Question: Guru, your soul is always to the fore. In your case, when it is your physical birthday, what happens in the inner world?

Sri Chinmoy: For me, every day is my birthday. But on my physical birthday, it becomes more important for me because I see that on that day my disciples are trying to bring down more Grace from Above, either for themselves or for my victory. Whenever I complete something good, it is my soul's victory. So on my birthday, the disciples are trying to get more blessings, affection and concern from my soul. They are asking me for more compassion, more light and more divine qualities because they know I entered into the world to be of service to them, or they are praying to the Supreme for the Supreme's Victory or for my victory.

Also, two or three days before my birthday, the cosmic gods and goddesses in Heaven ask my dear ones — my parents, my relatives, my admirers, my disciples of this incarnation and disciples of my previous incarnations — to observe my birthday in the soul's world. Now that I have taken human incarnation, it is as if I am in a different country. So in Heaven they think of what I am doing on earth and count the days until I am with them again. So in these ways my birthday is really special.