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The Human, the Divine and the Supreme

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at Sir George Williams University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
 

Dear sisters and brothers, dear seekers of the highest Truth, I am in Canada on a lecture tour, and I hope to serve the soul of Canada with my devoted heart. I shall be giving sixteen talks during my trip. Each time I give a talk, I offer my soulful gratitude to the presiding deity of Canada, to the soul of Canada, and to her I shall offer my soulful gratitude this evening.

I am a seeker. That means I am a spiritual farmer. As a farmer cultivates the land and, in the course of time, collects a bumper crop, even so, the seeker in me is cultivating the spiritual soil of Canada. Geographically, Canada is a very vast country. And spiritually, she can become extremely fertile.

Fear is human. Courage is divine. Love is supreme. A thing human is short-lived. A thing divine is long-lived. A thing supreme lives forever.

Doubt is human. Faith is divine. Surrender is supreme. A life of doubt cannot start. A life of faith walks along the path. A life of surrender reaches the Goal.

The human in us says the Goal is far, very far. The divine in us says the Goal is here, right here, and nowhere else. The Supreme in us says we ourselves are the Goal.

The human in us is stark complexity within and without. The divine in us is pure simplicity. This simplicity houses the Infinite and the Eternal. The supreme in us is sheer luminosity. In this luminosity the seeker becomes the divine Lover, and the lover becomes one with the supreme Beloved.

The human in us thinks that it has conquered everything. The divine in us feels that it can conquer everything if such is the Will of God. The supreme in us has become what it eternally is: oneness, inseparable oneness.

I am one individual and God is another individual: this is my human discovery. God and I are sempiternally one: this is my divine discovery. God is my most illumined part and I am God’s most unillumined existence: this is my supreme discovery.

The human in me feels that it is all sacrifice, that it has sacrificed everything for the world at large. The divine in me feels that it makes all possible sacrifices because the Absolute has given it the capacity to sacrifice. The supreme in me knows that there is no such thing as sacrifice. When we are all one, the question of sacrifice does not arise at all.

My body has a mind, a heart, two legs. My legs take me to school, where my mind and heart receive knowledge and wisdom. Now, my legs do not feel that they are making a tremendous sacrifice in carrying my heart and head to school, for my legs have established their inseparable oneness with my heart and my head. Similarly, when my legs and feet want to run, my head and heart co-operate. They do not feel it is any sacrifice on their part to come along.

In the inner world, there is no such thing as sacrifice; there is only the song of oneness. The physical in us ponders and thinks, and it feels that it has made tremendous progress when it starts to reason. The human in us feels that the reasoning mind is the pinnacle of perfection. But when the divine in us comes to the fore, it makes us feel that the soulful heart is what is of paramount importance, for the inmost recesses of our heart house the Infinite and the Eternal.

The human in us desires constantly and demands constantly. The divine in us aspires devotedly and inspires unreservedly. The supreme in us only loves, consciously, constantly and unconditionally.

The human in us prays, “Asato ma sad gamaya... — Lead me from the unreal to the Real. Lead me from darkness to Light. Lead me from death to Immortality.”

The divine in us prays, “Hiranmayena patrena... — The Face of Truth is covered with a brilliant golden orb. Remove it, O Sun, so that I who am devoted to the Truth may behold the Truth.”

The supreme in us knows what its Source is and where its journey will lead. It says, “Anandadd hy eva khalv imani bhutani jayante... — From Delight we came into existence. In Delight we grow. At the end of our journey’s close, into Delight we retire.”

The human in us has to be transcended on the strength of our inner cry. The divine in us has to be manifested, and for that we need God’s infinite Bounty along with our own aspiration-cry. The supreme in us is perfect Perfection, and this perfect Perfection must be established here on earth, through our conscious prayer to reach the Transcendental Consciousness. Only when we meditate do we bring down the Transcendental Consciousness, the supreme Perfection, into our lives of self-dedication, our lives of self-transcendence.

Each seeker once lived in the world of pleasure. Now he lives in the world of aspiration. Tomorrow the same seeker will live in the world of illumination. Yesterday we were human. Today we are divine. Tomorrow we will be supreme. It is our intense inner cry that will make us again what we were once upon a time. Our Source was God the Delight, and now we are trying to establish here on earth the Peace, Light and Delight of the Source through our conscious prayer, our soulful meditation and our devoted surrender to the Will of God.

As seekers we know that the human in us has to be transcended so that the divine in us can play its role most effectively. We also know that the divine in us must have an immortal existence here on earth. For that the divine in us needs the life supreme, and this life supreme we get only when our human existence is all love, all devotion and all surrender to the Inner Pilot.

Published in The Oneness of the Eastern Heart and the Western Mind, part 1

Let us Try to Empty the Mind

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at SUNY at Stony Brook, New York

We shall now try to empty the mind. Indeed, this is the most difficult task, but we shall do it. Our mind has made friends with teeming thoughts. These thoughts are unhealthy, uncomely, unaspiring and undivine. The moment our aspiration-heart eliminates one thought, to its wide surprise another thought immediately crops up. It seems that we are forced to play an endless game.

But there is also another game, and that game is the will-power-game. We have inherited that game from our Father, the Lord Supreme. When we play that game we transform our thought-world into the will-power-world.

Where do we get this will-power? We get this will-power from our heart’s calmness-sea. From where do we acquire this calmness-sea? We acquire it from our soul’s freedom-sun and oneness-sky.

A man of will-power braves all the storms and tempests of life. He knows that he is not the earth-bound body but the Heaven-free soul. His body is not earth-bound; his life is not earth-bound. He also knows that he is not his nature’s slave, but a supremely chosen instrument of his Inner Pilot, his Beloved Supreme. What he truly has and what he truly is, is aspiration-flame, and this aspiration-flame makes him feel that he is always Heaven-free. He is in the world, true; but he is not of the world. At the same time, he knows that he is for the world, for the world’s transformation and for God’s manifestation in and through the world. He is always for this world.

Let us try to empty the mind. In our mind’s emptiness will loom large Infinity’s Peace, Eternity’s Light and Immortality’s Delight. Let us try to empty the mind.

Published in AUM – Vol. 5, No. 7, 8, July-August 1978

Occultism: Love-Aspect and Compassion-Aspect

by Sri Chinmoy
Aspiration-Ground, Jamaica, New York

I started practising occultism not in India, but in some other country. As far as I can recollect, it was not in India. Before I studied occultism in India, I studied in another country. That country does not exist any more; it is extinct. That country was Atlantis.

In my previous incarnations, my occultism had a tremendous power-aspect. Now fire has become water. My occultism has become love-aspect and compassion-aspect. It has changed its form: love, compassion, forgiveness. Before, my occultism had a tremendously frightening aspect. Now, in this incarnation, my occultism has taken a different form.

Occultism does not mean only to threaten and frighten. It can also be used to raise the consciousness of someone who has perhaps descended lower than the lowest. As soon as I approach someone, I may lift him higher than the highest. That is also occult power. Occult power does not mean only to show fire!

Published in His Compassion is Everything to Us

Oneness

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
in Pavillon Lemieux at Laval University in Quebec City, Canada

Dear sisters and brothers, this evening I wish to give a talk on oneness from the spiritual point of view. You are my Canadian sisters and brothers and I am your Indian brother. I come to realise this fact only when I live in the soul. If I live in the body, then you are Canadians and I am an Indian and there is a huge wall that separates us.

Oneness is the only relationship that can forever last, because all human beings are either conscious or unconscious sharers of one divine and supreme Reality. For the unconscious sharers, dissatisfaction is the deplorable reality. If we are unconscious sharers, the body-consciousness separates us, the vital personality separates us, the mental individuality separates us. But for the conscious sharers, there is only the psychic unity. If we are conscious sharers, the psychic unity awakens us, illumines us, fulfils us and immortalises us. The human personality is a grain of sand on the shore of Infinity. If I maintain an existence separate and different from yours, then I need you to be my supplement and my complement. But our human unity ultimately blossoms into divine oneness. If I am one with you and you are one with me, then together we will grow into the highest Reality. Together we will increase our length, depth and height. Eternity's rest will welcome us, Infinity's breath will shake hands with us, Immortality's height will embrace us.

In this world, we notice that one thing alternates with another. Day alternates with night, fear alternates with courage, doubt alternates with faith, self-love alternates with God-love. But when we become unconditionally surrendered seekers of God, our oneness with God never alternates.

With our human ego we try to establish oneness with others. We feel that we have more capacity than others, so therefore we are entitled to oneness with them. But if we try to use ego as an instrument to establish oneness, then we will never succeed. Our oneness with others entirely depends on our soulful love. If we use the reasoning mind, then we can never discover love within us. If we use the demanding vital, then we can never discover love within us. But if we use the loving, fulfilling heart, then oneness becomes a reality in our day-to-day life.

When we are sincere, we feel that God loves us. When we pray, we feel that God belongs to us. When we meditate, we feel that we are of God. Our sincerity leads us along the right path. Our prayer accelerates our speed. Our meditation brings the goal nearer to us.

Here we are all seekers. This means that God is within us and God is for us. This is not imagination, but a reality that we can experience in our everyday life. We start our journey with religious training. Each religion is absolutely right in its own way. All the religions are branches of the one God-Tree. The Tree has established its oneness with the branches, and the branches have established their oneness with the Tree. The seekers do not all use the same branch to climb up the Tree; they use different branches. And sometimes they claim that their branch is the only branch to climb up to the top. But if the seekers are sincere, then they come to realise that all the branches belong to the same Tree. The same oneness pervades the Tree, the branches, the leaves, the fruits and the flowers. God was one, but He wanted to become many. When He became many, He did not lose His oneness. The dance of God's unity in multiplicity and multiplicity in unity we call God's eternal Game. God and we are both playing this game. The sincere and devoted seekers are very aware of their inseparable oneness with God, the unity in multiplicity. For the insincere seekers and for the non-seekers, though, it takes time. Unless and until they become sincere seekers, their conscious oneness with God will remain a far cry.

When evening sets in, the glow-worms offer their light. They feel that it is they who are illumining the entire sky. A few hours later the stars appear. Immediately the light of the glow-worms becomes insignificant, and their pride is smashed. After some time, the moon appears. When the moon appears, the stars pale into insignificance. Finally, the day dawns and the sun brilliantly illumines the whole world. The glow-worms, the stars and the moon all come to realise that it is the sun that illumines the entire world, that it is the sun that has boundless light. In the spiritual life, we eventually come to realise that there is an inner sun. The inner sun is infinitely brighter than the outer sun. When we bring to the fore this inner sun on the strength of our aspiration, we establish our inseparable oneness with the world at large.

Most of us here are sincere seekers; only a few have come out of curiosity. But I wish to say that even those who have come out of curiosity have done the right thing in coming to tonight's meeting. For today's curiosity will turn into tomorrow's sincere cry for Reality. Aspiration is the key to unlock the door of universal oneness, and those seekers who are really sincere already have the key. For them God's Hour has struck. And at God's Hour, the chosen instrument of God begins to spread the message of Light and Delight.

Our sense of immortality, our sense of spirituality, our sense of an inner bond, compels us to feel the necessity of oneness. Oneness is our transcendental Light and oneness is our eternal Delight.

Published in My Maple Tree

Choice

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at SUNY at Potsdam, New York

Who is called? Who is not called? He who needs is called. He who does not need is not called. Who needs? The seeker-lover in us needs. Who fulfils our need? The Beloved Supreme, the eternal Liberator, fulfils our need and responds to our inner cry.

What does the seeker in us need? He needs God-Truth, God-Light and God Delight. God-Truth awakens him, God Light illumines him and God-Delight fulfils him. God-Truth he hears. God-Light he sees. God-Delight he feels.

There are two worlds: the desire-world and the aspiration-world. In the desire-world our supreme choices are division and self-assertion. In the aspiration-world, our supreme choices are God-discovery and self-mastery. A sincere seeker, in the process of discovering and uncovering, realises his birthless and deathless inseparable oneness with his Source.

The seeker in us constantly needs God's boundless Compassion-Rain and God's Satisfaction-Reign. God the Beloved Supreme constantly needs from the seeker in us our aspiration-plane and dedication-train.

He who chooses the Absolute Supreme has already been chosen by the infinite and unconditional Bounty of the Supreme. The seeker's soul, the seeker's heart and the seeker's very existence on earth, have already been chosen by the Absolute Supreme to be his faithful, devoted and unconditional instruments for His divine Manifestation.

Published in Wisdom-Waves in New York, part 1

Questions and Answers

after Sri Chinmoy’s lecture
 

Question: In some of your songs it says, "Supreme, grant me your Guru-mantra." Is there a specific mantra which is called this?

Sri Chinmoy: It entirely depends on the seeker’s spiritual development. When the seeker reaches a certain height, a very elevated height, at that time he constantly utters only one mantra to maintain his inseparable oneness with his Guru, and that can be in any language. Right now you can get inseparable oneness for one second, one minute, one day or a few days, but then it is gone. So the Guru mantra is the prayer for constant inseparable oneness with the Guru. That is the highest mantra. And when I say constant, it automatically means unconditional as well. If one maintains constant oneness, then the oneness has to be unconditional. If you constantly pray to the Supreme for your constant oneness, your inseparable oneness with Him, that prayer becomes a Guru mantra, the highest mantra. But it is very difficult.

The aspiration-world tells you to surrender. The desire-world says that if you surrender, then you will have nothing to show, your existence will not be able to prove anything. The aspiration-world will immediately say that you did not come here to earth to prove anything, but only to be utilised by your Supreme Lord. If you are utilised by the Supreme, then automatically you have proven that you are a chosen instrument of His. So the Guru mantra, the highest mantra, is the constant cry for constant inseparable oneness with the Guru or the Supreme.

Question: How can people who are very opposite be such good friends? Kailash and I are such opposites.

Sri Chinmoy: The obverse and the reverse of the same coin complement each other, like day and night. If there is night, then only can we appreciate day. If there were only day or only night, we would not value its good qualities. If you experience night, then you will appreciate light more, and if you experience light, then you will appreciate the opposite.

You are saying that in your outer nature you and Kailash are North Pole and South Pole. But in your inner nature both of you have a very strong bond. In your outer life both of you may be diametrically opposite, but in your inner life you have the same goals: marching, running, jumping, flying and diving. In the outer world some people can even be constantly at daggers drawn, while in the inner world they love each to such an extent that they are ready to die for each other. You and Kailash in the inner world are extremely intimate friends, although in the outer world you may not always see eye-to-eye. But even in the outer world you do see eye-to-eye. Only in your mental arguing perhaps both of you have different opinions.

Your name means the inner code of life, and his name means the aspiration-mountain at its highest height. If one does not have the inner code of life, inner faith, how can one go high? Again, the higher one goes, the more his inner faith increases. Height and faith are inseparable. Just because you have faith you go higher, and just because you want to go higher you have to increase your faith. So your soul’s name and his soul’s name also complement each other and need each other.

Question: In my next incarnation how can I know that I was Ashrita?

Sri Chinmoy: Why do you think of your next incarnation? Why do you have to think of the future? It depends on your present connection. It is our present that gives us our future, as our past has brought our present. You may say that some of you did not have a spiritual past. But if compassion-rain descended so that your unspiritual past was properly washed away, then you can be sure that before your unspiritual past you did have a spiritual past. And now you have got a spiritual present. As you sow, so you reap. Since your present has become spiritual, that means that spirituality was also in your background. Once you have a spiritual foundation, you can have a spiritual edifice also. The past is now dust. The Grace of the Supreme has descended unconditionally, and it has given you spirituality. Once again you are the possessor of spirituality. Spirituality is inside you. He has sown the seed of spirituality. Now you grow the crop.

The closer you come to the Supreme, the more you will be aware of your oneness with Him. But never think of your next incarnation. It is useless. Think that there is no such thing as tomorrow; only today. Today you have to do everything, which means only one thing: to achieve conscious, constant, unreserved and unconditional oneness with the Supreme. Do not think of the future — either the immediate future or the remote future. Think of today and the immediacy of today. Now, at this moment, inside this moment, try to see the entire universe only expanding — expanding in height, expanding in length. Don’t think of tomorrow as something that will come and stand in front of you and delete all your unhealthy past and unhealthy present. Only today, today you have to do everything. At each moment today will be the fulfiller of your aspiration-desire-choice.

I play the role of the messenger, and I tell the Boss, “Since these people are very sincere, if they are a little bit weak, please give them another chance. I see clearly that they are really trying to establish their oneness with You. I have come to them with Your Blessing, with Your Light, with Your Peace and Bliss, and I see that they have very sincere hearts, and they really want to please You, although they are weak.” Then the Supreme gives you another chance, another chance time and again to make a fresh attempt, and quite often you do succeed. The Supreme listens to my request and He grants you people another chance. But when the Master is not involved, then this chance is not given. Then if you make constant mistakes, you have to wait indefinitely for your next opportunity. And God knows how many centuries it will take before the Grace will again descend into your life. When spiritual progress takes its normal course, it deals with Eternity. When there is a spiritual Master in the picture the process is not abnormal, but the process is special, the process is unusual. So when you have a Master, you should feel that you are most fortunate. Your present, past and future are mere words. You as an individual do not need the past, present or future. You do not need anything but the constant renewal of your oneness with your Beloved Supreme. Then the past, present and future have no value in your life. Spiritually they have all become one, inseparable, the eternal Now.

Question: What is the best way to get simplicity, sincerity, purity and humility?

Sri Chinmoy: All the good qualities. The best way to get simplicity is through identification. Just think of one of the Christian saints. You don’t have to follow Christianity, but think of a Christian saint, whoever you like best, for a fleeting second. Most of the Christian saints were very simple, very simple. That is, the ancient ones, not the modern saints. Then comes sincerity. For sincerity, think of a child three years old or four years old. This child will not be able to tell a lie. When he is five, six, seven, he may start telling lies, but not when he is very young. Then comes purity. For purity just enter into a garden and look at a flower, any flower that you like. It will give you purity. Then comes humility. For humility only look at Mother Earth. Look at the ground, how humble it is. It is accepting untold undivine things, accepting and embracing all human and animal consciousness. It could stand against us and say, “No, I don’t want to cooperate with you people. You are all ungrateful and undivine in every possible way.” But it accepts all our impurities and undivine consciousness and makes us feel that these are its own possessions as well. And how humble it is! Or think of a tree. In spite of having fruits, numberless fruits, it bows down. Here on earth when we have something we become proud and haughty. It is beneath our dignity to be one with others. We want to be at least an inch higher. Our possessions immediately make us feel superior to others. But in the case of the tree, possession makes it more humble. When the tree does not have flowers and fruits it stands tall. It is as if it does not care for the rest of the world. But when it possesses flowers and fruits, it bends down to offer them. Its possession brings humility.

On the strength of your identification you can achieve these divine qualities. God has all the attributes: simplicity, sincerity, purity, humility — everything. But God does not appear to you, let us say, in a tangible form. God is an invisible form to you. But God is being manifested in and through His creation. So if you see somebody who is very simple, just identify yourself with him. If you see a little child who is very sincere, then identify yourself with that child. When you go into a garden or just look at a flower, immediately you can identify with the purity of the flower. Then identify with the tree for humility, or with the Mother Earth. Always exercise your power of identification. Identification immediately gives us tremendous joy, success and progress. Touch water, and you get one vibration, one consciousness. Touch fire, and you get another vibration, another consciousness. The very nature of fire is to give you what it has. The very nature of water is to give you what it has. So what do you want? Do you want fire-consciousness inside you, or do you want water-consciousness inside you? If you want fire, then touch fire. If you want water, then touch water. If you want simplicity, then go to the little child. If you want purity, then immediately try to see the flower inside you, inside the very depths of your heart, blossoming petal by petal. And if you want humility, identify with the tree or Mother Earth. In this way, good boy, you can develop simplicity, sincerity, purity and humility.

Question: Sometimes I want to be with you, and let's say you aren't doing anything in particular, you're just sitting there, so someone asks me to do something. Since I really want to be with you, if I go do that thing, there is no cheerfulness in it, and if I say no, then I feel bad also. So what is the best thing to do?

Sri Chinmoy: I know you want to stay with me twenty-four hours a day, since your fondness for me is extremely sincere. But when I am not asking you to do something and somebody else asks you to do something, at that time you should feel that you are the only person needed to do that particular job, and that the message somebody has given you to do it has come from me. That person is only the messenger. If somebody has asked you to do something, feel at that moment that I have asked that person to ask you to do it. Then you can do it cheerfully.

But again, you have to know who the person is — what kind of nature the person has. There are so many disciples. Some are sincere, some are aspiring, while some are only clever, or are jealous that you are near me. They want to get rid of you for a while. If that is the case, you don’t have to help them. But if you see that that person really needs your help, and the actual need is my need, then you do it. You have to be wise, since there are many people who are jealous of you. But if they are good disciples, always feel that the request has actually come from me. So do it and then come back. Try to serve people. The more you serve, the more you can make progress. Usually it will be only a matter of a few minutes to fulfil the request of that particular person and come back. Then you will be happy because you are making me happy and you are making that person happy, and also your own heart will expand by serving the Supreme inside that person.

Question: How can I get rid of expectation?

Sri Chinmoy: How can you get rid of expectation? You can get rid of expectation by establishing more oneness with your Beloved Supreme, with the Supreme in you and the Supreme in me. Here is an example. A beggar expects something from the rich man. He will knock at the door, the owner will open the door, and the beggar will say, “Please give me a few dollars or some food or clothes.” He is a beggar; therefore, he has to knock at the door and beg. Now, if you are not a beggar, if you are the daughter of the owner of that house, then you don’t have to go out and knock at the door. You just remain inside, and it is the bounden duty of your father to support you, to feed you, to clothe you, to take care of your needs, to help you, to illumine you, to fulfil you. He knows that to fulfil his own daughter is to fulfil himself. And the way you have to feel is that when you fulfil your Divine Father, you fulfil your own reality.

You have to know what kind of oneness you have established with the Supreme or with your Master or with your soul. If you have established a strong, sincere, soulful oneness, then you don’t have to expect, for you will automatically get. A true, loving son or daughter, and an all-loving Father, need each other. The daughter’s affection, love and concern, and the Father’s Illumination-Power, Salvation-Power and Liberation-Power should go together. But if you expect, you will be frustrated. Who expects? The beggar in us, not the divine lover in us. If the daughter offers divine love to the Divine Father, the Supreme, then it is His duty to manifest Himself in and through the daughter. But a beggar has not established that kind of oneness. He is a stranger; he is from another world. He is not an intimate and loving member of the family.

If you establish your oneness with the Supreme more and more by virtue of your own inner cry and dedication, then the question of expectation does not arise. While you are giving, you are getting satisfaction. Self-giving is God-becoming; therefore, self-giving is the best kind of satisfaction. There is no satisfaction that can equal the satisfaction of self-giving. If you give yourself totally, unreservedly, unconditionally, inside your giving you will get tremendous joy, boundless joy. But from expectation what do you get? If you want ten dollars, you may get only five dollars, or you may not get anything at all. But while you are giving, you are only increasing the capacity of your heart, which is oneness, universal oneness. In the process of giving yourself, you are getting satisfaction far beyond your imagination. So give unreservedly — body, vital, mind, heart and soul — to the Supreme Cause, to the Supreme. While giving, you are bound to get tremendous, tremendous joy, the joy that you wanted all along. Don’t act like a beggar woman. Act like a daughter; act like a princess. Then the problem is solved.

Question: Guru, sometimes when I meditate or when I am confused, I hear a voice within myself that sounds like yours. Is it you, or is it something else?

 

Sri Chinmoy: Your soul is giving you the message, and your soul is in direct communication with me, with my height, with my light, with my inner capacities. It is my message which your soul is expressing to your physical mind. If the message comes in pindrop silence, and if you accept it soulfully and devotedly, then it will be most effective. Do not doubt it. Do not use the mind. If you use the mind, it will all be confused. But if you use the heart, it will always be effective. So feel that it is my inner message that your soul accepts and then expresses to your physical mind to execute. The physical mind may doubt it. But if you use the heart, you will accept it immediately. Then you will see that everything is meaningful, everything is fruitful.

Published in AUM – Vol. 5, No. 5, 6, 27 May-June 27 1978

The Seeker’s Duty

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York

The seeker's duty is complete non-co-operation with the desire-world. The seeker's duty is constant co-operation with the aspiration-world.

The seeker at times gets success from the desire-world, but to his wide surprise he eventually sees that inside his desire, what looms large is frustration. Desire itself is a dissatisfied hunger; when this hunger is fulfilled, it only increases.

In the aspiration-world when the seeker makes progress, he sees that in his progress itself there is satisfaction, abiding satisfaction. The aspiration-world and progress go together; progress and satisfaction go together.

The human duty is to love, serve and become the height of truth. The divine duty is to sing the song of oneness, to dance the dance of perfection and to live the life of fulness. The human duty is to discover God-Reality within and without. The divine duty is to uncover God-Beauty here, there and all-where.

Not to feed the doubting mind is the supreme duty of the seeker. To feed the loving and aspiring heart is the supreme duty of the seeker. To live in the soul and for the soul is the supreme duty of the seeker.

The seeker's duty is to have inner courage. This courage is an act of inner faith. Faith is an act of self-giving love, and love is an act of God-becoming life. The seeker's ultimate duty is to offer his soulful cry from the inmost recesses of his heart. When the seeker offers God his soulful cry from the inmost recesses of his heart, at that time God, out of His infinite Bounty, tells the seeker that He also has a Duty of His own. And that Duty is to grant the seeker, His chosen instrument, a blessingful and fruitful Smile.

Published in Wisdom-Waves in New York, part 1

Ancient Disciplines

Sri Chinmoy answers
a question asked at Progress-Promise in New York

Question: Tonight you gave an aphorism encouraging us to practise 'ancient disciplines'.* Could you please elaborate on that?

Sri Chinmoy: To start right from the beginning: one ancient discipline is to meditate in the small hours of the morning, not at seven o’clock or eight o’clock or nine o’clock. It has to be around four o’clock or three o’clock or even two o’clock. You can try to start at three o’clock. That is the first ancient discipline. In Vedic times, meditation started between three o’clock and half past three. That is called brahma muhurta — ‘The Hour of God’.

The second ancient discipline is chanting. In Vedic times, the seekers and sages used to recite mantras hundreds of times. Now we have made it simple. Our mantra is ‘Supreme’. Some of my soulful songs are also like mantras. Since you have not studied Sanskrit or the Indian scriptures, you can sing these songs. Even if you are not a singer, try to sing in your own way as soulfully as possible. Another thing that you can do early in the morning is to read my writings.

The most important thing is to sing The Invocation every day. This Invocation is our mantra. Here it is my own life-breath and my disciples’ life-breath that I have offered. I have composed thousands of songs, but in terms of my inner depth and spirituality, my own aspiration and realisation, I will always consider The Invocation as the most effective and fruitful mantra. Sometimes, when you sing it most soulfully, I can see that your aspiration-flames are mounting to the highest Heavens from your own depths. I see how fast your aspiration-flames are climbing. I see your flames, flames, reaching the Highest.

So try to practise ancient disciplines early in the morning. At least one hour or an hour and a half you can spend in prayer, meditation, reading spiritual books, and singing devotional songs. If you have some favourite songs, they will definitely help you in the same way that the Vedic seekers received abundant inspiration and aspiration from their mantras.

* The aphorism referred to in this question is poem no. 14607, from Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, part 15. 

My Lord Supreme tells me
That if I sincerely want
To make the fastest progress
In my spiritual life,
Then I must every day
Apply my ancient disciplines
To my modern life.

Note: Sri Chinmoy composes four more aphorisms about practising ancient disciplines, nos. 15204, 15205, 15206 and 15207.

Published in Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 35

Talks and Stories

by Sri Chinmoy
at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, New York

Complaint and Solution

I have received an open complaint, and I have an open solution.

Today a disciple told me that when two other disciples work together in a Divine Enterprise, they talk and talk and talk and talk. They ruin his concentration and his inner communion with his Guru while he is also working.

I wish to say that work is work. Work cannot be replaced by unnecessary talking. Please give importance to your work. When it is necessary, definitely you can talk. But unnecessary talking is not good, either for you or for others who do not want to lose their concentration or their love for work.

This request applies to all the Divine Enterprises.

“Give me no freedom”

If you really want to be an excellent seeker, then please sing our song “Give me no freedom” at least once a day. It will help your life tremendously, tremendously, tremendously. At least once a day, kindly sing the song, recite the song or think of the song. It will help you tremendously in your spiritual life.

By taking freedom, freedom, freedom from our Inner Pilot, we dig deep our inner grave. The moment He gives us freedom, we are apt to do something wrong, and that very thing will take us away from our own most sincere commitment to God’s Will.

Our village priest

Every evening our village priest and a relative of his would come and sit right in front of our door. For half an hour they would chant “Aum Narayana Narayana Narayana” to bring down Lord Vishnu’s blessings. They did not talk at all. Afterwards they would smoke and have something to eat, and then they would go. Both of them were very, very sincere and devoted. They chanted only “Aum Narayana Aum Narayana” — nothing else.

This was our main priest. His son-in-law was by far the greatest scholar, astrologer, philosopher and palmist in the village.

Published in His Compassion Is Everything to Us