Questions And Answers
Question: What Is The Difference Between The...
Question: What is the difference between the transcendental Self and the ordinary self?
Sri Chinmoy: Considerable. There is a Self that is the transcendental Self-the silent Self. When we go deep within, in our highest, most sublime meditation, we discover this Self. This is the transcendental Self. The self that we use in our day-to-day life, in our earthly reality, is the self of the physical world, of the mental and of the vital world. Each world has a kind of self.
When we speak of the higher Self, the transcendental Self, we are referring to something that deals with Silence-eternal Silence, infinite Silence, immortal Silence. When we live in the world of Silence, we come to know what the transcendental Self is. We come to know that the entire creation came into existence from it. Now we are living in the world of sound. Here we do not see or feel the transcendental Self. It is a stranger to us. But when we realise our highest divinity, the transcendental Self becomes our real friend here on earth in all our multifarious activities. In the life of sound, in the hustle and bustle of our daily activities, that Self will keep Peace for us and offer it to us. We are in motion, in constant movement, but there is Peace inside us, like the peace and tranquility at the bottom of a rough sea. This Self we gain when we attain constant oneness with Infinity, Eternity and Immortality.
Question: It Seems Like It Will Take...
Question: It seems like it will take such a long time to realise this transcendental Self.
Sri Chinmoy: The task we have set before us takes a great amount of time. Our goal is to bring down into the earth atmosphere Peace, Light and Bliss in infinite measure, although now we do not have perhaps even an iota of Peace. But we have to know that when God's Hour dawns, everything will come. For a child to become a multi-millionaire is just a dream; now he does not have a penny. But this dream can become a reality when he grows up if he has tremendous determination.
We are all God's children. We are trying to get Peace, Light and Bliss in infinite measure. When we deal with Infinity, naturally we have to pay attention to Eternity also, because Infinity and Eternity go together. We have to be in the presence of Eternal Light. The man may get his million dollars, but when he dies he offers it back to Mother Earth. And when a spiritual child, when a seeker achieves and grows into Peace, Light and Bliss, he also leaves it here for Mother Earth to use when he leaves the body. As a human being leaves his material wealth on earth, so also does a spiritual person leave his spiritual wealth on earth when he departs. But in his case, in addition to leaving his spiritual wealth on earth for the benefit of his spiritual descendants, he also is fully able to enjoy this wealth during his rest in Heaven.
