April 5
No Nation is Unwanted
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium, United Nations, New York
No nation is unwanted. Every nation is wanted. Every nation is needed. Every nation is indispensable. Each nation is great. The greatness of each nation lies in its deep love for other nations and in its self-giving to other nations.
Why does an individual love others? An individual loves others because he knows that if he does not love others, then he remains imperfect and incomplete. Why does one give of oneself to others? One gives of oneself to others because he has discovered the undeniable truth that self-giving is truth-loving and God-becoming. And what applies to an individual human being can equally, appropriately and convincingly apply to a nation.
Sir Winston Churchill once made a most significant remark: “When abroad I do not criticise the government of our country, but I make up for it when I come home.” Self-criticism is necessary; self-criticism is obligatory. If each nation values self-criticism when it is at home, then perfection-sun will not remain a far cry. Self-criticism is the harbinger of self-enquiry. Self-enquiry is the harbinger of God-discovery. In God-discovery man rises above the ignorance of millennia.
The great German philosopher Schopenhauer said, “Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right.” Who can deny this most deplorable fact? At the same time, who does not have the courage to think and feel that this fact need not and cannot be an abiding truth? Why do we ridicule others? We ridicule others precisely because our jealousy has not yet left us. We ridicule others because they do not have what we have or because we do not have what they have.
Now a nation may have hundreds of good, divine and even astonishing qualities, but if that nation is wanting in the inner quality, the feeling of oneness, then it cannot have true satisfaction. Everlasting satisfaction is out of the question. Again, if a nation is not blessed with many striking qualities and illumining capacities but nonetheless has the inner quality, a sense of inseparable oneness, then that nation is the creator of fulfilling joy, the distributor of fulfilling joy and the fulfiller of fulfilling joy.
Each nation is a petal of a flower, an inner rose, an inner lotus. If one petal is ruined, then the entire flower loses its beauty; and when a flower loses its beauty, it loses everything. Each nation is like a note in a song. If one note is not properly sung, then the entire song is ruined.
Each nation has the capacity to fulfil all nations through self-giving, and this self-giving is nothing other than God-becoming. Here at the United Nations, each nation shall offer its illumining capacities and fulfilling qualities to all the other nations. Together all nations will walk, together all nations will run, together all nations will fly and dive toward the same goal, the goal of everlasting Reality. When we reach and become the everlasting Reality, we shall see that we have transformed the animal in us and immortalised the divine in us.
How can a nation be happy, purposeful and fulfilled? A nation can be happy, purposeful and fulfilled if it thinks less and meditates more. A nation can be happy, purposeful and fulfilled if it plans less and acts more. Thinking is quite often confusing. Planning is quite often frustrating. Too much thinking and too much doubting and suspecting go together. Too much planning and too much worrying go together.
Meditation and action have a different story. Illumining meditation is self-discovery. Illumining action is self-mastery. The more one can meditate soulfully, the sooner he reaches his destination. The more one can act devotedly, the sooner he manifests God-Life, Truth-Love, Light-Delight. A seeker-nation with God-Life sees God’s Body, the universe. A seeker-nation with Truth-Love feels God’s Heart, the universal Reality. A seeker-nation with Light-Delight becomes God’s Soul, the universal Goal.
Published in The Tears of Nation-Hearts
Time Changes
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York
Time changes. This is an old lesson. We have all learned it. We change, too. This is a new lesson. What do we change? We change our consciousness. Consciousness is the thing that connects us either with death or with Immortality. In the desire-bound world death reigns supreme. In the aspiration-free world Immortality reigns supreme.
Why do we change? We change precisely because even after the fulfilment of the desire-world, we are not satisfied. Even an iota of satisfaction has not dawned on our mental horizon, vital horizon and physical horizon. But in the aspiration-world we do not need anything to satisfy us; we do not need any accomplishment to satisfy our inner urge. The moment we cry deep within, we feel a sense of satisfaction. We do not have to wait for any result. While crying we get a sense of satisfaction. The result, the most satisfactory result, is the cry itself.
How do we change? We change for the better from the desire-world to the aspiration-world, from the chasm of death to the Sea of Immortality. We change on the strength of our inspiration and aspiration. Inspiration is the divine reality which always carries us forward far, farther, farthest. Aspiration is the divine reality which lifts us up high, higher, highest. Inspiration for the forward movement, aspiration for the upward movement.
When do we change? We change when God’s Hour strikes. What is God’s Hour? It is the chosen Hour when everything is done in us sooner than at once. It is not done by human beings, but by God the Eternal Pilot, in and through human beings. God does not expect anything in return. At God’s Hour His Justice-Light is replaced by His Compassion-Height. At that time God makes the individual consciously feel that he is of infinite Light, and he is for immortal Delight. At God’s choice Hour man becomes a constant burning flame of gratitude. This flame of gratitude eventually grows into the sun. Inside that sun humanity’s aspiration looms large, and eventually there comes a time when divinity finds humanity to be its perfect instrument to please the Absolute Supreme in His own Way.
Time changes. This is our old lesson. We change, too. This is our new lesson. When time changes, quite often we feel that we are helpless, hopeless and useless. Time does not wait for us. At every moment we are forced to act like true beggars, for we have not been able to accomplish what we wanted to accomplish. But when we learn the new lesson — that we change, too — we feel that at every moment we are making progress. At every moment we are listening to an inner call. At every moment we are preparing ourselves to fulfil an inner need. At every moment we are preparing ourselves to learn the art of self-giving, for in self-giving the Supreme message of God-becoming thrives. Our Goal is not only to see the Face of the Golden All, but also to grow eventually into the Golden All.
We change. We change always for the better, for we are seekers of the ultimate Truth. In us is the message of God-Perfection and God-Satisfaction. We change. We change always for the better, precisely because in us is the eternal hunger, the perennial hunger, to become one with the universal Truth and the transcendental Reality.
Published in Wisdom-Waves in New York, part 2
