Question: What does a spiritual teacher or learned person such as yourself say to a Western-trained scientist who dismisses the idea of receiving messages from the dead as imaginary or hallucination?

Sri Chinmoy: There are many things on earth that outwardly we cannot prove. But just because we do not have the means to know something, we cannot say that that thing does not exist. Let us say that I have eaten a most delicious mango. If you say “Prove it!” how will I do so? My joy is in eating, not in proving. If a scientist wants to prove something, he takes us into the laboratory. If we want to prove something on the spiritual plane, we have to take the scientist into the inner world. To enter into the inner world we need a ticket. It is like flying from New York to India. Without a ticket we cannot go. Similarly, without prayer and meditation — which is our inner ticket — we cannot go into the inner world. Is there any scientist ready to pray and meditate like a true seeker and God-lover? If so, he will see that communication with beings of other worlds is unmistakably real.

Scientists get tremendous joy in proving their theories, but a spiritual Master gets joy only by breathlessly and sleeplessly obeying the dictates of the Absolute Lord Supreme. He can easily communicate with the departed souls, and he can do many other things. If others do not see it or believe it, the Master does not mind in the least. Real spiritual Masters have not come into the world to prove the authenticity of their capacities; they have come into the world to serve God. May the scientists get joy through their way of approaching their reality-destination! May the spiritual Masters get joy by arriving at their destination in their own inimitable way!