with Sri Chinmoy at the Shangri-La Golden Flower Hotel in Xi’an, and a reporter for the ‘Beijing Science and Technology Report’, in Beijing
Sri Chinmoy: Good morning! Good morning! Your name is Gaia? Did you know that Gaia is also an Indian name? In India there is a very sacred city named Gaya. Bodh Gaya is a place of pilgrimage. Near that place, under the bodhi tree, the Buddha reached Nirvana. There he attained his full illumination so it is a very sacred place for us, a most sacred place.
I understand you have several questions. May I start answering them?
Question: Of all the many instruments that you play, which instrument do you like the most?
Sri Chinmoy: I play quite a few musical instruments. My most favourite instrument is the esraj. It is an Indian instrument and it originated over five hundred years ago during the time of the Moghul emperors. The greatest of all the emperors was Akbar. It was at his court that the musicians used to play this particular instrument, the esraj.
Question: What message do you wish to offer people through your music?
Sri Chinmoy: As we all know, music is a universal language. Here we do not have to learn Chinese. Of course, if we can learn it, it will be to our great advantage. And you may not know Bengali. But you do not have to learn Bengali. My Bengali songs will be able to enter into your heart. On the strength of their sweet melodies, they will be able to enter into your heart. Again, here I have heard quite a few Chinese songs and I was very, very deeply moved. I do not know a single word of Chinese, but in music there is no language barrier. It approaches the heart sooner than at once. That is why we can easily understand, appreciate and admire the music from other countries.
In that way, music plays a very special role in our lives. I have offered concerts in many, many places. My musical performances are based on my own inner feelings. Each person has to have tremendous faith in his own life. Being an Indian, I pray and meditate. This is my way of life, my lifestyle. And I try to convey the significance of my inner prayers and meditations through my musical performances.
I believe in God. Other seekers will say that they believe in Truth. My God and their Truth are identical. Still others believe in Light. The Lord Buddha believed in Light; he did not believe in God at all. His inner Light is the same as our God. God and Light cannot be separated. God and Truth cannot be separated. Again, if you have a strong belief in yourself, then your own belief is the same as my God. God can be Light, God can be Truth and God can be belief, a very strong belief, for which we use the term faith.
Question:How many instruments do you play during a concert?
Sri Chinmoy: When I play for two and a half hours, I usually play between twenty and twenty-five instruments. But when I play for an hour and fifteen minutes, I play about twelve or thirteen instruments. And sometimes I show off! I play one hundred instruments, but it is only for my students, to give them joy. Two times, I believe, I have played over one hundred instruments at a time.
My students are very, very kind and generous to me. They supply me with musical instruments from their countries, and I enjoy playing so many unique instruments. As you know, I am a "jack of all trades, master of none." I am a musician, and I am an artist. I am a poet, and I am a singer. I am also a weightlifter. But in all sincerity, I have to say that I am a master of none. Only one thing I would like to be the master of and that is my prayer-life and meditation-life. I started my life with prayer and meditation and I want to continue doing this until I breathe my last. The most important things in my life are prayer and meditation; the other things are all secondary.
Question:In the face of natural disasters, such as the tsunami that recently occurred, there are two ways in which we can respond. The first is to feel that human beings must respect nature much more. The second is to feel that human beings should come first and so we need even more advanced technology to protect humans from disasters. Which is your view?
Sri Chinmoy: I most sincerely subscribe to both views. Firstly, we have to respect nature. President Gorbachev and others are trying desperately to save Mother Nature. Here, there, everywhere, nature is being destroyed, so their Green Cross organisation is trying to preserve nature, preserve the environment. Nature is the expression of our inner life, our higher life. It is from nature that we get all good things — beauty, tranquillity, humility, simplicity and many other divine qualities. Above all, nature is spontaneous. When we develop the mind, we become so complex; we cannot do anything spontaneously. Nature helps us to regain our spontaneity. Like this, nature helps us in millions of ways to become good citizens of the world. That is why we must respect and adore nature.
Your second point is that we need even more advanced technology to protect humans from disaster. I also fully agree with this statement. Science and technology must make progress. But, forgive me to say, no matter how far we advance with our science and technology, if nature becomes furious, nature is not going to surrender to our scientific and technological achievements. The universal nature is infinitely more powerful than the scientific achievements of man. These achievements, I tell you, will be no match for Mother Nature if she becomes furious.
So these are two approaches: advanced technology and our respect for Mother Nature so that she does not get angry with us and torture us by creating natural disasters. Your two approaches are absolutely right, but if I am allowed, I would like to add one more approach which will not interfere at all with the first two. This third approach is prayer — prayer to the highest, to the strongest, to the most powerful One to protect us from harm, from nature's disasters, or from anything and anybody.
If we can apply all three approaches at the same time, then there is a great possibility for us to avert nature's disasters.
Question:Are you saying that we should bring forward our love, wisdom and technology at the same time?
Sri Chinmoy: Yes. I feel that all three should be combined — love of nature, inner wisdom and the advancement of technology. Then we will be able to face nature's disasters. Inner wisdom is nothing but love, the feeling of oneness. If we sincerely love someone, then that person is not going to harm us.
This world is only one family. You are my sister; I am your brother. The whole world is a big family and it is composed of our brothers and sisters. Each individual in this family has something unique to contribute to the world at large. We can all live together peacefully or we can quarrel and fight and wage wars.
So this world of ours has two choices: one is to establish friendship, brotherhood and oneness. Another is to try to conquer or destroy others. When we adopt this approach, ultimately, we destroy ourselves.
What we, as human beings, actually want is joy, happiness and satisfaction. These qualities we can only get by uniting ourselves with other human beings. Those human beings are nothing but an extension of our own reality. When we establish our oneness with the rest of the world-family, we get joy and this joy lasts forever. But when we conquer someone by using superior strength and power, by hook or by crook, we cannot get permanent joy.
One approach is absolutely correct: the establishment of oneness with the whole world-family. The other approach is to sing the song of supremacy. We feel we have to prove that we are stronger than somebody else, or the world has to know that we are the stronger. That approach is the wrong one. Only through union do we get joy; not by division.
When we extend ourselves, when we spread our wings and claim the whole world as our own, very own, when we love Mother Nature, then the joy that we get will be everlasting. And this joy has in it sweetness, tremendous sweetness. We are longing for this joy, the joy of the creation.
Sri Chinmoy: If we do not have love, what are we aiming at? If we do not love the world, that means we can be neutral or indifferent to the world. When we hate the world, we destroy ourselves. Again, when we are indifferent, we do not get any joy. We have to love the world and accept the world as our very own. What for? For the betterment of the world.
Your question is, how can we have love? The answer is, if we do not love, what happens? The world that we are now facing is all hatred, all supremacy. By not loving one another, we are suffering so much.
But how to love someone or something? First, if we do not love ourselves, we cannot love others. If we are happy early in the morning, then on the street whomever we see, we try to greet or give a smile. But if in the morning we are unhappy, then we do not even look at others. We feel miserable and we may even go to the length of saying that if we see others, we have ruined our whole day. If we are happy inwardly, then the whole world is good for us. But if we are miserable deep within, then we blame the whole world. We never blame ourselves; we blame the world. And who is actually at fault? It is we who are to be blamed.
So how do we love the world? I want to say that we can love the world by creating joy. From joy we get love and from love we get joy. How do we create joy? We get it by doing something. A little child gets joy by playing with her doll. If I have faith in God, by praying to Him I get joy. When I get joy, I immediately find that I want to apply it in my day-to-day life. Then this joy is transformed into love.
I wish to say that we must pay attention to the things that give us joy. Then from joy we can get love. We have to start with joy. We came into the world to give joy and to accept joy from the world. But, unfortunately, many people are using the mind instead of the heart. That is why they find it so difficult to get joy from the world. The mind's only joy is to divide and divide. By cutting the reality into pieces, the mind tries to get joy. The heart wants to keep that reality intact. It does not want to cut the reality into pieces.
So our heart is the answer. The heart has joy and the heart has love, whereas the mind is empty of joy. Something more, the mind takes away all our inner joy that we derive from the heart. Because of the mind, we doubt others, we become jealous of others. If somebody is good or if somebody has achieved something remarkable, we use the doubting mind and we try to belittle that person or the achievement of that person. By doubting somebody or by becoming jealous of someone, are we getting any joy?
If we use our heart, on the other hand, to identify ourselves with that person, we get such joy! If we are using our heart to listen to a most lovely and beautiful piece of music, we will identify ourselves with the music, with the singer or with the melody. We may even feel that we are the singer, that we are carrying the melody. But if we use the mind, then we become jealous of the singer, jealous of the music and so forth.
So the heart and the mind give us two different experiences. One appreciates others and the other tries to minimise their glory. One makes us so happy and the other makes us miserable. If a Chinese song is being played and I hear it, if I use my heart, I will get such joy, such a feeling of oneness with the music. But if I use the mind, I will say, "Oh no, my Indian music is far better!" Again, in the same way, if you use the mind, you will say, "Indian music is silly. It just puts us to sleep. Once it starts, it has nothing else to do." But if you use the heart, then you will say, "Indian music is so beautiful, so soothing, so haunting."
When we use the critical mind, who becomes the loser? We do. By criticising someone, we will never, never be happy because our inner nature is all love, abiding love. That is why, in our philosophy, we give so much importance to the heart. The heart accepts the reality as such. The heart does not mind whether others are good or bad. By offering its goodwill to others, it becomes inseparably one with them. The mind, on the other hand, constantly plies between the good qualities of others and their bad qualities. This moment it says that so-and-so is a good person; next moment it tells us that we are wasting our precious time by remaining with that person. By approaching others with a heart of goodwill, we establish a kind of friendship or oneness with their soul and this gives us tremendous joy. But if we approach others with the mind, then we will only try to find fault with that person.
When we use the mind, we go near a flower and, like a mischievous monkey, we try to destroy the flower, petal by petal. But if we use the heart to approach a flower, we will appreciate the beauty and fragrance of the flower.
The heart gives joy and the heart receives joy. The mind tries to destroy the beauty or the reality that the mind sees. Naturally, those who are being criticised by others will respond in the same way. They will muster the strength to defend themselves. So the heart is mutual love and the mind is mutual destruction.
When goodwill works, immediately we open up our heart's door. This is how we liberate our heart. In your case, you have definitely opened up your heart. By opening up the heart, you have arrived at a particular destination. Tomorrow you will see that this is not the end. You have taken the first step. It is a very solid step and you are bound to feel love, joy, light, peace, bliss and other divine attributes inside your heart. This first step, the opening of the heart, is most satisfactory. Then tomorrow you will see that many, many divine qualities are blossoming inside you. Like a flower that blossoms petal by petal, in exactly the same way many, many divine qualities in your heart will blossom and they will give you tremendous joy. And you will feel that there is great meaning in your life — that meaning is to increase your love, joy, peace and bliss on a daily basis.
Question: Can you say something about science and technology in China?
Sri Chinmoy: As you know, I am a perfect stranger to science and technology. But I do love technology. Just because I am ignorant of a subject does not mean it is of no use. When I first came to China, I wrote a song for little children. There I have said that China's ancient wisdom is something unique.
Again, China's modern, scientific and technological progress is going together with its ancient wisdom. There is no conflict between the ancient wisdom of China and the modern speed. They are going side by side. When we dig deep within, we see the infinite wisdom that China offered to the world at large centuries ago and we also see that the progress China is now making in science and technology is faster than the fastest.
These two things are going together because China is not giving up on her ancient wisdom; she is not looking down on it.
Again, the Chinese are not making any comparison between the ancient wisdom and the modern speed. The Chinese are only eager to combine them, to put them together. It is like the inner and the outer going together. We need two legs to run the fastest. In exactly the same way, if we only depend on inner wisdom, we will not be able to walk side by side with the modern world. The modern world has the advantage of speed. How fast China is making progress in the outer world! By bringing to the fore the inner wisdom and combining it with the outer speed, which China is doing, China is moving faster than the fastest. Inner wisdom and outer speed can go together and China is proving it to the world at large.
Again, it is China's love of the ancient wisdom and her love of modern, scientific achievement that is connecting her inner qualities and her outer capacities. China's inner qualities are wisdom, all-embracing love of the world-family, oneness and light. China's outer capacity is speed, speed, speed. They can go together and here is the proof. China is doing it. For this great achievement, the unification of the inner and the outer, China deserves admiration from the entire world and from my heart. From my little heart, China deserves my appreciation and admiration, plus my gratitude and pride.
Sri Chinmoy: I love them very, very much. Needless to say, they remind me of my Indian brothers and sisters. I have been to many places here in China. When I look at the Chinese people, I strongly feel this oneness between India and China.
Many years ago, your Premier Chou En-lai went to India, and Prime Minister Nehru and Chou En-lai became very, very close friends. Indians call China 'Chin", and India, or Hindustan, is 'Hind'. So Indians had a slogan, "Chin Hind bhai bhai," which means "China and India are brothers." Throughout the length and breadth of India, people sang this song so soulfully, "Chin Hind bhai bhai./" Hindustan and China are great friends, real friends; they are two brothers.
Question: How can people have faith when we face so much suffering in the world?
Sri Chinmoy: The sufferings that the world is now facing are unbelievable. Because of this tsunami, thousands and thousands of people have been killed. In one sense, we can say that Mother Nature is displeased with human beings. If we are sincere, each and every person on earth will see how many wrong things he has done individually and how many wrong things we have done collectively — nationally and internationally.
Sometimes we do wrong things unconsciously; sometimes we do them deliberately. A little child, for example, is unconscious of the fire. When he stands in front of the fire, just because he is innocent, do you think the fire will not burn him? The very nature of fire is to burn the child. As human beings, we have to be very frank with ourselves, whether we have done everything that is good within our capacity. Then we will see that human beings have done many, many wrong things consciously, deliberately and maliciously. Why? To show our supremacy.
So you can say that this tsunami is nature's revolt, nature's revenge. Mother Nature is like a real mother. She sees that her children are quarrelling, fighting and destroying everything, so she strikes them. She wants them to be good, exemplary citizens of the world. It is farther than the farthest from her mind to destroy the earth. She is only punishing her children to some extent so that they will turn over a new leaf.
This tsunami has given us a devastating experience. Again, the leaders of so many countries have united together to help those places that were severely affected. Human beings have once more brought to the fore their sympathy, which was practically buried in oblivion. Your Chinese Foreign Minister, Li Zhaoxing, has written a unique poem which I deeply admire. It is called "To My Distant Friends." This poem reveals his heart of implicit sympathy, love and feeling of oneness. So you see how this tsunami has brought forward the good, divine qualities of people. With our divine qualities, we can unite the world. Again, with our undivine qualities, we can destroy the world.
To come back to your question, how can we free ourselves from suffering? We have to first of all love others and establish the feeling of oneness with them. This oneness is based on our inner existence. When we truly sympathise with somebody, then we take away some of his suffering. Let us say somebody's mother has passed away. If you happen to be a close friend of that person and you go there to console him, then you definitely decrease his suffering. Because you are sharing the suffering, the members of the family do not suffer the full amount.
In the case of the tsunami disaster which has taken place, the Chinese Foreign Minister and also many other leaders of various countries, as well as individuals around the world, have brought to the fore their hearts, which are full of sympathy. The sympathy that the entire world has shown has really helped humanity. By exercising its sympathetic heart, the world has considerably decreased the suffering of those affected.
Suffering is there, but we can share it by establishing our oneness with those who are suffering. Always we have to have the feeling of goodwill. If, in your suffering, I go to be of service to you and vice versa, then we decrease the suffering.
A day will come when there will be another way of conquering suffering, and that way will be through light. Human life is composed of darkness and light. Darkness wants to envelop us and destroy light; light wants not to destroy darkness, but to illumine it. In the outer world, there will always be suffering, but there is a way to diminish the suffering and that way is the way of oneness, the establishment of oneness. If we use our sympathetic heart, our feeling of oneness, then the suffering is lessened to a considerable degree.
The ultimate goal of this Mother Earth, this earth-planet, is not suffering; it is joy. We came from Heaven, which is all joy. Now, on this particular planet, we are sad, unhappy, miserable, and for that we have to take the blame to a great extent. But consciously if we can expand and extend our love, goodwill and feeling of oneness, plus if we can go deep within, then there will be much less suffering. The ultimate goal of every human being is happiness. We know that we came from Heaven, which is nectar-happiness, and we are now passing through a longer than the longest tunnel which is dark and unlit. But we feel that at the end of the tunnel, no matter how long it is, light will again be waiting for us, and that light is happiness.
Sri Chinmoy: Every year I go out of New York at Christmas time. It is our annual vacation. This year I came to China for an exchange of culture. Right from my childhood, I have had tremendous admiration for China. India's greatest poet, Rabindranath Tagore, the 1913 Nobel laureate in literature, wrote a book on China [Talks in China] and I have learned much, much from that book. A great spiritual hero named Swami Vivekananda also wrote about China in his letters. In addition, since my adolescence, I have read much about China and I have tremendous admiration for your philosophers, for your artists and for your culture.
It is with a heart full of admiration and love that I came to China. Here it is a cultural exchange. My students and I sing and play music. We have developed a love for art and culture and we wish to observe and absorb the inspiring qualities of China while we are here. We have come to offer our goodwill, brotherhood and the feeling of oneness. We wish to offer what we have brought from our respective countries and again, from your beloved country, the country that we most sincerely admire, we wish to receive your good qualities and thus enrich our own qualities. By receiving from you what you have, we increase our inner wealth. And we will be so pleased if our goodwill, our music and our way of life can be of any service to you. So it is a mutual give and take.
Question:Can you please tell me about your connection with Mother Teresa?
Sri Chinmoy: Mother Teresa was my mother and my sister at the same time. One moment she used to be very, very strict with me, like a mother, and next moment she was very, very kind and affectionate, like a sister. Over the years, she told me three times that I must accompany her to China. What for? To be of service to China.
Alas, God did not fulfil her desire to come to China. But believe me, the day I arrived in China, I saw her soul very clearly. She came and blessed me because I fulfilled my promise to her to come to China. Then in Xiamen I gave a musical performance for little children. On that day, Mother Teresa's soul was so happy, specially when over a thousand children sang our song, "I am a great Chinese boy, I am a good Chinese girl."
I strongly feel and see that Mother Teresa's soul is guiding me during my visit to China. Her soul comes to me, you can call it a dream or something else, only to bless me and to guide me inwardly. It was her most sincere desire to come to China and be of service to China. She went to many countries during her life. She went to each place only with the view of serving the people of that country.
I am eternally grateful to Mother Teresa. She had a heart that was vaster than the vastest. She was not only for Calcutta, where millions and millions of people received her unimaginable compassion and affection, but she was also for the whole world. She was a unique individual that Mother Earth received from Father Heaven.
Question: Could you please tell me about your "Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart" programme?
Sri Chinmoy: There are so many ways to express one's oneness with the whole world. Each individual has a way. In my case, my Inner Pilot has told me to be of service in this particular way and that way is to lift some individuals overhead. In a football match, when a player scores a goal, he is lifted up by his fellow teammates. They do this to express their joy because he has done something good.
Here also, I see that there are people from all walks of life who have done many, many good things for the betterment of the world. I feel that it is obligatory on my part to be of service to them. I try to give joy to those who have contributed so much to the world at large. I lift them up, with either two hands or one hand. In this way, I have lifted 7,000 people over the years, and this includes many presidents, prime ministers and eminent figures, such as President Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Ravi Shankar, Muhammad Ali and others.
I also lift children, who are the future, and I have lifted quite a few octogenarians. In Indonesia I lifted one lady who was over 100 years old. How many people can live over 100 years? Again, she has done something great; she has shown longevity.
In any way, if someone has done something unique, I try to honour that person. Nobel laureates, scientists, politicians — we all belong to the same family. Some have already contributed their capacities to the world, and then I try to be of service to them by lifting them up and showing them my appreciation and admiration. And some are now budding. They are humanity's children. They are not fully blossomed, but they are the future, so I try to lift them and offer them my full support.
I do hope that I can be of service to the heart and soul of China while I am here.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at the Meru Paruku Hotel in Kumamoto, Japan.
Song for the New Millennium
Comments by Sri Chinmoy
during a bus trip from Cancun to Merida, Mexico
One second before you sing the “New Millennium” song, if you see and feel what you are singing, then it will be much better. First you have to see, and then feel. Look at a tree: you will immediately feel that the tree is inside you. Then you can express the beauty of the tree. See and feel, and then express it. Then your singing will be completely different. Sing each and every song like that!
Life’s dynamic spirit I need in this song, from the beginning to the end! People who were in my bus sang and sang and sang this song to my satisfaction. It has to be full of spirit and vigour, right from the beginning to the end.
With this song we shall end our Peace Concerts from now on. Everywhere that will be our anthem, and it will be full of dynamic spirit.
It is an English song. First, try to envision the meaning of the words. As soon as you think of the Twenty-First Century, the New Millennium, try to imagine it. Your vision and realisation have to precede your revelation and expression. When you are singing each line, try to see each word first, then feel it and finally express it.
This song should go a little slower. The way you are singing it, it is like an express train, like my subway experience! Do you remember my subway experience with the runaway train, where the conductor was arrested?
You are singing correctly and powerfully, but if you do not have the inner feeling, then it is like a parrot singing. For each and every song, please remember that the feeling is of supreme importance. You are all excellent singers. You can carry the tune perfectly, but I wish to get the feeling that you are invoking the heart and soul of Mexico and identifying yourself with the heart and soul of the song. You are singing absolutely perfectly, but please sing with feeling. You will see the difference.
Sri Chinmoy composes songs at the Insular Hotel in Davao, the Philippines. Songs from this day, as well as others composed on his visit to the Philippines, are later published in Gahite Chahi.
Photo by Pulak Viscardi
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert at Teknikon College in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Peace Concert Dedication
by Sri Chinmoy
at Teknikon College in Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Today’s Peace Concert I am prayerfully and soulfully dedicating to our beloved President Mandela. He is, indeed, a dreamer of world peace, a lover of world peace, and he is offering to all citizens of the world his dream of peace and his love of peace, lovingly and self-givingly.
Sri Chinmoy meets with UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, at the United Nations in New York.
“I am indeed touched by your sincere expression of support for my efforts in the cause of peace and international understanding.
“In your meditation you see beyond the superficial distinctions of race, sex, language or religion, as the Charter encourages us to do. You concentrate on the truths and ideals which unite all mankind: the longing for peace, the need for compassion, the search for tolerance and understanding among men and women of all nations.
“We must never forget that all our activities are aimed at fulfilling the lofty principles of the Charter. We must not lose sight of these objectives despite the frequent difficulties we encounter along the way. In recalling the fundamental goals which inspire our work, you are helping to re-affirm our commitment to the Organisation and its purposes.” — UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar
Sri Chinmoy meets with the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand Somdej Phra Sankharaj — the head of the country’s order of Buddhist monks — in Bangkok, Thailand.
Davao International Airport a Sri Chinmoy Peace Airport
Dedication Speech by Sri Chinmoy
My dear friend, my dear brother, my dear manager of this Davao International Airport, Mr Angel Rongcal, I wish to offer you my heart’s deepest love, deepest gratitude and deepest joy for allowing my name to be closely associated with your International Airport.
The term “international” at once frightens the human in us and gladdens the divine in us. The mind quite often gets frightened by the term “international” because it refers to something so vast, so enormous, and the mind is frightened by vastness. But the heart, on the strength of its oneness with the world-family, feels tremendous joy, tremendous love and tremendous satisfaction when something is international. The heart is like the tiny drop identifying with the vast ocean. When the tiny drop enters into the ocean, it becomes so happy that it has become part and parcel of the ocean. Similarly, I as an individual feel so much joy and satisfaction that I am becoming part and parcel of the International Airport of Davao.
Every day thousands of people are arriving and departing from this place. They are coming from so many countries around the world to share their hope, joy, inspiration and aspiration with the people of Davao. At the same time, they are carrying the message of hope, inspiration, joy, love and oneness from Davao to other parts of the world.
Each airport is a home to so many aeroplanes. The aeroplanes are the children of the airport. The children of the airport bring thousands of people to their home and carry thousands of people from their home to various parts of the world. I was born in India, and I was brought from India to America by the airport-child Air India. Now I was brought to Davao by another airport-child, Philippine Airlines. So the children of the airport carry the members of the international family lovingly, affectionately, compassionately from one place to another. It is by virtue of their affection, love and concern that vastness is transformed into sweetness and a feeling of oneness-home.
Peace means happiness. This happiness comes when we see and feel the Infinite inside the finite. Today I am extremely happy because I have become part and parcel of the international existence of this International Airport. My happiness and gratitude know no bounds, for you have given me the opportunity to become inseparably one with something very vast — an international existence, a universal existence. For that I am extremely grateful to you, dear manager of the Airport, dear friend and brother of our Peace-Blossoms oneness-family.
Message from Koshi Mochisuki, the Head Priest of Renko-Ji Temple, Suginami-ku, Tokyo
“We are preserving Netaji's sacred ash here at this temple in Japan. As a Buddhist, I feel that the soul knows no country. Every day I pray at his shrine.”
Note: On 26 December 1996, Sri Chinmoy made a pilgrimage to the shrine of India’s great patriot, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, at the Renko-Ji Temple in Tokyo.
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
Behold, I do not give lectures or a little charity. When I give, I give myself. — Walt Whitman
My heart of dedication echoes and re-echoes with Whitman's throbbing utterance. At the same time, I wish to add something more to my own dedication. I give lectures. I give lectures not because I have something special to offer to humanity, but because I wish to expand my mind's horizon, my heart's love and my body's service so that I can become totally one with God's Divinity in humanity. Once I have done it, once I have become one with God's Divinity in humanity, I shall have to make no effort to offer myself to God's children, for I shall have become consciously one with them. Together we shall sing the song of God's unity in His multiplicity.
Princeton University, a flood-tide of enthusiasm and joy sweeps over me now. In 1902 Woodrow Wilson became the president of this university. For eight long years he served this university and carried out a good many reforms of this institution. I am all admiration for him, for his heart cried for human unity. The world remembers him as the chief architect of the League of Nations, a step toward human unity. In his inaugural Address, on becoming President of the United States, he said, "This is not a day of triumph; it is a day of dedication. Here muster not the forces of the party, but the forces of humanity." This message of his can serve as a safe harbour for humanity's life-boat.
Woodrow Wilson, once the president of this university, said something striking with regard to the university and its students, "The use of a university is to make young men as unlike their fathers as possible." This means that the past, no matter how grand and significant, must be surpassed, transcended. The message of yore need not be and cannot be the ultimate seal for humanity's ever-progressing march toward the Absolute Fulfilment.
I hope it will not be out of place to say a word about his daughter, Margaret Woodrow Wilson. But before I invite her into the picture, let me invite Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy said, "To say that you can love one person all your life is just like saying that one candle will continue burning as long as you live." This is true in the case of a flickering candle, and it may be true in the case of fleeting human love, but it was definitely not true in the case of Margaret Woodrow Wilson. In 1938 she joined a spiritual community, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in South India, and sat at the feet of her spiritual Master, Sri Aurobindo. She declared, "Here is one on earth whom one can love all one's life and in whom one can lose oneself." She received the name Nishtha from her master. He wrote this about it: "Nishtha means one-pointed, fixed and steady concentration, devotion and faith in the single aim — the Divine and the Divine Realisation" (November 5, 1938). Both father and daughter embodied faith, the divine quality, in full measure — the father in humanity's cause, the daughter in divinity's cause. Once when a physical ailment of hers tended to be serious and it was suggested to her to return to America and consult her family doctor, she flatly refused, saying, "They can take care of my body, but who will take care of my soul?" Margaret Woodrow Wilson passed away on February 12 1944. Her tombstone in the cemetery of Pondicherry, the small town in South India that is the home of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, bears the simple inscription:
“Ci-Git La dépouille Mortelle de Nishtha, Margaret Woodrow Wilson, 16 Avril 1886 – 12 Février 1944”
(Here lie the mortal remains of ...)
Our faith in God, more so in ourselves can alone lead us into the Life of the Beyond.
Men say that they do not know the Beyond. I say that they have forgotten the Beyond. They say that the Beyond has been stolen away. I say that they have unconsciously hidden the Beyond. They say that it is easier to realise the Beyond than to live in the Beyond. I say that God and the Beyond are One, indivisibly One. Once you have realised God, the Beyond itself will live in you, grow in you and be fulfilled in you.
The Beyond is for him alone who aspires. A man without aspiration does not see in the nights of ignorance. A man with desires does not see either in the nights of ignorance or in the knowledge-dawn. But a man of aspiration sees through and beyond the adamantine wall of ignorance and the luminous windows of knowledge. He takes ignorance and knowledge as one. His is the heart that pines to imbibe the Nectar-Truth of the Upanishads with a view to entering into the fulfilment of the Beyond ... "He takes ignorance and Knowledge as one. Through ignorance he crosses beyond death: through Knowledge he crosses the boundaries of Immortality."
Do you want to see the face of the Beyond? Do you want to know what the Beyond looks like? If so, then launch, sooner than at once, into the sea of spirituality. Spirituality is self-development. Self-development eventually leads man to self-realisation. True spirituality is practical, extremely practical. It is not satisfied with the existence of God only in heaven. It wants to prove to the entire world that God's existence can also be seen and felt here on earth. God is the Life of the Beyond. Earth is the Heart of God. He who wants to live without air is a fool. He who wants to live without food is a greater fool. He who wants to live without the Truth, Light and Life of the Beyond is the greatest fool.
I know that I have to love God and be loved by God, since I wish to live in the Beyond. I asked God what He does with His Love. God said that He protects me, He illumines me and He liberates me with His Love. God asked me what I do with my love. I said that like a child I bind Him, my Eternal Father with my love. God cried with joy and I cried with gratitude.
When I see the Truth of the Beyond in me, I am something. When I see the Truth in others, I am someone. I wish to be both something and someone, if it is the Will of the Supreme. If not, I wish to be nothing. I wish to be no one. I want only to obey His express Commands. To become one with the Will of the Supreme, to fulfil the Will of the Supreme, is to possess the breath of the Beyond. To live in the Beyond is not to build castles in the air. The Beyond, the reality of the Beyond, can and does breathe in the immediacy of today, in the heart of now. Meditate! Let us meditate on the Beyond. Lo! Ours, forever ours, is the Beyond.
There is only one Time and that Time is the Eternal Now. There is only one Truth and that Truth is that we are God's and God's alone. There is only one Realisation and that Realisation is that we represent everything, earthly human and heavenly divine.
From January-April 1978, Sri Chinmoy gives four short inspirational talks as part of a series of lectures on world leaders. This the first in the series.
Yesterday was the birthday of Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda was a supreme seeker and supreme lover of mankind. He was also the preserver of the universal vision. I am invoking his presence.
Was Swami Vivekananda a man? Yes, he was. Something else he also was: a lover-hero.
Did Swami Vivekananda really conquer America? Yes, he did. Truth to tell, it was a mutual conquest. Vivekananda conquered America's seeker-heart. America conquered Vivekananda's vision-eye.
What did Swami Vivekananda preach in the West? The Vedantic philosophy. Something he also did. In supreme secrecy, soulfully and lovingly on the vital plane, persistently and unconditionally on the mental plane and compassionately and unreservedly on the physical plane, he distributed Sri Ramakrishna's universal oneness-heart and blessingful joy.
Sri Ramakrishna loved at once Vivekananda's silence-heart and his sound-life. To his Naren what he gave was his own realisation-ocean. In his Naren what he found was his own vision-manifestation. Where? Here, there and all-where.
To the weak, Vivekananda had only one thing to say: "Fear not."
To the strong, he had only one thing to say: "Stop not."
To God, he had only one thing to say: "Delay not."
And to himself, he had only one thing to say: "Ask not."
The Emperor Humayun was in his palace one day when he heard a commotion. He asked his guards, “What is happening?”
The guard said, “A messenger has come from Chittor. Queen Karmavati of Chittor has sent a message for you.”
“How strange!” exclaimed the Emperor. “Let him in. I am curious to know what a Hindu Queen has to say to a Muslim Emperor.”
When the Emperor opened the letter, he found a special bracelet. It is traditional for sisters to offer this kind of bracelet to their brothers once a year on the Indian festival day of Rakhi. When offering the bracelet, the sister asks her brother to protect her honour and save her if anything should happen during the coming year.
The message read: “To Emperor Humayun, this bracelet is given by your sister to her adopted brother. Your sister needs your help to save Chittor from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat.”
Humayun said, “Karmavati! Karmavati is a Rajput Queen, a Hindu Queen, and I am a Muslim. She calls me her brother? If I am her brother, this means that all Hindus and Muslims are of one family, that Hindus and Muslims will not remain enemies forever but will one day live together as a single family. This is the happiest day of my life.”
Humayun immediately rushed to Chittor with his army. Before he reached Chittor, he heard the horrible news that Karmavati had taken her life. When her husband had been killed in battle, she had written to Humayun and had been waiting for his arrival ever since. But when she was about to be captured by the Muslim King Bahadur Shah, she threw herself into fire rather than surrender to him.
Humayun was shocked and horrified. He felt miserable that he had not come in time to save her. He cried out, “I shall take revenge. Karmavati called me her brother. A Hindu Queen called a Mogul Emperor ‘brother’. This brother shall not rest until he avenges his sister’s death. This is my promise.”
As soon as Bahadur Shah heard about Humayun’s arrival in Chittor, he fled and went into hiding. But Humayun made a pledge, both to himself and before the Hindu Queen’s subjects: “O Bahadur Shah, no matter where you go in Allah’s entire creation, I shall find you and keep my promise to Karmavati. Now, my Hindu sister, you are in the other world, but I shall carry out my promise. I shall be worthy of your trust in me.”
Humayun promised his father on his father’s deathbed that he would always be kind to his brothers. When Humayun became Mogul Emperor, his brothers turned very greedy. They betrayed him many, many times and wanted to dethrone him, but Humayun forgave them time and again. When his only son, Akbar, was a baby, one of Humayun’s brothers, Carmen, set a cannon in a tricky way in order to kill the child. But when Akbar’s nurse came to know of it, she shielded and protected the child, saving his life by giving up her own.
Akbar would one day become the greatest of all Mogul emperors. In his court there were many Hindus with high posts, and he even married a Hindu princess. It was he who made the Hindus and Muslims one. He ruled his Kingdom with compassion and truth. In every way he was the greatest of all Mogul emperors.
Everybody wanted Humayun to kill Carmen for the attempt on baby Akbar’s life, but Humayun said, “I have forgiven my two brothers Carmen and Hindal many times. This time also I have to forgive him.” But his subjects said, “No, this time you have to listen to our request. We are so faithful to you. We offer you our constant admiration and adoration. It is your duty to listen to us.”
Finally the Emperor said, “All right, what do you want?”
His subjects said, “Blind him, so that he cannot be of any harm to us any more.”
Humayun said, “I am ready to send him into exile, but it would be so difficult for me to blind him.”
But they said, “No, if you send him into exile, in some tricky way he will escape and form an army to attack you. So the best thing is to blind him.”
Humayun finally listened to his subjects’ request.
Once the Mogul Emperor Humayun was fighting a terrible battle against his enemy. The enemy’s army was extremely powerful and outnumbered Humayun’s army. What was worse, Humayun’s treacherous brothers, Carmen and Hindal, had turned traitors to the Emperor. In their greed to capture his kingdom and dethrone him, they had joined forces with the enemy. As Humayun’s army was falling back, the Emperor’s horse slipped and fell into a nearby river. The horse drowned and Humayun, badly hurt, was being tossed around helplessly in the rough current.
A water carrier named Nizam, who was a humble man of low caste, saw the Emperor’s plight and cried out, “I fear for the Emperor’s life! His subjects admire him and adore him as such a just and great Emperor. If the Emperor drowns, we will lose our only hope for a better and more illumining life. I can see that he is wounded and will not be able to save himself.”
The water carrier dove bravely into the river and held out his leather bag so the Emperor could float across the river to safety. Both men held the bag, and the water carrier protected the wounded Emperor until they reached the other shore. The Emperor was so moved. He said, “You have come and saved me. Now I am helpless, but I promise you that when I go back to Agrah and am once more seated on my throne, I shall give you my throne for one day. Believe me, this is my solemn promise. You are not a mere water carrier. You are the saviour of the Mogul Emperor Humayun.”
The water carrier Nizam was overwhelmed. He fell at the Emperor’s feet: “Please, I did not expect any reward. My reward is your safety.”
But Humayun insisted, “You, a water carrier of low caste, have shown such loyalty and love for your Emperor, whereas my own brothers have become traitors. I will always be kind to them and forgive them, for this is the promise that I made to my father Babar when he was on his deathbed. But of all of my subjects, you are the one who deserves my throne for one day. You deserve not only my throne, but my eternal gratitude. All my subjects should show you admiration and adoration for your heroic bravery.”
The Emperor kept his promise, and Nizam did sit on his throne for one day.
The Mogul Emperor Humayun was fighting a terrible battle against his enemy in a neighbouring Kingdom. The battle was raging and Humayun was leading the attack. Suddenly Humayun saw his faithful palace messenger trying to make his way towards him, but the soldiers were not allowing him to come to the front of the army. Humayun ordered that the messenger be allowed through.
Humayun took shelter for a moment in a secluded spot to receive the messenger. The messenger bowed to the Emperor and said: “O Great Emperor Humayun, the Empress Hamida Bhan has delivered a son.”
Humayun was so delighted and excited. Across the battlefield he cried out, “Allah be praised! We shall call him Akbar.”
Then he said to the messenger, “Alas, this is my fate! My son was born, yet I am still fighting my enemies and no victory is in sight. I have nothing with me to give you, O messenger, for bringing me the happiest news. All I have is a small quantity of musk in this tiny box. This is the only thing I can afford to present you with. But I tell you, one day my son’s fame will cover the length and breadth of the world as the fragrance of the musk fills the air here. Like perfume, my son’s fame will one day spread throughout the world.”
When Humayun was finally able to return to his palace to see his son, he was so moved and excited. He said to his son, “My father gave me the name Humayun, which means ‘fortunate.’ He was right. I am truly fortunate, for I see in you, my son, all the world’s fortune. I clearly see that you will be the greatest of all the Mogul Emperors. I see it and I feel it.”
He said to his wife, “I am once more leaving you with our child, for I have to go and fight against the enemy again. I am a warrior. I fight with the outer enemy, while religious mendicants, spiritual people, fight with the inner enemies: anger, pride and so forth. I do not have time to fight against the inner enemies. Outer enemies are more than enough for me to cope with. But our son, Akbar, will also fight against the inner enemies. He will be inwardly and outwardly great and good.”
One day the great Mogul Emperor Humayun came back victorious from a battle. His subjects were extremely happy and excited that the Emperor had won. The whole Kingdom had turned out to cheer him, lining the streets to the palace. All his subjects wanted to touch his feet and sing his praises.
When the Emperor got to his palace, he said to his army, “We have won, but it is all by Allah’s Grace. Otherwise, we would not have won. Let me go and offer my gratitude to Allah in the mosque.”
In the mosque Humayun offered his soulful prayer and heart’s gratitude to Allah: “Allah, You have always been kind to me. Even my own brothers, not to speak of kith and kin, have deceived and betrayed me many times. But I promised my father on his deathbed that I would be kind to them. Therefore, I have forgiven them every time. I myself have also done so many things wrong in this life and, Allah, You have forgiven me as I have forgiven my own brothers and relatives. You have always taught me that forgiveness is the answer, not revenge. To satisfy oneself, forgiveness is the only answer. Allah, accept my gratitude-life and my gratitude-heart for this great victory.”
After offering his prayers of gratitude, Humayun knelt down with folded hands and began praying again most soulfully. Suddenly he collapsed on the floor, and everybody rushed over to him. He said, “This is my last prayer to Allah. Allah, I am soon going to be with You. My father died while praying to You. I was dying and he prayed that you would take his life instead of mine. You listened to his prayer. He died in my place and I was cured.
“Now I am dying while praying to You. My father died while praying to You for my life. I am dying praying for my kingdom, for my people and for my son. I know that there is only one way to gain victory, and that way is through prayer. Without prayer, there is no success and no glory. No prayer, no satisfaction! Allah, Allah, may Your Glory be praised in all human hearts throughout Your creation!
“I leave my son here on earth in Your care. You save him and protect him. You give him world-glory. My last prayer is not the prayer of the great Emperor Humayun, but the prayer of a soulful Muslim mendicant-seeker who needs no one but Allah for eternal peace and eternal satisfaction. Satisfaction is what I have always needed and shall always need forever and forever.
“Allah, You have given me that satisfaction now, not in the victory of the battlefield, but in allowing me to utter Your compassionate name. Your name is all Peace. Satisfaction abides and shall always abide in peace. Peace is satisfaction, satisfaction alone.”
One day, a new disciple approached his spiritual Master and said, “O Master, O Master, before I accepted the spiritual life, it seems I was quite happy.”
“Then, my child, why did you accept the spiritual life?” the Master asked.
“Oh, I accepted the spiritual life thinking that I would be happier, infinitely happier,” the disciple said.
“Then what is the matter with you?”
“The thing is, now I have problems every day. Today somebody is sick in the family, tomorrow some other calamity will take place in the family and the day after tomorrow something else will happen. I am so restless. Previously I didn’t have any insecurity problems or jealousy problems and so forth. Now everything has come into my life.”
“My son, previously you were not conscious of your problems. Now you have become conscious of them. So it is good. You have made progress.”
“But how can I get rid of these problems, Master?”
“You can get rid of these problems through your prayer and meditation.”
“But Master, around me I see a ferocious tiger. The tiger represents such destructive qualities. Previously I did not see any tiger around me. Also I see inside myself a snakelike quality. I see all animal qualities inside myself. Previously, I didn’t have these.”
The Master said, “Previously you did have all these qualities inside you, only they had not come to the fore. Now that they are coming to the fore, you should be happy.”
“Master, how can I be happy when God seems to be testing me like anything?”
“No, my son, God does not test you. You may think that He is testing you, but God only encourages you to become stronger. And even if He did examine you, you have to feel that it would be worth sitting for His examination, for if you did not pass the examination, you would not be happy. So if there are examinations, be happy that you are given the opportunity to take them and pass them. And if there are no examinations, feel that what you are going through is only an experience.”
“O Master, Master, what am I going to do with myself? It seems that problems will never end in the spiritual life.”
The Master said, “Problems will only end in the spiritual life. If problems come to you, so much the better. They have appeared in front of you only so that they can be removed. If they always remain hidden inside you, then you will never be able to cast them aside. But if they are standing right in front of you, then you can see them, face them and fight them. So you should be happy and grateful to God that they are right in front of you and not inside. When they are outside, they are infinitely easier to fight. So be happy, be happy. Fight! The race is for the swift, and the fight is for the brave. So dive deep within to run the fastest, and look all around to be the bravest.”
One day a spiritual Master was answering a few questions asked by his disciples. Suddenly he paused and said to one of his stenographers, “Look, I can easily see that these questions and answers and the talks I give will be like Sri Ramakrishna’s Kathamrita, Sri Ramakrishna’s gospel.”
All of the disciples remained silent, but two or three inwardly laughed, because they felt that Ramakrishna was far superior to their own Master.
The Master immediately pointed to those unfortunate ones, and said, “You fools! If you think that Sri Ramakrishna is far superior to me, then why have you accepted my path? Go and follow Sri Ramakrishna’s path. If you think that just because he is not in the physical, you have to be satisfied with an infinitely inferior Master like me, then I want to tell you that you are making a deplorable mistake. Ramakrishna is definitely still alive; he is immortal. So go and follow him and worship him.”
The disciples who had implicit faith in their Master and who felt that he was by far the best stood up and said to those few unfortunate disciples, “Go away from here. We don’t want you. If you feel that our Master is inferior, then go and become Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples.”
Then the Master said, “I know why you think that Sri Ramakrishna is superior. Sri Ramakrishna used to enter into trance quite often, whereas I don’t go into trance. But do you think that I don’t have the capacity to enter into trance? I do have the capacity. A few days ago I showed you people my trance-capacity. The only thing is, when I enter into trance, I see more vividly your lower vital and emotional problems, and all kinds of problems. Who wants to see this? When I am in a simple, ordinary consciousness, I do not pay attention to your emotional problems and other problems. But when I enter into trance I see them very vividly, and at that time I find it more painful to have disciples like you. Therefore, deliberately, I don’t like to go into trance. But I tell you, it is not a difficult task to enter into trance.”
Some of the disciples said, “O Master, we knew it, we knew it. Who wants to see you in trance? If you are in trance, then we are totally lost. We enter into our own trance, which is all sleep. When you are in trance, you say that you are more conscious of what is happening in our lives. But we feel that this is the time for us to relax and enter into our own world, since you are not consciously seeing what is happening. That used to be our feeling, but now we see that this is not the case.”
Now the bad, unfortunate disciples said, “O Master, forgive us, forgive us. We will never compare you with anybody. You will always remain our best and highest.”
The Master said, “That should be your attitude. Even if your Master is not as high as another Master, if you accept him, then you have always to feel that he is the highest. If you accept a spiritual Master, it is because you feel that he is absolutely the highest and the best. If you do not feel this, if you have only limited faith and not implicit, one hundred per cent faith, then it is useless to accept a particular Master; for at every moment your mind will be thinking of somebody else. You will think, ‘Perhaps if I had the other Master, I would be making better progress. If I had been fortunate enough, I would have got that Master.’
“No, no! If you accept a Master, you have to accept him wholeheartedly and give him all your devotion. Otherwise, you can’t expect anything great or good, not to speak of your total transformation and complete illumination from that Master.”
All the disciples bowed down and said, “Master, we do not want your trance, we want only your wakeful consciousness. Of course, there is no difference between your trance-life and wakeful consciousness. But when you are with us, when you talk to us in our own human way, when you cut jokes with us and tell us all kinds of juicy stories, when you answer our spiritual questions, at that time you make us feel that you are one of us and that you are for us. When you are mixing with us and cutting jokes, you make us feel that we are really in your boat. We want to be in your boat, and not the other way around. We don’t want you to be in our boat where there is constant fear, anxiety, worry, doubt, insecurity and impurity. No, we want you to be in your boat.
“We wish to be in your reality-boat all the time and not in your trance-boat. When you are in your trance-boat, we are totally lost, for we do not know what you are doing. We may feel that you are acting like a stranger to us and consciously or unconsciously neglect you. Or we may feel that this is an opportunity to deceive you, or that you don’t care for us. All these things are not helpful at all. So you remain with us in a human way. If you deal with us in a human way and mix with us and show us your utmost compassion and affection, we will feel blessed. This is the only way we feel that we will be able to reach our own highest heights.”
The Master said, “You are right, you are right. Because I act like a human being with you, in most cases you are able to talk with me and mix with me. But if I remain always in a divine consciousness, a trance-consciousness, then nobody will be able to understand me or approach me; nobody will be able to have higher goals. Strange feelings and fear will always assail you.
“But I am with you and for you. I am with you and beside you. I am right among you, so you can run with me and climb with me and take me as your comrade and friend. That is the easiest and the most effective way for you to reach your highest, which is my real height.”
There was once a rich man who took an oath that he would never invite Sanskrit scholars, learned people or seekers to his home. His best friend, who was also a very rich man, had once invited some scholars and seekers to come to a function and neither group came. So his friend was very sad. This particular rich man went to his spiritual Teacher and said, “I don’t care for knowledge; I don’t care for the pride of the seekers. I promise I shall never invite scholars and seekers into my home.”
The Master said, “Have you done the right thing? It is not good to make this kind of promise.”
“Why?” the rich man asked.
“If you fulfil your promise,” the Master said, “pride will enter into you. And if you don’t fulfil your promise, you will feel sad and disturbed. Who knows, one day you may want to invite some scholars and sincere seekers to your house. Then your pride will go and you will feel sad and depressed. And depression is destruction. Again, if you don’t invite them, you will feel very proud that you kept your promise, but pride is also destruction. You are the loser no matter what you do. So it is better not to make promises.
People say it is good to make promises; then only your inner capacities come forward. But I wish to tell you that only one promise is good: your promise that you will conquer ignorance and realise God in this life-time. That promise alone is worth making; other promises are all dangerous and destructive.”
The rich man said, “But look what happened to my best friend when he invited some seekers and scholars to his house. How badly he was insulted! If those people were sincere seekers, why did they not come to please my friend? And if they were real scholars, they should have had humility.”
The Master asked, “How do you know why they did not come? They may have thought that the rich man was inviting them only to add to his own glory. Perhaps they felt, ‘He does not care for knowledge or aspiration; he is just inviting us to show off to society. So why should we falsely glorify him? Again, they may have thought that he was inviting them to honour them. But then perhaps they felt, ‘We don’t need honour. We want only to remain in our own prayer and meditation.’ Especially the seekers may have felt like this.
“If scholars don’t come because of their pride and vanity, it is they who will be blamed. Again, if seekers don’t come because they feel that glory is nothing short of temptation and they do not want to be glorified, then they are doing the right thing. But whether they are doing the right thing or the wrong thing, whichever way they want to please themselves, let them do so. Your business is only to invite them, if that is what gives your heart joy. Again, if it is only your vital that wants to be glorified, then you are making a mistake by inviting them. And if you want to invite them because your vital feels that they are inferior and you are in a position to bless them and glorify them, then again you are making a mistake.
“This world is full of misunderstanding. So the best thing is not to make any promises. Only try to see the situation. Don’t have any specific hard and fast rules. When necessity demands, do something spontaneously, but don’t make it a law that you will do it. Wait for the inner command.”
“Master, Master, yes, I see that you are right. I will always wait for the inner command,” said the rich man. “Now, what is my inner command?”
The Master said, “In your case, the inner command is that you have to conquer your pride. If in the inmost recesses of your heart, at times you have the desire to invite people, then do so. Then, if they want to come, well and good, and if they don’t want to come, don’t say anything. But do not promise to yourself that you will not invite any scholars or seekers because certain ones have insulted your friend. Human knowledge you know, but there is also the supreme knowledge. The supreme knowledge is oneness, oneness with God’s Will. If you have oneness with God’s Will, then whether they come to you or you go to them is of no importance. What is of importance is only to remain in God’s Will. Then, no matter where they are and no matter where you are, all of you will please and fulfil one another.
“So my advice is not to make promises. Fulfilling your promises brings in pride, and the failure to fulfil your promises unnecessarily brings in sadness and frustration. Keep only one promise, and that is your promise to achieve God-realisation. And then modify that promise also.”
“How can I modify that promise?” asked the rich man. “I need that promise badly. I want only to realise God. No other promise will I make, Master.”
The Master said, “That promise also has to be made in a certain way. Your wish is to realise God, but it is up to God whether He will make you realise Him in this incarnation or in some other incarnation. So when you make this promise, add, ‘This is my wish. If Your Wish is otherwise, then please fulfil Yourself in and through me in Your own Way.’ That is the best promise: ‘I will fulfil my Beloved Supreme in His own Way, and for that only I shall pray to Him.’ That promise is the only promise which at every moment all seekers must treasure.”
Once Ramachandra said to his Guru, Vashishtha, “Lord, please tell me something about God.”
Vashishtha said, “God? He is all greatness. My son, meditate on this.”
Ramachandra meditated on God’s Greatness for a few seconds. Then Vashishtha said, “I am so glad that you have seen and felt God’s Greatness.”
Ramachandra then said, “Lord, please say something more about God.”
Vashishtha said, “God is all goodness. Meditate on God’s Goodness.”
Ramachandra meditated for a few seconds on God’s Goodness. Vashishtha said, “Excellent! I am so glad that you have seen and felt God’s Goodness.”
Again Ramachandra asked his Master to tell him something more about God.
“God is all kindness, all compassion and all concern. Meditate on this.”
Ramachandra meditated on God’s Kindness, Compassion and Concern for a few seconds. Vashishtha said, “Excellent, excellent, my son.”
Ramachandra then said, “Lord, please tell me something more about God.”
His Guru replied, “God is all justice. Meditate on this.”
Ramachandra meditated on God’s Justice and Vashishtha said, “Marvellous! You have seen and felt God’s Justice.”
“Lord, something more I want to hear about God.”
“God is all power. Meditate on this, my son.”
Ramachandra meditated on God’s Power, and Vashishtha said, “I knew, I knew that you would see and feel God’s Power in a very short time.”
“Something else I wish to hear from you, my Lord, about God.”
Vashishtha remained silent.
“Why are you silent, my Lord?” Ramachandra asked. Still Vashishtha remained silent.
“Lord, why are you silent? I wish to learn more from you about God.”
Vashishtha still remained silent.
“Why don’t you want to teach me, my Lord?” asked Ramachandra. “If you do not teach me, how can I learn more about God? I want to learn everything about God from you.”
Again, silence!
Ramachandra asked, “Have I offended you in any way? Consciously I know that I have not offended you. And if I have offended you unconsciously, please forgive me. Only I want you to teach me more about God.”
But Vashishtha only remained silent. “Lord, Lord, if you do not teach me more about God, then I will definitely remain ignorant. If this is your will, if this is the Will of God, then I must remain silent, too.”
Vashishtha blessed Ramachandra and said, “My son, you have got the answer. When all earthly questions are asked and all the answers are given, then question-life and sound-life come to an end. At that time, real answer-life and real silence-life begin. So silence is the answer. Silence is the unparalleled God. Silence unites the many and makes the many one. You and I are two. We are playing the role of teacher and student, Master and disciple. But you have learned everything that I know about God; therefore I remain silent. Silence is perfect oneness and oneness is God-perfection.”
Ramachandra touched Vashishtha’s feet and said, “Your name is silence, my Lord, Eternity’s silence; and my name is gratitude, Infinity’s gratitude. In silence and in gratitude we shall forever and forever remain inseparably one.”
Once the great spiritual Master Kavir said to his son Kamal, “Kamal, please bring me a few flowers and a small quantity of milk for my worship.”
Kamal said, “Father, why do you want flowers and why do you want milk? Flowers are polluted.”
Kavir could not believe his ears. “What, flowers are polluted?”
“Yes,” said Kamal, “flowers are polluted because the bees sit on the flowers and drink their honey. So they are polluted.”
“And what about milk?” Kavir asked.
“Milk is also polluted,” said Kamal, “because the calf has already tasted and drunk some milk from the mother before we get it.”
Kavir became angry. “Son, this is what you have learned from your studies? You find fault with your father’s request, and you argue with your father.”
“No, father,” said Kamal, “I am not arguing, I am just telling you a mere fact. You are asking me for flowers and milk. I am saying that you have to give God something that is totally fresh. I will go and bring flowers whose honey has been tasted by bees, and I will bring milk which has already been drunk by the calf. But if you really want to please God, you have to give Him something that is absolutely pure.”
“Stop!” said Kavir. “Stop, stop your philosophy. O God, you have cursed me with such an argumentative son. He does not know who I am. The whole world worships me, and here my son gives me his proud wisdom.”
“No, father, I am not offering you my wisdom. I am only telling you a mere fact.”
Kavir said, “Enough of your insolence. In this world, when God creates something, everybody may not be able to eat it at the same time. In God’s own Vision, somebody will have it first and others will have it afterwards. But that doesn’t mean that the first one who tastes a particular thing is polluting it for others. A flower has been seen or touched or used a little by a bee, and milk has been touched by the calf, who is dearer than the dearest to the mother cow. Do you think that just because of that I won’t be able to worship my Lord Supreme with flowers and milk? No, God created the flower, and before it was time for me to use the flower, it was time for the bee to taste its honey. And the time came for the calf to taste the cow’s milk before the time came for me to use the milk.
“It is like two people going towards the same destination. I saw the Goal, the eternal Goal, long before you and I have already reached it whereas you are still traveling towards it. But does that mean you will say, ‘What is the use of going to the Goal which has been seen and touched by somebody else?’ No! In the spiritual world, when someone uses something for the first time, that doesn’t mean that this particular thing cannot be touched or utilised by somebody else. You are traveling along the same path that I traveled, and going to the same Goal which I have already reached. Similarly, the flower that has been appreciated by the bee can and should be appreciated by those who see the flower later on. And milk that has been appreciated by the little calf should also be appreciated by others. So, my son, never argue with me.”
“Father,” said Kamal, “I shall never, never argue with you. Today you have illumined me. No other teacher has ever taught me in this way and nobody else will ever be able to teach me in this way. You are my father. You asked me to go to other teachers, and I went and studied. But now I see that the possessor of all real knowledge is nobody other than you yourself. Therefore, I ask you to make me, shape me and guide me into your own, very own. Already in the physical world I am your own. In the spiritual world also I wish you to make me your worthy son, your own, very own.”
“Son,” said Kavir, “I shall. In fact, I am doing that very thing which you are now crying for. When the noise of argument ceases, the voice of illumination dawns.”
“Father,” said Kamal, “I wish to add something. When Compassion-Light dawns, the darkness of centuries in no time immediately disappears.”
“Son, I also wish to add something: Compassion-Light dawns only when the heart is ready to receive Light from Above, from the Beyond, from the Eternal Source.”
One day, a young man went to see his spiritual Master. He was upset and disturbed. “Master, Master, I want to give up spirituality altogether,” he said.
“Why, why?” asked the Master.
“Because it is simply useless. I am a constant victim to undivine thoughts, evil thoughts, and to emotional, lower vital problems. How long can I continue this way? I was quite happy before I entered into the spiritual life. I didn’t have so many vital problems then. But now it is torture, real torture. Let me conquer these undivine thoughts and forces first, and then I shall return to the spiritual life. But now it is not meant for me.”
The Master said nothing. Only he gave the disciple a broad smile.
“Master, I promise you,” the disciple continued, “I promise you I will really pray and meditate once I have conquered all the problems that I have.”
The Master smiled again.
“Master, why are you smiling? Do you not think that I am saying the right thing?”
“No, my son,” said the Master, “I am smiling because you need real wisdom from me.”
“Master, that is why I came to you. But I feel that no matter what you say it will not help me. You have been inundating me with wisdom every day with your spiritual talks, with your affection, with your kindness, with your meditation. But still I find it simply impossible to overcome my lower vital problems and evil thoughts.”
The Master said, “My son, look. Right now you have a fever, you have a stomach upset, you have everything; so won’t you take medicine? You will not say, ‘I will take medicine afterwards. Let my fever, stomach pain and everything else that I am suffering from first go away from me. When these things leave me, then I will take medicine.’ When you suffer from something, you get something that will cure it. If you are bitten by a snake, you immediately take the antidote. Then only you will be cured. Now you are suffering. If you don’t take the medicine, which is prayer and meditation, then how are you going to cure yourself? Will the disease go away on its own? Once the enemy attacks you, it will stay with you until you throw it out. So you have to cure yourself. Prayer and meditation are the medicine.”
The disciple said, “Master, what you are saying is true. But I have tried for such a long time. Now I am tired of fighting. I have no enthusiasm, no will power. I feel that if I surrender to these forces, one day they will show me compassion. Once they show their compassion and feel that I am useless, they will leave me. Then I will immediately run towards you and I will again pray and meditate.”
The Master said, “Oh, no! These enemies are eternal enemies. They never allow their victims to go in their own way. Knowing perfectly well that you are at their mercy, for some time they may remain in a relaxed mood, and you will think that they are not keeping an eye on you, that they are not keeping a strict watch over you. But no, when they see that you are trying to leave their prison cell, immediately they will be more strict with you. They will keep you under greater supervision, under strict orders.
“So conquer these enemies at any cost. Then only you will be saved. Never think that your enemy will grant you freedom. It is you who have to conquer the enemy and get freedom for yourself.”
The disciple touched his Master’s feet. “I know, Master, your Compassion is my sword, your Compassion is my shield and your Compassion is my victory’s crown, which I shall place at your feet divine. From now on, I shall please you — you, you, only you — in your own way.”
A talk by Sri Chinmoy at the Piramides Hotel Cancun, Mexico
There are many, many times when the human in me wants to be of service to some individuals most sincerely and eagerly, but the divine stands in my way. My Inner Pilot does not allow me to help in each and every case. What can you do? Sometimes you have the power to do things, but you are not allowed.
Again, sometimes the human in me does not want to help someone because the human is disgusted or disheartened with that person, but the divine says, “Your philosophy is unconditional surrender.” It can happen that when the human does not want something, the divine wants it; and when the human wants something, the divine does not want it.
The human in me gladly surrenders to the divine. First, for a second, I may think, “Do I have to work for that person? That person is so undivine!” But what can I do? For everything I have to surrender, surrender, surrender to my Inner Pilot.
What is the great similarity between Chicago and my disciples? Unpredictable weather! Chicago’s outer weather is unpredictable. My disciples’ inner weather is unpredictable. That is the great similarity!
When I was seven years old, when I was in the primary school, I liked the name “Chicago” because of Swami Vivekananda. I came of a spiritually oriented family, so I knew that Swami Vivekananda had travelled to Chicago.
Then, when I was twelve or thirteen, I came to learn of Ohio because of Jesse Owens the great. This was all long before I heard the name “New York.” I think I was familiar with the name “San Francisco” before I knew “New York.” In San Francisco, there is east and west. It is a spiritual place, a cultural place. The name “New York,” when did I hear? God knows!
This story is about the divine side of some human beings.
Two ladies came to see a spiritual Master. Both of them were great friends. The son of one of them was sitting for an examination. Her friend asked the spiritual Master, “What result will this boy get?”
The spiritual Master immediately said, “He has done extremely well. You will see.”
The mother of the boy was very happy and her friend was very happy also.
A few weeks later, the result came in. The poor fellow did very badly. Now, what happened? The mother of the boy came back to see the spiritual Master. This time, her friend did not accompany her.
The Master asked the lady, “So, what was the result?”
She replied, “Oh, my son failed.”
“Then why did you come back to me, and why did your friend not come back?” asked the spiritual Master.
The lady said, “My friend has lost faith in you because your prediction did not come true.”
Still the Master persisted. “Then why did you come?”
“I do not have to worry.”
“Why not?”
“I came here to have peace. I did not come here to know what my son’s results would be. As soon as I look at you, I receive such joy, such peace. This is what I need, not the results of my son’s examination.”
Look at this! She came to the Master to have peace and, when she looked at the Master, she was getting such peace. Her friend did not return to see the Master because his prediction had not come true.
My distant maternal uncle had so many occult powers. After some time, he stopped using them. Why? Because the villagers were always bothering him. They would come to him and say, “A cow has been stolen from this village.” Then they would beg him to use his occult powers to find the cow. He would concentrate for a moment and say, “In a particular village, four or five hours away, you will find it.” That kind of thing he used to do from time to time. He would use his occult powers for these village problems.
Finally he started crying, crying and crying. “This is what my occult power is for?” he asked. Then he cried to Mother Kali, “Mother, save me, save me!”
Mother Kali gave him the message to deliberately say everything wrong. From then on, every time the villagers came to him because their cow had been stolen, or because they wanted to find a thief, immediately he would give the wrong answer. Eventually, the villagers lost all faith in him and stopped bothering him. Then my uncle became the happiest person. Once again, he was able to pray and meditate on Mother Kali in peace. He said, “I wanted peace. Now I have got it back.”
By telling people what had really happened, he became so miserable. By making false pronouncements, he was able to get back such peace in his life.
Of all the places I have visited in the last 15 or 16 years, Bali is undoubtedly the best. It has everything: sincerity, simplicity, purity, humility and peace. Is there any divine quality missing here?
Even outwardly it is so beautiful. You can see how beautiful the little cottages and villages are. They have such simplicity!
Bali has maintained most of its pristine purity. You don’t even have to meditate here; nature will meditate on your behalf. Early in the morning if you walk around the villages, their divine qualities will enter into you and you will become a different person. Here in Bali, nature herself will accelerate your inner progress!
This place is Heaven on earth. If a businessman wants to make money here, he may have a problem. But in terms of consciousness, Bali is by far the best — both inwardly and outwardly. In many aspects it is even better than India. I am an Indian, but sincerity has to speak!
Love is the net, where
Hearts are Caught
like fish
Jan 25-19-76
Peace and Love
Always
Sri Chinmoy has a 2½-hour conversation with the world’s greatest boxer, Muhammad Ali, at his hotel room in Puerto Rico. Also present is his manager Herbert Muhammad. On the day, Sri Chinmoy composes a special song for Muhammad Ali and later, Sri Chinmoy attends one of the champion boxer’s training sessions.
Sri Chinmoy: Because you fight for the supreme Cause, in the inmost recesses of my heart I feel that you want to establish Allah’s Light, Justice-Light. Since there is only one God, one Truth, we should all listen to the dictates of that one Truth.
Muhammad Ali: That’s right.
Herbert Muhammad: Right.
Sri Chinmoy: As you said, the root is the spiritual, the spirit within us. The body comes and goes.
Muhammad Ali: That’s right.
Sri Chinmoy: But the soul is eternal. In God’s Eye, in Allah’s Eye, in Allah’s Heart, you will never be defeated.
Muhammad Ali: That’s right.
Sri Chinmoy: That is because you are fighting for Allah’s manifestation on earth. Any outer defeat will never be a real defeat. On the physical plane, after ten, twenty, thirty years, if you do not maintain the same strength, this is a physical thing. But the soul’s strength, the spirit’s strength you will never lose because you have become inseparably one with Allah’s Will.
Muhammad Ali: I heard something spiritual. I heard something once that says he who fights for the cause of God secures victory over his enemies.
Herbert Muhammad: That’s right.
Sri Chinmoy: Absolutely.
Muhammad Ali: Well, brother, we sure thank you for coming.
Sri Chinmoy: You have received world recognition many, many times but I would like to offer you a small token of my heart’s deepest appreciation and admiration. One of my students was supposed to bring something. If we could wait here for another minute or two, then I would like to offer it to you. It is my heart’s offering to you, brother, my heart’s offering.
Muhammad Ali: I’ve got to see you again. Where can I contact you? Who can I call?
Sri Chinmoy: We have a Centre here.
Muhammad Ali: Do you have one in New York?
Sri Chinmoy: I live in New York.
Muhammad Ali: You live in New York?
Sri Chinmoy: New York is my headquarters, and I have quite a few Centres there. I go to the United Nations every Tuesday and Friday.
Muhammad Ali: Then we will see you all the time.
Herbert Muhammad: I notice your garment, the garment you have on. Does this represent the sunlight or does it have any other significance — the orange colour?
Sri Chinmoy: This is my religious garment. Orange represents the manifestation of God’s Light. Each colour has a significance. Red signifies God’s Power. Blue signifies God’s Infinity. Green is God’s Dynamism. Each colour has a spiritual significance. So this colour, golden-orange, is the manifestation of God’s Light. Sometimes I use orange, sometimes blue, sometimes green when I hold meditations at our Centres and at the United Nations. When we hold meditations there, we pray like this: [Sri Chinmoy folds his hands.] When we pray, we speak to God, Allah, and ask Him to give us His blessings. And when we meditate, Allah speaks to us and we try to listen to Him; we try to execute His Will.
Muhammad Ali: I want to ask you a question. I am just learning because I am an ignorant boy. In this fashion I have always seen the Christians pray. [Muhammad Ali folds his hands.] And the Muslims, who are Eastern people, pray in this fashion. [Muhammad Ali cups his hands.]What is the difference?
Sri Chinmoy: It is very significant. About the Christians I don’t know. I am an Indian, and according to my Indian tradition when we pray with folded hands, at that time our consciousness goes upward. When you pray with your hands cupped, at that time God comes down and you are trying to receive Him.
Muhammad Ali: I see. When we do like this, at that time Allah comes down and we receive. This position is to receive.
Sri Chinmoy: We receive Allah’s blessings, Allah’s infinite blessings, like this. But when we fold our hands, at that time we pray to go up and reach God’s highest Height.
Herbert Muhammad: That’s true with Muslims, too. That’s like what my father taught us. He called us the baby nation because we are a baby in knowledge of the divine Light and we had been deprived of the divine Light. So he taught us first to pray like this so we could receive. This is the act of receiving. And we needed God’s Light more than anything else, because we have not only been enslaved physically, but also the white people have enslaved us mentally. All our aspirations and desires were to be like our slave-managers, which was wrong. So this is the way my father taught us to try and receive Light from God. This is the first way he taught us to pray. Now we go through the regular rituals that the Muslims do — all the way up, you know, the regular way.
Sri Chinmoy: This is how you receive and this is how we go up to get His Light. I must not take any more of your time. I know how precious your time is.
Sri Chinmoy: Muhammad has taught us two courses, the lower course and the higher course. The lower course says that the sword is the answer to the world’s problem-question. Conquest is the answer to the world’s difference-opinion. No compromise, no compromise! Declare war and conquer once and for all. And if you really want to keep the world-citizens at your feet, under your feet, and grant them your own illumination in your own way, then fight, fight. Victory’s dawn, satisfaction-sun, are for the brave. This message is for people who are on the lower course.
But the higher course tells us to conquer the pleasure-life in ourselves, conquer the sense-world in ourselves, and replace them with purity’s beauty. There is one God and He is great. Worship the one true God — nothing more, nothing less. He is everything in everything, and everything of everything.
Herbert Muhammad: That’s right, that’s right.
Sri Chinmoy: I am so grateful to you, Mr. Herbert Muhammad. In Ali’s book I have read about you, how many times you advised Ali, encouraged him and inspired him to pray with you before the fight.
Muhammad Ali: You’ve read the book?
Sri Chinmoy: I have read the book. I have read it from cover to cover.
Muhammad Ali: Some of those things were made up. The religious matter, spiritual matter, that happened, you understand. But all of those other things didn’t happen. The writer took liberties and made some things happen just to make it more interesting.
Herbert Muhammad: They wanted to make a movie out of it. They wanted to make an exciting movie, but some of this didn’t happen. They did it without his knowledge.
Sri Chinmoy: They make it exciting.
Muhammad Ali: Hazrat Inayat Khan — I have read his lectures, poems. A man like this, who has this much wisdom, was he a man inspired by God also?
Sri Chinmoy: Yes, certainly.
Herbert Muhammad: No doubt about it.
Muhammad Ali: Did he have a big following, a man like that?
Herbert Muhammad: It doesn’t make any difference, you know, how many people follow you. If you really understand the world, you’ll see there are more people being led the wrong way than people being led the right way. But that doesn’t show that God-Power is weak; it shows that God-Power is independent. There is a time for a person to sleep. And when it’s time to wake up, you wake up. And it’s not meant for everybody to wake up, so a lot of people enjoy sleep. So let them sleep. Don’t worry them; don’t try.
Sri Chinmoy: You are telling my exact philosophy. These are my own exact words. That time is called God’s Hour. At God’s choice Hour for you, you are awakened. At God’s choice Hour for him, he is awakened. If somebody is fast asleep, he will definitely sleep until God’s Hour has dawned. I always say, “Sleep, baby, sleep. The hour has not yet struck for you.”
Herbert Muhammad: That’s right, that’s right.
Sri Chinmoy: His hour is not yet struck, so why should the poor fellow be bothered right now?
Herbert Muhammad: It is a hard thing sometimes when they do. But I don’t try to teach anybody but him, because I know he is awake. I don’t try to force a man not to sleep. If he enjoys sleep, then let him sleep. He is enjoying it; let him sleep. Don’t try to wake him up against his will, or he will fall right back to sleep just as quickly.
Sri Chinmoy: And you will become his enemy unnecessarily. You think you are doing him a big favour, but he won’t take it as a favour. He will be annoyed.
Herbert Muhammad: That’s why a man must seek. You know, you shouldn’t seek to give it; people should seek you to get it. Just like if you have money, you don’t go out and look for people to give it to. That’s not your job. They have to seek you out, and in the end they do.
Muhammad Ali [to Kanti, President of the Sri Chinmoy Centre in San Juan]: How many sisters and brothers do you all have here like yourself?
Kanti: We have about seventy disciples in Puerto Rico.
Muhammad Ali: Oh, and do you continually try to convert and teach the people?
Sri Chinmoy: In our case we do not try to convert anybody. We try to offer our service, if people are interested, as you do. You offer your love to mankind and those who need your love and light come to you and receive. But we don’t try to convert, as they do in Christianity. We don’t say that if you don’t follow our path, you will never get God-Realisation. We would never say that.
Kanti: We have our meditations on Wednesdays and Sundays and we are open to anybody who is interested. We let people know that we are there, that we are meditating, and they come and join us if they are interested.
Sri Chinmoy: I shall be deeply honoured if both of you will come once to the United Nations when I hold meditations.
Herbert Muhammad: I will be very glad. I will give you our number and you can contact us. We would be very honoured to be at your meditation.
Sri Chinmoy: I have the deepest admiration for your father. In the book I read his writings, and they are full of such inner wisdom.
Herbert Muhammad: Yes, my father was a man who dedicated himself with love and compassion to the underprivileged people, the people that were in spiritual darkness. He had a unique way of awakening them, of getting their attention. He didn’t fully awaken them but he got their attention. See, this is the thing. We were so asleep, we were so dead, and here’s somebody who knows how to wake us up gradually. Now he says that we are like babies still but we are growing into adults. He said physically you look like a man, but if you could only see your spiritual self, your spiritual body is still crawling like a baby. It hasn’t been nourished yet; you need to have it nourished. So this is his way. This is his thinking, that we must grow spiritually as well as physically. And we must not give ourselves to emotionalism. We have been trained to get involved in emotionalism and that’s wrong. He says you must learn to understand God’s true Light and Reality, not just get a feeling of good. You go to the church and hear the preacher, and he gets you all excited and everything. Then you come out and someone asks, “What did he preach?” And you say, “I don’t know, but he sure talks good.” That’s wrong. My father taught us to try to learn how to have understanding and open our hearts to each other. I should look at you as a creature of God. No one has created you but God; I cannot reproduce you. You are the property of God, so I should treat you as God’s property. It is just like a son of Muhammad Ali. I’ll treat him very nice because he is Muhammad Ali’s boy, regardless of whether he is a bad boy or what. We should realise that all of us are creatures of God, and we should treat everyone well regardless of what he is. We shouldn’t mistreat anyone. In my father’s teachings, every time he closed the meeting, he would tell them, when you go out of here, do nothing to anyone that you wouldn’t do to yourself. Regardless of who he is, treat everybody right. Don’t take advantage of anyone. If you cannot give, do not take.
Muhammad Ali: In one of his books Hazrat said when we mistreat and harm others, we are certainly mistreating the Artist who created them.
Herbert Muhammad: That’s right. If we could realise this, it wouldn’t be difficult to feel the presence of God everywhere.
Sri Chinmoy: Absolutely true.
Herbert Muhammad: That’s exactly what I am saying, but just in different words. Hazrat is a master, a poet, a well-known philosopher. He knows how to speak. He was the master of the language.
Muhammad Ali: How does this one sound? He says: “Service to others is the rent we pay for our room here on earth.”
Sri Chinmoy: Most significant.
Muhammad Ali: Then he has one that says: “The truly great men of history never wanted to be great nor did they consider themselves great; all they wanted was the chance to be closer to God, the only great one Himself.”
Herbert Muhammad: The other day I was telling his little boy about Allah. He was very interested.
Sri Chinmoy: Very good! I am so happy. How I wish I could see his son. Is he here?
Herbert Muhammad: No, his son is not here. He’s in Chicago.
Sri Chinmoy: Ah, here is my student with the gift. To dearest Muhammad Ali, I am presenting a token gift to the greatest champion both in the outer world and in the inner world, Allah’s world.
Muhammad Ali: I know you will understand. We have a saying, “God is the greatest.” I always make it plain when they say I am the greatest. I always like to say I’ll accept the terms I am the greatest boxer, but that’s all.
Sri Chinmoy: But I wish to add that you may be the greatest as the instrument of God.
Muhammad Ali: That’s right.
Sri Chinmoy: You will definitely be the greatest instrument not only in the outer world but also in the inner world, if you always say, “Let Thy Will be done.”
Muhammad Ali: I won’t consider myself the greatest instrument. He’s got too many instruments.
Herbert Muhammad: Well, I’ll tell you this, Ali. I see that you are a greater instrument than Sri Chinmoy, but not in knowledge. Truly I speak with my heart. The reason you are a greater instrument is because everyone listens to you, while he can’t draw as big an audience. But if you could get his knowledge, you would be a greater instrument. If he could get in your body and everybody thought that was you, it would be a different story. But now, by my father naming him Muhammad Ali and by his being the greatest boxer and standing up for his beliefs against all odds, people listen to him. So right now he is the greatest instrument I know on earth.
Sri Chinmoy: You are so right.
Herbert Muhammad: Ali, with your strength you can move two or three people. But a man like Sri Chinmoy, with his faith, can move mountains. This is the difference between you and this spiritual man.
Muhammad Ali: True, true.
Herbert Muhammad: You get everybody’s attention — young, old, any nationality. Right now you are the greatest instrument. You can deliver God’s message.
Muhammad Ali: Well, I’ve got a poem I want you to hear. It’s entitled “Truth.”
TRUTH:
The Face of Truth is open,
The Eyes of Truth are bright,
The Lips of Truth are ever closed,
The Head of Truth is upright.
The Breast of Truth stands forward,
The Gaze of Truth is straight,
Truth hath neither fear nor doubt,
Truth hath patience to wait.
The Words of Truth are touching,
The Voice of Truth is deep,
The Law of Truth is simple,
All that you sow you reap.
The Soul of Truth is flaming,
The Heart of Truth is warm,
The Mind of Truth is clear,
And firm through rain or storm.
Facts are but its shadows,
Truth stands above all sin;
Great be the battle in life,
Truth in the end shall win.
The Image of Truth is Christ,
Wisdom’s message its rod;
Sign of Truth is the Cross,
Soul of Truth is God.
Life of Truth is eternal,
Immortal is its Past,
Power of Truth will endure,
Truth shall hold to the last.
Sri Chinmoy: Most soulful, most significant. You have a most remarkable memory.
Muhammad Ali: I got that from Hazrat. I won’t take credit for that. I got it from his book.
Sri Chinmoy: Your memory is most remarkable.
Herbert Muhammad: I want to get a book from Hazrat’s son. Has Hazrat’s son written any books yet?
Sri Chinmoy: Yes, Pir Vilayat Khan. I have two or three books of his. He is a good friend of mine.
Herbert Muhammad: Is there any way I can get them? Is he in Paris? Where is he staying now?
Sri Chinmoy: Last Spring he was in New York, at Woodstock. He invited me to hold meditation with his disciples, so I went to visit him and I held meditation at his place. And he has been to the United Nations two or three times to attend my meditation meetings. He has come to my house, also, to pray with me.
Muhammad Ali: Is he anything like his father?
Herbert Muhammad: I don’t know, but I talked to him twice on the telephone. I bought some of his books from a certain occult bookstore and then this bookstore put him in touch with me. But both times I was thinking I couldn’t go and meet him. But I would love to meet him some day.
Sri Chinmoy: He is a most sincere spiritual teacher. I can say this without the least possible hesitation.
Herbert Muhammad: Whenever he is back in the States some time I would like to find some means to meet him and listen to some of his lectures.
Sri Chinmoy: Yes, he also holds meditations. I will present his books to you. I would like to present them to you.
Herbert Muhammad: Oh yes, in New York.
Sri Chinmoy: I will send them to you here.
Herbert Muhammad: I want to give you my card. Do you have a card, sir? Please write your number on it.
Sri Chinmoy: This is the office number. They will be able to tell you where I am. [To Kanti] You don’t keep my United Nations card for me? Forgive me, I don’t carry any card. [Sri Chinmoy presented Muhammad Ali with a copy of My Flute.] This is my first book. I have written over 250 books.
Muhammad Ali: Oh boy!
Sri Chinmoy: Many, many poems I have written by God’s Grace — thousands of poems. Last year, in twenty-four hours, I wrote 843 poems. Forgive me, I am bragging.
Herbert Muhammad: Excuse me, have you not had opposition from your enemies, from people who say you are not real or you’re phony? Don’t you run into this like all religious men?
Sri Chinmoy: In my case, yes and no. From the highest spiritual point of view I have no enemy. I am absolutely one with God’s Will, and who can stand against God’s Will? You know, when you are absolutely one with Allah’s Will, nobody, no human being, no creation can stand against you. This problem is not so much directed towards me. Unfortunately, some Indians who are not sincere teachers have come to the West and have exploited the American sincerity or, let us say, credulity. So now people sometimes feel that all of us are of the same type. They suspect us. They come to us with a suspicious mind.
Herbert Muhammad: A man that doesn’t trust others doesn’t trust himself. A man sees a thief in everybody because he sees in himself the same thing.
Sri Chinmoy: Yes, it is like a reflection in a mirror. You can say that these people who come with a suspicious mind are unconsciously aware of their own lower propensities.
Herbert Muhammad: That’s right. That’s right.
Sri Chinmoy: But from the highest spiritual point of view I do not have enemies because my will is really one with God’s Will. I have totally dedicated myself to Him.
[Herbert Muhammad and Muhammad Ali softly read aloud Sri Chinmoy’s message to Muhammad Ali, inscribed on a presentation plaque.]
Sri Chinmoy: This particular song that I have dedicated to you, I wish to have sung by my disciples who work at the United Nations. There are about sixty very dedicated disciples of mine who work at the United Nations. I will ask them to sing that song and I will send you a tape. I will be singing with them.
Muhammad Ali: What time is it?
Herbert Muhammad: Twelve o’clock.
Muhammad Ali: I have until two o’clock. What would you like to have? I have juice …
Sri Chinmoy: Oh, only juice, please.
Muhammad Ali: How do you spell your first name?
Sri Chinmoy: C-H-I-N-M-O-Y.
Herbert Muhammad: What does that name mean?
Sri Chinmoy: Chinmoy means full of inner wisdom, full of divine consciousness.
Muhammad Ali: Where were you born?
Sri Chinmoy: I was born in India, in Bengal. It was previously called East Bengal, now it is called Bangladesh.
Herbert Muhammad: Where were you educated?
Sri Chinmoy: I was educated in South India. I was there for twenty years. Then I came to the West to serve.
Herbert Muhammad: Many people like yourself are here. More Indians than any other group. Why do you think it is that Indians are the enlightened ones going around the world teaching yoga and what not?
I read in a book “Love is the net where hearts are caught like fish.” I am going to take this one and I am going to read it. I have to leave now and I’ll be back. We are waiting for somebody. My heart will always be with you.
Sri Chinmoy [to Muhammad Ali]: Now, brother, I have talked like anything and I have not allowed you to say a word. I would be so grateful if you could say a few things.
Muhammad Ali: I have a small lecture I would like you to hear. Like you said, the “Golden Gloves” were once my goal. I got them. I was an amateur boxer at the Olympics and then a professional boxer. I found with all of this — the money and the so-called fame — still I felt hungry. Something was missing. I was raised in the Baptist church and we, as black people of America, have problems. We have our problems as the people of India have their problems and the people of Puerto Rico have their problems. I understand that God, Allah, or whatever you call Him, has sent prophets to certain parts of the world to inspire people who needed it. Like Jesus was sent to the people of Israel and the prophet Muhammad to Arabia.
I used to sit in church and I used to always feel that something was wrong in what I was seeing. The preacher was doing all kinds of things outside the church, and I said to myself, “This man is not acting like a man of God.” I was a little boy in Kentucky, twelve years old, with no knowledge of Islam or anything. Well, God is in all of us. Whether we believe in a religion or not, something inside tells us that this is right or that is wrong. Birds, animals — I am sure they pray in some kind of way or they know that there is something wiser. I knew that this was not the right place for me to get this knowledge. They had Jesus Christ painted as a white man with blond hair and blue eyes at the Lord’s Supper. And Peter, Paul, Mary and all the angels were white. Chinese die, Mexicans die, Indians die. If there is a Heaven, people from all races go there if they’re good. But all the people who went to Heaven, according to pictures, were white people.
Tarzan was the King of the Jungles in Africa. He was a white man, swinging around on limbs of trees. Batman, Superman, Miss America were always white. The good guys like the Lone Ranger in the Westerns rode white horses. White was always portrayed as good and black as bad. The black cat was bad luck. If I threaten you, I am going to blackmail you, or if you get put out of a fraternity group you get blackballed. Black was always identified with bad.
I have travelled the world over, and I find this Christian white supremacy teaching wherever I go. In Puerto Rico, the white Puerto Rican does a lot better than your black Puerto Rican. The black ones are looked down upon; they get the worst jobs. Your white Cubans are all brothers, but the darker complexioned ones are not. This European, Caucasian mentality has now spread over the world. In Egypt, the black ones are the servants. Why? Because when the white American came to countries such as this and mated with the women, he would only educate the babies which were more like him. He kept the dark ones illiterate; so today you have a problem.
I have asked a few Puerto Ricans here questions. I’m curious. I said, “Do you all have problems?” They said, “Oh, problems here are worse.” This happens in every country I go to. Why do you think? Christianity. You’ve had the white people with all the money, all the airplanes, all the hotels, all the power, and the blacks as the servants. We had to wait until we died to go to Heaven and if we weren’t good, we would go to hell and be burned up. But the same people who taught us this didn’t seem to believe it themselves. They wanted money, they wanted earthly things; but they told us go to church and follow Jesus. They went to Africa with the Bible and the cross. Now the Africans are waking up and they're running Christianity out because the church is taking all the wealth.
So, as a little boy, I just knew something was wrong, and my goal was to help my people. Now, I want to help all people who want to be helped, regardless of race, creed or colour. I used to cry at night in bed. I used to burst into tears thinking about God and the love of God, how I wanted to help people and how I wished more people could see what they were missing. You just feel bad to realise that there are not many of us thinking like this. I used to lie in the bed at night and cry when black people like Martin Luther King were marching and getting water poured on them and getting beaten up. I always wanted to do something to free my people; I always wanted to serve God. But I was confused — one little black boy in Louisville, Kentucky, in America. There were Catholics, Baptists, Holy Rollers, Jehovah’s Witnesses, God and Christ — all kinds of religions. I was confused, you understand. I didn’t know what was right. I had no guidance, no teacher.
Finally, one day I walked into a Muslim mosque in Miami, Florida, and heard this Islamic teaching. I heard how we have been robbed of our knowledge, our language, our nationality. The worst-off people on the planet mentally and spiritually are the black ones of America. Chinese are named after China, Cubans are named after Cuba, Indians are named after India, Puerto Ricans are named after Puerto Rico, Hawaiians are named after Hawaii, Mexicans are named after Mexico, Germans are named after Germany. All people are named after a country. Now what country is named Negro?
We were named after white people. Negroes got names like George Washington, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Jones, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Clay. Cassius Clay was a white slave-master. You know American history. If a white man had five slaves and his name was Jones, the slaves were branded Jones’ property. If you were sold to Mr. Washington, you were Washington’s property. Slaves were identified as servants of certain masters. Well, today we’re free, but we still have our slave names. So now there’s a big awakening in America of all these ex-slaves who want to find out who their ancestors were and get names to fit them. I mean, if an Indian were named Mr. Robert Jones, it wouldn’t look right. So all people can be distinguished by their name. Mr. White Cloud or Silver Moon or Morning Star is Indian, Mr. Khrushchev is Russian. We identify people by their names, but the American black man can’t be identified in this way.
Also, we were robbed of our language. You speak another language and you also speak English. America has people from practically everywhere in the world. Although they have never seen their countries, they still know some of their language. But not the black man in America! He is the only one that’s been robbed of all his language, robbed of his name, robbed of his religion, robbed of his God. So you have a man who is dead mentally who calls himself a Negro.
About Allah we’ve been taught in the person of the Honourable Elijah Muhammad, who came to America in 1930. He was a wise man inspired by God to plant the seed of truth to wake up these mentally dead people who call themselves Negroes, who have been here for three or four hundred years without true knowledge of God or true knowledge of themselves or anybody else. That was the Muslim programme. Now it has grown to about two million strong and we’ve got mosques in every city in America. This is why I am who I am today. I walked into a Muslim Temple and heard that Cassius Clay was not my name. I found out that Islam was the religion of my people in Asia and Africa before we were brought to America, and still is today. I found out that I shouldn’t eat pork and certain meats, and one day I would like to be like you, a vegetarian, which is the best. All this knowledge came from the Elijah Muhammad.
I found out that America is not my country. We asked why we should go to war when the Japanese never lynched us, the Viet Cong never lynched us. America might go to war with India. America might go to war with a Muslim nation. I can’t pick up a rifle and shoot my brothers because America is at war with a Muslim nation. I said, “Take me to jail.” I wouldn’t go to Viet Nam. Those Asiatic people who have been oppressed have never bothered me. And America might have some selfish reason there, so she wants me to go to war to kill off the Viet Cong. I’d rather go to jail than to kill.
See, if it weren’t for the Honourable Elijah Muhammad’s Islamic programme and his teaching, I wouldn’t be talking to you now. If I were a Christian and my name was Clay and I was eating pork and wasn’t religious, I wouldn’t talk to you nor would you want to talk to me. What has made you want to see me is what you’ve been reading about me. What you’ve been seeing and feeling in me is the Islamic teaching. Why am I what I am? Why am I great? Why am I world-acclaimed? Why can I attract people such as yourself? Why did I recognise you? Because of the Islamic teaching. I’ve made 37 million dollars in the past five years, and I’m contracted for 25 million this year. Yet still I’ll give it all up and I’ll give up the championship before I’ll quit fighting for God’s cause and helping little people. I can give it all up and go to jail if it means turning down Allah and religion.
What I’m saying is that it’s unusual for a man of my calibre and world fame to even want to talk about these things. I’m in Heaven now; I’m in peace here. But Frank Sinatra, Sidney Poitier, John Wayne, all the big movie stars that America has produced — what we are doing here is the last thing they would want to do. You’re the last man they would want to talk to. Once they get so much wealth and so many worldly things, they forget about God. Mostly poor people come to religion, people who want something after they die because they feel that they can’t get it now. But the man who owns this hotel, the man you see out on the beach today who owns buildings in New York City — these men don’t care about God. And God never came after these men, according to the stories. God always went to the poor people. Jesus, God’s prophets, they all went to the little people. The rest of them were too proud; they had too much.
You remember Hazrat Ali? He was a great warrior of the Prophet Muhammad. He was the King of a nation. I cried when I read his story. He rode a donkey, he wore old coarse clothes, he slept on the ground, he wouldn’t eat much. Religious men like to fast a lot because when they get hungry they feel for the poor people. Hazrat was a king and the commander of armies, but although he was the richest man in the world at that time, he walked the streets helping people. The only time he ever became angry was when he found out that his daughter was saving some money. He said, “People are out there hungry and you are here saving that money. Go give that money to somebody who is hungry.” He died in a mosque, praying. Somebody hit him over the head with something, and he was drenched in blood. The Muslims went and caught the man who hit him and brought him back in ropes. And they asked Hazrat what they should do with him. Hazrat said, “Why do you treat your fellow human being so cruelly? Can’t you see his ropes are too tight? Loosen his ropes.” Then he died. This man had hit him and he said, “His ropes are too tight.” He still didn’t hate him for it.
When I was a little boy crying in my bed at home, wanting to help my people, looking for God, I used to go out in the night and wait for God to tell me what to do. White people were killing black people and lynching them and hanging them from trees and beating up our women during demonstrations and civil rights marches. I always wanted to do something. I wanted to get a rifle and get on top of the building and just shoot all those evil people, but that wasn’t the way. So I used to want God to come to me. I always used to say, “God, where are You at? Something’s wrong. I know the preacher is not telling me the truth. I see the Pope of Rome saying he loves, but still they have the world enslaved and the blacks are catching hell.” I always knew something was wrong.
So all through my life I’ve been looking to meet people like you, but I didn’t know it. Step by step, like you say, you go higher and higher. I did. First I went to the church — I went to the Catholic church, I went to the Baptist church, I went to Black Panther meetings, I went to radical black groups, but I never saw what I wanted.
Then I walked into this Islamic Temple and everybody was so peaceful. The sisters had on long dresses. They were sitting on one side, the men were sitting on the other side. No alcohol, no drinking, no smoking, no pork products; everybody was so clean. In America this is unusual among black people because they were always fighting and killing and drinking whiskey. But the Muslims were the cleanest of all the people and I said this is what I want.
One thing led to another. I started spouting poetry. I started checking on people like Hazrat Inayat Khan. And then I would spout some of his stuff, like the heart talk I gave at Harvard. That’s from his book. Everybody liked it. You read about it. So everything has its purpose in life. Hazrat said everything is created to accomplish a purpose. Trees have a purpose, the moon has a purpose, rain and snow have a purpose, insects, flies, cats, dogs, rats, horses, everything Allah created has a purpose. Regardless of how large or how small, it was put here for a purpose. And it is the knowing of that purpose which enables every soul to fulfil it. A wise man is he who knows his life’s purpose. Ten men with the knowledge of their purpose are more powerful than a thousand working from morning till night. So my purpose is to be a spiritual man, to do all I can to help God, to help God’s creatures and to meet other men such as yourself who can teach me more about God; and also to be a world champion so that when I talk, the world will hear me, so little minority groups can feel proud and say, “We have a champion.”
Tears came to my eyes; I had to keep from crying when you played that song about me. I was waiting for the day when the world would recognise me as a boxer and I could take that fame and go and spread God’s Word with it. In other words, boxing introduces me to the audience. Athletes get a lot of recognition. Football players get more recognition than men of God. I admire you. I see you as a great, great man. I want to be like you, but I overheard a man in the hotel lobby ask, “Who is he?” He doesn’t understand. But they all recognise me.
You’re welcome if you want to watch me box today in the gymnasium. You could come at two o’clock. Today in the gymnasium there’ll be about three or four hundred people from all races. I could take the mike and I could say, “I have a brother here that you have to hear. I can’t explain, but I wouldn’t have him here if he didn’t have a message and I would like for him to talk for fifteen minutes.” Introduce yourself, and then after this I will continue training. Three hundred people will sit there and listen to you because we live in a world where they recognise athletes, they recognise people with money, they recognise fame. I always wanted God to put me up here in this world so I could turn around and then tell the world about God.
You go fishing, you put the bait out to catch the fish. He sees a worm and bites it, but he gets a hook. He didn’t think about that. But he got caught. The worm was the bait. I look at myself as bait, see? I’m out here dangling and everybody is saying, “Muhammad Ali! Oh, he’s the greatest,” and then we say we are going to talk to them. After they come to see me, they get hooked with the truth and the love of God, and they go away saying, “I want to hear more of this.” There are many fish out there if they just had a chance to hear it. But the trouble is getting them together where they will listen. But I could be the bait.
Sri Chinmoy: That is most kind of you. It is your heart’s magnanimity, your heart’s boundless magnanimity that is speaking.
Sri Chinmoy: You are the supremely chosen instrument of Allah. People come to you because they see in you, they feel in you the presence of Allah, the presence of Truth.
Muhammad Ali: Yes, sir.
Sri Chinmoy: You are not like the preachers who speak one thing in the pulpit and do something else in their lives. Their words are one thing and their actions are a different matter altogether. In your case, people see something in you that they don’t see in other boxers. They see that you live the truth that you preach. The light that you want to offer, you embody. That is why you are a supremely chosen instrument, because you have made your heart pure. You have made your heart the temple of truth so that Allah can enter into you and perform His divine activities.
Muhammad Ali: Yes, sir.
Sri Chinmoy: When I wrote the poem at Kennedy Airport, I said, “Sleepless you cry for Allah’s Grace, deathless you fight for the Muslim race.” Sleepless you cry for Allah’s Grace, therefore, your victory is Allah’s Victory. Your victory is victory over ignorance. You are fighting for a supreme cause, and for that Allah is most pleased with you, most proud of you. This I am saying on the strength of my own inner oneness with the Inner Pilot, whom you call Allah and I call Supreme. It is your heart, the receptivity of your heart, the pure heart which you are, which makes the world receive you, welcome you and embrace you as its very own.
You are the greatest. The world fully accepts this. In my song I have said that you are greater than the greatest. With your kind permission I wish to explain this. “The greatest” is an ever-transcending term. You wanted to win the Golden Gloves, and you did win them. Then you wanted to transcend. You wanted to be the Olympic champion. You are the world’s greatest champion. Now you want something else from your life. You are fighting for the cause of the Muslim race. Something more you are doing: you are trying to spread the universal love by invoking Allah’s Grace.
Muhammad Ali: There’s something else I heard that I wanted you to give your approval of. Tell me what you think about this. Here it says: “The creation of the universe caused God no mental exertion. His existence is eternal. He didn’t come into being in some period of time, nor was He created. His existence does not amount to the coming into the existence from non-existence. He is beyond the reach of time. He has no following to share His greatness, no children to inherit His mighty domain. He was before time and space came into existence. Suns and solar systems are moving in space according to the ways ordained by Him. And they cover gigantic distances in their journeys. He fully knows the detail of all the gigantic solar systems in space and He sees that each works according to the plan set by Him. And they are not able to thank Him as much as His Kindness and Mercy deserves. Because if He willed so, He could destroy things created by Him in such a way that they would cease to exist and disappear into nothingness. To annihilate the total universe after having created it is no more difficult for Him than to make the original creation out of nothing. Again there would be no time, no space. Days, hours, minutes, years shall disappear and the earth’s sun, moon and galaxies shall all vanish into nothingness. Only He will remain the Supreme Lord, the Grand Architect of the universe.
“He stops those who try to match their power with Him. He destroys those who disobey Him. He overcomes those who behave as His enemies. But to those who put their trust in Him and to those who beg of Him, He always grants according to their works and their wants. And to those who are helpful, loving and charitable toward others, He always bestows His Blessings. Allah, God, the Originator of all energy, matter, creatures and forms of life did this without having any model or any pattern or sample before Him; nor was He helped in His creation by any other God before Him. He knows the life history of every drop of rain. He knows the life history of every grain of sand. He knows how the wind has blown it from place to place and how one day it shall come to an end. He knows under which leaf and inside the bark of which tree mosquitoes live and multiply. He knows the nests of birds and the peaks of mountains. He knows the songs birds sing in the shade of trees. He has not to make an effort to understand these things.”
It goes on, but I am still studying it. It explains Allah, God, what it is that we all pray to. He has no ears though He hears. He has no eyes though He sees. He remembers everything without the aid of mind or memory. He could see before there was any created thing to see. He’s explaining the Supreme Power we are talking about. These are some of the things that I’ve gotten from Hazrat Ali. He was the holy man who followed the Prophet Muhammad of Arabia fourteen hundred years ago. I met the Shah of Iran. The Shah of Iran gave me a book. It’s in Arabic but he had it translated into English. It’s on Hazrat Ali, who was a great writer, spiritual man and poet, who fought and rode with the Prophet Muhammad of Arabia. One day he was fighting with the Turks or somebody and Hazrat Ali’s enemy fell to the ground. He started to kill him but then he stopped. He said, “Run, friend! Get up and run.” So the enemy said, “Hazrat, if you hadn’t gotten me in this position, I would have killed you.” Hazrat said, “Just because you would kill me, that’s no reason I should kill you.” He said that’s no good; that’s not a good enough reason. Isn’t it strange how spiritual he was? He said, “That’s not a good enough reason for me to kill you — just because you would kill me.” The enemy said, “Hazrat, I heard that you have never refused a beggar. I am asking for your sword. If you give me your sword I will kill you.” Hazrat gave him his sword on the battle ground. He said, “None can stop my death when it comes and none can kill me before it’s time.” The other one said, “Hazrat, you have brought me to tears. You are not merely a great man. Not only did you refuse to kill your enemy, but you even gave me a chance to kill you because you believed that God would protect you. May I ride with you and fight for you on your side?” Hazrat said, “No, friend, don’t fight for me. Fight for truth and justice.” And they got him a horse and rode off. This is a real story on the battleground.
And one day, a lady was working in her house and she had so much work to do that she asked Hazrat to help her. She didn’t recognise him; she didn’t know he was the King and a general of the whole army. Hazrat moved furniture and worked in the house. As he left on his donkey, some thirty or forty people gathered outside and said, “Do you know who that was? That was the King of the country; that was Hazrat.” She said, “I never would have recognised him. He worked as a loyal servant all day.” You understand? He was so warm, he was so great. It was his country, he was the King; yet he worked for this lady all day. It shows you how humble he was.
There are many stories like this. One day Hazrat was going to the mosque to pray when he saw a slave girl crying. He said, “What is the matter?” She said, “Well, my master sent me to buy some dates and some plums, but they were too dry. He didn’t like them and he told me to take them back and get the money back. But the fruit man wouldn’t take them back, so the master won’t let me come home. I don’t know what to do.” So Hazrat said, “Come with me.” He took her down to the fruiterer and said, “Could you give this girl her money back?” The man was a newcomer to the village and he didn’t recognise Hazrat, so he became rude. He started arguing, “I said I am not going to give it back to her, and I don’t care who you are.” A passer-by recognised Hazrat and told the fruiterer that this was Hazrat. He said, “Oh, King Hazrat, I’m so sorry,” and he gave the girl her money back. Hazrat said, “Isn’t it a shame that you are so willing to bow to power and might but not to this little girl’s humble request?” He said, “How cruel of you to treat this little girl so badly when you are so nice to the King.” By that time the man who owned the girl had come and he said, “Hazrat, I am so sorry for the confusion she has caused. Will you forgive me?” Hazrat said, “Have you got any right to expect forgiveness from me or from God who is over you, when you will not forgive this little girl who is under you?” Wasn’t that beautiful? “You won’t forgive her and now you want God and me to forgive you.” He said, “You people only profess the word of Islam, but you don’t believe in it.”
You know, there are so many heart-warming stories that only a man like you or me would really understand or appreciate. I think this is why I am so thankful to Allah for my fame in the world today. This is the day of automation, of jet planes, temptation, discotheques, mini-skirts, nude women, prostitution, dope. We live in a hard day. During the days of Hazrat, Jesus and the Prophet Muhammad, the world wasn’t as big or as complicated as it is now. They talked to thirty or forty people. But we really have a job today. God’s prophets today would really have a headache if they had to deal with all the televisions, the nightclubs and the pretty cars. You understand? You know, people are dancing and drinking, and riding in pretty cars, and you are trying to tell them about God. You look like a square; you look like a drag. They all say, “I’ll see you later.” We have so much to fight today. We have a harder job today than they had during the days of Jesus. He didn’t have to go up against television, movies, dope and jet planes.
The devil is offering so much temptation today that we look more out of place today in this society. So I’m thankful to God that He’s made my heart like it is and I’m big in their world and yet I’m still in the spiritual world where I can live this life that the world doesn’t know. You probably live the most spiritual life, but you recognise how I fight for Allah, how I stand up. I’m not a saint. I’ve got my little wrongs. Every time I pray to Allah I say, “Forgive me for my sins and forgive me for the sins that I will commit after this prayer.” You understand? Because I’ve got my little weaknesses and little faults, you know. But I pray to Allah, “If You punish me, punish me behind the doors. When I fight tonight, let me win for the cause of all our people, religion and God. Regardless of the name of the religion, let me win for all who are good and pure in heart. So Allah, bless me. If I’ve done something wrong, punish me after the fight or spank me later. But don’t embarrass me before the infidels.” My main purpose in life was to be big in this financial sport world and, at the same time, to be an example for all those millions looking up at me. They say, “See, he did it. He didn’t promote cigarettes, whiskey or alcohol.”
Sri Chinmoy: I am so happy. Please forgive me for taking so much of your time. This is my heart’s offering to you, brother. This is the song that I sang. [Sri Chinmoy presents Muhammad Ali with a plaque on which the song he wrote and sang for Muhammad Ali is inscribed.]
This is for you as you eternally are. We are praying to Allah to bless us who want to be His devoted instruments, to please Him in His own way. This is my oneness-heart I am offering to you.
Muhammad Ali: Thank you, thank you. I have many, many awards like this from Kings, Queens, Presidents. But this will be right over all the rest of them. I would like to give you the Muslim hug. [Muhammad Ali gave Sri Chinmoy the Muslim hug.]
Sri Chinmoy: Our Indian way is like this. [Sri Chinmoy folds his hands.]When I do this it means that I bow to the presence of Allah which I feel and see inside you. When I fold my hands in the Indian way, it means that I am bowing to Allah inside you. And when you do the same thing, at that time you are worshipping Allah inside my heart. This is our tradition.
Muhammad Ali: Thank you. Let’s get some refreshments. Here’s some orange juice.
Sri Chinmoy: Thank you. Now, may I ask you something?
Muhammad Ali: Yes, sir.
Sri Chinmoy: When you speak in the ring, is there any special inner reason? Of course, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.
Muhammad Ali: Oh, I didn’t know you noticed that.
Sri Chinmoy: I’ve read your autobiography, so that’s why I know.
Muhammad Ali: In the world of sports, when fear leaves you, it goes into your adversary. When I display confidence, this weakens my opponent. For example, when I boxed with Joe Frazier I would say to him, “It is impossible for you to whip me; you are too ugly. You are too ugly to represent the black people. The champion should be beautiful, like me. I am pretty; you are ugly.” This would make him mad. He would get angry and lose his head and get off guard. I am boxing a fellow and we’re in a clinch. We close in and I might say to him, “It’s impossible for you to beat me tonight. I’m fighting for God, I’m working for God. God is with me. I’ve too much power for you.” This puts fear into the man. It worries him. It makes my work a little bit easier. But sometimes I say things which will make him mad like, “Look at that beautiful girl sitting out there. She’s watching me beat you up.” This idea is to take his mind off the fight and to frustrate him. You know, when a man is real angry, he can’t think. I just keep a cool head. When I talk to him, I belittle him, you know. I’ll say things to him like, “You don’t stand a chance. You’re too ugly to be the world champion. I cannot let you win tonight; you’re too ugly.” It’s a psychological thing.
Sri Chinmoy: Certainly it is.
Muhammad Ali: I knocked George Foreman out in Africa. When I fight him again, in the first round I’ll say, “I’m going to knock you out again tonight. But this time it won’t be round seven; it’s going to be round four.” And when round four comes, unconsciously he starts trying to prove that I won’t.
It all depends on whom I’m fighting. And also it’s publicity. Promoters pay me because I draw a crowd. Promoters pay me one million in American money. After taxes and expenses I only keep three hundred thousand, and this money I use to help people. In New York City, I don’t know if you heard about it, but there was an old folks home going out of business.
Sri Chinmoy: Yes, yes, I read about it in the newspapers.
Muhammad Ali: They needed a hundred thousand dollars, so I gave them a hundred thousand dollars because forty-five old people were going to be put out on the street. My heart just couldn’t let this happen to these old people. We all are going to get old, and I couldn’t let these old people be put out in the streets. There is so much charity I try to do — school buses, and drug rehabilitation centres, and the problems that black America’s got. I’m trying to help, but the money I have is so little. I’m on empty now because I give away as much as I can to worthy people, not just anybody.
I want to do all I can now while I’m on top, while I’m drawing people. My talking, my writing poems, my Ali shuffle, predicting the rounds, all these little gimmicks make promoters pay me. I read something in Hazrat’s book. He said the man who has no imagination stands on the earth. He has no wings. He cannot fly. You have to have an imagination when you start your journey. You know the countries you want to go to, so you have to have imagination. A man who doesn’t have an imagination is still standing. Like in India, where you were born, some people you knew as a child are probably still standing around on the street doing nothing, while you are going around the world because you had imagination.
Sri Chinmoy: Imagination is a world of its own. It is a reality, only we don’t live in that reality-world. We feel that imagination is something mental, an hallucination. What you are saying is so true, absolutely true. From the spiritual point of view imagination is a real world which we are trying to bring to the fore.
Muhammad Ali: Right.
Sri Chinmoy: It is inside us.
Muhammad Ali: So in answer to your question, talking is just part of my imagination of ways to capture the public, the newspaper people. It captures the people who have the money to buy the tickets which makes me a good salary so I can go out and help as many people as I can. Talking is just salesmanship, just one of the things which is going to make me colourful while I stand out over the average boxer.
Sri Chinmoy: I am so grateful to you for illumining me about this question I have had. Sometimes we feel that when we talk we may lose our power of concentration. You are concentrating to knock your opponent down, but when you talk you may lose some of your physical power, mental power. But you have all confidence.
Muhammad Ali: Yes, I do. You are right. And I don’t talk all the time. Sometimes it’s not the time to talk. Sometimes a thing is close. It’s a little strenuous. It’s painful and you have to be serious. But Allah blesses me so I am able to feel the moment I should say something. I just don’t do it unnecessarily. There is always a reason.
Sri Chinmoy: I understand. When it is time for you to muster all your power of concentration, at that time you do.
Muhammad Ali: Right. For example, my last Frazier fight, no talking. My last fight in Manila I didn’t do any talking.
Sri Chinmoy: In your book the chapter on Manila is very, very short compared to the others.
Muhammad Ali: You know that book well.
Sri Chinmoy: I enjoyed it very much. Your heart’s nobility impressed me most. At the beginning, when you lost to Norton, your managers and others wouldn’t allow him to come near you. At that time, to me you were the real winner because you allowed him to come to your room. “This is his day; let him come,” you said. So in God’s Eye, Allah’s Eye, you were the winner. In my eye you were the winner, because your heart’s magnanimity saw that he is also Allah’s son. Everybody is Allah, so you allowed him to come to your room.
Muhammad Ali: Yes, sir.
Sri Chinmoy: When I read that I was so moved and so proud of you. You were all oneness with Allah. An ordinary human being wouldn’t have been able to do that. He would have said, “Oh, Norton is my worst enemy. I don’t want to see his face.” But you didn’t do that. They wanted to show that he was the victor and you were the vanquished, so they took pictures. It was a kind of trick. But in spite of knowing that there was some kind of trick behind it or some wrong motive, your heart’s magnanimity said, “All right, I accept it. Allah’s Will is now my will.” That very thing has impressed me so deeply. In Allah’s Heart you are the real winner. I tell you, assuredly you are the real winner, not he.
Muhammad Ali: Allah blessed me, though, a year later. I had a comeback and won the victory.
Sri Chinmoy: So you did it?
Muhammad Ali: Allah blessed me to come back and win.
Sri Chinmoy: So you did it. You defeated him. I was reading that you have confidence in yourself. That confidence is Allah’s confidence in you, and you are offering it to mankind. It is not your confidence. It is Allah’s confidence in you that you are offering each time you talk.
Muhammad Ali: Yes, sir. Well, I want you to know one thing, when I get home, when we get home, we are going to visit you in New York.
Sri Chinmoy: Please do! I will be deeply honoured. I will be in Australia in March, and in June I will be in Europe but easily you can see me in April or May. Do you come to New York quite often? Where is your headquarters? Chicago?
Muhammad Ali: Chicago, but I’m always in the Park Lane Hotel right down at Central Park and Seventh Avenue. What I want to say, brother, to change the subject, I am going to train at two o’clock. If you want to see it, I’ll make arrangements. Would you like to see me box today, if you have time?
Sri Chinmoy: I will be very happy to see you.
Muhammad Ali: I was going to take you down now and show you where it’s going to be. Then I was going to get permission for you and your party to come through, because they charge $5 a head.
Sri Chinmoy: Thank you. Another thing that I saw in the book is your heart’s nobility. When you wanted the great boxer Joe Louis to help you, he refused. Then what happened? He was in trouble; he didn’t have any money, and you gave him a thousand dollars. Somebody didn’t help you, but you willingly helped him. Look at your heart’s magnanimity! You gave him money, you gave him hope and you didn’t go to Europe. That was your heart’s magnanimity.
Muhammad Ali: You remember everything.
Sri Chinmoy: These are the signs of a really pure heart, a really pure heart! The 17th was your birthday. Did you receive my cable?
Muhammad Ali: I don’t remember the cable. Did you send it here?
Sri Chinmoy: I sent it from the United Nations, not here but to Chicago, I think.
Muhammad Ali: Well, I wasn’t in Chicago at the time. It’s probably still there.
[Leaving elevator now; tape cut off once again at this point.]
Ali then escorted Sri Chinmoy and his students to the gymnasium to watch his sparring practice.
Brazil is dedicated as a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom-Nation at a commemorative ceremony held by the Minister of Sports and Tourism Rafael Greca de Maceda, and other government officials, at the Parliament of Good Will in Brasilia, Brazil.
The festivities begin with a Peace Run at a nearby park, which is opened by Senate Leader Jose Roberto Aruda. Olympic gold medalist Joachim Cruz, carrying the Peace Torch, then leads a team of runners to the dedication ceremony, where he acts as the Master of Ceremonies for the occasion. At the unveiling of the plaque, Sri Chinmoy offers a silent meditation.
Sri Chinmoy completes one mile of a Runners are Smilers race, racewalking in a time of 16 munites, 48 seconds in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. At the race, Sri Chinmoy offers the following race prayer:
Race Prayer
My Lord Supreme,
My prayers cannot satisfy You.
My meditations cannot satisfy You.
What else, then, can I do for You
To satisfy You?
“My child,
How do you know
That your prayers and meditations
Are not satisfying Me?
They do satisfy Me.
But I want you to satisfy Me
Sleeplessly and breathlessly,
And infinitely more,
Infinitely more.”
by Sri Chinmoy
at the Rex Hotel, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
Dear ones, this morning I saw many people running in the street. That is very good! You waited until six o’clock. You are not supposed to run before that. But I saw seven or eight girls just start running. It is good to pray and meditate one minute before you start. That I have been saying since time immemorial. But while I was inside the car this morning, seven or eight girls I saw come out of the hotel and immediately start running. One girl meditated for ten or twelve seconds, and the others started without meditating.
Kindly try if possible to meditate for a minute. If that is too much, at least for half a minute invoke the Presence of the Supreme, and then run.
To both the boys and the girls I wish to say that if you are going to run, at least for half a minute pray and meditate.
