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September 2

1994

Sri Chinmoy Answers

questions at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, New York

Question: When I am involved in giving meditation classes, I find it hard to keep up my running.

Sri Chinmoy: If you have to make a choice between practising sports and bringing disciples to the Centre, inspiring people through songs, through talks and in so many ways, then I will definitely, definitely prefer your bringing people to the Centre. In our spiritual life, physical fitness is of paramount importance. People who have good capacities in sports I will definitely tell to practise. Those people who are talented, who are good runners, good throwers and good jumpers, definitely I want to encourage. But if others who are not so talented spend hours each day running ten or fifteen miles and then resting for three or four extra hours because they are exhausted, then they are making a most deplorable mistake. They will have no time to do manifestation work.

Always we have to keep a balance. Sports you can do on a daily basis for physical fitness. Then, if one is good in particular events, one must practise. But in general, if I have to say which one is more important, sports is secondary. Aspiration and manifestation must come first. Sports also includes aspiration, true, but if you want to spread divine light in infinite measure throughout the length and breadth of the world, then individual or collective success in sports may not have as great an effect as other activities.

There will be many people who are infinitely better athletes than my disciples are. But if you can pray, meditate and bring disciples, if you can increase the number of aspiration-plants in my heart-garden, then that is infinitely more significant than spending hours daily practising sports. We came here to be sincere God-seekers, soulful God-lovers and self-giving God-servers. We have to pay utmost attention to the things that are most important. Spirituality in the strict sense of the term must come first and foremost.

Question: How can I increase my sincerity?

Sri Chinmoy: It is only through your prayers that you can increase your sincerity and all other divine qualities. If you have a pure heart, with your pure heart you have to pray for everything that you need. If you need peace, you must pray for peace. If you need sincerity, if you need love, it is through prayer and meditation that you will develop these qualities. You have to be at once the student and the teacher. As the student you will bring forward your sincerity and purity. As a teacher you have to give yourself marks — sixty out of one hundred, seventy out of one hundred or ninety out of one hundred. Every day you have to ask yourself how many good things you have consciously done and how many bad things you have consciously done. Unconscious things you do not know, but conscious things you do know. Try to decrease the things that you are doing wrong in various fields and try to increase the good things that you are doing. By taking the side of the good actions, you will be able to increase all your divine qualities. You be the judge. You be the teacher; you be the student. This is the way each individual can make fast, faster, fastest progress.

Question: How can we know whether we are making the fastest progress or not and if you are satisfied with our progress?

Sri Chinmoy: You will be able to know if I am satisfied with your progress from your own happiness or unhappiness. Early in the morning, as soon as you get up, look at my picture and see if you are happy. When you are going out to work, see if you are happy. When you talk with other people, no matter how miserable they may be, see if inside you there is your own happiness. This happiness is your progress. When you are happy, even if somebody has scolded you or insulted you, deep inside you will remain absolutely unperturbed. You will be a sea of peace. Your progress will be reflected in your happiness, and inside this happiness if you can feel illumining and fulfilling peace, then definitely you are making very fast progress.

Again, this happiness has to be the happiness of the heart. If you are not doing the right thing, your heart can never be happy. But if you are doing everything correctly, your heart will sing the song of happiness. If you are truly happy with your aspiration and manifestation, then you are making true progress and definitely you are making me happy.

Question: You once said that you have God-realisation-victory but you do not have God-manifestation-victory.

Sri Chinmoy: That is absolutely true. Only God-manifestation-defeat I am getting. Those disciples who are ready to manifest the Light of the Supreme feel that only if they do something, is it good and perfect. If somebody else does it, then it is imperfect. There are many, many defects that the disciples have, but this defect is so undivine. People are not establishing their oneness. The world has billions of people, but I am dealing with only a few thousand disciples. I do not see even twenty disciples who have really conquered jealousy. It breaks my heart when you are working together towards the same project and if one climbs up the ladder first, the other ones who helped him climb up the ladder feel miserable. This is not the right attitude.

When they climbed up Mount Everest, Hillary happened to have the brain, the finances and so on, and Tenzing was the guide. Tenzing was a simple Sherpa from Nepal. The whole world bestowed so many honours on Hillary — he was even knighted by the Queen of England — while poor Tenzing remained in oblivion. But we know that without Tenzing, Hillary could not have climbed up Mount Everest.

Those disciples who are working on manifestation should take it as a tug of war. Some people are in front, some are holding on at the very back. Everybody is trying his best — it is teamwork. Usually when one side wins, all the members of the team are in the seventh Heaven of delight that their team has won. Unfortunately, when it comes to manifestation work, that team spirit is missing. If five people have been working on one project, then at the eleventh hour if one individual is responsible for bringing the success, those other team members do not claim the victory as their own. I feel so sad when this happens. While the five disciples were working on the project, they could not tell which one would get the glory. It came at the last moment. I give glory to each and every one who is involved in a project. Some are doing well, while others are not. With your jealousy you are absolutely killing me. You are ready to climb up the Himalayas ten times all by yourself. How many times you will fail, God alone knows. But when somebody wants to climb up only a few thousand feet, you are trying to push that person down. This applies not only to the Centre leaders, but also to important Centre members who are working together.

If somebody brings a new member into our family, he becomes your brother, she becomes your sister. But instead you are thinking, “Somebody else brought him, so what glory do I get?” Even if you did not bring the person, you can keep that person in our family with your affection, kindness, compassion and love.

There are many, many difficulties we have, but jealousy in the manifestation-world is the worst. Not a single Centre is free from this jealousy. It is like a hungry wolf which is devouring others’ good qualities. Your good qualities are there, who denies it? But again, you have one bad quality, which is jealousy, that is devouring or trying to devour others’ good qualities. If you really care for the manifestation of God’s Light, then try to establish oneness, oneness, oneness. My heart-garden needs plants, flowers and fruits that will look beautiful, not dry and dead!

Question: A seeker saw you meditating in a video and asked me what method you use when you meditate. How should I answer that question?

Sri Chinmoy: I have no set method. I have many inner beings, and one of my inner beings will tell me, do this, do that. After God-realisation there is no method. You jump into the water and swim. You do not know whether you are swimming towards the north or the south. Once you are inside the ocean of light, peace and bliss, that ocean itself is the Goal. When I start meditating, at that time I am in the Goal. I do not take five hours or ten hours to enter into the Goal. In a few seconds I enter into my highest consciousness. At that time, not only do I see the Goal, but I become the Goal. Once you become the Goal, why do you need any set method to meditate?

Question: If we are only meditating for fifteen minutes each morning, is that really enough for God-realisation?

Sri Chinmoy: For God-realisation, there is no fixed requirement. We have disciples who say they meditate for twenty hours. Meanwhile they are only sleeping and snoring! It does not depend on the number of hours. You develop your physical muscles by taking exercise. Similarly, by meditating sincerely and soulfully, you develop your inner muscles. Again, it depends on God’s Grace. If God sees that you are meditating most soulfully for fifteen minutes, then God will definitely give you not only the capacity but also the opportunity to meditate for a half hour or two or three hours.

I will never be able to say that by meditating for fifteen minutes you will realise God. Again, who knows? If God wants you to meditate even for five minutes and then He wants to give you realisation, He can. God sometimes acts like a child. If a child has a flower or a tennis ball, he can go and give it to a certain person. That person may not be right in the front row. He may be in the tenth row. Again, although God is a child, He is a conscious child. He sees our past, present and future. In this incarnation perhaps someone is only meditating for fifteen minutes because he does not have enough time, he has so many things to do. But how do you know whether he meditated for hours, days, months and years in his previous incarnations? So it all depends on God’s Wisdom. He knows when you started meditating.

In my case, in my previous incarnation I realised God. In this incarnation, at the age of twelve, when I became fully conscious of my previous God-realisation, it was just like turning the pages of a book that I had already devoured. But in terms of hours, my eldest brother Hriday definitely used to meditate more than I did. In my family, two or three members meditated more than I did. They used to meditate for eleven or twelve hours daily. For me, it was five, six or seven. In my case, meditation became spontaneous. While I was running, jumping, throwing or doing other activities, I could meditate. I was able to do many, many things at the same time, whereas while my brothers were meditating, they were unable to do anything else.

God-realisation does not depend on how many hours you meditate. It depends on how intensely and deeply you meditate. In the Mahabharata, there is a story about how Arjuna used to worship for hours and hours, while Bhima used to worship for only a few seconds, and yet Lord Shiva was more pleased with Bhima. So to come back to your question, it is not how many minutes you spend in front of your shrine, but how devotedly you pray and meditate that is the most important thing. Then God will give you whatever is necessary — the capacity plus the opportunity.

No disciple of mine will ever be able to tell me that he is not getting the opportunity to pray and meditate because he is doing so much manifestation work. I know how many hours you have manifested and how many hours are still left for you to pray and meditate. Again, if you are really, lovingly, soulfully and devotedly manifesting, then that is part of meditation. There are some disciples who are making the complaint that they have no time to meditate because they are working so hard. They are fooling themselves. If you are really working hard, divinely and supremely, then God will give you time. And if you are working with utmost devotion, inside that devoted service you are getting the benefit of meditation.

Question: My daughters are now 17 and 19. They have not lived with me for about five years, but when they get unhappy or have really difficult problems, I want to just put them on a plane and bring them here. Should I just pray harder, or should I bring them here?

Sri Chinmoy: If they are not praying and meditating, if they are not following your way of life, then it is useless to bring them here. You can only offer your goodwill — nothing more. If you start praying to God for each and every one of their problems to be solved, then you are stupidity incarnate. You have to save yourself first. You came into the world to love God, to please God, to fulfil God. This is your first responsibility. Goodwill you will definitely send to your daughters. But if you start praying to the Supreme to solve their problems, then you will only get entangled more and more in their problems. This is absolutely not advisable. You pray and meditate for your own illumination.

We are all God’s creation. God the Creator is responsible for God the creation. If your children were following the spiritual path and were having temporary difficulties, then definitely you could pray to the Supreme to solve their problems. But if they are not praying or meditating on a regular basis, then you are under no obligation to do so. Just send your goodwill. They need it; they deserve it. But you have to save your own life first. That is what God wants from you and from everybody.

Question: Do the primary qualities of a soul change from incarnation to incarnation?

Sri Chinmoy: If one soul, let us say, in his previous incarnation was a great musician, then he may not want to continue in that field. He may want to be a scientist. Then again, if he wants to be both a musician and a scientist, he can. But generally if he wants to be an eminent scientist, then he will not be able to manage both capacities. He will spend all his time becoming a world-famous scientist. Inside himself he has not lost anything. He has kept the capacity of a great musician, but it will be dormant. In each incarnation, God decides how much He can manifest in and though a particular individual.

Question: I was wondering if the main quality that our soul's name represents would change from incarnation to incarnation.

Sri Chinmoy: Once I give the name, then that quality does not have to change at all. That quality only you have to increase and increase for God-realisation. For God-realisation, that name will be of tremendous help to you. Some capacities have to change because of outer necessities, but if you have one good soul’s quality, that is more than enough if you increase and increase it.

Question: When we use instruments to play your songs, how can we best bring out all the divine qualities of the songs through the instruments?

Sri Chinmoy: No matter how complicated or how difficult the music is, if you can make your mind absolutely simple and your heart pure, then definitely you can bring to the fore utmost divine Blessings, divine Compassion, divine Affection, divine Love, divine Gratitude and divine Pride. Only these two things you need. First the mind has to be simple. From a simple mind you will get peace. Peace is in simplicity and simplicity is in peace. Then the heart has to be pure. Inside the heart not only will you be able to see a flower, but you have to feel that that beautiful, fragrant flower is your own heart. Then you can bring to the fore the utmost spiritual qualities of my music.

Published in Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 20

2003

Inner Blessings are of Paramount Importance

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at PS 86, Jamaica, New York

Dear ones, I observe your birthdays every day, every day, in the very depths of my loving and grateful heart.

Inwardly I have blessed everybody. Unfortunately, this year I could not observe outwardly the birthdays of many, many disciples, and some of them are very close to me. Their hearts have to forgive me, because their souls know how much I love them, how much I care for them. So many disciples had birthdays recently. I could not observe them outwardly because I am dealing with so many problems.

There are many, many disciples and many dear ones whose birthdays I could not observe outwardly. Do not feel sad, do not be upset if I have not been able to observe your birthdays outwardly.

Inner blessings are of paramount importance. Inner blessings, inner love, inner affection and concern — these are the most important things. They are infinitely more important than the outer blessings you get when you are standing in front of me and we are singing the birthday song for you.

Published in Our Sweetest Oneness

September 2

1996

The Interview

at Aspiration-Ground
with Mr. Radhakrishna Pathak, Associate Editor of a newspaper in Delhi, India

This is Mother Kali

Sri Chinmoy: Your wife is a great devotee of Mother Kali. Does she know that I am also a devotee of Mother Kali? I am still alive because of Mother Kali. When I was a young boy, in my teens, I was a great athlete. I was brought up in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. There I was decathlon champion for two consecutive years. I stood first overall in ten items. I am bragging! I was also the fastest sprinter for sixteen consecutive years. According to Indian standards I was quite good.

Now I am coming back to Mother Kali. One day we had a 400-metre race. I ran the fastest for the first 300 metres. Then I became tired and exhausted. For the last 100 metres I was about to collapse. Finally, when I completed the 400 metres, I did collapse. My soul left my body while I was lying down at the finish line. Then, while my soul was going up, whom did I see? My Mother Kali! She very forcefully grabbed my soul and put it back inside my body. That is why I am still alive. Otherwise, my soul would have left for good.

Of all the Cosmic Goddesses, Mother Kali is my dearest Mother. She is the Mother of fastest speed, and again she is the Mother of Compassion. All the divine Mothers, the divine Cosmic Goddesses, have Compassion, but Mother Kali is the fastest in everything. We can make mistakes hundreds of times. We can wallow in the pleasures of ignorance for a long, long time. But if her Grace descends, in the twinkling of an eye, all our weaknesses, shortcomings and so-called sins can be nullified, illumined or purified. This is Mother Kali. I am so happy to learn that your wife is a great devotee of Mother Kali, since I also happen to be the same.

Mr. Pathak: I do not know how I am here. It is only through your grace. It really amazes me that I am here.

Sri Chinmoy: You have a very beautiful soul. Your parents have given you a most beautiful, soulful name, Radhakrishna. You embody both Radha and Krishna. Radha was all love, all devotion for Sri Krishna. Her love for Sri Krishna was unparalleled. Again, look at Sri Krishna's love for Radha. The mother aspect in Radha is the compassion aspect. It is like a magnet. It is infinitely easier to go to Lord Krishna through Radha than otherwise. In human life also, it is easier to go to the father via the mother. If you have to go to the father directly, it is difficult. But the mother knows when the father is taking rest or when he is in a humorous mood. She knows when the father is accessible and available. The mother is the bridge between the children and the father, because the children have a more intimate connection with their mother than with their father. The mother represents Mother Earth. The father represents Father Heaven. It is difficult to go straight to Heaven. We need the bridge: the mother.

The mother may be on the fourth floor and the child on the first floor. But as soon as the mother hears the child cry, the mother comes down to see if the child needs milk or something else. If the father hears the child cry, he says, "I am coming," but he takes a little time. The father feels that the child is not going to die in a minute. But the mother's affection is such that she feels something has happened. Nothing has happened; only the child is crying for the mother's milk or something else. But the mother cannot wait for a fleeting second.

The mother's wisdom is in affection. The father's wisdom is in light. The father will tell us about higher philosophy, about God's universality, about God's self-transcendence — everything that we want to know. When we have to deal with something vast, vaster, vastest, the father comes into the picture. But when we have to deal with something intimate, more intimate, most intimate, immediately the mother comes into the picture. When we have any little pain, at that time we shall call the mother, and the mother will come.

The father represents vastness and light. The mother represents intimacy and affection. Both are needed. The Vedas say that inside the finite is the Infinite. Inside the heart is the soul, and the soul represents God. Inside a tiny atom is the cosmos. In the same way, the mother and father are like a beautiful flower and its fragrance. They cannot be separated.

I am so glad that your parents have given you the name Radhakrishna. Radha is the mother, and Sri Krishna is the father. The higher we go, the clearer it becomes to us that Radha and Sri Krishna are inseparably one. It may appear that Radha is only a devotee touching Lord Krishna's feet. Yes, that is true; but Lord Krishna raised her high, higher, highest. So when we see Radha and Sri Krishna together, at that time it is the highest transcendental aspect of God: God the Creator and God the creation together; God in His masculine Form and God in His feminine Form. This is Radhakrishna.

Again, Sri Krishna and Mother Kali are one. I have written many songs and stories saying that Lord Krishna and Mother Kali are one. They are inseparable, although they have different names. If you sincerely worship Lord Krishna, you are bound to get blessings from Mother Kali. Similarly, if you pray to Mother Kali, Lord Krishna will definitely bless you. They are absolutely one.

You are a father; again, you are a great newspaper editor. While you are working in the office, they call you Mr. Pathak. Your children call you "Father" or "Baba" in our Bengali, or something like that. In French it will again be totally different. You are the same person, but each individual is calling you by a different name. Your divine reality is the same whether you are in the office or at home eating with your children. But your divine reality is expressing itself in different ways at different places. Your son will never be happy by calling you Mr. Pathak. He will feel miserable. But your colleagues and acquaintances will get joy in calling you by that name. When you are in a gathering with your friends, again you show another aspect. I get joy by calling you by your first name. Somebody else will get joy by calling you by your surname. Again, your children and your wife will call you in different ways. Everybody knows that you are the same person, but everybody gets joy by calling you a different name. To give each individual joy in a specific way we came into the world. We are all God's creations. I may get more joy by calling to Lord Krishna, whereas you may get more joy by calling to Mother Kali.

I was born in Chittagong. At the age of eleven and a half I went to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. I stayed there until the age of 32. Then I came here to be of service to God. My philosophy is to love and serve. If we love someone, then we have to serve that person. The mother loves the child; that is why she serves the child. The child loves the mother; that is why the child serves the mother. If we truly love God, then we will have no hesitation to serve Him. In the same way, if we serve someone, definitely we love him. We serve our parents on the strength of our love. This moment we love someone. The next moment we serve the same person.

Do you have any specific question you wish to ask?

Mr. Pathak: Questions always come and go. Please bless me so that I can spread your message.

Sri Chinmoy: Your soul contacted me at least two years ago. Physically you have come to see your Guru now, but spiritually at least two years ago your soul made its connection with me. Now you have come here for the outer recognition, but the inner recognition was made long ago.

Mr. Pathak: For years I didn't believe in a Guru.

Sri Chinmoy: Why do you have to believe in a Guru, as long as you believe in yourself? If you have faith in yourself, that means you have faith in something high, divine, pure and immortal. You do not have to believe in a Guru as long as you believe in yourself.

Mr. Pathak: But one cannot know oneself without a Guru.

Sri Chinmoy: What does the Guru do? The function of a Guru is very simple. He tells you, "Look, you do not know what you have inside you. Inside you is a safe. Inside the safe you have the most beautiful, most expensive diamond, but you have misplaced the key. My job is to help you search for the key. I will search for the key and find it. Then I shall give you the key and you will open the safe. As soon as it is open, you will see the diamond inside you. This is your divinity."

The Guru's role is to show you the way. You have lost your own divinity, but the Guru comes to bring you back to your own divinity. The divinity is already there. The Guru does not give you the divinity; God has given you the divinity. But the Guru is the messenger boy. The Guru shows you your divinity.

The Guru is the bridge between man and God. You need a bridge to go from one place to another. When Sri Rama had to go to Lanka to fight against Ravana, he needed a bridge to his destination. In our case we need a bridge to go to the Golden Shore. The Guru tells us that the Highest is the only Guru. The real Guru is God. The real Guru is your Father and my Father. But since you are younger than I in the spiritual life, I tell you, "Come with me. I will show you where our Father is." The eldest son of the family knows more about the father than the youngest son.

You are my spiritual brother, just as others are my spiritual brothers and sisters. The real Guru is the Absolute Lord Supreme. I have already realised Him. You also have to realise Him. Now the time has come for me to help mankind to go to the highest Absolute Lord Supreme, because I know I have already realised Him. Not only in this incarnation, but in previous incarnations also I have realised Him. In this incarnation, God out of His infinite Bounty wants me to manifest Him. In my previous incarnations, I spent time in the Himalayan caves, near the Nepalese border. How many austerities I practised inside the Himalayan caves! In this incarnation God wants me to be in the ultramodern country, America.

Everything is God's creation. If He wants me to be in a cave, I will be in a cave. If He wants me to be in a palace, I will be in a palace. That is called surrender. Again, if He wants me to be in India, I will be in India. It was He who brought me to America because He wanted me to serve mankind here in America. Otherwise, how many countries and how many people there are that could have taken my service! Had I remained in India, in a village or somewhere else, God would not have given me that opportunity to be of service. Now people from so many countries, even the former Soviet Union, are all coming here. Here in America God wanted me to act like a tree. A tree has so many branches, so many flowers, so many fruits and countless leaves. He chose America for me so that I could be of greatest service to humanity.

Again, if God asks me to go back to India, I will go happily. At the Sri Aurobindo Ashram I was the secretary of Nolini Kanta Gupta. He was Sri Aurobindo's main secretary. I was quite happy there. I was an athlete, and I wrote considerably. In those days they did not give degrees in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, but I studied a lot. I could have remained in India; again, I can return to India. Whatever God wants me to do, I shall do it happily. If He asks me to sit down, I shall sit down. If He wants me to run, I shall run. He asked me to come and be in America in the hustle and bustle of life. When I came to America, America was like a lion roaring! Pondicherry was such a mild village. It was simplicity incarnate. From simplicity I had to come into diversity, because God wanted me here, and He is expressing Himself in and through me here. In exactly the same way He wants to express Himself in and through you and through everybody.

There are various ways to work to spread God's Light, and you are already doing it. So often you are publishing spiritual things, and many, many people have come to learn about me from your newspaper. I understand it is your strongest desire to have a few fellow disciples or seekers in India. If you can inspire a few seekers in Delhi to follow our philosophy, that will again be of tremendous service. From one we become many. You see that so many people have come to our path from Germany. From one it became many. One seeker inspired some people, and they in turn inspired others. When one seed germinates, it becomes a plant, and then it becomes a huge banyan tree with thousands of leaves.

Swami Vivekananda's philosophy was accepted in the very beginning by one disciple, a school teacher from South India. He was the one who started spreading Swami Vivekananda's light. Always the seed is one. Then eventually it becomes a tree and it produces countless seeds. One seed enters the ground, and when it grows into a tree, it produces so many seeds, so many flowers. Then many travellers and pilgrims come and enjoy the beauty and fragrance of the flowers. So if you are inspired, you can also inspire others.

When a child smiles at his father and mother the parents feel that they have got the whole world. The child does not have money. The child does not have wisdom. The child has only a smile. One smile from a child conquers our heart. Others can give us wisdom and so many other things, but we are not satisfied. But just a little smile from a child gives us such joy and such satisfaction.

In exactly the same way, when Lord Krishna smiles at us or Radha smiles at us, we get the whole world. Lord Krishna does not have to give a seeker ten houses or ten cars. When Lord Krishna smiles at a seeker, the seeker gets the whole world. What is God-realisation? Only a smile and satisfaction. If we see that God is satisfied with us, God is smiling at us, that means we have got the whole world. But to get that Smile from God, we have to prepare ourselves. We have to pray; we have to meditate; we have to give Him everything that we have and everything that we are.

Our difficulty is that when we go to God, we feel that we have to be pure, we have to be sincere. God says, "All right, become pure, become sincere. But if you are still impure, where will you go? If you are still insincere, where will you go? You have to come to Me with your purity and with your impurity, with your sincerity and your insincerity."

A child goes out of the house and he plays on the ground, in sand, mud and clay. Then he goes to the right person: his mother. What does his mother do? His mother cleans him. Before the child comes to his mother, does he first enter into a pond or a swimming pool to clean himself? No, he comes to his mother full of mud, clay and sand. He knows that his mother will say, "He is my child," and that she will wash him and show him all her affection.

In exactly the same way, we have to go to God with all our imperfections. If we say, "No, first I have to conquer my impurity, I have to conquer my jealousy and insecurity," then we shall have to wait for millions of years more. We say, "God, you know my heart. I am insincere, I am impure, I am jealous. You can just kick me away." But, God will say, "You come to Me. The Hour has struck. It is time for you to run towards me."

When Lord Krishna used to play on the flute at odd hours, did Radha care for anything else? She had her own husband, but she ran to Lord Krishna because the call had come. When Lord Krishna played on the flute at any hour, Radha and the gopis all used to run, because the Hour had struck. They gave up everything. At that time they were not thinking, "O my God, we are not pure." They used to run to get Lord Krishna's affection, love and blessings.

In our case, the Hour has struck. When the Hour strikes, at that time we shall not look around or see if we are properly dressed. God is not asking us for our appearance. God is asking us for our heart. The child's love for his mother and father compels him to run towards his parents. In exactly the same way we have to run towards God, no matter what we are, no matter where we are. We have to run towards God because the Hour has struck. God says, "You come with your wife, with your children and with your larger family. Your larger family is your friends, your dear ones and acquaintances."

Once upon a time I did not know my spiritual children. Now they have become part and parcel of my life. Like a human father, how many times I scold them and insult them! But their love is so strong that they know how much I love them. In exactly the same way, parents scold their children, but the children do know how much love the parents have for them. Here it is one family, one family — a oneness-home.

When you go back to Delhi, you can spread your Guru's light by talking to people. More than that, they will see something totally different in you. As soon as your friends and colleagues look at you, they will see something different in your eyes, in your face. It is something better, something higher, something purer, something more divine. Now you have come to your Master's place, and from here you will carry the inner beauty, inner fragrance, inner light and inner delight. After being here for two weeks you will go back. Your wife has known you for so many years. Now she is bound to see and feel in you something spiritual, divine and most illumining. She will say, "My God, what has happened to my husband?" How much progress she is bound to see in your human eyes, because she herself loves Mother Kali.

Your very presence will be able to inspire your friends, colleagues and dear ones. The things that you are now receiving from your Guru or from your own aspiration will come to the fore, and you will be able to manifest them. As you sow, so you reap. Here you have sown divinity; there your divinity will come to the fore.

Mr. Pathak: Fear sometimes does not allow me to let myself go. It holds me back.

Sri Chinmoy: Fear of what? When your children were two years old, you were so tall and stout. Were they afraid of you? No, because they knew that you were their father. Your children were very small, but they knew you in your affection aspect, and they were not afraid of you. It is like the ocean. The drop is not afraid of the ocean because it knows its oneness with the ocean. A little child is not afraid of his father because he knows that person is his own father. Why should he be afraid of his own father's love?

So, what are you afraid of? What makes you fearful? Jumping into the unknown?

Mr. Pathak: Uncertainty.

Sri Chinmoy: At night you go to sleep, and then you get up early in the morning at five o'clock or six o'clock. If you think of the night as such, if you look into the night sky, it is something unknown. Again, if you look at the sky with your heart, you are not afraid of it because you have become the sky itself. The drop of water has established its identity with the vast ocean, so the drop is not afraid of the ocean. A child has established his oneness with his father. The father is so tall and stout, and he is an important person, an editor. But the child does not care what the father's title is. He knows that his father is all love. Your child does not care what you are in the outer world. He cares only for your affection, for your compassion, for your love.

We are afraid precisely because we do not establish our oneness with the vastness. The unknown does not remain unknown; the uncertain does not remain uncertain. Before the dawn breaks, before the sunrise, night is unknown. But when we see the sunrise, the unknown becomes known. The spiritual life is also like that. We aspire for the Highest, but then there is uncertainty. Not only in the spiritual life, but in ordinary life at every moment, before we arrive at our goal, it is all uncertain. I have a goal, but I do not know what will happen even if I arrive at the goal. Will I see a most beautiful garden, or something totally different?

We have to know what will happen from within, or we have to believe in somebody who also experienced the same problem at the beginning of his spiritual journey. People who have realised God, like Lord Krishna, Lord Buddha, Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Aurobindo and others, also had the same problem. Then they saw that the unknown, the unknowable, can be knowable. The unknown can easily be known. In the alphabet, after A comes B, and then C and D. You teach your child A, and at that time B is unknown to him. You know that B is right after A. Once I was talking to an American child only two years old. I was telling him that after A comes B and then C. He thought I was a magician! Where did B and C come from? For him, they were coming from Heaven or somewhere else. So, for adults A, B, C and D are known, but for a little child they are unknown.

In the same way, when you have fear of the unknown, you have to feel that it does exist, and many people have seen it. The place that you are unaware of today has been visited by many people. It is not something dangerous; it is not something destructive. No, no, no! We can conquer uncertainty or fear of the unknown by having faith in someone else who has gone there.

In a big palace there are many, many rooms. When you approach the palace you see that it is all darkness, because you do not know there is a light switch inside. But an electrician will come and tell you, "Here is the switch — just turn it on." Then everything is all right. Before you turn on the light, you are so afraid because the palace is all darkness. In the same way, the Master comes and turns on the switch. Then you see the unknown is all illumined. But if you go there alone and you do not know where the light is, then naturally you will be afraid.

For everything in life, we need someone to turn on the switch. As I told you half an hour ago, inside you is the treasure, but somebody has to come and show it to you. If you take an inner guide to illumine you, he will do the needful. Then there cannot be an iota of uncertainty in your life. Everything becomes absolutely positive. We get confidence when we see that somebody else has already gone through what we are experiencing. Whoever is my teacher also had that same problem in the beginning, when he was still a student. Now he has become my teacher. His job is to teach me; it is up to me to have faith in him or not.

My Guru is now the Absolute Supreme, but previously I had a human Guru. He realised God, but before that he also had uncertainty and so many other difficulties. Similarly, Swami Vivekananda had so much uncertainty. He did not know what was going to happen in his life. Before he came to America, he was so afraid. He wondered what would happen! But he came here and conquered the heart of America only by saying, "Brothers and Sisters, Sisters and Brothers." Then he was able to spread Sri Ramakrishna's light. Everybody is uncertain in the beginning.

Again, whoever has faith in God goes through a dark tunnel at some point. When you go to Manhattan from Queens, you pass through a tunnel. When you enter the tunnel for the first time, you may say, "O my God, where are we going? It is all darkness. The cars will collide!" Then in a few minutes you come out of the tunnel and enter into Manhattan, as many people have already done. So, when you go through the tunnel you are afraid and uncertain, but you have to go through it. In the spiritual life also, we have to have faith, in the inmost recesses of our heart, that at the end of the tunnel there is light.

Published in Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 11

September 1

1988

Sri Chinmoy lifts Saoul Mamby, 1980-82 World Welterweight Boxing Champion, at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, New York.

September 1

1976

Sri Chinmoy throwing oranges as prasad on an evening at his home in New York, where he gives spiritual names to some of his disciples.

1978

September 1

1974

Fortune-Philosophy

by Sri Chinmoy

Some of Sri Chinmoy’s aphorisms and meditations (in italics) are placed inside fortune cookies, which he hands out to his disciples in the New York Centre. He then asks disciples to read out the meditation in their cookie and then proceeds to elaborate on each one. (A similar meeting is held at the Manhattan Centre on 14 September 1974.)

When I smile,
God is my manifesting experience.

Each second of my earthly existence is God's fulfilling experience in and through me.

My inner experience is God's continuous manifestation of His own perfection in and through me.

On earth my experience is helplessness, utter helplessness. In Heaven my experience is satisfaction, constant satisfaction. In God my experience is perfection, total perfection.

When I smile, God runs toward me and offers me His Immortality's Crown. When I cry, God runs toward me and gives me His Eternity's Dream-boat.

My manifested experience is God's ever-growing perfection, ever-glowing satisfaction and ever-fulfilling transformation. My manifested experience is earth-transformation, Heaven-illumination and life-perfection.

The soul is the
reality that seeks only God.

I am the soul, I am the body.
I am the soul when I claim God as my own.
I am the body when I claim myself as my own.

The soul in me is for God's constant use.
The body in me is for God's constant use.
My very life is for God's constant use.
I have these experiences only when I consciously and constantly claim God as my Eternity's own.

10.

I meditate because I must.
I love because I am God's.

11.

My life is the fruit of my meditation.

12.

I know how to love just because I am God's alone.

13.

My meditation invites God, the supreme Guest.
My love serves and feeds God, the eternal Beloved.

14.

In the morning I meditate to empty myself.
In the afternoon I meditate to fill myself.
In the evening I meditate to offer myself.

15.

My meditation tells me that I can eventually become God.
My love tells me that I am the Eternal God.

16.

When I meditate, I realise my transcendental Self.
When I love, I become Eternity's Beloved Supreme.

17.

A spiritual Master
is he who prays to God
to smile constantly.

18.

To my spiritual Master I shall give gratitude.
For my spiritual Master I shall become gratitude.

19.

My prayer is my heart's capacity.
My meditation is my soul's capacity.

20.

My prayer tells me how great my Supreme is.
My Supreme tells me how indispensable my prayer is.

21.

A spiritual Master is he who knows who God is, who he himself is and who his disciples are.
Who is God? The eternal Dancer.
Who is the spiritual Master? The eternal Fighter.
And who are his spiritual disciples? The eternal Criers.

22.

God will love
you more if you smile.

23.

The more I soulfully smile, the sooner God will triumphantly proclaim me to His creation as His very own.

24.

I smiled. Therefore I was able to bind God.
I cried. Therefore God was able to bind me.

25.

If you smile, God will give you what He has: Eternity's Light.
If you cry, God will give you what He is: Infinity's Delight.

26.

I have in
God my supreme Reality.

27.

My supreme Reality is the life of the Unknowable.

28.

My God tells me who I am and where I am.
Who am I? God's universal Realisation.
Where am I? In His Eternity's Dream-boat.

29.

My supreme Reality I have offered to God, and that supreme Reality of mine is my ever-increasing gratitude to the life of my Eternity's Pilot Supreme.

30.

In man, I am Eternity's imperfection.
In God, I am Infinity's perfect Perfection.

31.

My supreme Reality is God's ever-growing and ever-glowing illumination in and through me.

32.

I have in God what I am looking for: Perfection-sea.

33.

Compassion
is the Voice of God.

34.

Compassion is the descending God.

35.

Compassion I need at every moment of my life to become what I am not: Devotion's light.

36.

The Voice of God is man's only choice to free himself from the sea of ignorance.

37.

Compassion is humanity's perfect choice, Divinity's earth-transforming, God-revealing Voice and God's love-fulfilling, life-manifesting Perfection.

38.

What we call compassion in human life is nothing short of unconscious and treacherous attachment.
What we call compassion in divine life is precious perfection-treasure for humanity's heart.

39.

If you have compassion, then feel that what you have is God's most precious wealth that He has offered you for His use.

40.

Let us smile
to see if God has
two big eyes.

41.

My morning smile binds God.
My afternoon smile claims God.
My evening smile manifests God.

42.

God has two eyes: inner and outer.
With His inner Eye, He forgives us.
With His outer Eye, He liberates and perfects us.

43.

Let us smile because God has already done everything for us.
Let us cry because we still have many things to do for humanity's awakening.

44.

God has two big eyes.
With one of His eyes, He tells me what I was: His Dream-boat.
With His other eye, He tells me what I shall become: His Reality-shore.

45.

Let us smile to see who God is.
Let us cry to know where God is.
Who is God? My Beloved Supreme.
Where is God? In my acceptance-might and surrender-light.

46.

To love God
I need one thing: Purity's Breath.

47.

Purity is God's matchless Necessity in the heart of humanity.

48.

At the end of my journey's close, my human breath and I shall become perfect strangers, and my divine breath and I shall be everlasting comrades.

49.

I need one thing: inner beauty, the beauty that makes me an exact prototype of my higher Self.

50.

Purity is my hidden divinity.

51.

In my heart I need only one thing: confidence.
In my soul I need only one thing: promise.
In my life I need only one thing: surrender.

52.

Our outer smile
is the giver of God as Love.

53.

With our outer smile we touch the Feet of God.
With our inner cry we become the Crown of God.

54.

When I am the giver, God the Purifier claims me.
When I am the receiver, I claim God the Saviour.

55.

Who is the giver? Who is the receiver?
The giver is he who knows what universal oneness is.
The receiver is he who comes to learn what perfect Perfection is.

56.

The giver in me and the receiver in me are inseparable.
The giver gives and becomes what he wants to become.
The receiver receives and becomes what his own imagination fails even to imagine.

57.

My silence
is the highest pride of God.

58.

Silence is God's highest Dream-Reality.

59.

My mounting cry is God's pride.
My glowing smile is God's pride.

60.

Silence I need to become perfect.
Silence I need to become God.

61.

In my sound-life I become.
In my silence-life I am, I eternally am.

62.

God is proud of me, not because I have given Him everything I have and I am, but because I claim Him as my own, my Eternity's own.

63.

Yesterday I was the body of silence: aspiration.
Today I am the soul of silence: realisation.
Tomorrow I shall become the goal of silence: perfection.

64.

My silence is the Bird of Infinity, the Light in the firmament of my Divinity's Immortality.

65.

With the voice of sound, I eventually become.
With the eye of silence, I eternally am.

66.

Law is not love,
but love is law.

67.

Love is my only reality.

68.

Man's law frightens; God's Law enlightens.

69.

A man-made law attempts to perfect our lives.
A God-made law is the outer expression of our inner perfection.

70.

Dive deep within. You will notice that there is no such thing as Divine Law. All that exists is the Divine Compassion crying for humanity's transformation.

71.

Human law and imperfection study in the same school.
Divine Law and perfect Perfection study in the same school.

72.

Humanity's law does not inspire me to become good.
Divinity's Law not only inspires me to become good, but aspires within me to make me become better and best.

73.