Section 1

Question: For The Last Two Years At...

Question: For the last two years at the university we have been trying to energise a meditation group, but we have failed to get people. I don't know why. Could you please advise us?

Sri Chinmoy: There are two ways. One is the way of the flower; the other is the way of the mother. When the flower blossoms, the beauty and fragrance of the flower will draw people to appreciate, admire and receive joy from the flower. We go to a garden and immediately we see a flower. The flower does not come to us; we go to the flower. The flower, with its beauty, fragrance and charm, remains where it is. We go to the flower and receive the divine qualities from the flower. This is one way.

The other way is the way of the mother. The mother feels that the whole world is her creation. Each and every human being is her child. When the child cries, the mother may not be physically near the child. Let us say that in a house there are many floors. The child is crying for milk or for some toys. When the child cries, the mother is bound to come to the child. The child cannot go to the mother because he is an infant. He knows only how to cry. It is the mother who has to come to the baby and see what he needs, whether it is milk or toys or candies or anything else. Then the mother gives to the child according to his need.

So, some spiritual Masters are of the opinion that people have to come to them. They have become like flowers, and people have to come to them if they are in need of anything. Again, other spiritual Masters are of the opinion that these are all their children, and they are all hungry. Each one may not have the same hunger, so it is the bounden duty of the mother to go to her children and give them whatever they need.

There is still a third category of spiritual Masters like Sri Ramakrishna. He applied both ways in his life. He was one of our spiritual Masters of the highest order. He hailed from Bengal, and I also happened to take physical birth in Bengal in this incarnation. At one point he said, "Act like a flower." At Dakshineshwar, many, many seekers from all around came to visit him. Again, he went to various places. He himself went to many seekers and people who had inner light. Although they were not spiritual in the strict sense of the term, they had hearts larger than the largest. To raise the consciousness not only of Bengal, not only of India, but of the whole world, he used to go and visit people to increase their inspiration, aspiration and other good qualities. So, these two ways Sri Ramakrishna adopted.

I am following in the footsteps of Sri Ramakrishna. I live in America, and here I have become a flower. People from all over the world come to see me and whatever I have to offer, they take. Again, I have become like a mother. I go from place to place. I have been to many, many, many places over the years. When I travel, I see some seekers like you. With all sincerity and determination they come to me. They do not have to be my disciples—far from it! But if I can be of service to these seekers, I feel I have done something for God the creation.

God the Creator we worship and God the creation we serve. We are all God the creation. With my prayerful life I have come here now to serve you. I hope I have made it clear to you.

I have come to Hawaii a few times. About twenty-five years ago I came here for the first time, and since then I have come quite a few times. I come here to be of service to the seekers in Hawaii.

Hawaii has the quality of charming and enchanting our hearts and our lives. Again, it has been specially blessed by many, many spiritual figures in the inner world. You may call them gods and goddesses, but for me all gods and goddesses are spiritual figures of the highest order. So, Hawaii has very special blessings from Above or from within.

Again, Hawaii has a special role to play. It is not only a State of attraction, but it is a State that can offer illumination to those who come here for inner discovery. For outer discovery, people see so many charming, enchanting and attractive things. Again, if they come to Hawaii to meditate, they are bound to receive peace, light and bliss in boundless measure. We have to know what we come here for: for the outer attraction or for the inner illumination, or for both. What the outer world can give here, we shall receive with the utmost sense of purity. And what the inner world can offer here, with utmost devotion we shall receive.

Forgive me, this is not the answer to your question; but only my inner feelings and outer observations about this place I have tried to express.

Question: I Notice That You Have A...

Question: I notice that you have a picture of Kali on your table. There have been a lot of misconceptions about Kali, even among spiritual people.

Sri Chinmoy: Each seeker is right in his own way. I cannot say that what I feel about Mother Kali is absolutely correct and that your conception of Mother Kali is absolutely wrong. That will be the height of my stupidity and absurdity. I can say only what I have inside my own room, my own apartment. What others have in their apartment, I have no way of knowing and I am not even so inclined to know.

For me, Mother Kali is the power of Infinity. Her name is Kali. Kali means 'time' and 'the time beyond'. She carries the message of Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. Again, she transcends what she has and what she is. As far as my inner realisation goes, she is the Absolute in feminine form. You can say she is the Absolute. The power aspect she embodies. As the Mother, she embodies everything: peace, light, bliss and all other divine qualities. But she also expedites everything. There are many members in a family. If you ask one person to do you a favour, that person may take five years; whereas if you ask somebody else, that person may give you what you want in the twinkling of an eye, provided your cry or your aspiration is sincere.

This Mother, Mother Kali, is an aspect of the Absolute Supreme, and at the same time she is the Supreme. If we want to separate the parts of our body, we can say, "These are my arms, these are my legs, these are my eyes," and so on. But they are part and parcel of the same body. If I do not have legs or arms or eyes, I am imperfect. All the limbs together comprise my physical body. So she is at once a portion of the Absolute Supreme, and again, she is the Absolute Supreme. She is also the Mother of speed. Everything she does faster than the fastest.

Mother Kali also illumines our imperfections. In the Western world, we use the term 'sin'. But according to Indian spiritual philosophy, there is no such thing as sin; it is only imperfection. I am imperfect; therefore, I do quite a few things wrong. And as long as I am imperfect, I will continue to do things wrong. But what do we mean by sin? If our Source—God, the Absolute Supreme—is purer than the purest, how can we be wallowing in the pleasures of sin? We can only say that we are not perfect.

A child may learn 'A, B, C,' but he may not be able to read all the letters, whereas his mother and father can read everything. Slowly and steadily he learns to read the whole alphabet, and in a few years' time he can read big books. But he starts with the alphabet and sometimes he makes mis takes. In exactly the same way, all human beings are now imperfect. Our goal is to arrive at perfection.

Again, perfection has no fixed limits. Perfection is constantly transcending itself. As a student, one may feel that he will be perfect when he gets his M.A. or Ph.D. Then he gets his degree and he sees that there is so much more to learn. He feels that what he knows now is nothing. Wisdom or knowledge is like a vast ocean. The student feels that his Master's degree is like a few drops in the ocean of knowledge.

Suppose over the years you have done many things wrong, just because you are imperfect. If you pray to Mother Kali, if you cry and cry and cry, she will illumine all your imperfections.

In our Indian philosophy, God, the Supreme, has three aspects: God the Creator, God the Preserver and God the Transformer. But for many, many centuries, instead of 'transformation', we used the term 'destruction'. Our Indian trinity is Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva: Brahma is God the Creator, Vishnu is God the Preserver and Shiva is God the Transformer. We do not destroy; we only transform. If we destroy, what will there be in our life? Suppose I do something wrong; I am angry with someone and give him a smart slap. Then will I rectify my mistake by cutting off my hand? No! That wrong action came from my mind. I have to use my mind in a proper way so that I shall not strike anybody. On the contrary, I shall only show my affection and compassion. So the third aspect of God is transformation, not destruction.

Now, when Mother Kali deals with human beings, with seekers or aspirants, some are terribly afraid of her power aspect. They feel that they have done so many things wrong over the years and that, instead of showing them compassion, she will destroy them. But she does not destroy; she transforms.

There are four aspects of the Divine Mother, the Universal Mother: Maheshwari, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati. Of these four aspects, Mother Kali is for speed and for height, higher than the highest height. We can even say that she can take us to the highest sooner than the soonest. The other aspects of the Divine Mother feel that slow and steady wins the race, but this Mother says, "Even if you go fast, faster than the fastest, that does not mean you will fall."

Again, what I am saying is all from my own personal point of view, from my own realisation. Each individual has his own way of speaking about Mother Kali.

Question: Many Of Us Get Attracted To...

Question: Many of us get attracted to a spiritual path from the readings of Masters who are no longer in the body, and we begin to follow the spiritual path of such a Master. I am sure I speak for many people when I say that, after a while, we really wish to have a Guru in the flesh. However, we feel that it would be a great disloyalty to the teacher we have been following if we were to seek such a Guru. How can a person decide whether the Guru he is following, who is no longer in the flesh, is the right one, since he cannot talk to that person in a way he can understand on an earthly level?

Sri Chinmoy: When the first person on earth realised God, whom did he have as a human Guru? Did somebody come to him physically and say, "I am God"? No! He got his realisation from the invisible God. Similarly, there are many, many seekers who have realised God by studying the Bible or our Bhagavad Gita. They did not have a living Guru. Now, Lord Krishna is not in the physical, and the Saviour Christ is not in the physical. Yes, they can manifest in the subtle body, but even if you cry to Lord Krishna, he is not going to take a physical body and come to teach you. Again, Lord Krishna's teachings and the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Bible, have become part and parcel of humanity's life-breath.

Now, when you read the Gospel or the Bhagavad Gita or other sacred books, you have to feel how much identification you can develop. If you feel that, after studying some of the messages in the Bible, you can practise them in your day- to-day life, why do you need any Master in the physical? But you have to know whether you can apply in your daily life what you read in the book. It may happen that, while you are reading, you get tremendous inspiration and aspiration, but as soon as you enter into the hustle and bustle of life, you forget everything. You read something and then in two hours' time you do something diametrically opposite. This is what we human beings often do.

But there is another way. Let us think of ourselves as naughty children. The teacher is around us, like an inspector, so we must behave well. Otherwise the teacher will fail us. The inspector sees that we are not behaving well in the class, so we are afraid of the inspector. We know that he will give us a zero and then we will fail. This is what happens in the case of the teacher or instructor. But there is someone called a private tutor. It is the bounden duty of the private tutor to teach you at home privately, secretly, so that you can pass your examination. He will not be in the school, standing in front of you as a teacher or an instructor or an inspector. He will be at your home, and he will teach you privately. This is the role that the spiritual Master can play when he is in the physical.

We forget that the spiritual Master of the past and the spiritual Master of the present are not two different entities. Here we are making a deplorable mistake. The realisation that the highest Master achieved, he is blessingfully offering to those who are praying. In a family, the grandfather knows something and teaches it to the father, and then the father teaches his own children. In exactly the same way, whatever knowledge and wisdom-light Lord Krishna, Jesus Christ and other spiritual Masters had, they are offering to their spiritual descendants.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I am also a spiritual Master. I can never separate myself from the blessingful consciousness of the Saviour Christ or Lord Krishna or Lord Buddha. I am using only a few examples; there are many spiritual Masters. Here in the Western world, we always think of the Christ, and for the Eastern world, let us take Lord Krishna. Each individual who is a realised soul will offer his realisation in that way.

Again, there are many who claim to be realised. It is up to God or the seekers to feel the truth of what the spiritual Masters say. In India we had a great spiritual figure named Swami Vivekananda. I am sure you have heard his name. He went to East Bengal and there all the seekers came to him saying, "Please, please, come and see my Master! He is the highest! He is an Avatar, a direct descendant of God." So Swami Vivekananda said that in East Bengal the Avatars grow like mushrooms! Each one claims that his Master is a God-realised soul and an Avatar of the highest order. Again, there is another point of view. If you take your Master as the highest, your prayers go directly to the Highest. In the Bhagavad Gita it says that everything goes to the Absolute Lord Krishna. If you have faith, implicit faith in your Master, even if your Master is not endowed with certain divine qualities, your prayers will go to the Highest Absolute.

Here in the Western world, we use the term 'Father'. The Christ said, "I and my Father are one." When we pray sincerely, our prayers go to the Father. On our path we use the term 'Absolute Supreme'. It is the Absolute Supreme who is receiving our prayers. You may have a Master who is not of the highest calibre; he may not be a God-realised soul or an Avatar. But if you have faith in your Master in boundless measure, your faith goes directly to the real Master, who is God.

There is only one Guru—my Guru, your Guru, everybody's Guru—and that is God. Now, God has taken human form. You are a human form and I am a human form, but somebody may be more qualified in a particular field. In the spiritual life, spiritual Masters know more. I happen to be a spiritual Master. Again, if you are an engineer, if you are a doctor, if you are a scientist, who am I? I am nobody in those fields. If I have to study science and this kind of thing, I will be useless. So if one wants to know about spiritual life, then one goes to a spiritual Master for spiritual lessons.

You are not going to be disloyal to the Masters who are not in the physical by going to another true spiritual Master. The spiritual Masters come from one family. As you have brothers and sisters in your own family, so also, those who have realised the highest belong to one family. Our Lord Krishna said that he comes in different forms. Each time, we ourselves take human incarnation with a different name and a different form.

The seeker has to feel the living presence of the Master. Your Master may not be in the physical, but if you can have direct contact with the Master, it will be perfect. But very often it is difficult because our mind comes to the fore and says, "Oh no, he did not say this, he did not say that."

If you have a living Master, you get a special opportunity. The living Master speaks your language and tells you, "This is what you are doing right; this is what you are doing wrong." Then it is up to you to accept him or reject him. If your Master is not in the physical and you are not highly advanced, your mind will contradict the message you get. This moment you will get some idea and your mind will say it is perfect. Then you will take two steps and immediately you will doubt the idea that you got. Then you will take a few more steps and you will say, "Who am I to judge which idea is right and which one is wrong? I am now confused. I do not know which one to accept." But if you have a living Master and if you have implicit faith in him, you will hear his words and say, "This is right." If you have faith in him, then you will go in his way. So, to have a living Master is a great advantage.

Again, if you have no faith, then your problem starts. But if you have faith and you have adamantine will-power, then definitely you do not need a Master in the physical. If you have studied some religious books, spiritual books, books written by spiritual Masters who are not in the physical, and you have developed an intense inner feeling between your aspiration and their compassion, you do not need a living Master. But the difficulty arises that you read something and you are inspired; but then, when you go to be with your friends or when you enter into the hustle and bustle of the outer life, you completely forget your inspiration. It may happen that you cannot carry that feeling, whereas if you have a living spiritual Master of the highest order, then you will see with your own eyes and feel with your heart. In this way it lasts longer.

If you have the opportunity to be in the company of a living spiritual Master and some disciples of that same Master, then you get an added opportunity. But I will never say that in order to realise God you must have a Guru who is in the physical. The first person who realised God did not have a Master in the physical. It all took place in the inner world, in the subtle body. Then again, spiritual Masters who have realised the Highest over the years and are speaking the same inner language, inspiring the same feelings and offering inspiration of the same type in every way, can be of immediate help. So it is up to one's own inner development. If I am highly developed and my inner connection with the Master who is not in the physical is very strong, no harm. But if I do not have a strong connection, then the same lesson can be given by somebody who is in the physical and who can correct me and perfect me when I am doing something wrong.

Again, if we see twenty people swimming in the ocean, we also are inspired to swim. We say, "Oh, they are swimming! I can also do it." But if we see nobody swimming, then lethargy, fear and other wrong forces come into the picture and do not allow us to enter into the water. So, if we see a group of people praying and meditating, if we can be in the company of good seekers, then we are inspired. Every day divine inspiration can enter into us; and again, every day lethargy can enter into us. When we see that people are praying and meditating in a group, it is easier for us to join them and bring to the fore our own divine qualities. That is why we feel the necessity of a group. If you are in a group, then the group members will inspire you, and you will inspire them as well.

Question: About Twenty Years Ago On The...

Question: About twenty years ago on the mainland, a friend took me to see you. You were meditating in silence at that time. Now it seems that you are speaking more. Could you please explain the transition?

Sri Chinmoy: I do both. Sometimes I meditate for hours with my students and other seekers. Again, sometimes I give talks and answer questions. We have to feed both the inner life and the outer life. I also give Peace Concerts, like the one I gave the other day here in Hawaii. At that time, mostly we remain in silence. I play quite a few instruments, in a meditative consciousness. I also sing.

Some people get more joy when they hear something, because they feel that their outer senses are nourished. Again, others feel that if we maintain silence, if we are in our highest, in the depth of our meditation, they receive more. So the Master feels that, in a family if one member wants a particular fruit and another member wants something else, he has to be qualified to offer both. There are two individuals who have a different type of hunger. It is like a restaurant. So many people enter, and each one has his own different taste. The restaurant has the capacity to feed each one according to his need. Again, we enter into a garden and there are so many flowers. Each flower has something special to offer. They all offer beauty and fragrance in different ways. So, sometimes I remain silent, and in silence I offer what I am supposed to offer. If I have to choose between talking and remaining silent, I shall definitely choose silence, because in silence, light grows and our divinity grows infinitely more powerful.

Silence and sound are like the obverse and reverse of the same coin, like the beauty and fragrance of a flower. But usually people receive more from me when I am silent and when I offer peace meditations. Previously I gave talks, hundreds and thousands of talks, in so many places. Then I started offering Peace Concerts. I have given hundreds of Peace Concerts, mostly without talking. I feel that the seekers who have come to listen to my music have received much more than they would have if I had given talks. When I give talks and answer questions, mostly it feeds the outer mind. But when we pray and meditate in silence, then we feed our inner existence, our aspiring hearts.

I have been serving the United Nations for the last twenty-seven years. I used to give talks and answer questions almost every week. Now, for the last ten years, I have been going there only to meditate, only to pray. In pindrop silence we pray and meditate, and in that way I feel that I am able to offer more.

Question: Here In Our Meditation Group We...

Question: Here in our meditation group we have a Hindu, we have several who are Roman Catholics, some who practise Zen, and others. What we do is sit in silence. I think that energises us in the morning. We sit Monday and Wednesday early in the morning before we go to work. But we have not been able to get the word out. I don't know how else to put it. It is difficult to spread the word, and everybody has such a busy schedule, but it would be really nice if more people joined us.

Sri Chinmoy: I am so glad that in your group all the religions are mixed. They are all one, but they are different branches of the life-tree. There are so many branches of the life-tree. And again, we develop our good qualities by uniting with others.

About thirty-four years ago I went to a chapel in Puerto Rico. The nuns saw me. They knew that I was a Hindu, and I was not dressed properly, the way they expected me to be dressed. They were furious! The Mother Superior scolded me and insulted me like anything, because I was not a Christian. But then she forgave me because with folded hands I was looking at the Saviour.

Again, about twenty years later, what happened? In Switzerland a Mother Superior invited me to meditate with so many nuns! In front of them I meditated, and then she and the nuns asked me many questions on Christianity and on the Christ. They were following his path, but I was the one they asked. And I must say, they were not asking me questions to examine me, to see whether I had studied the Bible or had personal experiences of the Saviour. With utmost sincerity they were asking me questions. They showed me such love and reverence. So, at one place the Mother Superior "blessed" me, and at another place the nuns had the inner hunger and felt that this fellow knew something. For about two hours I was there with them.

Mahatma Gandhi is known as the father of the Indian nation. Like that, in Ireland it was de Valera. When I met him, he was in the evening of his life and I was about forty years old. How he approached me with folded hands, as soon as he saw me! With folded hands he asked me questions about the Saviour Christ and the Bible, one after another. A volley of questions he asked me, not in the spirit of judging me, no! He had the utmost sincere hunger, and he wanted to know if I could be of any help. He was at that time eighty years old.

Some people see something in me, and some people do not see anything in me. If they see something in me, I am definitely, wholeheartedly going to be of service to them. And if they do not see anything in me, then they have to find somebody else if they have the inner hunger. They must feed their hunger. If I am hungry and one restaurant does not satisfy me, I can go to another restaurant. I shall go to quite a few places, if necessary, to feed and satisfy my hunger.

To come back to your question, please, you have to see if you feel that you can lead the seekers and guide them. There should always be a leader. If there is no leader, nothing grows. The leader has to supply the seekers with light, delight, energy, peace and the message of the higher worlds and the inner worlds. Otherwise, forgive me to say, if the leader is simply one of the group, it will not work out. Here we are all democrats; we are all equal. That is true, but a leader's consciousness has to be higher and deeper so that he can be of service to those who come to the group. In a class there is a teacher. If everyone is a student and each one starts teaching the rest of the group, then it will be total chaos. Somebody has to know more. Somebody has to have more inner wisdom and inner light to be of service to the seekers.

I am not criticising you, but if you have a group, then there should be someone who has the capacity to lead them, guide them, inspire them. Otherwise, when they see that there is no real leader, it may not grow. Either they have to have faith in you, or they have to have faith in someone else. In order to play the role of a leader, somebody has to be more developed spiritually. Otherwise people who are thirsty and hungry will come, and then, if they ask a question, you may say, "Read the Bible, everything is there." Then they will say, "I am reading the Bible, but I am not getting an adequate answer, so that is why I have come to you." Then what will you do? How will you satisfy them, or how will they satisfy you?

This is no personal criticism; please do not misunderstand me. It is only that the leader has to be more advanced; otherwise there will be chaos. Nobody is going to listen; they will contradict each other and they will say, "What do you know?" But somebody who is an authority, somebody who knows something about spirituality, will say, "Either follow my way, or follow some other way. There are other ways that you can follow, but you have to follow one particular road." All roads lead to Rome, but you have to follow one road. You cannot change your path every day. Then you will be nowhere! For you there will be no goal. Today if you follow this Master, tomorrow that Master and the day after tomorrow a third one, then there will be no goal for you.

Question: Can You Speak A Little Bit...

Question: Can you speak a little bit more about your meditation, about what you do when you are meditating? All kinds of thoughts come when I try to meditate.

Sri Chinmoy: I have answered this question many, many times. Again, I would like to be of service to you.

This hall has quite a few doors and windows which we can close at any time. When we meditate, we close all the doors and windows of our inner life. There is a saying that we are always at the mercy of thoughts. In a fleeting second, a thought can bite us from this side or that side. There is no end to our thoughts. But when we meditate, we shall not allow an iota of thought from any corner to attack us. The highest meditation will be without any thought whatsoever. When there is no thought, we use the term 'trance'.

After our meditation, we have to enter into the outer world, we have to be with our friends, we have to be with our society, we have to deal with outer activities, we have to go out and work and so on. So what do we do? When we meditate, we have to enter into our highest meditation. Each one has his own highest meditation. My highest meditation need not or cannot be the same as yours. Once we feel that we have reached our highest, we have to remember that we have friends in our inner life, just as we have friends in our outer life. By 'friends' we mean good thoughts, uplifting thoughts, good ideas-ideas that we shall help this person and that person, and that we shall become a better person. These friends we shall allow to enter into us.

So, when ideas and thoughts come, first we keep all the doors closed, and then we allow only good thoughts, the thoughts that will help in raising the consciousness of humanity. If you see that there are good thoughts, you will allow them to enter. The other thoughts you will not allow: thoughts that come to you as negative forces or that give you the feeling that you are superior to so-and-so or that you can try to lord it over others. One kind of thought is a desire-thought, and the other is an aspiration-thought. Desiring thoughts will always try to separate you from others. They will make you feel that you are higher than the highest, and that others always have to be at your feet. But aspiring thoughts tell us that we can all grow together. In a garden there are many plants, most beautiful plants. They are all growing together and giving so much joy to the gardener and also to those who are coming to see the garden.

Once again, first you have to keep your mind absolutely quiet, tranquil and vacant, and then you will allow only the thoughts that are going to raise not only your own consciousness, but the consciousness of all those who are around you. You will allow the thoughts that will help you to go from your own heart to cover the entire length and breadth of the world. But before that, you will allow absolutely no thought. This is the highest meditation. First you reach your own highest meditation, and then you let in only the forces that will help mankind and help you to become a better citizen of the world. This is how I meditate and my students meditate.