You or I?
by Sri Chinmoy
Dag Hammarskjöld Lecture Series
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium, United Nations, New York
O God, are You responsible for all the suffering, darkness and ignorance in the world, or am I?
“Son, I am responsible. I am responsible for everything; I am responsible for everyone; I am responsible for My entire creation. It is I who reside in everything as inspiration and as aspiration. It is I who approve of everything or tolerate everything, show compassion for everything or forgive everything. Therefore it is I who am responsible for everything, whether it is good or bad, divine or undivine. It is I who am responsible in everything, in every action, in every human life.”
O God, You want to change the face of the world. Do You want to do it alone, all by Yourself, or do You need my help and dedicated service?
“Son, I do not want to change the face of the world all by Myself. I cannot change the face of the world alone. I need your assistance. I am the tree. You, all human beings, are the leaves, flowers and fruits. A tree without leaves, flowers and fruits is worthless. I need assistance from my created human beings. I am the ultimate realisation of your climbing cry. You are the ultimate manifestation of My descending Dream. The transformation of the earth-consciousness can take place only when you and I work together. Dedicated service from both the Creator and the creation is needed to change the face of the world.”
AUM
“You or I?”
When I think of the divine within my heart, when I meditate on the divine within my heart, I see, I feel my “I”. This “I” is not a self-centred “I”. This “I” is the infinite expansion of my universal oneness.
When I think of the undivine within my being, when I meditate on the undivine within my being, I automatically choose the life of bondage. I become the life of frustration. I become the life of destruction. When I meditate on the undivine or think of the undivine, I choose mental limitation to be my own. I choose vital frustration to accept me as its own. I choose physical imperfection and unconsciousness to take me as their very own. Each moment that I meditate on the undivine, I enjoy, consciously enjoy, despair, frustration, limitation, bondage and death.
Here at the United Nations let us say “You and I”, not “You or I?”
You and I. You as a nation — aspiring nation, searching nation, crying nation, illumining nation — can fulfil the Dream of God on earth. As a seeker of the Highest Truth, with your dedication you can fulfil the Dream of God.
When, as a nation, you think only of yourself, I see you as a petal of a rose. But when, on the strength of your dedication to the world at large, you need the Divine in you to think of you and to meditate on you, I see you as a whole, a rose complete. I do not see you as a petal, but as a fully-blossomed rose.
“You or I?” is determined by our actions. The Divine within us gets abundant joy when we act devotedly and soulfully. The undivine in us gets joy when we want to possess and be possessed. We know the secret of joy. When we do the right thing, on the strength of our inner cry, we get joy. But the supreme Joy will not be, cannot be our joy unless and until we know how to devote ourselves. The result of our actions may be satisfactory to us, but if we do not get this result by virtue of our devoted and selfless service, we will not get infinite Joy and supreme Joy.
Our dynamic joy constantly pleases God.
Our inner silence constantly feeds God.
Our total and integral surrender devours God.
Each action of ours affects the world at large. A state of mind can affect the entire being. An individual can affect the entire humanity. An iota of God’s Concern can illumine all of mankind.
Joy is in self-transcendence.
Joy is in self-offering.
Joy is in self-fulfilment.
Each individual knows that when he was in the animal world he got joy in struggling and fighting. Now he knows that in the human world he gets joy, real joy, abiding joy, in serving and in self-giving. He knows that in the future, in his life divine, he will get joy only in becoming what he is in his transcendental Self: all the Light, the Wisdom, the Perfection of the Supreme.
“You or I?” Each individual, when he separates a portion of himself from his entire existence, feels his you-consciousness. When an individual uses his hands, if he thinks that his hands are the only reality and not his feet, his head, or any other part of himself, then he will hear the song of “you”. But while using his hands, if he thinks that this is the time when he has to use his hands but there will be many occasions when he has to use his legs and other parts of his body, and that therefore all his limbs and organs are important, then there can be no “you”. It is all “I”.
When we meditate on the Absolute Supreme within us, we see how clearly, how fruitfully, both “you” and “I” can work together. We use our legs to go to the office, and then we use our hands to work in the office, and our head to think in the office. Everything has its own place. Everything has its own hour. Each individual has to abide by the inner hour and give due importance to each thing according to God’s Will.
God, when am I going to know that You and I are one, or that You and Your entire creation are one?
“The hour has already struck for you to know that I and My creation are one. If you separate Me from My creation and want to achieve joy or grow into joy, I will have no objection. But you will have only limited joy, limited achievement. If you unite both Me and My creation as one, your joy becomes infinite, your achievements become infinite.
“You or I?” cannot solve the age-long problem of humanity. This problem is the sea of ignorance within us and without. But “you and I” can solve this problem. When the unlit consciousness and the lit and illumined consciousness within ourselves become one, that is the end of “you or I”. We become all oneness, universal oneness: the song of universal oneness, the life of universal oneness and the breath of universal oneness.
Published in The Tears of Nation-Hearts
O My Pilot Beloved
During the first three days of August 1978, Sri Chinmoy offers a number of prayers to his Pilot Beloved after meditations at various venues in New York. The prayers for 2 August are reproduced here.
Accomplishment and happiness
8:00 a.m.
Jamaica High School Track, Jamaica, NY
O my Pilot Beloved, do tell me the difference between accomplishment and happiness.
"My child, accomplishment is constant self-giving and happiness is God-becoming once and for all."
O my Pilot Beloved, what is the difference between self-giving and God-becoming?
"My child, self-giving is a fruitful smile and a soulful cry: Eternity's cry and Infinity's smile. In God-becoming, the divine lover says to the Beloved Pilot: 'Lord, at long last I have come to You to offer myself — soul, heart, mind, vital and body. All that I have and all that I am, I offer to you devotedly, unreservedly and unconditionally, plus constantly.' In reply, the Lord Beloved says: 'My child, indeed, from now on you can claim Me as your own, very own. On every plane of My Consciousness, in every world that I am in, in My entire Universe, you have the most secret, most sacred and most significant place. Here on earth, there in Heaven, you will eternally remain My unparalleled instrument, My eternally unprecedented Choice. In you, through you I shall reveal Myself and fulfil Myself. I shall satisfy My Vision-World and My Reality-World only in and through you, you alone. From now on, you will be the source of My unparalleled joy, My unparalleled success and My unparalleled progress in My own Eternity's growing and glowing Vision-Reality. In everything that I do and in everything that I say, your living breath shall shine brilliantly and perpetually.'"
I need you
12:45 p.m.
144th St. Gym, Jamaica, NY
O my Pilot Beloved, I wish to doubt. I wish to doubt my suspicion of others' capacities. I wish to doubt my suspicion of others' aspiration-height and dedication-length. Each time I doubt others, I blight their pure hearts. While blighting their pure hearts, I weaken my own very limited aspiration and dedication-capacity. Therefore, O my Pilot Beloved, I wish to doubt my suspicion of others and thus cancel and illumine my previous blunder.
O my Pilot Beloved, I wish to be afraid of my ignorance-tiger, which is right in front of me and about to devour me. Before it devours me, I wish to run towards You for Your immediate Protection. If I am not afraid of my ferocious ignorance-tiger, then I shall not run towards You for Your ever-compassionate Protection. Therefore, to start with, I wish to be afraid of my all-devouring ignorance-tiger. Your Protection and Compassion, I know, will not only save me but also will give me the capacity one day to destroy entirely the very existence of my ignorance-tiger.
My friends, my enemies
5:45 p.m.
144th St. Gym, Jamaica, NY
O my Pilot Beloved, my friends consciously help me realise You. My enemies unconsciously help me transform my unlit human nature. Would You please tell me if my friends are more important than my enemies, or if my enemies are more important than my friends?
"My child, no comparison! Unconscious help is not worth much. Unconscious help does not deserve any appreciation, let alone gratitude. But if help is conscious, then it deserves not only appreciation but also gratitude. Therefore, only offer your gratitude to your true friends, who consciously help you. But just because you do get help, even unconsciously, from your enemies, if you happen to see them as you walk along the path, you can offer them a soulful smile. You do not have to go out of your way to look for your friends, either, anywhere in My creation. Just offer them in silence your gratitude-heart.
"Again, there is only one real Friend, one eternal Friend, and that is I. It is from Me that everyone gets the things he needs to transcend his unlit animal nature and realise Me. It is I who help you to realise Me through your human friends. It is I who have been playing the role of friendship from time immemorial. Since you do not see Me, since you cannot comprehend Me in the physical, it is advisable to be constantly grateful to your so-called friends. It is your friends who are constantly helping you to realise Me. Realisation is oneness, eternal oneness, and in Me is your eternal oneness-life. He who helps you realise Me is your oneness-friend and My blessingful, fruitful chosen instrument."
Published in O My Pilot Beloved