Section 3
Meditation: Self-Transcendence
Meditation is self-transcendence. Self-transcendence is the message of the Beyond. The message of the Beyond is God, the eternally evolving Soul, and God, the eternally fulfilling Goal.
The animal in man is proud of his self-aggrandisement. The human in man is delighted with his self-awareness. The divine in man is conscious of his self-realisation. The Supreme in man is fulfilled in his self-transcendence.
Man needs material wealth to enjoy a prosperous earthly life. Man needs meditation to live a peaceful heavenly life. Man needs revelation to live as a divine hero, to guide and serve and serve and guide as a divine hero. Heaven does not want a weakling. Earth does not need a weakling.
Life is not empty talk. Life is not the breath of illusion. Life is the action of aspiration. Aspiration is the action of man's Inner Pilot. Let us fight the battle of life within. Let us wake up to the reality of our world consciously and devotedly. Ours will be the victory without. Forget we must not, never. We are of God the Infinite and we are for God the Eternal.
Meditation means the evolution of the body and the soul. The body's ultimate evolution is transformation and perfection. The soul's ultimate evolution is the highest illumination and complete manifestation.
He who meditates, consciously dedicates his life to God. He who dedicates his life to mankind, soulfully meditates on the real God. His are the eyes that see Heaven on earth. In him divinity and humanity are triumphantly blended.
Temptation and meditation. Temptation: this is precisely what an unaspiring man knows. Meditation: this is what an aspiring man constantly is. An unaspiring man must descend in the scale of life and feel the very breath of ignorance. An aspiring man eternally ascends in the scale of life and lives in the very Heart of God.
We have hundreds of secrets, but meditation has only one: competence is achievement. Competence and achievement are the smiles of God's unconditional Grace.
Sri Krishna meditated. He became God, the Love Divine. The Buddha meditated. He became God, the Light Divine. The Christ meditated. He became God, the Compassion Divine. Now God wants you to meditate. He wants you to become God, the Life Divine.
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium
United Nations, New York
February 12, 1971
Is The Spiritual Life An Escape From Reality?
Reality. An unaspiring man thinks that undying pleasure is the only reality. An aspiring man feels that a divine experience is the only reality. A God-Realised man knows that God, the Supreme Lover, alone has the Reality, and that God, the Supreme Beloved, alone is the Reality. Reality is also God, the fulfilling Light, and man, the fulfilled life.
The abode of Transcendental Fulfilment has three doors: Love, Freedom and Delight. The Love-Door is open only to him who serves crying humanity. The Freedom-Door is open only to him who serves struggling humanity. The Delight-Door is open only to him who serves awakening humanity.
The spiritual life is never an escape from reality. On the contrary, the spiritual life is the conscious and spontaneous acceptance of reality in its totality. For a spiritual seeker the idea of an escape from reality is absurdity plus impossibility, for spirituality and reality need each other to be supremely fulfilled. Without reality's soul, spirituality is worse than useless. Without spirituality's breath, reality is more than meaningless. Spirituality with reality means man's inner cry for perfect Perfection. Reality with spirituality means God's omnipotent Will for total and absolute manifestation.
Escape is a base thought. It acts like a thief the worst possible thief. Into the heart of tenebrous gloom escape gains easy and free access. He who indulges in the idea of an immediate escape unmistakably commits lingering suicide.
Acceptance, the acceptance of life with a divine attitude, is not only a lofty idea, but the very ideal of life. This ideal of life is realised, revealed and manifested through God's soul-elevating inspiration and man's life-building aspiration. Acceptance of life is the divine pride of true spirituality. To live a spiritual life is our only responsibility.
Arnold Bennet said, "You are not in charge of the universe; you are in charge of yourself." I venture to say that if I can be in charge of myself, then God will put me in charge of the universe, His Universe.
Acceptance of the life divine is the transcendence of human ego. The transcendence of ego is man's real dignity and true worth. Momentous are the words of our Secretary-General, U Thant: "The dignity and worth of the human person is not merely a philosophic concept. It is, and should be, a working principle of human existence guiding our daily lives."
There is only one thing that man needs: the inner wisdom. The supreme Pilot of the United Nations' Boat is piloting a countless number of the human family with his wisdom-light to the shores of dream-fulfilled Reality. Inside the heart of learning humanity, his wisdom-tree is growing slowly, steadily, significantly and triumphantly. Him to quote,
Is the human race so destitute of wisdom, so incapable of tolerance, so blind even to the simple dictates of self-presentation that the last proof of its progress is to be extermination of all life on our small planet? I cannot believe that this is to be the end. I cannot believe that humanity is so bereft of common sense as to launch universal suicide.
Acceptance of life is the assurance of faith. Faith walks along the road of fulfilling and fulfilled immortality. Escape from reality will, in the twinkling of an eye, weaken our resolves, loosen our armour and finally throw us into the very depths of the annihilation-sea.
No, we must never make a cowardly escape. We must always be brave. Divine courage is our birthright. We are the hero-warriors of supreme Reality chosen to fight against the teeming, brooding and threatening ignorance-night.
We are brave. The brave deserve the fair. We are aware. The aware deserve God, the real God.
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium
United Nations,
New York March 4, 1971
Does Meditation Really Accomplish Anything?
First of all, let us try to know and understand what meditation actually means. What is meditation? Meditation is man's inner movement and outer progress. Meditation is man's inner soulful promise and outer fruitful manifestation.
A man of no aspiration will dauntlessly ask, "Does meditation really accomplish anything?" A man of sterling faith and aspiration will confidently ask, "Is there anything on earth, in God's Creation, that meditation cannot accomplish? Is there anything that cannot be achieved by meditation?"
God will immediately answer these two questions. To the man who has no aspiration, God will say, "My child, sleep. Sleep. You need rest." To the one who is all aspiration, God will say, "My child, fly. Fly. My highest Height of the Transcendental Beyond is eagerly expecting your arrival."
What is the first and foremost thing we expect from meditation? Peace. Peace and nothing else. Meditation is the embodiment of peace. The present-day world needs only one thing: peace.
The peace-lover, our ex-Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, offers us a sublime message: "No peace which is not peace for all . . ." In peace, what looms large is eternal, fulfilling rest. He says, ". . . no rest until all has been fulfilled."
Why do we meditate? We meditate just because our life needs inspiration, our life needs aspiration. Aspiration is, to some extent, a form of meditation. It is our meditation that promises to give us our realisation-tree. Today meditation plays the role of aspiration and tomorrow meditation will play the role of realisation. The Inner Pilot, the Pilot Supreme within us, inspires us to act; and it is He who has already kept the fruit of action safe in the life of our aspiration.
The truth-seeker in Dag Hammarskjöld, on the strength of his own inner conviction said, "Somebody placed the shuttle in your hand: somebody who had already arranged the threads."
In our human life two things are of paramount importance: role and Goal. At every moment we have to know what our role is, and then we have to be conscious of our ultimate Goal. At our journey's start we have to be fully aware of our role. At the end of our journey's close we have to be fully conscious of our Goal. Now, there must needs be a connecting link between our role and our Goal. Meditation is this connecting link between our role in the Divine Play, the Divine Lila, and our ultimate Goal in God's ever-evolving Universe. Man's role is his conscious self-surrender to the Will of the Absolute Supreme. This is his only role. Man's Goal, the Goal of Goals, is in constant self-surrender to the absolute Will of the Supreme.
Life is conscious ascent and conscious descent. Now, when we say ascent, what do we actually mean? Life's aspiration is ascending towards the Highest. When we say descent, we mean the illumining descent of the soul's all-transforming and all-fulfilling meditation. The human life is an ascending prayer. Again, the divine soul in each human being is a descending meditation. Our ascending cry and the descending Grace are inseparable. Together they move, together they fulfil the Absolute, here on earth. As human beings are countless, even so are their endless prayers. Each human being can doubt the value of spiritual prayer during his short span of life, but no human being on earth can say that he never prayed. Be it for a fleeting second or for hours or for months or for years, each individual has to pray. This prayer has intrinsic value. Again, when it is a matter of the individual, one individual can far excel the rest of mankind; similarly, one individual prayer far excels all prayer.
The profound seeker in Dag Hammarskjöld offers an unparalleled prayer for mankind:
Before Thee in humility;
With Thee in faith;
In Thee in Peace.
Does meditation accomplish anything? Meditation does accomplish something; in fact, it accomplishes everything. God's Divinity meditated and created humanity, humanity in infinite shapes and forms. God's humanity meditates, and before long we shall see the result: the sun of perfect Perfection will shine on the face of aspiring humanity.
Here we are all seekers of the Infinite Truth. None of us has even an iota of doubt about the efficacy of meditation. But we have friends, neighbors, acquaintances, who may ask us, "Does meditation really accomplish anything?" We can tell them, "O unbelievers, O disbelievers, do not sit on the unsure ground of apprehension. Look. Here is the key: meditation. Meditation is the key to unlock the door of God's Plenitude and Infinitude." This is what we can say to the unbelievers.
To the disbelievers we can say, "Before you entered into the world arena, yours was the promise to realise Him here in this body, Him to fulfil, Him to manifest here on earth. Now, spread your wings. Spread your wings once for all and catch the first morning breeze with your soul's soulful promise to the Supreme, to the Absolute."
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium
United Nations, New York
April 1, 1971
A Spiritual Goal For The United Nations: Is It Practical?
A spiritual Goal for the United Nations: Is it practical? Without the least possible hesitation I venture to say that it is highly practical. It is not only practical, but also practicable. Something more: It is inevitable. We have to know what the spiritual Goal for the United Nations is. Its Goal is to become ultimately the saviour of the world's imperfection, the liberator of the world's destruction and the fulfiller of the world's aspiration.
My heart tells me that the United Nations has a divine Ideal. My soul tells me that this ideal is going to be transformed into the supreme Reality. Soulful concern is the essence of the United Nations' ideal. Fruitful patience is the substance of the United Nations' ideal. Supernal fulfilment will be the essence of the United Nations' Reality. Sempiternal perfection will be the substance of the United Nations' Reality. What is Reality? Reality is the inseparable oneness of Infinity's smile and Eternity's cry.
The great philosopher Aristotle once remarked, "Some men are just as firmly convinced of what they think as others are of what they know." The firm conviction of the United Nations is the confident flight of sublime thought and glowing depth of its knowledge-light.
Today's United Nations sees the nations as its true friends. Tomorrow's United Nations will see the nations as its real sisters and brothers.
Today's United Nations offers hopeful and soulful advice to mankind. Tomorrow's United Nations will offer fruitful and fulfilling peace to mankind.
Today's United Nations feels Truth, Light and Delight in its loving heart. Tomorrow's United Nations will manifest Truth, Light and Delight with its all-embracing soul.
Anatole France said something which is at once interesting and amusing. He said, "It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly." But in the case of the United Nations it is totally otherwise. The United Nations thinks profoundly and acts selflessly.
My aspiring heart has a soulful message to offer to all the nations that have formed, that have made the Garland of United Nations. The message is:
There are two stumbling blocks: doubt and insecurity. Doubt in the mind, insecurity in the heart.
There are two stepping stones: faith and surrender. Faith in oneself, and surrender to God's Will, conscious surrender to God's constant Will.
True, we have lost and misused thousands of golden opportunities, but we cannot lose or empty God's infinite Compassion. Out of His infinite Compassion, He will make us feel and realise the Transcendental Truth. However, this can be done in two ways. One way is to realise the highest Truth at God's choice Hour; the other way is to realise the Truth when we feel the time is ready, according to our own sweet will. When we open our eyes at God's Will, we fulfil God in His own Way. When we open our eyes at our choice will, at our own selected hour, we fulfil God in our own way. The desire in us fulfils God in its own way. The aspiration in us fulfils God in God's Way. Needless to say, our aspiration is bound to manifest the ultimate, absolute Reality on earth; and in the manifestation of absolute Reality on earth, the face of earth will be transformed into the face of Heaven.
True, the man of the hour need not or cannot be the man of Eternity. But the message that the soul of the United Nations offers to the world at large is for Eternity. Its message is:
Today's imperfect and unfulfilled man is tomorrow's absolutely fulfilled and supremely manifested God.
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium
United Nations,
New York
August 5, 1971
Peace Is Our Birthright: How Can We Have It?
(Sri Chinmoy sang)
O Lord, where is the Truth?
"Where your Beloved is."
Who is my Beloved, who?
"In whom your life is peace."
Peace. Peace. Peace.
The outer peace and the inner peace: The outer peace is man's compromise; the inner peace is man's fulfilment. The outer peace is man's satisfaction without being satisfied at all. The inner peace is man's satisfaction in being totally and supremely fulfilled.
How can the outer peace have the same capacity as the inner peace? The outer peace can have the same capacity if and when man's creation and God's Creation become inseparably one. What is man's creation? Man's creation is fear. Man's creation is doubt. Man's creation is confusion. What is God's Creation? God's Creation is Love. God's Creation is Compassion. God's Creation is Concern.
Fear is the feeblest ant in man. Doubt is the wildest elephant in man. Confusion is the devouring tiger in man. There is no yawning gulf between man's cherished fear and his forced fear. Doubt God, forgiveness is granted. Doubt yourself, your complete destruction is decreed. Yesterday's confusion was the beginning of your insincerity. Today's confusion is the beginning of your insecurity. Tomorrow's confusion will be the beginning of your futility.
God's Love for man is man's aspiration. God's Compassion for man is man's salvation. God's Concern for man is man's perfection.
Man's fulfilling and fulfilled search for the Real is peace. God the Love is man's eternal Guest in the inmost recesses of his heart. God the Peace is man's eternal Host in the inmost recesses of his heart. That is why we can unfalteringly and unmistakably claim that the loving and fulfilling peace is our birthright.
How can we have peace, even an iota of peace, in our outer life, amid the hustle and bustle of life and our multifarious activities? Easy: we have to choose the inner voice. Easy: we have to control our binding thoughts. Easy: we have to purify our impure emotions.
The inner voice is our guide. The binding thoughts are the dark and unpredictable weather. The impure emotion is the inner storm. We have to listen to the inner voice always. It is our sure protection. We have to be cautious of the binding thoughts. These thoughts have tremendous vitality. We must never allow them to swell into mountains. We have to face them and then dominate them. These thoughts are absolutely non-essential, and we have no time to fret over non-essentials. We have to refrain from the luxury of the emotional storm. Impure emotion is immediate frustration, and frustration is the harbinger of total destruction within and without.
How can we choose the inner voice? To choose the inner voice, we have to meditate early in the morning. To control and dominate our undivine thoughts, we have to meditate at noon. To purify our unlit, impure emotions, we have to meditate in the evening.
What is meditation? Meditation is man's constant awareness and conscious acceptance of God. Meditation is God's unconditional offering to man.
Peace is the beginning of love. Peace is the completion of truth. Peace is the return to the Source.
(Sri Chinmoy sang)
There was a time when I stumbled and stumbled,
But now I only climb and climb beyond
And far beyond my Goal's endless Beyond.
And yet my Captain commands:
"Go on, go on!"
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium
United Nations, New York
May 13, 1971
Spirituality: Is It Only For The Chosen Few?
Spirituality: Is it only for the chosen few? The answer is at once in the affirmative and in the negative.
The blessed aspirants who cry for the Transcendental Truth, Peace and Bliss are undoubtedly the chosen few. Nevertheless all human beings, with no exception, can easily swim in the infinite sea of spirituality. Those who have lesser goals, those who want to be satisfied with an iota of Peace, Bliss and Truth unfortunately cannot dine with the chosen few in the inner world.
I am afraid the beginners and the budding seekers may, at this point, take me amiss. Truth to tell, I in no way intend to throw cold water on them. On the contrary, I want them to be cognisant of the fact that the highest Goal will never be denied them. It is they who have to cultivate the strongest necessity in the world of their aspiration in order to reach the ultimate Beyond.
What prevents them from reaching the Beyond? Their fear. What else? Their doubt. They must know that fear is the owner only of those who do not believe in God. But they do believe in God. They do have faith in God. Their love for God is unquestionable. Such being the case, they need not, they must not be afraid of God's Transcendental Height.
Now, about their doubt. When they doubt God it is as if they are playing with a balloon. Their doubt-balloon is bound to burst before long. Their ignorance is bound to be exposed sooner or later. When they doubt themselves they underestimate their own divinity, overestimate their ignorance-reality, belittle their inner potentiality and aggrandise their temporary and fleeting insecurity.
I am sure that the budding seekers have true love for God, and I am sure that they have true love for themselves. Their love for God will eventually transform them into perfect Beauty Supreme, and their divine and fulfilling love for themselves as fully awakened and advanced members of the human family will be manifested on earth by God Himself. Their love is their inseparable oneness with God's Light and with their own inner revealing Reality.
It is high time for me to speak a few words about the chosen few. Theirs is the task sublime to realise God's Universal and Transcendental Consciousness. Theirs is the bounden duty to reveal and fulfil God on earth. And among the chosen few, he is by far the best who unconditionally realises God, reveals God and manifests God at God's choice Hour, in God's own Way.
The chosen few, when they look forward, find themselves already seated in the Dream-Boat of the Supreme. When they look upward, they find themselves already seated in the Life-Boat of the Supreme. When they look inward, they find themselves already seated in the Soul-Boat of the Supreme.
The Supreme blesses a budding seeker. The Supreme caresses a climbing seeker. The Supreme utilises a flowering seeker. The Supreme extols a realised seeker to the skies. The Supreme unreservedly offers Himself to the supremely realised seeker who unconditionally serves Him in the heart of humanity.
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium
United Nations,
New York
June 4, 1971
Spirituality: The Fount Of World Peace
Spirituality is aspiration. Spirituality is Yoga. When we have learned what we can expect from aspiration and what we can expect from Yoga, world peace will no longer remain a far cry. Aspiration is an aspirant's conscious longing for the deeper Reality. Yoga is a seeker's conscious oneness with God.
Aspiration leads man to God-Consciousness. Yoga offers God-Consciousness to man. Aspiration takes man back to the Source. Yoga inundates man's consciousness with the Light, Peace, Bliss and Power of the Beyond.
Why do we aspire? We aspire because we love God and want God to love us. Why do we practise Yoga? We practise Yoga in order to feel consciously that God is our very own. We practise Yoga because we feel that our fulfilment on earth can take place only when we have revealed and manifested God's Divinity and Reality here on earth.
When we aspire, we go far beyond the domain of the physical mind and sit at the Feet of God the Light.
When we practise Yoga, we dive deep within, and there we see God and talk to Him face to face.
He who has no aspiration can never free himself from stark ignorance, and he who does not practise Yoga can neither receive nor achieve boundless Light.
Here on earth we have two major instruments: one is the mind, the other is the heart. Very often the mind that we use is the doubtful mind, and the heart we use is the fearful heart. But, unfortunately, the doubtful mind can never aspire, and the fearful heart can never practise Yoga.
True aspiration and teeming human limitations never go together. True Yoga and the life of unlit pleasure cannot go together. Constant aspiration and all-fulfilling Divinity can and must go together. The highest type of Yoga, which is the conscious surrender to God's Will, always goes together with the Life of God.
Aspiration tells man that he will be able to see the Truth of the Beyond. Yoga goes one step ahead. Yoga tells man that the Truth of the Beyond is within him. Finally, God comes and tells man, "My child, you are the Truth of the Beyond. You are My Beyond."
Spirituality is the fount of world peace. Spirituality is the fulfilment of all responsibilities. This is because Divinity is the birthright of spirituality. When an individual touches the foot of a tree, his consciousness enters into the tree; into the branches, into the leaves, into the fruit and into the flowers. In the spiritual sense, God is the tree and the leaves, fruit, branches and flowers are human beings. When you touch the Feet of God, your very consciousness enters into His Universal Consciousness and the infinite beings of His Manifestation.
Each individual has his own way of defining peace. A child finds peace when he is running around outside. That is his fulfilment and in his fulfilment is his peace. An adult finds his peace somewhere else. He finds his peace when he feels that he can lord it over the world. And in the evening of life, an old man thinks that he will get peace if the world recognizes his greatness, or if Mother Earth offers Her gratitude to him. He feels that he has done much for humanity and Mother Earth, and he expects something in return. He will have peace only if his expectation is fulfilled.
But peace can never dawn on any individual if it is not properly sought. The child cannot get true peace by running around in the street. He soon finds frustration in his so-called fulfilment. A day will come when he will pray to God for a calm and quiet life. Then he will have peace.
If an adult wants to have peace, real peace, he has to realise that he cannot get it by possessing the world or governing the world. It is only by offering what he has and what he is, consciously and unreservedly, to the world at large, that he will have peace.
The old man who will soon pass behind the curtain of eternity can have peace only if he cherishes the idea that he is not a beggar, but a king. He was a king and he still is a king. He has offered his inner and outer wealth to mankind and Mother Earth. If, in the evening of his life, he doesn't expect anything from the world, then his inner consciousness and outer being will be flooded with peace.
World peace will begin when the so-called human expectation ends. World peace can dawn only when each individual realises the Supreme Truth:
Love is the revelation of Life and
Life is the manifestation of Love.
World peace can come into existence when each individual nation consciously feels that the other human beings, the other nations, need not depend on it. No nation is indispensable; but if one nation helps another devotedly and unconditionally, then the world will be inundated with fulfilling peace.
Spirituality is the fulfilment of all responsibility. To love the world is our responsibility. To please the world is our responsibility. We know our own teeming responsibilities; but when we think of the world, unfortunately we do not think of it in a divine or proper way. The world immediately misunderstands us, and we find it impossible to have an inner connection with the world. It is like a mother and her son. In spite of her best intention, the mother finds it difficult to please the son. She thinks of him in her own way and likewise, the son understands the mother in his own way. Because of this lack of communication the mother and the son get no joy in fulfilling their mutual responsibilities.
We love the world. We have to love the world; it is our responsibility. What happens when we try to love the world or when we attempt to fulfil our responsibility to the world? We try to possess and bind the world, and while we are doing this we see that we have already been bound and possessed by the world. We had a sublime opportunity to fulfil our responsibility to the world, but we have badly misused it.
We want to please the world, but how can we please the world if we are not pleased with our own lives? It is sheer absurdity to try to please others if we are not pleased with our inner and outer existence. God has given us big mouths and we try to please others with our mouths, but inside our hearts there is a barren desert. If we have no aspiration, how can we offer the world Peace, Joy and Love? How can we offer anything divine when we don't practise what we preach? Spirituality offers us the capacity to practise what we preach.
If we don't follow the path of spirituality, we shall only preach; it will be a one-sided game. But if we really practise Yoga we shall also live the Truth. Our preaching will bear fruit only when it is practised.
How can we fulfil all our responsibilities? We have tried in human ways but we have failed. We think of the world with good thoughts and ideas, but the world remains exactly the same as it was yesterday. We love the world, but the world still remains full of cruelty and hatred. We try to please the world, but the world doesn't want to be pleased. It is as if the world has taken a vow that it won't allow itself to be pleased. And why does all this happen? It is because we have not pleased our Inner Pilot, the One we have to please first. If we have no aspiration to please our Inner Pilot, how can we offer the world Peace, Joy and Love? Unless and until we have pleased the Inner Pilot, the world will always remain a battlefield where the soldiers of fear, doubt, anxiety, worry, imperfection, limitation and bondage will fight; and consciously or unconsciously we will play with these undivine soldiers. Fear, doubt, anxiety, worry and animal propensities can never offer us peace, world peace.
Again, deep within us divinity is crying to come to the fore. There the divine soldiers are our simplicity, sincerity, purity, humility and feeling of oneness. These soldiers are more than ready and eager to fight with fear, doubt, anxiety and worry. Unfortunately, we are not consciously identifying ourselves with the divine soldiers; we are consciously or unconsciously identifying ourselves with the undivine soldiers, and that is why world peace is still a far cry. World peace can be achieved, revealed, offered and manifested on earth when the Divine Power of Love replaces the undivine love of power.
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium
United Nations,
New York
July 1, 1971
Mediation And Meditation
Two conflicting parties: they need some compromise. A third party, the mediator, is then of paramount importance. His is the task of offering light to the conflicting and strangling parties. When the mediator is successful in his acts of mediation, the two conflicting parties end their mutual enmity and hostility. They live, or at least try to live, peacefully, in their own domain.
Two conflicting parties: one party declares might is right; the other party declares right is might. We observe in the Mahabharata, India's greatest epic, that the Kauravas proclaimed that might is right, and the Pandavas maintained, in the light of conscience, that right is might. We all know that the Pandavas won the battle.
The animal in us instigates us by roaring that might is right. The human in us inspires us by feeling deep within that right is might. The divine in us illumines us by offering the supreme Truth that it is God alone who has all Might and who is all Right.
When we look at the unlit consciousness found on the human level, we see something quite disappointing and damaging. We see that this unlit consciousness is very often unthinking, unaspiring and possessing. At this point, we have to invoke the Grace of God. It is the Divine Grace that can transform the unthinking consciousness into the thinking, the unaspiring consciousness into the aspiring and the possessing consciousness into the renouncing.
Here on earth, since everything is fleeting, if we can derive a little joy, a little peace, a little harmony from mediation, our mental wisdom, we should be proud of our achievement. At a certain stage in human development, when most of the people are not aspiring to be perfect, mediation is of great importance. Therefore we must pay attention, reverential attention to mediation. It is a temporary mental relief, a pause, a rest in the life of the vital. It is a clever compromise. But to expect abiding peace and illumining fulfilment from mediation is simply absurd. We cannot expect lasting peace and we must not expect everlasting, illumining fulfilment from mediation. For that we need meditation.
We are now at the United Nations. The United Nations is the mediator unmatched and unparalleled in today's world:
The Secretary-General and his special representatives have assisted in finding solutions to problems in a number of areas. The Secretary-General's efforts assisted the Government of the Soviet Union and the United States to avert a serious threat to the peace which arose at the end of 1963 in the Caribbean. In the Dominican Republic crisis in 1965 a representative of the Secretary-General, appointed at the request of the Security Council, helped in securing a cease-fire. The fighting between Israel and the Arab States that followed the eruptions of the Palestine partition - the partition plan in the establishment of the State of Israel- was halted by a United Nations cease-fire. Then following negotiations carried out with a United Nations mediator, armistice agreements were signed in 1949. Peace Corps observers have been in the area ever since, supervising the armistice agreements.*
These achievements are unique in the physical world, in the vital world, in the mental world and in the psychic world. Unfortunately these achievements may not, or do not or cannot last. We have seen the First World War, the Second World War. There should not be, at least for God's sake, a Third World War!
Very often animal aggression gives birth to human aggrandisement. This human aggrandisement is chased by bitter frustration. Then, later on, human aggrandisement is devoured by utter destruction.
In the spiritual life, in our inner life, we also see two conflicting parties: fear and doubt on one side; and inner courage and faith on the other side. Meditation plays three distinctive roles in the inner life. Meditation is the medicine; meditation is the doctor; meditation is the cure, the ultimate cure. Meditation cures our fear. It transforms our fear into strength, adamantine will. It transforms our doubt into constant, unmistakable and inevitable certainty. Again, we see that meditation is the road, meditation is the guide and meditation is the Goal. He who is surcharged with inner courage and faith will get constant help and illumination from meditation. Further, let us not forget that meditation is the only road, the only guide and the only Goal.
In the outer world, the blind human body needs constant mediation. The wild human vital needs striking mediation. The unclear human mind needs illumining mediation. The weak human heart needs lasting mediation.
In the inner world, the fleeting, unaspiring human body needs constant meditation. The running, struggling vital needs striking meditation. The searching and climbing human mind needs illumining meditation. The crying and aspiring human heart needs everlasting meditation.
In the outer world, in this world of turmoil, mediation is necessary. In the inner world, in the world of frustration and despair, meditation is necessary. If we can bring the result of meditation to the fore, mediation will have a life, a different life, a new life that will be flooded with everlasting Peace, Light and Bliss.
In the fleeting, in the finite, we shall hear the message of the Eternal and the Infinite.
I wish all of us to stand up and pray to God most sincerely and soulfully for our dear Secretary-General U Thant's quickest recovery.*
(Everyone stood up and prayed with Sri Chinmoy for five minutes.)
* Excerpt taken from United Nations Office of Public Information booklet.
* Secretary-General U Thant was in the hospital at the time this talk was given.
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium
United Nations,
New York
November 4, 1971
God's Power Of Love In Today's World
God's Power of Love has three gifts to offer man: aspiration, liberation and perfection. Man's power of love also has three gifts to offer: possession, frustration and destruction
God's Power of Love in today's world can be felt only by the special few who have discovered the inner truth that Love is the beauty of our aspiring life and the duty of our manifesting soul.
The body of today's world is a filthy pig. The vital of today's world is a mad elephant. The mind of today's world is a devouring tiger. The heart of today's world is a timid deer. The soul of today's world is a helpless lamb.
In supreme silence, God's Power of Love is performing its eternal Divine Duty. Slowly, steadily and unerringly, it is transforming the body, the filthy pig, into a clean and pure child; the vital, the mad elephant, into a one-pointed dynamic runner; the mind, the devouring tiger, into a seeker of the highest Truth; the heart, the timid deer, into a brother of boundless confidence and concern; and the soul, the helpless lamb, into a chosen instrument of Divinity's Eternity.
Marguerite Blessington said, "Love in France is a comedy, in England a tragedy, in Italy an opera seria and in Germany a melodrama." Now I wish to add that love in America is at once a frightening and enchanting experience of a green life's red adventure.
The master philosopher Plato remarked, "Love: a great mental disease." When our physical consciousness lives in the doubting, suspecting and unaspiring mind, this great utterance of Plato's is, to some extent, undeniable. But if our awakened consciousness lives in the illumining soul, love is nectar, the very breath of immortality.
Napoleon Bonaparte has given us an amusing and interesting piece of advice: "The only victory over love is flight." When our human emotions run riot, the necessity of flying away is perhaps indispensable; but when our divine emotion, the all-loving emotion, reigns supreme, we have to know that we do not need victory over love, but the victory of Love. This victory of Love is self-expansion in God-Manifestation.
India's matchless leader, Mahatma Gandhi, has a special message, an inner message, which runs, "Love is the reverse of the coin of which the obverse is Truth." In the life of aspiration we come to realise that Love is Truth embodied and that Truth is Love revealed.
Man's obtrusive ignorance of Divine Love results in a most damaging failure in the battlefield of life. Man's power of love is constantly wanting in perspecuity and lucidity. Man's love of power knows not how to procrastinate. Fast, faster and fastest it runs; and when it finally reaches the goal, it is compelled to shake hands with bitter frustration.
Earthly experience, frustrated and shattered, convinces a lover that there is no such thing as love. It is all chicanery. Heavenly experience, illumined and fulfilled, reveals to a God-Lover the truth that Love alone is here on earth, there in heaven.
Here at this august hall, the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium, we are trying to throw light on love in today's world. My heart tells me that the love that the United Nations has is not a guarded and limited concern, but a soulful dedication to the Supreme Cause.
An unaspiring man loves God in a perfunctory manner. An aspiring man loves God in a soulful and ebullient manner. A God-Realised man loves God in an unconditionally surrendered manner. It is through him that God, the Inner Pilot Supreme, reveals His Power of Love in today's world.
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium United Nations,
New York October 7, 1971
Western Dynamism And Eastern Spirituality
Western dynamism lives in its searching mind and manifesting vital. Eastern spirituality lives in its crying heart and illumining soul.
Spirituality is the inner urge of an Eastern seeker to see God face to face and realise God in His totality. Dynamism is the vital urge of a hero Westerner to reveal God and manifest God here on earth. Dynamism seines God. Spirituality loves God.
The body's dynamism is regularity. The vital's dynamism is punctuality. The mind's dynamism is clarity. The heart's dynamism is purity. The soul's dynamism is certainty.
The body's spirituality is simplicity. The vital's spirituality is sincerity.The mind's spirituality is humility. The heart's spirituality is spontaneity. The soul's spirituality is Reality.
A dynamic man is quick on his feet to reach his destined Goal, the Goal of the Beyond. A spiritual man is quick with his answers and pleases God, the Inner Pilot, in His own Way.
Dynamism is the life's capacity. Spirituality is the soul's necessity. The aura of outer success surrounds a dynamic man. The aura of inner progress surrounds a spiritual man.
A dynamic man is a Karma Yogi. He devotes himself to the path of action, disinterested action, with implicit devotion and surrendered service to God. A spiritual man is a Jnana Yogi. He tries to live in the knowledge of God with his awakened and illumined mind and heart. Dynamism invites God. Spirituality receives God. Yoga achieves God.
Western dynamism wants to shoulder the responsibility of the entire world. Eastern spirituality tries and cries to know what God's Will is and what God wants.
Western dynamism needs the aspiration of Eastern spirituality in order to please God in the inner world. Eastern spirituality needs the inspiration of Western dynamism in order to please God in the outer world.
Western dynamism has to learn the secret of Eastern spirituality: Love is God, God the Supreme Lover. Eastern spirituality has to learn the secret of Western dynamism: God is the Supreme Warrior, the Supreme Victor over teeming ignorance and darkening death.
God needs Western dynamism to offer His Omnipotence-Light to the world at large. God needs Eastern spirituality to offer His Ocean of Love and Peace to the world at large.
Western dynamism and Eastern spirituality are the two wings of God the Eternal Bird, who will carry the message of earth's aspiration to the highest Abode of the Supreme, and who will bring down the message of infinite Compassion from the highest Abode of the Supreme to the aching, crying consciousness of Mother Earth. When Western dynamism and Eastern spirituality become inseparably one, God will be known as a fulfilled Man, and man will be known as a perfect God.
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium
United Nations,
New York
December 2, 1971
The Court Of Divine Justice
The court of human justice tells me that as I sow, so I reap. The Court of Divine Justice assures me that when I devotedly think of God, He smilingly and blessingfully appears before my heart's eye.
The human justice wishes to offer me protection. The Divine Justice offers me protection, illumination and perfection. The human justice is fairness. The human justice is a threatening force. The human justice is a binding law. The Divine Justice is Love. The Divine Justice is self-giving. The Divine Justice is fulfilling.
The human judge is the problem-shooter. The human plaintiff is the problem-bringer. The defendant is the problem-maker and creator. The pleader is either the problem-lover or problem-nourisher; he cannot be otherwise, for that is how he remains on earth.
The Divine Judge is the Liberator. In the divine sense the plaintiff is the hungry seeker. The defendant is the devouring doubter in us, and the pleader is conscience. This pleader is the common friend, mutual friend of the plaintiff and the defendant. Under the threat of wild ignorance the pleader yields to the whims of doubt but inwardly in silence, it loves, cherishes and adores the heart of the seeker. In the physical and vital worlds conscience is helpless. In our inner world, conscience is constantly supported by the adamantine Will of the Lord Supreme. The Supreme Liberator liberates both the hungry seeker and the doubter.
Justice is impartiality. Impartiality is wisdom. Wisdom is the Divine Grace. The Divine Grace is the illumining Vision and fulfilling Manifestation of God.
A transformed and perfected human being is the duty of Divine Justice. A fulfilled and manifested God in man is the duty of Divine Justice. Duty performed on any level of consciousness is beauty blossomed forthwith. God's Consciousness abides in the duty of His Divine Justice.
Here on earth we see that liberty and justice are two different things. They are like North Pole and South Pole. If one enjoys the joy of liberty, we feel that person has violated all the laws of justice. He is acting like a wild elephant. He is enjoying liberty, especially on the vital plane, and therefore he does not care for justice at all. But if one cares only for justice, then we feel that his life has no pleasure; there is no warmth, there is no feeling of enthusiasm in his life. This is all on the human level.
In the inner world, liberty and justice always go together. They are like the obverse and the reverse of the same coin. Only he who has inner liberty can hear the message of Divine Justice. Only he who has known what the Divine Justice is can be free and independent. There is no other way. Liberty and justice in the inner world are inseparable.
The Divine Justice is not a mere human idea. It is the divine ideal in each human being. When a nation is not awakened, when a nation is unaspiring, unillumined, it feels that might is right. This is human justice. But when a nation is illumined, all-loving and all-embracing, it feels that right is might. It feels that justice lies only in the divine right.
Now, what is this divine right? Divine right is the conscious feeling of universal oneness. God's Justice can be seen and felt only when we have the feeling of universal oneness. If not, God will disappoint us and fail us at every moment. Our human mind will never be able to fathom God's Justice. It will always be baffled by God's Justice because of its limited knowledge and limited concern for humanity.
The Divine Justice is ready at every moment to be of help to us; to inspire us, guide us, mould us and shape us. But we are equally afraid of the Divine Justice and the human justice. When we do something wrong, we feel that we will be exposed. This is true in the case of human justice. But the Divine Justice will never, never expose us. The first time we do something wrong the Divine Justice will forgive us with its compassion. The second time we do something wrong it will offer us more compassion. The third time we do something wrong it will offer us infinite compassion. And then, when God sees that even His infinite Compassion is not solving the human problem, He will use His loving Divine Authority, Divine Power.
This Power is not the destructive power This Power is not the threatening power. This Power is the Power that awakens the dormant lion in each human being. This Power does not dominate. It only arouses the spiritually hungry lion in each human being. The lion can roar, but the lion is fast asleep. This lion embodies our inner cry to see the ultimate Truth, to grow into the Absolute Reality.
Each individual seeker can claim, can feel God's Justice if the seeker feels the necessity of loving humanity more than he expects humanity to love him. If he does not expect humanity to love him at all, yet he goes on loving humanity, then he is bound to feel God's Justice in him, through him. Why? While he is offering his love to mankind, God will not remain silent. God will not remain asleep. God will immediately give him His boundless Peace, Joy, Light and Delight. God will empty His Infinite Consciousness into him.
What we have, we can give to mankind if we want to. But in God's case, He gives to us not only what He has, but what He is. He feels that He is just only when He can give us what He has and what He is. We can also act like God and offer to mankind not only what we have, but what we are.
When we make an inner search, we come to learn that what we have is a dedicated heart; and if we ask what we are, we come to learn that we are the chosen instruments of God. We are the leaves and He is the Tree. Look at a tree from a distance or from any place. If you look at a leaf, a branch or the trunk, you can immediately recognise it is a tree. When we look at an individual leaf, we can immediately enter into its source, the tree, and feel that this individual leaf is the tree itself. When we look at the tree, we see that its manifestations are the leaves.
The manifestation itself can be as important as the Creator Himself.
The Divine Justice is the breath of Reality. In the human court we see all kinds of crime but in the Court of Divine Justice we notice only one crime every day, and that is human ungratefulness. Here the punishment is forgiveness. Constantly the game is being played between God's Forgiveness and man's ungratefulness. In the human way, human beings are justifying their cause by saying, "We are unconscious. Hence we commit crimes. We are not yet illumined. Hence we are ungrateful." In the divine way, God is justifying His cause: He is Love. Hence He is all-Loving. He is Compassion. Hence He is all-Forgiving.
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium
United Nations, New York
January 4, 19 72
God: The Supreme Actor World: The Divine Audience
God: The Supreme Actor. World: The divine audience. The Supreme Actor reveals His Love. The Supreme Actor fulfils His Truth. The divine audience believes. The divine audience achieves. Self-awakening is the belief of the divine audience. God-discovery is the achievement of the divine audience.
The Supreme Actor acts three times a day. In the morning, while acting, the Supreme Actor offers inspiration-light to us. In the afternoon, while acting, the Supreme Actor offers aspiration-height to us. In the evening, while acting, the Supreme Actor offers realisation-might to us.
In the inspiration-light of the Supreme Actor, the divine audience sees that the attainment of the ultimate Truth is quite possible. In the aspiration-height of the Supreme Actor, the divine audience feels that the attainment of the ultimate Truth is not only possible, but practical. In the realisation-might of the Supreme Actor, the divine audience realises that the attainment of the ultimate Truth is not only possible and practical, but also natural and inevitable.
The divine audience looks at the Feet of the Supreme Actor and longs for the liberation of mankind from ignorance. The divine audience looks at the Eyes of the Supreme Actor and longs for the perfect Perfection of aspiring humanity.
The Supreme Actor looks at the head of the divine audience, and then enters into its head to fondle its lofty heights. The Supreme Actor looks at the heart of the divine audience, and then enters into its heart to glorify its Divinity's Light and Reality's Delight.
Believable: the human audience is afraid of darkness. Unbelievable, but true: the human audience is afraid of Light, illumining Light.
The divine audience is always proud of seeing the Light of God's Beauty. The divine audience is always proud of feeling the Delight of God's Beauty.The soul is an actor. The soul participates in the Cosmic Lila, the Divine Game. The soul enters into the abyss of ignorance. The soul enters into the chasm of inconscience in order to participate in the Cosmic Lila. For millenia the soul abides there, fast asleep. All of a sudden, a spark of consciousness enters into the soul and awakens it. The soul makes a little movement. At that very moment a question arises from within: "Who am I?" And the immediate answer also is given from within: Tat Twam Asi, "That Thou Art."
The soul opens its eyes, looks upward and enters into the mineral world. There again, for thousands and thousands of years the soul abides. Then the soul again gets a message from within, a question: "Who am I?" The answer is again, Tat Twam Asi, "That Thou Art." The soul makes another upward movement. From stone, from the mineral, the soul enters into the plant life. From there it enters into the animal kingdom. Again, for hundreds of years, the soul is not fully active or dynamic. Very often it is fast asleep, enjoying the Game in its own particular fashion.
But there comes a time, after hundreds of years, when the soul wants to go one step ahead in the evolving wheel of manifestation. The soul enters into human life. Here the soul becomes either unconsciously active or consciously dynamic. Here the soul gets more opportunity, develops more capacity to look up high into the Beyond. Here the soul quite often remembers its Source, the Ultimate Truth, the Transcendental Reality.
The soul entered into inconscience to begin the Game; and the soul, from the human incarnation, enters into the divine life so that it can eventually go back to its Source: Sat-Chit-Ananda ,Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.
Each soul is employed by humanity and Divinity. In God's Cosmic Drama, humanity employs the soul to carry its untold suffering and excruciating pangs to a world far beyond the domain of the mind. Divinity employs the soul to bring the message of Light and Delight down into the very heart of the earth-consciousness. Divinity employs the soul, asks the soul to be the boatman so that Divinity can manifest its Infinity in the heart of the finite. Humanity employs the soul to be its boat so that it can carry the load, the burden of humanity, to the world beyond.
The Supreme Actor is the Beloved Sovereign. The divine audience is the eternal lover. Both the Actor and the audience are indispensable, one fulfilling the other.
The audience is receiving and achieving the Ultimate Truth. The Actor is revealing and manifesting the Ultimate Truth.
The Supreme Actor is also the Supreme Dancer Nataraj, Lord Shiva, the Supreme Dancer, dances. Lo and behold, humanity's aspiration is being awakened, humanity's unlit consciousness is being illumined, Divinity's life-breath is being manifested on earth. Lord Krishna, the Supreme Dancer, dances. Lo and behold, humanity's passion is being transformed into Divinity's rapture.
The Supreme Actor wants each individual soul to- be the Supreme Actor in the play of cosmic evolution, for it is only when He allows and wants each individual soul to act the Supreme Act of the Supreme Actor, that unity in multiplicity can be offered to mankind. The Unity of the Supreme can be realised and manifested only when each individual soul is given the chance in the cosmic evolution to rise up high, higher, highest into the ever-transcending Beyond. Then only will God, the Supreme Actor, be totally fulfilled and supremely manifested here on earth.
The human actor tells the human audience, "Take me. You need me."
The human audience tells the human actor, "We do not need you. We appreciate your capacity, but we do not need your life's reality."
The Supreme Actor tells the divine audience, "Take Me, I am for you. Take Me, I am eternally yours."
The divine audience tells the Supreme Actor, "Our devoted oneness, our surrendered oneness with You, O Supreme Actor, has made us feel the significance of Your Transcendental Reality. O Supreme Actor, to You we bow and bow. Our life of aspiration is eternally Yours. Your Life of manifestation is eternally ours."
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium
United Nations, New York
February 3, 1972
God's Compassion And The United Nations' Dedication
Unlimited and unconditional is God's Compassion. Thoughtful and fruitful is the dedication of the United Nations.
God's Compassion is ignored by humanity. The dedication of the United Nations is quite often misunderstood and at times suspected by humanity. Why does this happen? It happens precisely because ignorance still lords it over us.
God's Compassion is inner Protection unseen. God's Protection is illumination visible everywhere. Dedication is the soul's promise to God and to mankind. These promises the soul has made to humanity and to Divinity perhaps hundreds or thousands of years; but the promise the soul has made to humanity and to Divinity must be fulfilled.
The promise the soul has made to humanity is very simple: It will kindle the flame of aspiration in the heart of humanity. It will make the earth-consciousness a perfect instrument so that it can receive God's Light from above in infinite measure. It will make the heart of earth feel Heaven's Light, Heaven's Delight and Heaven's Existence. Finally, it will make of earth the divine clarion: Light, the Voice of Heaven.
The soul has also made a promise to Divinity that it will manifest God the Absolute, God the Omniscient, God the Omnipotent and God the Omnipresent on earth. The soul has promised God that, with the help of the physical, the vital and the mental-in short, with the help of the entire being-it will manifest Him here on earth. Here on earth the soul will offer the perfection of dedication to God.
Dedication is delight, the delight of the heart. When we dedicate ourselves to something or to someone, our very dedication expands our consciousness, and we feel that our inseparable oneness with God is something real and fulfilling. Each time we dedicate something of ours, we expand our love for God and our love for mankind. Our very reality, our earthbound reality, is then transformed into a heavenward journey.
Dedication to the Self is union. It is in union that life becomes meaningful and fruitful. A life without the feeling of union is confusion and frustration. Today's dedication is bound to be transformed into tomorrow's Perfection. When Perfection dawns we can foresee clearly all our divine wishes, we can feed all our divine aspiration and finally, we can fulfil all our divine needs. Human dedication has the key to open God's Palace. God's Compassion shows man where his infinite Treasure lies within himself.
A child of God was blessed with a vision. This child was our President Wilson. He had the vision of the League of Nations; now we see the United Nations.
There was once a tiny plant; now the plant has grown into a big banyan tree: the United Nations.
Needless to say, the world is still not perfect. Since the world is not perfect, the world opinion cannot be perfect. Since we are imperfect, we consciously or unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly, indulge in criticism, and we see too much conflict in our thoughts, ideas, plans, ideals and missions. There are many on earth who find fault with the activities and the dedicated services of the United Nations. But from the spiritual point of view, I wish to say that each action and each dedicated service is not a mere experiment, but an experience of God in and through the United Nations. Each nation may for its own reasons want to be united with the rest of the nations; but the United Nations means the usefulness of the united notions, united thoughts and united feelings, and the expansion of oneness. In the United Nations unity can be fulfilled through manifested multiplicity. This is what we see and feel in the heart of the United Nations. We have been seeing the desire for supremacy in man since the dawn of civilization. Each human being wants to be an inch higher than the rest; each human being wants to surpass the rest. But from the spiritual point of view, we can surpass only when we become one: one nation, one soul. One nation can surpass all the other nations only by becoming one with them in their suffering, in their joy and in their achievements. When we become one, we really surpass. What do we surpass? We surpass not only the capacity of our own achievements and of others' achievements, but also the capacity of limited feelings. Real supremacy comes when we grow into vastness. If we become the vastness of Self, then who or what can be superior to us? From the spiritual point of view, the United Nations is struggling and striving for something meaningful and fruitful. What it needs, it has: the Divine Compassion. The Compassion of God has been unceasingly descending upon the United Nations.
It is not in vain or without any purpose that the United Nations has come into existence. God's Vision has to be manifested here on earth. The suffering nations need a place for consolation; the sacrificing nations need a place for appreciation. Here in the United Nations we see the message of fulfilment. Now it is up to the world. The world, the sleeping, unaspiring, unawakened world is not yet receiving the Light of the United Nations. There are many things that the world could get from the dedication of the United Nations; but if the world is not receptive, it is not the fault of the United Nations. God is all Compassion, He is all-giving; but if we don't want to receive His Light the way He wants to offer it, that is not His fault. The heart of this place is dedication, the soul of this place is concern, the body of this place is for the illumining expansion of human consciousness.
We sow the seed; the seed germinates. First we see a tiny plant, then we see a huge tree. When we go deep within, we see that a seed was sown here in the earth-consciousness, and that seed had boundless potentiality. God's Light is here for humanity to receive on a practical level, in an earthly manner. God's Light is here to illumine us. Consciously and unconsciously the world is receiving this Light from the United Nations; but the United Nations is not being recognized, and this fact is deplorable. The human beings who have become instruments to offer the Light that the soul of the United Nations has, may not be fully aware of what they are doing. When they see imperfections in others, when they see their limited capacity, at times they feel frustrated. But the Divine in each individual, in each delegate, in each representative from each individual nation, is all-wise. It has chosen the right place, the right instrument: the United Nations.
Here we meet, not for mere consolation when the world is in conflict, when two parties are at daggers drawn. No. Here we meet, not for mere justification, not for mere glorification, but for the feeling of universal oneness and for the manifestation of God's Perfection on earth in a practical manner.
At the United Nations we see the oneness of mental philosophy and psychic religion. All philosophies and all religions are running towards the same Goal. Each religion teaches us to be nice, kind, honest and devoted. Philosophy teaches us how to see the Truth, and religion helps us in applying the Truth in our outer life. Here at the United Nations all major religions meet. Here the outer wealth of desire and the inner wealth of aspiration meet. Each one is offering its might. From the spiritual point of view, in the soul's region, the contribution of each nation is sublime.
The United Nations is the chosen instrument of God. To be a chosen instrument of God means to be a divine messenger carrying the Banner of God's inner Vision and Outer Manifestation. One day the world will not only treasure and cherish the soul of the United Nations, but also claim the soul of the United Nations as its very own with enormous pride, for this soul is all-loving, all-nourishing and all-fulfilling.
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium
United Nations, New York
March 2, 19 72
The Right To Happiness: A Human Right?
Is the right to happiness a human right? First of all, we have to know what happiness is. Happiness is something that feeds our heart, inspires our mind, energises our vital and illumines our body.
When the heart is happy it embraces the whole world. When the mind is happy it accepts the world as its very own. When the vital is happy it offers its very existence to the world. And when the body is happy it serves the world the way the world wants to be served.
Our happiness-moon smiles sweetly, charmingly and soulfully when our hope-kite flies in the skies of Divinity's Heights. Our happiness-sun shines brightly when our dream-boat touches the Reality Shore.
Possession gives birth to human happiness. Renunciation gives birth to divine happiness. Acceptance of God's Will in God's own Way gives birth to supremely divine happiness.
In the domain of lifeless hope, happiness is theoretical and fruitless. In the sea of selfless love, happiness is practical and fruitful. In the domain of teeming fear, happiness bitterly cries. In the sea of brooding doubt, happiness instantly dies.
An aspiring man spreads happiness wherever he goes. An unaspiring man strangles happiness wherever he roams.
The life of happiness is aspiration. The soul of happiness is realisation. The goal of happiness is perfection.
Is the right to happiness a human right? Without the least possible hesitation I venture to answer this question in the affirmative. Each man has a soul. Each man has a goal. His soul silently tells him that his perennial Source is all happiness. His goal lovingly tells him that in his constant God-manifestation is his own happiness.
Happiness is in God. Happiness is of God. Happiness is for God. A life of dedication knows that happiness is in God. A life of transformation knows that happiness is of God, A life of liberation knows that happiness is for God.
God's invention is happiness. Man's discovery is happiness. God's Possession is happiness. Man's achievement is happiness. Man has every right to achieve God's Possession, for that is precisely what God wants man to do. Man has every right to discover God's invention, for that is precisely what God wants man to grow into. What is God's supreme Possession? Peace. What is God's supreme Invention? Love.
A Peace-loving man is a quarter God. A Peace-achieved man is a half God. And a Peace-revealing and Peace-spreading man is a full God. A Peace-loving man is the serving God, A Peace-achieved man is the glowing God. A Peace-revealing and Peace-spreading man is the fulfilling God in earthbound time.
God's supreme invention is Love. He who consciously loves God radiates the highest Divinity. He who soulfully loves God manifests the inmost Divinity. He who unconditionally loves God lives in the ever-radiating, ever-manifesting and ever-transcending Divinity of the Beyond.
A human God-lover achieves God's constant Happiness. A divine God-lover embodies God the Happiness. A human God-lover still has a sense of separativity, so he achieves God's Happiness according to his capacity and according to his receptivity. But a divine God-lover, on the strength of his inseparable and constant oneness with God, embodies God, the Infinite Happiness.
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium
United Nations, New York
May 10, 1972
Why Is It Easier To Disbelieve Than To Believe?
Why is it easier to disbelieve than to believe? It is easier to disbelieve than to believe because disbelief is an act of descent, whereas belief is an act of ascent. Descending is easier than ascending.
It is easier to disbelieve than to believe because disbelief is an act of breaking, and belief is an act of building. Building is more difficult than breaking.
It is easier to disbelieve than to believe because disbelief is an act of our self-centred mind, whereas belief is an act of our self-giving heart.
Disbelief begins its journey in the doubting mind and ends in the destructive vital. Belief begins its journey in the illumining soul and continues to march in the vast kingdom of the aspiring heart.
A man of disbelief, with his eyes firmly closed, tells us what others are, what the world is and what he himself can do for the entire world if he wants to. A man of belief, with his heart's door wide open, tells us what God has done for him, what God is doing for him and what God will do for him.
Disbelief has a perfection of its own. Disbelief finds its perfection in the cyclone of separation. Belief has a perfection of its own. Belief finds its perfection in the music of the universal Oneness.
Disbelief tells the world, "Be careful, be careful. If not, I shall devour you." Belief tells the world, "Come in, come in please. I have been eagerly waiting for you."
The human eyes most often believe only themselves; they do not believe others. The human ears most often believe others, even if it is the worst possible gossip. But the divine heart believes in God, in mankind and in its own aspiration.
Disbelief hates the world. Why? It feels that the world is never of it and can never be for it. A man of disbelief always feels that this world does not belong to him and that he can never lord it over the world. This is precisely why a man of disbelief dares to hate the world.
A man of belief loves the world. Why? He believes that this world of ours is verily the aspiring Body of God, the glowing Dream of God and the fulfilling Reality of God.
In the spiritual life, if one cherishes disbelief, one is simply lengthening the distance of the ultimate Goal. But if a seeker has abundant belief in his spiritual life, in his own quest for the ultimate Truth, then undoubtedly he is shortening the distance. Finally, if his inner being is surcharged with boundless faith, then he feels that the Goal itself, the Goal of the Beyond, is running towards him, and not that he is trying to reach the Goal.
There comes a time when a man of disbelief, being totally frustrated, wants to kill the world around him out of exasperation. But to his wide surprise he sees that the wild ignorance of the world has already stabbed him.
With his proud knowledge he wanted to kill the world; but before he could kill the world, the world, his own wild ignorance, has killed him.
A man of belief wants to love the world. To his wide surprise he sees that his entire existence is in the very heart of the world. The world has already placed a throne in the inmost recesses of its heart for the man of belief to sit upon.
In our spiritual life, disbelief is nothing short of a crime. When we disbelieve, we pour slow poison into our system. It is we who kill our possibility and potentiality. It is we who wallow consciously and deliberately in the pleasures of ignorance.
Unfortunately, in the cases of some spiritual Masters, disbelief firmly and powerfully knocked at the door before their highest illumination dawned. But by God's Grace they overcame this disbelief. Again, there are other spiritual giants who were blessed with belief right from the beginning of their spiritual journey.
Why do we disbelieve? We disbelieve because we are afraid of oneness, afraid of the vast. We feel that when we enter into the vast, we lose our identity, we lose our individuality, we lose our very existence. But we forget the undeniable Truth that when we enter into the vastness it is not merely entering; it is nothing short of the enlargement of our divinised consciousness.
A seeker finds it infinitely easier to believe the Truth, the Reality, for his is the life of conscious awareness. For an ordinary person, an unaspiring human being, it is extremely difficult not to disbelieve. An aspiring person, an aspiring seeker, knows that there is something within that is pushing him forward to the Light, to the Reality. An unaspiring person feels that something from without is pulling him backwards, pulling him to something unknown, something that will bind him.
When we consciously disbelieve someone, we do not realise the fact that the inner magnet within us pulls the undivine qualities of that particular person into us. What happens when a person has achieved something, but we do not believe it? The person and his achievement remain the same whether we believe it or not. But the person also has imperfections, limited capacity, impurity; and our disbelief is a magnet that pulls only the imperfections of the human being in question. If we have belief and if we offer our belief, then we have to feel we have a magnet that draws the good qualities, the divine qualities, the illumining qualities, of the other person.
When we disbelieve God, when we disbelieve the Reality, God remains the same for the seekers, for the lovers of Truth. But what happens is this: Ignorance, the teeming vast, gets the opportunity to envelop the disbeliever more powerfully and more completely. And when we believe in God, God's Compassion gets the utmost opportunity to work in and through us most powerfully.
The deeper we enter into the spiritual life, the more we become aware of the capacity of disbelief and belief. Disbelief is nothing short of destruction. Belief is nothing short of a new creation. Each time we believe in something, we see the face of a new creation within and without us. And when we go one step ahead, when our inner faith looms large, then we see in us a perfected man and a liberated soul.
Again, when we dive deep within, we see that the so-called man of disbelief will also have a time to knock at the proper door of realisation. Let him disbelieve to his heart's content; let him run with his disbelief towards his self-chosen destruction. When he is about to reach the door of destruction, God's Omnipotent Compassion will send him back to the starting point to start his march towards the real Goal once again. Even if the man of disbelief is going on the wrong path, let him march, let him not sit inert. Let the world judge him, let the world offer its comment. A day will dawn when the man of disbelief will come to the right path.
In disbelief the question arises. In belief the answer dawns.
In the spiritual life, in the life of aspiration, in the life of inner awakening, even if one does not have abundant belief or faith in oneself, one need not and must not be doomed to disappointment. Let the person feel that he is sick, he is weak, he needs treatment, he needs hospitalization. Let him feel that there are people who are physically strong, vitally strong, mentally strong, psychically strong, and let him mix with these people. If he sincerely wants to see the Face, the real Face of the real Goal, then let him mix with a man of belief even for a fleeting hour daily, and he will see the power of belief, the power of inner faith.
We start our life's journey with belief; but when the mind starts functioning, disbelief, secretly, like a thief, enters into our system. A child always believes his parents. To him everything that his parents say is true, unquestionable. But when he enters into his adolescence, the questioning mind, the doubting mind, begins to work. Always he says, "Why? How?" Why and how, it is not possible, it is impossible, enter into his mind. At that time it is easier for him to believe even the impossible, than to believe something that is possible, natural and quite obvious. This is what we see in the adolescent life.
But again opportunity knocks at our door when we see that the mind has not given us any real satisfaction.
When we enter into full-blooded youth, when we see that the mind with its suspecting and doubting has not given us a moment's satisfaction, we want to walk along another road; and that is the road of the heart, the aspiring heart, the self-giving heart. Here we enter into the realm of spirituality. Here the lotus within our heart begins to bloom, petal by petal. Each time a petal blooms, we see that our inner divinity is being manifested more and more.
Then there comes a time when we see a thousand-petaled lotus fully bloomed within us, and we see consciously our Divine Pilot, our Divine Comrade, our Eternal Friend, the Supreme, right in front of us; and He makes us see and feel that through Eternity we shall be not only with Him, but also for Him. In our conscious awareness, in our conscious seeing of His Presence, in our conscious feeling of inseparable oneness with Him, we shall establish here on earth, here and nowhere else, the Kingdom of Light, Truth, Peace and Delight.
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium
United Nations, New York
June 1, 1972
Does Belief Come Spontaneously Or By Effort?
Belief comes spontaneously. Belief comes by effort. In the spiritual life a sincere seeker, an advanced seeker and a surrendered seeker can and will have spontaneous belief. Belief by effort, personal effort, without the divine Grace, without God's unconditional Protection, cannot be as effective as spontaneous belief.
Spontaneous belief is a gift of God for the human in us to see, to feel and to grow into the very image of God. Belief by personal effort is a human earthly discovery, although to some extent it also is necessary.
Believing is seeing. Seeing is believing. When believing is seeing, a seeker becomes a perfect instrument for the Supreme to use in His own Way. When seeing is believing, a seeker makes a solemn promise both to God and to himself that he will realise God and he will fulfil God on earth. But there is no certainty, no guarantee; he may, but he may not. He may not fulfil his divine promise, for at any moment during his long journey he may be assailed by teeming doubts, fears, worries, anxieties and ignorance-night. Belief by effort is the acceptance, the mere acceptance, of Truth and Light; and this belief is usually mental and intellectual. But spontaneous belief is the conscious and constant oneness with Truth and Light. It is not that belief by personal effort is of no use; personal effort has its own value, but it is not as strong and sure as spontaneous belief.
Not only ordinary human beings but also many spiritual giants have suffered from doubts and other undivine qualities in their human nature before devotedly and wholeheartedly launching onto the spiritual path. So we must not be doomed to disappointment when we are assailed by doubts in our spiritual life. Belief that comes from within is at the head of the divine spiritual army, and this army destroys our doubts, or rather, let us say it illumines our doubts, perfects our imperfections and transforms our limited bondage into divine plenitude.
We have two principal organs: the eye and the ear. Our eyes quite often, if not always, believe themselves. Our ears very often believe others. These are our human eyes and our human ears. But the divine eye, the third eye, will believe only in the vision of Divinity, and the divine ears will believe only in the truth of Reality. When we listen to the inner command, when we have the capacity to grow into constant obedience to our Inner Pilot, we feel within and without the presence of spontaneous belief. Belief is the reality of our inner obedience. This is divine belief, spontaneous belief. Belief by effort is a restricted, disciplined human understanding.
Belief is power. A real seeker of the Infinite Truth knows this. An insincere and unaspiring seeker is aware of the truth that belief is power, but he cannot go beyond understanding or awareness; whereas a sincere, genuine, devoted and surrendered seeker knows that belief is dynamic power, and he has this power as his very own.
We see a tree. The tree bears flowers, and soon afterwards we see fruits. The flower is the harbinger of the fruit. In the spiritual life, belief is the flower. Belief is a divine angel which enters into us as the harbinger of the Lord Supreme.
We can cultivate belief. If we do not have belief we can develop belief. How? We can do it by mixing with sincere spiritual people who care more for God than for pleasure. There are also people who care only for God in human beings, and if we mix with those people we can cultivate belief. When we have belief we can walk with God in His Garden of Light and Delight.
But in the spiritual life, spontaneous belief need not be and cannot be the last word. There is something infinitely higher and deeper than belief, and that is faith. When we have belief we can make tremendous progress for a day or for a month or for a year. But then, if we unconsciously or consciously become a victim to undivine forces, our belief loses its strength and we cannot make fast progress in the spiritual life in spite of having belief.
The strength of belief, even spontaneous belief is not enough to take us to the ultimate Goal. Belief is like a child's instrument that you can play upon for a limited number of hours or years. But when you have faith you come to realise that you are an eternal player and at the same time you are an eternal instrument. And when you go farther and deeper you come to realise that the player is somebody else, the Lord Supreme, and you are His instrument. He is the eternal Player and you are eternally His chosen instrument.
Spontaneous belief will make you feel what you eternally are: God's chosen child. But if you do not have faith you will not have the abiding satisfaction and the abiding feeling that you and He are eternally one, that you represent the One and that your very presence on earth is the manifestation of the One, the Absolute Supreme. It is only when your outer being and your inner being are surcharged with faith that you can manifest God here on earth. Faith in oneself and faith in God must run together.
If you say that you have no faith in yourself but you have all faith in God, then I wish to say you cannot go very far. You have to have faith, constant faith and abundant faith, not only in God, but also in yourself since you are God's son or God's daughter. When you truly feel that you are God's child, you will find that it is beneath your dignity to make friends with ignorance. Reality, Eternity, Immortality and Infinity are not vague terms; these are your birthright. When you have that kind of faith, God will shower His choicest Blessings upon your devoted head and surrendered heart.
But faith in oneself must not exceed its own boundary. I said before that you have to have faith, constant faith in abundant measure. But you have to remember the source of your faith as well; you have to remember where it comes from. At some time you may think: "Oh, I am working so hard for my realisation of the absolute Truth, for my perfection. It is all my effort, my effort. One percent of the work will be done by the Grace of the Supreme, and ninety-nine percent will be my personal effort." But when that most auspicious day dawns and you realise the Absolute, you will see that just the opposite is true: your faith enabled you to contribute one percent in personal effort toward your realisation, and God supplied the other ninety-nine percent as His divine Grace, unconditional Grace. And when you are about to manifest your realisation, another truth, a higher and more profound truth, will dawn on you. You will realise that the one percent of faith you had, which was absolutely necessary, was also God's gift to you.
You were chosen from among countless people to run toward the Light. Others are still fast asleep. It was sheer Grace, God's unconditional Grace, that inspired you to come out of ignorance and look toward the Light. Since it was He who inspired and invited you to join consciously in His cosmic Game, you have to feel that the one percent of faith you had in the beginning also came directly from God, the Absolute Supreme.
Some people do not have belief; they want to follow the negative path. No matter how far they go, their minds tell them that there is no God. But I wish to tell you, on the strength of my own oneness with God and with humanity, that they will not have even temporary satisfaction on this earth, not to speak of abiding satisfaction. A day will dawn when they will feel that their lack of belief, their denial of God, is not giving them what they want. They will be compelled to look for a fulfilling belief.
We who have started walking along the spiritual path are the forerunners. All will eventually run toward the same Transcendental Goal. The majority of mankind will not always lag behind. All children of God, no matter how unconscious and unaspiring, will one day run toward the common Goal. This Goal is the supreme discovery of one's Divinity and the constant and perfect manifestation of one's everlasting Reality.
Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium
United Nations, New York
October 2, 1972
