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A Seeker’s Resolution, Revolution and Evolution

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at the State University of New York at Buffalo

The seeker’s first friend is resolution. Resolution is his intimate friend. Revolution is the seeker’s second friend. This friend is also an intimate friend and undoubtedly a good friend as well. Finally, the seeker gets evolution as his friend. Evolution is the seeker’s birthless and deathless friend.

A seeker’s resolution-friend is in the idea-world. A seeker’s revolution-friend is in the ideal-world. A seeker’s evolution-friend is in the reality-world.

A seeker’s thinking and searching mind likes resolution-flames. A seeker’s challenging and dynamic vital likes revolution-fire. A seeker’s crying and sacrificing heart likes evolution-glow.

The seeker’s thinking and searching mind thinks that it can conquer ignorance-night. Indeed, this is an absurd idea. Nevertheless, this effort is a forward, upward and inward movement.

The seeker’s challenging and dynamic vital feels that it can easily conquer ignorance-sea. Indeed, this is nothing short of impossibility. Nevertheless, this effort is a forward, upward and inward movement.

The seeker’s crying and sacrificing heart knows perfectly well that it can never conquer ignorance. Only God, the Author of all Good, can conquer ignorance in him, through him and for him. At that time, and only at that time, will it be possible for the crying and sacrificing heart to see the face of transformation and illumination.

The seeker’s resolution, revolution and evolution have discovered that life is a continuous struggle. It is a struggle between what the seeker has and what the seeker has not. What the seeker has is frustration-possession. He wants to possess, but he finds that his possessions are nothing short of frustration to him. They are a heavy load that he has to carry. When he wants to run fast, faster, fastest towards the Ultimate Goal, he discovers that he is possessed and bound by his possessions. What the seeker has not is renunciation-light, dedication-light, love-light, devotion-light, surrender-light, oneness-light and perfection-light.

Resolution is in the inner world. Revolution is in the outer world. Evolution is in both the outer world and the inner world. First, the seeker resolves to become a good and perfect instrument; but still he is at the mercy of his own difficulties, shortcomings and weaknesses. Then there comes a time when he revolts against his own reality, which is ignorance, and he feels an indomitable urge to fight against it. Finally, there comes a time when the seeker wants to make progress both in the inner world and in the outer world. At that time, what he needs is necessity. But necessity is not enough. He has to go one step further and get the message of opportunity. Opportunity has to knock at the seeker’s heart-door; then only can necessity be fulfilled. Again, opportunity is not enough. Opportunity has to be helped by Divinity’s Reality. When God’s Hour strikes, only then is opportunity effective. Before that time, it is of no avail.

When, in the course of evolution, God’s Hour strikes, the seeker finally sees, feels and grows into his own inner mounting flame. He sees that God, his Almighty Father, is both his starting point and his Goal. He sees that God is in him, guiding him and running with him, teaching him how to run along Eternity’s Road in order to reach Infinity’s Light and Immortality’s Delight.

Published in The Oneness of the Eastern Heart and the Western Mind, part 3

Questions answered

by Sri Chinmoy
from those who have been on his path for more than thirty-three years, at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, New York.

Question: On the Christmas Trip you said, if I understood correctly, that even when some of us want to be receptive and are crying to make some progress or crying for light in some way and you try to give it to us, we become frightened or we refuse it. I was wondering if there was something we could do so that we could be more receptive in that way.

Sri Chinmoy: There are many ways to create or develop receptivity, many, many ways. Two ways I shall tell you. One way is to imagine inside your heart a most beautiful lotus that is blossoming petal by petal. Then what will you do? You will appreciate the beauty and fragrance of that lotus. While appreciating, first you will see that inside your heart is the lotus. Then, gradually, you will see that your heart is no longer there; your heart has become a lotus. Your heart has disappeared and only a lotus remains. Then try to appreciate the beauty and fragrance of that lotus. That is going to give you enormous receptivity because you have become one with the beauty and fragrance of the lotus. When you become one with the beauty and fragrance of something that is pure, you are bound to develop receptivity.

Another thing is daily to fix a few times when you will recite either “Supreme, Supreme, Supreme, Supreme” or “Guru, Guru, Guru,” whichever you like. I like “Supreme.” He is also our Guru! Three or four times a day, for a few minutes if you recite “Supreme, Supreme, Supreme” or “Guru, Guru, Guru,” you can easily develop receptivity.

Sometimes disciples do not receive, sometimes they resist and sometimes they revolt. Again, some disciples who are not as strong as other disciples develop such receptivity during our Christmas Trips! At that time they receive so much from me. To my great joy and astonishment, they make tremendous progress. Then, during the entire year, they do not have to do spiritual work. They can withdraw and withdraw from their spirituality-bank. Again, some excellent disciples receive so much, so much from me during our Christmas Trips. I tell you, it is unimaginable! You have to know which category you belong to.

Question: You have said that sometimes God blesses the world with His Compassion and sometimes with His Justice-Light. Is it possible that God may act in various ways in the same situation?

Sri Chinmoy: Let us say that some people are doing something wrong and they are getting God’s Compassion, whereas others who are doing the same kind of thing are getting God’s Justice-Light. Why? We have to believe in the past and also we have to believe in the future. At what point God may withdraw His Compassion-Height and at what point God will bring down His Justice-Light, we do not know.

The mind will say that somebody has done something wrong and he deserves punishment. Why is God waiting and waiting? Why is He only showing His Compassion-Height and not His Justice-Light? Nobody will be able to escape God’s Justice-Light, but God has His own Hour. Our difficulty is that with our minds we try to bind the time, fix the time. We say, “He is such a bad fellow. He should be punished at this very moment, or in a week or in a month or in a year.” Unfortunately, God’s choice Hour we do not know. That is why it seems that somebody has escaped punishment. But God’s Justice-Light nobody will be able to escape — nobody, nobody. It is a matter of time. God has kept a fixed Hour when that person will be punished.

Again, I wish to say that God’s Justice itself is a kind of Compassion. If God uses His Justice-Light, it is for our good. When God uses His Justice-Light, it is to illumine an individual, not to destroy him.

Question: Should I feel that my spiritual Master is the highest?

Sri Chinmoy: Some spiritual Masters openly declare their God-realisation. Other spiritual Masters secretly tell their choice disciples, very secretly. According to Indian theory, no matter who your Guru is or what his height is, you have to feel that he is the highest.

Do not make the mistake of confusing spiritual power and occult power. Real spirituality has nothing, nothing to do with occult power. Occult power is like some monkeys. They will pinch people this side and that side; they only create a sensation.

While you are on the way to God-realisation, real spiritual powers automatically come. You do not have to beg them. But again, some people pray to God to give them occult power. They want to be satisfied with occult power, not with real spirituality, with God-realisation.

Never be fooled by the display of occult power. When someone shows his occult power, he is surprising all of us. But is there anybody who is really being inspired to go and pray to God either at home or in a church? By the occultist’s performances you are excited, you are thrilled, but you are not getting even an iota of inspiration or aspiration to pray and meditate, to increase the power of your prayer-life and meditation-life. But if you go to a spiritual Master, if you go to church, if you have tremendous faith in the Saviour Christ, as you should, then you get so much inner joy, inner feeling.

Never put occult power and real spirituality on the same footing. It will be the height of your stupidity. There are so many spiritual Masters who had tremendous occult power but never used it, never. Again, there are some who did use it. Why? Because God asked them to use it in order to manifest His Light in a special way. But by using occult power, you cannot change anybody’s life. Never think that occult power is something needed to make spiritual progress — never, never, never!

Then there is another theory about spiritual Masters. There was a great scholar who was a graduate of Cambridge University. He came to India as a professor of English literature. One day the principal of his university invited the professor to come to his place and eat. O God, as soon as the professor saw the principal’s wife, he saw God inside her! She did not pray or meditate, but the professor was a genuine seeker and he recognised her as his Guru. In the beginning, the principal’s wife was a little bit embarrassed. Then she started praying and meditating and she went very, very high.

The professor showed such sincere devotion to his Guru that he made tremendous progress. He reached a very high, sublime height. Then this man had to write, “The Guru is higher than God Himself.”

How to believe it? The professor explained, "The Guru takes the beating. What is happening inside the real God, if there is a separate God, we do not know. But here we see, when disciples do something wrong — specially close disciples — what kind of beating the Guru gets." He wrote a beautiful article on this theme. Again and again he was justifying his statement that the Guru is higher than God Himself. In one sense, it is ridiculous; but again, the real Guru is God Himself. The God that is inside us and the God that we imagine in Heaven is the same God, the same Guru.

Again and again this professor said, “The one who sees our sufferings and becomes one with our sufferings is higher than God.” He did not say whether the God who is upstairs on the highest floor, in Heaven, is suffering or not. He did not want to say, or perhaps he did not even know. But he saw that the Guru in front of him was suffering by becoming one with his suffering, so he felt that this Guru was definitely higher than the Being that we imagine to be God.

Now, let me touch on another point. There are some unfortunate disciples who say, “God knows everything, but my Master does not know everything.” By saying that the Guru does not know, if you are a disciple of that type, you are very comfortable. You say, “Oh, I can do all kinds of things because the Master will never know.” But who is becoming the loser? The actual loser is you yourself. You are saying, “He does not know, he does not know.” Why does the Master even have to know? Why does he have to know what you are doing with your outer life or mental life or vital life? Do whatever you want to, if you have to do it, but do not bring the Master into the picture.

Again, when you do good things you say to yourself, “How I wish the Master knew about it!” At that time, be wise. When you are doing something good, give the credit to the Master by saying, “I am sure the Master has acted in and through me.” If you can give the Master or the Supreme the credit, you are doing absolutely the right thing. Just say, “I myself could not have done it. I myself could not have said it. He has acted in and through me. I am only an instrument.” Sri Krishna taught us, “Nimitta matram bhava savyasachin” — “Become a mere instrument.”

When you pray and meditate, if you pray to the Supreme, I will be the happiest person, believe me, because He is my Guru, He is your Guru. Take Him as the top of the tree and think of me as the foot of the tree. But if you separate me from that tree, you are making a mistake.

The way I have established my oneness with God, unfortunately you have not yet done it. You will also do the same thing, but until you have come to that realisation, always take us as one, take us as one, take us as one. I hope I am making it clear. Pray to the Supreme. I am also praying to the Supreme, but fortunately I have become inseparably one with Him. You will also become inseparably one with Him at God’s own Hour, choice Hour. Until that time, try to keep the link, the oneness-link, between me and the Supreme.

Question: In China I saw the Chinese goddess Quan Yin and I really felt something in her. I am wondering, if I feel inspired to sit in front of Quan Yin, is that a good thing?

Sri Chinmoy: There is nothing wrong if you look at this Chinese goddess. Four or five times she came to me before I went to China. If you feel inspired by her, I will not be jealous of her! She is a goddess. Similarly, if you meditate on Mother Kali, I will not be jealous, because Mother Kali is my Mother. If you want to do it sometimes, then do it. I will be the last person to prevent you, because when you become one with God, you become one with all Cosmic Gods and Goddesses. But in your heart of hearts, you have to know always that this Indian Guru is enough for you.

Published in My Heart-Door I Have Kept Wide Open

Diary Entry

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

13 May

"Chinmoy, have you read Subhash Bose's autobiography?"

"Yes, I have read it."

"Then tell me, which year did he strike this Professor Oaten?"

"I am sorry, but I don't remember the year. But I can easily find out for you. Let me go to the library."

I was about to leave for the library when he said: "Where are you going? It is raining too heavily!"

But my zealous vital did not listen to him. I went to the library and found that the year was 1916. I gave him the information and he noted it down with joy. He wanted to insert it in his book of reminiscences.

Published in A Service-Flame and a Service-Sun

 Meditation: Individual and Collective

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
It is the sixth class of the Spring series on Yoga was held at the home of Mr. Eric Hughes and Mr. Sam Spanier, 43 Greenwich Avenue, New York City

Meditation is the eye that sees the Truth, the heart that feels the Truth, and the soul that realises the Truth.

By meditation the soul becomes fully aware of its evolution in its eternal journey. By meditation we see the form evolve into the formless, the finite into the infinite; we see the formless evolve into the form, the infinite into the finite.

Meditation speaks. It speaks in silence. It reveals. It reveals to the aspirant that Matter and Spirit are one, quantity and quality are one, the immanent and the transcendent are one. It reveals that life is eternity itself, and can never be the mere existence of seventy or eighty years between birth and death. Our birth is a significant incident in God's own existence. And so is our death. In our birth, life lives in the body; in our death, life lives in the spirit.

Meditation, individual and collective. As the individual and the collective are in essence one, even so meditation, individual and collective. We are all children of God. Our body says that we are human. Our soul says that we are divine. No matter whether we are human or divine, we are one, inevitably and eternally. We are the inseparable parts of the whole. We complete the whole.

Vast is the ocean. You see a part of it. He sees a part of it. I see a part of it. But the full expanse of the ocean is far beyond our gaze. Our vision is limited. But the portion that each of us sees is not and cannot be separated from the entire ocean.

What does an orchestra produce? It produces a symphonic unity. Different notes on different instruments form the symphony. As each instrument plays its own notes, so the individual may meditate in his own way. But ultimately all will arrive at the basic realisation of oneness and the same goal. And this realisation is nothing other than liberation — liberation from Bondage, Ignorance, and Death.

Tat Twam Asi: That Thou art. This is indeed the secret that can be revealed in meditation. This Thou is not the outer man. This Thou is our soul, our divinity within. Our unlit and undivine nature tries to make us feel that the body is everything. Our illumined and divine nature makes us feel that our soul with no beginning and with no ending is everything. Indeed, it is the soul that is the breath of our existence either in Heaven or on earth.

Self-knowledge and the universal knowledge are not two different things. Everything in the universe becomes yours the moment you come to realise yourself. And what is this universe? It is the outer expression of your inner achievements. You are your own Saviour. Within you is your salvation. It is you who have to work for your salvation. You are your own fate-maker. To blame others for the unfavourable conditions of your life is beneath your dignity. Unfortunately this act of blaming others is one of man's oldest diseases. Adam blamed Eve for his temptation. Poor Eve, what could she do? She also did the same. She blamed another. No, we must not do that. If action is ours, responsibility is also ours. To try to escape the consequence is simply absurd, but to be free from committing blunders is wisdom; it is the real illumination. Trials and tribulations are within and without us. We shall have to ignore them. If this act of ignoring is not enough, we shall face them. If that too is not enough, we shall conquer them here and now. The paramount problem is how to conquer the trials and tribulations. We can conquer them only by our constant meditation. There is no substitute, no alternative.

From meditation, when it is deep and one-pointed, we get spiritual knowledge and pure devotion, which act not only simultaneously but harmoniously. The path of Bhakti (Devotion) and the path of Jnana (Knowledge) lead us ultimately to the same goal. Devotion is not blind faith. It is not an absurd adherence to one's inner feeling. It is a matchless process of spiritual unfoldment. Jnana is not something quite dry. Neither is it an aggressive power. Knowledge is the food that energises our earthly and heavenly existence. Devotion is delight. Knowledge is peace. Our heart needs delight and our mind needs peace, just as God needs us to manifest Himself and we need God to fulfil ourselves.

Meditation, individual and collective. It is easy to meditate individually. The aspirant is fortunate, for there stands no third person between the aspirant and God's Grace.

It is easy to meditate collectively, in a group. A student naturally gets joy while he is studying with others in the class. Here also the aspirant is fortunate, for the sincere aspiration of other seekers may inspire him.

True, there are difficulties in meditating individually. Laziness can plague the aspirant. True, there are difficulties in meditating collectively, because there is every possibility that others' ignorance and weakness may unconsciously attack the aspirant's body, mind and heart.

One thing we shall have to make sure, that is, whether individually or collectively, we shall have to meditate consciously. Unconscious effort is like forcing someone to play football in spite of his utmost unwillingness: He plays but gets no joy. A conscious effort is like playing football most willingly. He gets joy. Similarly, a conscious meditation gives us an inner delight from the soul.

Finally, each human being must have the spirit of a divine hero. If he is left alone in the thickest forest, he must have the inner strength to meditate without fear. If he is asked to meditate at Times Square amid the streams of human beings, he must have the inner strength to meditate without being disturbed in the least. Whether alone or with others, the aspirant must dwell in his meditation unshaken and unafraid.

Published in AUM – Vol. 2, No. 3, 27 October 1966

Peace is Our Birthright: How can we have it?

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
in the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium
at the United Nations, New York

(Sri Chinmoy sings)

O Lord, where is the Truth?
"Where your Beloved is."
Who is my Beloved, who?
"In whom your life is peace."
Peace. Peace. Peace.

The outer peace and the inner peace: The outer peace is man's compromise; the inner peace is man's fulfilment. The outer peace is man's satisfaction without being satisfied at all. The inner peace is man's satisfaction in being totally and supremely fulfilled.

How can the outer peace have the same capacity as the inner peace? The outer peace can have the same capacity if and when man's creation and God's Creation become inseparably one. What is man's creation? Man's creation is fear. Man's creation is doubt. Man's creation is confusion. What is God's Creation? God's Creation is Love. God's Creation is Compassion. God's Creation is Concern.

Fear is the feeblest ant in man. Doubt is the wildest elephant in man. Confusion is the devouring tiger in man. There is no yawning gulf between man's cherished fear and his forced fear. Doubt God, forgiveness is granted. Doubt yourself, your complete destruction is decreed. Yesterday's confusion was the beginning of your insincerity. Today's confusion is the beginning of your insecurity. Tomorrow's confusion will be the beginning of your futility.

God's Love for man is man's aspiration. God's Compassion for man is man's salvation. God's Concern for man is man's perfection.

Man's fulfilling and fulfilled search for the Real is peace. God the Love is man's eternal Guest in the inmost recesses of his heart. God the Peace is man's eternal Host in the inmost recesses of his heart. That is why we can unfalteringly and unmistakably claim that the loving and fulfilling peace is our birthright.

How can we have peace, even an iota of peace, in our outer life, amid the hustle and bustle of life and our multifarious activities? Easy: we have to choose the inner voice. Easy: we have to control our binding thoughts. Easy: we have to purify our impure emotions.

The inner voice is our guide. The binding thoughts are the dark and unpredictable weather. The impure emotion is the inner storm. We have to listen to the inner voice always. It is our sure protection. We have to be cautious of the binding thoughts. These thoughts have tremendous vitality. We must never allow them to swell into mountains. We have to face them and then dominate them. These thoughts are absolutely non-essential, and we have no time to fret over non-essentials. We have to refrain from the luxury of the emotional storm. Impure emotion is immediate frustration, and frustration is the harbinger of total destruction within and without.

How can we choose the inner voice? To choose the inner voice, we have to meditate early in the morning. To control and dominate our undivine thoughts, we have to meditate at noon. To purify our unlit, impure emotions, we have to meditate in the evening.

What is meditation? Meditation is man's constant awareness and conscious acceptance of God. Meditation is God's unconditional offering to man.

Peace is the beginning of love. Peace is the completion of truth. Peace is the return to the Source.

(Sri Chinmoy sings)

There was a time when I stumbled and stumbled,
But now I only climb and climb beyond
And far beyond my Goal's endless Beyond.
And yet my Captain commands:
"Go on, go on!"

We have already invoked and received Peace from God. With your kind permission, I wish to invoke more Peace from above. Those who would like to join me are most welcome to come up to the platform and meditate with me for Peace, inner Peace, all-fulfilling Peace.

(The audience immediately responds and meditates with Sri Chinmoy.)

Published in The Garland of Nation-Souls

Questions about Flowers

answered by Sri Chinmoy
on a bus trip from Baltimore to New York

Question: How can we use flowers to help us in our meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: While you are placing a flower on the shrine, try to feel that this flower is reminding you of your heart, which you want to be as beautiful as the flower. You cannot see your heart, but you can look at a flower and say, “How I wish my heart were as beautiful as this flower!”

Then try to feel that this flower that you have placed on the shrine is breathing, the same way that your heart is taking in your life-breath. Connect your heart-flower and the outer flower. While you are looking at the flower on the shrine, feel that your breath is entering into it. Then again, feel that the flower has entered into your heart and there it is breathing. Your heart-flower and the flower that you have placed on the shrine are going to and fro, they are constantly interchanging. The flower that is on the shrine is entering into your heart, and again it is coming out to be on the shrine.

If you can do this during your meditation, then your heart will become purer than the purest, and you will be able to absorb God’s Compassion, Love, Blessings — anything that He wants to give you — in absolutely abundant measure because your heart is all ready to receive.

By seeing something with our outer eyes, we can become it. By becoming something also, we can see it. But it is far easier to see something with our outer eyes and then imagine that we are becoming that same thing on the inner plane.

Question: Nowadays people are doing things like grafting flowers to other flowers to create new forms. Is this done by the Supreme through man or is it something that the Supreme is merely tolerating?

Sri Chinmoy: I personally feel that it is the tolerance of the Supreme. According to me, Nature’s pristine beauty disappears when people change the colour of the flower and do all kinds of other things to it. I do not feel the Supreme is working in and through man at that time. The Supreme wants to keep Nature’s beauty in perfect condition, in its own natural way. But man finds that it is necessary to add to Nature’s beauty. Most of the time, we do not add anything to Nature’s beauty.

Once, for a special occasion, one of our girl disciples put all kinds of make-up on her face. Then one old man said, “Before, she was beautiful. Now she looks ugly.” In the same way, Nature’s spontaneous beauty is absolutely the best thing. By adding to it from our fertile brain, the human in us may appreciate the result, but the divine in us may not be able to appreciate it. The natural beauty of a flower God will appreciate. But by adding foreign beauty to this natural beauty, you are taking away almost the life-breath of the flower itself. Then again, what can you do? Human eyes appreciate beauty in their own way.

Question: Are there flowers in Heaven, and how do they compare with earthly flowers?

Sri Chinmoy: Heavenly flowers are much more beautiful. They have much more luminosity than earthly flowers. The beauty of Heavenly flowers far surpasses earthly beauty. Earth is not as beautiful as Heaven. So naturally, anything that comes from Heaven is infinitely more beautiful.

Question: When we offer people flowers, what should we feel we are giving them?

Sri Chinmoy: Feel that you are offering them your heart’s pure fragrance, and you are hoping that their heart will receive it. Also, you will pray to God at that time to give extra purity and extra beauty, divine beauty, to your heart and to the heart of the person to whom you are offering the flowers.

Question: At funerals, do flowers help the soul of the deceased person?

Sri Chinmoy: Definitely they help — not only the soul but also the physical and vital of the person. The soul gets extra joy when there are flowers, and the physical and vital get added purity. Also, unfortunately, when some people come to visit the body, they come in a very low consciousness. At that time, the reality of the person who has passed away is the soul. Previously the soul was inside the body, where it was well protected. It was like a bird inside the cage. Now the soul is outside the body, but it has not yet left the earthly arena; it has not gone back to the soul’s world. The soul-bird is outside the cage, and when it sees undivine people, sometimes the soul gets frightened. So flowers, incense and so forth can diminish the undivine qualities of some of those who approach the body.

Published in Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 32