Question: Is there a true and a false illumination?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, there is false illumination and true illumination. If one has true illumination, one is bound to feel one’s own oneness with God’s entire universe. But if one has false illumination, then one will see oneself as the only reality, and see the rest of the world as a false reality. The person with false illumination will feel that he is the only one who has got illumination or who has seen and realised the Truth; nobody else is illumined.

True illumination is with all and for all, but false illumination is only for the satisfaction of one’s own vital. It says: “I am the only possessor. The rest of mankind are only beggars. I alone have everything.” Here one is just aggrandising one’s own ego. But when one truly sees the Self inside everyone, when one sees and feels that everybody is inside him and he is inside everyone, that is universal oneness, that is true illumination, without fail.