Fear of the Inner Life
Sri Chinmoy’s second talk
at the University of the West Indies
Kingston, Jamaica
Strange is this world of ours. Stranger is our human understanding. Strangest is our fear of the inner life.
Most of us do not know what the inner life is. What is the inner life? It is the life that lives to grow and that grows to live. It grows in the unhorizoned vision of the soul. It lives in the sublimest plenitude of the soul. This inner life always acts in accordance with the transforming and fulfilling light of the soul. If you do not know your soul, then in the world of divine wisdom you will be accused of dire ignorance. When you know your soul, you become acquainted in no time with God.
Please do not be forgetful of your great promise to God. Before you come into the world, before you donned the human cloak, you had told God, your sweet Lord, with all the sincerity at your command that you would participate in His divine Lila (Drama). He said to you, "My child, fulfil me and fulfil yourself at the same time, on earth." Divinely thrilled, your joy knew no bounds. You said, “Father, I shall. May my soulful promise be worthy of your compassionate Command."
As ill-luck would have it, you have totally forgotten your promise. Here on earth you want to fulfil yourself and not God. Your unlit mind instigates you to betray God. And you do it. You feel that God's fulfilment must come in your fulfilment. If it does not work out that way, you are not prepared to sacrifice one iota of your life-breath to fulfil God here on earth. Your divine promise sheds bitter tears of failure. Needless to say that to try to fulfil yourself before you have fulfilled God is to put the cart before the horse. It is the zenith of absurdity.
Perhaps you have come to learn by now what has compelled you to fail in your most sincere promise to God. It is your fear. If I ask you how many enemies you have, you will jump up and say, "Quite a few." I cannot help saying to you that you are mistaken. You have just one enemy and that's all. But to your wide surprise, it is a host in itself. And that unique enemy of yours is your fear. It is your unconsciously cherished fear.
You are afraid of the inner life, for you feel that the moment you launch into the inner life you are lost, completely lost, a babe in the wood. You may also think that in accepting the inner life, you are building castles in the air. Finally you may feel that to accept the inner life is to throw your most precious life into the roaring mouth of a lion who will devour you and your outer life completely.
You have countless sweet dreams. You want to transform them into reality. All your dreams want to enjoy the world. You want to offer your momentous mite to the world at large, but you feel that if you embark on the inner life, you will be deprived of all these invaluable achievements. So now it is high time for fear to make its appearance and naturally you will fight shy of the inner life. Fear starts torturing you. It tries to limit and bind you.
Unfortunately it is here that your life yields to this deplorable mistake. But once, only once, if with the help of your all-energising meditation, you can carry your long-cherished fear into the inner world, you will see that fear loses its very existence there. In the twinkling of an eye, it becomes one with the dynamic strength of your inner life.
Now if you want truly to possess the outer world, you have to possess the inner world first. Not the other way around. If you want truly to enjoy the outer world, you have to enjoy the inner world first. Not vice versa. If your heart pines to serve humanity, you have to serve the inner divinity first. Infallible is this truth.
Published in AUM — Vol. 4, No. 4,5, Nov. — Dec. 27, 1968
Silence
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
in Conference Room 6, at the United Nations in New York
Silence, Silence.
Silence is the soul’s preparation.
Silence is the heart’s perfection.
Silence is the mind’s illumination.
Silence is the vital’s determination.
Silence is the body’s inspiration.
Silence, Silence.When we are in silence, we grow.
We grow into our Divinity.
When we are of silence, we flow.
We flow into Infinity.
When we are for silence, we glow.
We glow in the heart of Immortality.Man’s silence pleases God. God’s Silence displeases man. Man’s silence touches the very heart, the very life-breath of God’s boundless Gratitude. God’s Silence touches the mind of man’s ever-increasing ingratitude.
The outer silence endures. The inner silence cures. The outer silence is the lamb of God. The inner silence is the lion of God.
We become the lamb of God when we offer ourselves unconditionally to God’s Will, and when God unconditionally and constantly makes us feel that we are not only His chosen instruments, but also His eternal friends. Him to realise, Him to fulfil and Him to manifest on earth: for this we came into the world. When we entered into the world, God offered us His inner Promise to unveil our Reality and manifest our Divinity. And when we go back to Heaven, God shall tell us that we have played our role, we have fulfilled His Promise here on earth.
When God’s Will becomes our will, when we offer to God not only the possessions and achievements of the outer world, but also the awareness, the aspiration and the realisation of the inner world, then we become the lion of God. When we do not aspire, God in us is a sleeping lion. When we aspire, pray and meditate, God in us becomes a roaring lion. This roaring lion devours our teeming darkness and ignorance.
To see God roaring in us, roaring for our inner victory, our divine victory, we have to make a conscious effort. This conscious effort is our constant self-giving according to the Will of God. The Will of God we come to know when we feel the necessity of inner silence. We develop the power of inner silence when we see that the world without God is illusion, imagination, unreality, and that the world with God is divine Vision, fulfilling Reality and everlasting Divinity.
Silence is the seed of God in man.;
Silence is the eternal traveller in us.
Silence is the ever-transcending Goal in us, with us and for us.
Published in The Tears of Nation-Hearts
Questions Answered
by Sri Chinmoy
Question: When you speak of the outer silence, do you mean inaction?
Sri Chinmoy: No, by outer silence I mean the outer expression of one’s inner silence. One silence is dynamic; another silence is static. Static silence is found in deep meditation, which is preparation. Dynamic silence is found in action, which is manifestation. The inner silence guides and illumines us. The outer silence reveals and manifests us.
Question: What do you mean when you speak of unconditional surrender to God's Will, and how can we develop this quality?
Sri Chinmoy: Ordinarily we do everything conditionally. In this world it is always give and take. We exchange things of equal value: we give a shopkeeper money, and he gives us what we need. But God, who has everything in infinite measure, always gives us infinitely more than we give to Him. If we do something for God, then what we will get from Him will be far beyond our expectation. If we give God an iota of prayer, the things that God will give us will be most fulfilling. But there comes a time when we pray to God not in order to get something in return but because we feel that this is what He wishes us to do. At that time we become His chosen instrument and God-representative on earth, and we feel that we are really fulfilling God in His own Way.
But even when we feel we are fulfilling God in His own Way, it is according to our very limited capacity. It is only when we consciously feel that we are not doing anything, but that God is doing everything in and through us, that our capacity becomes unlimited. At that time, even if we just give a smile, in that smile there is infinite potentiality, infinite capacity.
Right now, we look upon God as somebody else. I am somebody, you are somebody and God is a third person. We are completely separate, each with an identity of our own. But a day will come when we make unconditional surrender to God’s Will. At that time when somebody speaks to us, we will feel it is actually God who is speaking to God. We will see not only ourselves but also everyone else as none other than God Himself. But this happens very gradually. When we do something unconditionally, we do something really great, and for that we need much preparation. It takes a few months of constant exercise to develop very powerful muscles. Unconditional surrender is much more difficult to develop. It takes continual daily exercise, and that exercise is our prayer and meditation.
Question: While I am in the office, how can I control my emotions? There is so much injustice and nothing I can do to help myself.
Sri Chinmoy: Right now injustice is creating suffering in your life. Some people in your office are striking you inwardly, and because of your fear or incapacity you cannot protect yourself. But if you become very strong inwardly, you can use this strength either to take yourself to some other plane where their attacks will not reach you or to give them some illumination so they will stop bothering you.
Injustice is a kind of negative or undivine power, whereas light is a divine power. If you seriously enter into the spiritual life and learn how to invoke God’s Light and Compassion, these divine forces will definitely save you from the situation that is now causing you suffering. But this may take a little time.
A quicker way of saving yourself is to acquire peace of mind. At our meditations here at the United Nations, we bring down peace. This peace is not something imaginary; it is very real. When you meditate with us, you can not only feel this peace but you can actually swim in the sea of peace. This peace is a solid power, which is infinitely more powerful than injustice. When you are swimming in the sea of peace, no human power can upset you.
Right now when these people attack you, you become angry and upset because you feel they are of the same standard as you. But when your whole being is flooded with peace, then no matter what other people do, you will feel that they are like children playing in front of you. You will say, “These are all children. What can I expect from them?”
When you have to defend yourself or protect yourself, always try to use a higher weapon. If people say something and you retaliate on their level, there will be no end to it. Again, if you simply swallow your anger, they will continue to take advantage of you. But if you are inundated with inner peace, they will see something in you that can never be conquered. They will see a change in you, and this change will not only puzzle them but also threaten and frighten them. It will make them realise that their weapons are useless.
Peace is the most effective weapon with which to conquer injustice. If you pray and meditate regularly, you will soon feel that your peace is infinitely stronger, more fulfilling and more energising than the unfortunate situations that others create.
Published in My Meditation-Service at the United Nations for Twenty-Five Years
You
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
in Meyer Hall, New York University, New York
You want God. You need God. You have God. You are God.
You want God and you need God.
When you are in your vital, you want God.
When you are in your heart, you need God.Your vital demands God’s choice Hour.
Your heart devotedly waits for God’s choice Hour.When your vital knocks at God’s door, no answer.
Frustrated, you break open God’s door.
Alas, alas, God is not to be found in His room. He is elsewhere.God knocks at your heart’s door.
You immediately answer.
God blesses your devoted head.
God embraces your surrendered heart.You want God in order to dominate His vast creation.
You need God in order to emancipate your little world.You have God and you are God.
You have God, therefore you can look up.
You are God, therefore you can dive within.You have God, therefore the world loves you.
You are God, therefore it is you alone who can expand your universal consciousness,it is you alone who can always transcend your ever-transcending height.You have God. Your sea-deep eyes can prove it.
You are God. Your sun-vast heart is the proof.You have God. Your body of sound can prove it.
You are God. Your soul of silence is the proof.You have God, therefore death bows to you.
You are God, therefore immortality claims you.You have God, therefore you are unmistakably great.
You are God, therefore you are ceaselessly good.AUM
God you want?
Then your first friend is temptation,
Your second friend is frustration,
Your third friend is destruction.God you need?
Then your first friend is love,
Your second friend is devotion,
Your third friend is surrender.God you have.
Your first friend is aspiration,
Your second friend is liberation,
Your third friend is realisation.God you are.
Your first friend is revelation,
Your second friend is manifestation,
Your third friend is perfection.God you want? Be careful.
God you need? Be hopeful.
God you have. Whom else do you need? None.
God you are. Who does not need you? None.Everybody needs you, for you have God, for you are God.
You are the body,
You are the vital,
You are the mind,
You are the heart,
You are the soulOf what you have and what you are.
What you have is a vast heart.
What you are is a glowing soul.God you want. God you need. God you have. God you are.
Published in AUM – Vol. 1, No. 2, 27 February 1974
Everyone has his Own Role
An Indian Story by Sri Chinmoy
A great spiritual Master once asked his close disciples to come and meditate with him. When they came and sat in front of him, he said, “Today I have a special request to make, and I hope each of you will fulfil my request. God has made a serious mistake, and I want all of you to help me in rectifying the mistake.”
Some of the disciples bowed down, puzzled, while others burst into laughter. Then the Master said, “I am serious. Please take me seriously, all those who are laughing. And others, I am telling you not to be so puzzled. You will see that this is something truly illumining.
“You know that in God’s creation there are tigers, lions, bears and other animals that eat only meat. Again, in God’s creation there are also cows, buffaloes, goats and animals that eat only grass and leaves. Now, why should it be that one party will eat only meat while another party will eat only grass? Let us have both parties eat both meat and grass. Or let us reverse it, so the tiger, lion and bear will eat grass and the cow, buffalo and goat will eat meat. In this way we shall fulfil them.” Again, some of the disciples laughed; others grew more puzzled.
The Master continued, “There is nothing to laugh at, and there is nothing to be puzzled over. Now, for God’s sake help me.”
“What kind of help would you like?” asked the disciples. “We don’t understand.”
“You don’t understand?” said the Master. “Is it such a difficult thing that I am speaking about? In a family one brother may be sick and another may be healthy and strong. So the mother will not give the same food to both. To the one who is really sick the mother will give one type of food and to the one who is strong and stout the mother will give another type.
“Again, usually we eat ordinary food at home, but when a relative or friend comes, we make a special meal. Now, rich people eat richer, more fattening food. Poor people, on the other hand, eat simple food. When rich people come, I try to give them rich food because they are in the habit of eating it. But since you people have accepted the spiritual life, an austere life, you do not need that kind of food. Still, some of you feel miserable that I don’t give you the same food that I give rich people. But God is not that kind of communist. He feels that what you need is best for you and what I need is best for me. Your needs are different from my needs. That does not mean that either your need or my need is superior or inferior. Only we are meant for two different things.
“So God wants to please each individual in his own way. If for everybody God has to do the same thing, then individuals will start doing everything wrong. Everybody has to perform his own role and fulfil God’s Will in God’s own Way. Some of you find fault with me because to some I give rich food, to others I give simple food. To some I give a smile, to others I don’t give a smile. Always you find fault, wondering why I am not doing the same thing for each person. But all human beings cannot be treated in the same way, if one really cares for humanity’s progress. Even in a family each member has to be treated differently so that he can make the best progress. It is absolutely necessary that a little child be treated one way and a grownup another. The child cannot be treated like an older person and an older person cannot be treated like a child.
“Each soul evolves, starting from the stone life. From the stone consciousness it goes to the animal world and then to the human world. Many of us once upon a time were tigers, lions and bears or cows, buffaloes and goats, and the food was different for each of us. Each one has to eat according to his own nature. Some people eat ignorance-food, some people eat knowledge-food. People who need aspiration are of one type, and those who need desire are of another type. So aspiration-lovers and desire-lovers cannot go together. They have to be kept separately, like the animals who need different food. That is how all parts of God’s creation fit together and that is why God’s creation is perfect. God wants to be pleased in many ways by many people, and each individual in His infinite creation is pleasing God in the special way that God wants to be pleased.”
At this point two of the Master’s disciples came forward and bowed down to the Master, saying, “You have read our mind. This morning we were criticising you because you gave rich people richer food than poor people. We felt that you were partial to some and cruel and indifferent to others. Now we see that you are neither partial nor indifferent; you favour neither the rich nor the poor. You are only dealing with each individual according to his necessity. Now we have understood. Please forgive us.”
The Master said, “I have already forgiven you. That’s why I took the time to illumine you. Had I not forgiven you, I would not have taken the time to illumine you. And I am saying this in front of the others so that they do not make the same deplorable mistake.
“Live in the sea of my love. Then only there will be no confusion, no misunderstanding and no problem. Nothing can separate you from my love, from my oneness and from my satisfaction in you, if you please me in my own way.”
Published in Great Indian Meals: Divinely Delicious and Supremely Nourishing, part 2
A Special Prayer
by Sri Chinmoy
in Kumamoto, Japan
My dear God, my dearer God, my dearest God,
My sweet Lord, my sweeter Lord,
My sweetest Lord,
At my journey's start You blessed me
Most compassionately and most affectionately
With quite a few divine qualities.
My life's God, my heart's Lord,
In the future if once more I displease You,
Then You may take away
All the divine qualities
Save and except one:
Please, please, please keep with me
My obedience-heart
To breathe prayerfully, happily
And gloriously
In my mind, in my vital and in my body.
My life's God, my heart's Lord,
This morning my soul, that represents You
Divinely, supremely and eternally,
In soundless sound has told me
That if I continue displeasing You,
Either consciously or even unconsciously,
Then mine will be the life
Of utter failure-tears
At the end of my journey's close.
My life's God, my heart's Lord,
May my outer life of dedication
Become Your absolute Commander-Will-
Obedience-perfection.
May my inner heart of aspiration
Become Your absolute Commander-Will-
Obedience-satisfaction.
Published in My Sweet Father-Lord, Where are You?
Sri Chinmoy’s comments:
My children, if you believe in miracles, this poem can give you most miraculous results. Recite it and meditate on it 7 times today and, if possible, every day in your life and I assure you my divine confidence in this particular prayer will make you a supremely choice instrument of our Lord Beloved Supreme.