Question: You were talking about the New Millennium and how, like in the theatre if you do not go inside at the third bell, then you cannot go inside any more. So for this New Millennium, God's Hour has struck. Can you speak more about this?

Sri Chinmoy: The Hour has struck. Either you accept the divine in you or the undivine in you. They are both there. The undivine comes with such temptation. It is so beautiful, so glittering, so charming. Then you say, “How can it be undivine?” The divine, on the other hand, is very simple. So you turn towards the one that is charming and beautiful. Then afterwards you will say, “My God! This is such deception!” When Ravana came to kidnap Sita, he came as a saint. Then he showed his true form, how bad he was. When the hostile forces attack, they always come in a very charming form. We have to be so careful to dive deep within and see which forces are good and which forces are bad. Undivine forces can take a most beautiful form.

Most of you know the story of what happened when I was seventeen or eighteen years old. Usually I started meditating at seven minutes past two and continued for two or three hours. Once while I was meditating, a hostile force took the form of Lord Vishnu. It was most beautiful! It was absolutely Lord Vishnu’s form. I was sitting cross-legged on my bed under a South Indian mosquito net. On my right side on the wall I saw Vishnu. How beautiful he was! For me to see Lord Vishnu was a tremendous thrill! But I had read and I also knew that when the cosmic gods or goddesses come in such an extremely beautiful form, you have to determine whether they are real or not. You have to exercise utmost purity from your central being. If your purity is less than those forms, then they are divine. But if your purity is stronger, more powerful, then they will be destroyed.

When you see a cosmic god, immediately you are supposed to touch his feet, but I did not do it. I brought forward my purity from my central being. Immediately the form of Vishnu burst. A thunderous sound it made! From across the street people came to see what had happened. Upstairs there were six or seven people, and downstairs there were people also. They all came rushing because they knew something had happened.