Recent Content

The first volume of Sri Chinmoy’s series Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees is published.

Poem 1

My Lord,
You have commanded me
 To offer You
 Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees.
I shall obey Your absolute Command.

Published in Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, part 1.

Poem 1,000

My Lord,
My Absolute Lord Beloved Supreme,
You have commanded me to write
Seventy-seven thousand service-tree-poems.
I have just completed one thousand.
My heart, my mind, my vital, my body
And I
Are most sincerely tired.
“My child, My own Divinity’s child,
Tiredness is unacceptable.”

Published in Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, part 1

Bengali Words for ‘Heart’

by Sri Chinmoy
Nexus Resort Karambunai, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Bengali can be quite complicated. In prose, the word paran is used for ‘vital’, but in poetry, quite often it is used for ‘heart’. Chitta can mean ‘heart’ and hriday is ‘heart’. Hiya is also ‘heart’. In poetry, paran can be used as ‘heart’. In prose it has to mean ‘vital’. The actual word is pran, but in poetry the form paran is used. It is complicated. Each language has some complexity. Otherwise, how can it be unique? At some point, we are challenged by all languages because of complexity.

Hiya will never be used colloquially; hiya is used only in poetry. Hriday can be used in poetry and prose. Antar also can be used in prose and poetry. Hiya will never be used in prose or colloquial speech. While we are talking, we cannot use the word hiya. We can use antar, hriday or chitta. Again, chitta we use in poetry for ‘heart’. But in Sanskrit, chitta means ‘mind’. In Sanskrit, chitta is written as chit.

From where to where language goes!

Published in Only Gratitude-Tears

Shaking Hands

by Sri Chinmoy
Nexus Resort Karambunai, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

In the East we greet each other with folded hands, but the Western world knows only how to break the hands! When I am compelled to shake hands with people, very lightly and delicately I do it, but they try to show how strong they are. They really press my hand hard and then I suffer. I also have a little strength in my hand, but they quite often press very hard, very hard.

Fifteen years ago, when I returned to India, one of my main mentors said to me, “Oh, you lift weights! Let me see.” He grabbed my hand so hard and started pressing and pressing.

The Western way is to shake hands. The Hindu way is to greet one another with folded hands. Muslims touch their heart. Immediately they enter into their heart. Their heart’s feeling they are offering to us as they invoke Allah. Russians go another way: they embrace. Again, our Hindu way is to fold our hands and say Namaskar or Pranam. We do it even on the phone, when we speak to our dear ones. We do not say “Hello”; we start with Namaskar.

The Western method for us is very funny! Of course, in a sense it is better. When two people shake hands, they are on the same level. You and I are on the same level, no matter how great you are or how insignificant I am. We are at that time not on the psychic level, not on the heart level; everything is taking place on the dynamic vital level. When the Muslims touch their heart, it is only on the heart level; and when we Hindus fold our hands, it is on the heart level. That is my way of understanding. You can have your own way of understanding it, but that is what I feel.

So many times after lifting people, when I give medallions, I see that they want to shake hands. Even yesterday, one man asked, “May I shake your hand?” I said, “Fine!” Then I gave him my hand and he grabbed it and pressed it quite hard. I had lifted him up and he weighed 180 or 200 pounds. He wanted to show me that he was also strong!

Published in I Wanted to be a Seeker of the Infinite

Spiritual Stories

by Sri Chinmoy

Affection from the Master or the disciples?

"Master, why am I unhappy? I pray and meditate every day, and I listen to you always, yet I am unhappy."

"Son, you pray and meditate every day, but you do not do it soulfully. You listen to me, but you do not do it cheerfully."

"Master, one of the reasons for my unhappiness I am embarrassed to tell you."

"Son, don't feel embarrassed. If you don't give me your embarrassment, how will your embarrassment be perfected and illumined?"

"Then I shall tell you, Master. You know, there was a time when I cried and cried to become your dearest disciple. Now that I have become your dearest disciple, I feel that others should appreciate and admire me. But alas, instead of appreciating me, they hate me. I know they are all jealous of me."

"Sanjit, make up your mind. Do you want my affection and love, or do you want appreciation and admiration from the world?"

"Master, undoubtedly I want your affection and your love. But Master, would it not be even better if I could get striking appreciation and admiration from my brother and sister disciples as well?"

"You are a fool, Sanjit. There is no disciple who would not like to be my dearest disciple. But, at the same time, there are at least a few hundred disciples who will not care for others' appreciation and admiration as long as they get constant love and affection from me. You are my dearest, and you want my constant love, affection and concern; but at the same time you want appreciation from the outer world."

Sanjit felt miserable. He said, "Master, forgive me. I shall never bring up this matter again."

"Sanjit, my dearest son, it is true that one likes to be appreciated and liked by all, both by the Master and by the disciples. But I tell you, if I were asked by someone whether I would like to be appreciated and admired by a wise man or by two hundred fools, immediately I would say that I would prefer to be appreciated and admired by one wise man. Then, if I were asked whether I would like to be appreciated and adored both by the wise man and by the two hundred fools, immediately I would say, 'No, no! I want to be appreciated only by the wise man, and not by the fools.' When a wise man appreciates you, his strength enters into you as a solid, dynamic force. The appreciation of the fools is also a kind of strength, but this strength is ignorance-strength. When a fool appreciates and adores you, his ignorance-strength enters into you as a heavy, lethargic force. So I tell you, I will never care for the appreciation and admiration of fools.

"Also, very often appreciation and adoration from others, even from brother and sister disciples, is not sincere at all. They may flatter you just so that they can become closer to me on your recommendation. Many times it has happened that spiritual Masters have made others close to them when their dearest ones have shown considerable fondness for them. Then these disciples adopted foul means and in many undivine ways they pushed the dearest ones aside. Now who is the fool? Your stupid hunger for appreciation and admiration from all and sundry just enables others to catch and devour you. If you care for appreciation from ignorant people, you have to feel that you are virtually embracing a snake or a tiger.

"But among disciples who are not as close to me as you are, there may be some who are not jealous of you, but who want to imitate you because they feel that you are meditating well, or that you are serving me well, or that in some way you are pleasing me most powerfully. If they try to imitate you, that is not bad at all. They imitate you, not out of jealousy, but out of their own necessity for inner progress. If a disciple who has not been meditating at all in the morning knows that you meditate every morning at five o'clock, then if he also begins to meditate at that hour — not to compete with you or to take you away from me, but just to feed his hunger to become good and divine like you — then he is doing absolutely the right thing. The Master needs many, many divine soldiers who will fight against the undivine forces. One instrument is not enough.

"If you, on your part, show affection, concern and love to others — not out of a sense of superiority, but out of a sincere feeling for the members of your own spiritual family — then I assure you that you will have no cause for worries and anxieties. Your sincere feeling of oneness with them will make you infinitely stronger than you are now. The sincerity of your oneness with your spiritual brothers and sisters will make you a true captain of my divine army.

"But if you cry for appreciation and admiration from others and you do not get it, then you just weaken yourself. And if they give you insincere appreciation and admiration, then their jealousy-arrows will enter into you and weaken you. If you are really wise and divine, then you will say, 'It matters not who is closest to the Master, or whether that person is appreciated by others; all that matters is whether the Master's will is fulfilled on earth. If you can develop that kind of devoted, surrendered attitude to the Master's dispensation, then the Master will eternally claim you as his dearest, best and most perfect disciple. So, my dear Sanjit, have I made it clear to you?"

Sanjit bowed down to his Master with folded hands and said, "Master, make of me your absolutely surrendered disciple. I know I will get the greatest joy only by becoming your unconditionally surrendered disciple, and not by becoming your best disciple.”

The Master said, "You are a fool, my Sanjit. The absolutely surrendered disciple will eternally remain my best disciple. If you become my absolutely unconditionally surrendered disciple, automatically you will become by far my best disciple. There can be no difference between my best disciple and my most unconditionally surrendered disciple. In order to become an unconditionally surrendered disciple, always put your Master's need first and foremost in your life, and always take your Master's need as the only need for yourself and for all."

2

My duty is to love God.  
God's necessity is to love me.  
It is God's Grace that makes my duty successful.  
It is God's Concern that makes His necessity fruitful. 

Khadal's daughter

"Master, I know that I am not pleasing you, but I am helpless. You want surrender from me. I have made my own surrender to you, but where somebody else is involved I cannot surrender to you. You have been asking me to bring my son and daughter, who are fifteen and sixteen, and to encourage them to follow your path. Now, I am an adult. I have gone through life and I have come to the point where I can make my own decisions. But my son and daughter are still very young. I feel that they should wait until they become more mature and then be allowed to make a choice of their own. They may not care to enter into the spiritual life at all. And even if they choose to do so, it is they who should decide whether to accept your path or somebody else's path."

"Khadal, stop your philosophy. Don't fool yourself by telling me that you have made your own surrender complete. You have not made even a fraction of surrender. I tell you, the freedom that you want to give your son and daughter will simply ruin them. Tell me, you fool, when they were young children, did you wait for them to ask you before you gave them milk or curd or anything else? Did you wait for them to make the selection? Did you give them any freedom? You yourself felt that milk would be nourishing, so you gave them milk. Anything that you felt would be healthy for them to eat you gave them. There are things that you gave your son and daughter to eat during their childhood which they eat even now; and again, there are things which they no longer eat now. Similarly, if you give them our path now and they become dissatisfied with it later in life, they can go to some other path. But they need some kind of spiritual food now. For you not to bring them to our path is an unpardonable spiritual crime. It is like refusing to feed your children anything because they are too young to make their own choice."

"Master, please don't be angry with me. Tomorrow I will bring my son and daughter. But I wish to tell you that I am doing this out of fear, and not out of love for you."

"In that case, I don't need your son and daughter. Let them stay at home. Let them wait until you inspire them to come to me or to some other Master. If you cannot bring them to me soulfully and devotedly right now, then I do not need them. But you have entered into the spiritual life and you are following our path. Naturally I, your spiritual father, am feeding you inwardly. I am sure you like my food, for otherwise you would not have stayed with me for such a long time. Tell me, why do you yourself pray and meditate?"

"I pray and meditate for various reasons, but the main reason is because I feel that I am quite old. I am fifty-nine, and since I do not have much time left on earth, I feel the best thing will be for me to get spiritual Peace, Light and Bliss as soon as possible."

"So you know the importance of time?"

"Master, who does not know the importance of time?"

"Then why don't you allow your son and daughter to come and meditate here with me?"

"But Master, they are quite young. Let them mature, and then they can choose their own path. Oh Master, forgive me. Tomorrow I will bring them."

"I don't want them. Since I can't make you surrender to me spiritually, I don't want your son and daughter. You are a selfish man. You want to eat my spiritual food all by yourself."

"No, Master, never, never! I just thought that since I have gone through ordinary life, vital life, I am now ready for the spiritual path, whereas they are not yet ready."

"You fool! Just because you had to walk along a dark, dirty road, just because you have passed through darkness, do you think that each and every individual has to experience night? No, your son and daughter are innocent. Since the world has not yet captured them, they will run much faster than you. Outwardly you will say that you are not jealous of them, but I definitely know that you would be jealous of their inner progress if they came to me. And another thing I shall tell you: you are a clever man. You want to realise God as soon as possible because you feel that you will soon die. But how do you know that your children will have long lives? They may die before you."

Khadal burst into tears. "Master, Master, don't curse me! Your prophecy always proves true. I don't want to see my dear son and daughter die before I do. That would be simply unbearable. Master, I shall bring them tomorrow and place them at your feet."

"All right, let us see."

The following day Khadal brought his son and daughter to the Master. The daughter, Niti, was full of joy when she saw the Master. She immediately said to him, "How I wish to be your disciple, Master! Please make me your disciple. I will devote my whole life to pleasing you." But her brother told her father, right in front of the Master, "Father, I don't want to come to this man anymore. He may be your Master, but right now I have no interest in the spiritual life whatsoever. Let me go home." So Khadal's son left the Master and went home.

In three short years Niti made the fastest spiritual progress. She became her Master's dearest disciple, and he was extremely proud of her. One day she went with her girlfriends to the sea. She did not know how to swim, alas, and on that day the sea was very rough. The powerful, tumultuous surges swept her away and drowned her in spite of her friends' greatest efforts to rescue her.

Niti's mother had never cared for the spiritual life. On hearing of her daughter's death, she was so deeply shocked and grieved that she went to her husband's Master and insulted him mercilessly. "Look!" she cried, "this is your protection, this is your spirituality."

The Master said, "I am more sorry than you are about Niti's death. Of course, you won't believe this."

But Niti's mother would not listen. Instead, she accused him and threatened him, saying, "I hate you, I hate you! I have lost my only daughter because of you! I shall do something really harmful to you." As his wife ran out of the house Khadal said to his Master, "Master, don't worry. She has lost her only daughter, and she has become insane with grief. Soon, by your grace, she will be all right. But I wish to tell you something, Master. You imposed spirituality on my daughter. If she had not accepted the spiritual life, she would still be on earth today, like my son. So you see, Master, what happens when you impose something on others."

"Khadal, I fully sympathise with your sorrow, for your daughter was extremely close to my heart and soul. But if you have really accepted the spiritual life, as you claim to have done, then tell me which is more desirable: to live on earth indefinitely in an unaspiring, animal way or to live a shorter but higher and more fulfilling life, leaving earth when God's Hour strikes?"

"Master, this is not the time for me to answer your philosophical questions. My loss is my loss, after all. I feel miserable. True, I will not allow my wife to harm you in any way; but today, like my wife, I am also deeply grieved. I don't know who will console me or how we will console each other. I do not know how we can ever be consoled."

"I know this is not the time for me to offer you my supreme philosophy, but once and for all I wish to tell you that I knew perfectly well that your daughter had only a short life ahead of her. That is why I insisted that she meditate with me and become my disciple. In three years' time the progress that Niti made soared far beyond my imagination. In three short years she far surpassed you. When we leave the body God does not ask us how many years we stayed on earth. He wants us to show Him our spiritual progress, divine progress, inner progress, which is the only progress that is necessary in this world. Your son may stay on earth for many, many years, and you may stay on earth and enjoy life for a number of years, but your progress — not to speak of the progress of your undivine son — will never equal your daughter's progress. It is not how many years you stay on earth, but how fast you progress that is of paramount importance. The Christ stayed on earth for only thirty-three years. But look what he achieved during those thirty-three years. You have been on earth for sixty-two years and look what you have achieved!"

"But Master, how can you compare me with the Saviour Christ?"

"Khadal, I do not see anything wrong with that. Like you, Christ was also a son of God; but look how fast he realised the Truth. We are all children of God. Like the Christ, we too will one day be able to say unmistakably that we and our Father are one. Had your daughter stayed on earth without accepting our path, perhaps she would have lived a little longer, but she would not have made any significant progress. In your outer eyes Niti's death is a supreme loss. But in my inner eye and in God's Vision, she is the supreme glory of God. You will see that a life of enjoyment is not and cannot be a life of satisfaction. It is only a spiritual life, an inner life, that can give us abiding satisfaction.

"If it is God's Will that someone accomplish a specific task and he succeeds in accomplishing it, then it is foolishness for that person to stay on earth any longer. The destined hour of departure depends on the individual. At times the Supreme wants an individual to realise something and then give his achievement to the world at large. But in some cases the Supreme says, 'I want you to accomplish only this much in this incarnation and then continue your achievement in your next incarnation.' The Supreme wants these aspirants to go back to the world of rest and return to earth at some later time with the same Peace, Light, Bliss and divine capacities in order to make further progress. There is no hard and fast rule. But it is useless to stay on earth without making any progress. There are many, many people who stay on earth for well over a hundred years, but they are living a useless life, an absolutely useless life. But again, if it is God's Will, one can live a long life in order to give one's aspiration and dedication to Mother Earth."

"Master, I understand your philosophy, but don't you have a father's heart, a mother's heart? We are missing our dearest daughter so badly. Our hearts are broken to pieces. She was our only daughter. This is not the time for me to apply your philosophy in my life."

"I fully realise that, but you gave me the impression that you had accepted the spiritual life wholeheartedly, and that you had surrendered to me in everything. If you had really surrendered, you would not have suffered so much today because you would have felt that it was God's Will that your daughter died today.

"Son, identify yourself with Heaven and earth at once. Feel that as Mother Earth you are mourning the loss of your daughter, and that as Father Heaven you are rejoicing over the glorious arrival of your daughter. Here on earth you are suffering because you have lost your daughter; there in Heaven you are rejoicing because you have gained back your daughter. Now that she has gone back to Heaven, naturally you are sorry; but is it hard for you to believe that when your daughter entered into the earth-consciousness, her dear ones in Heaven also felt sorry?

"Here we are constantly playing the game of hide-and-seek. First we hide in the earth-consciousness, and seek in the Heaven-consciousness, and then vice versa. So you see, if you are really one with earth and Heaven you should feel that before your daughter was on your right hand, and now she has gone to your left hand. Death and life are like two neighbours. You stay with one neighbour for one week, and then the following week you stay with the other neighbour. You don't feel miserable about going from one to the other."

"Master, your philosophy is correct; I don't deny it. But after all, it is my loss."

"All right, you may think it is your loss. But I take it as my gain that what I could not give you in twenty years I was able to give Niti in three years. You are not pleasing me and you are not pleasing Mother Earth. Niti's passing may be your loss, but it is my gain and the gain of the Supreme, for your daughter has gone to the other world to please the Supreme in His own Way."

The death of Goroksha's Master

There was once a spiritual Master who was seventy-five years old. He was suffering from a very serious heart condition. Goroksha, one of the intimate disciples who had tremendous love for him, became very alarmed. Goroksha called in many eminent doctors, but the doctors could not cure his Master. Day by day the Master's condition worsened. Finally, with a heavy heart, Goroksha went to a great occultist in order to find out whether his Master would long survive or whether his death was imminent.

The occultist, who happened to be a family friend, was extremely kind to Goroksha. He asked Goroksha about his wife and children, and Goroksha gave him all the news about them. The occultist was pleased with Goroksha and said, "Look here, I shall write down on a piece of paper exactly when your Master is going to die. There, now I have written the exact date, but I am sealing it in this envelope. It is entirely up to you to decide what to do with this envelope. If you open the envelope and see that your Master will live for a long time, then you will be very happy. On the other hand, if you see that your Master is going to live for only a few days, then because of your extreme sorrow you will be of no further use to your Master during the brief remainder of his stay on earth. But if, out of fear of losing your Master very soon, or out of a smug feeling that your Master will not die for another twenty or thirty years, you one day have the inclination simply to discard the envelope, I tell you, on that very day you yourself will die."

One month passed and Goroksha did not open the envelope, nor did his Master die. Then Goroksha had a dream. In the dream he saw that his Master had died. His whole being was thrown into a sea of grief, and he became senseless. The next morning, even when he saw that his Master was still alive, his whole body continued trembling with uncontrollable fear. He felt that on that very day his Master was going to leave the body, so he told his family that he intended to discard the envelope. They immediately protested, "How can you do that? If you discard the envelope, you will die today."

"That is what I want to do," he replied. "I don't want to see my Master's death." Goroksha's wife pleaded with him. "Master is an old man," she said. "Even if he dies today, he has played his role. But you are only fifty years old. You should stay on earth for a long time to do Master's work."

"After Master's passing, what joy will I have in life? If I will never see his beloved face again, what beauty will there be to appreciate on earth?" said Goroksha. "Other people can do Master's work as well as I. I don't want to stay on earth after his death. There will be nothing for me to live for."

"But you know that for a great spiritual Master, the inner world and the outer world are the same," said Goroksha's son. "He does not have to stay on earth physically in order to guide us; his spiritual light and power will guide us even after he leaves the body."

"True," said Goroksha, "even when he leaves the physical body, he will continue guiding everyone as he does now. But I wish to say that I won't be able to bear the loss of my Master. I strongly feel that Master will die soon, either today or tomorrow, and so the best thing will be for me to discard the envelope and die."

Again Goroksha's wife, daughter and son vehemently protested, but he was adamant. He tore the envelope into shreds and discarded it. And lo and behold, Goroksha got an immediate heart attack and died then and there.

When the Master learned of his dearest disciple's death and of his dealings with the occultist from Goroksha's grief-stricken family, he felt miserable. He said to himself, "I never knew, I never even suspected that my Goroksha was a rogue. I thought that he would work for me in my physical absence. Such a clever fellow! He has deserted me. Now I won't be able to punish him here in this world, but I can enter the other world and send him back to earth again." With that, using his occult power, the Master left the body and entered into the higher worlds in search of his dear disciple.

While he was travelling through the vital world in eager quest of Goroksha, the denizens of that world asked the Master, "Are you really entering into the soul's world with the idea of sending your dearest disciple back to earth to work for you and propagate your views, or are you going there because you badly missed your dearest spiritual son on earth?"

The Master gave a broad smile to the denizens of the vital world and said, "It is up to you to decide."

Be careful of ex-disciples

"Master, I am at times so puzzled and so confused."

"Why, my son?"

"Master, when some of your disciples leave you, they create such problems for me."

"What kind of problems do they create?"

"They cause unnecessary confusion."

"Do you mean that you also lose faith in me?"

"No, never!"

"Do you mean that they have a sound and convincing justification for their actions?"

"No, never!"

"Then why are you confused?"

"I do not exactly know why I am confused. But what frightens me, or what confuses me, rather, is this: if I speak to them or mix with them, you may throw me out of your ashram. Recently some of my very close friends left you. Now please tell me, what kind of relationship shall I maintain with them? Shall I totally ignore them? Shall I mix with them? Shall I try to bring them back?"

"Son, wait and see what they do. It is usually not good to ignore anybody. But if necessity demands, you can be totally indifferent. Whether you mix with them or not entirely depends on their inner life. Once someone leaves my ashram, it is useless to try and bring him back. It is just like the case of a broken mirror. You can repair it, but it can never be made perfect again.

"No matter who leaves a Master's ashram, he will usually speak ill of the Master. When a disciple who is still with the Master hears an ex-disciple's critical remarks, he may become a victim to doubt; and doubt is nothing but poison in the spiritual life. There are a few reasons why someone may leave my ashram: either he loses faith in me, or he is jealous of others' achievements and closeness to me, or he wants to go back to his vital pleasure-life. But I tell you, by re-entering into the vital pleasure-life, he cannot discover his true self; by being jealous of others, he cannot discover his true self; by losing faith in me, he cannot discover his true self.

"Now I wish to tell you what you should do when a person leaves our ashram, whether he is a personal friend or a mere acquaintance. If an individual leaves our ashram and immediately goes to some other Master, you should not get angry with that disciple. You should always remember that according to my philosophy, it is quite immaterial which Master takes a seeker to God. What is of paramount importance is whether the seeker actually reaches God. You can talk to someone who has left our ashram and accepted another Master if necessity demands. But do not go out of your way to mix with him, either to bring him back or to convince him that he has done something really wrong. You can, however, inwardly pray to the Supreme a few times to grant him illumination so that he will be able to know whether what he is doing is right or wrong. But if you mix with him often, you will only enter into a terrible conflict and meet with real spiritual disaster.

"Again, if you see that after having left our ashram, someone feels that he can go his own way, that he does not need any Master now that he has taken all the help he needed from me, you can be kind and sympathetic to him. You may feel sorry that since the poor fellow is no longer taking the help of his Master, who was his private tutor, his spiritual journey will take a very long time. But in no way should you try to convince him that he has done something terrible. If you do so, you will again only enter into unnecessary conflict, and this conflict will illumine neither of you. Still, if you feel the inclination to do so, you can pray to the Supreme a few times for his illumination, so that he will always be able to do the right thing.

"But if someone leaves me and speaks ill of me, of all my disciples, of God; if he mercilessly criticises the whole spiritual world; if he himself does not meditate but wants to take away some of my other disciples, then you have to know that his case is simply hopeless. He is really a sick man, and if you associate with a sick man, you yourself are apt to fall sick. You are certain to be affected by this spiritual disease. Spiritual life is for the sincere man, and not for the fool. If your heart wants to go and help him, you will only be caught by his ignorance. You will be of no help to him at all! So I tell my disciples not to mix at all with an ex-disciple who is bitterly against the spiritual life, against God, against me, against other spiritual Masters and everything that is spiritual. So, my son, when someone leaves our ashram, try to see which category he falls into, and then deal with him accordingly."

"Master, after hearing this from you, on the one hand I am so illumined, but on the other hand I am totally disgusted with the stupidity of these disciples. No matter why your disciples leave you, they are simply stupid; they are simply sick. I will have nothing to do with a stupid or a sick fellow. But again, my own stupidity and sickness have not yet left me totally; otherwise, I would not have asked you this question. Who cares who comes and goes, as long as you give me eternal shelter at your feet, as long as I can grow inside your heart and fulfil you in your own way. I know and I strongly feel that if someone has seen you even once, he is forever yours. Outwardly he may leave you, but although his heart's aspiration may be eclipsed from time to time, he will eventually look inward again to see the illumining sun which is your universal Self, and which ever illumines and ever fulfils the searching, seeking and crying humanity."

The Master blessed the disciple with deepest joy and pride and said, "Son, you have understood my philosophy. Now manifest my philosophy in the life of your soul's illumination, the life of your heart's aspiration and the life of your body's dedication.

Life

An ordinary life plays with ignorance.

A religious life plays with rites and ceremonies.

A spiritual life plays with the inner planes of consciousness.

A divinely transformed life will play with the consciousness of Immortality.

My chosen children

There was a spiritual Master who had a few hundred disciples. Among them there were quite a few black disciples. The Master was exceedingly fortunate in that his black disciples and his white disciples were on very good terms. Both black and white found a safe and perfect home in their Master's heart.

But one day a white disciple came to the Master and said, "Master, I am extremely sorry to have to ask you this. Believe me, Master, I have tremendous love for my black brothers, but there is one thing I do not understand. Why do you call them your chosen children? In which way are they superior to us? I tell you, Master, it is not jealousy that is making me miserable; it is just my curiosity to know in what sense they are superior. If you tell me why they are superior, I shall be extremely grateful to you and, at the same time, infinitely more proud of my black brothers than I am now."

"Son," replied the Master, "since you are calling my black disciples your brothers, I am ready to illumine you. You say that it is not out of jealousy that you are asking me why I call my black disciples my chosen children. Well, I believe you; but if you are telling me a lie, if you have a clever motive behind your question, then God will have to forgive you.

"You know that I am your spiritual father. Inside me there are two lungs functioning perfectly. I also have two eyes that see well. Now, I consider my white disciples and my black disciples as two lungs or two eyes. When both lungs and both eyes function well, I feel I am healthy, sound, normal and perfect. But if one of my lungs or one of my eyes does not function well, I shall feel miserable.

"My black disciples and my white disciples are equally important, but I call the black disciples my chosen children — not because they have surpassed the whites, but because they have my special concern, for they are now doing something which they either have not tried to do or have not been given the chance to do before.

"Suppose there are two sons in a family. The older son is seven years old and the younger is one year old. The older son knows how to walk and how to run, but the younger one still crawls. At times he tries so hard to stand up and equal the capacities of his older brother. When the parents see the great and sincere effort the little one makes, their joy knows no bounds. The older one went through the same stage when he was a little baby, and the parents got the same joy from him when he made an attempt to stand up and walk. The parents always encourage their little one to stand up and walk, and when they see that he is standing they are extremely delighted. They feel that their little one has really accomplished something. When the older brother sees that the younger brother has learned how to walk, he does not become jealous. On the contrary, just because his brother is younger, he, like his parents, tries to help his brother and gets tremendous joy from his brother's accomplishment.

"The blacks have started their spiritual journey a little later than the whites. In a family we cannot say that just because the little one has started walking a few years later, he is inferior. I am fully justified in calling both my white disciples and my black disciples my true spiritual children. There is no competition in our spiritual family, only oneness. The manifestation of oneness is God-perfection in unity's multiplicity. Here there is no question of inferiority or superiority. In our family we need only the feeling of oneness. We have to know that every thing is a matter of time. God's destined Hour strikes for each and every individual at a specific time. When the little one, the newcomer in the family, accomplishes something, the parents say that he is going to be most brilliant, best in every way, and that he will surpass everyone. This encouragement of the parents is not insincere; it is their strong feeling and their lofty hope. Today's hope grows into tomorrow's reality. The parents cherished the same kind of hope for their older son when he was a little child, and this hope also became a reality.

"Again, I call my black disciples my chosen children because the Supreme in me has chosen them out of countless black people. Furthermore, the Supreme in me tells me that my black disciples will play the role of pioneers. They will bring their vast community to the Supreme in me — their spiritual father — and to the Supreme in themselves. They will act like older brothers in the family. At God's choice Hour they will lead and guide their younger brothers to the Supreme. That is why I call them my chosen children."

"Master, you said that if I had any clever motive for asking you this question, God would forgive me. Master, is there anybody who can deceive you? I was jealous, but I wanted to conquer my jealousy. Your compassion makes us feel at times that you do not want to see through our tricks; so we venture to ask you things which we would otherwise never dare to ask. Master, not only have you illumined my mind totally today, but also you have given me a new heart, a heart of vastness wherein I can sing the song of oneness. Black and white are inseparably united in their effort to realise the Highest in the heart of the Master and to manifest the Highest in the heart of every aspiring soul on earth."

Freedom

Real freedom does not depend
    on the world around us.  
Real freedom depends on our acceptance
    of God's Will as our very own. 

One lives, one dies

Once there were two brothers who had been disciples of an occultist for a number of years. They were extremely devoted to the occultist and helped him financially and in many other ways to run his ashram. The occultist was extremely fond of them, too.

Each brother had a son. Alas, it happened that one day both sons were attacked by cholera, and it was only a few hours before death would claim them. The brothers ran to their Master's ashram and knelt and wept at the Master's feet, begging him to save their sons.

The Master said to the elder brother, "Don't waste time. Since your son's case is serious, go and take him to the hospital." The elder brother immediately ran home and took his son to the hospital. To the younger brother the occultist said, "You don't have to take your son to the hospital. Take this blessing flower and place it on your son's head. It will do what is necessary."

In six hours' time the son of the elder brother died in the hospital. But in fourteen hours the younger brother's son was completely cured. Now it seemed that, in the same family, one son had been saved by the Master and the other had simply been allowed to die. Happiness and sorrow reigned together in the family.

The two brothers were very, very close. Despite his grief, the elder brother was happy that his nephew was safe. And the younger brother and his wife both felt miserable over the loss of their nephew. A sea of joy and a sea of sorrow were wrestling with each other.

The following day the elder brother went to the Master weeping bitterly and said, "Master, you did not care for my son. You asked me to take him to the hospital, but the doctors could not cure him, and he died. Both my younger brother and I are so close to you, but you cured his son and not mine. I am not mean. I am glad that you have been kind enough to save at least one son in our family. For that I am grateful. In my nephew I will feel my son's presence, for my nephew is extremely dear to me and I have always thought of him as my own second son. But Master, if you had saved my son, too, I would have been so happy and delighted to get back both my sons from the jaws of death. Master, would you mind telling me why you did not save my son? But if you don't want to say, don't say, Master. I surrender to your will."

The occultist said, "I saw occultly that the time had come for your son to die. What was I to do? When I saw that his death was destined, I asked you to take him to the hospital for medical treatment. I knew that, if he could get the best medical treatment, you would be able to console yourself and your wife. If I had given your son a flower, as I gave your nephew a flower, then your wife, who has not accepted my path, would immediately have sneered at the flower. If your son had not died, your wife would have said, 'Nonsense, it was not the occultist who saved my son.' And if your son had died, as he did die, she would have insulted you and scolded you, and said, 'Why didn't you send my son to the hospital, you heartless rogue?' Since your wife has not accepted my path, I am in a difficult position. You are a dear, devoted disciple of mine, and I know that you understand and believe what I am saying. But your wife does not understand my philosophy at all. If your son had lived, she would have given the credit to God. Now, I would have been happy if she had given credit to God. For me it is quite immaterial whether she believes in my power or not, because the little capacity I have came from God. But if your son had died, your wife would have been furious, and she would have insulted both of us for this kind of treatment with the flower. So it was for your sake that I had to ask you to take your son to the hospital. I did all this so that she could not blame you or me."

"True, Master, my wife would have accused me if our son had died without medical treatment, but you did not give me the opportunity to have faith in your miracle-power. You could have given the same kind of flower to my son and cured him."

"My child, it is not a matter of faith. It is true that faith cures, but this was something predestined. God had selected the hour for your son to leave the world. Since it was ordained by God, I could not change your son's fate, no matter what kind of faith you had in me. In your nephew's case, even if I had not given him a flower, he would have been cured. He did not take any medicine and he did not go to the hospital, but he was cured, because it was destined that he would survive."

Now while the Master and the disciple were having this serious conversation, the disciple's wife came in quite unexpectedly and started insulting the occultist, saying, "You unkind, cruel creature! My husband has given you thousands and thousands of rupees, just as his brother has done. How is it that you have cured our nephew but not our son?"

At this, the husband buried his head in his hands in utter shame and said to his wife, "For God's sake, leave this place, and do not speak to my Master in that way. He is my Master, he is my All."

The wife became furious. "He is your all! Come home today, and I will show you who is your all!" Then she threw a volley of insults at the Master and cried, "Tell me, do you really have occult power? If you do, how is it that you saved one son in our family and not both?"

The husband himself became furious and said, "You must not talk to my Master in such a contemptuous manner! He is my Lord, he is my All."

"Do you mean that the way you are my lord, and my all, in that way he is also your lord and your all?"

"I am not your lord and I am not your all. God is your Lord, God is your All. My Master is my Lord and he is my All."

"So you have rejected me today in front of this unkind, cruel man!"

The occultist burst into laughter and said, "What can you expect, Shiva? He is now with an unkind man, so naturally he will act like an unkind man. His misbehaviour is all due to the bad company he keeps." The husband said to the occultist, "Master, I shall always cherish this bad company. I want to stay with you always. Now I have no son. This wife of mine who does not accept you I have tolerated for many years, but now I am convinced that she will never accept you, so I will not go back home. From now on, I shall stay here with you, and I shall serve you."

"Impossible!" said the wife. "God made us one. No human being can separate us. Your Master is, after all, a human being."

The Master said, "Poor Shiva, I am not preventing you from taking your husband home. He is your all and you have every right to take him back home with you."

The disciple said, "Master, for God's sake, for my sake, please do not torture me. I am not her all. But if ever she accepts you, you will be her all. Right now, since she is not accepting you as her Master, I place her at the Feet of God. God is her All, and He will take care of her. Master, you are my God, you are my Lord, you are my All."

Suddenly Shiva realised what was about to happen in her family, and she fell at the feet of the Master and said, "Is there any way I can get my husband back? I have lost my only son. Now I am losing my husband, too. Please tell me, is there any way I can get my husband back?"

The Master said, "I do not know. I have no way to console you."

The husband said, "Yes, I know a way. Shiva, you have touched my Master's feet. Now pray to him with folded hands and say that you also want to be his disciple. If you accept him as your very own, if you claim him as your all the way I claim him as my all, then I shall go back home with you."

"You cannot make this kind of demand," said the Master. "I will never force anybody to become my disciple. If somebody loves me, if he sees and feels something divine in me, only then do I accept that person as my disciple. If you force her to accept me, I will not be able to accept her."

The disciple said, "Master, it is entirely up to you whether to accept or reject her."

Shiva said to the occultist, "Master, I am accepting you, not because my husband has threatened me, but because I am seeing something in you and I am feeling something in you which I have never seen or felt before in my life."

The Master blessed her and said, "Shiva, my daughter, I shall give you a supreme boon. Your nephew will become my very close disciple. He will be at my feet throughout his life. Your son, who left us yesterday, will always be inside my heart. His body has left us, but his soul remains within my heart." The Master asked Shiva and her husband to look at his heart. He then used his occult power and showed them the living face of their son inside his heart.

Both husband and wife touched their Master's feet with boundless gratitude. Shiva said, "You are not only our Master, but our Lord and God. To see our son inside your heart is more than consolation; it is a true, unmistakable revelation of what God, through the Master, can do for the disciple."

The Master said, "Again I tell you, your nephew will be always at my feet. He will work for me, for my manifestation in the outer world. Your son will work for me inwardly, in my heart, silently inspiring me, devotedly helping me to fulfil my role here on earth. Alas, we human beings unnecessarily blame God's dispensation."

Shiva said, "Do not include yourself in that statement, Master. It was we unfortunate disciples who doubted God and who doubted you. But Master, the nights of doubt are all gone. From now on we shall grow and glow in the effulgence of your eternal midday sun."

Published in One Lives, One Dies

Spirituality

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at Pace Memorial United Methodist Church
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia

Dear sisters and brothers, dear seekers of the ultimate Truth, I wish to give a talk on spirituality. As we all know, spirituality is a vast subject, and here, in an hour, I can never do justice to it. But let me at least make a beginning.

In spirituality we come to learn of two significant terms: “meditation” and “dedicated service”. All of us here are fully aware of these two terms. Some of you may use the terms “knowledge” and “work”. Knowledge is the result of meditation. When we dive deep within, we see, we feel and we grow into the highest Knowledge. Work, when it is done in a divine spirit and for a divine purpose, is dedicated service. The combination of meditation and dedicated service makes a man perfect.

In this world, many are of the opinion that spirituality cannot offer a balanced life, but I wish to say that they are badly mistaken. It is spirituality alone that can offer us a real life, a balanced life, a practical life. Who is practical? He who knows the truth and who knows how to apply the truth in his daily life. A spiritual person is he who tries to know the truth today, to discover the truth tomorrow and to apply the truth the following day in all his multifarious activities. A spiritual person is someone who goes to the very root of the Truth, for he knows that if there is no root there cannot be any tree. And the root of the Truth is love. A spiritual person meditates not for his own sake alone; he meditates for all and sundry. He meditates for his dear ones, and he meditates for every human being on earth. His is a life of love and dedication.

Each individual has his own way of reaching the ultimate Truth. One may find it easier to reach the Truth through dedicated service, by loving God in each human being, by seeing and feeling the divinity in humanity. Another may want to dive deep within and first reach the Source, and then work on the earth-plane. Both are doing the right thing. But the person who does not aspire and does not want to aspire in any way — who is useless in society — is either a fool or a dead soul.

Each seeker should feel that it is his bounden duty to realise the Highest. But each seeker must know that God-realisation, the realisation of the ultimate Truth, need not and cannot be the sole monopoly of any one individual. Everyone is destined to reach the Highest. But there is a way that leads a seeker to his destination quite fast, and that is the way of the heart. If we empty the heart and welcome the eternal Guest, our eternal Beloved, He comes in and fulfils His own transcendental Reality in our day-to-day existence. The other way, the way of the mind, is lengthier and more difficult. But if we can silence the mind, then Peace, Light, Bliss and Power in infinite measure can enter into us also.

We are all seekers. In our inner life, our spiritual life, we have already travelled millions of miles. Although we may at times fall victims to our animal qualities and indulge in quarrelling, fighting and other negative and destructive actions, still we no longer cherish or appreciate the animal in us. We know that what we actually want from our lives is Peace, Light and Bliss. The animal in us has played its role, and now the human in us is playing its role. We are cherishing the hope that today's human qualities will be transcended and transformed into divine Reality. When we meditate, we feel that this is no longer a hope, but a certainty. When we meditate deeply, profoundly, in the very depths of our heart, we feel that there is no such thing as impossibility. As we have transcended the animal kingdom, so also must we transcend our human weaknesses, imperfections, limitations and bondage.

In the Western world, meditation is not as common as prayer, but I wish to say that prayer and meditation are like two most intimate brothers. If we pray soulfully, we can get what meditation offers us. When we pray, we feel that something from within, from our very depths, from the inmost recesses of our heart, is climbing high, higher, highest. And we feel that somebody is there to listen to our prayer, or somebody is there to receive us at the pinnacle of our aspiration's height. When we meditate soulfully, devotedly, in pindrop silence, we feel that a divine Guest is descending into our heart to guide us, to illumine us, to perfect us and to fulfil His own transcendental Reality within us. We feel that the Infinite is entering into the finite for their mutual fulfilment.

In this world there is a need for peace. This peace comes only from within, and we can bring it to the fore only through meditation. If we can meditate soulfully for ten minutes every day, we will energise our entire being with Peace. Peace houses light, bliss, fulfilment and satisfaction. We can have Peace not by possessing the world or leading the world, but by becoming a lover of the world.

Now when we become a lover of the world, we may commit a most deplorable mistake: we may expect something from the world in return for our love. We are ready to accept the limitations and imperfections of the world as our very own. But if in spite of our best efforts, our best intentions, our deepest love and compassion for the world, the world does not listen to us or does not offer us enough gratitude, at that time we make an inner demand on the world. At the beginning of our service, we demand everything from the world in return for our offering, our life of sacrifice. If we give something, we expect the same amount in return, if not more. Then there comes a time when we give as much as we have, we give to the utmost of our capacity, and we expect in return only an infinitesimal measure of what we have given. But even if we expect just an infinitesimal quantity of appreciation from the world, I wish to say that we are bound to be unhappy; we are bound to be wanting in peace. Let us give to the world unconditionally what we have and what we are: Love. The message of love we get only from our daily prayer and meditation. We know that love means oneness, inseparable oneness. And in oneness there is no expectation, no demand.

There are two ways to love. One way is to go first to the human love and then reach upward to the ultimate Love, the divine Love. The other way is to reach the divine Love first and then enter into and transform the human love. The divine Love always inspires us, guides us and moulds us into something immortal, which we can offer to humanity. The human love frustrates us, disappoints us, and finally constrains us to try to enter into the kingdom of divine Love.

We have to love life and also love truth. Truth and life can never be separated. When we try to separate truth and life we cannot make any progress. In our human love, frustration may loom large. But in the divine life, love is constantly building us and shaping us into the very image of God.

We have spoken about peace and love. If someone asks us to speak about peace, we will be able to speak most eloquently. But speech does not help us to establish the kingdom of peace on earth. It is our silent prayer and soulful meditation that can give us the peace of mind which our little world, our own personal world, badly needs, just as the entire outer world needs it. To begin at the beginning with ourselves is the only way we can eventually bring peace to the world. If I do not have peace myself, how can I offer peace to others? Impossible!

We have a body, which we regard as the only reality. When we satisfy the need of the body for earthly food, for nourishment, we feel that we have fulfilled our task. But in our inner life also we have someone to feed every day, and that is our soul, the divine being within us, the conscious representative of God on earth. Although we feed our body every day, somehow we fail to feed this divine child within us. Since we never do the first thing first, we remain unsatisfied here on earth. First we must go deep within, and then — from within — we must go without. The inner life must constantly embrace, guide and inspire the outer life. The outer life is eventually liberated by the inner life, which already has liberation in fullest measure.

The inner life and the outer life can and must run abreast. The inner life will constantly receive messages from Above, messages of Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. Infinity, Eternity and Immortality are not vague terms. When one becomes an advanced seeker, he sees and feels infinite Peace, Light and Bliss within himself. One need not be a God-realised soul to have this experience. All of us have Peace, Light and Bliss in infinite measure in the very depths of our aspiring spiritual heart.

But right now the door of our heart is locked by ignorance. We have to open the door and dive deep within to go beyond ignorance to where our own Peace, Light and Truth reside.

We are God's children, His chosen instruments. God abides within us as a constant Dream, and we live in God as His only reality. He lives in us as a Dream that will ultimately be transformed into reality; and we live in Him as a reality that will grow into His ever-ascending, ever-blossoming Dream. We are all seekers, and we are all in a boat. Our journey can never come to an end, for God, the eternal Pilot, is our Pilot, and we are in His Boat. He is the Boatman, He Himself is the Boat and He is the Golden Shore of the Beyond.

Published in Fifty Freedom-Boats to one Golden Shore, part 2

Indian Stories

by Sri Chinmoy

Saturn defeats Indra

Once Indra and Saturn (Shani) had a serious argument over who was greater. Indra said he was the greater of the two. Saturn said, “No, I am greater. Prove your supremacy.”

Indra said, “No. It is beneath my dignity to prove it. Everybody knows that I am the King of the cosmic gods. Therefore, am I not greater than you, you fool?”

“Say whatever you want to,” said Saturn. “I feel that I am greater.”

“Greater in what respect?”

“I can do anything I want to,” said Saturn.

Indra laughed and laughed.

“Tomorrow I shall take hold of you,” said Saturn. “Let me see how you can save yourself.”

“All right,” said Indra. “You will see what I can do.”

The following day Indra went into a forest and hid. He said, “Let me see how Saturn will catch me.” He did not come out of the forest the whole day. The next day Indra went to Saturn and said, “Look, Saturn, you could not keep your promise, so how can you be greater than I?”

Saturn said, “Can’t you see? You were afraid of me. That is why you hid the entire day. If you were brave, you would have come and stood in front of me. From this can you not see that I am greater and more powerful than you?”

Indra accepted defeat and felt deeply embarrassed.

She lends money with wisdom

There was a very rich man who was extremely cruel and miserly. His wife was very kind-hearted and affectionate, and full of sympathy for everyone. Nobody liked the husband, but everybody liked the wife. However, she said, “God gave me this bad husband, so what can I do? Nobody likes him, so at least I have to like him. Somebody has to like him.” She was very kind and affectionate to him and served him day and night.

Once a famine struck the region where they lived, and many villagers came to them for help. The wife gave money to everyone and showered all the people with affection and sympathy. Her husband did not mind her generosity, even though he was so miserly. He said, “As long as I don’t have to personally give, I am satisfied.” His wife was very grateful for this.

When she gave money to the people, they said, “We are only borrowing this money. We will pay you back.”

She said, “No, no. You don’t have to pay it back. This is a gift. You just take it.”

They said, “No, no. We shall repay you when the famine is over.”

She said, “If you really want to repay me, then give me the money the day my husband dies.” 

Some of the people were shocked to hear the wife talk like this. Others thought that when her husband died, she would have many expenses for the funeral and so forth, so that was why she said this.

One of their sons happened to be present when his mother said this. The son loved both parents dearly, but upon hearing this he was very displeased, disappointed and angry. He went to his father and said, “Mother is asking people to repay the money she is giving them after your death.”

The father could not believe this. “How can she say this? She always gives money freely, so why is she now asking them to return the money and why does it have to be on my death?”

The husband went to the wife and asked her, “Please tell me why you are saying this to these people?”

She said, “You don’t understand. You see, people don’t like you. They hate you. Everybody wants you to die today. But many people have taken lots of money from me, and by nature people don’t want to return money. Although they say they are taking it as a loan, they don’t want to return it. So, from now on, instead of thinking of your death, they will pray to God to keep you alive so that they don’t have to return the money. I want you to live on earth for many, many years. Who knows? One day you may also become very affectionate, kind-hearted and sympathetic.

“So, I played a trick. I want them to pray to God every day that you live. Previously they prayed to God for your death. Now they will pray to God for you to live on earth. This will make me very happy. Who cares for the money? I want you to live for a very long time.”

The husband was extremely moved by his wife’s wisdom. The son was also very pleased with his mother.

Viksha’s boon

There was a King Viksha, who was very cruel and unkind. Nobody liked him. He wanted to conquer everybody. He said, “There are many ways to conquer people — with weapons, or deception, or other means. But in my case I want to conquer in a different way. I will conquer by touch. Whomever I want to kill, I will touch the head of the person and he will die immediately. How can I do this? I am undivine, but I do have faith in God. Among the cosmic gods I know Shiva is very easy to please. So I will pray to him.”

He prayed for many, many years. One day Shiva came and said, “You have been calling, calling and calling. What do you want? I will give you whatever you want.”

“Yes, I want something, but you can’t give it to me.”

“I can’t give it to you? Then why are you praying?”

“Yes, I have been praying to you, but I don’t remember when I started.”

Shiva said, “Many, many years ago.”

“Oh! I have been praying for many, many years? I didn’t know? I was in trance. So now you have come! I am so glad and grateful. O Lord Shiva, give me the boon that whenever I touch somebody’s head, that person will die immediately. With my touch I wish to be able to turn that person’s entire body to ashes.”

Shiva said, “Wonderful. Wonderful. I am pleased with your prayer so I am giving you this boon. Whomever you touch on the head will die immediately.”

The King said, “I am so grateful to you, so grateful! Now, may I use it on you to see if you are telling the truth?”

Shiva said, “You want to use it on me?”

“Yes! How else will I know if you are telling the truth?”

Shiva started running away. “O God, what have I done?” he thought. He ran to Vishnu’s place, and Viksha was chasing him. With his third eye Vishnu had seen all that had happened and said to the King, “Why are you running? Why are you running? Great King, you are running after Shiva. What has he done? If you ask him to come to you, he will come. Why do you have to chase him? You are the King. We all run after you. You don’t have to run after us.”

This flattery satisfied King Viksha to a great extent. He said to Vishnu, “Look at this liar! I prayed to Shiva for so many years. He came to give me the boon, but he doesn’t want me to test the boon to see if it is real or not.”

“What kind of boon?” asked Vishnu.

“I asked him for the power to burn somebody to ashes just by touching his head. He gave me the boon, but when I tried to place my hands on his head, he ran away.”

“Does it take such a long time for you to prove it?” asked Vishnu. “Just touch your own head and see if it is true or not.”

“But if I touch my head will I not burn to ashes?”

“Oh no. As soon as you are about to be burned, take your hands away. Then you will know if it is true.”

“You are right. Let me just touch my head.” As soon as he did so, he was burned to ashes.

Shiva said to Vishnu, “Oh, you saved me!”

Vishnu said, “You have saved me many times. We are inseparable friends. We shall eternally remain one. When either one of us is in danger, the other will come to his rescue.”

Outer beauty, but inner ugliness

Once a great sage named Eurba was walking along the street with his daughter, Kundala. She was very, very beautiful. As they were walking, another sage, Durbasha, saw them. Durbasha practiced austerities most soulfully, but his temper was of the quickest. He cursed people constantly and everyone knew of his temper.

When Durbasha saw Kundala, he immediately fell in love with her. He asked Eurba, “Please tell me who she is.”

“She is my daughter.”

“Your daughter?”

“Yes.”

“Is she married?”

“No. She is not married.”

“She is so beautiful.”

“Yes, she is beautiful, but only physically is she beautiful. Inside she is always quarreling and fighting with the members of the family. Inside she is ugly, ugly, ugly. She is jealousy incarnate.”

“I do not know about her inner bad qualities and I do not care to hear about them. I am so full of admiration for her physical beauty. Please, please, please give me your daughter.”

Eurba said, “No, I won’t give her to you. I don’t trust you. Once you see how quarrelsome and jealous she can become, you may throw her out after you are married. Although she is very undivine, I have that much sympathy for my daughter that I do not want her to suffer this kind of fate.”

“I promise that no matter what she does, I will not use my occult power. I will never destroy her, because I am so fond of her physical beauty.”

Eurba said, “Are you sure you will not destroy her one day when you get angry with her?”

“No, no, no. I promise you, I will give her everything and try only to please her. If she wants me to give up prayer and meditation, I will do so. I will give up everything for her. I won’t even meditate on Lord Krishna, who is dearer than the dearest to me, if that is her wish. Once I get her, she will become my dearer than the dearest. She will be my all.”

Eurba said, “I can’t believe it.”

“Please! Love is blind. I love this girl more than my life. She is so beautiful. Please give her to me.”

Eurba finally agreed and in due course, Kundala and Durbasha were married. Durbasha totally forgot about spirituality. He did nothing spiritual at all. He was always with his beautiful wife, bound by her physical beauty. Kundala was constantly complaining, scolding Durbasha for everything. Even when he had not done anything wrong she scolded him. Durbasha said, “I gave up everything for you. My prayer, my meditation, my Krishna, my Beloved Lord — all I gave up for you, and still you are always scolding me.” 

“Who asked you to give up Krishna and spirituality, you fool? Nobody would have married you, but I agreed to marry you.”

Durbasha said, “And nobody would have married you! You are so ugly inwardly. Your father was so right. In spite of knowing how bad you were, I married you.”

“Who asked you to marry me?”

“My love for your physical beauty.”

“Physical beauty? Look what you have done! You have ruined my physical beauty. You said if you married me, you would please me. Are you pleasing me in any way? I am asking you to do many things, but you are not pleasing me. I am asking you to make me very rich.”

“How can I make you rich?”

“You have spiritual power, occult power. Make me very rich. I want to have many servants. I want to have a beautiful palace. If you can’t give me these things, I will go on scolding and insulting you.”

Durbasha said, “Enough! Enough! I cannot tolerate you anymore. I am destroying you with my third eye.”

As soon as Durbasha opened up his third eye, Eurba came and said, “My boy, my boy, I told you that my daughter was so undivine. In spite of knowing that, you wanted to marry her, so I gave her to you. But don’t destroy her, don’t destroy her. Give me back my daughter. Since I brought her into the world I will bear the burden the rest of my life. I don’t want her destroyed.”

Durbasha said, “Either take her away, Eurba, or I am going to destroy her immediately.” 

Eurba took back his daughter and said, “God gave you to me, my daughter, and God wants me to marry patience. My name will be patience and nothing else. As long as I stay on earth, I will show you my infinite compassion and infinite forgiveness. What else can I do? If God blessed me with you, I shall pay the penalty for the rest of my life.”

Krishna's supreme love

Kangsa was the hostile force incarnate. He was wicked to the backbone. He tortured each and every person in his kingdom. His worst enemy was Lord Krishna. He wanted to destroy Lord Krishna right from the very beginning, even before Krishna was mature enough to fight against him. He wanted to destroy Krishna even when Krishna was only an infant.

Kangsa had a friend who was a great admirer. He was also wicked to the backbone. One day, this friend came to Kangsa and said, “Your worst enemy is Krishna. I want to destroy him and make you happy.”

“If you do this, you will make me the world’s happiest person,” Kangsa said.

“Yes, I will do it.”

One day Kangsa’s friend went to Brindavan where Krishna was playing games with the gopis. The gopis were extremely happy, for they were playing with their beloved Krishna. When this particular hostile force entered Brindavan, the gopis were frightened to death, because his face was so frightening. Krishna remained silent for some time.

The undivine being said to Krishna, “You remain silent because you are doing something wrong. It is undivine and immoral to play with these people. Everybody thinks that you are very spiritual and divine, but you do nothing but play with these gopis.”

Krishna still remained silent.

“Yes, you remain silent because you are not doing the right thing. Had you been doing the right thing, you would have spoken.”

Krishna said, “The right thing is always compassion and forgiveness. I have always been doing the right thing by consoling and listening to you people. But this time I have to withdraw my Compassion aspect. My Justice-Light, my destruction aspect, I have to adopt.”

In a twinkling, in front of all the gopis, Krishna destroyed this evil force. Then he said to the gopis, “My love for you people, the world will not understand. I don’t care if the world understands. Your devoted hearts will always be appreciated by me. Remain devoted to me and I shall always take care of you. Here on earth and there in Heaven, I shall always take care of you, my devoted friends.

“Animal love, human love, divine love and supreme love. Animal love does not know what human love is. Human love does not know what divine love is. Divine love does not know what supreme love is. Animal love is ultimate destruction. Human love is ultimate frustration. Divine love is ultimate illumination. Supreme love is ultimate illumination, ultimate perfection and ultimate satisfaction.

“This supreme love I am offering to you, my earthly friends. If you accept my supreme love in my own supreme way, you will all be nearest and closest to me.”

The gopis offered their gratitude-hearts through their soulful smiles.

Published in Great Indian Meals: Divinely Delicious and Supremely Nourishing, part 8