Mr. Inoue: I Understand That You Place...

Mr. Inoue: I understand that you place great importance on taking care of the physical body. Would you please tell me why you do this?

Sri Chinmoy: You come from Japan. In Japan, let us say, there is a Shinto temple with a beautiful shrine. If you value the shrine and everything else that is inside the temple, you will make sure that the temple is kept in good repair so that it will not be blown away if there is a storm. If the temple is not in good condition, then the shrine cannot last. Similarly, inside the body is the heart and soul. The shrine is within. We have to make the body a fit instrument to house the shrine; we have to keep the grounds of the temple in good condition if we care for what is inside the temple.

I am trying to become good, better, best-not in order to defeat you, but in order to love you better. The more progress I can make physically, vitally, mentally and psychically, the more love, the more joy and the more good will I am able to offer you. If I become a better person, then I can give you my good qualities. But if I remain a bad person, then I will have nothing to give you. If my body is not in good condition, if I have a headache and an upset stomach, then early in the morning I will not be able to get up to pray and meditate. If I do not pay attention to the physical body and keeping the body fit, my spiritual life will suffer and I will not be able to offer you my good will, love and joy in my prayer and meditation. That is why physical health is of great importance.

Mr. Inoue: Lastly, Sri Chinmoy, what do you feel is the most natural or best way to live? I used to work in the agricultural field, but now I am having to coordinate projects in the office. I feel sad since I think that perhaps the pure life is to be out in the field working agriculturally.

Sri Chinmoy: When you were working in the field, you got blessings from Mother-Nature. At that time you got joy and gave joy only to yourself. Now that you are organising and coordinating projects, you are connected with many people and giving wisdom and joy to many people. When you were an agricultural worker, you were limited; you did things only for your group. Now you are helping all the groups; you are advising and helping the person who works in the hospital and also the person who works in the field; you are helping the person who is building something and also the person who is working with the poor. You have to feel that you are like a tree with many fruits. One person is taking your fruit and distributing it at the hospital; someone else is taking your fruit and eating it in the field. So you are the source giving help to so many people in so many ways.

When I was young, I used to pray and meditate for hours and hours and hours. Now I have got thousands of students all over the world and I do not have time to pray and meditate for hours and hours. Previously God wanted me to do one thing for myself; but now God wants me to mix with many people and offer them what He has given to me. Previously I was praying to God to take me up, up, up. Now God says, "I want you to spread My Love, My Affection, My Blessings." So I am travelling to Japan, to Germany, to France and to many other places following God's Command. And I am doing it cheerfully because I know that it is His Will.

Similarly, the same Person who previously wanted you to work in the field alone to get joy is now asking you to advise this individual and that individual. Your previous job was good, but it was mostly for yourself-just like my life when I used to pray and meditate in India. But your present job is more important because you are trying to help so many people at the same time. Previously God asked you to work in your living room and you were very happy. Now He is asking you to work in the kitchen to make a most delicious meal to give to many people so that they can become strong and also serve Him.

Everything that you are asked to do, you have to do cheerfully. Then you will be pleasing God the most. First God wanted you to live in Japan. Now He has brought you to Fiji. After a few years, He may send you to some other place to serve Him. Wherever you go, you have to be happy. Do not think, "Oh, in Japan I had so many friends and relatives. There I was very happy, but here I have no friends." No, feel that in Japan you were happy by serving the friends that you had there, and here you will be happy by serving the friends that you will make here. In that way, by serving and serving and serving mankind in different ways, you will become good and perfect.

On 19 December 1993 the staff of the international monthly newspaper Hinduism Today invited Sri Chinmoy to visit and bless their premises on the Hawaiian island of Kanai. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami and his disciples lovingly welcomed Sri Chinmoy and some of his students to their ashram for a traditional puja and a tour of the beautiful grounds, followed by a special luncheon.

Afterwards Sri Chinmoy was interviewed by the Editor of Hinduism Today, the Reverend Sivasiva Palaniswami; the Managing Editor, the Reverend Arumugaswami; and other senior editors. Excerpts from Sri Chinmoy's answers to their soulful questions follow.

Question: Do you think that the kind of extended family that is found in India, in which fathers, mothers, aunts and uncles all live together, could create a more stable society in the West?

Sri Chinmoy: It entirely depends on the consciousness of the individual members. Again, something can be applicable to a particular part of the world while it is not applicable at all somewhere else. Because of the way Western society came into existence, I feel in America the extended family is not needed. America has to grow in its own way by cultivating more love. In Indian society, the family members live together and grow together; there is a togetherness. But in America the sense of freedom is always taking the family members away. At first there will be four members of a family living together, and then it becomes three members and two members as the children move away. Sometimes the two remaining members very nicely get divorced. They are not satisfied with what they have and what they are. They try to get joy from separation, but there is joy only in oneness. One by one, about each family member they say, "He is not dear to me; she is not dear to me." Finally they come to the point where there is nobody in their life.

I am not saying that Indians are satisfied with the extended family-far from it. But the qualities of the heart generally are more predominant in India than in the West. Indians make many blunders, but at the same time they try to make themselves feel that they belong to one family. In America, when the father becomes eighty or ninety years old, the son has nothing to do with him. The son is supposed to visit his father once a week, let us say, but on that day he will go to a movie or go on a picnic. In India, no matter how bad the father is, the son feels that it is his bounden duty to take care of him. Even if the children are poorer than the poorest, they will always take care of their parents according to their capacity.

For so many years the parents give the children everything that they have. They shower their children with affection and help them go to college. If their children have become great today, it is because the parents have helped them to become great. But in return the children often give their parents their indifference. The parents are sent to a nursing home and the children lead their own lives.

We have the body, vital, mind, heart and soul. If today I renounce my body, if tomorrow I renounce my vital and if the day after tomorrow I renounce my mind, then what will I have left? If I have a pain in my arm, shall I amputate my arm? Then afterwards I will have nothing! This is what the Western world does-cut off, cut off, cut off! But the positive approach is to say that if something is defective, then I will try to cure it and make it perfect. If my mind and vital are bad, then I will transform and illumine them.

Following are excerpts from a television interview in Apia, Western Samoa, on 21 December 1993.

Following is the text of Sri Chinmoy's interview with Mr. Shin Inoue, Coordinator of Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV), in Suva City, Fiji, January 1994.

Mr. Inoue: Where does your energy come from?

Sri Chinmoy: Energy comes from a feeling of oneness. If I am a separate person from you, from her, from him, then my energy is very limited; it is only a drop. If I am a drop, if you are a drop, if she is a drop, then each of us has only an iota of energy. But if I establish my oneness with you, with her, with him, then my one drop becomes four drops. The ocean is so vast, but it is made up of countless drops. It is these countless drops that make the ocean vast. When we establish our oneness with others, we become like the ocean, with limitless strength and limitless energy.

We get not only energy but also joy only from oneness. If a tree produces only one beautiful flower or one delicious fruit, we do not get joy from the tree. Only if the tree has many flowers and fruits do we get joy. Again, if there is no tree, how will we have flowers and fruits? So the tree itself is also necessary. Only when the fruits and flowers are together with the trunk of the tree is the tree perfect. And at that time we get real joy.

We will not be able to establish our oneness with others only by thinking about it; that is not enough. We have to pray to the Almighty; we have to pray to our Heavenly Father, who is infinite, to make us one with everybody. When God listens to our prayer, at that time we will get boundless energy.

When our hearts have established their oneness with others, we will have enormous peace in our lives. Inside peace is boundless energy that enables us to accomplish many things. But if what we do does not stem from a true feeling of oneness and inner peace, then our actions will have little value. Politicians are all the time talking about peace, but in most cases this peace comes only from the mind. Unless they are genuine seekers and God-lovers who pray and meditate, their talk about peace is nothing but talk-just useless dictionary words. I will say that I care for peace, but secretly I am trying to stand on top of your head. I say that I will go forward peacefully, but in reality I will move only if you stay behind me.

When seekers and God-lovers speak about peace, it comes from their feeling of oneness; it comes from the heart. This kind of peace is based not on a feeling of separation, but on a feeling of real love and concern. I genuinely care for your success, your progress, your perfection, and you also care for mine. I am not trying to be on top of you or ahead of you. No, I feel that you are inside my heart and I am inside your heart. Wherever I go, I will carry you with me inside my heart of prayer; and wherever you go, you will carry me inside your heart of prayer. So peace comes from prayer and meditation, not from outer talk.