. Now look where curiosity has led you. To misery! I feel especially sorry for your mother. When you go home, tell your mother that since she has accepted the spiritual life, it is God alone who is her husband, child, father, mother, brother and sister. God is her all. My philosophy says that the past is dust. Since her past has not given her God-realisation, she should not look into the warehouse of the past, but into the treasure-house of the golden future — the future that will give her Love, Light and Fulfilment in boundless measure. You know perfectly well that curiosity is not spirituality. But God has given me a heart of compassion. Since your mother has been suffering badly over this situation, I shall console her in a special way. If you have faith in me, then get married as soon as possible. In a year’s time, I will bring the soul of your father into your family. I shall be able to prove to you, your mother and your sister that this time it is really your father who has come into your family.”

Tushar bowed down to the spiritual Master and touched his feet. Then he went back home and told his mother this incredible story. Rekha immediately arranged for her son’s marriage. In three weeks she found a most beautiful and spiritual girl for him. After one year of marriage, Tushar’s wife was blessed with a child.

When Tushar’s child was one year old he used to stretch out his hands and bless Rekha, his grandmother, most affectionately. This was exactly what Venu used to do to his wife every morning and evening. When the child was two years old, he stopped drinking milk. When his mother and grandmother tried to feed him milk, he would say, “No milk! No milk!” The very sight of milk made him sad and angry. Rekha remembered that her husband had always hated milk.

One day, when the child was four years old, he called out to his grandmother, “Rekha.” Everybody was astonished to hear the name “Rekha,” since no one in the family would call her by her own name except her husband. The son could not call his mother by her first name, nor could the daughter or the daughter-in-law. The child had never heard his grandmother’s first name. But he said to his grandmother, “Rekha, what have you done with the money?”

Rekha, who was overwhelmed, asked him, “What money?”

“Don’t you remember that in my bedroom, right under my cot, you and I dug a hole, and there we placed a small tumbler in which we kept twenty thousand rupees for our children?”

Rekha, poor Rekha! She had totally forgotten about the money. She took the child in her arms and brought him to the spot he had spoken of. Tushar dug a hole in that same spot and discovered a large tumbler with twenty thousand rupees inside it.

When he was seven years old, the child asked his grandmother, “Rekha, where is our Lord? I want to go and see him.” Now Venu had always called his Master “Lord,” and he was the only one in the family who did so. “I want to go and see him. I wish to go and see my Lord.”

On behalf of his son, Tushar wrote a letter to his Master. By this time, the Master had heard quite a few striking stories about Tushar’s son, and he had also heard about the Master whom Tushar had visited. On reading Tushar’s letter, the Master became furious. He wrote a nasty letter to Tushar, saying that he and his whole family had to leave the ashram on that very day. Tushar, his mother, his wife and his sister did not feel at all sorry. On the contrary, they were glad that they could go away from that ashram quite peacefully, without creating any further embarrassment for their Master. Long before this they had been thoroughly convinced that this young child was a reincarnation of their beloved Venu. By this time, they were more than eager to go to the other Master and become his disciples.

A few days later, Tushar’s ex-Master most vehemently attacked the new Master with all his occult power. But the ex-Master was no match for the present Master. The ex-Master inwardly said to the new Master, “Because of you, I have lost a spiritual family. Because of you, seven thousand disciples of mine have started losing faith in me.”

Tushar’s new Master replied, “You have played your role, and I have exposed your deception to the world at large. You have over seven thousand disciples, while I have only forty disciples. But I am warning you! Do not exploit innocent and sincere hearts! Otherwise, God will expose you again and again through other instruments like me.

“You thought that since you had seven thousand disciples, you were a great spiritual giant; whereas poor me, with only forty disciples, could be of no consequence. I tell you, it is not the number of disciples one has, not the quantity, but the quality that matters and I tell you, because of their sincere inner cry and pure life, my disciples have far surpassed yours. Time will prove it.

“It is not the ego in me that is speaking; it is the Wisdom-light that is speaking. There is no competition between you and me, and there can be no competition between my spiritual children and your spiritual children. My children and I are walking along one road; you and your children are walking along another road. Our road is sunlit precisely because we are simple, sincere, dedicated and totally consecrated to our goal. No doubt your goal and our goal are one and the same, but the path that you are walking along is very long and narrow because you are consciously and deliberately wedded to deception, darkness and ignorance. Most of your children are living in the world of luxury and pleasure. But spiritual life is a life of self-dedication and not a life of enjoyment. Be sincere to yourself. Your sincerity will give birth to your children’s sincerity. Sincerity is our eternal safeguard.

“My last warning to you is this: if you again exploit innocent hearts, you will not only lose all your disciples, but they all will surpass you in the real spiritual world, the world of inner achievement. And what is worse, you will have to get your liberation, salvation and illumination from one of your disciples at some remote future time. Mind you, this will take place hundreds of years from now, when you become totally sincere and dedicated.

“God, out of His infinite Bounty, has blessed me with occult and spiritual power which far surpasses yours. Therefore, today you have to accept this most deplorable defeat at my hands. You have a little bit of occult power. But mere acquisition of occult power, no matter how great, does not indicate that one is a God-realised soul. You are a shining example. For you God-realisation is still a far cry. My only advice to you is this: deception and God-realisation are two eternal strangers.”

Silence is the best truth

Many years ago in Bengal, India, there lived several spiritual Masters who were renowned for their sincerity. They were sincerity incarnate, and many times they suffered severely for this. Nevertheless, they were determined not to swerve from the path of truth.

One day, with his fifty intimate disciples, the Master Kudal went to a religious festival. Thousands of seekers and hundreds of disciples with their respective Masters came to attend this religious festival. The disciples of various Masters sang spiritual songs and staged spiritual plays. It was a colossal gathering. In the street that afternoon, all of a sudden Kudal approached a beautiful girl of seventeen who was with her parents, and he cried out, “Mother, Mother, you are here! You were my mother in your last incarnation. Mother, bless me. I am your son, Kudal.” 

Kudal’s disciples were at first amazed, because they had never encountered this kind of behaviour in their Master before. Sushila, the girl, was embarrassed and shocked. Her mother thought that Kudal was crazy. Her father became furious and threatened Kudal.

When Kudal’s disciples saw that their Master was being threatened by the girl’s father, one disciple said to him, “How dare you insult our Master? Our Master is a great Yogi! If you ever again dare to insult him, we shall send you to the other world. Fifty of his disciples are here now. If you don’t want to believe what our Master says, don’t believe it. If your daughter does not want to bless our Master, let her not bless our Master. But you are a fool! The entire world is eager to be blessed by our Master. He is a Yogi of the highest magnitude. Just because your daughter happened to be his physical mother in her last incarnation, he wants to be blessed by her. The physical son, no matter how great and high he is, no matter how divine he is, offers his loving devotion to his mother. Do not ascribe undivine motives to a Master of his calibre.” Sushila’s father said to the disciples, “For God’s sake, let me take my daughter home. Enough of this Kudal, this spiritual rogue! I always knew that spirituality was a bosom friend of stupidity.” 

But, meanwhile, something was happening in Sushila’s heart. During the disciple’s angry outburst, she had been looking at Kudal most affectionately and soulfully. When her father and mother led her away, she began to weep. She said to her father, “Father, you have insulted a great spiritual Master. To insult a spiritual Master is a terrible sin. And I strongly feel that I was his mother in my previous life.”

Immediately Sushila’s mother cried, “Stop! Stop! He is a rogue and you are a fool! I don’t want you to be fooled by a fake Master.”

The father added, “He is not only a rogue and a fake, but an immoral character as well. The way he came up to you, my daughter, and talked to you in the street was utterly distasteful. His manners were nothing but callous.”

Sushila said to her parents, “If you go on speaking ill of this great spiritual Master, I shall not talk to you anymore.”

Suddenly the mother said, “A brilliant idea has struck my mind. Let us go to our own Master and ask him if what this one has told us is all true.”

The father immediately agreed, saying, “Indeed, that is an excellent idea. Undoubtedly our Master is infinitely greater and higher than this Kudal, whom Sushila now seems to be on the verge of accepting as her own.” 

Sushila said to her parents, “If you go on speaking ill of this great spiritual Master, I shall not talk to you any more.”

Her mother became furious and scolded, “Shame, shame on you! How dare you compare our Master with that silly man!”

“Mother, don’t call him silly, for I inwardly feel that he is really good and great.”

Her father, in an ironic voice, uttered, “Divine, too, no doubt.”

Sushila said to her parents, “Why are you torturing me? Let us go to our Master and solve our problems.”

The mother replied, “Forgive us. Let us go.”

On their arrival at their Master’s home, the father blurted out, “Master, today has been the most inauspicious and trying day of my life. That Kudal, who styles himself as a great Master, has created a terrible problem in our family! Thousands of people are enjoying the religious festival, and we wanted to do the same. Alas, all of a sudden a hostile force had to attack us. This hostile force was none other than Kudal, the great fake. Master, do you know what he told us? He told us that our dearest Sushila was his mother in her last incarnation! And what is most painful is that Sushila believes it. Please, Master, tell us once and for all that it was all false. Once she hears this from you, Sushila will not be so attached to him and fascinated by him.”

The Master went deep within. Fifteen minutes later he came out of his trance and said, “Kudal was right, perfectly right.” The mother burst into tears, the father flew into a rage, and Sushila fell at the Master’s feet with overwhelming gratitude.

Sobbing, the mother said to the Master, “Master, already it is almost impossible for us to keep our daughter at home. Now I am sure she will go and join Kudal. He will ruin our dearest daughter. She is our only daughter. She is the only child in our family.”

The father said, “Impossible! As long as I am on earth, I shall not allow my Sushila to go near him.”

Sushila smilingly said, “Let us see.”

Then the father said to the Master, “Master, we came to you to be saved. Instead of saving us, you have totally destroyed our family. I tell you, you and Kudal are two unthinkable and unbearable fakes. I had great faith in you, in myself and in God. I am giving up the spiritual life for good. Tonight I shall set fire to your house and burn the whole thing to ashes!”

The Master replied, “My son, you can do anything you want with my house and with my life, but I shall always speak the truth. I shall never waver an inch from the truth.”

“But don’t you see that your truth has destroyed my whole family?” cried the father. “What kind of truth is it that destroys a sweet, loving and affectionate family? I hate your sense of truth, and I literally hate you!”

That night, Sushila’s father kept his inhuman promise to set fire to his Master’s house. In the middle of the night, the unfortunate Master had to take shelter in his garden. Before his very eyes, his house burned to the ground. Yet his compassion and forgiveness prevailed.

Early in the morning, this Master’s own spiritual Master came to him occultly during his meditation and said, “My dearest son, compassion is good, forgiveness is good, but you have to know that wisdom is equally good. Truth is unparalleled and incomparable. But on the physical plane, if you all the time use the truth in its pristine form, the ignorance of the world finds it extremely hard to bear. The world stands against the one who offers truth. So, at times, silence is the best truth, and not the revelation of one’s realisation.

“Look how Kudal’s sincerity was misunderstood. And your sincerity was met with ingratitude and destruction. I tell you, although sincerity is of utmost importance, at times silence is the only medicine that can cure this world of ignorance. Speak the truth when it is inspiring, encouraging, illumining and fruitful. But in cases where the truth will create measureless misunderstanding and untold suffering, silence is by far the best truth, the only truth.”

Money, too, can serve God: give the money a chance

There was once a spiritual Master with a few hundred disciples who, fortunately or unfortunately, had peculiar ideas about material wealth. He was of the opinion that money-power and God-love could never go together. He felt that money was the worst possible evil on earth. Therefore, he made it a point not to accept any money from anyone.

This Master’s disciples were extremely fond of him and extremely proud of his inner Peace, Light, Bliss and Power. They respected his ideas about money and supplied all his material needs, which were very few, without making him have to deal with money. In addition, most of them soulfully embraced their Master’s opinions and had as little to do with money as they possibly could.

Luva, a very close disciple of the Master, always liked to be exceptional, and he exploited the Master’s loving compassion quite often. The Master had repeatedly said that he would not accept money for the interviews he gave to disciples, seekers and admirers. He would accept no money for his spiritual discourses, either. But at the end of each interview with the Master, Luva used to plead with him to accept some money as a love-offering. The Master regarded Luva as a spoiled child, and quite reluctantly he would accept money from him.

Because of his special treatment of Luva, the Master became a victim to merciless criticism from some of his disciples, and this was quite painful for him. But the Master thought that since Luva had many good qualities which others badly lacked, he could condone his dear disciple’s unfounded and persistent demand. Fortunately, there were also some disciples who were extremely devoted to the Master and who felt that there was a special reason why the Master dealt with Luva in this way. For them, the Master’s way of dealing with any disciple or anybody on earth was simply perfect.

Luva’s exploitation of the Master in the matter of money lasted for three long years. Then, finally one day he said to Luva, “Luva, I shall no longer accept money from you after I give you an interview. Every week, as usual, I shall grant you an interview, but the fulfilment of my advice in your life of aspiration is the only fee or love-offering that I wish.” Luva was astounded. But he felt that this time the Master was using his adamantine will. He felt that it would be useless to argue or plead with the Master, because this time the Master would not surrender to his emotional demands. Nevertheless, Luva was reluctant to give up all at once the idea of offering money to his Master.

A few days later the Master said to Luva, “Come tomorrow morning for an interview. But remember, don’t bring any money with you.” The next morning the Master gave Luva a most significant interview. At the end of the interview he asked, “Well, Luva, have you brought any money with you?” Luva hesitated for a moment and then handed the Master a hundred dollar bill.

Sadly the Master took the money. Then he became furious. He said to Luva, “Now my hands are itching, my palms are burning! I have told you people many times that I cannot touch money. Money is a hostile force. Now I have to wash my hands thoroughly with soap and water.” Luva was sad and happy. He was sad because he had created such discomfort for the Master, but happy because the Master had accepted his money once again. Still he could claim to be exceptional.

The following week the Master granted Luva another interview. At the end of the interview the Master asked him whether he had brought any money with him. In a trembling voice Luva replied, “Yes, I have.”

“Where is it?” the Master asked.

“It is inside my pocket.”

The Master said, “It deeply pains me to tell you that you are polluting the spiritual atmosphere of my house by carrying money into my meditation room. Therefore, I shall not grant you any more interviews in my house. You are welcome to come inside to meditate, but each week, when I give you an interview, it will be outside my house, in the garden.”

Then the Master cut off all the pockets of Luva’s shirt and said, “From now on, when I give you interviews you will wear only this shirt which has no pockets. Then you will not be able to bring any money with you. I am totally disgusted with you. You are constantly violating my law.”

The following week, the Master and Luva were having a most soulful discussion under a mango tree in the garden. During this interview Luva had a solid and concrete experience of Light and Delight in his heart. He was overwhelmed with joy, and again and again he offered his soulful gratitude to the Master.

When the interview was over, the Master, as usual, asked Luva whether he had brought any money with him. But before Luva could answer, a huge branch suddenly broke off from the mango tree and fell right on the Master. The Master, being an old man, had not been able to move away in time, but Luva had been able to escape. Immediately the disciple went back to help his Master. Seeing that the Master was severely injured and unconscious, Luva became extremely frightened and upset. He ran to call the best possible doctor for his beloved Master.

When the doctor arrived he soon discovered that the Master’s case was extremely serious. His head was badly wounded. The doctor was very famous and also very expensive because of his unsurpassed capacity in medicine. In two months, he was able to cure the Master completely. Luva paid all the doctor’s fees.

After his recovery, the Master said to Luva, “Son, your money-power has saved my life this time, not my inner light and my spiritual power. I wish to tell you that mere money-power cannot elevate human consciousness even an inch, and if human consciousness is not elevated and transformed into divine consciousness, man will always remain undivine and half-animal. But at last the realisation has dawned on me that when money-power is needed to serve spiritual power, money-power should be accepted with loving and blessingful gratitude. Only then can spiritual power, which is love-power and oneness-power, do its work and transform today’s man into tomorrow’s God.”

Published in The Master Surrenders

The World Within and the World Without

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at College Hall, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire

Dear seekers of the infinite Truth and Light, I wish to give a short talk on the two worlds: the world within and the world without, the inner world and the outer world.

The citizens of the outer world are brooding doubt, teeming fear and strangling jealousy.

The citizens of the inner world are blossoming faith, soaring courage and glowing love.

Doubt destroys the universal Brother in us
Fear destroys the supernal Dreamer in us.
Jealousy destroys the transcendental Lover in us.

Without the Brother, our body is helpless.
Without the Dreamer, our mind is hopeless.
Without the Lover, our heart is fruitless.

Faith inspires the divine seeker in us.
Courage feeds the eternal server in us.
Love fulfils the immortal runner in us.

With our soulful faith, we knock at God's Heart-door.

With our adamantine courage, we confidently walk to God's Heart-room.

With our serene and pure love, we run to God's Heart-room and occupy the special seat right beside God's Throne.

Two worlds: the outer world and the inner world. The outer world constantly demands. There is no end to its demand. When its demands are not fulfilled, the outer world begins to expect. When its expectations are not fulfilled, the outer world becomes frustrated and wants to destroy everything around it.

The inner world does not demand, does not expect. The inner world only accepts. It accepts human beings as they are. Once it accepts them, it tries either to transform or to fulfil them. Each human being has imperfections and limitations. The inner world tries to transform our limitations into plenitude, our imperfections into perfections. And again, within each individual there are divine qualities like hope, dream and promise. The inner world fulfils our hope, fulfils our dream and fulfils our promise. What is our hope? Our hope is to become good and divine. What is our dream? Our dream is to enter into the vastness of the Infinite and become the Infinite itself. And what is our promise? Our promise is to create here on earth the Kingdom of Heaven. The inner world helps us, inspires us, energises us and finally fulfils our promise at God's choice Hour.

In the outer world, the highest achievement is the mind. There are three types of mind: the physical mind, the intellectual mind and the intuitive mind. The physical mind is the mind that is involved in and controlled by the gross physical consciousness, the mind that operates in and through the physical only. The intellectual mind is the mind that dissects and examines everything and everyone from a distance without becoming inseparably one with the object of its scrutiny. The intuitive mind is the mind that runs like the fastest deer. It enters instantly into something and becomes the very essence of that thing on the strength of its God-given capacity to feel its oneness with everything around it.

Most of us do not have this intuitive mind, but we try to cultivate it. When we pray and meditate we gradually cultivate the intuitive mind. Once we have developed the intuitive mind we have free access to our inner realms where the bumper crop of realisation grows. Realisation is the song of plenitude, fulfilment and God-victory in our still obscure, impure, unaspiring and unfulfilled life.

In the inner world the highest achievement is the heart — the aspiring heart, the surrendering heart, the ever-transcending heart. The aspiring heart wants to climb up high, higher, highest, and while climbing it illumines the world around it. The surrendering heart offers its very existence to the Will of the omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God, the Inner Pilot. The surrendering heart knows that it is a tiny drop that has to merge into the mighty Ocean, God. By surrendering to this Ocean it does not lose its individuality and personality. On the contrary, it gains the individuality and personality of the Ocean, itself. When it merges into the Ocean, the tiniest drop becomes the mighty Ocean. The ever-transcending heart knows that there is no end to our progress and achievement. Today's goal is tomorrow's starting point. Again, tomorrow's goal will be the starting point for the day after tomorrow, since God Himself is endlessly progressing and eternally transcending His own infinite Heights.

The inner world and the outer world can and will eventually go together. But we have to know that, at the outset of our spiritual journey, we have to change our priorities. That is to say, we have now to pay utmost attention to the inner world, instead of to the outer world. We have to go without from within, not the other way around. Once we are well established in the inner world, we can again turn our attention to the outer world. First we shall give utmost importance to the inner world, then gradually to the outer world, until finally we love and serve both worlds equally and simultaneously. When we are fully established in the outer world on the strength of the divinity we have acquired in the inner world, at that time we shall successfully unite both the outer and the inner worlds.

The inner world is the seed. The outer world is the banyan tree. We have to pay attention to the seed first. When the seed germinates, it grows eventually into a banyan tree. Without the seed the tree cannot come into existence, and without the tree our expectations from the seed can never be fulfilled. So in the beginning the seed is important. In the end the tree is important, because it has grown from divine origins.

The inner world is the soul and the outer world is the body. Without the body the soul cannot manifest. But without the soul the body cannot realise. If we pay attention to the soul and allow our inner being to be surcharged with the soul's light, then we can successfully enter into and illumine the obscurity, impurity and darkness of the outer world. Once the outer world is illumined, it can live harmoniously hand in glove with the inner world.

The outer world is the horse. The inner world is the rider. The horse has to carry the rider or Master to the destined goal. If there is no rider to inspire and energise the horse and direct it to the destined goal, the horse will reach the goal very slowly, if at all. So the rider needs the help of the horse, which is the body; and the horse needs the guidance of the rider, which is the soul.

In our ordinary life, no matter how much material wealth we have, no matter how much outer authority we can exercise, we shall not be satisfied. Satisfaction is not to be found in the present-day outer world, no matter what we do, what we say or what we achieve. But today's insufficiency is not and cannot be a permanent reality in our lives. When the light of the inner world looms large and comes to the fore, satisfaction automatically dawns in our devoted mind and surrendered heart. What we want from our lives is satisfaction — nothing more, nothing less. This satisfaction we are bound to achieve, provided we dive deep within and approach the outer world from the inner world.

Let us enter into the inner world and bring forward the plenitude, the Eldorado, of the inner world, and share it with the outer world. Today we are having a kind of experience, an unfulfilling or unfulfilled experience. But tomorrow we can, without fail, have fulfilling and fulfilled experiences of Divinity and Immortality, provided we aspire. What do we aspire for? We aspire only for the Highest, for the Ultimate, for the absolute Supreme. How do we aspire? We aspire through constant self-giving. And today's self-giving is tomorrow's God-becoming.

Published in Fifty Freedom-Boats to One Golden Shore, part 1

The Incarnation of Golden Opportunity

a talk by Sri Chinmoy
at the Summerstrand Holiday Inn, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Let me say something about reincarnation. I do hope all of you believe in reincarnation — or perhaps it is just a word for some of you. Whether I was a lion in my last animal incarnation, or whether I was a great spiritual figure in my previous human incarnation, the past is dust. Who we were, God knows. But we have to become something in the future. In my case, in all sincerity and with utmost authenticity, I can say that I will have no more incarnations. This is the very end of my earthly sojourn. But, unfortunately or fortunately, there is nobody here who will not take any more incarnations. Everybody has to come back. Everybody will have to reincarnate on earth to work either for God or for himself. All of you will definitely have to take many, many incarnations before you realise God, whether you want to or not. That is not up to you.

You are seeing that this God-realised soul is suffering so much in the hands of humanity. Perhaps you will say, “Who wants God-realisation? Guru is suffering so much!” True, I am suffering; but God will not allow anybody to remain unrealised.

Now the question is, how much opportunity can you get in one incarnation to make progress? All the spiritual Masters have said that if you get a God-realised soul as your spiritual Master in any human incarnation, then you get the utmost opportunity — not only to run the fastest in that incarnation, but also to reduce the number of your future incarnations.

If you can please your Master in every sphere of your life, then your future incarnations will be smoother, more illumining and more fulfilling. If you would have taken fifty, sixty or even two hundred more incarnations to realise God, you can do it perhaps in ten, twenty or thirty incarnations. But, rest assured, there is nobody here who can say, “I will not take any more incarnations” or “I do not care for God-realisation; I do not need God.” God will not allow anybody to remain unrealised. You have to come back again and again and again.

For my disciples I wish to say that, if in this incarnation you are not taking advantage of your association with me, if you are not properly utilising your inner and outer connection with me, then you are making a Himalayan mistake. Each time you come back to earth, you will see how difficult it is to make progress. It is impossible to fathom the suffering that each human being goes through on earth. You feel that your suffering is unbearable, but you have no idea how much more those who are not following any spiritual path suffer. You are fortunate in that you are following the spiritual life.

Eventually each and every person must enter into the spiritual life. It does not have to be a path, as such. As my disciples, you have a path; but many other spiritual seekers and Masters of the highest order did not follow any particular path. Lord Buddha and Sri Krishna did not follow a path. They realised God by virtue of their own aspiration and meditation.

When you follow a spiritual Master, however, you have an added advantage. Sri Ramakrishna used to say that a cow yields milk, and this milk is not in the tail or the nose or the ear of the cow. There is a special place. When you press the udder, then you get milk. Similarly, when the spiritual Master comes, it is from the Master’s third eye or from his heart that you can get illumination. The third eye is difficult to see, but the heart you can see and feel.

I am coming back to the subject of future incarnations. Each incarnation gives us experiences. You can call them healthy or unhealthy, but these experiences are leading us to a special goal. Some human beings have acquired spiritual wealth — peace, light and bliss — from their previous incarnations. From their former aspiration, they have received some divine qualities. Definitely, definitely, God will give them back these divine qualities when they start their journey again. And then He will tell them to increase and increase their divine qualities. Again, there are millions of people on earth who will be starting their new incarnation, new life, without any divine peace, divine light or divine bliss.

When you join a spiritual path, you have so many opportunities to make progress. It is like entering into a most beautiful garden. Thousands of flowers are there and each one has fragrance and beauty. You can pluck whichever flower gives you joy. You can have many inner experiences and collect the fragrance inside your heart, inside your inner life. And you can bring back these experiences each time you take incarnation.

The most important thing for those people who are following a spiritual path is how seriously they take their spiritual life, how much they value their spiritual life, how much they want to keep their inner connection with their Inner Pilot, with the Supreme.

It may happen, and it is happening, that some of my disciples took the spiritual life far more seriously when they first joined the path. If the connection that they established with the Supreme when they first took the spiritual life seriously has diminished, if the same spirit is not there, if the same eagerness is not there, if the same willingness, love, devotion and surrender are not there, then naturally their feeling for the inner life will not be there. If this connection or oneness or depth is no longer there, if the heart’s mounting cry is no longer there or the flame is almost extinguished, then no matter what happens, no matter how many years they spend on the path, how can they ever hope that in their future incarnations they will be able to lead a spiritual life from the very beginning? No, it is just their wishful thinking.

When you are in the boat, when you are on the path, the question is whether you want to make the fastest progress or you want to go at the speed of an Indian bullock cart. You can do either. Once you enter Eternity’s marathon in the inner life, you can stop, you can even lie down, but you cannot leave the race. Once you start, you have to finish. Even if you do not enter the race today, you have to start at some time in the future. There will be endless marathons, and you will have to participate. Today you may say, “I am not ready. I do not care for it.” But tomorrow or the day after tomorrow you will be compelled to enter into this inner race, inner marathon. Again, some runners run the fastest, while others do not. But still, these runners go on and slowly, steadily, they have to reach their destination.

Many spiritual Masters, when they realise God, promise that they are going to come back to earth, but I assure you, among the spiritual Masters of the highest order, nobody has come back and nobody will come back. Their emanation or something like that may come, but the realised souls of the highest order do not come back. Once Sri Ramakrishna pointed out a certain place on the map and said he would come back there. That place happened to be Russia. Has he taken birth in Russia? No, he has not.

I am going off the track, so let me come back to the subject. This incarnation is the incarnation of golden opportunity. Revive your aspiration! Revive your dedication! Revive, revive everything! Follow the path of love, devotion, surrender and oneness. If these divine qualities are deserting you, or if you are deliberately not valuing them, or if you feel that there is nothing in the spiritual life, then you can go and try the other life; we call it the outer life. You will see that the outer life is infinitely, infinitely more difficult. While you are on the path, the opportunities that you can get from your aspiration, dedication, love, devotion and surrender, and through your regular spiritual discipline, you are not going to get if you do not follow the spiritual life.

Again, just because you have been leading a spiritual life for many years does not mean that you can now go in your own way — no! The inner connection is of supreme importance. By virtue of your inner connection — tight, tighter, tightest — you make the fastest progress. The moment you see that the inner connection is slackening, if you see that it is not as strong as before, rest assured that you are going far, farther, farthest from your own spiritual life, which is the real life. You may think that you will be happy in the outer life, but you have to know that you are fooling yourself.

From the real spiritual life, nobody can escape forever. You can escape for ten years, twenty years, thirty years, forty years. But God will compel you once again to accept the spiritual life either in this incarnation or in a future incarnation, because without the spiritual life, nobody will be able to realise God. In the end, there will not be a single human being who will say, “I do not want God-realisation.” You may now say that you do not want to realise God, but you will be compelled, you will be compelled. By whom? By God Himself. If your aspiration has decreased, that does not mean that God will allow you to remain in the outer life indefinitely and do anything you like. He may allow you for a short time, but He will one day pull the string so hard! Why do you want to wait to be compelled to do something, if you know that it is something good — not only for yourself, but for the entire humanity?

In the spiritual life, the hour comes and goes. Once you misuse the hour, God’s Hour, the next time the hour comes, it becomes more strict. It is like the airport. Before the final call to board the plane, there will be three or four announcements. But when the final call comes, if you do not run and enter into the plane, the plane is not going to wait. You will miss your flight, and who knows when you will get another one. In the spiritual life, it is exactly the same. You want to go from one plane of consciousness to another. You are being called. If you do not take advantage of the opportunity now, if you do not pay any attention when you are called to take the flight, then you become the loser.

Each time we run a marathon, we take an oath that we will never run another one. Then, the following day, what happens? We go out for practice! During the race, everywhere our body is full of pain, pain, pain; but the next day we are inspired to train for the marathon again. The inner marathon does not have fixed mileage. It does not end after twenty-six miles. The inner race is, fortunately or unfortunately, a very, very long journey. If you do not complete your outer marathon, no harm, although some people may laugh at you. Your colleagues may say, “He is useless; he could not complete it.” Or perhaps they will sympathise with you. Then it is up to you whether you wish to try again. But the inner marathon you have to accept. Somebody may say, “Oh, I do not have to run this inner marathon.” But I wish to tell you that the hour will come.

Again, there are some people who have started the inner marathon and then, for some reason, they think they can stop. But in this marathon you cannot quit altogether. For a few days, a few months, a few years or even a few incarnations perhaps you can enjoy rest, but then you will be compelled to start again. Unfortunately, each time you become relaxed in your aspiration, in your eagerness, readiness and willingness, you are only making it more difficult for yourself. If a top sprinter wallows in the pleasures of idleness, then when he goes back to the track it becomes much more difficult for him to bring back his own standard. If today a champion athlete gives up running, who cares? He may say, “I have done enough.” But in the inner life, a spiritual seeker will not be able to stop running. Once he has started the inner race, he will not be able to give up. He will run until the race is won. Here, to win means to realise God.

Your eagerness to go to the goal is of supreme necessity. Each individual has to remember that the race is compulsory, but those who are wise and know they have to run will say, “The sooner the better!” Others may feel that their time has not yet come, so they are lucky.

In a family, let us say that there is a younger brother and an older brother. When the little brother sees his older brother going to school, he may say, “I want to be as great and as wise as my older brother. Now I also have to go to school.” His older brother started perhaps at the age of seven, and he is eager to start at the age of four. Look how wise he is! In the spiritual life also, we see that some saints, some spiritual Masters and some Yogis are like older brothers. If we are wise, we know that their life we also shall have to accept, not in terms of their garments or their outer appearance, but in terms of their heart’s inner cry.

In the outer marathon, once you run twenty-six miles, it is over. Then, after a long time, perhaps three months or six years, you may run another marathon. But in the spiritual life, it is not like that. Once you reach a certain goal, it is the beginning of the journey to another goal, a higher goal. If you conquer a little weakness — some insecurity, jealousy, impurity or lower vital problems — another one comes. But gradually, gradually, no matter how strong the weakness is, you can conquer it.

Published in Live in the Eternal Now

The Genesis of Hope

by Sri Chinmoy
at the Novotel Palm Cove Resort, Cairns, Queensland, Australia

The poem Hope is among my first ten poems in the English language.

I started writing English poems in Pondicherry, India. One day the servants were breaking coconuts. I was watching them and reading Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri. I got inspiration all of a sudden that afternoon. This is how my Hope poem came into existence. It is one of my most inspired poems.

Published in I Wanted to be a Seeker of the Infinite