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Special  Luncheon for Mothers

Sri Chinmoy hosts a special luncheon for his male disciples and their mothers at Annam Brahma Restaurant in Jamaica, New York. In the course of the luncheon, he gives a short talk to the mothers and invites them to ask him questions. Afterwards, he presents them with several gifts to honour them and express his gratitude to them.

Talk by Sri Chinmoy:

I lost my physical mother when I was eleven years old. She left me for God; she left me for her Maker. Since then, my three sisters, one by one, have played the role of my mother. Two of them are now with God. My middle sister, who is extremely close to me, is still on earth. Quite often I speak to her on the telephone. By the way, let me tell you, it is only twelve dollars for the first three minutes. Otherwise, you might think I am very extravagant. This sister of mine is extremely, extremely close to my heart and soul. She is not my sister but my real mother. Here in America I have three mothers: Ethel Siegerman in Toronto, Carolyn Hughes in Pennsylvania and Ruth Moseley, Karuna, in New York.

A few months ago I had the golden opportunity to be with the girls' mothers. The girls' mothers also came to Annam Brahma and it was a most significant occasion. On that day I was fortunate to have about twenty mothers. Today I am more fortunate, for today thirty mothers have come to bless an Indian son. I wish to say that it is only in America that mothers come to see their sons. In India, it is the bounden duty of the son to visit the mother.

When I say the word 'mother,' it touches the depth of my gratitude-heart. The dictionary houses thousands and millions of words, but without the least possible hesitation I wish to say that the word 'mother' remains unparalleled in terms of sweetness, love, concern, intimacy, closeness and oneness. There is no other word as significant as 'mother.' It can only be felt and never described. The mother is affection, the mother is love, the mother is concern, the mother is closeness, the mother is inseparable oneness with the son. The mother and the son are the obverse and reverse of the same coin. If there is only one side of the coin, then nobody will see it as a coin. Both the sides are of paramount importance. In the life of the mother, the son is undoubtedly the dearest living being. And in the heart of the son, the same experience must always loom large, that the mother is all. To the son, the mother is sweet, sweeter, sweetest. To the mother, the son is sweeter than the sweetest.

Each mother embodies the highest God-reality in abundant, boundless measure. As you all know, I come from India. In India we had a great spiritual Master whose name was Ramakrishna. He taught us that each mother has to be venerated, worshipped in the depths of the son's heart, because she embodies the Divine Mother, God in His feminine aspect. To him each mother represented the highest, the deepest. This Truth is undeniable to me and to those who love the Truth and want to grow into the Truth absolute.

I beg to be excused for all that I am saying. I have come not with the intention to throw light on you. I go to various places — colleges, universities, churches, synagogues to illumine the seekers. But the son cannot illumine his mother. If he wants to do that, then it will be the height of audacity and ignorance. So I have come here today not to throw light on you but to share with you the experiences which I have been sharing with your sons.

If you think I am a good man, then you are telling me a half-truth. The complete truth is that your sons are equally good. They say that birds of a feather flock together. It is true. If your sons had not been good, if divinity had not started to blossom in them, they would not have come to me to study in the school of love, devotion and surrender to God's Will. You have taught them in their childhood these three things — love, devotion and surrender — and I am only continuing what you have already started.

Now, some of you will say that your sons have come and joined our path without your knowledge or without your permission. But I wish to say that there are two types of permission. One is the permission of the tongue and mouth and the other is the permission of the heart. If one gets the inner permission from the soul of the mother, then that is more than enough. Here there is not a single mother whose soul has not given permission for her son to come and study with me in the school of love, devotion and surrender. I say this on the strength of my oneness, not only with God but with all of you, with your hearts and souls. If you feel that your sons are studying in a peculiar school, and that a day will come when they will be disillusioned and will feel they have done the wrong thing, then I wish to say that you are mistaken. There is not a single mother whose heart of divinity and whose soul of inseparable oneness with the Highest has not given permission for her son to study with me. The human in you may not believe it, but the divine in you is bound to believe it.

When you are blessed with a child, you bring into your life a solid portion of divinity from above. At that time your soul makes a solemn promise to God that you will make your son a perfect instrument of God. Either you will be in a position to help your son yourself, or you will take the help of some other human being. This is your soul's promise. Sometimes the physical mind will be aware of it, but in spite of being fully aware of what the soul has promised to God, it wants to delay the soul's fulfilment of that promise. Again, the physical mind may surrender to the heart.

It has happened a few times that a mother has objected to her son's joining our path. But her heart was totally against her mind's decision. The heart of the mother wants nothing from her son except a smiling face, a cheerful heart. Her son's smile, which comes from the inmost recesses of the heart, is the one thing that gives her joy. The son's smiling face, to the mother, is an illumining and fulfilling reality.

I wish to tell you a most significant incident that took place in my own life. When I was three years old my parents took me to the spiritual community where my oldest brother was living. It was my second visit. When I was a year and three months old my parents first took me there. The second time, my mother went to the head of this spiritual community, the spiritual mother, with only one prayer. The prayer was that she could take back her eldest son to the ordinary life. She was fully prepared to make this prayer to the spiritual Mother of this community. But when she saw the spiritual Mother, she could not make this request. She said: "Mother, I am so grateful that you have taken full responsibility for my eldest son. I have six other children whom I wish you to take on your path. The eldest you have taken. Now I beg you to take full responsibility for the younger brother and sisters." You see, the mind went to take the eldest son back, but the heart and the soul knew where the truth was. The heart and the soul prayed to the divine Mother to accept the rest of the children.

A real mother, when she sees her son is hungry, never thinks of who is feeding the son. If she does not have food and someone is ready to offer proper food, she tells the son, "Go and eat. This is what you need." On the physical plane, I, as a human being, appear to feed your sons. But this is not true. It is only God in me, God in you, who feeds them. They have seen in me a good friend, an eternal friend, and I have seen in them an instrument that is going to become a perfect, absolutely perfect instrument of God.

You have come to see me because I am supposed to be the leader of your children. But I am not their leader. The real leader is not a human being; the real leader is God. I am just an older brother. As I said, you are my mothers. Yours sons have found in me an elder brother. And I am taking them to your Father, their Father, my Father — to our Eternal Father, who is God. This is my role: to take them to the right place, the right person. The thing that I am doing is what your souls want. As a matter of fact, your souls are doing it in and through me. The most striking progress that your sons are making is the result of your souls' continuous love and concern for your sons. I shall not take any credit. And again, there is something more, which is extremely important: the body, vital, mind, heart and soul of your sons wanted to do the same thing. So, your souls, your sons' souls and my soul all joined together only to do one thing: to please God in God's own Way. When we remain in the body, vital or mind, we try to compel God either devotedly or cleverly to please us in our own way. But when we remain in the heart, we ask God to show us how we can please Him. When we remain in our heart and soul, always we tell God only one thing: "Let Thy Will be done." And you quite often do remain inside your heart. At that time, you see that the thing that you actually wanted for your sons is being done. It is being done on the strength of your real love for your sons.

When you think of perfection, you have to know that perfection comes only in self-giving, and self-giving is God-becoming. The son is part and parcel of the mother's existence and this son she offers to God so that he can study in a spiritual school and develop love, devotion and surrender. This is one act of self-giving. The second act of self-giving is to see the person to whom your children have come. But it is an even greater victory that you have come to visit me. There are mothers here who have doubted me and suspected me. So, for these mothers, is it not their greatest achievement to come today and see whether I am good?

Today I have sung the song of victory. It is your victory, your second victory. The first victory was in the inner world when you gave your sons outer permission to follow our path. If any mother goes home with a good thought — that you have seen that Indian who has taken away your dearest and he is not bad after all — I wish to tell you that this thought will undoubtedly increase your happiness. And happiness is nothing but an expansion or manifestation of your own divinity. Divinity means the thing that eternally is. A thought does not last, but we last. If the thought gives way to God's Will, then you can say, "Let Thy Will be done." Nobody has said and nobody will say anything better than this: "Let Thy Will be done." Two thousand years ago we were taught this by the Christ. So if you want happiness in the purest sense, if you want happiness to constantly increase in your life, then you have to surrender to God's Will. And that is done by self-giving.

It is an act of supreme self-giving on your part to see me. For that I am eternally grateful to you. Today you have come to see a son of yours. I wish to say that your affection, your concern, your good will shall grow in me, in the very depth of my grateful heart. On the strength of my oneness with my Inner Pilot, I wish to tell you that there shall come a time when we all shall pass behind the curtain of Eternity. At that time, this Indian son of yours will be in an infinitely better position to be of help, not only to your sons, but to all of you. I assure you, in the name of the Absolute Pilot Supreme, that I shall really do something in the inner world at God's Choice Hour for all the mothers whom I am today fortunate enough to meet. And you don't have to follow our path, you don't have to study in our school. If you do your own respective prayer, if you go to church or synagogue or wherever you go, I wish to tell you that if you are sincere and devoted, then my dedicated, illumining, soulful service to your souls you are bound to feel. And I assure you it can happen right from today. You don't have to wait for two years or three years or four years. When I accepted your sons, I accepted a portion of your life-breath. So when I am one, absolutely one, with a portion of your life-breath, I am undoubtedly inside your heart and soul, only waiting for you to grant me the golden opportunity to be of real service to you.

Nothing gives me greater joy than to be of dedicated service. All the mothers are members of the same family, one family. You have offered to the Supreme in me the one that is dearest and closest to you. You are already in my heart of gratitude, constantly growing and glowing, for it is your sons who are helping me steer the boat to the Golden Shore. And I assure you that when you live in the heart, definitely you will get all of your sons' achievements. When you remain in the world of prayer, meditation and aspiration or inner cry, you shall see that the achievements of the sons are undoubtedly the achievements of the mothers, and the achievements of the mothers are undoubtedly the achievements of the sons. The sons have already achieved the mothers' abundant love, concern, sympathy, intimacy, oneness. All these qualities that I notice in your sons have come directly from you; you are the source.

Again, if you remain in the vital or the physical, there shall come a time when the physical and vital in you will surrender to the aspiring heart. At that time you will realise that your dearest ones have not left you. Wherever they are, there you are inside the very depth of their living breath, and vice versa: wherever you are, they will also be there. They are carrying you and you are carrying them. I offer my ever-growing and ever-glowing gratitude to the souls of all the mothers.

Published in Nineteen American Mothers and Nineteen American Sons with Sri Chinmoy

Achieving World Peace from a Spiritual Point of View

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
University of Hawai, Honolulu, Hawaii

Introduction

[Sri Chinmoy is offered a traditional Hawaiian welcome and greeting (called an ‘Oli’) by Ka’iwi, a Hawaiian singer.]

Dr. Majid Tehranian, Professor and Director of the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research: Dear brothers and sisters who have gathered here, it is a great honour for me as a simple Professor of International Communication at the University of Hawaii to have been asked to introduce Sri Chinmoy. I am tempted to say that he needs no introduction. He is as well known and as well loved as Leonardo Di Caprio. But I am going to resist that temptation.

For those of you who have not followed his illustrious life and career, let me perhaps begin by saying he was born in the glorious land of Bengal in 1931. Bengal seems to nurture great spirits who soar beyond the existential boundaries of colour, creed, nationality or religion — the likes of Tagore; Mohammed Younis, President of the Grameen Bank, a unique institution that lends to those who need it: the poor, rather than the rich; and, of course, our distinguished guest today.

Sri Chinmoy spent most of his youth and young adulthood in an ashram, a spiritual community, where he combined an active participation in sports and ashram affairs with a deeply spiritual life. Since coming to the United States in 1964, he has maintained this balance between body and spirit in a life that expresses the unlimited potential of the human spirit.

Sri Chinmoy is a prodigious and creative talent who has written over 1,250 books on spiritual philosophy. Here at the University of Hawaii, you only need one book to get tenured! In addition, he has composed over 13,000 devotional songs and performed in such prestigious locations as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York. Selections from his large body of artwork — an amazing 150,000 paintings — have been shown in museums, galleries and universities around the world. His international running team sponsors over 500 athletic events each year. Today Sri Chinmoy is the leader of 100 meditation centres around the world and for the past 28 years he has been conducting twice-weekly meditations at United Nations headquarters in New York City for diplomats and staff. In my mind, Sri Chinmoy exemplifies the spirit of Saadi, a 13th-century Persian Sufi poet, who said about the flight of the human spirit, and I quote,

“The spirit reaches such height
That it can see nothing but the Divine.
Have you witnessed the eagle’s flight?
Wonder at the spirit’s sight.”

Please welcome Sri Chinmoy, our distinguished author, composer, sportsman, poet, philosopher and spiritual leader.

Sri Chinmoy: I wish to offer my prayerful and soulful gratitude to you, my dear Dr. Tehranian, and to my esteemed sister June Naughton, Director of International Student Services; Pua Auyong, Office of Student Equity, Excellence and Diversity; Dr. Doris Ching, Vice-President of Student Affairs; and Dr. Premalata Menon, Faculty of Public Health, for so kindly inviting me to say a few words on world peace.

As a God-seeker, I can have genuine peace only when I take God’s Compassion-Feet as my only shelter-rocks.

As a God-server, I can have fruitful peace only when insecurity completely loses its foothold in my life.

As a God-lover, I can have ever-blossoming peace only when I keep my heart-door wide open for my Lord’s Compassion-flooded Arrival.

Peace is something that we cannot give.

Peace is something that we cannot receive.

Peace is something that we become. Once we become peace, then only can we give peace to the world and receive peace from the world.

God tells me that if I can answer two questions, only then will He bless me with peace: Who am I? What am I?

Since I do not know the adequate answers, out of His infinite Bounty, God tells me who I am and what I am.

Who am I? I am the smiling soul of Immortality’s God.

What am I? I am the crying heart of Eternity’s God.

Peace has now become a slogan. The child of yesterday and the man who has one foot in the grave talk about peace. If we can have peace as our sole mantra-incantation instead of our slogan, peace is bound to descend from the realm of the Beyond.

When the mind talks about peace, invariably pride looms large.

When the heart talks about peace, oneness blossoms all-where.

My Lord Supreme blessingfully and compassionately asks me if I really need peace from Him.

I say to Him: “I do, I do! The sooner the better.”

My Lord gravely and sternly tells me: “Then stop flattering Me with your mouth. Start aspiring immediately with your heart. Start serving Me immediately with your life-breath.”

I ask my Lord: “What about my praising You?”

My Lord says to me: “Do I have to tell you why you praise Me? You praise Me to raise you in your outer status. Do I not see through your clever and tricky movements?”

I become the hush of silence.

My Lord becomes the abundance of His Self-Giving.

Since anxiety, worry, jealousy and insecurity are preventing us from achieving inner peace and outer peace, can we not enter into the inner life with our meditation-fee and join an anxiety-worry-jealousy-and-insecurity-prevention society? Needless to say, in the inner world there are many such societies.

And, once we do well, our Lord Supreme will proudly give us a free life membership.

Smiling, singing and dancing, my Lord Supreme comes to me with His Infinity’s Peace when He sees me speedily running towards my heart-home before, long before, ignorance-night can dare to capture me.

O ignorance-flooded mind of peace-refusal, peace-reluctance, peace-unwillingness and peace-unreadiness, do you not think it is high time for you to reverse the course of your life so that you can enjoy the Beauty of God’s Life Universal and the Fragrance of God’s Self Transcendental?

God and God’s Compassion-Eye stop playing hide-and-seek the moment I prayerfully proclaim:

I am only for You.
Thine is the Will I am made of.
Thine is the Will I live for.

Only a sleepless self-giver is blessed with peace, for only he can walk along with his soul through the bountiful meadows of the Heavens.

God solemnly asks His world-peace-preachers: “Tell Me, My children, what do you actually want from peace, world-recognition or world-illumination? If your peace is for world-recognition, you will find Me nowhere in My entire universe. If your peace is for world-illumination, I shall be extremely proud of having you as My invaluable and indispensable partners in My world of Vision-Light and in My world of manifestation-delight.”

When my mind preaches peace-gospel, God immediately becomes a roaring and thundering laughter.

When my mind teaches peace-philosophy, God immediately starts sleeping and snoring.

When my heart prayerfully learns peace-songs from my soul, God immediately and proudly embraces both the teacher and the student.

To my soul, God says: “My child, you are My world-transforming Power.”

To my heart, God says: “My child, you are My world-awakening Hour.”

Published in A Peace-Collecting Pilgrim-Soul

Christmas Trip Stories

by Sri Chinmoy
on Pangkor Island in Perak, Malaysia

Swimming in the sea of happiness

Yesterday one of our boys was running. He should have seen his noble self! While he was running, I was seeing such ecstasy inside his head, neck and shoulders. I said to myself, “My God! Everything is dancing — his shoulder is dancing, his neck is dancing, his head is dancing. They are all dancing with joy!” Such happiness I was seeing in him, here, there and everywhere! I did not even see his face — otherwise I would have given the description of his face also. I saw everything from behind. Here, there, everywhere in his body he was dancing, dancing with joy. That joy he will not get at home. At home there are only problems!

Most of the disciples here on our Christmas Trip are swimming in the sea of happiness. It pains me when I see that people are not fully happy. There will always be some who are miserable. Even if you take them to Heaven, they will find something wrong inside Heaven. What can you do? But most are swimming in the sea of happiness.

Emotion and imitation

Tagore wrote in one of his immortal books that the Japanese people are not emotional. I read his book, and I also formed that belief. Then, when I went to Japan, I saw the young children greeting me while I was at their school. How they were expressing their emotional joy! In other places also I saw that kind of expression. Tagore said that the Japanese people are not emotional, but in my case I feel it is just the opposite.

The Japanese showed tremendous respect and love for Tagore. Once he was drinking tea with them. Others were using their cup, but Tagore was inspired to pour a little bit of tea on the saucer. Then his Japanese friends at the same table started drinking in Tagore’s way. Finally somebody asked Tagore, “Why are you drinking like this?” He said, “That is my way, my traditional way. But why do you have to follow my way?” They said, “Because you are so great!”

When I drink or eat in an unusual way, I do not think my disciples will imitate me. Many times I use my hands to eat. I do not think my disciples will use their hands instead of a knife and fork. This is our Indian way. The fingers are part of the body. When the fingers touch the mouth or tongue, immediately we know that one part of the body, one limb, is touching another. If you eat with your hands, when you touch your mouth you get such a familiar feeling, a oneness-feeling. But when you use a fork or a spoon, you know that it is not on the human level. These instruments serve us. They are on the mineral level, so their standard is quite low; but we need them at every moment. When a spoon places food into your mouth, it is like a foreign element.

In India we do not get the same feeling from a spoon or fork that we get from our hands. I myself do not get the feeling. The metal object takes away my joy. When we can use our hands to eat, we get tremendous joy.

What else is a mantra?

What is this morning’s early prayer?* 
[The disciples repeat:]

    “My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!
     My heart is all tearful gratitude to You
     Because You have given me
     An aspiration-heart
     That never fails You and never falls.
     My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!”

Some of the prayers you should remember and remember. The ones that really inspire you, you should learn by heart. What else is a mantra? Anything that you like, anything that makes you feel joy within, must be repeated, repeated, again and again.

* Sri Chinmoy offers this prayer at 4:10 a.m. on Pangkor Island, Perak, Malaysia, before doing a seated double-dumbbell lift of 500 lbs. — My Morning Soul-Body Prayers, part 19

Published in My Golden Children

Hinduism: the Journey of India’s Soul

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at the Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Center
Long Island, New York

Hinduism is an inner experience; it is the experience of the soul. Hinduism is not a religion. It is the name of a culture — a self-disciplined, spiritual culture. The word religion, in fact, is not to be found in the dictionary of a Hindu. His dictionary houses the word ‘dharma’. Dharma, no doubt, includes religion, but its long arms are stretched far beyond the usual conceptions of religion. Dharma means the inner code of life, the deeper significance of human existence. Dharma is a Sanskrit word which derives from the root ‘dhri’, to hold. What holds man is his inner law. This inner law is a Divine, all-fulfilling experience that frees man from the fetters of ignorance even while he is in the physical world. Religion, on the other hand, is derived from the Latin verb ‘ligare’, to bind. The ancient Romans saw religion as a force which binds and controls man. But the ancient Indian seers felt that religion, nay, dharma, must release man from that which binds him, that is, his own ignorance. Man’s awakened consciousness must do away with ignorance, or to be precise, transform ignorance into the knowledge of Truth.

“Dharma,” says Sri Aurobindo, “is the Indian conception in which rights and duties lose the artificial antagonism created by a view of the world which makes selfishness the root of action, and regain their deep and eternal unity. Dharma is the basis of Democracy which Asia must recognise, for in this lies the distinction between the soul of Asia and the soul of Europe. Through Dharma the Asiatic evolution fulfils itself; this is her secret.”

In days of yore, Hinduism was known as the Arya Dharma. Strangely enough, even now people are not quite sure from which part of the globe the Aryans entered India. Some, indeed, are of the opinion that the Aryans did not come from outside at all. Swami Vivekananda heads the list of these firm believers.

The origin of the word ‘Hindu’ is very strange. It is closely associated with the river ‘Sindhu’, the present Indus. But the ancient Iranians, desiring to call the Aryans by the name of the river on which they lived, pronounced it ‘Hindu’. The Aryans seemed to like the name and we, who are their descendants, are enamoured and proud of the name "Hindu."

Hinduism or the Hindu Dharma is founded on the spiritual teachings of the Hindu seers. The Hindu shastras or scriptures which govern Hindu life and conduct are illumined and surcharged with the light and power of the hallowed teachings of the ancient seers.

Many are the Hindu shastras. Each has made a singular, powerful contribution to the whole. The oldest and foremost of all these are the Vedas. These are considered the oldest written scriptures since the dawn of civilisation. The other scriptures have the Vedas as their only fount. The Vedas have another name, ‘Shruti’, that which is heard. They are so called because they are based on direct revelation. The authority of the Vedas rests on direct, inner spiritual experience that is married to Divine Reality. A Hindu feels in the inmost recesses of his heart that to doubt the inner experiences of the Vedic seers is to doubt the very existence of Truth. ‘Vid’, to know is the Sanskrit root of the word Veda. Veda actually means the knowledge of God. As God is infinite, even so is His Knowledge. We observe in the Vedas, with surprise and delight, that the Truth-Discoveries are infinitely more important than the Truth-Discoverers. Unfortunately, the order of the day is the reverse. The Vedas are four in number: Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda. Each of the Vedas consists of two sections: Samhita and Brahmana. Samhita embodies the hymns or mantras, while Brahmana expounds their significance and appropriate application.

All other Hindu Shastras cherish their great indebtedness to the Vedas. They are proud of the fact that they owe their authority to the Vedas and to the Vedas alone. These scriptures are known as Smritis. ‘Smriti’ literally means anything that is remembered. Smriti is a scripture other than the Vedas proper. It has traditionally exercised great authority in laying down social and domestic laws, plying its boat between the shores of Vidhi (injunctions) and Nishedha (prohibitions) of the Hindu society.

Now let us focus our attention on the Upanishads ‘Upa’ means near, ‘ni’ means down, ‘shad’ means sit. ‘Upanishad’ refers to pupils sitting at the feet of their Teacher, learning their spiritual lessons. The Upanishads are the philosophical and reasoned parts of the Vedas. They are also called "Vedanta," End of the Veda. There are two reasons for this. One is that they present themselves toward the end of the Vedas; the other is that they contain the spiritual essence of the Veda, which is all Light and Delight. The actual number of the Upanishads still remains unknown. One hundred and eight have been faithfully preserved. Of these the most significant are: Isha, Kena, Katha, Prashna, Mundakya, Aiteriya, Chhandogya, Brihadaranyaka and Shwetaswatara.

God-realisation abides in meditation; never, in books. This is the supreme secret of the Upanishads. The sages and the seers in the Upanishads asked their pupils to meditate, only to meditate. They did not even advise their students to depend on the Vedas as an aid to realising God. Meditate, the Brahman is yours! Meditate, Immortality is yours! At the beginning of the journey of human soul, the Upanishadic seers cry out, “Utthishtata jagrata…” — Arise, awake, stop not until the Goal is reached." At the journey’s end, the same seers cry out once again, “Tat twam asi” — That Thou art.

Now let us come to the Sad-Darshana, the Six Systems of Indian Philosophy. These are the various schools of thought, later introduced by some of the Hindu sages. The sage Jaimini’s system is called Purva Mimansa; others are Vyasa’s Uttar Mimansa or Vedanta, Kapila’s Sankhya, Patanjali’s Yoga, Gotama's Nyaya, and Kanada’s Vaisheshika. If one studies the Nyaya first, then it becomes easier to fathom the other systems of thought.

All of the Six Systems were written in "sutras" or aphorisms. The seers did this because they wanted, not to expound the philosophy, but to express in the briefest possible sentences their soul-stirring revelations and have these engraved on the memory of the aspirant. Through the passage of time, the aphorisms have been significantly adorned and armoured with countless notes and commentaries.

It is high time for us to invite Professor Max Muller to join us in today's momentous journey.

"If I were to look over the whole world to find out the country most richly endowed with all the wealth, power and beauty that nature can bestow — in some parts a very paradise on earth — I should point to India... If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life and has found solutions of some of them which well deserve the attention even of those who have studied Plato and Kant — I should point to India. And if I were to ask myself from what literature, we here in Europe, we who have been nurtured almost exclusively on the thought of Greeks and Romans, and of one Semitic race, the Jewish, may draw their corrective which is most wanted in order to make our inner life more perfect, more comprehensive, more universal, in fact more truly human, a life not for this life only, but a transfigured and eternal life — again I should point to India."

To walk along the royal path of the Six Systems of Philosophy, is difficult. That path is for the learned and the select few. The common run needs an easier path. It is here that the Puranas come into the picture. The Puranas teach us the Hindu religion with inspiring and thought-provoking stories, anecdotes and parables. The Puranas present Hinduism in an easy, interesting, charming and convincing manner. The major difference between the Vedas and the Puranas is that the Vedic Gods represent the cosmic attributes of the One, while the Puranic Gods represent His "human" attributes.

Now the Bhagavad-Gita or the Song Celestial demands our immediate attention. It is the scripture par excellence. The Gita is the life-breath of Hinduism. The Gita tells us not only to realise God, but also how. The Gita introduces three principal paths toward God-realisation: Karma Yoga, the path of action; Jnana Yoga, the path of knowledge, and Bhakti Yoga, the path of devotion Emotional devotion and philosophical detachment not only must but can run abreast to fulfil the Divine here on earth. This sublime teaching of the Gita knows no equal. Without hesitation, a devout Hindu can say that the Gita has been the solace of his whole life and will be the solace of his death.

Certain people are heartily sick of our rituals and rites. To them, these are nothing, but cheap, confused and showy affairs. But these critics will have no choice but to revise their opinions when they come to know why we perform these. Needless to say, we want spirituality to govern our lives, both inner and outer. Without the purity of the mind, there can be no true spirituality. And to have that purity, the performance of rituals is often an invaluable necessity. We know that when the mind, is pure, illumination dawns. The subtle truths that lie beyond the range of our senses enter into our consciousness directly through the pure mind. Participation in rituals greatly aids this process. Granted, rituals are externals. But we have to know that it is the externals that bring home the truth to individuals. Rituals eventually touch the very core of our consciousness. Rituals permeate every aspect of Hindu life.

Rites, too, have been in vogue since the days of the Atharva Veda. Rites, if performed with an inner urge, with an aspiring heart, can help us considerably to conquer the hostile forces, avert untold misfortunes, fulfil life in its divine plenitude. Indeed, this is the divine attitude. The fear of a spiritual fall threatens us only when we use the rites, or rather the magic or lesser rites, to gain selfish and undivine ends.

A word about images and symbols. We do not worship images and symbols. We worship the Spirit behind them. This Spirit is God. It is so easy to feel the presence of God in and through a concrete form. Through the form, one has to go to the Formless, through the finite to the Infinite.

We worship nature. They smile at our folly. We laugh at their ignorance. Why do we worship nature? Because we have discovered the truth. We have discovered the truth that God manifests himself not only through nature but also as Nature. “A thing of beauty is a joy forever,” said Keats. Beauty is soul. Soul is all joy. A Hindu seeker cannot separate the aspiration of Nature from the beauty and joy of the Soul. Nature’s aspiration and the soul’s delight together create an all-loving, all-embracing and all-fulfilling perfect perfection.

“Look at the zenith of Hindu folly,” they say, “for of all things in God’s creation, a Hindu has to worship animals, trees, even snakes and stones!” Alas, when will these men of so-called wisdom come to learn that we do not worship the stones as stones, the snakes as snakes, the trees as trees, and the animals as animals. What we do is very simple, direct and spontaneous. We worship the Supreme behind all these; nothing more and nothing less. With this attitude a Hindu desires to worship each and every object of the world, from the mightiest to the tiniest. Let us speak of the caste-system, the object of ceaseless ridicule. What is caste? In the deepest sense of the term, caste is unity in variety. No variety, no sign of life. Variety is essential to the cosmic evolution. All individuals cannot have the same kind of development: physical, vital, mental or spiritual. Neither is such similarity imperative. The thing of paramount importance is that each individual must be given infinite opportunity and freedom to develop along his own line of growth.

In this lofty ideal, there is only one idea. To serve and to be served. Each individual has his rightful place in this ideal. The caste-system is to be treated as the functioning of one’s limbs. My feet are in no way inferior to my head; one complements the other. Brahmin (priest, teacher and law-maker), Kshatriya (king and warrior), Vaishya (merchant, trader and agriculturalist) and Shudra (labourer, servant and dedicated hand) are all united by their mutual service. Caste is not a division. It is the secret of proper understanding. And it is in proper understanding that we fulfil ourselves fully. A Hindu feels this sober truth.

True Hinduism abjures all that divides and separates. It dreams of the Supreme Truth in absolute freedom, perfect justice in an all-embracing love, and the highest individual liberation in the unconditional service of humanity.

Hinduism gives due importance to all spiritual figures of the world. It recognises a great harmony in their teachings. Down through the ages, the firmament of India has sent forth the message of Peace, Love and Truth. It has fostered and encouraged the synthesis of all world religions. Further, Hinduism affirms that the highest end of life is not to remain in any particular religion, but to outgrow it, and realise and live in the Eternal Truth.

Hinduism is the embodiment of certain lofty, infallible ideals. These ideals within us live and grow, grow and live, and because of this fact, Hinduism is still a living force. It lives to lead. It leads to live.

To know Hinduism is to discover India. To discover India is to feel the breath of the soul. To feel the breath of the soul is to become one with God.

Published in AUM – Vol. 2, No. 6, January 27, 1967

Stories from Malaysia

by Sri Chinmoy
at Pangkor Island Beach Resort, Malaysia

How God saves us!

One day Vinaya was driving me. First we went to Kennedy Airport, where I take exercise by walking inside one of the terminals. Afterwards in the car I said, “Today let us go this way.” We went a totally different way while coming back. Alas, in fifteen minutes, while we were still in the car, Vinaya heard on the radio that a plane had crashed in the place where we usually drive. How God saves us! The following day we went to see how much destruction had taken place.

Our Indian theory is that whomever Lord Krishna wants to save, nobody can kill. And if Lord Krishna wants to kill someone, nobody can save that person. Rakhe Krishna mare ke, Mare Krishna rakhe ke: “Whom Krishna saves, who can destroy? Whom Krishna destroys, who can save?” If God wants to save us, nobody can put an end to our life. But if it is not God’s Will, if it is time for us to leave this world, then nobody will be there to save us.

There are some trustworthy people!

The other day, I do not know how or why, I left my wallet on my bed here in the hotel. I know I was taking out some bills, and I left it open on my bed. I was out for at least three or four hours. When I came back, I saw the wallet on my bed. It was still slightly open. Then I concentrated and concentrated on it. My inner being told me that the lady who cleaned my room had not touched anything in the wallet. The wallet was there, where I had placed it. She had not touched anything. She is Tamil, and I know her language very well, but only the language for the servant class. My Tamil is not for the upper class! At the Ashram we dealt only with Tamilians of the servant class. This lady is of that class, so I was able to speak to her.

She said, “No, no, no, I did not take anything!”

I was very pleased. Then I said to her, “On the day I depart, I will leave a very large amount of money for you, since you are so honest.” She was very, very happy. Today she saw me when I was leaving my room. She came up to me and said, “Guru, please give it to me in my hands. Here people steal money, so please do not leave money for me on your bed. Somebody else will come and take it away.”

I said, “I left so much money on my bed, and it was not stolen! All right, before I leave I shall give you money. I shall place it in your hands.” Then she was so happy. She had absolutely not touched the money. My wallet was open, and she did not remove one bill. There are some trustworthy people!

On our departure day, this lady was looking for me and I was looking for her, because I did not want to leave without giving her money. When I went into my room for the last time, I saw her. In Tamil I said, “Please wait, wait, wait a short time!” I said to myself, “How many ringgit should I give her?” I decided that I must give her 800 ringgit.

On the top of the envelope I wrote “800 ringgit.” When I gave her the envelope, her eyebrows touched the ceiling! She was so sincere, so sincere.

Yesterday this lady came to meditate with me, with the hotel staff. She came with the last batch. I recognised her, but I was desperately trying not to give her more attention than the others, so that they would not be disturbed. The manager was also there! He was seated in the front row. The way I smiled at the others, I smiled at her also — exactly the same way. She is such a nice lady.

Some of the hotel workers meditated very well. They looked at me and they went into a very high world.

My ‘Invocation’ and ‘Supreme’ notebooks

Every day I play “The Invocation” and “My Lord Beloved Supreme,” and I also write “The Invocation” and “Supreme.” In one notebook I write “Supreme” in two columns, side by side, and I write the date. In another notebook I write “The Invocation.” I have decided that I am supposed to do it every day, the way I play the music and sing. But I play a nice trick! I tell my Lord Supreme that I want to go a little faster. I go on, past the actual date. I go five, six or seven days ahead, for both “The Invocation” and “Supreme.” Then I am very happy. After all, it is I who am writing it, so there is nothing wrong if I go ahead of the actual date.

The funniest thing happened! When I came to this place, for the first few days I was writing “Supreme” and “The Invocation.” But my table had so many things on it: my artwork, my largest Tote-a-Tune, my picture of Mother Kali, and my acrylic paints. All kinds of things were on my table. It was absolutely a jumble. I said to myself, “I am sure I have gone a few days ahead,” so I put those two notebooks inside the drawer. I said, “I will remember them. I will take them out every day.” But my remembering became all forgetfulness! When I finally remembered the two notebooks, I said, “O God, what have I done? Why did I put them inside the drawer? I should have kept them on top of the table!”

I was finding fault with myself. I said, “How could I do this?” I opened up the drawer and saw the two notebooks. I got the happiest surprise when I saw where I had stopped. Can you imagine — both days I had stopped at the page dated December 7th, which is tomorrow! I was so thrilled to see that I was still ahead by one day. Again tomorrow I will fool myself and go four or five days ahead, and in that way I will save myself. But I am not going to keep my notebooks inside the drawer any more. Then they will draw my attention.

For three or four years Minati was the one who kept the account of my repetitions when I was doing japa. It started with Minati. Then Paree used to take down the number. I started with 4,000, then I went to 6,000 and 7,000. Finally I did japa 15,000 times.

Published in My Golden Children