Challenging Impossibility

The morning after we arrived for our week in Paraguay on the Christmas trip, Guru quietly mentioned during the function, "Nemi will bring buffalo milk." I was startled, because Guru had never requested me to go out and find something unusual before. Could I do it, I wondered anxiously—and in a completely unfamiliar country? Many years earlier, Guru had revealed that I had had two water buffalo incarnations, and now it was time for me to research my past! I knew that there was no such thing as a casual request from Guru, so that afternoon I started tooling around Asunción with my patient roommate, Mandira, looking for buffalo milk. Someone had supposedly seen buffalo milk in a store while we were in Brazil, but where to look in Asunción? I dusted off my Spanish and explained my need to the cab driver. He phoned his dispatcher, who suggested a fancy European-style delicatessen. A worker there said they had buffalo yogurt, and perhaps I could phone the dairy to ask about milk. But, looking at the container, I saw that it was only ordinary yogurt. Two supermarkets proved equally disappointing. I was starting to panic, imagining myself at the end of a week in Asunción with a buffalo-sized failure in my heart. A disciple to whom I mentioned my challenge suggested I speak to the chef at the hotel, and that I did, with Nishtha. He in turn phoned the manager's office and left a message conveying the unusual request. The following morning, Tuesday, I spoke to the manager myself. He assured me that he understood perfectly what I wanted, and that he was doing everything he could to find out where the milk could be obtained. I told him that when the Master asks for something, it is definitely possible, and we always feel it is important to fulfil the Master's wish. This kind of thing one may not be able to say to every hotel manager, but our manager accepted it seriously and wholeheartedly. The next morning, the manager said he had made lots of phone calls and had finally traced the one single place in Paraguay where buffalo are raised, 100 kilometers away. The farmer would milk the buffalo the following morning and our manager-friend would arrange for a truck to collect 35 liters of milk and drive it back to the hotel. That would be great, I thought; now let's hope it actually happens! Sure enough, late on Thursday morning, three days after Guru's request, the manager summoned me from our function room and said quite excitedly, "The buffalo milk is here!" I was thrilled! Then, some details: how to serve it? It had not been pasteurized or homogenized. Shephali recommended a good boiling, and the chef graciously complied, despite the long hours our presence was already demanding of him. The boiled milk separated, but the chef put vat after vat of it in the blender—and it came out tasting very rich and sweet. Guru accepted my notification about the arrival of the buffalo milk quite matter-of-factly—he clearly knew everything that was going on!—and said it should be served at 9:30 p.m. Our meeting room extended around a corner into the dining area, and I spent an hour or so during the evening function by the kitchen, out of sight, trying to pour the milk into every available hotel glass. I had just finished when I heard Guru say, "And now Nemi will give buffalo milk." It was exactly 9:30! I was afraid there would not be quite enough for everyone, but Guru most compassionately and sweetly said, "Girls' night—girls will get first. But as long as you have brought for you and me, why do you have to worry?" As it happened, everyone who was brave enough to try it did get a glass of buffalo milk as prasad. I was privileged to offer Guru a glass. After drinking some of the milk, he blessingfully gave it to me to finish. It felt as though the circle was beautifully complete. Guru was then inspired to speak about devotion, and particularly about a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna who scoured the earth to find a fruit that his ailing Master wanted, although it was supposedly out of season. It was a very happy and elevating night for me. Before our departure from the hotel at the end of the week, the manager reluctantly accepted a small gift for his exceptional effort. He said he had learned something totally new to him, and he was visibly honoured and moved by the opportunity to serve the Master in this unique way. From the search for buffalo milk I received an intense experience of Guru's loving and energising command that fed my devotion most powerfully. It remains the defining memory of my stay in Paraguay, for which I offer Guru my loving gratitude.

Nemi (New York)

Going Beyond

road

My silent coach,

You pull me from the chains of comfort

Out into the sanctuary of morning

To tread where you have trod,

Impelled by the verdant hope

Of a glimpse

Of your loving radiance.

Nemi (New York)

The Personal Aspect of the Supreme

The Personal Aspect of the Supreme

The Personal Aspect of the Supreme

Each person has his own conception of God. If the conception of God as Light satisfies you, then you are perfectly right in thinking of God as Light. Someone else perhaps will be satisfied only with God as a most luminous being, like a most beautiful child. Each person has to think of God according to his own inner capacity and inner receptivity. If you want to see God in a particular form, if you have pleased Him, then He is bound to appear before you in that form. If you want to see Him with attributes, if you have pleased Him, He will show Himself to you with attributes. If you want to see Him in His impersonal Form, as infinite Peace, Light and Bliss, then He can appear in that way also. God is more than ready to appear before you in the form to which you are most devoted. The personal God and impersonal God are both the same God. The personal God will come to you with a body. He will be most luminous, infinitely more beautiful than the most beautiful human being on earth. The impersonal aspect of God is His infinite Energy, infinite Light, infinite Power. When a man stands in front of you, he is personal. But the moment he shows you his power or his capacity in any form, that aspect is impersonal. Similarly, God is both personal and impersonal; He is with form and He is without form. At the same time, God transcends both form and formlessness.

Personal and impersonal, With form and without, God the Supreme Encompasses all.

Do not try to approach God with your thinking mind. It may only stimulate your intellectual ideas. Try to approach God with your crying heart. It will awaken your soulful, spiritual consciousness. Is it better for us to think of God in personal terms or in impersonal terms? It is easier to approach God in His personal aspect. If we try from the very beginning to enter into the impersonal God, our physical mind—which is so clever—may try to convince us that God is unreal, or we may enter into false imagination. Imagination is not bad, but it can be all mental fantasies. But if we see a most luminous being right in front of us, and then if we try to enter into the heart of this being, there we will also see the formless. If we go from the form to the formless, the process is easier. Suppose we see someone standing in front of us. If we know that this person is our father, then we can try to see how much knowledge, wisdom and capacity he has. But if we first try to fathom his knowledge without thinking of the person as our father, then we will be totally lost. If we know that he is our father, immediately his affection and love enter into us and then we can easily see his capacity. At that time, it is impossible for us to separate his capacity from his reality. A commander has a big battalion and inside him is the power to make this battalion do something. He may say just one or two words and then, with the power that he wields, he leaves the whole world stunned. He utters one word of command and immediately his power is seen all over. Once we see him and his capacity, it is impossible to separate his capacity from his reality. It is the same with the personal God. Once we see Him and realise where this immense capacity is coming from, then it is impossible to separate the Being and the capacity. First let us take the form as reality and from the form let us go to the formless reality. To go to the formless reality from the form is infinitely easier than the other way around.

It seems to me that at the start of the spiritual path we see God with form, and that as we grow into oneness He starts to lose His Form. Is this true? No, unfortunately you are mistaken. It is our own mental conception that the formless is something superior to the form. We feel that before the creation the Supreme was formless and only later He took a form to come to us. But look at the sun. Although it is so vast, when we look at it, it has the form of a tiny disk. Why? Because we are seeing it from very, very far away. Similarly, when spiritual Masters, great spiritual figures or God-realised souls come down, they embody the highest infinite Consciousness inside them. But when they come into the world of form, they are 6' or 5'8" or even of shorter stature. Do you think they have then lost their inner height? Do you think they have lost their inner depth? No. It is like the vast sun that looks tiny here. When consciousness descends into the physical, the physical takes a form. The individual is actually the soul, and the soul is the representative of God. The soul is infinite Peace, Light and Bliss inside God. But we do not see the soul; we see only the very limited frame of the body: this much height, this much length, this much breadth. We feel that something beyond the body or form is vaster. True, it is vaster, but it is a mistake if we say that the formless is more meaningful than the form. The idea that the higher we go, the more we are in touch with the formless is not true. When we go higher it need not be toward the formless. It can be toward the supremely divine God with form, who possesses boundless Affection, boundless Love, boundless Concern—everything in infinite measure. We can go beyond the form of the mind, but not beyond the supreme Form. The formless is not superior to the form. They are equally important. Especially in the beginning, before you realise God, it is advisable to go through the form. If you can go through the form to the formless, then you will be happy. But if you try to go through the formless to the form, you will find it impossible. First you have to enter into the water and swim a little. Then when you become a great swimmer, you can cross the sea. But if you try to cross the sea without knowing how to swim, you will drown. Do you think that one’s visions of God as form are influenced by one’s cultural upbringing? Sometimes one may have a vision of God that is influenced by one’s tradition or culture. But again, it may not be so. When, on the strength of our own aspiration, we realise God, it is up to God how He will appear before us. In some countries they have very fixed ideas, fixed notions that God will be like this or like that. The Indian gods and goddesses have all kinds of forms. Again, there are many Westerners who have not read Indian books at all, but they get experiences of the Indian cosmic gods and goddesses. At the same time, there are many Indians who have not studied the Bible or the Western scriptures, but they do see angels and other things. If religious tradition has formed some mental concept of God, the seekers may see God in this way when they are realising the Truth. In other cases, what they see may be entirely determined by God’s own Will operating in and through them. When you speak of the Beloved Supreme Himself, how do you imagine the Supreme to be? It is not a matter of imagination; it is a matter of experience. You can experience the Beloved Supreme in one particular way. I may experience Him in a different way. Each one, on the strength of his or her aspiration, experience and realisa-tion, will see the Supreme in a different but most convincing way. If I am looking for a policeman and I find someone in a policeman’s uniform, I will be very pleased. Because he is wearing his uniform, I will know that he is a policeman. But if you are looking for a policeman, and you happen to know that so-and-so is a policeman, then you will be in a position to approach him even if he is not wearing his uniform. Similarly, if one is already in tune with the higher realities, he will have the experience of the Beloved Supreme in one form, whereas someone who is having the experience of the Highest for the first time may have it in a different way. It is like the child whose father is a Supreme Court judge. When the child sees his father in ordinary street clothes, he still knows that his father is a Supreme Court judge. And when he goes to the courtroom and sees his father in a judge’s robe, he still knows that this individual is his father. But if somebody who is not a member of the family sees the judge on the street, he will not recognise him. Similarly, each individual sees the Beloved Supreme in a specific way that will be totally convincing to him.

What has been your experience of God? I have experienced God in the personal form as well as the impersonal form. At this moment, I see Him as an expanse of Light and Delight. The next moment He may take the form of a most luminous being. When we realise the Highest, we see that He is at once personal and impersonal. Like water and ice, He can be with form or without. Sometimes water is liquid, and we can swim in it. Other times it is solid, and we can walk on it. In the spiritual life also, sometimes we are fond of the impersonal aspect of the Highest Absolute, and sometimes we are fond of the personal aspect. The Highest is beyond personal and impersonal but, at the same time, He embodies both. The Highest is formless, and at the same time He is with form. If we have to state in a word what He is, we have to say that He is both, and again, that He is beyond both. We cannot grasp God with the human mind. In the beginning He is this; then He is that. Then there comes a time when He is beyond both. The Highest is the ever-transcending Reality. Today’s Beyond is to-morrow’s starting point. How does the Supreme appear to you, and what is the nature of your relationship to Him? Usually I see the Supreme in the form of a golden Being, a most illumined and illumining Being. Here on earth, when we say that a child is extremely beautiful, we are judging his form. But the Supreme is infinitely more beautiful than any human child we can see. This is the way I see the Supreme when I converse with Him. It is this form that I am most fond of. Our relationship is that of Father and son. Out of His infinite Compassion, He has kindled the flames of aspiration in me. These flames climb high, higher, highest. My aspiration carries unconditional love, devotion and surrender. Familiarity breeds contempt in the human life, but in the spiritual life the familiarity between the seeker and the Supreme Pilot only increases in intensity and capacity. Familiarity cannot diminish the sweetness, love and concern that flows between the seeker and the Supreme. On the contrary, familiarity only increases these qualities. When I deal with the personal aspect of the Supreme, He increases my love, devotion and surrender. He makes me aware of what He eternally is. The more familiar we become with Him, the more we establish our ever-fulfilling oneness with Him. The personal aspect cannot create problems for the true seeker. When two people become close, it often does not last because they see weaknesses in each other. But the personal aspect of the Supreme knows what we are. He does not think of us as imperfect; he takes us as His own infinite extensions. He does not find fault with us either on the physical plane or on the psychic plane. It is He that is carrying us to the ever-transcending Perfection.

God always treats you As His dearest child. But where is your heart To feel it, And where is your mind To believe it?

Every day when you meditate, try to feel that you are inside the Heart of God, the Inner Pilot. Although you have not seen the Supreme, just imagine a being who is absolutely golden. Imagine that He is right in front of you or that you are inside His Heart or in His Lap or at His Feet. Do not think that you are eighteen or forty or sixty years old. No! Think that you are only one month old and that you are inside the very Heart of the Supreme or in His Lap. Each moment is an opportunity To think of God And to feel God’s Presence. In everything that you do, Feel that you are touching The very Breath Of your Beloved Supreme. ---

I completely forgot That God is old. I could have learned So much from Him. I completely forgot That God is young. I should have invited Him To come into my heart-garden And play with me.

The Existence of Suffering

by Sri Chinmoy

Suffering is an experience that God is having in and through us. It is the result of our limited consciousness. When unlimited consciousness operates, we see the result in the form of joy and delight. In the Infinite when we accomplish something, we are satisfied. But right now we are in the finite. When we accomplish something in the finite, we are not satisfied. When an individual has five dollars, he wants to make ten dollars. He suffers because he feels he is limited. Then when he makes ten dollars, he sees that somebody else has twenty dollars. Again, he suffers and enters into turmoil, thinking about how to make twenty dollars.

In the finite there will always be suffering because we try to compete, to grasp, to possess. But in the Infinite there is no suffering because once we enter into the Universal Consciousness, our will and the Universal Will are the same. Right now we are trying to satisfy the world with our limited consciousness, and the world also wants to satisfy us with its limited consciousness. We are limiting others and we ourselves are limited. Our main experience in this world is the experience of limitation, and that is why we suffer.

From the highest point of view, God embodies both the limited and the unlimited consciousness. He is the tiniest insect and at the same time He is the measureless cosmos. He is smaller than the smallest and larger than the largest. He is farther than the farthest and nearer than the nearest. He is nearer than the nearest for whom? For the seeker. He is farther than the farthest for whom? For the non-seeker.

For those who are wallowing in the pleasures of ignorance, God is farther than the farthest. Naturally those individuals suffer. But when a seeker prays to God and meditates on God, he feels that he is God’s dearest child. When he prays to God he feels that God the Omniscient is there, listening to him. When he meditates on God he feels that God is talking to him and he is listening to God. If he is listening to God and God is listening to him, there can be no suffering.

If God is loving, why would He let us suffer?

Because of our wrong deeds, the negative, unaspiring, undivine forces have come into existence. When these forces enter into us, we suffer. Again, whatever we call suffering, and whatever we call sinful, evil, undivine or unaspiring, is also part of God. We experience God in and through everything. When we see suffering, immediately we feel that God is cruel. This is our human way of judging God. But if we go deep within, we see that what we call suffering is nothing but an experience. And who is having that experience? God Himself. God is the Doer, God is the action and God is the fruit.

If you suffer, thank God. For nothing abides Away from His Vision-Eye And His Compassion-Heart.

The human in us will see suffering as something horrible and undivine, but the divine in us will see it as God’s experience in the process of cosmic evolution. The higher we go, the clearer it becomes to our human mind that all the incidents that have taken place on earth are the experiences of God in and through each human being. In God’s Cosmic Game, we see multitudinous activities, countless forces operating all at once. But a day will dawn when the sincere seekers will realise the highest Truth and outnumber the unaspiring people, and then the undivine forces will have to give way.

When a seeker consciously enters into the sea of peace and light on the strength of his aspiration, he becomes part and parcel of God’s Will. Then he does not commit the mistakes that unaspiring human beings commit. Unfortunately, right now, out of a million people, perhaps only one or two aspire; and again, out of those aspirants, a very limited few are extremely sincere in their spiritual life.

We have come to sing The songs of joy In this suffering world.

The world is progressing towards the Light, although this progress is very slow. Human suffering will come to an end, because God is all Delight. We come from Delight. On earth we are growing in Delight. At the end of our soul’s journey we shall return to Delight. This experience of Delight we develop when we meditate and pray.

Most of us do not pray or meditate sincerely or soulfully; therefore, the existence of Delight is a far cry for us. But if we soulfully meditate and unconditionally surrender our day-to-day existence to the Almighty, to our Divine Father, then Delight will be our everyday reality. At every second we shall feel the presence of Delight. Our outer experience may be otherwise; it may seem painful or destructive. But in our inner experience we shall become inseparably one with the cosmic Will. In that Will there is no suffering. Suffering is in the human mind and in the earth-consciousness.

When we go beyond the earth-consciousness, when we offer our very existence to the Supreme and become part and parcel of His cosmic Will on earth, we see that there is no such thing as suffering. We see only an experience, a divine cosmic experience which God Himself is having in and through us.

Even in our heart’s suffering-garden Divinity’s flower-fragrance-joy Will eventually blossom.

Do pain and suffering aid our spiritual life somehow?

There is a general notion that if we go through suffering, tribulations and physical pain, then our system will be purified. This idea is not always founded upon reality. There are many people who are suffering because of their past karma or because undivine forces are attacking them, but we cannot say that they are nearing their destination. No! They have to aspire more sincerely in order to reach their destination.

We shall not welcome pain; we shall try to conquer pain if it appears. If we can take pain as an experience, then we can try to transform it into joy by our own identification with joy, which we then try to bring into the pain itself.

It is not necessary to go through suffering before we can enter into the Kingdom of Delight. Many people have realised God through love. The Father has love for the child and the child has love for the Father. This love takes us to our goal. Our philosophy emphasises the positive way of approaching Truth. We have limited light; now let us increase it. Let us progress from more light to abundant light to infinite Light.

Light, more light, abundant light, Infinite light We need every day To illumine our ignorance-sufferings.

Can God eliminate the suffering in the world?

Yes, God can and does eliminate the suffering in the world. But who sincerely wants the elimination of suffering? We are all acting like camels. The camel eats cactus thorns until its mouth bleeds; then it goes and again eats thorns. In some way, consciously or unconsciously, the camel cherishes thorns. We human beings also cherish suffering, unconsciously or consciously. As long as we cherish suffering, suffering will remain on earth.

God really did not want The human life To be divided into Half joy and half sorrow.

When we suffer unpleasant experiences and make mistakes, does that mean that the Supreme has withdrawn His Grace?

No, no, that is not true. It is just that ignorance-forces are there. If a child puts his finger into fire, that does not mean that the mother has less concern for the child. The mother has tremendous concern. But the mother is upstairs and the child has gone into the kitchen and placed his finger in the fire. Does that mean that the mother has no concern for the child? No. But the child is still ignorant. He does not know the power of fire.

When we do something wrong, at times it is because we do not know, and at times it is because we are tempted to do the thing. Sometimes the child knows that the fire will burn his finger, but he gets a kind of malicious pleasure in touching fire. With us also, in spite of knowing better, sometimes we enter into ignorance. It is like eating food. We know there is something called a sufficient quantity, but we overeat. We eat voraciously, and then we pay the penalty.

When we become, consciously or unconsciously, victims of temptation, we cannot say that God’s Grace has withdrawn from our lives. Far from it! The mother can try to prevent the child from touching fire. She can say, “Do not do it, do not do it.” But if the determination does not come from within, then when the divine forces try to prevent us from doing the wrong thing, we will feel a sense of loss. We will feel that we have missed something.

We have to feel that we are not losing anything by not entering into ignorance; or we have to feel that it is only a temporary necessity for us to make mistakes, because of our ignorance. If we live in light, there is no necessity to make mistakes. It is not because the divine Grace has been withdrawn that we become victims to ignorance. Far from it. But what can the divine Grace do? God has given us limited freedom. This limited freedom is like a knife. Somebody will use the knife to cut a mango and share it with others, and somebody else will use the knife to stab another person. Let us use the capacity that God has given us wisely.

If you are a true God-lover, Then you will definitely feel That your suffering-life Is not desired by God.

Do accidents ever have a divine purpose?

If we look at an accident from the highest spiritual consciousness, then it is not an accident at all. It is just an incident, an experience that God is having in and through a particular human being. But in the outer world, in the field of manifestation, very often the wrong forces cause accidents. Sometimes the Supreme actually disapproves of these accidents. Sometimes He just tolerates them, and sometimes He approves of them. At the time of the accident the Supreme may feel that a particular person can be inspired to lead a better, more spiritual and more significant life. Someone may be disturbed by circumstances in his life, by members of the family, his neighbours and so forth, so that a new life can be opened to him.

If you look at it with your outer eyes, you may call it an accident. But you have to know, did God want that accident? Is it for the person’s illumination? God never punishes us. He may give us an experience, but if we go deep within, we will feel that it is God who is actually having this experience. If we can identify ourselves consciously with the Will of the Supreme, then there is no such thing as an accident.

If suffering comes to us, what can we do?

We have to make the best of it. We have to take it as something unavoidable or as a blessing. It is a blessing in the sense that we can derive some advantage or some benefit from it. The benefit we derive is that we will not repeat the same error, we will not commit the same mistake again and again.

If we are suffering, we have to be conscious of the mistake we have made. When we become conscious of our mistake, automatically a sense of purification dawns in us. But in order to achieve purity, we do not have to go through suffering. No! For God-realisation, suffering is not necessary. What is needed is love of Truth, love of Light. If we allow light to enter into us and remain inside us, then there will not be any suffering.

Why do you have to think Of your difficulties As negative forces? Just think of them As opportunities. Lo, they will increase Your inner and outer capacities!

The Cosmic Game

by Sri Chinmoy

The Cosmic Game of the Supreme

God was One, but He wanted to become many. You cannot enjoy a game with only one person. If you want to play any game, you will need more players. God originated Himself out of His own Silence in order to divinely enjoy the Cosmic Game. If we go deep within, we see that we are only taking a conscious part in God’s Cosmic Game. We see that we are not the doers; God is the Doer. We are only His instruments. God is One, but He felt that He wanted to enjoy Himself, to fulfil Himself in millions of shapes and forms. He felt that being One, He was not fully satisfied. Why should He be satisfied with only being the One Infinite? He can also be the multitudinous finite. God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. If He is omnipotent, then why should He not become like an ant, an infinitely tiny creature? Because of His omnipotent Power, we think of God as something very great or very vast. But just because God is omniscient and omnipotent, He can also be inside the finite. In this way, God is playing His eternal Game in and through you, through me, through all human beings.

God is infinite, but He houses Himself in each tiny child. Here in the finite, He wants to enjoy Himself and play the tune of the Infinite. Only then does He get the greatest joy. It is in the finite that we are aspiring to achieve the Infinite. Again, the Infinite gets the greatest joy by making itself as tiny as possible. Finite and infinite: to our outer eyes they seem to be opposites, but in God’s Eye they are one. The finite and the Infinite always go together; the one complements the other. The finite wants to reach the absolute Highest, which is the Infinite. The Infinite wants to manifest itself in and through the finite. Then the game is complete. Otherwise it will be only a one-sided game. There will be no joy, no achievement, no fulfilment. In and through the Infinite, the finite is singing its song of realisation. And in and through the finite, the Infinite is singing its song of manifestation.

Lord, I seek and You hide. I seek because without You My life-flames do not and cannot burn. Now Lord, tell me, Why do You hide? “Daughter, I hide because My hiding intensifies your seeking. It gratifies your loving, Glorifies your achievement And immortalises your enlightenment.”

What is the purpose of life? The purpose of life is to manifest the inner divinity. The purpose of life is to become a conscious instrument, a chosen instrument of God. The purpose of life is to manifest the highest Truth which we embody. First we have to see the Truth and feel the Truth. Then we have to reveal and manifest the Truth.

The purpose of life Is to become one with the Absolute Truth. This Absolute Truth Is God the infinite Compassion And God the infinite Satisfaction.

The aim of life is to become conscious of the Supreme Reality. The aim of life is to be the conscious expression of the Eternal Being. Life is evolution. Evolution is the unfoldment from within. Each life is a world in itself. Indeed, each life is a microcosm. Whatever breathes in the vast universe also breathes in each individual life. The aim of life is to realise God. Realisation can never come to the individual who is inactive. We have to pay the price for it. There is no alternative. We must love God first if we really love life, for God is not only the Source, but the very Breath of life. Love of God costs nothing, but it is worth much. Our mind knows this truth. Our soul embodies this truth.

I have been loving God unconsciously For millennia, But I shall love God consciously From this moment on.

Each person has a soul, and each soul has a nature of its own. The soul, which is the direct representative of God, comes down to earth in order to fulfil the promise that it has made to the Absolute in the highest plane of consciousness, Heaven. Each soul has to manifest its inner divinity here on earth in a specific way. It is through the revelation of its own light that the soul manifests its inner divinity. When the soul, through its own aspiration, realisation, revelation and manifestation, enters into the Cosmic Self, then it completes its journey on earth. To see the light of your soul, you have to feel that you are not the body, you are not the vital, you are not the mind, you are not the heart, but you are the soul itself. In order to have this experience, you have to feel that you need God and God needs you. You need God to raise your consciousness as high as possible—high, higher, highest. God needs you to manifest Himself in and through you here on earth.

My life is a little boat; It is a feeble cry. But my soul is a representative Of the omnipotent, Omnipresent and omniscient God.

Can we understand God through just the finite part of His creation? Let us take God as the vast ocean. You know that the ocean is composed of tiny drops. Millions and billions and trillions of drops make up the ocean. If we know how to identify ourselves both with the vast ocean and with the tiniest drop, then we can see God inside the finite and also in the Infinite. It is on the strength of our oneness with the tiniest drop in the ocean that we can see and feel God. If we can establish our oneness with the finite, then we can see what the Infinite looks like. If we want to see God in His vast creation, as the creation itself, we can do it. But in the beginning it may be easier to separate Him from His creation and identify ourselves with only a small portion of the entire creation. Even in the small part of God’s creation which is right now visible to us, we see infinite variety. What will we do with God’s entire creation at this time? Our mind will not be able to grasp it at all. To our limited human mind even the finite earth-reality is infinite. If we can begin to understand this tiny corner of God’s vast creation, we can say that we have made considerable inner progress.

It is hard for me to get out of my finite self and feel one with the Infinite. The finite in us is not aware of the Infinite, but when it is made aware of the Infinite, it has an inferiority complex, and it does not want to be consciously one with the Infinite. Inside the finite is an ignorance-force. But the Infinite feels its oneness with the finite. It feels that there was a time when it was not the entire ocean; it was just a tiny drop, like the finite. Then, from that tiny drop, it widened its consciousness and expanded into the ocean itself. This occurred through the process of evolution.

Again, the Highest, the Absolute Truth, was originally One. God was One, and then He decided to become many. The Infinite consciously decided to become the finite. Knowledge tells us that within the Infinite, we can find the finite; and within the finite, we can find the Infinite. Just because God is infinite, He can enjoy Himself in the tiniest atom as well as in the infinite Vast. Knowledge tells us something more. Divine knowledge tells us that the many and the One were, from the very beginning, identical; they were made together. The One is the Vision; the many is the Reality. From God’s Vision-Power, immediately Reality came into existence. Again, with Reality-Power, Vision came into existence. God wanted to enjoy Himself. He wanted to offer Nectar, Immortality, to His whole creation. With the creation He felt the expansion of His Self-Form, His manifested Form. When He first created the world, with His inner Vision He saw the ultimate future. Now, slowly, steadily and unerringly, He is unfolding His Vision.

That ancient day When God created man, He wanted His blossoming Infinity To be loved By His embracing Immortality.

Religion and Spirituality

Religion and Spirituality

Religion and Spirituality

God is one, but at the same time He is many. A tree is one, but it has so many branches. When you look at a branch, you feel it is the tree. When you look at the leaf, you feel it is the tree. Similarly, God may be seen differently from different angles. But He is the same God. All religions are part of one God-Tree. This God-Tree has many branches, flowers and fruits. If you climb up a tree and rest on a particular branch, will the tree be displeased? Similarly, if you take a flower or fruit, no matter from which branch, the God-Tree will be pleased, for each branch is part and parcel of the Tree itself.

Is there any real difference between one religion and another? There is no fundamental difference between one religion and another, because each religion embodies the ultimate Truth. Each religion is right, absolutely right, because each religion conveys the message of Truth in its own way. There is only one Truth, but it is called different names by different people. Your religion may say one thing, and my religion may say something else. But our religions will never differ when it is a matter of the highest Truth. The ultimate Goal of every religion is to realise the highest Truth. On the way to our Goal, we may misunderstand each other. Why? Precisely because there are many roads that lead to the Goal. Some will follow one road and some will follow another road. Each road will be able to offer inspiration. One person will say that his road is by far the best because it is pleasing him. Another person will say that his road is the best. But when both reach their destination, they will be at the same Goal: Truth. In Truth there is no conflict; Truth or God-realisation transcends all religions.

God has made many roads Leading to Him Since God wants to please Each individual in his own way, As He Himself wants to be pleased In His own way.

What are the qualities of a true religion? There are two kinds of religion: false religion and true religion. False religion wants to change the face of the world by any means, even by foul means—by hook or by crook. True religion wants only to love soulfully the heart of the world. True religion has a universal quality. It does not find fault with other religions. A false religion will say that it is the only valid religion and its prophet is the only saviour. A true religion will feel that all prophets are saviours of mankind. A false religion tries to exercise its Himalayan supremacy over other religions. A true religion only sympathises with other religions. It wants to experience its oneness-ecstasy with all religions, founded upon its own soulful cry. It wants to become inseparably one with all religions by virtue of its tolerance, patience, kindness and forgiveness. Forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, brotherhood and the feeling of oneness are the signs of a true religion. Again, a true religion knows perfectly well that it is the Supreme Pilot Himself who is loving and piloting each religion, and at the same time forgiving the weaknesses and shortcomings that each religion unfortunately embodies. A true religion is one that, down the sweep of centuries, will love mankind with all its imperfections. And on the strength of its oneness-love it will try to bring about a new world—not by force, not by lording it over others, but by becoming inseparably one with others. A true religion has the capacity to show its followers the invisible truth. A true religion has the capacity to make its followers feel the incredible Love divine. A true religion has the capacity to grant its followers the seemingly impossible reality: perfection within and without.

Aren’t all religions really worshipping the same God? There is one absolute Supreme. All religious faiths worship the same God, but they address Him differently. A man will be called ‘Father’ by one person, ‘Brother’ by another and ‘Uncle’ by another. When he goes to his office, he is called by his surname. When he mixes with his friends, they will call him by his given name. He is the same person, but he is addressed in different ways, according to one’s connection with him. Similarly, God is addressed in various ways, accord-ing to one’s sweetest, most affectionate feeling.

What is your opinion of those religious sects which fight with other sects in the Name of God? I feel very sad when religious sects quarrel and fight in the Name of God. If they really love God, they will not kill others in His Name. Love means oneness. If we have oneness, how can we fight? We fight only because we do not feel love for others, because we have not yet transformed our ignorance into oneness-reality. In our own being there are many members—the body, vital, mind, heart and soul—and we claim all of them as our own, very own. The body, too, has so many parts, but when we want to achieve something, all the parts work together. In exactly the same way, when we want to do something good for mankind, then all the religions can and should work together. Since we all have the same Source, we all have the same ultimate destination. Since “all roads lead to Rome,” and we are all heading ultimately to the same Source, it is ridiculous to fight against others who are following different roads. Some people may choose a very short and direct road, while others may take a longer route. Some may want to fly, while others are content to walk. When all religions work together, they can achieve something great and good for both God and humanity. It is the collective prayers and good will of the followers of all the world’s religions that will bring down the highest Love and Compassion from Above. And it is only God’s Love and Compassion descending into humanity’s heart and life that can change the face and fate of the world. How can religion overcome a narrow outlook and develop a real acceptance of all other religions as true and necessary? Religion as such cannot overcome this narrow outlook. Only when religion takes help from spirituality, its elder brother, does it become possible to overcome this narrow outlook. Religion sees God, but spirituality makes the seeker become God. Religion can go as far as believing in the Light or even seeing the Light. But spirituality goes much higher, much deeper. It helps the seeker grow into the Light itself and become one with God-Consciousness and God-Light. Religion stops at seeing the reality; it does not want to grow into reality. Spirituality, like religion, sees what the reality is, but then it goes one step ahead and wants to consciously grow into the reality itself. So if religion takes help from spiri-tuality, then it is quite possible to overcome all the narrow outlooks found in religion. Spirituality is not merely tolerance. It is not even acceptance. It is the feeling of universal oneness. In our spiritual life, we look upon the Divine not only in terms of our own God, but in terms of everybody else’s God. Our spiritual life firmly and securely establishes the basis of unity in diversity. Spirituality is not hospitality to another’s faith in God. It is the absolute recognition of the other’s faith in God as one’s own.

Religion says, “If you accept me in my way, Then you are good.” Spirituality says, “You do not have to follow my way. Follow your own way soulfully And reach your destined goal.”

What does God like best in a religion? What God likes best in each religion is a oneness-heart. First let each religion tolerate the others. Once tolerance is there, then let each religion go one step further. Let it recognise other religions also. Once recognition is given, each religion has to sincerely feel that other religions are as good as it is. It has to feel that each religion is right in its own way, that all are equal. Tolerance of others exists only as long as there is a sense of separativity. Once a particular religion gives due value to other religions and sees their existence as an expression of Truth, then that particular religion can go high, higher, highest and deep, deeper, deepest. Seeing and establishing its conscious oneness with all other religions, it can claim that there is only one religion. When a religion comes to realise that all religions form one eternal religion, one eternal eye of Truth, one eternal heart of Truth, then that religion is perfect. This kind of discovery and achievement God likes best in all the world religions.

When I speak to you about God, You don’t believe me. When you speak to me about God, I don’t believe you. Therefore, what is the use Of our talking to each other About God? The best thing will be for us To pray for God to speak, For He is the only One Who can talk about Himself With inner Illumination And outer Compassion.

What is the role of religion in the process of God-realisation? Each religion is like a house. In the beginning, you have to live in a house; you cannot live in the street. But a time comes when your consciousness expands and the whole world becomes your house. At that time you cannot be bound by the limitations of any one particular house. You accept all religions and, at the same time, you go beyond the domain of religion and achieve conscious oneness with God. Each religion is like a river. When the river enters into the God-realisation-ocean, it has played its part. At that time, the river becomes the ocean itself; it has become one with the Source. If you follow a religion, you are on the road to your destination. But if you want to reach the ultimate Truth, then you have to concentrate, meditate and contemplate. That does not mean that you will not go to your church or synagogue anymore. But if you feel an inner call deep within your heart to run fast, faster, fastest towards your Goal, then you have to practise the inner life, the life of self-discipline and meditation. Religion will tell us there is a God. It will tell us that we have to be good, we have to be kind, we have to be simple, sincere and pure. But spirituality will say that it is not enough just to know that God exists. We also have to see Him, we have to feel Him, we have to grow into Him. This we do through prayer and meditation.

Immortality and Eternity

by Sri Chinmoy

Immortality deals with life, life in the form of consciousness, life in the form of reality and life in the form of object, subject or substance. Immortality means the immortality of consciousness, not the immortality of the gross physical. One can leave the body at one’s own sweet will. But if anything has to last on the physical plane for an indefinite time, it becomes the greatest torture. Even the most materialistic person on earth, even a pleasure-loving person, will be disgusted if he stays on earth for more than one hundred years. Every undivine desire may be fulfilled, but even then he will be disgusted because he is not dealing with the illumining consciousness.

When you deal with the illumining consciousness, you do not pay attention to the senses. You feel that you do not need the satisfaction of the senses, or of anything that belongs to earth, because at that time you see that earth itself is impermanent. The only thing that is permanent is the birthless and deathless Divine.

When we think of Eternity, we have to know that anything that is created, whether on the physical plane, the vital plane, the mental plane or the transcendental plane, can be eternal. It may have had its beginning yesterday, but it can go on, go on for millions and billions and trillions of years.

Immortality deals with life, and life came from Silence. We can measure Eternity, but we cannot measure Immortality. However, Immortality came first, because Silence itself was life. So life comes first, and then only can we start measuring. First one is born, then one is one second old, one day old, one year old, and so on.

So in Eternity there is a sense of measurement, while there is none in Immortality. You cannot measure Immortality, whereas you can try to calculate Eternity with your imagination. The sense of measurement comes in Eternity. It is divine, intuitive and psychic measurement. Immortality is something that is already there.

Let us take Eternity as a tree that is growing, growing and growing. Eternity grows and Immortality remains the same. Immortality is already there; just use your vision. But Eternity is always going upwards. Eternity’s conception goes upwards, while Immortality is all around.

Do not waste your time Thinking of Eternity. Do immediately What you are supposed to do. Since Eternity exists, It will definitely bring you the reward For your today’s self-giving.

Does God plan for the future the way human beings do?

God’s Vision is not something to be fulfilled in the future. God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. God’s perception and manifestation are simultaneous.

Man, being God’s instrument, plans; and later he sees the unfoldment of his plans in time. However, God’s Play is more like a child’s play in that it is spontaneous and without motive, and it does not seek a future result. God is a divine Child but His Play, unlike that of a human child, is responsible, conscious and divine.

It is good for man to have a plan. God manifests Himself through man. With our finite consciousness, Truth is revealed gradually as ignorance melts into Light. But in God’s world, Truth and Revelation exist together, so that perception and manifestation occur simultaneously. For man the vision of the future must be fulfilled through plans so that God may reveal through man what has always abided in Him.

Do you think that God lives All by Himself? No, He lives with millions Of secret and sacred plans For you.

How can we best utilise the physical earthbound time that we are living in?

There are two kinds of time. One is earthbound time and the other is eternal Time. The earthbound time is what we have created, but eternal Time cannot be created. It is within us and without us.

When we live in eternal Time, we cannot separate one second from another second. When we live in earthbound time, we know that it is one o’clock and then it is one minute past one. They are two separate minutes. But in eternal Time, we cannot separate the minutes or hours. In eternal Time one o’clock, two o’clock, three and four o’clock are all together. This is the difference between eternal Time and earthbound time. We can see the present, past and future perfectly housed in eternal Time, and this eternal Time we can easily possess when we are Self-realised.

Let us take an ordinary second. This second you can use either for meditation or for gossip. This second you can use either to pray or to cherish impure and undivine thoughts. When you consciously use time to do something divine, you are entering into divine Time, which means timeless Time. When you are consciously thinking of something divine, immediately eternal Life comes and shakes hands with you. Each moment you want to go upward through aspiration, the eternal Time also becomes your friend.

Love God unconditionally! You will not be chained By earthbound time.

Many say that we are entering into the end of this age, and that the world is going to end quite soon. I was wondering what you had to say about it.

Since your childhood I am sure you have been hearing that the world is coming to an end. Our grandfathers were also told the same story. The world is not just a tiny spot. It will not be destroyed totally. A portion of the world may be destroyed by an earthquake or some catastrophe, but the whole world as such is not going to be destroyed. Human aspiration is not going to come to an end.

Human aspiration may ascend and descend, but ultimately it goes up. If somebody becomes tired while he is climbing, then in his time of relaxation perhaps he may come down a little. But when he is again inspired, he will go up again and finally he will reach the Highest.

The world is not going to come to an end, because human aspiration is not going to come to an end. One day human aspiration may be very hot, and another day it may be lukewarm, but once it starts in us, it will carry us to the highest Absolute. Before it reaches that Goal, it will not be satisfied. As long as human aspiration exists in the earth atmosphere, this world will never be totally destroyed.

Aspire soulfully and sleeplessly. You will see that The death-dealing hand of time Will be transformed into The life-flowing heart of time. 

.....................................

His mind-clock tells him That he does not have to waste His precious time Waiting for God, Since God’s existence is quite uncertain.

His heart-clock tells him To wait and watch, For God will definitely come.

His soul-clock tells him That God has already arrived And asks him what he is doing And why he is not taking care Of the Supreme Guest.

Europe

Americas

Oceania