Question: What Does Patriotism Do For The...

Question: What does patriotism do for the growth of an individual soul?

Sri Chinmoy: An individual soul, when it enters into the human body, usually is enveloped by the ignorance of the world. It is forced for a few incarnations to remain unrecognised by the vital—the emotional vital or lower vital or aggressive vital, even by the dynamic vital. But if one shows considerable interest in patriotism or aspires as a patriot, then in himself he discovers the message of self-expansion. He realises that he does not merely belong to his family or his friends and neighbours, but to the entire country. And from here he will come to realise that he belongs not only to his country, but to the world, to the vast universe.