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Spirituality

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at ABF Huset, Sveavagen 41, Stockholm, Sweden

Dear sisters and brothers, dear seekers of the transcendental Truth, I wish to give a short talk on spirituality. When we use the term 'spirituality', we mean God. We are with God, we are in God, we are of God and we are for God. This is an experience that can be living and spontaneous in our day-to-day life. To be with God we have to withdraw from our little 'I', our ego, which binds us, limits us and finally leads us to death. To be in God we have to purify our body, vital and mind. To be of God we have to please God in His own way. To be for God we have to offer God on earth the promise that we made to Him in Heaven: Him to realise, Him to reveal and Him to manifest-for this we came onto the earth-scene.

Self-reliance is good. Dependence on God is far better. But when we offer our surrender to God's Will, and when God's Compassion accepts our surrender, this is by far the best. We say that we love God. If we really love God, then we have to serve God in humanity. In order to serve humanity, we must liberate ourselves from vital depression, mental suspicion and psychic disintegration. We have to be fully ready to love humanity even though humanity misunderstands us. A divinely crucified earthly life glorifies the Heavenly promise.

Earlier I mentioned the little 'I', the ego. Now I wish to speak about the big 'I', the universal 'I', which we can call the universal Consciousness. When we live in this Consciousness, we feel that we are the chosen children of God. If we are the chosen children of God, how can we mix with falsehood, darkness and ignorance? It is impossible. If we are God's chosen children, then our friends are Peace, Light and Bliss.

Here we are all seekers of the highest Truth. At every moment our thoughts are judged, our prayer is judged, our meditation is judged, our surrender is judged by our Inner Pilot. If we have a pure thought, we then acquire solid strength. If we have a soulful prayer, then we gain divine confidence. If we have a sublime meditation, then we come closer to God. If we make an unconditional surrender to God's Will, then we can claim God as our very own.

Among the seekers there are some who are afraid of light. There was a time when we were all afraid of light. We thought that our evil thoughts and evil deeds would be exposed by light. But now that we have become seekers we clearly see that light has not exposed us; on the contrary, light has illumined us. The outer light exposes us; the inner light only illumines us. This is the difference between inner light and outer light.

In the spiritual life we cannot and must not make earthly plans. Very often when we make plans, five-year plans or ten-year plans, we wait and wait until the last moment before acting on our plans. Then at the last moment it is too late and we achieve nothing. A spiritual seeker does not need any plan. He depends entirely on his inner guidance, which is spontaneous and constant. When we listen to the guidance of the Inner Pilot, we achieve everything immediately.

Life means action. Action is based upon meditation. Meditation eventually reveals God and manifests Him on earth. We pray to God and meditate on God-not because we have done many things wrong in this life, not because we want to compensate for our ego-directed actions, not because we have to offer Him a petition so that He can forgive us, but because we feel that our life is a constant preparation for God. This preparation is the indication of God's revelation in and through us. This preparation makes us feel that God needs us for His manifestation. We need God to reach the highest Truth, highest Light and highest Bliss. God needs us to reveal His Dream and manifest His Divinity. What is His Dream? His Dream is earth-transformation. His Dream is nature's perfection. Our real reality lies in our conscious embodiment of God, our conscious revelation of God's Light and our conscious manifestation of God's Perfection.

Here we are all seekers; some are beginners, some are a little advanced. The beginners may have some curiosity about God's existence. But those who are a little advanced know that God does exist. They feel that it is God who is guiding them in a divine way. But when? Only when they inwardly cry. To love God and God alone, we have to cry inwardly at every moment and become a helpless inner cry. I always tell people in the spiritual life to start no matter where they are, no matter how developed or undeveloped they are. Unless we start, we can never reach our destination. Even if we start with curiosity, we will see that our curiosity will eventually lead us to faith. Faith is something divine within us. When we have faith in God, God gives us faith in ourselves. When our faith in God and our faith in ourselves work together, we become a perfect instrument of God. At that time, we gain inner experiences and these experiences carry us along the road of Immortality.

For those who follow the spiritual life there comes a time when we distinctly hear God's Voice. God offers us His highest message: today's imperfect man is tomorrow's perfect God. Today's unfulfilled man becomes tomorrow's fulfilled God. But how? Through divine love, divine devotion and divine surrender. Human love binds us. Human devotion is nothing but attachment. Human surrender is nothing but compulsion. Divine love is the heart's expansion. Divine devotion is the sweetest intimacy with God. Divine surrender is the complete satisfaction of our life. This surrender is the surrender of our unlit life to our own fully illumined soul. In the real spiritual life if we have divine love, divine devotion and divine surrender, then we accomplish everything. The Kingdom of Heaven we bring down into the world, and earth's cry we carry up to Heaven's Smile.

Published in My Rose Petals, part 4

Everest-Aspiration Talks

by Sri Chinmoy

Realisation

7:50 a.m.
Jamaica High School Track,
Jamaica, New York

How do I use my realisation?

I use my realisation to taste humanity’s poverty.

I use my realisation to taste divinity’s prosperity.

I use my realisation to love humanity’s tears.

I use my realisation to love divinity’s smiles.

I use my realisation to give humanity what I have: hope, hope, hope.

I use my realisation to give divinity what I am: promise, promise, promise.

I use my realisation to free and also to bind. I use my realisation to free the finite, to liberate the finite inside the heart-vision of the Infinite. I use my realisation to bind the Infinite inside the manifestation-body-mission of the finite.

What is realisation? Realisation is my sweet remembrance of my forgotten past.

What is realisation? Realisation is my recovery from my ignorance-disease which has troubled me for millennia.

What is realisation? Realisation is my conscious and constant sailing with my Inner Pilot in His Golden Boat towards the uncharted land, where sooner than at once beauty, divinity and Immortality seeds grow into the richest harvest.

A Fleeting Life

11:25 a.m.
John F Kennedy High School,
Bronx, New York

A fleeting life is all we have. So why do we boast, why do we disproportionately exaggerate our earthly, mortal and brittle achievements? The physical in us, no matter how strong, fails us when the Prince of Gloom appears. When death appears, the physical deserts us no matter how strong it is, the vital deserts us no matter how enthusiastic it is, the mind deserts us no matter how brilliant it is, the heart deserts us no matter how kind and pure it is.

A fleeting life is all we have. Why then do we listen to the dictates of the physical world, the temptation-world? Why? Why? Why do we not listen to the dictates of the all-illumining and all-fulfilling soul? Why? Why? Why do we dine each night, all night long, with ignorance-sea? Why do we sport with darkness-dragon every day, all day long? Why? Why? Why do we not love God even conditionally, if it is impossible for us to love God unconditionally? Why? Why?

A fleeting life is all we have. Why do we not please God partially, if it is not within our capacity to please God totally and unreservedly? Why? Why? Can we not say to God once and for all that, although we have given all of our previous lives, even to the previous second, to ignorance-night, from now on we shall give this fleeting life of ours to Him alone? Can we not give God the full authority to guide us, mould us and shape us in His own Way? Since we have failed in the hands of ignorance, can we not give God a chance to direct our life? If God too fails, then we shall see what we ourselves can do with our life. But is it not fair on our part at least to give God a chance, as countless times we have given chances to ignorance-night? Let this short incarnation of ours be offered to God and God alone. If we offer our life to God, then ours will be the life short in years but long in achievements.

God says to us, “Children, I have promised you that I shall not misuse you, I shall not misguide you. I shall prove to you that I can make new personalities, new realities and new divinities out of you; only give Me a chance. As you have time and again given chances to ignorance, even so, for this short, fleeting time give Me the chance and see what I can do for you, since you cannot see what I have already done for you.

“Children, give Me a chance and see what I can do in this fleeting life of yours. This fleeting life can be expanded and extended, My children, if you care to envision My Divinity with your surrendered heart and with your oneness-soul. A fleeting life need not and cannot be the last word of the earth-arena. An endless life, a birthless and deathless life, can alone satisfy man, the future God.”

I Wish to be Free

3:20 p.m.
Norwalk High School,
Norwalk, Connecticut

I wish to be free from restlessness, fear and doubt. Restlessness slows down my speed, my inner speed. Fear unnerves me. Doubt poisons me. I need quietude to replace my restlessness. I need courage to replace my fear. I need faith to replace my doubt. My quietude is my confidence, my Lord’s assurance. My courage shall serve God the man throughout the length and breadth of the world. My courage shall love man the God in the inner world and in the outer world. My faith shall expedite not only my journey, but the journey of all sincere seekers; for we are one, inseparably one. The strength of my faith will strengthen them and the strength of their faith will strengthen me.

I wish to be free from insincerity, insecurity and impurity. Insincerity separates me from my Lord’s greatness. Insecurity separates me from my Lord’s vastness. Impurity separates me from my Lord’s closeness. Sincerity will replace my insincerity. Security will replace my insecurity. Purity will replace my impurity. My sincerity from now on will be my safeguard; it will always save me from inner and outer destruction. My security will make me feel that my Source, my Beloved Supreme, is always for me, for me, for me, for me. No matter what I do or what I say, He is eternally for me. My purity will enable me to speak to Him, sing with Him and sport with Him here, there and all-where at every moment.

I wish to be free from self-imposition, self-exposition and self-exploitation. I shall not impose any more severe, ruthless austerity on my life, for that is not the right way. I shall not expose my ignorance-dream to the world at large any more. I shall not exploit myself any more. I have already exploited my Supreme’s Compassion infinite. I have already exploited the world’s abundant patience. I have already exploited my weak helplessness. But I shall not exploit God, I shall not exploit the world and I shall not exploit myself any more.

I wish to be free from what I am in the outer world and from what I am in the inner world. Right now in the outer world I am a hopeless hope, and in the inner world I am a fruitless promise. I want to transform my hope-world into a reality-world, the reality which is fulfilment itself. I want to transform my fruitless promise into fruitful action. This I can do only on the strength of my sleepless inner cry. I can cultivate my inner cry only when I offer to my Beloved Supreme the most precious thing that He has granted me out of His infinite Bounty, and this most precious thing is the tiny flame of my gratitude-heart.

Experience and Realisation

9:20 p.m.
North Avenue Presbyterian Church,
New Rochelle, New York

Experience prepares; realisation shares. Experience prepares the seeker for God’s choice Hour. Realisation shares God with the seeker. Experience tirelessly tries and cries to find the goal. Realisation effortlessly lives in the goal and eventually grows into the goal itself. Experience secretly tells the seeker what he will ultimately become; he will become God’s most perfect instrument. Realisation smilingly tells the seeker what he eternally is here on earth and there in Heaven. On earth he is God the aspiring and evolving man. In Heaven he is man the illumining and fulfilling God.

Experience is convinced of the fact that this world of ours is a battlefield. Here, bad and good, divine and undivine forces are constantly at war. Realisation knows that this world of ours is not a battlefield. It spontaneously knows that this world of ours is God’s all-transcending Vision-Tree and God’s all-nourishing Reality-Fruit.

Experience moves from the finite to the Infinite. It feels its presence in the finite first and then in the Infinite. It feels its sole identity with the finite drop and then with the infinite sea. Realisation swims right from the beginning inside the infinite sea with God the eternal Swimmer.

Each experience is an added strength in the process of our evolving life. While we are marching along Eternity’s road, each experience is an added strength. Each realisation is a transcending triumph. While we are running fast, faster, fastest along Eternity’s road, each realisation is a transcending triumph.

Experience is exceedingly fond of God the Compassion-Father. Realisation is exceedingly fond of God the Oneness-Lover.

Experience is our journey’s birth. Realisation is our ever-transcending, ever-illumining and ever-fulfilling journey itself.

Published in Everest-Aspiration, part 1

Aspiration

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
in the Chapel of the Church Centre atr the United Nations

What is aspiration? Aspiration is speed.

What is aspiration? Aspiration is the fastest speed.

What is aspiration? Aspiration is Eternity's fastest speed.

What is aspiration? Aspiration is Eternity's fastest speed-communion between man and God.

What is aspiration? Aspiration is silence-vision. It is God the Supreme Beloved's Silence-Vision.

What is aspiration? Aspiration is sound-mission. It is God the Supreme Lover's Sound-Mission.

What is aspiration? Aspiration is the crying man's duty. Aspiration is the smiling God's Beauty. Aspiration is God's constant declaration of man's capacity. Aspiration is man's conscious necessity of God's real Reality within and without him.

Aspiration is not and cannot be the destination. Aspiration is the eternal journey. It is man's eternal journey to self-transcendence in the soul-light of perfection.

Aspiration is God's eternal journey of supreme manifestation in the satisfaction-heart of His transcendental Height, universal Length and unfathomable Depth.

With aspiration God started His journey. With aspiration He asks His children, His creation, to continue the journey.

Published in Union-Vision

Stupidity, Insecurity and Fear

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at the University of Auckland  in New Zealand 

Stupidity, insecurity and fear are three foes of our inner life. Stupidity includes insecurity and fear. As a matter of fact, stupidity encompasses everything that is unaspiring and negative in our life of aspiration. Why am I stupid and why do I remain stupid? I am stupid because I have not yet seen my true form and I have not yet realised my own highest height. I remain stupid precisely because inwardly I cherish stupidity.

There is not a single day when my mind does not cherish authority and supremacy. In my outer life I try to exercise supremacy over others; I show my undue and unauthorised authority. As soon as I show my authority and supremacy, I separate myself from the rest of mankind. With the disappearance of my oneness-life, my stupidity begins.

Why am I insecure and why do I remain insecure? I am insecure because I have not yet felt my inseparable oneness with the rest of the world. I remain insecure because inwardly I cherish insecurity in a very strange and peculiar way: I think that my insecurity is keeping me alert and cautious. I know that I have countless superiors but very few inferiors. But because of my insecurity I am always afraid that even these inferiors are going to dethrone me and start dominating me.

As long as I do not have confidence in the purest sense, I feel that I have to keep insecurity at my heart's door to protect me, which is absurdity on the face of it.

Why am I afraid? I am afraid of certain people for various reasons, but the main reason is that I dislike them. When I dislike anyone, I feel that the person I dislike is always speaking ill of me; I feel that sleeplessly and breathlessly that person is counting my shortcomings. I feel that he is leaving no stone unturned to expose me to the outer world. Because I dislike others, because I have no love for others and feel no oneness with them, I am afraid of the world. Where there is division and lack of oneness, there is always fear. But if I like the world, the world will also like me. If I love the world, my love will be reciprocated. In the life of a person who does not feel oneness with the rest of the world, stupidity, fear and insecurity can never come to an end.

Stupidity, insecurity, fear: These are my problems. But do I sincerely, soulfully and bravely try to liberate myself from these problems? No! I feel in a very peculiar way that my countless problems are keeping me alive. I feel that if I had no problems, by this time I would have become lifeless, inactive, and my life of sloth and inertia would have made me even more miserable. I feel that because I have problems to face, my inner energy comes to the fore. Alas, these are the strange ideas that I cherish.

At times, when I am beset with problems, I go to my friends and dear ones in the hope that they will be able to free me from my problems. But, like me, they too are loaded with problems, and they cannot help me.

Each problem is an inner ailment, an inner disease, and only an inner doctor can cure me. My inner doctor is my Inner Pilot. He tells me, "My son, I can cure you of all your problems, but I have to charge you a fee. The fee that I need is your constant prayer-life. The fee that I want is your constant aspiration-life. If you give Me your prayerful heart and your aspiration-life, I shall cure you of all your centuries-old maladies. Only a life of prayer and a heart of meditation can cure you of your long-cherished ignorance-dream.

Published in My Heart's Peace-Offering