Question: Guru, I want to ask what we have to do if we know about complicated relations between a husband and wife in our Centre. What should we do if we know that the husband is mistreating his wife?

Sri Chinmoy: If the husband is mistreating his wife, and if the wife is strong enough to remain on the path, then the wife will stay on the path, but I will not allow the husband to remain. But then what will happen? In a few months the wife may be so eager to be with the husband that she will leave the path on her own. It has happened a few times! The husband is bad, let us say, and the wife is very good. The wife first hides and hides the situation from us. Then the wife makes complaints, and my decision is that if the husband is really so bad, then he has to leave the path. At that time I will not ask the wife who is being mistreated to leave the path. It is up to her whether to stay without him. Then we may see that the wife also leaves.

Of course, there were quite a few cases where the husbands did not do well, so we had to ask them to leave our path, and the wives, to my great joy, were very strong, very strong. In those cases they stayed with us. So many wives stayed when their husbands were undivine. Then again, on rare occasions the wives were not good, and we asked them to leave the path, but the husbands stayed. That also has happened.

If the husband is mistreating his wife, I should be informed, and then the husband will be asked to leave the Centre. I have to be informed. I will see the picture of the person who is the culprit, and then I will make the decision.