Question: When does oneness become permanent?

Sri Chinmoy: One kind of oneness we get from God-realisation. That oneness is absolutely permanent. Once we realise God, oneness becomes permanent. Again, God-realisation is something that cannot be understood. It cannot even be felt. It can only be lived. That is why a spiritual Master may sometimes behave outwardly in a way that we cannot appreciate or understand.

Before God-realisation I do not think complete oneness with God's Will can be achieved. In the case of my disciples, some have established their outer oneness with me. If I tell them to do something in the outer world, they immediately do it, gladly and cheerfully. Everybody is seeing that they are doing it very happily, that they have established oneness with the Master. But in the inner world, there is often a tremendous conflict going on because their mind is telling them that what the Master is saying is not the right thing or the way he is asking for something to be done is not the right way.

If one can have inner oneness for five minutes, it is a great achievement. But, alas, this inner oneness disappears sooner than at once if the desires of the disciple are not fulfilled, or if somebody else is making faster progress, or if one feels that one is not doing well, that one is going downhill.

If we use our inner wisdom, then we will feel that without establishing oneness with God's Will we will never, never, never be happy. Some people derive happiness from their depression, from their frustration. There are other people who, for some reason, become very angry with someone and torture that person outwardly. Then they feel it is God's Will that they should have acted in this way to punish that person. In so many ways, human beings imagine that such-and-such is the way to establish oneness with God's Will. But I do not think it is possible to have permanent oneness with God before God-realisation, unless perhaps a seeker is on the verge of God-realisation. Otherwise, this moment you can be absolutely one with God's Will, then next moment you receive a sad piece of news and it is all gone. Then again, you receive a piece of good news and again you get back your oneness.

Another thing is that in oneness, there can be so much pride! Some people establish their oneness with God's Will for five minutes or five hours or five days, and then they are filled with tremendous pride. They look this side and feel that somebody else has not established oneness; they look that side and see that another person is millions of miles away from oneness with God's Will.

So I feel that for everything it is important to do the right thing and wait for God's Hour. As long as the mind is very active and the mind has not surrendered to the heart, permanent oneness is not possible. If the mind can surrender to the heart, or take advice from the heart, definitely it is much easier to establish oneness. Our souls are always one with God's Will. That oneness is absolutely permanent. But the soul is not strong enough to work in and through the body, vital, mind and sometimes the heart also.

What the Will of God is, the soul knows, but then, when the soul tells the mind, the mind revolts. When the soul tells the vital, the vital revolts. And when it tells the body, the body starts sleeping.

In order to become one with God's Will, we have to feel the necessity of self-giving — physically, vitally, mentally, psychically and spiritually. We have to be always ready. We do not know what God's Will is, but we do know that God's Will exists. We do not have to know what God's Will is, as long as we repeat the sacred prayer of Jesus Christ: "Let Thy Will be done — not my will, always Your Will." You may say, if you do not know what God's Will is, how will He work? But it is not at all necessary to know what God's Will is. Only pray to God, "God, I do not know and I do not want to know what Your Will is. Only I am praying to You to execute Your Will in and through me."

When God starts executing His Will in and through you, that means God has established His Oneness with you in your inner life and outer life. Just pray to our Beloved Supreme to act in and through you at every moment. That is the way you can establish oneness, not by thinking about oneness. If you can repeat, "Your Will, Your Will, Your Will, not my will, not my will, not my will," then while you are sleeping, while you are dreaming also, you will be able to hear the same thing, the same inner voice: O Supreme, Your Will, Your Will, Your Will. Each time you say "Your Will," you establish your oneness with God's Will.