You or I?
by Sri Chinmoy
Dag Hammarskjöld Lecture Series
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium, United Nations, New York
O God, are You responsible for all the suffering, darkness and ignorance in the world, or am I?
“Son, I am responsible. I am responsible for everything; I am responsible for everyone; I am responsible for My entire creation. It is I who reside in everything as inspiration and as aspiration. It is I who approve of everything or tolerate everything, show compassion for everything or forgive everything. Therefore it is I who am responsible for everything, whether it is good or bad, divine or undivine. It is I who am responsible in everything, in every action, in every human life.”
O God, You want to change the face of the world. Do You want to do it alone, all by Yourself, or do You need my help and dedicated service?
“Son, I do not want to change the face of the world all by Myself. I cannot change the face of the world alone. I need your assistance. I am the tree. You, all human beings, are the leaves, flowers and fruits. A tree without leaves, flowers and fruits is worthless. I need assistance from my created human beings. I am the ultimate realisation of your climbing cry. You are the ultimate manifestation of My descending Dream. The transformation of the earth-consciousness can take place only when you and I work together. Dedicated service from both the Creator and the creation is needed to change the face of the world.”
AUM
“You or I?”
When I think of the divine within my heart, when I meditate on the divine within my heart, I see, I feel my “I”. This “I” is not a self-centred “I”. This “I” is the infinite expansion of my universal oneness.
When I think of the undivine within my being, when I meditate on the undivine within my being, I automatically choose the life of bondage. I become the life of frustration. I become the life of destruction. When I meditate on the undivine or think of the undivine, I choose mental limitation to be my own. I choose vital frustration to accept me as its own. I choose physical imperfection and unconsciousness to take me as their very own. Each moment that I meditate on the undivine, I enjoy, consciously enjoy, despair, frustration, limitation, bondage and death.
Here at the United Nations let us say “You and I”, not “You or I?”
You and I. You as a nation — aspiring nation, searching nation, crying nation, illumining nation — can fulfil the Dream of God on earth. As a seeker of the Highest Truth, with your dedication you can fulfil the Dream of God.
When, as a nation, you think only of yourself, I see you as a petal of a rose. But when, on the strength of your dedication to the world at large, you need the Divine in you to think of you and to meditate on you, I see you as a whole, a rose complete. I do not see you as a petal, but as a fully-blossomed rose.
“You or I?” is determined by our actions. The Divine within us gets abundant joy when we act devotedly and soulfully. The undivine in us gets joy when we want to possess and be possessed. We know the secret of joy. When we do the right thing, on the strength of our inner cry, we get joy. But the supreme Joy will not be, cannot be our joy unless and until we know how to devote ourselves. The result of our actions may be satisfactory to us, but if we do not get this result by virtue of our devoted and selfless service, we will not get infinite Joy and supreme Joy.
Our dynamic joy constantly pleases God.
Our inner silence constantly feeds God.
Our total and integral surrender devours God.
Each action of ours affects the world at large. A state of mind can affect the entire being. An individual can affect the entire humanity. An iota of God’s Concern can illumine all of mankind.
Joy is in self-transcendence.
Joy is in self-offering.
Joy is in self-fulfilment.
Each individual knows that when he was in the animal world he got joy in struggling and fighting. Now he knows that in the human world he gets joy, real joy, abiding joy, in serving and in self-giving. He knows that in the future, in his life divine, he will get joy only in becoming what he is in his transcendental Self: all the Light, the Wisdom, the Perfection of the Supreme.
“You or I?” Each individual, when he separates a portion of himself from his entire existence, feels his you-consciousness. When an individual uses his hands, if he thinks that his hands are the only reality and not his feet, his head, or any other part of himself, then he will hear the song of “you”. But while using his hands, if he thinks that this is the time when he has to use his hands but there will be many occasions when he has to use his legs and other parts of his body, and that therefore all his limbs and organs are important, then there can be no “you”. It is all “I”.
When we meditate on the Absolute Supreme within us, we see how clearly, how fruitfully, both “you” and “I” can work together. We use our legs to go to the office, and then we use our hands to work in the office, and our head to think in the office. Everything has its own place. Everything has its own hour. Each individual has to abide by the inner hour and give due importance to each thing according to God’s Will.
God, when am I going to know that You and I are one, or that You and Your entire creation are one?
“The hour has already struck for you to know that I and My creation are one. If you separate Me from My creation and want to achieve joy or grow into joy, I will have no objection. But you will have only limited joy, limited achievement. If you unite both Me and My creation as one, your joy becomes infinite, your achievements become infinite.
“You or I?” cannot solve the age-long problem of humanity. This problem is the sea of ignorance within us and without. But “you and I” can solve this problem. When the unlit consciousness and the lit and illumined consciousness within ourselves become one, that is the end of “you or I”. We become all oneness, universal oneness: the song of universal oneness, the life of universal oneness and the breath of universal oneness.
Published in The Tears of Nation-Hearts
