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Salvation, Liberation and Realisation

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
in Conference Room 10, United Nations, New York

I wish to give a very short talk on salvation, liberation and realisation.

Salvation is God-discovery. Liberation is God-achievement. Realisation is God-fulfilment.

A man with salvation, a man with liberation, a man with realisation: what they are and what they are not. What they are is Reality’s smile: what they are not is unreality’s cry.

God’s pure Compassion gives the seeker salvation. God’s sweet Love grants the seeker liberation. God’s proud, divine Oneness with the seeker gives him realisation.

In the Western world, salvation is everything. In the Eastern world, especially in India, liberation is really something, but realisation is everything. Many a seeker, before he achieves salvation, feels that his father in Heaven is all for him. This is his hope; this is his dream. But after he has achieved salvation, he knows this as a reality. A seeker, before he achieves liberation, feels that the Truth abides somewhere — not in front of him, but in an unknowable place. After he has achieved liberation, he feels that God the Light was only unknown, and now He has become fully known. Before the seeker attains realisation, he feels that God is here, there, in everything. He feels God’s Presence everywhere, but he does not see God face-to-face. After he has realised God, his feeling is transformed into seeing. He sees God face-to-face as he would see any individual he meets.

When a man gains salvation, God tells him to feel at every moment that he is the instrument and God is the Doer. At this time, the man feels extremely happy and grateful that God has chosen him to be His instrument. A man who has achieved liberation hears something else from God. God says, “My son, you have worked hard, very hard, to free yourself from the meshes of ignorance. Perhaps you are tired. If you want to take rest, you may take rest. Don’t work if you don’t want to. If you work, so much the better; but if you don’t work, no harm. I am still very pleased with you.” A man who has realised God hears still something else from God. God tells him, “Before, I worked alone for you, for the world, for the universe. Now I give you the key to open up My universal Consciousness. I give you My treasure, My entire wealth. I want you to feel that My wealth is your wealth, and to distribute My wealth as your very own. Your work and My work are the same: the manifestation of Divinity, the manifestation of Immortality on earth. Together we shall work, together we shall liberate the earth consciousness. Together we shall transform our Vision into Reality.”

He who has achieved salvation, in God’s Eye is very good. He who has achieved liberation, in God’s Eye is very great. He who has achieved realisation, in God’s Eye is both very good and very great. A man with salvation feels that God is his Father. A man with liberation feels that God is his Friend. And a man with God-Realisation feels that God is his Everything.

Published in The Tears of Nation-Hearts

Justice in King Giyasuddin’s Kingdom

The first of 100 Indian stories by Sri Chinmoy

There was once a great Muslim king named Giyasuddin, who also loved archery. As a king he was great; as an archer he was good. One day while he was hunting, he accidentally sent an arrow through the chest of a little child who was crawling in the bushes. It was the only child of a widow, who had brought him with her while she was praying and meditating in the forest. The archer-king was aiming at a deer, but instead of striking the deer, his arrow entered into the little child. The boy was crying most pathetically and the mother was hysterical.

The mother went to the magistrate of her district to make complaints against the archer, in spite of knowing that he was the king. She felt that there should be some justice. At first the muslim magistrate was hesitant: “How can I punish the King?” Then he said, “No, I shall do my duty.”

So he summoned the king to court, addressing the summons to the archer Giyasuddin, not to the king Giyasuddin. On the appointed day the king appeared in court. On other days he would have saluted the king, but it was customary that the judge did not salute anyone summoned to appear in court. So the judge did not salute the king. He remained seated on his bench, and the king stood where convicts are asked to stand.

The magistrate said, “Do you know that you are going to be convicted?”

The king said, “Yes.”

The magistrate said, “This is my punishment. You have to beg pardon of the mother of this poor child and, also, you have to pay everything that the child needs for his recovery.”

The king immediately agreed. “I will do it.” Right away he went to the mother, who was in the court, and begged her pardon. Then he gave her the money necessary for her child’s recovery.

The king was then released. As soon as the king was released, the magistrate came down from his bench and bowed to the king, saying, “You are the King, and I am just an ordinary magistrate. It was you who appointed me and inwardly I shall be grateful to you for Eternity. But here justice was playing its role.”

The king said, “I am so glad that you are just. I want everybody in my kingdom to be as just as you. Had you not summoned me or taken any notice of the woman’s complaint, or had you just called me to court and said, ‘He is the King; so what can I do?’ I would have waited for a few days and then I would have come and punished you for the lack of justice in your district. This sword I would have utilised to punish you if you had not done your duty.”

The magistrate pulled out a cane from under his long gown and said, “If you had not come or if you had not obeyed my order to pay for the child’s recovery and also beg pardon from the mother, I would have punished you with this stick.”

The king smiled broadly at the magistrate and embraced him, saying, “You deserve my embrace; you deserve my fondest embrace.”

Published in Great Indian Meals: Divinely Delicious and Supremely Nourishing, part 1

Each Moment

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
in Honolulu, Hawaii

Each moment is an opportunity. Each meditation time is the greatest opportunity, no matter which consciousness you were in in the morning or at noon, or even just before you came into the meditation hall. If you do not meditate well owing to this or that, blaming a third person or the entire world or even blaming yourself does not help at all. Each meditation time is like the Supreme knocking at your heart’s door. He stands before your heart’s door, and knocks for you to open it. If you keep it closed, He just goes away.

Each moment is important in your life, but each second during meditation is of absolute utmost importance. If you have depression, frustration, anger, insecurity, jealousy, impurity, undivine thoughts or undivine ideas or an unaspiring life, during meditation you must throw all these things into the ocean of the Supreme’s Compassion. Otherwise, you become the most deplorable loser.

Once you have accepted the spiritual life, you have to be extremely wise. There are many, many, many — countless — people on earth who have not accepted the spiritual life. They do not know and they will never never know what a divine opportunity is, what a supreme opportunity is. Each moment during meditation is both a golden opportunity and an inner examination. If you do not pass this inner examination, then no matter how many years you stay with your Master or how many times you come into this world, you will remain practically the same human being — the same undeveloped, unillumined human being.

You should feel that you are extremely fortunate, for you are in a divine boat. And you should feel infinitely more fortunate that the Pilot Supreme has infinite Concern and Compassion for you. But most of the time His infinite Compassion, His infinite Concern either you misunderstand or you ignore, you don’t have the receptivity to feel or you do not value.

Nothing will remain permanent in a seeker’s life, nothing except the infinite Compassion of our Beloved Supreme. If you can receive this infinite Compassion, then when you leave the body Heaven’s Door will be wide open for you. But if you misuse this Compassion, then there is nothing that you will be able to show to Heaven’s Door-Keeper. So at every moment try to value the infinite Compassion of the Supreme which, out of His infinite Bounty, He gives you. He is under no obligation to give, but He gives unconditionally. If you do not accept unreservedly when He gives you unconditionally, then nothing will be able to help you or save you, illumine you or carry you to the other shore. Out of anxiety, worry, depression, frustration, anger, fear and all negative qualities, if you forget to value the most valuable thing both on earth and in Heaven — His Compassion — then you are throwing away an unparalleled divine gift.

Unless and until you value the Supreme’s Compassion, the gratitude-flower will never blossom in you. It is Compassion that you have to value first in your life. If you don’t value it, then why should you develop gratitude? And if you don’t develop gratitude, then you are still in the animal kingdom. So at every moment value the Supreme’s supreme Compassion, which is constantly descending from above. If you accept it and value it, if you can treasure it at every moment as something which will always remain unparalleled in your inner and outer life, then yours will be the life of satisfaction, supreme satisfaction.

Name, fame, earthly prosperity and earthly achievements will always prove to be useless, useless, useless even for those who are not sincere seekers. There comes a time when even an ordinary human being, who has not accepted and who will not accept the spiritual life seriously, will not hesitate to say that earthly achievements all end in frustration. The possessions of the desire-life, the achievements of the desire-life, will always end in frustration. Only one thing has the capacity to give satisfaction and will always give satisfaction, and that is oneness — conscious, constant, complete, unreserved and unconditional oneness with the Will of the Supreme.

Who says that you do not know the Will of the Supreme? Is there anybody who does not know the Will of the Supreme? No, if you remain in the heart, then at every moment you will know what God’s Will is. But if you remain in the mind, never, never will you be able to know the Will of the Supreme. You may get grandiose thoughts and lofty ideas, but they will not be the Will of the Supreme. Life’s victory or defeat, life’s acceptance or rejection, are not the ultimate Reality in the Eyes of the Supreme. He laughs at our acceptance or rejection of a thing, at our victories and defeats. But He triumphantly smiles at us when His Will becomes our will. We do not have to become great in the outer world to prove to the world or to Him that we are worthy instruments of His. Never does He care for our earthly status. He cares only for one thing: our constant oneness with His Will.

We think we are beggars, but the Supreme is also a beggar. At each moment we beg Him to grant us millions of things. He begs us sleeplessly to grant Him only one thing: our soulfully surrendered oneness. This is His only desire. You can say, “Why does He have to beg, since He has everything and He is everything?” He begs because He feels this is the easiest, safest and most effective way to bring humanity close to Him. If He shows His omnipotent Power to bring us close to Him, He will break the instrument into pieces. But if the instrument can feel the sweetest Compassion of the Supreme, the infinite Flood of the Supreme’s Compassion, and if he or she can remember this Compassion, this is the safest and surest way.

At each moment you can be the happiest person both in Heaven and on earth. The Supreme’s universal Consciousness, transcendental Consciousness — these can be your constant, illumining and fulfilling friends, if you want to have them as your own. But you have to do only one thing: give what you have and what you are. What you have is willingness, and what you are is eagerness. Willingness and eagerness: your willingness to become entirely His, constantly His, and your eagerness to be utilised by Him in His own way at every moment. If you give these, you don’t have to give anything else. Then you will become His unparalleled, eternally unparalleled instrument.

Published in AUM – Vol 6, No. 4, April 1980

Forgiveness and Gratitude

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
in Valdivia, Chile

The Western concept of forgiveness is usually associated with guilt and retribution. You give somebody a smart slap, and afterwards you feel sad or guilty. Then the other person will curse you and say that God will punish you. Or perhaps he will threaten to strike you in retaliation. There is a feeling that if you have done something, the same kind of thing will be done to you unless you are forgiven.

But there is another way to look at forgiveness. God wants us to be at a certain height so that we can receive His Affection, Love, Compassion and Blessings, but right now we are not at that level. So God is begging us: "Just raise your consciousness an iota and come up to this level. Then I will be able to give you My Love, My Compassion and My Blessings." Our human mind may call it forgiveness, but God is not thinking about our inner and outer crimes. He just wants us to raise our consciousness so that we will increase our receptivity and oneness with Him. Then he will be able to give us more Compassion, more Light and more Love.

So when I ask you to cry for forgiveness, I am begging you to come up to a certain level so that the Supreme in me can give you something. If you are an excellent disciple, you will feel sad if you do not listen to your Guru and come to that level. But what do you do? In many cases you just look around and see that somebody else is already at that level. Then you become sad and miserable. So you make two mistakes. First, you do not try to come to the place that I want you to be, and then you become jealous and miserable because you have seen somebody else there.

If I want to give you something, you have to come near me to receive it. If I am above you, then you have to come at least to a certain height so that we can talk to one another. You have to come to the first rung of the ladder, let us say. Sometimes I see that you people get so much, so much from me — or let us say, from the Supreme through me — and then you do come up to that level. At that time, I am the happiest person. You may say, "Oh, Guru has forgiven me, or he would not be so kind and compassionate to me." But I am not even thinking about what you have done. Only I am happy that your consciousness is a little bit higher and I am now able to offer you more love, more affection, more blessings.

Then there is the question of degree — your degree of receptivity. I may want to give you ten dollars, but you are satisfied with only two dollars. Then how cleverly you justify your lack of receptivity! You tell the world, "Guru wanted to give me ten dollars, but I took only two dollars because that was enough for me. I can manage with two dollars, so I don't need ten dollars." I am talking about this in the form of money, but in the form of affection, compassion and blessings it is exactly the same. I want to give this much, but you say, "No, if I get an iota of compassion, that is enough for me." I want to give you a very large quantity, because I know that only then will I be able to give you an even larger quantity tomorrow. But you want to take only a drop. And your clever mind convinces you in such a clever way that you are doing the right thing. But if your wisdom-heart comes to the fore, you will say, "Since he wanted to give me $10, why should I be satisfied with only $2?I have to take the $10 if I want to please him in his own way." So if you are really sincere and feel your oneness with me, you will feel sad if you do not receive everything that I want to give you. You will say, "He wanted to give me so much, and I took so little. The reason I did not receive the utmost is because my receptivity is so weak. I am fooling myself if I say I can manage with that." You can't manage with that.

At every moment this kind of give-and-take is going on between God and human beings. God is giving and we are receiving. The human mind will say, "God will be pleased and happy that He didn't have to give me so much." But God will not be pleased. If the giver is an ordinary human being, he may say, "Oh, I am so glad that I met such a stupid fellow who is satisfied with $2. I am so happy that I didn't have to give him $10. And the stupid fellow who receives only $2 is also satisfied, because he can tell the world, "I can manage." Here the giver is a rogue and the receiver is a stupid fellow.

But in God's case, God is sad when we do not take the quantity that He wants to give us. For at that time we are not showing the gratitude that will increase our receptivity. God is not dying to receive our human gratitude. When an ordinary human being gives something to another person, immediately there is a sense of separativity. He feels that just because he has given such and such a thing, the other person has to be grateful. But God's idea of gratitude is totally different. When it is a question of giving and receiving in the soul's world, or between the divine parts of ourselves, the one who gives is equally grateful as the one who receives.

When I want to give you my blessings and light, I am so grateful if you can receive it, for that shows your oneness with me. And I am really grateful and really proud of you if you take the entire quantity that I want to give. Again, when I see that you don't take it, I feel sad. So you see how gratitude comes on both sides. I show my oneness-gratitude with you by giving what I have, and you show your oneness-gratitude with me by taking what I give. Here there is mutual gratitude and mutual oneness. It is such a sweet thing!

Every day we have the golden opportunity to offer our gratitude to our Lord Beloved Supreme in everything we do. There is not a single second when we cannot offer gratitude to God. Look at me. Physically and mentally I am suffering so much because of my oneness with my disciples and humanity. But even though I have such unbearable pain, in the inner world I am telling God, "I am so grateful to You that I am able to bear this pain cheerfully. You are having an experience in and though me, my Lord, and I am so grateful that I am not revolting against You. Then again, I am so grateful to You that I have disciples who will massage me 24 hours a day if I want. They may not cure me, but at least they can give me some relief, and I am grateful to You for this." And even if I had no disciples and were living like an ordinary human being, still I could say, "O God, no matter how bad my pain is, it could have been infinitely worse. I am so grateful to You that I am not in the hospital."

For good things naturally we offer gratitude to God. But even if we have bad experiences, like bad thoughts, still we can show gratitude. There are two ways. One way is to immediately compare what is happening now with a time when we had an even worse experience. We will see that the wrong, undivine, impure thoughts we are having today are nothing in comparison to what we were experiencing on that other horrible day, when we were suffering so terribly. Then we can say, "Right now I am bad, but I am so grateful to God because my consciousness is still much higher than it was on that horrible day." Or we can compare ourselves with the way we were ten years ago. Then we will say, "Oh God, I am so grateful to You that today I am not as bad as I was 10 years ago." This is the best way — to compare our own life now with what it used to be.

Another way is to compare ourselves with the ordinary people who are around us. We can look to this side and that side and immediately see unaspiring people who are infinitely worse than we are. Then we can say, "O God, because of Your Compassion, I am infinitely better than these people. I could have been so bad — like him or her — but You have kept me much better. You are so kind, so compassionate to me."

So we can offer gratitude to God no matter what kind of consciousness we have. If we are having good thoughts, we can say, "O God, I am grateful to You because no matter how bad I am now, I was infinitely worse a few years ago. Because of Your Compassion I have become at least a human being."

Again, we have to know that if our consciousness is low, immediately we can stop our bad thoughts with our will power. And if we have good thoughts, with our will power we can strengthen them. Will power can easily destroy our bad thoughts and negate the wrong forces in us. And with will power also we can increase the power of our good thoughts and increase our good qualities. So if we use our will power properly, we can perform miracle after miracle in our lives. And even if we do not, through our prayer and meditation, develop our will power, still with our sincere aspiration and sincere inner cry we can also do these things. So pray and meditate and develop your aspiration and gratitude. Then you will really see the difference in your lives.

Published in Khama Karo

Two Christmas Trip Talks

by Sri Chinmoy
at the Inter-Continental Hotel, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Reverence

Dear ones, when you know it is the time for prayer and meditation, you must not indulge in talking. The mischievous monkey in your life must surrender to the poise of your soul. I am begging you to have respect for your own meditation-life. If I am late, please do not enter into your mind-confusion-world. Reverence, reverence, reverence.

The Master comes; he walks the earth and then disappears. At that time either you will be awakened to value the Master’s life on earth, or you will continue your ignorance-sleep.

Value your spiritual life

Sri Aurobindo was my Master. Now my Master is the Supreme. Everybody’s Master is the Supreme. Every human being who has taken incarnation has only one Guru, according to me and that Guru is our Lord Supreme. My Guru, your Guru, everybody’s Guru is the Supreme.

Let me tell you about my Guru, Sri Aurobindo. Four times a year we were able to see him: in February, April, August and November. Each time I do not think it was for more than three seconds. Five seconds, no — I do not think so. Four times a year we saw him and there was a long queue.

The very first time I went for darshan, the Mother was introducing me to Sri Aurobindo. She said, “Chinmoy, Hriday’s youngest brother.” Then she told Sri Aurobindo something. Alas, I could not hear. Sri Aurobindo’s two assistants grabbed me and showed me to the door. Now both of those gentlemen are extremely, extremely kind and dear to me.

That was our life. And how many years did it last? I became a permanent resident of the Ashram in 1944. Most of you were not born at that time. In 1950, Sri Aurobindo left his earthly sheath, his earthly body, his earthly frame. For six years I was with my Master.

Here I have disciples who have been with me for over thirty years. For how many hours you have seen me! Countless hours you have been able to spend with your Master. I am here on earth as the representative of the Supreme — for you, not for others. He is the Supreme. He is my Guru, your Guru, everybody’s Guru. Out of His infinite Bounty, He has chosen me to be His representative, only for you. Others have their own Gurus who deal with their disciples in their own ways.

If you do not value your spiritual life, if you do not value your own way of life, nobody can and nobody will force you to follow this path. If you are enjoying your own indulgence-life, then your progress-speed will be worse than India’s bullock cart speed. But if you have the inner urge, how fast you can go! Again, Indian bullock carts do go forward, slowly and steadily. The choice is up to you.

Published in I Wanted to be a Seeker of the Infinite

Three Christmas Trip Stories

by Sri Chinmoy
narrated to his disciples in Cairns, Australia

Beethoven’s sincerity speaks

Sincerity inspires, encourages, illumines and fulfils the world.

Ludwig van Beethoven, an immortal composer and musician of the highest order, once offered a magnificent piano performance. The audience gave him a standing ovation which lasted for a long, long time.

At the end of the programme, an elderly lady came up to Beethoven and said, “How I wish I could be a genius like you! How I wish I could have magic hands like yours!”

Beethoven immediately replied, “Madam, there is no genius involved; there is no magic involved. If you are prepared to practise eight hours a day for forty years, like me, then you can easily play like me. Just start practising many hours a day, and do it for many, many years. One day you shall most definitely play as well as I do, I assure you.”

Commentary:

Many other great musicians are admired by the world as true geniuses, and they may most assuredly think and feel that their musical capacities are far, far beyond the reach of ordinary and even extraordinary human beings. They may act as if they are divinity’s most precious gift to humanity. In Beethoven’s case, he was one of the greatest musical geniuses the world has ever seen. But he was not at all bloated with pride or arrogance. What wonderful encouragement he offered the elderly lady! Other musicians might not have been as sincere. Others might proudly have said, “Thank you! It is true that I am a genius, and this genius comes directly from God. Right from my birth, God created me as a supreme musician.”

We all need to receive the sincere encouragement that Beethoven offered. When this encouragement comes from the greatest human beings in any field, it has tremendous power. How hard these geniuses work for years and years, and often they go totally unrecognised for decades. There are so many extraordinary and pre-eminent scientists, musicians, artists and others who work extremely, extremely hard day in and day out for years and years.

In the days of Beethoven, and for centuries before, people who created or discovered something really great simply offered it to the world. Usually they did not receive any special recognition or extra money.

Nowadays, if a scientist, for example, discovers something most significant, the Nobel Committee is there to present the scientist with a million dollars. If not that, then a major university will offer the scientist a new laboratory and so on. Then the person becomes very rich. He offers his great discovery and also receives great compensation.

Yet in no way were the discoveries of the hoary past inferior to the modern-day discoveries. What did the brilliant scientists of some two or three hundred years ago receive? On the one hand, they did not or could not fill their pockets with very large amounts of money. On the other hand, they were inundated with appreciation, admiration and love. Because of their big hearts, they offered their discoveries and services for the betterment of mankind without charge. God Himself compensated these great scientists with His infinite Blessings, Love and Pride.

Each person must choose what he wants: money-power or heart-power. Do we desire the increase of our money-power, or do we aspire for the expansion of our heart-power? While the two sometimes go hand in hand, it is the inner aspiration of the individual which is of paramount importance.

Napoleon bows before Saint Francis

Napoleon the Great was once travelling through Italy with his mighty troops, including several of his generals. He was at the front of a very large and majestic procession, having already conquered many lands.

On the way to their next destination, Napoleon saw a statue of St. Francis of Assisi. Napoleon commanded the entire procession to come to an immediate halt. He then removed his headgear and bowed. The generals were shocked. They said to Napoleon, “Sir, you are the greatest man in the world. You never bow to anyone, nor do you show respect to any other human being on earth. The entire world knows you and reveres you as the most indomitable figure ever to walk on this earth. How is it that you have taken off your headgear now?”

Napoleon replied, “I need guns and cannons to conquer the world. Once I conquer one country, another country revolts, and then I must go there to quell their revolt and reconquer the country. My victories are in no way permanent.

“Look at St. Francis! He was such a great saint. He had no weaponry — not one gun, not one cannon. I have countless weapons, but he had only one weapon: love. With that love-weapon, St. Francis conquered the entire world. With all my guns, cannons, ammunition, armies and more, my victories are never, never lasting. But his victory is everlasting, and his sole weapon was love.”

The generals were deeply moved by Napoleon’s humility. The greatest and most powerful man on earth recognised his own limitations. Napoleon Bonaparte announced to all his troops that one simple saint was far, far more powerful than himself. In this way, Napoleon won the one-pointed love, admiration, devotion and loyalty of his troops.

Abraham Lincoln prays for God’s victory

The great American President Abraham Lincoln had many saintly qualities. He did so many good and great things for America. This story took place when he was fighting alongside his army during the Civil War. There was a tremendous battle going on, and God alone knew which side was going to win.

Lincoln’s Commander-General asked him, “Do you know what is in God’s Plan? Do you feel that we are going to be victorious, or shall we go down in shameful defeat?”

Abraham Lincoln replied, “My problem is not the victory. My problem is to be certain that I am on God’s side. I am praying to God. I do not know if we shall win or lose this war. But my constant prayer is for God’s Victory. I pray that He will accept me and this nation to be on His side. I am not at all praying to God to take our side and defeat our enemies. No, never! I want God’s Victory, not my victory. This is my only prayer.”

The Commander-General and all his men were profoundly moved by Lincoln’s spiritual depth, which he maintained even during the thick of battle.

Dining his second inaugural address, soon before his victory, Lincoln once again affirmed his faith in God and his prayer for God’s Will to be done. Referring to the North and the South, Lincoln said, “Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged….the Almighty has His own purposes.”

As it turned out, God’s Victory was definitely won in and through President Lincoln’s most courageous leadership. Alas, he was assassinated just a few days after that immortal victory.

Published in The Power of Kindness and Other Stories