The Aspiring Life
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at L’Aula, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Dear seekers, dear sisters and brothers, I wish to give a short talk on life. Needless to say, I shall speak on life from the spiritual point of view.
Life is a lost opportunity if I do not aspire. Life is a gained prosperity if I aspire. Life is a lost soul if I do not aspire. Life is a gained goal if I aspire. Life is an animal-destruction if I do not aspire. Life is God-Perfection if I aspire.
When I do not aspire, earth does not need me and Heaven does not need me. When I aspire, earth needs me and Heaven needs me; also, God needs me. There was a time when I lived the desiring life. At that time, I wanted to capture the world; I wanted to own the world. Now I aspire. I wish to become a perfect instrument of God. I wish to serve humanity and be constantly dedicated to humanity.
For me, life is a forward march. For me, life is an upward climb. For me, life is an inward dive. When I march forward, I see God's Sound-Power. When I climb upward, I see God's Silence-Power. When I dive deep within, I feel God's Love-Power. God's Sound-Power has awakened my life. God's Silence-Power has liberated my life. God's Love-Power has immortalised my life.
My life needs inner guidance. When I am guided by my Inner Pilot, my life is safe amid earth's storms. When I am guided by my Inner Pilot, I am certain amid the world's insecurity. Life does not mean only to know the truths about God. Life means an intimate connection, an inseparable union, with my Inner Pilot. In order to be guided by my Inner Pilot, in order to know Him intimately, I have to pray and meditate. I have to know that each thought that I think is a prayer. I have to know that each action that I take is a meditation. In order to pray well and have a good meditation I have to offer my gratitude to my Pilot-Supreme. It is His Compassion that has given me the capacity to pray and meditate.
When I pray, I climb up God the Tree. When I meditate, I bring down the mangoes from above and distribute them to aspiring souls. Both my prayer and my meditation are of paramount importance. If I do not climb up God the Tree, then I remain unrealised. If I do not climb down with the fruits, then God remains unmanifested. Perfection dawns only when I am realised and God is manifested.
Countless human beings are afraid of the spiritual life because they feel that it will take them away from the life they are now living. They feel that their present life is a life of satisfaction. At times, when they are mercilessly frustrated by the life that they are now living, they feel the necessity of God and the divine life. But to them, God is a stranger and the divine life is something unknown. They feel that a stranger and an unknown life cannot be trusted. But here they are totally mistaken. God is not and cannot be a stranger. And the divine life is the real life. The real life is something that inspires us and makes us feel that Infinity, Eternity and Immortality are our birthright.
Nothing can be more normal and natural than a divine life. The life that we are leading now is abnormal and unnatural. Why? Because it has made friends with darkness, ignorance and bondage. How can ignorance offer us God-Beauty, God-Light and absolute Truth?
When we make progress in our spiritual life we feel that our life is of God and our life is for God. What we want from life is satisfaction and nothing else. When we live the desiring life, no matter what we gain, there can be no satisfaction. We have an unceasing hunger that constantly wants to devour others and the entire world. By devouring others and devouring the world we cannot have satisfaction. We can have satisfaction only by establishing our inner oneness with the rest of the world. In order to achieve satisfaction we must walk along the road of aspiration and not along the road of desire.
We have seen that the world's richest man wants to become still richer. No matter how much money he gets, his needs increase more, and the more his needs increase, the more he becomes a beggar. The seeker wants to decrease his desires. The more he decreases his desires, the sooner he sees the Face of God. When he decreases his desiring life, only one desire remains; that desire is the aspiration which comes from the very depth of his heart. This aspiration wants only one thing: God. Aspiration feels that just realising God is not enough; it also wants to manifest God here on earth in His own Way. When our aspiration has realised God and manifested God in His own Way, then supreme Satisfaction dawns both in Heaven and on earth.
Published in My Rose Petals, part 4
Smile, Love and Claim
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at Caldwell College in Caldwell, New Jersey
Smile, my friends, my soulful friends, smile. Let us smile. True, this world of ours is full of suffering and excruciating pangs, but that is no reason why we should not smile. We must smile in order to unburden the world’s suffering-burden. We must smile in order to diminish its untold pangs.
Love, my friends, my soulful friends, love. Let us love. True, this world of ours is full of hatred and disbelief, but that is no reason why we should not love and why we should not believe. We must love and believe in order to empty the hatred-sea. We must love and believe in order to break asunder the cliffs and peaks of disbelief-mountain.
Claim, my friends, my soulful friends, claim. Let us claim. True, this world of ours has deceived us and betrayed us. Nevertheless, we must claim the world, for it is our bounden duty to change the face of the world. Unless and until we claim the world, we can never transform this world; therefore, we must claim this world as our own, very own, with a view to transforming it.
Finally, we must not forget to smile at our Beloved Supreme, to love our Beloved Supreme and to claim our Beloved Supreme, for He is our Eternity’s own, and we are His Eternity’s own.
We shall smile at our Beloved Supreme precisely because He is divinely great. We shall love our Beloved Supreme precisely because He is supremely good. We shall claim our Beloved Supreme precisely because we are His Eternity’s chosen instruments. Him to please in His own Way, Him to fulfil in His own Way — it is for this we all saw the light of day. He is our Source. In Him we see, in Him we feel, in Him we fulfil our journey’s course.
Smile, love and claim. This world of ours is undoubtedly a projection of our Beloved Supreme, although it is far from perfection. But there will come a time when we shall be able to radically transform the face of this world and turn it into Perfection-Reality.
Let us smile at God, love Him and claim Him, for He is all-where only for us, unconditionally for us.
Published in Everest-Aspiration, part 1
I Need
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at the Logan Campbell Centre in Auckland, New Zealand
I need Forgiveness from God. But alas, where are my faith-blossoms, where?
I need Compassion from God. But alas, where is my aspiration-heart, where?
I need Love from God. But alas, where is my oneness-world, where?
I need Affection from God. But alas, where is my surrender-life, where?
I need Peace from God. But alas, where is my silence-mind, where?
I need Encouragement from God. But alas, where is my intensity-eagerness, where?
I need Concern from God. But alas, where is my readiness-response, where?
My Lord Supreme, I have now come to realise that I have not pleased You in any way at any time. I feel that mine is a hopeless case.
"No, My child, yours is not a hopeless case, no!"
My Lord Supreme, do tell me what I must do.
"My child, purify your heart, simplify your mind, energise your vital and awaken your body-consciousness. My child, do not allow yourself to be struck down by stupidity any any more. Do not allow yourself to enjoy ignorance-sleep any more. Do not allow yourself to be paralysed by self-doubt — no, never! Do not allow your mind to remain inside the dark cave within you. Do not offer even an iota of affection to your insecurity. Be a constant prayer-cry and a constant meditation-illumination."
My Lord Supreme, I do not know how to pray. I do not know how to meditate. Is there any way You can teach me how to pray and how to meditate? Is there any way You can shorten the distance to my destination? Is there any way you can expedite my spiritual journey?
"My child, I am telling you the supreme secret: cry like a child, sleeplessly cry; and smile like a child, sleeplessly smile. If you can cry sleeplessly for My Compassion-Eye, then you will learn how to pray. If you can smile sleeplessly inside My Satisfaction-Heart, I shall teach you how to meditate. Only cry and smile, smile and cry, My child!"
Published in My Heart’s Peace-Offering