Question: What should I do if I see you on the street?

Sri Chinmoy: You have to remember your relationship with me. If I am your Father, your eternal Father, then you don't have to always reach a certain height in order to come near me. A child runs to his father whether he has said his morning prayers or not. He knows he is in his father's heart, and he is happy. Whether he steals something or quarrels with someone or does any other undivine thing, he feels his presence is inside his father's heart. He doesn't have to become something in order to approach his father.

Everything in our life has to be spontaneous. If you are in a meditative mood when you see me, well and good. But if you are in your ordinary consciousness, do not worry. As I have said, if you meditate twenty-four hours a day, you will become insane. So, if you see me in the street, just get an inner thrill, an inner joy, and do not try to hide anything. Just because you think you are not in your highest meditation, do not try to hide. The whole problem is that you are hiding. You have forgotten something which you are trying to discover. You have to come forward and look for it. I am the person who will help you look for it. I am your eternal Father. But as soon as you see me, if you start hiding, then how am I going to help you?

When you see me in the street, sometimes I am deeply absorbed, and very, very serious. Sometimes I am in a childlike consciousness. Just look at me and if I am in the mood to speak, then come and talk. If I am not, then just repeat the name of the Supreme with utmost, soulful devotion until I pass by. If I call you and cut jokes with you, don't think that I am not in my highest consciousness; far from it. For me highest and lowest are the same. When I cut jokes, it is the best time for you people to catch me. Always have confidence in yourself and in me. Confidence in yourself means you feel that you have established an inner connection with me. You don't have to acquire something or prove something in order to speak to me. If I have pressing things to do, then you should not approach me. But there should be no fear separating your existence from my existence. Do not have fear, either in the mind, the vital or the physical. If fear enters, at that time, I become a different person. But I am not a different person; I am the most illumined part of your own existence. If you have the capacity of oneness, then this problem will not arise. No matter where I am, if you see me, then you will get an inner joy and thrill.