Mr. Pathak: I do not know how I am here. It is only through your grace. It really amazes me that I am here.

Sri Chinmoy: You have a very beautiful soul. Your parents have given you a most beautiful, soulful name, Radhakrishna. You embody both Radha and Krishna. Radha was all love, all devotion for Sri Krishna. Her love for Sri Krishna was unparalleled. Again, look at Sri Krishna’s love for Radha. The mother aspect in Radha is the compassion aspect. It is like a magnet. It is infinitely easier to go to Lord Krishna through Radha than otherwise. In human life also, it is easier to go to the father via the mother. If you have to go to the father directly, it is difficult. But the mother knows when the father is taking rest or when he is in a humorous mood. She knows when the father is accessible and available. The mother is the bridge between the children and the father, because the children have a more intimate connection with their mother than with their father. The mother represents Mother Earth. The father represents Father Heaven. It is difficult to go straight to Heaven. We need the bridge: the mother.

The mother may be on the fourth floor and the child on the first floor. But as soon as the mother hears the child cry, the mother comes down to see if the child needs milk or something else. If the father hears the child cry, he says, “I am coming,” but he takes a little time. The father feels that the child is not going to die in a minute. But the mother’s affection is such that she feels something has happened. Nothing has happened; only the child is crying for the mother’s milk or something else. But the mother cannot wait for a fleeting second.

The mother’s wisdom is in affection. The father’s wisdom is in light. The father will tell us about higher philosophy, about God’s universality, about God’s self-transcendence — everything that we want to know. When we have to deal with something vast, vaster, vastest, the father comes into the picture. But when we have to deal with something intimate, more intimate, most intimate, immediately the mother comes into the picture. When we have any little pain, at that time we shall call the mother, and the mother will come.

The father represents vastness and light. The mother represents intimacy and affection. Both are needed. The Vedas say that inside the finite is the Infinite. Inside the heart is the soul, and the soul represents God. Inside a tiny atom is the cosmos. In the same way, the mother and father are like a beautiful flower and its fragrance. They cannot be separated.

I am so glad that your parents have given you the name Radhakrishna. Radha is the mother, and Sri Krishna is the father. The higher we go, the clearer it becomes to us that Radha and Sri Krishna are inseparably one. It may appear that Radha is only a devotee touching Lord Krishna’s feet. Yes, that is true; but Lord Krishna raised her high, higher, highest. So when we see Radha and Sri Krishna together, at that time it is the highest transcendental aspect of God: God the Creator and God the creation together; God in His masculine Form and God in His feminine Form. This is Radhakrishna.

Again, Sri Krishna and Mother Kali are one. I have written many songs and stories saying that Lord Krishna and Mother Kali are one. They are inseparable, although they have different names. If you sincerely worship Lord Krishna, you are bound to get blessings from Mother Kali. Similarly, if you pray to Mother Kali, Lord Krishna will definitely bless you. They are absolutely one.

You are a father; again, you are a great newspaper editor. While you are working in the office, they call you Mr. Pathak. Your children call you “Father” or “Baba” in our Bengali, or something like that. In French it will again be totally different. You are the same person, but each individual is calling you by a different name. Your divine reality is the same whether you are in the office or at home eating with your children. But your divine reality is expressing itself in different ways at different places. Your son will never be happy by calling you Mr. Pathak. He will feel miserable. But your colleagues and acquaintances will get joy in calling you by that name. When you are in a gathering with your friends, again you show another aspect. I get joy by calling you by your first name. Somebody else will get joy by calling you by your surname. Again, your children and your wife will call you in different ways. Everybody knows that you are the same person, but everybody gets joy by calling you a different name. To give each individual joy in a specific way we came into the world. We are all God’s creations. I may get more joy by calling to Lord Krishna, whereas you may get more joy by calling to Mother Kali.

I was born in Chittagong. At the age of eleven and a half I went to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. I stayed there until the age of 32. Then I came here to be of service to God. My philosophy is to love and serve. If we love someone, then we have to serve that person. The mother loves the child; that is why she serves the child. The child loves the mother; that is why the child serves the mother. If we truly love God, then we will have no hesitation to serve Him. In the same way, if we serve someone, definitely we love him. We serve our parents on the strength of our love. This moment we love someone. The next moment we serve the same person.

Do you have any specific question you wish to ask?