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Greatness and Goodness

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at Oxford University, Oxford, England

I wish to give a very short talk on greatness and goodness. Here we are in Oxford. Oxford is a place of greatness and goodness. Oxford, I bow to your greatness and I bow to your goodness. Your greatness is divinely meaningful and your goodness is supremely soulful. Anything that is great in England is to be found here in microcosm. Greatness and goodness combined are what Oxford is.

Students who want to cultivate mental knowledge of the highest degree come here from all over the world to achieve greatness. Then they go back to their respective countries to offer the knowledge-light that they have achieved from here. This knowledge-light that they spread is goodness.

To have greatness is to have faith in oneself: in one's physical, in one's vital, in one's mind and in one's heart. If one has a strong body, he has faith in his physical strength. If one has a dynamic vital, then he has implicit faith in his vital. If one is blessed with a brilliant mind, then he has faith in his mind. And if one is blessed with a pure heart, a pure and unalloyed heart, then he has tremendous faith in his heart.

Goodness is faith only in God, in Truth, in Light. When one becomes part and parcel of Truth, then one takes the side of Truth and Light. And when one is always for God, this is nothing but goodness. Goodness always has faith in God, Truth and Light.

Greatness is a universally acknowledged fact. Goodness is also a universally acknowledged fact. But it is something more. It is universally loved reality. Greatness we observe in our outer life. Goodness we observe in our inner life. With our human eyes, we observe greatness around us, all over the world. With our divine heart, we feel goodness within us and within others.

God is great because He has created this world. This is a fact that we have been taught by our parents, by our friends, by the world body. God is also good, kind, compassionate. He is our Source within us; He is for us, eternally for us. He wants to liberate us, He wants to illumine us, He wants to grant us realisation, satisfaction and fulfilment. He is the Author of all good. This is God the Goodness. God the Creator is Greatness and God the Lover of His creation is Goodness. We love God not because He is supremely great, but because He is universally, transcendentally good. Greatness astonishes us. Goodness illumines us, liberates us from the shackles of bondage.

Greatness we can express in an animal way when we quarrel, fight and try to destroy one another. When we stay together in a family and love one another, then greatness is expressed in a human way. When we try to elevate one another and help one another reach the highest heights, at that time greatness is expressed in a divine way. Finally, greatness is expressed in the supreme way when we tell the world that God the Eternal Reality is also eternally good; He is the Source. He is waiting for us, Him to please in His own way. Here we reach greatness, supreme greatness, on the strength of our conscious and constant surrender to God's Will.

Usually our human mind craves greatness, whereas our divine heart longs for goodness. Sometimes we notice a yawning gulf between the mind and the heart, between the goal that the mind wants to reach and the goal that the heart wants to reach. The mind tries to see its goal by separating one reality from another. Everything it wants to see in an infinitesimal measure, whereas the heart wants to see the goal, the reality, as a unit, one and inseparable. The mind and the heart approach reality in different ways, but they cannot always remain separated. They have to be unified in order to achieve the highest truth. There are two kinds of mind: the physical mind and the illumined mind. The physical mind is bound by the physical world. It wants to lord it over the world. It wants to stay at least an inch above others so that it can dominate others. Consciously or unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly, it gets tremendous joy from its sense of separativity. The illumined mind is totally different. It longs for vastness within and without. It wants nothing but vastness; and inside vastness, it wants to grow and glow.

The human heart, which is very near the vital centre, is quite often insecure. It does not want to house others inside it. It feels that when others want to take shelter in it, they may break the vessel. It feels it is too small. Therefore, the human heart is quite often insecure, timid. And just because it is quite near the vital, unconsciously or consciously, like a magnet it pulls impurity from the undisciplined vital. But there is also the spiritual heart. This heart is always united with the soul; it has established its oneness with the soul. The soul, which is the direct representative of the Lord Supreme, has Light in boundless measure. And the spiritual heart has a free access to the soul. Therefore, it can easily bring down the soul's light into its system.

The oneness of the spiritual heart and the vastness of the illumined mind must be brought together. Oneness we can establish with another individual or with some tiny object. But if we have vastness along with the oneness, if we can establish our oneness with God's vast creation, then we become perfect. Likewise, vastness without oneness is of no avail. God's creation is very vast, but if we fail to establish our oneness with this vastness, then vastness remains a barren desert. In order to become perfect, we have to create within us vastness and oneness, and we have to grow into both vastness and oneness.

There are two worlds. One is the world of desire; the other is the world of aspiration. When we remain in the desire-world, greatness looms large. But when we remain in the aspiration-world, goodness looms large. Just because we are seekers, we are consciously trying to come out of the domain of the desire-world and establish our abode in the aspiration-world.

The desire to know the world and the desire to know oneself are totally different things. When we want to know the world around us, without caring for our oneness with the world, unconsciously we are aiming at greatness. And this greatness, without fail, separates us from the world. But when we want to know ourselves implicitly, what we realise is that we are part and parcel of the whole, of the integral reality. Even if we start with the desire-world and try to become great, no harm. It is far better than remaining in the world of lethargy and somnolence. But there shall come a time when we see that our greatness has not given us an iota of satisfaction; for inside greatness what we see is frustration. There comes a time when our greatness is challenged. An individual feels that he is a great singer. But sooner or later his pride is smashed when he sees that another singer is far better than he. Then what does he do? He resorts to goodness.

Goodness is not in competing with the world around; only it offers the message of self-transcendence. If we at all have to compare, then the comparison is with ourselves. If we at all have to compete, then we will compete with our own previous capacities. Here there is no other world. There is only our own world of constant and continuous progress. We try only to transcend ourselves. In the desire-world there is comparison and competition. But in the aspiration-world, we do not want to make others feel that we are superior. No. When we feel that we have an iota of light, we aspire to have abundant light, infinite Light. Only by virtue of our constant aspiration do we transcend our own capacities. We feel that the more we increase our capacity and the more we utilise our capacity to please the Inner Pilot in His own way, the sooner we become His perfect instruments.

Published in My Rose Petals, part 6

Questions after the Lecture

answered by Sri Chinmoy

Question: If I pray for my father, will this benefit his soul's evolution despite the fact that he does not lead a spiritual life?

Sri Chinmoy: If one does not lead a spiritual life and another member of his family prays and meditates for him, naturally it will help. But if the person consciously rejects the love and the spiritual help that he is getting, then he won’t get any benefit. Suppose a member of your family does not accept the spiritual life, but you have accepted it soulfully and you are praying for that person just because he is a member of your family. Your prayer will definitely work provided he does not reject it. He may say, “I am too lethargic. I don’t want to do it, but if you do it for me, I will be grateful. I am hungry, true, but I don’t want to go to the kitchen. Will you bring me some food?” Then you can go to your kitchen and open up your refrigerator and bring food. Just because he is lazy you are bringing him food. But if you bring him food and he just throws it aside and becomes annoyed, then what are you going to do? So it is up to him. When you bring him food, he should at least eat it. If he eats, then he will be nourished. At that time it doesn’t matter whether he went to the kitchen himself. But if he rejects your food, then no matter how sincere you are, how well-meaning you are in bringing the food to him, you are wasting your time. It entirely depends on his acceptance or rejection. If he accepts, then naturally you will feel that the power of your prayer, the fruit of your prayer, will go to him. But if he rejects it, then it is impossible.

Question: What happens to geniuses like Bach or Shakespeare after they die?

Sri Chinmoy: It depends on God’s Will and also the eagerness of the soul. If Bach played his role as a great, supreme musician, and if he does not want to manifest any more music, and if it is the Will of the Supreme, then he will give up that life totally. In his next incarnation he may enter into the field of literary activity. If Shakespeare has finished his role as a great writer and if he wants to enter into music, he can do it. Again, if Shakespeare and Bach feel that they have not played their roles satisfactorily, that they could give more to the literary world or to the musical world, then they will continue in the same field in their next incarnation.

We feel that Bach composed such great music. Who could be a better musician than he or who could be a greater writer than Shakespeare? But only the souls of these two great figures know whether they contributed to the fullest extent what they embodied and what they came here to give us. If they have given everything, then they don’t have to go through literary life or music life any more. But if they have not given everything and if they want to continue, and if the Will of the Supreme is for them to continue and give more of their soul-stirring music or soul-elevating literature, then they will give. Again, they may not want to continue this particular game. On the sports field, a game lasts for forty-five minutes or an hour. If one plays for forty-five minutes and then becomes tired, he may say, “I do not want to play this game anymore; I am ready to play some other game. I was playing football and it was very exhausting; now I want to play something else, some indoor game.” And then God may say, “All right, you don’t have to play that game. You can play some other game. I am offering you My Compassion.”

Usually great geniuses like Shakespeare and Bach have completed their roles. Then, God may take them into science or spirituality. In the case of Bach, he had already accepted spirituality, whereas Shakespeare had not consciously accepted spirituality. So Bach’s music is full of spirituality. But Shakespeare’s higher ideals are not spiritual; they are something else. Spirituality is everywhere, true, but you have to know what spirituality you are aiming at. The one has already touched spirituality; the other has not properly touched the real spirituality. It is entirely up to God’s Will what they will do next.

Question: Is there any question you cannot answer?

Sri Chinmoy: If I use my mind, there will be millions of questions that I cannot answer. But if I use my oneness-heart with the Absolute Supreme, there will be no question that I will not be able to answer, if it has to do with spirituality. Thousands of times I have answered questions, believe me, and when I heard it on the tape or read it in the book, I could not believe that it was I who had said it. Or after I have answered a question, when everything is all done and my physical mind gets the message of the answer that I have given, I cannot believe that I have answered that question. When I try to understand the question afterwards, I cannot understand it. It has happened to me once or twice that I have answered a question one hundred per cent correctly; but if I use my mind in order to know what the question is, I do not even understand the question. So how many times I have answered questions most correctly on the strength of my heart’s oneness with God’s Will. My heart immediately becomes one with God’s Will. Many times it has happened that before the question is even formulated, just when the person opens his mouth, the question has already come to me. You are standing with the question and you have completed two or three words, but your question has already come to me and the answer has already come to me. Then you go on, go on, using so many words; but it is all unnecessary. When you open your mouth, the question and the answer both have come together, and I am just waiting for you to complete your question.

Question: Why is it that some religions do not mention reincarnation?

Sri Chinmoy: Some religions say, “Our Father is in Heaven. He is there and we are here, in hell.” So naturally they try to go to Heaven, where He is. And then, once they are there, they say, “Oh, He is our Beloved. Are we such fools that we will come back to earth? Who needs reincarnation?”

But if we know that He is in Heaven and also here on earth, then naturally we will come back. Wherever we are, God, poor fellow, is also there; He is bound to be with us. If we are on the ground floor, in the basement, He is also there. And also when we are on the top floor, in the attic, He is with us. So if you accept God’s Universality, then you know that reincarnation is absolutely real. But if you accept only God the Transcendental Height, then you will only stay with Him upstairs. You shall not come back. When people say that God is only in Heaven, it creates a problem. But if we say He is both in Heaven and on earth, then this problem doesn’t arise.

Question: Does the vibration of the city reflect the aspiration of its inhabitants?

Sri Chinmoy: At times the vibration of a city is like the aspiration of its inhabitants. And also, the inhabitants may have a vibration of their own. It is like a house. A house has a vibration of its own and the inhabitants also have a vibration of their own. The inhabitants have a vibration and they are giving it to the house; and the house has some vibration, which it is giving to the inhabitants.

Question: Are there delicate and beautiful worlds of the psychic imagination that the artist should try to seek access to for inspiration?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, there are many, many beautiful, delicate psychic worlds. You are using the term “imagination”, but this is absolutely wrong. These are not imagination; they are psychic realities. What you call imagination is not imagination as such; it is a reality in another world. Here on earth we call it imagination. But when we go to a higher plane, where we get the message of creativity, the light of creativity, it is not imagination at all. It is real. Only we don’t see its reality in the physical form here. We are on the first floor and a flower is on the second floor. We don’t see the flower because we are on the first floor. But when the fragrance comes down, we know there is a flower, a source, and the source is on the second floor.

So imagination is a world of its own, a reality-world. But here we don’t see it because it is stationed a little higher. The good artist must always seek access to the higher worlds for inspiration, for if one wants to create something, one has to get something from a higher plane. Then only will the world be illumined and fulfilled. Anything that comes from above has more beauty in it, more purity in it, more reality in it. Our goal is to bring down from above divinity, reality, beauty — everything that is divine.

The imagination-world is not a mental hallucination; it is reality-world far above this physical world. Let us try to have an access to this world so we can get inspiration and create something new, something unprecedented.

Published in Sri Chinmoy Speaks, part 10

Father's Day!

Father offers his most
special Blessings. Love
Joy, Concern, Pride and
Gratitude
to his sweet, brave and
self-giving Children.

Guru
2005

See Your Master in Everybody’s Heart

by Sri Chinmoy
at Aspiration-Ground in Jamaica, New York

When it is a matter of sleepless selfless service, I have a disciple for whom there is no day, no night. Whenever I need something, he is ready. And what is absolutely unbelievable is that he does this kind of service not only for me, but for all and sundry. If anybody wants his help, he is always ready. He does not judge whether the request is coming from a first-class disciple, a second-class disciple or a third-class disciple. As soon as anybody needs something, he is ready, ready. I wonder how many disciples are of that type. Some may perhaps grumble, fumble and stumble if they are asked to help so many individuals.

To this disciple I wish to say, “Continue, continue! Inside everybody’s heart, see me, see me. See your Master in everybody’s heart. Then you will be able to keep up your exemplary service.”

Published in The Temple and the Shrine

The Role of Purity in the Spiritual Life

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at the home of Mrs. Mary Williams
41 Fifth Avenue, New York CitY

Purity! Purity! Purity! We love you. We want you. We need you. Stay in our thoughts. Stay in our actions. Stay in the breath of our life.

How to be pure? We can be pure by self-control; we can control our senses. It is unbelievably difficult. But it is not impossible.

"I shall control my senses. I shall conquer my passions." This approach cannot bring you what you actually want. The hungry lion that lives in your senses and the hungry tiger that lives in your passions will not leave you by the mere repetition of the thought, "I shall control my senses and conquer my passions." This approach will be of no avail.

What you must do is to fix your mind on God. To your utter amazement, your lion and tiger, tamed, will leave you of their own accord when they see that you have become too poor to feed them. As a matter of fact, you don't become poor in the least. On the contrary, you become infinitely stronger and richer, for God's Will energises your body, mind and heart. To fix your body, mind and heart on the Divine is the right approach. The closer you are to the Light, the farther you are from the Darkness.

Purity does not come all at once. It takes time. Dive deep. Lose yourself with implicit faith in God's contemplation. You need not go to Purity. Purity has to come to you and it will. Purity does not come alone. It brings an everlasting Joy with it. This Divine Joy is the sole purpose of our life. God reveals Himself fully and manifests Himself unreservedly only when we have this inner Joy.

The world gives you desires. God gives you prayers. The world gives you bondage. God gives you freedom. Freedom from limitations, freedom from ignorance.

You are the player. You can play either football or cricket. You have a free choice. Similarly, it is you who can have either purity or impurity to play with. The player is the master of the game and not vice-versa.

The easiest and most effective way to have purity is to repeat a mantra. A mantra is a seed-sound. A mantra is a dynamic power in the form of a vibrant sound.

Now let us know what Japa is. Japa is the repetition of a mantra. You want purity, don't you? Today is Saturday. Right now, repeat the name of God five hundred times. This is our mantra. Let us all do it.

Thank you. We are all successful. Now every day please increase the number by one hundred. That is to say, tomorrow you will repeat the name of God six hundred times, and the day after seven hundred. On the coming Saturday, my calculation says that you will repeat the name of God twelve hundred times. From that Saturday to the following Saturday, please start decreasing the number daily by a hundred until you again reach five hundred. Please continue this exercise, week by week, just for a month. Whether you want to change your name or not, the world will change your name. It will give you a new name. It will call you by the name Purity. Your inner ear will make you hear it. It will surpass your fondest imagination.

Let nothing perturb you. Let your body's impurity remind you of your heart's spontaneous purity. Let your outer finite thoughts remind you of your inner Infinite Will. Let your mind's teeming imperfections remind you of your soul's limitless perfection.

The present-day world is full of impurity. It seems that purity is a currency from another world. It is hard to obtain this purity, but once you get it, peace is yours, success is yours.

Let us face the world. Let us take life as it comes. Our inner Pilot is constantly vigilant. The undercurrents of our inner and spiritual life will always flow on unnoticed, unobstructed, unafraid.

God may be Unknown but He is not Unknowable. Our prayers and meditations lead us to that Unknown. Freedom we cry for. But strangely enough, we are not aware of the fact that we already have within us immense freedom. Look! Without any difficulty, we can forget God. We can ignore Him and we can even deny Him. But the compassionate God says, "My children, no matter what you do or say, My heart shall never abandon you. I want you. I need you."

The mother holds the hand of the child. It is the child who has to walk and he does it. Neither the one who is dragged nor the one who drags can be happy. Likewise God says, "My divine children, in your inner life, I give you inspiration. It is you who have to aspire with the purest heart to reach the Golden Beyond."

Published in AUM – Vol. 2, No. 7, 8, Feb.–27 Mar. 1967

Father’s Day Message — 1972

“I shall not fail you if you can dare to think that I care for you.” — Sri Chinmoy

Sri Chinmoy’s comment:

This is my Father’s Day message to each and every disciple of mine.

Published in AUM – Vol. 8, No. 1, August 27, 1972

Desire and Aspiration

by Sri Chinmoy
at The Debater, Marischal College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland

Yoga is a Sanskrit word. It means union, conscious union with the Highest, conscious union with the Absolute.

Spirituality is a vast subject. Yoga teaches us how to study this subject. Yoga also teaches us how to have a free access to God, the Absolute.

We are all one, inseparably one with God. But our oneness is an unconscious oneness. But if we follow yoga, if we practise spirituality, then our oneness with God becomes conscious. More than that, it becomes constantly and inseparably conscious.

Two things govern the world, only two things: desire and aspiration. Desire is for those who want to live an ordinary life, practically the life of an animal; and aspiration is for those who would like to live the life of the cosmic gods. The life of desire is immediately followed by destruction. The life of aspiration is followed by revelation, and revelation is followed by manifestation — manifestation of our Divinity, manifestation of the Inner Pilot and manifestation of the Absolute, fully and completely here on earth.

Some people are satisfied with what they have and what they are. What they have is material wealth and what they are is desire. They have desire, but their desires are fulfilled to a great extent and they are satisfied. For these people aspiration is nowhere to be found. They are lifeless, static beings. Those who suffer from frustration and dissatisfaction in the life of desire at least feel that desire is not giving them abiding satisfaction. They want to have something more, to achieve something or grow into something that will give them real satisfaction. In time, these people will feel that the life of desire and material prosperity is not the answer.

There are various reasons why people enter into the spiritual path or want to practise yoga. Some people enter into the spiritual life because the world has disappointed them or deserted them and they are filled with bitter disgust for the world. They feel that spirituality is the only answer.

Some people enter into the spiritual life because they see that suffering is omnipresent. Suffering is within, suffering is without, suffering is in their families, suffering is in themselves, suffering is in the world at large. They know that suffering is not the answer. Something else — Peace, Light and inner Delight — is the answer. And they feel that they can get these only from the spiritual life.

Some people have come to know that the root of suffering is desire. Because people consciously or unconsciously cherish teeming desires, they are compelled to suffer. When their desires are not fulfilled, they suffer from frustration; when their desires are fulfilled still they suffer, for they thought that the fulfilment of their desires would have been infinitely more meaningful and satisfying.

Some people have gone a step further and have come to realise that desire is not the real culprit. It is ignorance that is the real culprit. We wallow in the pleasures of ignorance, and ignorance compels us to desire at every moment. Our inner sky is overcast with clouds, and these clouds are ignorance. We can illumine this inner sky through our constant inner cry, the cry that we hear ceaselessly inside the very depths of our heart, in the inmost recesses of our being. When we cry inwardly, in our inner being we feel that there is a climbing flame. This flame goes high, higher, highest and touches the acme of perfection. This conscious inner cry has a special name, and that name is aspiration.

This inner cry will carry us into the world of infinite Beauty, infinite Delight, infinite Perfection. These worlds are for the people who enter into the spiritual life. They are blessed. They know the Truth. They know that material prosperity cannot give them immortal Life, immortal Light and Delight. It is impossible. Only the inner life, the life of aspiration and dedication, can give them this immortal Peace, Light and Bliss in infinite measure.

Of course, it does not matter why you enter into the spiritual life — whether suffering or frustration or any other factors have compelled you. Once you have accepted the spiritual life soulfully and devotedly, that is enough. Your readiness and eagerness in the spiritual path is the only important thing.

In the spiritual life there should not be any kind of calculation or intellectual approach, but only self-giving to the Inner Pilot. The approach has to stem from the inner being directly, and should not go through the mind or the intellect. This does not mean that you will totally discard and disregard the mind. But the mind that you are using right now is the physical, earthbound mind. Its capacity is very limited; but in spite of that it constantly judges you and others. The mind is always eager to suspect others. It feels that suspicion is the greatest wisdom. It feels that its doubting capacity is the greatest achievement. If the mind suspects or doubts, then it feels that it is doing something very great and significant. Naturally, you very often see that its judgements are totally wrong, because the mind’s judgements are based on its preconceived ideas and prejudices. But the heart is all love, all oneness, all spontaneity.

Stand in front of the ocean of spirituality and use the mind. It will say that the ocean is very cold and its waves are dangerous and ferocious. Doubt will tell you that the waves will drown you. But the heart will see the ocean, not as an ocean of destruction, but as an ocean of Illumination, an ocean of Perfection and Fulfilment. It will feel that if you jump into this ocean, you will be jumping into the sea of Reality, and that sooner or later you will become the Reality itself.

Some people are badly frightened by the ocean of spirituality. They feel that there will be no escape for them and that the ocean of spirituality will drown them. Just because they do not care for the ocean of reality, they are now swimming in the ocean of ignorance. We can be in only one place: either in ignorance-night or in Wisdom-Light. Ignorance-night is right in front of us and, at the same time, Wisdom-Light is deep within us. It is we who have to make the choice. If we accept the Wisdom-Light, then our life is bound to be transformed, illumined and perfected. But if we accept ignorance-night, then our life will be devoured and destroyed by ignorance. If we really want to walk along the path of spirituality, then constantly we will be inspired from deep within to follow the path of Light, and to grow into the Light slowly, steadily and unerringly. Then, at the end of our journey’s close, we will see the Inner Pilot, the Supreme Beloved, garlanding us with His transcendental Joy and divine Pride.

Published in My Rose Petals, part 2

Satisfaction

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at Friends' Meeting House, London, England

Dear seekers, dear spiritual brothers and sisters, I wish to give a talk on satisfaction from the spiritual point of view. It is only human beings that need satisfaction from God. God Himself is all Satisfaction. At the same time, He wants to see and achieve satisfaction inside each and every individual. Here we are all seekers. Inside us is the animal existence to some extent, the human life as such, and the divine life that we are longing for. Finally, Light Supreme abides within us, in the inmost recesses of our hearts.

The animal in us wants satisfaction through destruction. The animal in us is jealousy, doubt and anger.

The human in us wants to aspire, but then it drowns in the pleasures of ignorance. At times it does want to aspire, and when it aspires it feels the supreme necessity of realisation: realisation of its inseparable oneness with the world of Love, God’s Love.

The divine in us consciously and constantly longs for satisfaction, satisfaction within and satisfaction without.

The Supreme within us wants the supreme Satisfaction. God is granting us His unconditional Satisfaction. He is showering His infinite Compassion on us. And we receive according to our inner receptivity and capacity. Our capacity is our devoted head and our receptivity is our surrendered heart.

We want satisfaction; therefore, we make a personal effort. From our personal effort we gain satisfaction. Again, from our inner surrender to God’s Will we gain higher satisfaction. When we combine soulful personal effort with surrender, at that time we get supreme satisfaction.

Being a seeker myself, I wish to say that there are three principal ways to achieve satisfaction in life. First is the way of concentration, second is the way of meditation and third is the way of contemplation. Through concentration, meditation and contemplation we achieve satisfaction. Dear, dearer, dearest satisfaction; sweet, sweeter, sweetest satisfaction. Satisfaction that is dearer than the dearest, sweeter than the sweetest.

Concentration is speed; it wants to grant us satisfaction sooner than at once. When we concentrate, we can achieve and receive considerable satisfaction on earth. It is like a man reaching his goal; deep in our destination is satisfaction.

Meditation is slightly different. Meditation will give us peace, which is another kind of satisfaction.

Contemplation gives us satisfaction through delight. It helps us to discover the delight within us. Contemplation tells us that delight is our Source, that in delight we actually grow and that at the end of our earthly journey, into delight we shall retire.

Concentration is speed-satisfaction, meditation is peace-satisfaction and contemplation is delight-satisfaction. Concentration, meditation and contemplation are the three members of the divine self. Each member plays a distinctive role in bringing satisfaction. Concentration plays the role of the hero-warrior. Meditation plays the role of the wisest instrument of the Supreme. Contemplation plays the role of the divine Lover and the Beloved Supreme.

Concentration joyously declares, “God is for me.” Meditation soulfully declares, “I am for God.” Contemplation unconditionally declares, “God and I are eternal. I am for God and God is for me. I am unconditionally for God and God is unconditionally for me.” This is the blessing and wisdom-light that contemplation offers to us.

Concentration has the capacity to discover the tiniest drop inside the vast ocean and to concentrate on it. It can separate the tiniest drop from the infinite Vast and then it can do anything it wants to do with the tiniest drop.

Meditation has the power, on the strength of its inner spiritual capacity, to transform the tiny drop into the vast ocean. The power of meditation has the capacity to transform the finite into the infinite Vast.

Contemplation has the capacity to see unification between the tiny drop and the vast ocean. In contemplation, they combine their capacity in order to achieve satisfaction.

Creation is satisfaction and the Creator is satisfaction. If we see creation with the eye of our Inner Pilot, it is nothing short of satisfaction, supreme satisfaction. But if we see creation with our own human eyes, with our limited vision, then we see and feel nothing like satisfaction. If we use our limited vision, we see all around us confusion and frustration. But if we invoke God-Vision, we see God’s creation in us, through us and around us. Then, we notice continuous preparation and ever-transcending perfection in His creation. Confusion and frustration offer dissatisfaction: continuous preparation and ever-transcending perfection grant us divine satisfaction.

Expectation is satisfaction when we want something from others. We expect something from others; others expect something from us. Each of us gives and we both derive satisfaction. Then we go one step ahead and feel that there is no satisfaction in expectation. If we expect, we act like a beggar. A beggar is one who does not have the things that he wants. If we have expectation, I tell you that we act like beggars; but we are like an emperor if we don’t expect. Instead of expectation, we have to have surrender, constant surrender to God’s Will. We shall evoke God’s Presence and then it is up to Him if He will grant us satisfaction. If we seek only to be His perfect instruments, and if He allows us to be His perfect instruments, at that time we shall derive true satisfaction.

Each individual seeker can pray and meditate and in this way grow into satisfaction supreme. When he wants his satisfaction to be high beyond the skies, he climbs up high, higher, highest in order to see His Heavenly Father and thus grow into divine, supreme satisfaction. And the same seeker, when he meditates, realises that God’s Heavenly satisfaction is not only in Heaven but also on earth. Therefore, when he wants to feel his Father’s Heaven in the highest realm of consciousness, he climbs up on the strength of his prayer; and when he wants to see His Father’s Universal Form as well as His Transcendental Form, at that time he prays.

We pray, meditate, concentrate and contemplate only for one thing: the satisfaction of our Lord Supreme. If we fulfil ourselves in our own way, out of His boundless Compassion, God without fail will grant us satisfaction in our own way. But just because we are spiritual seekers, our sincerity will not allow us to derive supreme satisfaction unless and until we can please God in His own Way.

How will we please God in His own Way? There is only one way and that is through self-giving. Self-giving is founded upon our constant inner cry. This inner cry we see, we feel and we grow into only when we put God first in our life.

Published in My Rose Petals, part 6

No More the Desire-Life

A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at Cape Cod Community College, Hyannis, Massachusetts

No more the desire-life, no more. The lure of yesterday’s desire-life has sunk into meaningless insignificance today. Aspiration, the real reality of the seeker in me, begins to triumph today. Aspiration, my heart’s inner cry, is hastening the arrival of my Beloved Supreme. From now on I shall always remain devoted to my life within. No difficulty, no sorrow, no worry, no anxiety will be able to assail me. I shall not fall. I shall not stumble. Onward I shall march. Mine will be the life of an eternal journey, the journey that has neither beginning nor end. It is an ever-transcending journey, the journey that beckons humanity’s cry and divinity’s Smile. From now on my body shall sing and sing, my vital shall smile and smile, my mind shall fly and fly, my heart shall dive and dive, my soul shall spread and spread.

The teeming troubles and tribulations of the past are no more. Now at every moment unceasing opportunities are looming large. I am in front of an unhorizoned reality. I shall avail myself of all these opportunities. From now on my life of surrender to God’s Will will be my infallible guide. My life of devotion to my Beloved Supreme will be the supreme feast to satisfy my hunger of millennia.

My selfless love of God shall transform the dwarf-seeker in me into a giant spiritual figure. I shall become a devoted, faithful, soulful, unreserved and unconditional instrument of my Beloved Supreme. To manifest Him in His own way my soul-bird flew down into the earth-arena. I have become one with my soul’s promise. My soul’s promise and my life of love, devotion and surrender will fulfil our Beloved Supreme throughout the length and breadth of the world.

Published in AUM – Vol. 4, No. 6, 27 June 1977