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The Master and the Mother Superior

A story by Sri Chinmoy

One day a spiritual Master was enjoying the company of some of his dear disciples. One of the disciples asked him the difference between a convent and an ashram. Everybody laughed, but the disciple said, “How can I know? I know about an ashram but I've never been in a convent. That’s why I was asking about the life in the convent.”

The Master replied, “In most convents, everything is mechanical. It is not an illumined life; it is a suppressed life, which is not good. In a convent, austerity, penance and forced discipline are frequently demanded for their own sake. But in an ashram, a real ashram, austerity is not demanded, but simplicity is expected; penance is not demanded, but right action is expected; forced discipline is never demanded, but spontaneous inner discipline is expected.

“In a convent, many persons look upon the ordinary life as an object of contempt. But in a real ashram, a seeker stays not because he feels the life of desire is filthy and impure, but because it is something no longer necessary for him.

“In a convent the Mother Superior need not be a God-realised soul. Far from it. But in an ashram, whoever is the head is supposed to be a God-realised soul.

“In a convent, the Mother Superior will often condemn all other spiritual Masters, religions and spiritual paths. But in a real Indian ashram, the Master tells the disciples that other ashrams, other paths, other Masters are good in their own way. However, he will not encourage his disciples to mix with others because he feels it only creates confusion when people following different paths exchange their views.

“Since you have asked me the difference between ashram life and convent life I wish to tell you a juicy story about another spiritual Master, who happens to be a very good friend of mine.

“This Master had about two thousand disciples in America. One day, a very close disciple of his took him to a convent to see her son, who was convalescing in a nursing home there. The disciple’s son did not care at all for the Master, for he had no faith in this Master. But still the Master said a few comforting words to the son.

“Later on, as the Master and disciple were leaving the nursing home, the disciple asked the Master if he would like to visit the chapel of the convent. The Master said, ‘Why not?’ Fortunately or unfortunately, the disciple stayed outside talking to some people, and the Master went into the chapel alone, wearing his Indian clothes. He started looking at the portraits of the Christ and Mother Mary, and was deeply absorbed in meditation on them when suddenly three nuns rushed out of the chapel shouting and screaming undivine words.

“A few minutes later the Mother Superior was brought in. As soon as the Mother Superior came in, the situation became worse. She was beside herself with anger, and was about to throw the spiritual man out, when suddenly something changed inside her, and instead she said, ‘I am sure Christ will forgive him, even though he is a Hindu. His eyes are full of sincerity and devotion from looking at the portrait of Christ.’ Then she added, ‘But don’t you dare come to this place any more. This chapel is extremely sacred. It is only meant for Christians. You are not a Christian, and you should not have come in. I can clearly see that you have a good heart; therefore Christ will not be offended. But please don’t come again!’

“The Master gave the Mother Superior a thankful smile outwardly as he left the chapel, and inwardly he gave himself a sigh of relief.

“Alas, a few days later the disciple’s son died. Now this particular young man was anything but spiritual, and therefore, after his death, he was having tremendous problems in the vital plane. But he could see that there were many people in the vital plane who were really enduring much less suffering. So, he made enquiries as to why these people were rather enjoying themselves while he was condemned to suffer.

“A guardian of the vital world said, ‘All these people lived a spiritual life on earth and had spiritual Masters. Therefore, they are happy. In your case, you didn’t follow the spiritual life, and perhaps you do not even know a spiritual Master.’

“The young man replied, ‘I do know of someone, but I have no idea whether he is a real Master or a fake. But this much I can say — my mother was full of love and admiration for him, so I assume that he was my mother’s boyfriend.’

“The guardian asked him the name of his mother’s boyfriend, but he did not know it. All the guardians were compassionate, so they concentrated on his mother’s soul and immediately they came to know the Master’s name. Utterly disgusted, they insulted the young man mercilessly.

“'How dare you speak this way about such a high Master?’ they cried. ‘You fool! Only to know of a spiritual Master of that calibre, only for someone in your family to be his disciple, is the greatest blessing and fortune. Although you do not deserve anything yourself, because of your mother’s virtue and the Master’s infinite Compassion, this great Master will take you to a much higher vital plane where you will have no suffering, but only boundless joy.’ ”

Published in Why the Masters don't Mix

Receiving Peace

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey

I am offering tonight’s peace-music-song-experience to Princeton’s illustrious son, President Woodrow Wilson, the founder of the League of Nations, whose heart was the pioneer-dream and whose life was the pioneer-dreamer of the oneness-home of world peace.

Each peace-seeker has a special way of receiving peace from his Inner Pilot. His Inner Pilot is at once his heart’s Saviour and his life’s Liberator. His heart’s Saviour saves him from blighting sins. His life’s Liberator liberates him from teeming imperfections.

Being a peace-seeker, I, too, have my own way of receiving peace. I receive peace only when I am exchanging something with my Beloved Supreme. I offer Him my doubting mind. In exchange, He grants me His compassionate Eye. I offer Him my fearful heart. In exchange, He grants me His powerful Feet. In our mutual exchange of gifts, I receive peace from my Lord Supreme.

In my day-to-day life, when I receive something from others, I get peace. When I give others something of my own, I also get peace. Again, when I go beyond receiving and giving, and just become a oneness-heart, I receive peace.

After receiving something from someone, the peace that I get is beautiful. After offering something to someone, the peace that I get is soulful. And when I go beyond receiving and giving and just become a oneness-heart in my oneness-family, the peace that I get is fruitful, supremely fruitful.

When we use power to bring about peace, we bring to the fore the animal life of our past incarnations. When we use love to bring about peace, we bring to the fore the life divine of our future incarnations.

You are mistaken if you think that by perfecting the world you will get peace. You are equally mistaken if you think that by letting the world perfect you, you will get peace. No, you cannot perfect the world, and the world cannot perfect you. Perfection comes from within, and the message of peace also comes from within — from within the peace-seeker’s heart. If the seeker wants to get perfection, if he wants to get peace, then he has to be consciously aware of his inner divinity and his own reality. It is by virtue of his prayer-life and his meditation-life that he can be conscious of what he eternally is. What he is, is the embodiment of God’s Vision-Dream. Who he is, is the embodiment and continuation of God’s Manifestation on earth. What he is, is the embodiment of God’s Satisfaction in God’s ever-transcending Creation. Only by becoming fully conscious of this can the true peace-seeker have peace—Eternity’s Peace, Infinity’s Peace and Immortality’s Peace.

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

Sri Chinmoy Answers

questions at Public School 86 in Jamaica, New York.

Question: The hostile forces seem to be increasing and making progress, and the good forces seem to be losing strength. How is it possible that the good forces will ever win?

Sri Chinmoy: Who are we to say which are the hostile forces, which are the good forces and who is winning? We use the term ‘hostile forces’, but do we actually know which are the hostile forces and which are the good forces? We ourselves can play the role of hostile forces most perfectly. Let us try, consciously and soulfully, to minimise our wrong actions. Each day if we can do one less wrong action, we help the divine within us to make us perfect. Since God has not given up on us, we must continue to try. As He has infinite Patience, let us also have patience in conquering wrong forces.

We must not add to God’s problems. Unconsciously we do many wrong things; for those, we have to forgive ourselves. But consciously also we do many wrong things. We look around and see that someone has done something and God has forgiven him, so we think, “I can do the same thing and God will also forgive me.” Is there any human being who every day is not consciously doing wrong things for no other reason than to fulfil a kind of desire, especially in the thought world? Insecurity comes, jealousy comes, inferiority and superiority come and we allow them to enter. We just connive at them. If we do not conquer these wrong forces, if we do not fight against them, we will surrender to them. We have to be all the time like brave soldiers or heroes to conquer them once and for all.

Question: In your New Year's Message you mentioned in the last two lines 'My Transcendental Silence-Crown and my Universal Sound-Throne'. Can you say something about that?

Sri Chinmoy: This is not my poetical expression; it is my own inner experience. If you can raise your consciousness, your inner height, then you will see that my New Year’s Message is not mental jugglery. Last year when I said certain things in the message, they came true. This year also they will happen. Every day tremendous things are happening in the inner world. In the inner world when we see a bud of beauty, then we know it will blossom, petal by petal. But unless it is fully blossomed outwardly, with our outer vision we cannot call it a flower. So in the inner world, if we have confidence or faith, we can see the inner reality. But if we cherish doubt, then we cannot see what is really most beautiful and most real. The doubting and practical mind does not perceive it. Most of the time when something is in seed form in the inner world, we see that it will eventually manifest fully. Very developed spiritual seekers can envision the future with their third eye. They know that their vision is real. It has already taken place in the inner world, but it is not showing on the outer plane.

Only eleven more months remain in this year. So let us have patience. With our aspiration and eagerness, we can also expedite God’s absolute Height. Our receptivity is nothing other than gratitude. As soon as we can offer an iota of gratitude to God, our receptivity increases.

God is pleased even with our short-lived surrender-life and infinitely shorter-lived gratitude-breath. We see how little gratitude we have. But when we increase our power of receptivity, the vision of tomorrow can be manifested as reality in today’s heart, in today’s life.

Question: Could you give us a meditation or concentration technique to develop discrimination-power?

Sri Chinmoy: If you can just shed tears — and I do not mean crocodile tears — you will develop discrimination-power. Try to feel that you are absolutely helpless, like a babe in the woods. You have to bring forward humility and feel that you are nothing and can be nothing without God’s Protection, God’s Compassion. You have to cry like a child. Think of the way a child cries for the mother’s milk or a toy. Then immediately you will be able to discriminate and choose only the things that are going to help you make spiritual progress. What you need will be there. The power of discrimination comes from our utmost sincere cry. If you use the mind to discriminate, it will be a mistake. Discrimination is founded upon the heart’s purest cry. Immediately God’s Compassion and Protection will give you nectar and keep you away from poison.

The other way is to act like a hero. Here you have to have the confidence to know that you are God’s supremely chosen child. With this confidence, you will conquer wrong forces.

Question: My father committed suicide eleven years ago and it still disturbs me. He had cancer and had three months to live, so he took his life.

Sri Chinmoy: According to my inner philosophy, God has given us this life. At every moment we must avail ourselves of the opportunity to fight against death. You can say your father’s life was useless. Even if he stayed, perhaps he would not have been able to contribute anything to the outer world. But there is an inner world, the soul’s world. The soul may no longer be able to manifest in and through a particular body, but it can manifest through the near and dear ones. In this way, it keeps a connection with the earth. Like this, there are so many reasons why one should not commit suicide.

On rare occasions, spiritual Masters may leave their physical body because they know that God’s choice Hour has come for them. It is God’s Will. But for ordinary people, it is the worst possible inner crime. In the case of your father, he has departed, but you are still here on earth. You can pray to God for forgiveness for your father. The dear ones remaining on earth can pray to God.

At the end of your life, even if you are only moving at the speed of an Indian bullock cart, God is still achieving something in and through your life. Do not take a wrong turn by committing suicide. If you discard this life, how can there be any progress? Suicide is the worst possible experience, not only for the one who commits suicide but also for his family members. Anyone who has close connections with that individual suffers tremendously. If your brother or father or sister or someone else commits suicide, then some of your subtle nerves, which are absolutely necessary for God-realisation, can be damaged. So you have to pray for your own protection as well. When somebody breaks the cosmic law in the family, for example, if your brother has gone to jail, then something very sacred in you or in one of your inner beings will snap. Again, if your family members do something good or great for humanity, it affects you also. So we have to be so careful. Unless we consciously surrender our near ones to God’s Will every day, we are bound to be affected if they do something wrong in the inner world. Something in our consciousness will be damaged.

Question: At the public meditation you talked about the crying child within. If we are concentrating on your Transcendental picture, can we try to see the crying child in that and identify with it there?

Sri Chinmoy: Inside my Transcendental picture you want to imagine a crying child? No, that is not the way. My Transcendental as such is not crying. In a sense, you can say it is crying for the perfection of the human beings, but my Transcendental is full of infinite compassion, love and light. When I spoke about the crying child within, I meant that you as an individual have to cry the way a child cries. You can cry to my Transcendental for the things you need, to discriminate right from wrong, and so on. The Transcendental will fulfil your aspiration. But if the Transcendental also starts crying, how will the Transcendental be able to give anything? For those who cry to the Transcendental the way a child cries, the Transcendental embodies infinite compassion, blessings, love and light, and these divine attributes or qualities will enter into you. If you wish, you can ask the Transcendental to teach you how to cry. The Transcendental itself is not going to cry, but in a deeper sense the Transcendental does cry for the transformation and perfection of humanity.

Question: Are there certain pieces of music that are best to listen to at certain times of the day?

Sri Chinmoy: I am not an expert on music. For that you have to read books about Indian ragas. If you read Indian books, they will tell you which raga is best in the evening, which in the morning and which in the afternoon. But with regard to my music, since I have composed thousands of songs, you can make the choice. If you are not a singer, then you can listen to my tapes or to the disciples’ tapes, and see which songs are best for you. You be the judge. Some songs will appeal to you most early in the morning, others late in the evening and still others perhaps far into the night.

I have tried a few Indian ragas. Unfortunately, I do not agree that you have to listen to or play such and such a raga early in the morning and another one at noon. That approach does not appeal to me. I feel it depends on our consciousness. If our consciousness is not high, no matter which music we listen to, even the most soulful music, we will find nothing appealing in it. But if our consciousness is high, every kind of spiritual music will appeal to us. As I said before, you be the judge. Select a few songs, either sing them or listen to them at different times of the day, and then you decide which ones are best for you.

Question: One of the older disciples in my Centre is very discouraged by something she read in one of your books. You said that older people in their fifties very often cease to make spiritual progress because at that age the vital is either impure or tired and it stops giving determination to the mind. This disciple got discouraged and said, "What hope is there? I am in my fifties."

Sri Chinmoy: Naturally it is simply impossible to make spiritual progress if she remains in the mind. But if she remains in the heart, then she will remain an eternal child. I am also in my fifties, but I feel I am still progressing. If you can remain in the heart, no matter how old you are, even at the age of 99, you can make progress. But if you remain in the mind, you will be bound to your physical age. There are disciples who are only 25 or 26 years old, but in terms of lethargy, unwillingness and other unaspiring attitudes which they cherish, they are acting like 90-year-olds. Again, there are two or three women who are on the wrong side of fifty, but how hard they work, how energetically, how eagerly! Sometimes they do not even go to sleep at night. How I appreciate them! They do not remain in the mind; they remain in the heart. They are always enthusiastic and ready to inspire others. So elderly women at your Centre should try to remain inside the heart. If this disciple remains inside the heart, she does not have to worry about her age. A childlike heart will help her to make all the necessary progress in her life.

Question: How can we know if we are trying to work on too many projects and not getting enough sleep?

Sri Chinmoy: You want to know whether you work too much? There are people who work for an hour and think they have worked for twelve hours. Again, some people work for sixteen hours and feel they have worked only for four hours. According to me, rest is when you take up a new job. In the course of a day, if you are supposed to do six or seven different types of work, each time you change jobs you have to take it as rest. Rest is all in the mind. The mind will say, “I have already finished one thing. How will it be possible for me to enter into another project?” But if you take each job as a golden opportunity to make faster than the fastest progress, and if you can consciously absorb each progress-step that you have made, then you are not fooling yourself by saying that you are enjoying rest.

The same amount of energy, the same level of consciousness you have in one job you will carry with you when you enter into a new job. Imagine that you are climbing up stairs. First comes one step, then the second, then the third. If you use your common sense, after each step you can see that you are getting tired. You will say, “I have to climb up like this twenty flights!” But if you use your heart’s wisdom, you will feel that after each step a fleeting second you are getting before the next step. This is your golden chance. You can say, “Here I am getting rest.”

Work can also be taken in exactly the same way. When you have five or six things to accomplish in a day, at the end of each one think that you are not only getting the opportunity to take rest, but also getting the opportunity to make progress. Left, right, left, right. When the right step is coming, your left leg is taking rest. When the left step is coming, your right leg is taking rest. So each time you change your work, consciously try to feel that you are getting rest. This is not fooling yourself; it is wisdom.

Question: How is it that the memory of first seeing you has such capacity to lift our consciousness up very quickly?

Sri Chinmoy: That is a very good experience. I have been telling everybody to remember that first experience — the first day you applied. The day you sent your picture or became a disciple, that particular day your life-story became totally different. On that day you made a solemn promise. Your heart, mind, vital, physical existence, everything made a solemn promise to me to be an excellent disciple, and becoming an excellent disciple means to please the Master in his own way.

Then, over the years, the story changes. After three months or six months most disciples come to feel that the Master has to please them fifty per cent and they have to please the Master fifty per cent. They are prepared to meet him half-way. After a few more years the disciples feel that the Master has to come ninety-nine steps, and they will go one step. And then, what is worse, some disciples do not want to take even one step. The Master has to come the full one hundred steps.

So I beg each and every disciple to remember that golden day when he or she accepted the spiritual life, what kind of attitude you had at that time. You wanted one hundred per cent to become an excellent disciple. I am begging you once again to become an excellent disciple, to have constant love for the Master and constant surrender to God’s Will. Each individual started with an excellent attitude. But unfortunately each year a heavy, heavier, heaviest burden of demand and expectation covers your inner wisdom.

To all of you I am saying, just remember the first day you became a disciple. For one week, one month or two months how sincere, how pure, how surrendered you were. Then after five or ten or fifteen or twenty years, what inner demands you began to make. In the beginning, you wanted to establish inner, direct contact with my highest consciousness. Your inner cry like a magnet drew my heart’s love for you and my pride in you. But now there is no disciple who is unconditionally surrendered.

Another thing which applies to all the disciples without exception: if you see that somebody is even one step in front of you, all your inner joy disappears. And if you see that nobody is ahead of you, still you have to look around to make sure there is an audience. Others should see you are the closest. First you see if somebody is ahead of you. If nobody is ahead of you, you feel very, very proud, very happy and pleased with yourself. Then you turn around to see if others are seeing that you are the nearest, you are the dearest. Each and every disciple in that sense has fallen. ‘Fallen’ is an understatement. Previously only you and your Master existed in your life. Now each disciple needs hundreds of witnesses.

I am very happy with your question. That should be the attitude of each and every disciple. Every day you can remember what you first felt in your Master and what you promised to your Master. The day you accepted me was a most significant day in your life. All your simplicity, sincerity, purity, eagerness, willingness, self-giving and other divine qualities you brought to the fore for their complete manifestation. If you can remember this experience, it will be of immense help to you.

Question: I have been taking driving lessons and I wonder if I am going to pass.

Sri Chinmoy: I am not a soothsayer or an occultist. I am an ordinary human being like you. I can pray to God on your behalf, but you will pray to God to help you pass, whereas my prayer will be a little different. I learned it two thousand years ago from somebody. My brother Jesus Christ taught me: “Let Thy Will be done.” I can pray to God that His Will be done in your driving, but what His Will is I cannot tell you.

In Jamaica, West Indies, one ex-disciple failed her driving test at least five times. It was too much, too much! Her husband did not have proper vision, so she had to learn. Every time she failed, she was so miserable. I was miserable too. When the sixth time came, I said to her, “All right, for God’s sake, this time you have to pass.” Luckily, that time she passed.

Whether you pass or fail in your driving, even if you fail one hundred times, I will not feel miserable. I will feel miserable only if your consciousness descends. If you are driving inwardly with aspiration and dedication and that aspiration or dedication descends, then I will feel miserable. Otherwise, when it is a matter of these outer things, you will try your best to pass the examination, but when you are here in front of your Master if you have to think of your driving test, whether you will pass or fail, then it is a waste of time. There are infinitely more important things to do when you are in front of your Master.

The best prayer of all is the one Jesus Christ taught us: “Let Thy Will be done.” Repeat this and you will be the happiest person. Otherwise, you will be happy only if you pass the examination. If you can sincerely pray to God for the fulfilment of His Will, you will see that your happiness will be infinitely, infinitely, infinitely stronger and more fulfilling than when you ask for the fulfilment of your own desire. There is every possibility that He will fulfil your desire, but your aspiring heart will not be pleased.

Question: In one of your poems you say to try to be pleased with yourself all the time. If you feel sad, frustrated or disappointed because a lot of things you didn't do or you did wrong, then how can you be pleased with yourself?

Sri Chinmoy: Even if you have failed ten times, if you have failed in everything that you did during the day, simply be pleased that you did not bring frustration upon yourself. Only take it as an attack. Fortunately, you did not surrender to it. You have to detach yourself from frustration as such. Tomorrow you will make a fresh attempt. But if you cherish frustration or surrender to it, how will you be happy? Let us say you tried this and that and you failed. But if you think of it as failure, complete failure, then tomorrow or the day after, you will not be inspired to again start your journey. Even if you have failed, be satisfied that you did not surrender to failure and you did not invite frustration. Right now you have not succeeded. But since you have not invited frustration, you should be pleased with yourself. It could have been infinitely worse.

Some people enjoy frustration. They invoke it. Then they want to continue with frustration because they feel they are making tremendous progress in this way. Some people have such a negative way of making progress. Unless they are miserable, they think they are not making any progress. As a matter of fact, their mind is tremendously enjoying frustration. It makes them feel very great. In your case, you do not enjoy or invoke frustration. So the following day you can easily make a fresh start.

Published in Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 16

Prayers

by Sri Chinmoy
in Sanur, Bali, Indonesia

66

I do not need
A world-surprising, giant mind.
I need only
A simple, God-loving heart.

67

Self-importance-pride:
No, no, no — never!
Self-transcendence-joy:
Yes, yes, yes — ever!

68

My mind-unlearning desire
And my heart-climbing aspiration
Must go together.

69

At night
God’s Compassion-Eye teaches me.
In the morning
God’s Oneness-Heart examines me.

70

The earthly races
Are for the God-seekers.
The Heavenly races
Are for the God-discoverers.

Published in My Christmas-New Year-Vacation Aspiration-Prayers, part 30