Question: Do unaspiring artists and musicians lower our consciousness?

Sri Chinmoy: Unaspiring art and music will definitely lower our consciousness. All seekers, but especially beginners, must avoid unaspiring people and things because there is every possibility of their falling. Because we are seekers, we are trying all the time to keep our consciousness high, to elevate our consciousness. But if our consciousness is one inch higher than somebody else’s, there is every possibility that that person will either pull us down or that we ourselves will be tempted to go down. For ordinary people there is no real harm in it. If somebody is already in the lowest, he cannot go any farther down. But if we have begun to ascend, we can also descend quite comfortably.

Birds of a feather flock together. Unaspiring music and unaspiring musicians go together, unaspiring artists and unaspiring art go together, and unaspiring people are the observers. When bad people do something there are always bad people available to appreciate it, and when good people do something there are also people to appreciate and admire it. Again, if someone is very powerful spiritually, he can pull unaspiring people up higher. But also, if someone is very powerful in a negative way, he can pull weak aspirants down.