Question: Do you get discouraged that there are no signs of the world accepting peace?

Sri Chinmoy: I am not discouraged because anything that is great, anything that is enduring, anything that is going to last forever, takes time to come about. We sow the seed and gradually it germinates. After some time it becomes a tiny plant, then a sapling and finally a huge banyan tree. It takes such a long time for a seed to grow into a giant banyan tree, but that tree is something really remarkable, and it lasts for a long time. If just yesterday I sowed the seed, and today I look for the plant, then I will be doomed to disappointment. Everything takes time. I am in kindergarten, but my goal is to get a Master’s Degree or PhD. Why should I be discouraged if I cannot achieve my goal overnight?

The peace movement has been going on for a long time. But in terms of its success or progress, it is nowhere near the goal. Humanity’s search for peace has been going on for millennia, whereas our own peace movement has just begun. As long as we know that we are walking along the road and have not given up, then we know that eventually we are bound to reach our destination. So I am not discouraged. I will be discouraged the day I give up offering my peace concerts or peace prayers and meditations at the United Nations and elsewhere. If I give up, only then do I really fail. But while walking along the road, although the destination is far, far, far away, the very fact that I am trying and struggling gives me satisfaction.

As long as I am still on the road, even though I am only walking or crawling, one day I will be inspired to jog, the next day I will be inspired to run faster and the third day I will be inspired to sprint. If I do not have the capacity to run or sprint, then I will crawl. But if I give up and turn around and say, “This road is not meant for me; the world is never going to be peaceful,” then real disappointment will come into my life. If I stop my prayer-life or service-life, that is when I will be truly disappointed.

The success of our peace movement is up to the world. Today the world is not receptive, but perhaps tomorrow it will be. Every day we are not in a cheerful consciousness; every day we do not see the sun. But we cannot say that there is no sun. The sun eventually does appear.