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Choice

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at 2:00 p.m. West Chapel, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

Dear seekers, dear sisters and brothers, dear aspirants for the highest ultimate Goal, I wish to give a talk on the subject of choice. Who has made the first choice: God or I? My mind thinks that it is I who have chosen God. My heart feels God and I have chosen each other simultaneously. My soul knows that it was God who chose me first, long before I even dreamt of choosing Him.

Each human being is a chooser. He chooses mankind to obey his express orders. He chooses God to listen to his soulful prayers. The animal in man chooses life-destruction. The human in man chooses world-admiration. The divine in man chooses God-realisation. The Supreme in man chooses perfect Perfection.

We choose God when we come to realise that the world does not need us, that the world does not care for our wisdom-light. Only when the outer world has disappointed us and our immediate world has deserted us do we think of choosing God. God chooses us because He does not want to drink the nectar of Immortality alone. God chooses us because He does not want to reveal His transcendental Reality alone. God chooses us because He does not want to manifest His universal Oneness alone.

Our body chooses rest, pleasure-loving rest. Our vital chooses aggression, titanic aggression. Our mind chooses information, encyclopaedic information. Our heart chooses love, all-fulfilling love. And God chooses perfection within and perfection without — perfection in our inner life of realisation and perfection in our outer life of manifestation.

Before we enter into the spiritual life we choose the might of the outer world. But once we enter into the spiritual life we choose only the Light of the inner world. Before we enter into the spiritual life we choose the name and fame of the outer world. But once we enter into the spiritual life we choose to participate most soulfully and devotedly in God's cosmic Game in order to please Him and fulfil Him in His own Way.

Now what is the spiritual life? The spiritual life is the life of our conscious God-awareness. What else is the spiritual life? The spiritual life is the life of our constant God-loving and our ultimate God-becoming. I choose God, not because He is all-Power, not because He is all-Wisdom, not because He is all-Light and all-Peace, not even because He is all-Love, but because He and I are one, eternally one. God and I are eternally one. You and God are eternally one. We are all eternally and inseparably one with God.

I am the Dream-Boat of God's Heart and God is the Reality-Shore of my life. This is the realisation each individual seeker here and everywhere is bound to achieve sooner or later. We are all inseparably one with God. It is for this reason and no other reason that we choose God. As long as we are unconscious of the fact that we are one with God, we wallow contentedly in the pleasures of ignorance. But once our inner being is awakened, our soul comes to the fore and convinces our outer physical mind of the fact that we are not only God's chosen instruments but also God's eternal comrades. He needs us, as we need Him. He is the Tree and we are the branches and leaves. The Tree trunk and the branches and leaves need each other. We choose Him for our realisation, as He chooses us for His manifestation. Without Him we cannot realise our highest absolute Height. Again, without us He cannot manifest His Vision-in-Reality, His Reality-in-Vision.

Each human being on earth represents God according to his own capacity and receptivity. In and through each human being God manifests Himself in a specific way. Each individual is of paramount importance to Him, for He Himself has chosen each individual to play a significant role in His cosmic Drama. But we have to know that it is God who chooses us first, and not we who choose God. The Creator creates the creation, and then the creation admires the Creator. The creation is the choice of the Creator and admiration is the choice of the creation. It is through our heart's admiration and adoration that we become consciously one with the Supreme Pilot, and it is through His conscious, compassionate choice that He has established His inseparable oneness with each human being, each child of His on earth.

Duty is the supreme choice of God. He feels there can be nothing more important than duty. He discharges His Duty at every moment, for He feels that in performing His Duty He is not only awakening the earth-consciousness but also bringing down the Heaven-Delight into the very heart of earth.

We are at once the representatives of both Mother Earth and Father Heaven. As the representatives of Father Heaven, our first and foremost choice should be self-giving to the Supreme Beloved. It is in our self-giving that we can manifest the transcendental Reality on earth. As the representatives of Mother Earth, we feel that it is our bounden duty to spread our wings like a bird — not to cover the length and breadth of the world, but to expand our earthbound consciousness, to transcend the limits of our earthly existence. Here on earth we have to go deep within and try to spread our wings of Light and Delight so that we can consciously grow into the ever-transcending and ever-widening Universal Consciousness.

God made His choice in choosing us; now let us make our choice in choosing Him. His choice is the song of manifestation. Our choice is the song of realisation. And today's realisation is tomorrow's manifestation. Again, tomorrow's manifestation is only the beginning of a forward and upward and inward journey. Today, on the strength of our inner choice, we move forward, upward and inward and reach our chosen destination. But today's destination will only be the starting point for our farther, higher and more fulfilling goal of tomorrow. There is no fixed Goal, for we are all evolving. In the process of evolution we are running, flying and diving towards an ever-transcending, deepening and widening Goal. To run farther, fly higher and dive deeper is the only choice that each individual seeker on earth should consciously, devotedly, unmistakably and unconditionally make.

Published in Fifty Freedom-Boats to One Golden Shore, part 1

Meditation and the Inner Education

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at 8:00 p.m. Smith Hall, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware

Dear seekers, dear sisters and brothers, this evening I shall give a short talk on meditation and education. Since my subject will be meditation and education, with your kind permission I wish to meditate for a while. I shall be extremely grateful to each of you if you would join me in my meditation…

Meditation and the inner education. Meditation is a vast subject. Being a spiritual man, I know a little bit about meditation, and I can speak on this subject for hours. But I wish to tell you, with all the sincerity at my command, that if we can meditate soulfully even for a fleeting minute, the result of our meditation will far surpass the effect of any talk given by anybody on earth on this subject.

But since we have to convince our physical mind, we talk and we listen. We are in the mind, and we feel that we are of the mind and for the mind. Such being the case, at times it is of paramount importance to give talks on meditation; but meditation is best done in utmost silence, in pin-drop silence.

Since we want to convince our physical mind, let us try to know what meditation actually means. Unfortunately, in the West, many people have misconceptions about meditation. They think meditation means living a life of self-abnegation, and that meditation cannot be applied to our daily needs. They think meditation is for those who want to live in the Himalayan caves, for those who want to shun society. But I wish to say that these notions are all ill-founded. A seeker who knows how to meditate properly, effectively and soulfully is a practical man. Meditation is not theoretical, but practical. Since God is Himself practical, a seeker of the highest Truth cannot be otherwise.

In this world either we desire or we aspire. At each moment we are given ample opportunity to possess and grab the world or to become inseparably one with the world. Meditation teaches us how to become inseparably one with the world at large. When we cry for the Vast, for the ultimate Truth, meditation is the immediate answer. When we want to achieve boundless Peace, boundless Light, boundless Bliss, meditation is the only answer. The world needs one thing, and that is peace, and meditation is the only answer.

Everybody meditates. If you tell me, “No, I do not know how to meditate,” unfortunately I cannot see eye to eye with you. Everybody meditates, but there is a difference between my way of meditation and your way and his or her way of meditation. Since the dawn of Heaven, and the creation, everybody has been meditating, but we all meditate according to our capacity and receptivity. When we think of God and meditate on God, this is one form of meditation. When we cherish or treasure a good thought, even for a fleeting second, this is another kind of meditation. Anything that helps us in our self-expansion is meditation.

In the West, we most often speak of prayer, while in the East, especially in India, we speak of meditation. The Western belief is that prayer can and will do everything. In the East, we feel that meditation can give us everything, that meditation will help us to grow into the ever-transcending Beyond. Prayer and meditation are bosom friends. When we pray, our entire being climbs up high, higher, highest and reaches the ultimate Truth. At that time we offer ourselves to the Supreme, the ultimate Source. With our prayer we commune with God, we establish a free access to the highest Absolute Father. When we meditate, we make our mind calm, quiet, vacant and tranquil, and we receive Light from above in infinite measure.

Meditation and prayer are two different types of conversation, but they serve the same purpose. When we pray, we talk to God; we tell Him all about our needs and all our soulful expectations. Through our prayer we ask God for anything that we want; and anything that we would like to offer God from our very existence we offer through our prayer. But when we meditate we remain silent, absolutely silent, and we beg of God to work in and through us. He dictates and we try to execute His express Will.

In the beginning, we see and feel on the strength of our meditation that God alone is doing everything, and that we are mere instruments. But, in time, when we go deep within, we come to realise that He is not only the doer but also the action itself, and He is not only the action, but also the result thereof. To simplify the matter, we can say that meditation means God’s conscious and compassionate dictates to us and prayer means our soulful conversation with God. When we meditate, God talks to us and we most devotedly listen. When we pray, we talk to God and He most compassionately listens.

Meditation and the inner education are one an the same thing; meditation _is_ the inner education. To be a proper human being we have to be integrally educated. To be a proper divine being we have to be supremely liberated in our inner life and in our outer life. The outer education tells us what the world is doing. The inner education tells us what we can do. The outer education helps us make a decent living. The inner education helps us live for God in the heart of man. The outer education is an observation, an observed fact. The inner education is an experience, an experienced reality. With our outer education we can at best knock at God’s Door. With our inner education we can not only enter into God’s Room, but actually sit on God’s transcendental Throne. The outer education is the fulfilment of the physical mind, the vital and the earthbound consciousness. The inner education is the song of liberation, salvation and divine freedom.

Each human being has two teachers. As there is outer education and inner education, even so is there a teacher for us in the outer world and a teacher for us in the inner world. The teacher in the outer world tells us, “Accept me. If you don’t accept me, you are bound to remain always a most deplorable fool. So the sooner you accept me, the better for you.” The teacher in the inner life tells us, “Accept me, please, for if you do not accept me I shall always remain incomplete. You and I are one. If one part of my existence remains unlit, obscure and unaspiring, then I myself remain imperfect. Therefore, I beg of you, O seeker, accept me, for I wish to become complete and perfect with your kind acceptance of my reality’s Light.” The outer teacher tells me, “Follow me. I can show you the goal. If you don’t follow me, there is no goal for you. It is I alone who can show you the goal, so follow me.” But the inner teacher tells us, “Believe me, once and for all, the supernal Light is in you. The transcendental Light is of you. The eternal Father is for you. Finally, O seeker, I wish to offer you this message: you are the way and you are also the Goal. Believe me, once and for all.”

Published in Fifty Freedom-Boats to One Golden Shore, part 1

Inspirational Stories

by Sri Chinmoy

The Italian teacher

This incident took place one hundred fifty years ago in a spiritual community. Two teenage boys, who were deeply interested in literature, made an arrangement for a literary meeting. They requested their Italian teacher to preside over the meeting, and he gladly accepted. About two hundred literature-loving souls attended the programme, which consisted of songs, short plays and recitations. It lasted for about two hours and was a grand success.

At the end of the meeting the Italian teacher, whose name was Mihir, said, “God wanted this spiritual community of ours to be divine, but unfortunately our spiritual leader is making the young generation into a monkey-generation instead of a God-generation.” Immediately the audience began protesting vehemently. They insulted him mercilessly, and Mihir had to leave the hall in utmost humiliation. 

That night around midnight, a young man broke open the door of Mihir’s home and pointed a revolver right at his chest. “How dare you speak ill of our spiritual Master!” he said. “You ungrateful creature, you shameless beast! You live here in our spiritual community, yet you have the audacity to speak ill of our Master. It is not our Master’s fault that we are not yet totally divine. He has been working so hard to make us divine, but we cherish ignorance. It is not the Master who is making monkeys out of us, but our own ignorance-loving life. Needless to say, you are in the same boat. If we are all going to be monkeys, you are certainly no exception. But I totally contradict your statement that we are becoming monkeys. No, we have made considerable progress and we shall go on making progress slowly, steadily, and effectively. Anyway, I have not come here at this hour of the night to offer you a long sermon. I have come here to take your life.”

Mihir was terrified. “Please, I beg of you to spare my life,” he stammered. “I shall never criticise our Master again.”

The young man hesitated. Then he said, “Forgiveness is granted this time, but I warn you that it will not be offered again.”

Alas, a few days later Mihir announced to the students in one of his classes, “I could have written far better spiritual poems than the Master has written. It is just because I do not care much for spiritual poems and lack the inclination, and because I have no time that I have not written any. If I had written poems, I could have far surpassed our Master’s poetic genius.”

The students could not believe their ears. Two students ran up onto the platform, and one of them brutally boxed the nose of the teacher while the other vehemently pulled him by the ear. The sufferings of the teacher can better be felt than described. Several students immediately went to the president of the spiritual community and narrated the whole story.

The president said, “I don’t have to speak to the Master about this. It is I who have to take action. You go and tell your Italian teacher that in fifteen minutes my attendants will be at his house to take him to the railway station so that he can go back to his native town.”

With or without his consent, Mihir was put onto the next train, and the ashram authorities considered themselves well rid of him. He did not go back to his home town, however, but travelled to a big city, where he applied for a job with the city’s largest newspaper. He got the job and after a while became the newspaper’s most prolific writer. He wrote considerably, both in English and in Italian. Within six years, the newspaper authorities made him the chief editor.

Now, Mihir did not forget about his humiliation in the spiritual community. Quite often he would fabricate undivine stories about his former spiritual Master and his ashram. Of course, at times there was some truth behind his merciless attacks, for he had lived in the ashram from the age of ten to the age of thirty-five, and he knew the place well. Finally, he wrote a biography of his ex-Master, of course without asking permission. In most sections of the book his imagination ran riot, and when the book came out, the authorities of the ashram sued him.

While the case was in court, Mihir bribed seven of his former brother disciples to supply him with the most sensational, but private stories about the spiritual community. These stories he published in his newspaper, in spite of the fact that he was already being sued by the spiritual community. The owners of the newspaper were highly pleased with him. Because of his sensational journalism, the paper gained several thousand new subscribers.

One day an article about the ashram lawsuit appeared in the paper. It contained accusations from a disciple of the Master against Mihir, accusing the editor of slander and deception. The newspaper authorities all took the side of their editor, and defended him untiringly. Fortunately or unfortunately, the editor won the case. Alas, during this time the Master himself began to suffer from most serious ailments, so the mood of the ashram was very low. The authorities of the spiritual community wanted to take the matter to a higher court. But the Master said, “I do not think it will do any good. If you have any other suggestions, however, please tell them to me.”

One of them said, “Master, we know you have tremendous occult power. You have used it many, many times. Please use it once again. This time use your occult power to make the right hand of that rogue paralysed so that he can never write again.”

The Master said, “He does not need a hand to write. Even if he does not write, whatever he wants to say against me he can dictate to his secretary. They will still be able to publish it in the newspaper.”

The disciples then said, “Master, then do something to his brain. With your occult power, damage his brain so that he cannot think properly. Make him senile so that he won’t be able to criticise you anymore.”

The Master said, “Well, that can be done.” So he used his vast occult power and damaged the editor’s brain. “Also,” he told his disciples, “I have done something else which will please you still more. I have made him blind in one eye.”

Since he had become partially blind and totally senile, the editor could no longer work at the newspaper. He had to resign, but the newspaper authorities were extremely kind and sympathetic. They continued to give him his regular salary, and told him that they would do so as long as he remained on earth.

Now Mihir’s secretary was a young girl most devoted to her boss. She simply could not account for his sudden brain defect and blindness. Finally, she decided to go to see a famous occultist who lived in the same city as Mihir’s ex-Master, and to him she narrated the whole sad story, as much as she knew, from beginning to end.

The occultist, whose name was Khudhu, saw quite clearly that it was the ex-Master who was responsible for the editor’s blindness and brain damage, and he felt extremely sorry for the poor man. Inwardly he approached the spiritual Master and said to him, “What kind of spiritual Master are you? If people speak ill of you, you punish them mercilessly! Is forgiveness not the first requisite in the spiritual life? Anyway, since you have not forgiven this old man, I shall not forgive you either.” Then Khudhu used all his occult power and gave the spiritual Master a most serious stroke.

Within a few minutes the Master died, but just before he departed from the earth-scene, three times he said: “Khudhu, Khudhu, Khudhu.”

At first his disciples, in their extreme sorrow, were simply puzzled by their Master’s final utterance, but finally it occurred to them that the Master was referring to the great occultist, Khudhu. A few of them rushed to Khudhu’s tiny house and entered into his room. When they saw Khudhu’s face they were simply paralysed with fear. They did not see him as a real human being, but as a voracious tiger. Yet in spite of their fear they fell at Khudhu’s feet and said, “We are sure that it is you who have killed our Master. Since you have the power to kill, you also have the power to revive. Please bring our Master back to life.”

Khudhu said, “Yes, I have the power, but I am not going to use my power to revive your Master. I have killed him because he has been extremely unjust to poor Mihir. With his occult power he made him blind and destroyed his brain. So now, with my own occult power, I have killed him.But it is no loss to you. Now that you have come to know that my occult power is far superior to that of your Master, you can all become my disciples. I shall teach you how to acquire occult power. You too, like me, will be able to perform miracles, and to place the whole world at your feet.”

The Master’s disciples cried, “O great Khudhu, what shall we do? You have made us fatherless!”

“But I have just told you that you can now find your father in me. From now on, I can be your spiritual father,” said Khudhu.

The disciples felt extremely sad and miserable. They said, “No matter how great you are, even if you are the greatest living occultist on earth, we can’t become your disciples. Our Master is our Master. We shall remain loyal and faithful to him until we breathe our last.”

“What kind of Master did you have?” asked Khudhu. “He did not have even a drop of the milk of human kindness. I can forgive you all because I know you are ignorant people. True, you instigated your Master to punish Mihir. But why did he listen to your request? And worse, why did he harm the poor man even more than you wanted him to? Here is what I will do. I will revive your Master provided you can give me full assurance that when I help him regain his consciousness, the first thing he will do is kiss the dust of Mihir’s feet.”

Immediately the disciples exclaimed, “Oh no! Impossible! It is beneath the dignity of our Master to touch the feet of that scoundrel!”

Khudhu said, “You call him a scoundrel, but in what way is your Master superior to him? Can you justify the punishment your Master gave him? He spoke ill of you and of your Master, but that did not mean that your Master could go to the length of destroying him. Since you do not wish to accept my proposal, leave my house immediately. I will have nothing to do with you people.”

But one of the disciples said to Khudhu, “O occultist of the highest magnitude, what would happen if you revived our Master and he touched the feet of our former spiritual brother?”

Khudhu replied, “I am glad that you are calling him your brother, but you must know that your Master must not merely touch this man’s feet, but literally kiss the dust of his feet.” At this, all the disciples buried their heads in their hands in utter shame and disgust. But Khudhu continued, “The moment your Master touches the dust of Mihir’s feet, his former disciple will regain his eyesight and his brain will become normal again.”

One of the disciples said, “O Khudhu, why does our Master have to go through this kind of humiliation? Is our pleading with you not enough? Is our prayer at your feet not enough for you to forgive our Master? If you are a greater spiritual Master than he, should you not show more compassion than he did?”

Khudhu said, “You are right. Revenge does not ever solve any problem. Only Light can solve all human problems. I forgive your Master. I shall revive him and I shall cure Mihir myself. The highest spiritual Power of the Supreme will punish the inferior and subordinate powers in its own way. They, in turn, will punish the still more inferior ones. From the highest point of view, I did not do the right thing, when I punished your Master. I should have allowed the Supreme to deal with him in His own way, or I should at least have waited for the inner message from the Supreme before taking action myself. Divine Compassion and Wisdom-Light are the highest forms of action. Divine Compassion and Wisdom-Light alone can grow and blossom into fruition.”

False unconditional surrender

There once lived a spiritual Master who had only twenty disciples. The Master had tremendous occult and spiritual power, which he had used many times to help and please his disciples and their friends and relatives. One evening the spiritual Master and his disciples all were in deep meditation when suddenly a disciple entered the meditation room weeping and sobbing. She disturbed everybody’s meditation. The Master most compassionately asked her what was wrong.

The disciple replied, “Master, Master, this morning my daughter and three friends went out for an excursion in a car and they met with a serious accident. All four girls are now unconscious in the hospital. The doctor says there is very little hope. I have come to ask you to save my daughter and her three friends.”

The Master said, “Snigdha, you are my disciple, my very dear disciple, and therefore I may try to save the life of your daughter. But I don’t want to be responsible for the lives of the other three girls.”

“Master, what will people think of me when they see that my daughter alone is saved by your spiritual power? And what will people think of you? Will they not think that both of us are very mean? Will not people think that we care only for our own dear ones? No, Master, you have to save the lives of the other three girls also. I don’t want you to save my daughter alone. I am a mother and I know what a mother’s heart is. I know that if these three girls die, their mothers and fathers will all be heartbroken. For the rest of their lives they will be utterly miserable. Therefore, Master, out of your infinite love and compassion, please use your power to save all the girls. And if you do not want to do that, then I don’t want my daughter to be saved either. Let all of them go to Heaven. I am sure God will look after them there.”

The Master remained silent, and Snigdha joined the meditation. A few minutes later another disciple came in weeping and sobbing. The Master inquired about his suffering.

The disciple replied, “Master, my son, my only son has been attacked by cholera. It is a matter of only an hour or two before he will leave us for Heaven. The doctors have already told me that his case is simply hopeless. His mother’s heart is breaking with grief. I have come here for your compassionate help. Many times you have saved the members of my family from imminent calamities. This time also, please save us. Please save my son. I shall be grateful to you all my life.”

The Master said, “I am sorry, Dinesh. You are my disciple, and I would have been more than ready to cure you if you yourself had been attacked by cholera. But your son has not accepted our path. He does not even care for the spiritual life. Therefore, I cannot be of any help to him .”

“Master, Master, he is my only son. I do have three daughters, but he is my only son. Do you mean that I must lose him now? Please don’t be so cruel to me. Master, I am fully aware of your occult powers. Please do me a favour, and this will be absolutely the last thing you will ever have to do for me. Please save my son and let me take his cholera. I have lived a long life already. For an old man like me to depart from this world means nothing. But my son, who is now in the prime of his youth, must enjoy the world and offer his mite to the world. Master, I beg of you, please grant me this last boon. Let me die of cholera immediately, and cure my son of this fatal attack.”

The Master remained silent. Moments later a young disciple came in and bowed to the Master.

He was calm and quiet. The Master said to him, “Mahesh, you are the third person to come late today. The first two had serious problems in their families. What prevented you from coming on time?”

“Master, I too have a serious problem. Last night my father suffered a severe stroke. His case is quite serious, but I leave his fate entirely to God’s Will and your Will. I am sure you and God will do what is best for him, for his soul.”

The Master said, “Mahesh, I am extremely proud of your unconditional surrender. How I wish to have more disciples of your type!”

“Master, since I have left my father’s fate at your feet, since I have made this unconditional surrender, will you not tell me what is going to happen? Will my father survive or not?”

“Mahesh, my son, why such curiosity? On the one hand you want God’s Will and my will to prevail, but on the other hand you are consumed with the desire to know your father’s fate. Is this not a deplorable contradiction?”

“Master, you just said that I have made unconditional surrender, and that I am the only one who has made that kind of surrender. Undoubtedly I have pleased you. Master, it has taken me seven long years to please you in your own way. Just because I have pleased you in a situation as grave as this, will you not condescend to please me by telling me what is going to happen to him?”

“All right, Mahesh, let me feed your curiosity. Tomorrow your father is going to die.”

Mahesh immediately burst into tears and cried, “Impossible! My father cannot die! You have to cure him. If you don’t cure him I shall leave you. Not only that, but I shall speak ill of you. I shall tell people that you have blackmailed me. I shall tell them you have taken thousands of dollars from me with the promise that you would give me salvation and realisation, and now that I don’t have any money left you have thrown me out of your ashram.”

The disciples were simply shocked at this. One young man stood up, grabbed Mahesh, and attempted to throw him out of the meditation room. But the Master interrupted him.

“Stop, stop! ” he cried. “My forgiveness is infinitely more powerful than my sense of justice. Let Mahesh stay.”

Then he turned to Snigdha, whose daughter had been in the car accident, and said, “Snigdha, your magnanimous heart deserves special consideration from me. I shall save your daughter and her friends with my occult and spiritual power. But I tell you, if you had left their fate to God’s Will, I would have been extremely happy and proud of you.” 

Then the Master said to Dinesh, “You want to sacrifice your own life to save your son. This kind of sacrifice is quite unusual. For one to give his life for another is very, very rare. For your sacrifice I am truly proud of you, and therefore I am going to save your son with my occult power. But one thing I wish to tell you: I would have been infinitely more proud of you if you had offered the fate of your son to God’s Will.”

Finally the Master spoke to Mahesh. “It is infinitely better to desire sincerely than to make false unconditional surrender. You know that your act of deception will be ridiculed by all and sundry. But I forgive you, my son. To be unconditionally surrendered has always been the most difficult thing on earth. Again, I wish to illumine you with my compassion. Do not give up the spiritual life just because you have deceived me today, just because people will mock you for a time. Be sincere. No sincere effort goes in vain. In the distant future you are bound to make true unconditional surrender, for without that, no human being has ever reached or will ever reach the transcendental Height.”

Then the Master asked all the disciples to come up to him one by one for his blessing.

Gokul will not leave his Master

One day a great spiritual Master said to his dearest disciple Gokul, “My son, you have now equalled me in spirituality. You have inner Peace, Light and Bliss in boundless measure. I want you to leave my ashram and open one of your own.”

Gokul burst into tears and said, “Master, Master, this can never be. I can never leave you, and I shall never leave you. You are my life. You are my soul. You are my goal. You are my all.”

The Master said, “Son, two lions cannot live together in one den. One has to move into another den. You are not getting the opportunity to flourish here.”

“Master, who wants to flourish? Not I! Not in the least! I came into the world only to serve you, not to equal you. It was your mistake that enabled me to equal you. I beg to be excused one hundred percent, but to tell the truth, what you say about my spiritual status equalling yours, I take with a grain of salt.”

“You don’t believe me? Don’t you know it is a great insult when you don’t believe your Master?”

“Master, you are my heart’s love. I believe you in everything else. Only when you say that I have equalled you in the spiritual life do I have some reservations.”

“Son, I wish to tell you that if you do not believe in everything I say and do, then it is as meaningless and useless as not believing in anything I say or do.”

“Master, Master, please don’t scold me. I believe you and I shall believe you implicitly in everything you say and do.”

The Master gave Gokul a broad and blessingful smile.

“Master, may I ask you for a favour?”

“Certainly, my son. If it is within my capacity I shall, without fail, fulfil your desire.”

“Master, in your ashram there are many who are literally dying to go out and open ashrams for you.”

“Gokul, I cannot allow just anyone to open an ashram for me. I know what their standards are.”

“Master, they are crying to open centres for you and you don’t allow them to do so, whereas I wish only to be at your feet all the time but you want to send me out to open an ashram. What an irony of fate, Master.”

“Son, there is a great difference between the Master’s asking a particular disciple to open an ashram for him and the disciple’s wanting to open an ashram for the Master without his permission. Those who open ashrams for the Master without his express permission, most of the time are carried away by their blind egos. In the name of the Master they secretly aggrandise their own egos and fulfil their secret motives most effectively. In this case, I am asking you to open an ashram of your own, in your own name and not in mine.”

“Master, in that case it is infinitely worse.”

“Not at all, my son. I know that you have realised the highest Truth, just as I did many years ago. Since you have realised the Truth, you are more than qualified to run an ashram of your own and kindle the flame of aspiration in thousands of sincere seekers, as I have been doing for the last two decades.”

“Master, for me to open an ashram of my own and not an ashram of yours, under your guidance, is simply impossible.”

“You give me the feeling that you are ready to open an ashram in my name.”

“Not exactly, Master. But if you want me to make a choice between opening an ashram in my own name or one in your name, needless to say I shall immediately agree to open an ashram for you. But if you want me to make a choice between staying at your feet like a most faithful dog and leaving the ashram to open an ashram for you, I shall without fail try to stay at your feet all my life.”

“Son, don’t you understand that if the qualified people do not offer their service to those in need of it, then this world of ours will never be flooded with Peace and Light?”

“Master, I fully understand it. But the human in me is as attached to you as the divine in me is devoted to you. It is simply impossible for me to go and live elsewhere.”

“Son, since you are so reluctant to listen to my request, I shall let you go this time. But I shall send you back into this world three times to work for God; whereas if you listen to me this time, it will be a matter of only a few years that you will have to work for God. For I will make this incarnation absolutely your last.”

“Master, is it so? Then I am ready to go out and work for God and for you for the last few years of my life. But you have to keep your promise that I shall not have to come back into the world, since you have told us that you will not take any more incarnations. I wish to be always at your feet. But Master, I tell you, just as it is difficult for me to leave you, so also will it be difficult for you to get rid of me, for I am your eternal dog.”

“Son, you are not my dog but my God, who can never leave me no matter how many ways I try to make you leave me. Son, it is not the disciple in you that does not want to leave me but the ever-affectionate God in you who does not want to leave me and can never leave me. Son, to lose to you is to win on an infinitely higher plane of consciousness, and to claim you as my Eternity’s Pride, Infinity’s Heart and Immortality’s Smile.”

Be sincere

“Master, Master, what is wrong with you? Why are you so upset?”

“You rascal! What have you done?”

“What have I done, Master? I have just sat on your bed, just for a fleeting second, and for that you have to be so upset?”

“You rascal! What kind of audacity do you have?”

The Master removes the sheet and starts tearing it to pieces.

“Master, Master, don’t tear it. Right now I shall go to the store and buy you a new sheet. Just leave it, please.”

The disciple goes to the shop and buys a new sheet. Then he offers it to the Master.

“Thank you, but don’t do it again.”

“Master, you have told us many times that you are the garbage collector and we can always throw our impurities into you. How is it that this time, when I just sat on your bed for a second, you became so furious? That means you don’t really take our impurities, you just say you do.”

“You fool! I always tell the truth. But listen: every night I speak to God on my bed. We sit there together and talk, and the cosmic gods sit on my bed, too. My bed is like a holy shrine. You have defiled it with your impurity.”

“O Master, I didn’t know that God and the cosmic gods sit on your bed. I am sorry that I have done it. But I am also proud that it is I who have sat on your bed where God and the cosmic gods sit every night! Master, you can punish me; no matter what kind of punishment you want to give, I will be happy to accept it.”

The Master becomes furious. “I will not give you any punishment, but you must not enter into my bedroom any more.”

“Master, Master, tell me one thing. I sat on your bed, true. So why do you want to discard only the sheet? What about the blankets and the pillow and mattress?”

“Yes, you are right. But what can I do? I don’t have the money to replace them.”

“Then, Master, I am going to the shop to bring you new blankets, a new pillowcase, a new pillow and everything new.”

The Master says to the disciple, who is a young man of thirty-eight, “Only you can do this kind of nonsense!”

“Yes, Master, I am very sorry that I have created such a problem for you.”

The disciple goes out and buys a new pillow, new blankets, a new mattress, everything new for the Master, and presents them to him.

“Thank you.”

“You are more than welcome, Master. But Master, what about the bed itself, the frame? There also my impurity has entered, has it not?”

“Yes, it has entered, but I don’t have the money to buy a new frame.”

“Oh Master, don’t worry. I am going to offer you a new one.”

The disciple goes out and buys a new bed and offers it to the Master.

The Master is extremely happy. He says, “I thank you most deeply.”

“Master, there is one thing I don’t understand.”

“You will never understand anything.”

“Master, it is my hand that has touched your new sheet, your pillow, your pillowcase, your blankets and your mattress. Everything that belongs to this new bed, my hand has already touched once. So, Master, are they not impure? The things that you are going to use now are all impure, are they not? How is it that you are going to use them? Is it just because they are new?”

“No, it is not because they are new. You people are impurity incarnate, especially you. But I have the power to purify everything that you touch.”

“But, Master, a few hours ago when I sat on your bed you got so furious. You could have purified it then instead of taking all these new things. I don’t mind spending money on you. On the contrary, it is a great honour for me to give you material things. But you could easily have purified your bed then and you would not have had to take all these things from me.”

“Look here, in this world when I use something regularly, that very thing embodies my consciousness, my light, my purity, my power. Everything that is divine is embodied by that particular thing. Now, I have been using this old bed for the last four years. The moment you sat on my bed, your impure, undivine consciousness entered into the pure, divine consciousness of the bed. Why should I have to go through the trouble of purifying the bed? If you had had a little respect and devotion for me, you would never have dreamed of sitting on my bed.

“True, I take your impurities, I take impurities from every disciple. But that does not mean that the disciple will consciously and deliberately desecrate the place or thing that already embodies my solid purity and divinity. One thing is for the Master consciously and deliberately to take impurities from a disciple; another thing is for the disciple deliberately, out of sheer malice, to destroy the purity of the Master’s belongings.”

“Master, I shall tell you my supreme secret. I had a most sincere desire. I wanted to offer you a new bed, a new sheet, a new pillow and mattress and new blankets — everything new, because I thought that if you accepted my offering everybody would come to know of it and everybody would appreciate and admire me, and I would be extolled to the skies. I would be able to say, ‘My Master is using the bed I offered to him. He is so kind to me.’ I thought this would be an easy way to get appreciation and admiration from my brother and sister disciples. For me to spend a few dollars is nothing. As you know, Master, you have blessed me with material wealth. So Master, that was the reason why I sat on your bed.”

“You fool! You deliberately deceived me. When you try to deceive someone you may at times succeed and you may at times fail. You succeeded this time with me. But if you had been sincere right from the beginning, if you had prayed to me to accept a new bed from you, do you think that I would have refused you? No. When you are sincere you get not only the thing you want, but also something more, something beyond your imagination.”

“Master, what would you have given me had I been sincere?”

“My son, if you had been sincere from the beginning, I would have said, ‘That is a splendid idea. And I shall give you my bed for your own use. Many cosmic gods, as well as God Himself, have sat and talked with me on this bed. Now I offer it to you with our deepest blessings.’ So, if you are sincere, not only do you get what you want, but you are likely to get something infinitely more, something far beyond your imagination. Be sincere. ”

Published in The Master Surrenders

The New Year, 1975

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

Today we are holding a special meeting to commemorate the arrival of the new year. Each new year is an important chapter in our book of life. We know that if a book has seven chapters, all seven chapters will not be of the same importance. Similarly, although every year has great importance, one year may be more important than another year.

The New Year’s Message

The year 1975 will be the year of the seeker’s outer success and inner progress. With his outer success, he will love and serve the Supreme Pilot. With his inner progress, he will manifest and fulfil the Supreme Pilot.

This year is a most significant year, for it will affect both the inner life and the outer life at the same time. There have been years when we have noticed outer success without inner progress. Again, there have been quite a few years when we have experienced inner progress but no outer success. The success we are referring to is not the success of an unaspiring human being, not the success of an earthbound man who wants to achieve success by hook or by crook. Our success is not of that type. Ours is the outer success that is the manifestation of our inner progress.

Inner progress and outer success we shall observe simultaneously this year in our life of aspiration and dedication. Aspiration symbolises our inner progress and dedication symbolises our outer success. We need inner progress for the full realisation of the aspiring immortality within us. We need outer success for the full manifestation of the Divinity within us.

When we think of our outer success, we have to know that success means offering to the Lord Supreme what we have: love, concern and the feeling of universal oneness. When we think of our inner progress, we have to realise that inner progress means our constant, conscious, glowing and undying gratitude to the Absolute Supreme.

By offering to the Transcendental Supreme what we have, we shall achieve divine outer success. By offering to the Transcendental Supreme what we eternally are, we shall achieve ever-increasing, ever-transcending inner progress.

Here we are all sincere seekers. We are sincere according to our capacity and receptivity, but undoubtedly we are sincere. A sincere seeker makes an inner commitment to his inner Pilot. His commitment is that he shall not be satisfied unless and until he has grown into the very image of the Supreme.

We travel along the road of sincerity and humility in order to run fastest towards our goal. When we run fastest, at that time our very existence shall be an offering of unconditional surrender and all-surrendering gratitude to our inner Pilot, the Supreme.

Most of the seekers here belong to the United Nations Meditation Group. Each member must feel that it is a great honour to be part and parcel of this Meditation Group, for it is through the Meditation Group that we enter into the heart and soul of the United Nations. Inside the heart and soul of the United Nations we feel the real hunger and real thirst of bleeding, crying, desiring and aspiring humanity. Since we are all members of the Meditation Group, it is our bounden duty to be of totally dedicated, devoted inner service to the loftiest ideals of the United Nations. Each member of this Meditation Group is trying to be a real instrument of Truth, Light, Love and Peace. Each member of the United Nations Meditation Group is aspiring to serve humanity’s divine cause and longing for the fulfilment of humanity’s divine cause.

The League of Nations was a tiny plant, but now it has grown into a huge tree, the United Nations. The time will come when the whole world will take rest at the foot of this tree — this tree of patience, this tree of compassion, this tree of love, this tree of universal oneness. And one day we shall have to climb up the tree, pluck its most energising fruits and offer them to hungry humanity.

To each member of the United Nations Meditation Group, I offer my blessingful gratitude and pride. Especially to Sumedha do I offer my most sincere blessingful gratitude for her constant loving service to the supreme cause that we have undertaken here. Now I wish to invite the members of the Meditation Group to come up and meditate for a few minutes.

Now I wish to invite the members of the Meditation Group to come up and meditate for a few minutes.

Published in Union-Vision

Questions on Religion

answered by Sri Chinmoy
at the United Nations in New York

Question: Will man always need religion?

Sri Chinmoy: First of all, you have to know what kind of religion it is. If it is a man-made religion which is founded upon fear of God, then this religion will not and cannot last forever. But if the religion is nothing but a code of life for the illumination of the human in us and for the perfect manifestation of the divine in us, then that particular religion — if such a religion can ever exist — man shall always need.

Question: Is there a basic difference between religion in the East and religion in the West?

Sri Chinmoy: The Eastern approach gives more importance to peace; the Western approach gives more importance to power. But we have to know that basically there is no difference between God’s Peace and God’s Power. Peace is God’s Vision that fulfils itself in the heart-expansion of the Reality Transcendental. Power is God’s Reality that fulfils itself in the life-expansion of the earth-reality. Each manifests itself through the body, vital and mind — especially through the dynamic vital. Peace makes us feel the beauty of God’s Vision. Power makes us feel the duty of God’s Reality.

Question: In Western religion, many prayers are offered to God the Father. In Eastern religion, many prayers are offered to God the Mother. What is the spiritual difference?

Sri Chinmoy: There is no spiritual difference. God the Father and God the Mother are eternally one and the same. The seeker in us feels the necessity of approaching either God the Father or God the Mother for the satisfaction that is needed. Some seekers feel that they can easily establish a free access to God the Mother, while others feel that they can easily establish a free access to God the Father. It is up to the individual to approach either God the Father or God the Mother for both inner and outer satisfaction.

Question: Why do many religions claim to be the only way to God?

Sri Chinmoy: It is true that many religions claim that they represent the only way to God. If these religions feel that aspiration is the only way to God, then they are offering us the correct message. But if they feel their own respective religious philosophy represents the only way, then they are mistaken. If a particular religion claims that it has or embodies the only way to God, then that particular religion must convince us that it is nothing short of aspiration. Religion, in this case, has to be pure aspiration, for aspiration is undoubtedly the only way to God. If that religion claims to be something else, then unfortunately it is incorrect in saying that it is the only way to God. Religion, when it becomes nothing short of aspiration, a climbing inner flame, is undoubtedly the only way to God-discovery.

Question: Can the study of world religions help the seeker in gaining a better idea of what God is?

Sri Chinmoy: The study of the world religions may help a seeker in gaining a better idea or it may create unnecessary confusion. If one wants to be conversant in all religions, he is apt to enter into a sea of confusion instead of creating a synthesis of all religions. But there is no hard and fast rule that one will have such a deplorable fate. If there is inner guidance, by studying all the religions one is able to acquire the quintessence of all religions, which is Truth-discovery.

In order to realise all the religions in their pristine beauty, light and delight, one has to practise spirituality. Spirituality is the only way to enter into the very raison d’etre, into the very essence of all religions. There can be no other way. Religion can at most be the door or gateway to God’s Palace. But spirituality is the main room in God’s Palace. If you want to go to the main room, the living room, naturally you have to pass through the gates, the doors of the palace. If you want to, you can stop at the gate; nobody will prevent you from standing there. But if you want to go right into the main room, there is no need to learn about religion. You can practise Yoga and pass right through religion directly into God’s Palace.

Question: What is the difference between following your path and practising the Hindu religion?

Sri Chinmoy: Mine is a path and Hinduism is a religion. Anybody can walk along a path irrespective of his religious background or religious belief. I was born of a Hindu family. But by practising Yoga I transcended my family religion. Then, through self-discovery, I have far transcended not only the Hindu religion but all religions. At the same time, through the practice of Yoga and self-discovery, I have acquired in myself the quintessence of all religions: love of God, love of Truth.

Question: Is it realistic for someone who was raised as a Catholic to feel that Jesus Christ is a spiritual Master?

Sri Chinmoy: Why not? If he was brought up in a Catholic family and if he feels that the Christ is his spiritual Master, then he is doing absolutely the right thing. If someone else was brought up in a Hindu family and he feels that Lord Krishna is his spiritual Master, then he is also doing the right thing. But if one is wise, then he has to feel the Eternal Master, the Eternal Supreme, the Inner Pilot inside the Christ, inside Lord Krishna. Inside the Christ, inside Lord Krishna is He who embodies both the transcendental Vision and the universal Reality. If one enters into the infinite Christ-Consciousness or the infinite Krishna-Consciousness — and not just the consciousness of the historical figures — then there is no difference between the Inner Pilot and Lord Krishna’s infinite Consciousness or the Christ’s infinite Consciousness.

Question: Despite the fact that religions are aimed at the similar goal of becoming closer to God, they outwardly seem to compete with each other. Why is this so?

Sri Chinmoy: It is because of ignorance. In spite of knowing that the goal is the same, the believers of the different religions fail to see eye to eye with one another. They all eat the same food, but some feel that this food must be eaten in the kitchen while others feel it must be eaten in the living room or on the porch. The same food we are going to eat, but we want to maintain our individuality and supremacy by saying that if we eat it at a particular place, then we shall be more satisfied. But we know that it is the same food we are going to eat no matter where we eat it.

Question: Will the world ever have one religion and is this something people should strive for?

Sri Chinmoy: The world will have one religion, but that religion is not a religion we can talk about. We cannot say that Christianity will be the only religion, or Hinduism, or Buddhism, or Judaism. We cannot say that one religion far surpasses another religion and that this particular religion has to be the only religion. No! There can be one religion provided that this religion is nothing short of inner cry, the inner cry to realise the Truth. One religion means one inner cry in all human hearts.

Question: Is religion the offspring of spirituality?

Sri Chinmoy: Spirituality is a vast reality, but when we use the mind, at times it becomes a vague reality. But if we see spirituality as the house of God-Reality, then naturally religion is only the offspring of spirituality. If spirituality is taken as the height of Yoga, which is conscious, constant and inseparable oneness with God, then I must say that religion has to come forward and claim Yoga as its source. If spirituality is seen as the living breath, the oneness-breath with God, then religion is most certainly the offspring of spirituality.

Question: Can religion lead man to God?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes. Religion is a house. If someone prays and meditates inside his house, he will realise God. Your house is your religion. If you stay inside your house and pray to God, then without fail you will realise God.

Question: Why do some people who are highly developed and mature souls often reject the idea of God or religion?

Sri Chinmoy: Some people are highly developed, but they are developed on the physical plane, on the vital plane or on the mental plane. Unless and until they are developed on the psychic plane, on the heart’s plane, there is no guarantee that they will accept religion, not to speak of God. When we live in the heart, we cry for oneness; but when we live in the physical, the vital or the mind, we consciously reject oneness, for we want to see the Truth in an infinitesimal measure. When we live in the heart, we want to see the expansion of truth; we want to see the reality of truth as inseparable oneness. The mind, the vital and the body still enjoy the sense of separativity, whereas the heart wants to enjoy and does enjoy only the unity of inseparable, eternal, immortal oneness.

Question: Why do many people feel attracted to meditation when it is represented as an intellectual exercise but shy away from it when they feel it has to do with devotion?

Sri Chinmoy: Many people are not aware of what the term ‘devotion’ means and they misinterpret it. They feel that devotion is a type of slavery; they feel that to touch the feet of someone is devotion. But this is not true. One is not touching somebody else’s feet; one is devoting himself to a higher cause, a higher reality. So if one feels devotion to a higher cause, if one is trying to reach one’s own transcendental Reality, then one cannot feel that he is making a mistake in his devotion.

Intellectual people feel that since the head is higher than the feet, they have to keep the head as the only reality. But spiritual people feel that the head stands high precisely because it is joined to the feet and the rest of the body. Spiritual people feel that it is the heartbeat that is keeping the head and also the feet alive, just because they are inseparably one with the heartbeat of God-Reality, they remain alive. Spiritual people see the reality everywhere — inside the mind, vital, body, heart and soul — but intellectual people want to see the reality only at one place: inside the mind. Real reality has to be everywhere precisely because God is everywhere.

Published in AUM – Vol. 3, No. 1, 27 January 1976

Gratitude

A talk by Sri Chinmoy

A glass mirror is brittle. If it drops, it breaks into pieces. But I have come to realise that a mirror has a longer lifespan than the gratitude of human beings. In order for a mirror to break, it has to drop either from Heaven or from a few feet above the ground. So it takes time — a few seconds. But it does not take even a fleeting second for human ingratitude to come to the fore.

If anything can disappear sooner than the soonest from our heart, then that thing is nothing other than our gratitude. Again, if anything on earth is really beautiful, really meaningful and really fruitful, if anything on earth can sustain our golden connecting link with God, our Source, then that very thing is also gratitude. Dear ones, I am telling you, if you have an iota of sincere gratitude and if you preserve that gratitude as the most precious thing in your life, then the breath of that gratitude will keep you alive in the Heart of God, your Lord Supreme. You people misbehave and torture your Master in so many ways; sometimes you even want to give up the spiritual life. But I assure you, if you keep gratitude alive in your heart, the beauty and fragrance of that divine quality will save you from your spiritual downfall and destruction.

I am speaking about sincere gratitude — the kind of gratitude whose living presence you can only feel inside your heart. If you feel that gratitude is your inner name and also your outer name, if you feel that your only name is gratitude, then immediately your gratitude will jump to the fore and establish its inseparable oneness with your God-oneness-reality.

Gratitude is a most powerful weapon in your life. There is nothing undivine that you cannot get rid of by virtue of the gratitude in your life. Again, there is nothing divine in your life that you cannot increase in boundless measure on the strength of your gratitude. There is only one thing that you need in order to increase your divinity, and that thing is gratitude. If every day you consciously strengthen your gratitude — not to Sri Chinmoy but to the Supreme, who is your Guru, my Guru and everybody’s Guru — you will see how much progress you will make and how many wrong forces you will be able to get out of your system. I tell you, all the physical, vital, mental and emotional fever that you are suffering from comes from the fact that you have lost your heart’s gratitude-breath. If your heart’s gratitude-breath is functioning well, then keep it so forever. This is unmistakably the right way to run fast, faster, fastest to the destined Goal.

Gratitude is not a mere word; it is not a mere concept. It is the living breath of your real existence on earth. There is nothing that God will not do for you if you really treasure the gratitude-breath inside your aspiring heart. Please, please, to each and every one of you I am telling this: If you want to run the fastest, then discard the thing that is delaying you. The thing that is making you lame or paralysed in your spiritual life is ingratitude. If you can always maintain your gratitude-breath, then nothing can stand in your way and nobody can prevent you from doing the right thing and becoming the right person: the most perfect instrument of our Lord Beloved Supreme.

Gratitude, gratitude and gratitude. The soul you do not know; the Supreme you do not know. And at this stage in your spiritual development you do not have to know them. But gratitude you do have to know if you want to connect yourself with your own Highest, with the Supreme. If you want to connect yourself with the Real in you, then your gratitude-breath you have to claim as your own, very own.

Published in Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 1

How Can One Reach God in One’s Lifetime?

Sri Chinmoy answers a question by Mr. Jose Luis Casanova (Agni) during a visit to the Aum Centre in Santurce, Puerto Rico

Sri Chinmoy: Let us change the word “reach” and instead let us use the word “realise”. When we use the term “reach” we feel that we have to come to a certain place. Now you are sitting over there and if you want to reach me, you have to come to me by either walking or jumping or flying. But when we use the term “realise”, there is no separation. Where is God? God is deep within us. But God-Realisation in one life, in one short span of time, by one's own personal effort, is next to impossible. But along with one's personal effort, if the aspirant has absolute aspiration, one-pointed dedication, if he has the blessings, grace and concern of a very great spiritual master who represents God to his disciples and if he has been assured by his spiritual master on this point, then, in one life, he can realise God.

If one does not have a fully realised master, a Guru, but if his aspiration is most intense, then God's Grace showers on him and God Himself plays the part of the human teacher, that is to say, the spiritual master. If God sees that the particular aspirant is absolutely sincere and he deserves self-realisation in this life, then, as I have said, God plays the part of a human Guru. Otherwise it is a spiritual master who plays [or] becomes a pilot and takes you across the ocean of ignorance to Light, Wisdom, Peace, Bliss and Plenitude.

You have got a Guru, Agni, so your problem is over and your aspiration is most intense. I say it with the very depth of my heart that this Guru of yours will never fail you. You will always be in the inmost recesses of his heart. He will carry you, carry you to the Golden Shore of the Beyond.

Published in AUM – Vol. 3, No. 5, 6, Dec. 1967 – 27 Jan. 1968

Poetry and Spirituality

a talk by Sri Chinmoy
at the Jharna-Kala gallery in Mahattan

Poetry and spirituality are inseparable. They are like the obverse and the reverse of the same coin. Here I mean spiritual poetry and spirituality. When I speak of spirituality, I mean the acceptance of life. True acceptance of life and true self-ascendance, which is spirituality, are always inseparable.

I am a seeker. I write poems. I meditate. When I write poems, I try to reach my highest height. Here the human in me tries to reach the highest height. And when I meditate, the divine in me descends from its highest height. It is like a ladder, spiritual ladder. I go up and come down.

Poetry helps me reach the highest, my highest height. And my meditation helps me come down and become one with the world-sorrow and the world-smile, and it also helps me to share its willingness-capacities.

I have been writing poems since my infancy, since I was an infant. Who knows, perhaps even now I have not surpassed that infancy stage, although I have written hundreds and thousands of poems. Some of my good friends, my good critics, accuse me of writing hundreds of poems in a short span of twenty-four hours. They think and they feel that perfection is of utmost need. How can one write 843 poems in one day and, at the same time, dream of perfection? Is it not absurdity on the face of it? To some extent, it is absolutely true.

Now, in my humble defense, I wish to say this: I am not a poet, and I don’t want to become one. I am not a composer, although I have composed hundreds of songs. I am not, and I don’t want to become, one. I have drawn thousands and thousands of paintings. Yet I don’t dare to claim to be an artist. Truth to tell, I don’t want to become an artist. 

Then what do I want to become? I want to become a football. In India, we call it football game; here you call it soccer. I happened to be a good footballer. Still I remember the experiences that I had in those days while kicking the ball hard, very hard. I was consumed with a strong desire to become a football to be kicked most powerfully by my Beloved Supreme. The harder I kicked the ball, the greater joy I received. I felt here also, in my life of aspiration and dedication, my only prayer, my only aspiration, is to become a football and my only prayer is to be kicked every day, every hour, every minute, every second by my Beloved Supreme.

I wish to become a more devoted, more self-giving, instrument of His. While utilising me as an instrument of His, if He wants me to play the role of a poet or the role of a singer, musician, or an artist, I am always at His Behest. To fulfil His Command in His own Way is my only aspiration. 

The Sanskrit word for the poet is kavi and, in the Sanskrit world, a kavi is he who envisions. What does he envision? He envisions the Truth, the Truth in its seed form, its potentiality, this Truth, in its possibilities; finally, in its inevitabilities.

Now, what is Truth? Truth is happiness in our progress. And what is progress? Progress is our constant self-giving. We represent both the finite and the Infinite. The self-giving of the finite to the Infinite is the supreme progress of the finite. And the self-giving of the Infinite to the finite is the supreme progress of the Infinite itself.

When the finite offers its reality-existence to the Infinite, in return it receives from the Infinite a fruitful Smile. And when the Infinite offers its Reality-Existence to the finite, in return it receives a soulful cry. The soulful cry and the fruitful Smile are the imperishable, incomparable, eternal and immortal Treasures of the Absolute Supreme.

Partially published in Poetry: My Rainbow-Heart-Dreams

Sri Chinmoy recites some of his earliest poems and delivers a talk entitled, ‘Poetry and Spirituality’ at a ceremony of the Sri Chinmoy Poetry Awards, a contest of spiritual poetry, which took place at the Jharna-Kala Gallery in Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan.

Listen to Sri Chinmoy reciting some of his earliest poems...

Listen to Sri Chinmoy’s talk on Poetry and Spirituality...

Indian Stories

by Sri Chinmoy

Bhudep Mukherjee’s examination

One day an examination was being held in a college classroom. The most brilliant student in the class was Bhudep Mukherjee. Bhudep Mukherjee was deeply engrossed in writing his exam when all of a sudden his fountain pen slipped from his hand and dropped to the floor. His English professor, who was standing nearby, picked up the pen and gave it back to the student. Bhudep Mukherjee took it from the teacher and, without saying anything, started writing again.

The professor was a little surprised. “Why didn’t you say ‘Thank you’ to me?” he asked. Bhudep Mukherjee remained silent.

“Why don’t you answer?” the professor said. “You Indians have no courtesy?” The student still remained silent.

“This is what I have taught you over the years?” the professor asked. “It seems that you are not feeling well, or perhaps you have a difficult question that is occupying all your attention. Otherwise, you are always respectful.”

The student said, “No, nothing is wrong with me, I am perfectly all right and the questions are not difficult at all. It is true that I was deeply absorbed in answering a question. But that is not the reason I did not answer you. Sir, you always taught us to do our duty. Whenever we get an opportunity to help someone or to serve someone, we should do it without being asked. Today, when my pen slipped from my hand and dropped, you got the opportunity to help me and serve me. So why do I have to thank you? If you expect my gratitude, then it is not real self-offering. So it is better to help the needy with no expectation. This is what you have taught us, and I am only obeying you. I have not done anything wrong. At the time of my need you helped me, and whenever you are in need I will definitely help you.”

The professor’s anger by this time had changed into joy and gratitude. He said to the student, “I am so proud of you. I am so proud of you. Indeed you are right. When you are in need, others should come and help and not ask any reward for it. If someone is in need, we should go immediately to help the person. And if we expect a ‘Thank you’ or gratitude, it is a mistake. It is our duty at every moment to help others and even to sacrifice our lives for others.”

Bhudep Mukherjee eventually became a very, very great scholar. He was a great son of Mother Bengal who did much for the intellectual and social development of his nation.

Tagore sings

There was once a little boy who was very beautiful to look at and very smart, with many talents. He was talented even at a tender age. His father was very rich and well-respected; he owned vast plots of land and had many, many servants. The little boy used to spend most of his time with the servants. He was the youngest in the family and they all adored him.

One day, the boy was singing a song that he had composed himself. The song expressed the idea that, “The eye cannot see You, although You are inside the eye. The heart cannot know You, although You are inside the heart.” He was singing it most soulfully, and the tune was simply excellent.

The father heard him singing from another room and was deeply moved. He asked his servants to go and bring the little boy to him. Then the father said to his youngest son, “Can you sing the song for me again?”

The boy didn’t often get the opportunity to come to his father, because the father was so great and very busy. He could not approach his father any time he wanted to. So although it was a great honour that his father had called him, he was also afraid of his father and he felt shy. The father said, “I am your father. Please don’t feel shy. Just sing the song that you were singing before, my child.”

The boy sang a few times and the father was so deeply moved that he entered into trance. When his trance ended, the father entered his office and wrote the boy a cheque for 500 rupees. In those days, 500 rupees for a child was really something. When he gave it to the boy he said, “In the past, the Mogul Emperors used to honour talented people with great gifts. Now the Mogul Emperors are no more. But your talent is so remarkable that I know you rightfully deserve honour from the king. Unfortunately there is no king here to honour you. But I am your father, and I am giving you 500 rupees.”

The son was so excited and delighted. He ran with the cheque and showed it to his servants. The servants lifted him up into the air. They were so proud that their little hero had become such a great poet.

Indeed, this heroic soul became the poet of poets. He became India’s greatest poet ever and won the Nobel Prize. Many people have got the Nobel Prize and many poets have been honoured, but in India he remains matchless. He composed about 1800 songs, many of which are sung all over India, including India’s national anthem, Jana Gana. Truly, Rabindranath Tagore was a creative genius who excelled in every field of the arts. In the latter part of his life he even took up painting. As poet, singer and playwright, he won love and respect not only in India but all over the world. He remains in the vanguard of poets for his lyrics, songs, plays and stories. India’s Tagore will eternally remain unique. In 1961, on his birthday, the whole world observed his centenary.

The train journey

There was once a very great man who came from a very rich family. He was a great seeker, a seeker of the highest order, and to the whole of Bengal he was the very embodiment of truth. Countless people admired him, loved him and adored him, and felt he was a saint.

One day he took his youngest son with him on a train ride from Calcutta to Bombay. He bought a full-price ticket for himself and a half-price ticket for his son, who was eleven years old.

After the train had been going for some time, the ticket collector entered into their compartment and asked for their tickets. When he saw the half-price ticket for the boy, he was a little bit hesitant, for the boy was very tall for his age, and he looked much older than eleven years old. But the ticket collector didn’t say anything. He just marked the ticket and left.

After two hours another ticket collector came. He also hesitated because he too thought that the boy was over twelve years old, since he was so tall and smart looking. But he didn’t say anything either.

After some time, these two ticket collectors brought the station master to the man’s compartment, and the station master asked to see the tickets. The station master was so ignorant. He did not realise that this man was well known for his greatness and goodness.

By this time the man was very mad. So many times these ticket people were bothering him! “All right, see the tickets!” he said angrily.

The station master said, “This boy is a minor? How old is he?”

The man said, “Eleven.” The station master said, “No. You are telling me a lie.”

The man, whom all of Bengal worshipped as the embodiment of truth, said to himself, “What will you do with these ignorant people? It is useless to argue with them.” So he paid the difference in the fare to the station master, saying, “Take it!”

The station master gave him a full ticket for his son, and returned his change. When the station master gave the great man his few rupees of change, the man became so furious that he threw the money on the floor and it all scattered.

Then the station master felt very embarrassed. “What a scene I created for one ticket for a young boy and a haughty old man!” he said to himself.

Because of the commotion, many people came running to see what had happened. What they saw was the great sage and saint of Bengal, Devendranath Tagore, Tagore’s father. And the young boy was Tagore himself.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

There was once a very great man who was knowledge incarnate. He was a professor of English at a college and was very, very brilliant. His eyes were full of light and in almost every way he was an ideal man. But unfortunately, on the physical plane he was not so handsome. He was very short, and his head was very big in comparison with the rest of his body

One day, an Englishman of higher authority wanted to see this Bengali scholar, so he sent for him. When the Bengali scholar came to the Englishman’s office, he was shocked. The Englishman had his feet on the table and was smoking profusely, and he began talking to the scholar with an air of contempt.

The Indian, who was a principal of a particular Sanskrit college, could not believe what he saw. He said to himself, “How can Englishmen behave so badly? They have no courtesy. They have no etiquette.”

When the meeting was over, he came back home mad and furious. “I shall one day pay that Englishman back in his own coin,” he said.

A few months later this same Englishman needed a favour from the Sanskrit professor. So he personally came to the professor’s office and knocked at the door. “Can I come in?” he said. But the professor did not answer. Only he asked his servant to bring his hookah.

The servant prepared the hookah and brought it to the professor. The professor placed his feet on the table, with his sandals on (he never wore shoes) and started smoking the Indian hookah. Then he asked the servant to let the Englishman in.

When the Englishman came in, he was so mad. He said, “I am an Englishman and I hold such a high post. Yet you are showing me such disrespect! What’s wrong with you?”

The professor said, “Nothing is wrong with me. Only I happen to be a good student. I always learn everything from my teacher. The other day you taught me to act like this and I have to show you that I have learned everything you taught me. If I don’t show you that I have learned what you have taught me, then you may not like me.”

The Englishman was shocked and, at the same time, illumined by the learned man’s remarks. This learned man became the ocean of compassion, the ocean of knowledge, whom all Bengal worshipped and adored. His name was Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

The gardener

There was a great leader who was very, very simple. From his appearance nobody could tell that he was a great leader. Only people who were around him and knew him well, or those who were in the political world, could recognise who he was. Otherwise, from his outer appearance he could fool anyone, since he was not tall and there was nothing about him that showed that he was bright or commanded respect and admiration from people. He always wore very simple clothes, and he was all simplicity and all sincerity.

One day he was working in his garden, digging and planting and doing everything all by himself. He was wearing very, very simple gardening clothes. A few middle-aged men came up to him and said, “Can you tell us where the chief is?”

He said, “Yes, I can. Just wait. I will call him.” Then he went into the house, washed his hands, put on a panjabi and dhoti and came out and stood in front of them.

They said, “You! You have come again. You didn’t tell the chief that we are here? We wanted to see the chief and not you.”

This time the gardener was a little serious. He said, “Well, the chief is here. I am the chief.”

“You are the Prime Minister of India?”

“Yes, I am!” Some of them bowed down, some were shocked. Some felt miserable. “Oh, we thought you were just the gardener,” they said.

The Prime Minister said, “I am so glad that you didn’t recognise me as the Prime Minister of India because I don’t want the world to know me by my appearance, but by my actions. I want to remain always simple, always humble.”

He was the second Prime Minister of India, after Nehru. Lal Bahadur Shastri: simplicity incarnate and heart’s magnanimity incarnate. Lal Bahadur Shastri was without a single enemy. His own people admired him and the opposition party also admired him equally for his heart’s nobility and his life’s simplicity and purity.

The blessings of Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray

There was a very, very great scientist who was also a great patriot. Everyone adored him. He lived a very simple, austere and spiritual life and remained unmarried. He had a very long beard and moustache, and was very lean and thin. He believed that well-educated young men should not just accept the work of clerks and other unimportant work. He felt they should not act like slaves but should do something with their lives if they were well-educated. He came to realise that money gave one the opportunity to do quite a few things in life.

“Money properly used is a blessing, but money badly used is a curse,” he used to always say. “If one has money and uses it properly, then one will have a decent life. And from this decent life one can try to aspire. But if one is pinched with hunger all the time and suffers from poverty, then how can one do anything great and good?”

He always used to advise everyone, especially the Bengalis, to enter into business and to make money, and then to use the money to try to do something great and good for mankind.

Just because he was great, after getting their degree young people used to come to him to get a recommendation from him for jobs as clerks. But instead of a recommendation, with all love and concern he would give them a smart slap. “Go away from here,” he would say. “I will recommend you to become somebody’s clerk and assistant? I don’t want that! I want you people to enter into business and use the money you make to lead a decent life. Then only will you get the opportunity to do the right thing. But if you misuse the money you make, you will destroy your life.”

One day, when the great scientist was an elderly man, a young man approached him and asked him to say a few words in favour of him so he would get a clerical appointment. As he usually did, with all love, affection and concern the great scientist gave the young man a smart slap. Then he said, “You deserve it! I always tell you people to enter into business.”

The young man said, “Yes, I want to enter into business, but I have no money.”

Then the scientist said, “You want to enter into business? How much do you need? I will give it to you.”

He said, “I need ten thousand rupees.”

The scientist said, “Ten thousand rupees you need for a business? Absurd! You don’t need that much. I am giving you three thousand rupees. You people are under the impression that if you have a large amount of money to invest, then only will you be able to make money. It is not true! It is not the money you invest, but your will power.

“I am giving you three thousand rupees. You don’t have to return this money to me, only promise me that you will enter into business. If you enter into business, I will be very happy. With this money you will start and, I tell you, you will be successful. With all my blessings I am giving you this money.”

The young man bowed to him and said, “This money I am taking as your blessing.”

The old man said, “Yes, it is my blessing. But you have to try to be successful. And even if you are not successful, I will be very happy and proud of you just because you have tried.”

This man was India’s most famous scientist-pioneer, P.C. Ray. He received his Ph.D. from Edinburgh University and, as a teacher of chemical science, had many pupils who later became great world chemists. When once asked if he had any children, he responded with a list of seventy-three of his dearest and brightest students. Such was his love and dedication for those who took him as their teacher-father.

The Brahmin and the old woman

One day a high-class Brahmin went to the Ganges for a dip. On that particular day he was supposed to go to court, and he was late. So he could not spend as much time as usual bathing in the Ganges.

After hurriedly taking a dip, he was on his way back home when all of a sudden he heard someone say, “Hello, hello, can you spare a moment?” It was an elderly woman.

The Brahmin said, “Yes.”

The woman said, “Today my house priest could not come and there is nobody to conduct our house puja today. Without a Brahmin, how can my daily house puja be performed? You are a Brahmin, so will you do me a favour? Will you come and do the puja? Our house deity will be displeased if he is not worshipped today. And I never eat without worshipping our presiding deity. So please come.”

So the Brahmin said to the old lady, “Yes, I am coming.” And he followed her to her house.

The Brahmin was well-educated. He was a great scholar who knew Sanskrit and even the scriptures well — far better than the Brahmin who usually conducted her pujas. He did everything. It took him an hour or so.

After he was finished, the lady said to him, “Now I wish to reward you. I would like to give you something from the puja. I will give you a fee, and also I wish you to take some coconuts and bananas. Please take.”

The Brahmin said, “No, no. I cannot take this.”

“No, you have to take this,” the old lady said. “You have done me a favour, so you have to take money from me. You have to take fruits from the puja.”

But the man said, “No, I cannot do it. I am very grateful that I was able to help you, but I cannot accept any fee.” Then the Brahmin ran away.

The Brahmin happened to be the judge of the Calcutta High Court. He was a great scholar, a great pandit and a very great judge of the High Court. His name was Sri Gurudas Banerjee. The lady didn’t know who he was, but he himself knew who he was and what he was. Even though he held such a high post, he still regarded his duty as duty.

Chitta Ranjan Das

There was once a great leader whose heart was larger than the largest. In law he was extremely successful and as a national leader he was also quite successful. His real name was kindness, affection and compassion. He was always for the poor and the miserable and he used to help people far beyond their need. The tips he gave to the police, for example, were ten times the amount that they usually got from others.

“These policemen work so hard,” he said. “Just because they wear Indian dhotis and garments, we don’t value them. But if the same work were done by Englishmen with trousers on, we would have to give them much more.”

One day a man in the Congress who worked for the great leader came up to him crying. The great man said, “Why are you crying?”

He said, “I stay at your house, but just because I come from the lowest class, everyone goes away from me. I am given my food at the place where the dogs and the chickens stay. It is so dirty and filthy there. One of your servants brings my food and I eat there as if I were another dog or another chicken. Please do something for me.”

Because of his low class, society did not permit him to sit with the members of the family. But still the great man felt very sad. He said to his wife, “All right, granted he cannot sit and eat with us, but can you not at least give him a nice place to eat? Why does he have to eat with the dogs and chickens? Can he not be given a better place?”

His wife said, “Yes, he should be given a better place. I shall see to it.”

Although the wife told the servant to take his food to a nice place, a few days later the servant was careless and took the food to the same place. So once more the Congress worker came to the great man, crying and crying: “They have given me the food there again, just because I come of a low class. I am staying with you because of your affection and love for me. Otherwise, I would not stay. This kind of treatment I hate. Whenever your Brahmin cooks see me, they run away. They show tremendous contempt for me and literally hate me. Am I not a human being?”

The great leader felt miserable, and he burst into tears. He called his wife and said, “From now on this young man will eat not only inside the house, but actually in my room where I eat. He has to eat in my room whenever I am eating. If I happen to be elsewhere and it is time for him to eat, he has to eat in my room. I make it a law.”

This great man was Chitta Ranjan Das. He was known as the most beloved friend of Mother Bengal. It was he who saved Sri Aurobindo from jail. When he died, Tagore said, “You came into the world with an immortal heart and you left it here on your way back.”

Published in Great Indian Meals: Divinely Delicious and Supremely Nourishing, part 3

A Story about Netaji

by Sri Chinmoy

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the hooligan chief

There was once a great patriot who conquered the heart of everyone in India, specially the Bengalis. He was known as the leader of great leaders. When he was in college, he was a most brilliant student. He had tremendous fondness for spiritual and religious people. Whenever he could be of any help to the poor, the sick or the needy, he would be the first person to go there.

Once, when he was a young man, cholera broke out in Calcutta, and all the rich people left the city. When the epidemic broke out, there was no medical treatment for the poor, so this patriot used to go to the section of town where the very poor lived and treat them.

Now, in that part of town there were many hooligans. Their leader used to threaten him and say, "Do not come to our section and do not bother us. We do not want to see you. You are well-educated and come from a rich family, whereas we are very poor and uneducated. We do not want you here." But although the hooligans did not want him to come and help the poor, he did not care. He said, "Do whatever you want. If you want to kill me, kill me. I have come into the world to help the poor and sickly. I shall continue coming with my money and my food to try to help as much as I can."

One day the only son of the leader of the hooligans was attacked by cholera. So the young man went to his house and started caring for the son, feeding him and giving him medical treatment. The hooligan leader was so moved! He said to the young man, "I threatened you and warned you not to come to this area, and now when my own son is attacked by cholera, you come to help him. You are so brave."

The young man said, "It is not a matter of bravery; it is my necessity. I see God in everybody. When I see somebody is suffering, when I see another human being in need, I feel it is my duty to help him. One must help one's brother when he is in need."

The hooligan chief bowed down to the young man and said, "You are not a human being. You are Divinity incarnate."

This great leader and great patriot, this matchless leader and matchless patriot, was none other than Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The very mention of his name brings such a divine emotional feeling into the consciousness of India!

Published in Mother, Your 50th Independence-Anniversary! I am Come. Ever in Your Eternity’s Cries and Your Infinity's Smiles, Subhas

A Story about Chitta Ranjan Das

by Sri Chinmoy
The first of six stories about the great Indian leader

A larger than the largest heart

There was once a great leader whose heart was larger than the largest. In law he was extremely successful and as a national leader he was also quite successful. His real name was kindness, affection and compassion. He was always for the poor and the miserable, and he used to help people far beyond their need. The tips he gave to the police, for example, were ten times the amount that they usually got from others.

“These policemen work so hard,” he said. “Just because they wear Indian garments, we do not value them. But if the same work were done by Englishmen with trousers on, we would have to give them much more.”

One day a man in the Congress who worked for the great leader came up to him crying. The great man said, “Why are you crying?”

He said, “I stay at your house, but just because I come from the lowest class, everyone goes away from me. I am given my food at the place where the dogs and the chickens stay. It is so dirty and filthy there. One of your servants brings my food and I eat there as if I were another dog or another chicken. Please do something for me.”

Because of his low class, society did not permit him to sit with the members of the family. But still the great man felt very sad. He said to his wife, “Granted, he cannot sit and eat with us, but can you not at least give him a nice place to eat? Why does he have to eat with the dogs and chickens? Can he not be given a better place?”

His wife said, “Yes, he should be given a better place. I shall see to it.”

Although the wife told the servant to take his food to a nice place, a few days later the servant was careless and took the food to the same place. So once more the Congress worker came to the great man, crying and crying: “They have given me the food there again, just because I come of a low class. I am staying with you because of your affection and love for me. Otherwise, I would not stay. This kind of treatment I hate. Whenever your Brahmin cooks see me, they run away. They show tremendous contempt for me and literally hate me. Am I not a human being?”

The great leader felt miserable, and he burst into tears. He called his wife and said, “From now on this young man will eat not only inside the house, but actually in the room where I eat. He has to eat in my room whenever I am eating. If I happen to be elsewhere and it is time for him to eat, he has to eat in my room. I make it a law.”

This great man was Chitta Ranjan Das. He was known as the most beloved friend of Mother Bengal. It was he who saved Sri Aurobindo from jail. When he died, Tagore said, “You came into the world with an immortal heart and you left it here on your way back.”

Published in Deshabandhu: Bengal’s Beloved Friend

Homeopathy and Allopathy

Comments by Sri Chinmoy
at the Rex Hotel, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

Sri Aurobindo once made a comparison between allopathy and homeopathy. He said that homeopathy is far better because it deals with nerves and it can enter into the subtle nerves. Everything is in the subtle nerves.

I am not an expert either in homeopathy or in allopathy. When my homeopathic doctors cure patients, I say, “Excellent, excellent!” But sometimes they do not cure. I care for the results.

I believe in homeopathy more than allopathy, but the homeopathic doctors have to know their field thoroughly. Otherwise, just to study a few books is not enough. A good homeopath needs lifelong experience. My mentor was one of those. He gave me a list of eight different homeopathic medicines and said, “Learn their names and their properties by heart. You do not have to go through hundreds of medicines. Eight if you can learn, it will be enough for you.” He gave me the list, and I learnt it. At that time I knew about forty or fifty remedies by heart. Now perhaps I know only ten.

In the Ashram, homeopaths gave better results than allopaths. The allopathic doctors were all very great doctors. They received their degrees from abroad. But our Ashram homeopaths achieved better results.

No matter which type of medicine you prefer, if you have faith, then so much the better. Faith will cure you, whether doctors give you the correct medicine or not. But I have to say that the little homeopathic pills can create miracles. Everything is inside us. If homeopathy can penetrate and go deep within to cure, then it touches the root.

The funny thing is that, if you take some homeopathic pills and they aggravate your problem, so much the better! You take the medicine and, if your condition becomes temporarily worse, then the medicine is working. It is hard to believe, but so often it is true. First your health takes a wrong direction. Then you are cured. It has happened many, many times. If the result is worse, then you are getting better. That is very hard to understand.

Published in Only Gratitude-Tears

When I Give You a Job

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at the Awana Kijal Golf, Beach and Spa Resort, Kijal, Malaysia

If I request you to do something and you cannot do it immediately, please try to do it as soon as possible. I know there are some jobs that may take a day or two, or even weeks or months. That I know. Again, there are some jobs that can be done immediately. If you cannot do your job immediately, then do it as soon as possible. Otherwise, you may create serious problems for me. When I give you a job, I entirely depend on you, entirely. No third party is involved. But if you cannot do it, then please come and inform me that you are unable to do it. Then I will choose somebody else as my instrument.

If I specifically mention a name, then that person should come. In some cases, if there is a team working together, I may mention the team. Then one team member should come. If they are unable to do the job, if they are not available, then one of them will come and report to me.

If I request you to do something, please try to do it yourself. If you do not do the job that is meant for you, if you delegate the job to somebody else, you may create serious problems for me, very serious problems. Obedience, obedience! If I ask you to do something, please do it yourself. Do not give the task to others. Usually I do not say that if you cannot do it, you should let somebody else do it.

It is not the most difficult thing on earth to obey me. If you take it as having to obey me, then the uncontrolled vital may either revolt or do the job unwillingly. But if you take it as my request, as my plea, I hope you will do it divinely. Please take my requests very, very seriously.

When I request you to do something, do not wait and say, “Oh, it can be done tomorrow.” No, no — it has to be done as soon as possible. If it is not done immediately, what can I say? True, there are things that cannot be done in the twinkling of an eye. They may take time. That I know. But there are specific things that can be done immediately. Those things I may not want to give to somebody else, and I do not want you to delay.

Your own so-called little mistake can create very serious problems for me. It is a very painful experience. You may call it a mistake, or minor negligence or carelessness, but it can create very serious problems for me. And when you make a mistake, many, many other people may also be involved. At that time they will be forced to make those unconscious or conscious mistakes also.

Published in Our Sweetest Oneness