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My Ivy League Leaves

Sri Chinmoy’s first book is published
by the Chinmoy Publishing Co. in Jamaica, New York

On the occasion, Sri Chinmoy says:

“This is the first book.... If the Supreme wills, your Guru will write 199 more....

“History bears witness to this most significant day. This is a humble beginning, but our divine eye will say — No, this beginning is most significant, most precious, most glorious and most fruitful, for our Inner Pilot ... has inspired us to launch into this project. It is He who is guiding us. It is He who is going to lead us to our ultimate Goal. From human knowledge, He is leading us to divine knowledge and this divine knowledge is the knowledge of inseparable oneness with the highest Supreme....”

Transformation

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at the Sri Chinmoy Centre in Wilton, Connecticut

What is transformation? From the spiritual point of view, transformation means the fire-pure change in our consciousness. This consciousness of ours which is impure has to be purified totally. If there is no purification, there can be no transformation. Again, when we see impurity or obscurity around us and within us, we must not be scared, because our nature's transformation is what God wants. And God can never remain a failure. For transformation, what we need is patience and perseverance. Here I wish to give you an example. Today we have inaugurated our Chinmoy Publishing Company. Two weeks ago, this building was imperfection itself: ugly, dirty in every way. But now these rooms are practically transformed into perfection. How? Through human patience, perseverance, zeal and dedicated service. Quite a few individuals were the instruments who transformed the Chinmoy Publishing Company with their inner, sincere effort. Fifteen days ago if you had seen it, and if you did not have the vision of the future, immediately you would have been surprised at how this could have been achieved today.

Always you have to have the inner vision. If you feel that you don't have the inner vision and that somebody else will give it to you, then you are making a serious mistake. A few months ago, the youngest son of one of the disciples was talking with me and I asked him if he knew how to spell his name. He said yes, but he was making mistakes. He was so surprised when he saw that I knew how to spell his name, for all the time he thought it was a top secret. It was so difficult for him, but I spelled it with such ease! Here is a child who does not see the future with his inner light; he sees only the present and in the present he is caught. He does not know how to form the word. In the case of spiritual people, it is not like that. A sincere seeker always feels that there is an inner light inside. Either he has to enter into this inner light or the inner light has to come to the fore. So when these human instruments, these sincere seekers, looked at these rooms, they had inner vision. They saw the future with their own inner capacity and today they have proved the reality of their vision.

Transformation is something which has to come from within and from above. But for that, along with our aspiration what we need is patience. If we think we can realise God overnight, then we are fooling ourselves. God-realisation takes time. Those who tell you that they will be able to give you realisation in four hours or six hours, if you give them a large fee, are badly deceiving you. Money cannot give you realisation and you cannot get realisation in a few hours' time. Realisation is a life-long process; it takes a good many incarnations. If one has a spiritual Master of the highest calibre, a Master who is in constant touch with the Supreme, then he can change the fate of the individual. He can transform night into day. He can do anything, because his will and God's Will are absolutely one.

Please enter into the spiritual life with hope, and feel that this hope is not an idle hope but something solid. Enter into the spiritual life with aspiration and try to feel that this aspiration is coming from within, from the highest. Only you have to be aware of it. Self-dedication is also of paramount importance. Everyone without exception will realise God, but what you need is patience. Since you are spiritual seekers you have aspiration, but most of you do not have the necessary patience. But if you have patience, then your aspiration and patience will bring you to your destined Goal. If you have aspiration and patience, you don't have to run towards your Goal; your Goal will come to you.

Those who consciously feel that they have imperfections must not feel that they are doomed. There are quite a few of you who do feel that way. Although you feel that spirituality is the answer, you feel that it is not for you because you are all imperfection. But I always say, only pay attention to the thing that you need. What you need is perfection. If you are angry and feel you are a victim to anger, then try to feel that the other side of anger you also have. If you have fear, please feel that you also have courage within you. If you have doubt, then feel that you also have faith in yourself. What you call ignorance is only for today. Today's ignorance and imperfection you can easily transform into knowledge and perfection. Everything that you don't want, you can throw aside; and everything that you want, you can claim as your very own.

Published in The Doubt-World

You do not Know, He does not Know, I do not Know

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at the Aum Center for Self-Realization, Yoga Center, in Ellicottville, New York

Sri Chinmoy is introduced to the audience by Ken Pillar, head of the Yoga Center.

Sri Chinmoy: I am extremely grateful to you and your wife for having given us the opportunity to be of devoted, dedicated service to the Supreme in you. Ours is a path of service. Whenever we get an opportunity to serve the Supreme in His children, we feel it is our bounden duty. So it is I who have to be extremely grateful to the seekers here and especially to you and your wife.

You do not know, he does not know and I do not know. Do you know who God is? Does he know who God is? Do I know who God is? No. You positively do not know God, he unmistakably does not know God and I absolutely do not know God. Now, why don’t we know God? You do not know God because you love your body-consciousness infinitely more than you love God’s Body, His Reality-Consciousness. He does not know God because he loves his own vital pleasure, his vital self-indulgence, infinitely more than he loves God’s universal Vital. I do not know God because I love my mind, my doubting mind, my judging mind, infinitely more than I love God’s transcendental, universal and eternal Mind.

Let us know the difference between God’s Body and your body. Over the years you have gained a certain height, let us say five feet eight inches. Here your height has come to an end. But God’s Height is endless. He is infinitely tall. In your case you have reached your maximum height. In God’s case He is eternally growing, because He has discovered the secret of self-transcendence. He knows what self-transcendence is, so He is constantly transcending His own inner and outer Height.

Let us know the difference between God’s Vital and his vital. His vital is like a tiny drop and God’s Vital is like the infinite ocean. He cherishes and treasures this tiny drop. He feels that it is special. He feels that he does not have to increase the size of the drop; he does not have to grow into a larger drop. No, he is self-sufficient. But in God’s case, although He is an infinite ocean, He still feels the necessity of increasing His own Infinity. Always God wants to grow, glow and flow. There is constant flow in God’s movement, constant everlasting Life.

Let us know the difference between my mind and God’s Mind. My mind is like a tiny streak of light and God’s Mind is like the vast sun. But it is not like the planet sun. The planet sun, according to the scientists, has already lost some of its warmth and power, and it will lose even more. Who knows, in the bosom of Eternity it may disappear. But the inner sun, which God is, will perpetually shine. And not only will it shine, but it will offer to humanity, to God’s creation, Light, more Light, abundant Light, infinite Light. God the inner Light, the inner Sun, will perpetually shine and illumine the ignorance and inconscience of the world.

You do not know where God is. He does not know where God is. I do not know where God is. You do not know where God is precisely because you live in the temptation-world. He does not know where God is precisely because he lives in the indulgence-world. I do not know where God is precisely because I live in the thought-world.

You do not know, he does not know, I do not know. But there are some people who have discovered who God is and where God is. Some people have got their Master’s degree and Ph.D., whereas there are many who have not got even a high school diploma. Just because we do not have something that does not mean that others cannot have that very thing. They can have it, and a day will dawn when we will all have that same thing. Right now those who have seen God, realised God and who are in constant communion with God tell us something quite significant and momentous. They tell us on the strength of their own realisation who God is. They tell us that God is our own yet-unrecognised infinite capacity. They also tell us that not only do we need God, but God also needs us equally. We need Him to realise our own height. He needs us to manifest Himself on earth in and through us. For self-realisation, we need Him; for God-Manifestation, He needs us.

These God-realised souls tell us something more: they tell us where God is. They tell us that God is everywhere, but there are two places where He is noticeable most of the time. These two places are inside our heart’s mounting cry and inside our soul’s descending smile. Just as a person stays during the day in his living room and kitchen and at night retires to his bedroom, God also distributes His Presence. When we are soulfully crying for Him, He presents Himself inside our inner mounting cry. And when we are soulfully smiling, He grants us His Reality in a visible form in our soulful smile.

In order for us to realise God, these God-realised souls tell us something more. They tell us that the first and foremost necessity is peace of mind. If we do not have peace of mind, God-realisation will always remain a far cry. How can we have peace of mind? There are a few ways. If we decrease our earthly needs and increase our heavenly needs, then we can get peace of mind. Also, if we do not expect anything from anyone or from anything except from God, then we can have peace of mind. As long as there is expectation, human expectation, earthly expectation, we cannot have peace of mind. Again, we cannot have peace of mind by positive or negative renunciation. Only by affirmative acceptance can we have peace of mind. We accept the world, we accept the real Reality in the world, the real Reality of God. With our inner cry, with our aspiration, we have to create receptivity inside our body-consciousness so that we can welcome God the Supreme Beloved and God’s boundless Light and Delight.

In order for us to realise God we also need purity, especially in our emotional vital. When we purify our emotional vital, we see and feel God’s Presence. Then we have to establish clarity in the mind. When we establish clarity in the mind, we will be able to see God very intimately. Then we have to commune with God all the time. In order to commune with God all the time, we have to create the supreme necessity inside our heart. This necessity has to be our psychic necessity. When we have created a psychic necessity to commune with God all the time, we shall without fail see God, talk to God, grow into the very image of God and participate in God’s cosmic Drama. At that time we shall not feel that God is only in Heaven, that here on earth we are without God.

God is where His children are. His children are the exact prototypes of His Reality; therefore, wherever we are, God is. But in order to realise this supreme truth, we have to return what we have borrowed from this world: darkness, ignorance, bondage, limitation, imperfection and death. We borrowed these things because we felt that they would considerably help us, but now we have come to realise that they are real obstructions. So these things we must return. And the things that we eternally have in the inmost recesses of our being — Peace, Light, Bliss, Truth — we have to increase. We have to bring them to the fore, for they are the real Reality of our existence. Things that eternally are we have to claim and we have to offer to the world at large. If we do this, you will know who God is and where God is, he will know who God is and where God is, and I shall know who God is and where God is.

Published in AUM – Vol. 2, No. 9, 27 September 1975

Happiness

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at the United Nations in New York

Happiness is the one thing on earth that all human beings want and need. There are many things we want from life which we actually do not need. But in the case of happiness, we not only want it but we also need it.

There are many ways for us to achieve happiness in life. We can acquire happiness by seeing, by feeling, by acting and by becoming. When we see truth within and without us, we can be happy. When we feel love within us, we can become happy. When we act devotedly and soulfully, we can become happy. And when we become perfect instruments of our Inner Pilot, we can become happy.

What is truth? Truth is something that holds us to the real in ourselves. There is something eternally real in us, and truth holds us to that eternal Reality within.

What is love? Love is something that expands and at the same time transcends. It expands our aspiration, and it transcends our realisation. Our aspiration expands and expands. It wants to become one with the universal Reality. And our realisation transcends and transcends. It goes far beyond the Goal that we have already achieved.

When do we act devotedly and soulfully? When our action is service to mankind or to the Inner Pilot in each human being. This service brings us the message of perfection. Perfection is not a vague term; it is a reality. And this reality we can see face to face when we serve the divinity in each human being.

When do we become perfect instruments of God? We become God’s perfect instruments when we become conscious representatives of God, conscious limbs of God, when He can perform His cosmic Task in and through us gloriously, triumphantly and proudly.

In the world of desire we try to possess material wealth, mundane things. Again, if we enter into the world of aspiration out of curiosity, then we try to possess and grab peace, power, light, bliss and so forth. When we try to possess, we may be able to possess an iota of peace, an iota of light, an iota of power or some other divine qualities. But if possession always looms large in our mind, then no matter what we get, we shall misuse it. We shall exploit the compassion of the divinity within us. When we possess material wealth, we quite often misuse it. We do not have the inner light to regulate our life, to moderate every second of our existence; therefore, we squander and misuse our material wealth. What we want to possess and get happiness from becomes a veritable curse to us.

Similarly, when we try to possess spiritual wealth, power, peace, light and bliss to use for our own purpose or to gain world acclaim, then real happiness remains a far cry. Peace, light, bliss and power are divine qualities, divine capacities. These capacities enter into us for the fulfilment of the divine within us, not so that we can use them according to our own sweet will.

Many of the people here, by virtue of their aspiration, have received something in the course of time. Let us say it is power, since peace is power, light is power, delight is power, creation itself is power. But they are apt to misuse it. How do they misuse it? They misuse it when they use it to glorify themselves. But if they allow these qualities to utilise them, then they glorify not only themselves but also the Absolute Supreme, who is the only Owner of these qualities and capacities.

Happiness can never be found in possession, either of earthly qualities and capacities or of heavenly qualities and capacities. Not in possession, not in dominion, but in cheerful union with the higher realities can we have happiness. Earthly qualities are all negative and destructive. Fear, doubt, anxiety, jealousy, insecurity — these are earthly qualities. But heavenly qualities are all positive and constructive. Peace, light, bliss, love of God, love of truth, self-giving, sacrifice, the feeling of constant oneness with the rest of the world — these are heavenly qualities. If we can identify ourselves with these heavenly qualities, then only will happiness be ours. Happiness will claim us as its very own then, and only then. There is no other way.

Published in AUM – Vol. 3, No. 7, 27 July 1976

Everest-Aspiration Talks

by Sri Chinmoy

Obedience Was My Way of Life

7:30 a.m.
Jamaica High School Track,
Jamaica, New York

Obedience was my way of life. Many, many, many years ago my Beloved Supreme once came to me and said, “My son, pray. You must pray. From now on you must pray to Me regularly.” I obeyed my Beloved Supreme and I started praying.

A few years later my Beloved Supreme came to me and said, “My son, meditate. I want you to meditate. From now on you must meditate regularly every day.” I obeyed my Beloved Supreme.

Then one day He came to me and said, “My son, do you see any change, any improvement, anything new in your life?”

I said, “I do see.”

Then He said, “What is it?”

I told Him, “I will be very glad if You tell me the changes and improvements that I have made, for I may make a mistake. Whatever You say I will gladly accept as absolutely true.”

My Beloved Supreme was very pleased with me. He said, “Since you have started praying, you have been feeling your closeness to Me. Since you have started meditating, you have been feeling My closeness to you. When you pray you feel your closeness to Me, and when you meditate you feel My closeness to you.

“Something more: when you pray you see My Kindness-aspect and My Compassion-aspect, and when you meditate you see My Beauty-aspect and My Fruitfulness-aspect. When you pray I am kind and compassionate to you, and when you meditate I am beautiful and fruitful to you. These four qualities or attributes of Mine are of tremendous importance. Unless I am kind and compassionate to you, why would I show you My Beauty and My Fruitfulness? Why should I show the things that I have, the things that I embody? Because you pray, you see My Kindness-aspect and My Compassion-aspect, and because you meditate you see My Beauty-aspect and My Fruitfulness-aspect.

“Something more you will feel. When you pray, from now on you will feel that you need Me only, and when you meditate you will feel that I need you only. Right now it is impossible for you to believe that I need you only, because in every way I am superior to you. You think that you know who you are and who I am. But a day will come when you will realise that we are one and inseparable. Until then it will be difficult for you to feel that I embody the finite aspect of life and still hold the Infinite aspect. I know that inside the finite aspect is the Infinite, and inside the Infinite aspect is the finite, but still you have not realised that.

“When I say that I need you only, you have to know what I mean. You may say, ‘There are millions and billions and trillions of people on earth, so how is it that He cares only for me and not for others?’ But you have to feel that ‘you’ means your extended, expanded part. Your eyes have become larger than the largest, your arms have become longer than the longest. Your whole existence has expanded and enlarged, and all other human beings are only your extended, expanded reality — part of your own existence. Therefore, when you meditate and feel that I need you only, it means that I need you as a universal Reality.

“If you keep on praying and meditating, then you are obeying Me. And if you obey Me, there is nothing that I shall not do for you. I shall always do everything for you if you pray and meditate. When you pray you will feel that My Life-breath is embodying you, and when you meditate you will feel that your life-breath is embodying Me. Prayer and meditation are of tremendous importance. But there will come a time when you will become inseparably one with My Consciousness, finite and Infinite, universal and transcendental. At that time you may give up the prayer-aspect, for the meditation-aspect will embody everything. In the prayer-aspect there is some feeling of superiority and inferiority. If you regard Me as the Lord Supreme, then it will be difficult for you to accept Me as your only Friend, your Eternity’s Friend. At that time I embody My Absolute aspect, My aspect of sovereignty and lordship. But there may come a time when you will feel that I am your only Friend. At that time you need not approach Me as the Lord Supreme and pray to Me. Your prayer-life may come to an end.

“It is difficult or impossible for the prayer-life to embody the meditation-life, but the meditation-life can easily embody the prayer-life. Right now you should both pray and meditate. But eventually, when you become highly advanced, on the verge of realisation or realised, then you can give up praying, for in meditation you can easily get the fruits of prayer along with the meditation-fruits, which are all-important.”

You and Your Perfection

9:35 p.m.
Yoga-Life Perfection,
New York

You are telling me that you are perfect. Then show me the vitality-flood of your vital. I see you have it. Thank you.

You are telling me that you are perfect. Then show me the serenity-river of your mind. I see you have it. Thank you.

You are telling me that you are perfect. Then show me the divinity-sea of your heart. I see you have it. Thank you.

You are telling me that you are perfect. Then show me a purity-drop of your body. I see you have it. Thank you.

Indeed, you are right. Indeed, you are perfect.

Yoga and Oneness

7:37 pm.
Yoga-Life Perfection,
New York

Yoga is conscious oneness.

Yoga is my conscious oneness with what I have and what I am. What I have is God-realisation. What I am is God-Delight.

Yoga is conscious oneness with God’s eternal Duty. Yoga is conscious oneness with God’s infinite Beauty.

Yoga is conscious oneness with earth’s insufficiency-cry. Yoga is conscious oneness with Heaven’s sufficiency-smile.

Yoga is conscious oneness with man’s surrender-perfection. Yoga is conscious oneness with God’s Acceptance-Satisfaction.

Yoga is conscious oneness with God’s Vision-Boat. Yoga is conscious oneness with God’s Reality-Shore.

Hatha Yoga

9:39 p.m.
Yoga-Life Perfection,
New York

O Yoga of the sun and the moon, I sincerely appreciate you, I unmistakably admire you.

O Ha, O sun, O sun-world, O sun-power, O sun-god, I adore you.

O Tha, O moon, O moon-world, O moon-shower, O moon-goddess, I adore you.

O Hatha Yoga, you are preparing for me a strong body, a sound vital, an illumining mind and a pure heart. From your valuable gifts I shall receive inspiration to take three long strides towards my life’s integral perfection and my Lord’s complete satisfaction: concentration, meditation and contemplation.

Concentration will penetrate the ignorance-world. Meditation will sit on the snow-capped mountain peak. Contemplation will join the divine lover and the Supreme Beloved in their oneness-dance.

Intuition

9:41 p.m.
Yoga-Life Perfection,
New York

Intuition, you are great. You run faster than the fastest. You have the lightning speed. You have free access to the past realities and to the present realities. You are great because you have lightning speed. Your lightning speed frightens the weak, encourages the strong, confuses the foolish and pleases the wise.

O intuition, you are really great. You have the capacity to know the world, inner and outer. But alas, you do not have the capacity to change the world. If you want to change the world, then you will have to go to realisation. It will not only fulfil your desire, but will also grant you another boon: satisfaction in God-realisation, satisfaction in God-revelation, satisfaction in God-manifestation.

Perfection

9:43 p.m.
Yoga-Life Perfection,
New York

Perfection: what is it? It is an ever-transcending reality. Perfection is to reach Divinity’s feet with humanity’s heart. Perfection is to change the life-style of the finite world and to manifest the life-style of the Infinite.

Perfection is not self-justification. Perfection is not self-proclamation. Perfection is not self-annihilation. Perfection is God-invitation, God-adoration and God-satisfaction.

Perfection is to have sterling faith in God’s constant Compassion. Perfection is to have staunch faith in man’s crying aspiration.

Who says that perfection on earth is self-delusion? Perfection is God-glorification in man.

Who says that perfection is a far cry? No, it is nearer than the heart-beat, nearer than the life-breath.

Something more: perfection embodies God the aspiring, evolving, transcending, illumining and fulfilling man.

If You Have, Then Come to Me

9:45 p.m.
Yoga-Life Perfection,
New York

If you have a disturbing thought, then come to me. I shall give you my challenging will.

If you have an impure mind, then come to me. I shall give you my pure heart.

If you have an uncomely body, then come to me. I shall give you my beautiful soul.

If you have an unsatisfied life, then come to me. I shall give you my satisfied God.

Published in Everest-Aspiration, part 2