Meeting With Russell Wilson

Russell Wilson: I Want To Tell You...

Russell Wilson: I want to tell you that I felt that I had to see you. I read one of your books and some of your poems. I found them to be very inspiring. I felt that I needed to see you so I could learn from you.

Sri Chinmoy: I am very grateful to you for your kind letter. I understand that you have been practising meditation for a few years. I am very proud of you-of your mind's sincerity, clarity and luminosity and your heart's genuine love of God. Yours is a life of purity and self-giving oneness with the world of aspiration. For the few minutes that I was meditating with you here, I saw that you were very receptive. You have received what the divine within me wanted to offer you. For that I am very happy, very proud of you and very grateful to you.

Russell Wilson: I Can Feel You Inside...

Russell Wilson: I can feel you inside me, Guruji.

Sri Chinmoy: The moment I came in here and saw you, at the very first glance I entered into the very depths of your heart, into your life's central being.

Do you have any specific question you would like to ask me? I would like to be of service to you.

Russell Wilson: I am honoured, Sir. I can feel you so strongly that it's hard to talk. But it is a very pleasant and beautiful feeling. I am seeking inner peace, and I felt a very strong connection with you. If you would be accepting of me, I would like to learn from you.

Sri Chinmoy: Everything is mutual. We cannot clap with one hand; we need two hands. Here also we are seeing the mutual acceptance of our two hearts. This acceptance can be made permanently illumining and fulfilling if you can remain beyond the domain of the earthbound mind. The heart establishes its oneness on the strength of its inner purity, beauty and divinity. But because the human mind has not yet been illumined by the light from Above or within, it tends to doubt the purity, beauty and divinity that we see and feel within our heart. Everything that is divine within us our own mind doubts.

Suppose one day early in the morning you have a very deep, sublime meditation. Immediately your mind may start to doubt it. "How could I have such a good meditation? It cannot be true. Yesterday I was in the vortex of politics, facing so many serious problems. So how is it possible today for me to be swimming in the sea of peace?" But the heart will say, "No! No matter how involved I am in the problems of the outer world, inside me there is something eternal and immortal, which remains unaffected." The heart always brings us the encouraging, inspiring and illumining message of the Beyond. The heart always reminds us of what we truly are in the inner world, whereas the human mind is all the time judging and criticising its own very limited capacity.

So my request to you is when you pray and meditate, keep the door to your mind completely shut and try to bring to the fore the light that you have inside your heart. Your heart-room is always filled with abundant light, so you should try to remain there as much as possible. And then, when God's Hour strikes, you will bring the light from your heart-room into your mind-room, which still needs illumination. The electrician has brought light into your heart-room. He has put wires there and connected them. Now the same electrician will go into the other room, your mind-room, and also bring light there. In this case, the electrician is your own soul. Then once your mind-room is also lit, at that time your heart and your mind can work together.

While you are engaged in your multifarious daily activities, you have to use the mind. But while using the mind, please try to see how much sincerity is there, how much simplicity is there, how much purity is there. Each time you feel in your mind the presence of these and other divine qualities, your mind becomes more illumined. And eventually you will be able to bring the divinity of your heart into your mind, so your mind will also be divinely illumined.

But when you are not engaged in your daily activities, when you are praying and meditating, please try all the time to remain in your heart-room. The more you can remain in your heart-room, the more you will increase your inner beauty, your inner purity and your inner divinity. It is only by giving all importance to your heart in your spiritual life that you can be inwardly happy. So if right now you cannot give one hundred percent importance to your heart, then try to give it at least eighty or ninety percent importance. And then, when the time comes, you will take the inner wealth that you have in your heart-room and place it inside your own mind-room.

If you take the inner wealth that you have inside your heart and bring it to your mind, your heart will not suffer. Far from it! In the outer life if you take something from one room and bring it to another room, then that thing is gone from its original place. But the wealth that you have inside the heart is boundless. The joy, the peace, the light, the love, the devotion to God and all the other divine qualities that you have inside your heart are limitless. If you take your heart's love and bring it to your mind, that love will only increase inside your heart. At every moment your heart-vessel is being replenished. The more the heart gives, the more the heart's receptivity increases, and the more of God's Divinity it is able to receive and hold.

Russell Wilson: How Do I Go To...

Russell Wilson: How do I go to the heart?

Sri Chinmoy: Do not feel that you have to go to the heart. Only feel that you are the heart. We use the term `heart-garden.' Inside our heart-garden are all our divine qualities. They are like beautiful and fragrant flowers. First, repeat to yourself, "I am inside my heart-garden." Try to see and feel all the beautiful flowers there. Then say, "I am my heart-garden. All the divine flowers inside my heart-garden are part and parcel of my own self." Up until now you have established your oneness with the reality that you see in your outer life. But now you want to establish your oneness with the dearest and purest existence of yours, which is your inner life, the life of your heart.

When you are meditating, if you happen to look at your shoulder or your knee, please say to yourself, "This is my heart." If you have a good thought during your meditation, then immediately inside that good thought try to feel the existence of your heart. But if you have a wrong thought, an uninspiring thought, just immediately discard it. Have nothing to do with that kind of thought. (There is a long, silent pause as Sri Chinmoy meditates.)

You have a very beautiful heart. I am not flattering you. Your heart's inner cry is very genuine. The more you can cry for God and shed streaming tears for God, the more your outer life will be able to shine and smile. Your outer existence has to be founded upon your inner existence-not the other way around. The inner existence is like the seed. The seed is inside you, inside the very depths of your heart-garden. So let us see how the seed germinates into a plant and then into a huge tree with most beautiful flowers and most delicious fruits.

Russell Wilson: Guruji, Your Philosophy Has Already...

Russell Wilson: Guruji, your philosophy has already been an inspiration to me. I have one of your poems in my office. I show that poem to everyone who comes into my office. And whenever I feel myself getting angry or upset, I look at it. Whenever I have a problem that comes up, I read it first before I deal with the problem. It brings me back to the basic reality-that you can't improve anything until you improve yourself. I showed the poem to my wife, who is a physical therapist. She works with very sick children.

Sri Chinmoy: See her compassion! Some of us are physically sick, but many of us are mentally sick. When we do not love God, we are mentally sick. When we cannot love God, when we cannot do the right thing and do not want to become the right kind of person, then definitely our inner health is not very good.

Russell Wilson: When I saw your face on the video, I somehow felt a pulling toward you. I can't explain it.

Sri Chinmoy: It is the heart's magnetic pull. Your heart's own inner cry is the magnetic pull. Your heart is pulling me towards you and my heart is pulling you towards me. It is our hearts' oneness-song.

Russell Wilson: You just read my mind, Guruji. You know how sincere I am. Can I ask you to bless my wedding ring, which I always wear. (Sri Chinmoy holds the ring in his hand and blesses it.)

Russell Wilson: I Know From The Video,...

Russell Wilson: I know from the video, Guruji, that you were very close to U Thant.

Sri Chinmoy: As soon as U Thant saw me, he saw something in me and I saw something in him. His very first utterance to me was: "People have been telling me such nice things about you, and I see that it is absolutely true." Then we developed a genuine friendship. He is a Buddhist and I come from a Hindu family, but once we sincerely accept the spiritual life we go beyond the domain of religion. Religion is like a house. I live in my house and you live in your house. But we study together in the same school, and that school is our love of God. So he had transcended his religion and I had transcended my religion; our only religion was our love of God. He was my dear friend, an excellent friend. You also know of my love and admiration for my brother, Congressman Gary Ackerman.

Russell Wilson: He feels the same way.

Sri Chinmoy: For years and years I have been basking in the kindness and sunshine of his affection. He is such a good friend, such a brother. Each time I think of Gary Ackerman's name, boundless love and boundless gratitude immediately fill my heart.

Russell Wilson: I didn't even know that you knew him when I first decided that I had to see you.

Sri Chinmoy: Everything depends on God's Hour. When the Hour strikes, we see the reality, we feel the reality and we become the reality. This song I composed many years ago in honour of Gary Ackerman. These students of mine will now sing it. They have come from all over the world to observe the anniversary of my arrival in America 29 years ago. They are from Great Britain, France, Austria, Japan and other places. ( Sri Chinmoy's students sing the Gary Ackerman song. ) I am Gary's genuine fan.

Russell Wilson: He feels the same way about you, Guruji. That's unbelievable-really amazing! I have to tell you that even before I met you, you touched my life with your brilliant poetry and philosophy. I knew you were something very special and I wanted to really learn from you. But I felt that this could not be accomplished without meeting you. I thank you for the honour of meeting you. I just want to tell you how much I admire your brilliance and how much have you touched my life. (A long pause follows, in which Sri Chinmoy meditates with Russell Wilson. Then Sri Chinmoy gives him a few of his books-for himself and for his wife, Laurie. )

Sri Chinmoy: Do You Play Tennis Or...

Sri Chinmoy: Do you play tennis or any other sport?

Russell Wilson: I used to be on the national Fencing Team, and now I am chairman of the United States Fencing Judges' Commission. I put in ten years of my life as a professional fencer, but I don't do it anymore. Now, unfortunately, the business of trying to solve nuclear problems in North Korea and putting out fires between Pakistan and India is taking up most of my time. I don't have much time for it, but it is a wonderful sport. As someone who was on a national team, I can tell you that the kind of things that you do give so much inspiration to people who are training to reach their goals.

Sri Chinmoy: I am trying to be of service to mankind. Our philosophy is that physical fitness and spiritual activities must go together. We do not aim to become world champions, but we want the body to be fit. Only then will we be able to hold the message of the spirit when it enters into the body. The physical body has to be in perfect condition in order to execute the will of the soul. To be a champion is not the goal of our life; our goal is to become a good instrument of God in anything that we do.

There was a time when your parents were your world. Then your town, your city, your state and your country became your world. Now the entire humanity has become your home. Humanity has become your brother and sister. You feel that all the countries are like branches of the one life-tree. You look at the life-tree and see that one branch is not doing well. You feel that it is your bounden duty to fix this branch so the tree can be perfect. Then you see that another branch is creating problems, and with your heart's love you go there. Any time you see a defect in the tree, your heart goes there to make that particular branch perfect. For that I am very proud of you, very proud of you.

Russell Wilson: Without Spiritual Satisfaction, It Is...

Russell Wilson: Without spiritual satisfaction, it is very difficult to do that work.

Sri Chinmoy: That is the thing. If you have inner poise and inner joy, then you can serve humanity happily and cheerfully. But if there is only a barren desert inside, it is impossible to give cheerfully. We can give only what we have. If I have joy, then I can be of service to you. But if I have nothing inside to give, then what will you be able to receive from me? I may be able to fool you for one day or two days, but eventually I will be caught and you will dismiss me.

I have come into the world to love the world and become one with the world. If I am serving you and you take my service lovingly and affectionately, then I get as much joy from you as you get from me. At that time the giver and the receiver offer one another equal joy. If I give you a smile and you take it with joy and love, your joy and my joy are equal. So the giver and the receiver are on the same level. At this moment with my right hand I am putting something into my left hand; the next time my left hand will put something into my right hand. So the giver and the receiver always go together.

Today we have meditated together. But you have to know that I am not the Guru. There is only one Guru, and that is our Lord Beloved Supreme. He is your Guru, my Guru, everybody's Guru. Only in this particular field, spirituality, perhaps I know a little more than you do, just as you know infinitely more than I do in the field of politics. If I want to learn politics, then I have to come to you. The only thing is, I do not want to learn that subject because the subject that you study is beyond my comprehension!

Russell Wilson: That makes two of us, Guruji!

Sri Chinmoy: To me, politics is very often filled with confusion, and I try to stay away from confusion. But to the political world also we have to try to bring illumination. Politics I do not understand, but the individuals who are studying that subject I love. That is why I meet with political leaders and mix with them. I hope that my love of those who are studying politics will one day enter into the field that they are studying.

I wrote something about politics and spirituality that came out in an Indian magazine. There I said that since politics is a branch of life, we cannot discard it. If we can bring spirituality into politics, then politics can play a most significant role in fulfilling God's Will. When the leader of a country says something, even if people do not like him, his words carry tremendous weight. And if he makes the right decisions, then he can offer so much illumination to his countrymen and to the world. We pray to God to make the political leaders receptive to His Will so that this world of ours can become a perfect garden for God the Gardener to cherish. We pray and pray to God to make the politicians spiritual so that at every moment they can offer illumination to the world at large.

Russell Wilson: Guruji, I Have A Very...

Russell Wilson: Guruji, I have a very difficult question to ask you. Why, in India, which some believe is the centre of all religion and where spirituality plays such an important role, is there so much strife and tension?

Sri Chinmoy: Because I am an Indian, I am able to answer this question. Once upon a time, India was the land of peace. Now there is constant quarrelling and fighting. Why? The answer is very simple. God has given us freedom and we have misused it. At every moment we, as human beings, can choose to do either the right thing or the wrong thing. I can get up early in the morning and pray and meditate to become a good person. Or I can sleep until ten or eleven o'clock and get up when it is too late for me even to go to work. Perhaps for six months I received light from Above and my sincerity, my integrity and my love of God compelled me to get up early in the morning to meditate. But after six months I stopped aspiring and thinking of God, so I no longer get up early to pray and meditate. Outwardly I am the same person, but in my inner life I have changed.

In the hoary past, politicians used to go to spiritual Masters for blessings and illumination. One of the greatest Indian heroes, Shivaji, used to go to his spiritual Master and say, "Please advise me." Then Shivaji got fed up with his country and with politics. He said, "It is all corruption. I no longer want it." But his spiritual teacher compelled him to remain in politics. He said, "If you give up, then who is going to transform this world? Stay in your post but only think of me. The Supreme in me will guide the country in and through you."

There was a time when India had poise and peace of mind. But India was not satisfied with its inner peace and poise. It wanted to compete with America. Unfortunately, India began to lose its spirituality when it entered into the world of competition. It is one thing to retain your own height and then give what you have and receive what someone else has. But India, instead of maintaining its pristine purity and divinity, became greedy and started to care more for outer wealth. It wanted to become as rich as America, and it no longer gave as much importance to its inner wealth. That was India's greatest mistake.

If God gives me something, I should cherish it. Then, when the hour strikes, God will give me something else because He was pleased with me. But if I reject what God has given me and cry only for something else, then the inner qualities that I once had will desert me and I will be a beggar. India should have remained grateful to God for what God gave to India. Instead of trying to imitate the West, it should have cherished its own divine qualities. But when it began to care less for its inner wealth and more for outer wealth, at that time my Mother India began to lose something very precious.

Something similar is now happening in the former Soviet Union. President Gorbachev was responsible for awakening the consciousness of the Soviet Union. After he had awakened the Soviet people, he said, "We have been asleep for many years and we have just awakened. So right now let us walk slowly, steadily and unerringly to our destination. Then, when the time comes and we have more capacity, we shall march, and later we shall run." But the people did not listen. They became very greedy and wanted to be just like the West. They wanted to run right from the start, even though they did not have the capacity. So they chose another politician who promised immediate results. We all want to have instant realisation-like instant coffee. We want to have everything in the twinkling of a eye.

It takes a child a few years to learn how to walk. If I tell that little child that he can run as fast as his elder brother, then the child will be inspired to try. But, unfortunately, he will only break his leg. A mother will always tell her child, "No, go slowly. Your brother is five years old and you are only one year old. How can you expect to walk alongside your brother?"

Russell Wilson: May I Ask You Just...

Russell Wilson: May I ask you just a few more questions on meditation? When is the best time to meditate, and for how long should I meditate?

Sri Chinmoy: There are two times that are most important. The first time is when you get up in the morning, before you enter into the hustle and bustle of life. Then, in the evening, when everything is calm and quiet, for ten minutes or so before you go to bed you can invoke the universal peace into your system.

When you meditate early in the morning, it is like earning a spiritual salary. You meditate for fifteen minutes or a half hour and put the spiritual wealth that you receive inside your heart. That is your pocket. Then, during the day if you have to talk to some colleagues who are quarrelling and arguing and are immersed in the world of confusion, you can withdraw some of the peace, love and light that you accumulated early in the morning and give it to them. As you take money from your pocket, even so from your heart-pocket you can take spiritual wealth and offer it. That is how we use our spiritual wealth to bring about world peace.

It is also good if you can meditate every hour during the day. It does not have to be exactly on the dot. Only keep aside a minute or two each hour to think of God and talk to God. Nobody will know what you are doing. Outwardly you may be talking with your colleagues, but inwardly you are talking to God. You can just repeat God's Name. You can say ‘God’ or ‘Supreme’ or anything you like. Those who follow our way of life use the term ‘Supreme’. When I say ‘Supreme’, immediately I feel more of a close inner connection with God-in the same way a child gets a more intimate feeling when he calls his father ‘Papa’ instead of ‘Father.’ But you can call Him anything you like when you are praying or meditating.

Russell Wilson: Do You Advocate Meditating With...

Russell Wilson: Do you advocate meditating with the eyes open or closed?

Sri Chinmoy: The eyes should be half open. If you keep your eyes wide open, there is often tremendous tension. If you keep your eyes closed, on the other hand, you may fool yourself. You may think you are meditating when actually you are in the world of lethargy and sleep. You may think that you have meditated for ten minutes when most of that time you have been asleep. It is not that you have to meditate for a set amount of time. No! What is important is to meditate until you get peace of mind, until you feel that love, joy and purity have entered into your system and filled it to the brim.

If you keep your eyes half open, you are in control of both the inner world and the outer world. Half your consciousness is in the inner world and half is in the outer world. This is called the meditation of the lion. I tell my students to meditate with their eyes half open so that they can communicate perfectly with both worlds. This is the safest way.