The Other Hour, WRVR-FM Radio, Part II

(Continued from previous issue) On 3 July 1977 Sri Chinmoy was the guest on "The Other Hour", a radio program broadcast live in New York. Following is a transcription of the interview.

The Other Hour, WRVR-FM Radio, Part II

[Interviewer Donna Halper has just begun to accept calls from her audience for Sri Chinmoy.]

Donna Halper: Good evening. You are on the air.

Caller: I am particularly interested in astral projection. I had an experience three years ago where I left my body. I had just read about this some time before that, but I didn’t do it consciously. It just happened to me. Since then I have been trying to do it consciously. I would like to ask Sri Chinmoy if this is safe. Is it a safe thing to go into by myself?

Donna Halper: Interesting question. Astral projection, leaving the body. Can people actually do this?

Sri Chinmoy: People can do this, but it is advisable to have a teacher who is well qualified in this adventure. Otherwise, it can be a very dangerous thing. It is like learning to drive a car. One needs a teacher in the beginning. If one tries to learn driving by himself, he is very likely to have an accident.

Donna Halper: What can a teacher teach one about leaving the body?

Sri Chinmoy: Everything can be taught by a qualified teacher. If one can learn a language from a teacher, if one can learn music, if one can learn to dance, one can learn this also.

Caller: I would like to ask the Guru, what kind of mental attitude should one have in learning to play music?

Donna Halper: That is a question that I think Mahavishnu John McLaughlin was asking when he came to the Guru in the first place. What kind of mental attitude should one have if one wishes to improve his music?

Sri Chinmoy: There is something called mental music, something called vital music and something called physical music. But again, there is something called psychic music. If one wants to get true delight from the heart and from the aspiring life, then he must dedicate his music to God. He must play psychic music, soulful music, music that will inspire his own life of aspiration, and inspire others who hear his music, not music that will excite the vital and arouse the physical consciousness.

Donna Halper: So spiritual music is music that makes you think more about God?

Sri Chinmoy: Let us say, more about satisfaction, light and delight. There may be great musicians who do not believe in God, but they do believe in satisfaction, joy, delight. If you play divine music, spiritual music, then you are bound to give and get satisfaction.

Caller: I’d like to know how much discipline is required to master meditation.

Sri Chinmoy: All the discipline that one can muster in one’s own life. Discipline is a continuous process. In this process we make progress. It depends on how sincerely the individual has taken the spiritual life. If he wants to become perfect, then he has to discipline his body, vital, mind and entire life totally. But if he wants to derive only a little satisfaction from life, a little bit of peace from life, then he does not have to go through all self-disciplinary acts. It entirely depends on the need, how much the seeker needs from his inner life.

Donna Halper: How does one discipline his life? What does one have to do?

Sri Chinmoy: He has to be very careful in every way, beginning with the mind. He has to feel that his mind is a room that has a few doors and windows which will let the whole world inside. The seeker has to close the doors and windows and stand at a particular door. Then he must allow inside only the thoughts and ideas that are going to help him in his spiritual life. Purity, peace, harmony, and so on — these are his friends, so he will allow them to enter into his mind-room, and he will converse only with them. This is how the individual can practise.

Donna Halper: Does a person have to go away somewhere? Does he have to go to an ashram or a synagogue in order to be successful at meditating?

Sri Chinmoy: It is not necessary to go anywhere. Meditation entirely depends on one’s inner sincerity. There are many people who have been to ashrams and monasteries, and there they could not conquer their mind’s wrong thoughts. If you remain in a closed room, that does not mean you will have no thoughts about the outside world. It is advisable for a seeker to meditate at a certain place at a specific time, but meditation does not require a life of seclusion.

Caller: How can I contact Sri Chinmoy or become his student?

Sri Chinmoy: There are quite a few ways to approach me, but the easiest way is to call this number: 523-3471. From there somebody will direct the seeker.

Donna Halper: The person who calls this number, what usually will he or she be required to do?

Sri Chinmoy: He will not be required to do anything. The only thing is that I hold meditations at various places, so if the seeker calls that number, he will be told where and when he can see me next. This evening also I will give a concert which is open to the public. If the seeker comes to see me and he is inspired, then he can make further inquiries. This number will only give him the necessary information.

Caller: I would like to ask if he feels that a person should refrain from physical and sexual intercourse if he wants to develop his meditation. In other words, does that take anything away from spiritual development?

Donna Halper: Should one refrain from sex if one wants to develop in meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, it is advisable. One has to refrain from all lower vital movements if one wants to make the fastest progress in meditation.

Donna Halper: What are some of the other things that one would have to give up in order to make progress in meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: He has to give up drugs, he has to give up smoking and he has to give up drinking. There are quite a few other things that are spiritually unhealthy as well, but these are the most damaging.

Donna Halper: When one does this, then one becomes better at meditation, is that right?

Sri Chinmoy: One becomes a much more receptive vehicle of light.

Caller: I was wondering if you are going to play more music and, if the music is recorded, where we could buy it.

Donna Halper: If the Guru wants to play another selection it’s fine with me. Everyone here in the studio was just absolutely flipped out when he was playing. There is a recording on the Folkways label, called “Music for Meditation.” Would you like to do another selection before the show is over?

Sri Chinmoy: Certainly.

Caller: If you belong to a specific religious group, is it contradictory to meditate? Does meditation have one specific religion, or can anyone of any religion meditate?

Sri Chinmoy: Meditation far surpasses the barriers of religion. One can follow any religion. Meditation is like a school. You can go to a school or college no matter which religion you belong to. Spirituality is also like that. Everybody can meditate, no matter what religion he belongs to, or even if he does not belong to any religion.

Donna Halper: So whether you call God by the name Allah or Buddha or Vishnu or whatever you call God, meditation is the same?

Sri Chinmoy: It is only a name. A child will call his father “Daddy”, but the same man is called by a different name when he goes to the office. It is like water. You call it ‘water’ in English, but a French person will call it ‘l’eau,’ and a Bengali will call it ‘jal’. It is the same thing, only different names.

Donna Halper: So meditation is kind of like an addition to the religious belief that you already have?

Sri Chinmoy: It is not only an addition. It is the inner essence of all religions.

Donna Halper: Now that you mention it, isn’t there some form of meditation in every religion? They may not call it meditation, but don’t all religions have some sort of meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: Every religion encourages some kind of inner communion with the Highest.

Caller: If someone was a failure at self-discipline in meditation and other aspects of life, what is the most sincere prayer that kind of person could make to God for guidance in meditation?

Donna Halper: The person who has a hard time accepting the discipline, the person who finds it really difficult to give up smoking or drinking or sex life and yet still wants to meditate — is it hopeless for that person?

Sri Chinmoy: It is not hopeless at all, if the person is sincere. If he prays to God for His boundless Compassion, then God will give him the necessary capacity to discipline his life. He has only to pray to God for God’s infinite Compassion. God’s Compassion-Light will be able to illumine him, and his weaknesses and shortcomings will not be able to remain with him forever.

Donna Halper: Is it possible that a person could not be ready to meditate at one time, and yet at another time be ready to meditate?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, it is possible. It is like cooking food. Every day one may not cook the most delicious food. One day he makes delicious food; another day he is a failure. But he does not give up eating or cooking just because he is not always successful.

Donna Halper: So the person on the phone should just keep on trying, and ultimately…

Sri Chinmoy: Ultimately, he will become an expert. Learning meditation is like learning anything else. One cannot become an expert overnight. Sometimes he will do extremely well, sometimes he will do very badly. But if he continues to study, to practise, he will become an expert eventually.

Donna Halper: So in meditation you have to practise?

Sri Chinmoy: Practise is necessary in every sphere of life.

Caller: Does Sri Chinmoy feel that meditation has really done anything for the musicians he has dealt with, and has it helped their music?

Donna Halper: Has meditating with you and studying with you changed the lives of the musicians that you have had as disciples? Did it change John McLaughlin or Michael Walden or Carlos Santana?

Sri Chinmoy: According to my inner vision, it has definitely changed them. In the outer life, anyone who knows them can be the judge.

Donna Halper: How do you think it changed them?

Sri Chinmoy: They have intensified their inner cry. Their cry for God, for truth, for light has immensely increased. Also, they have simplified and purified their outer life to some extent. They have definitely made progress in the spiritual life.

Donna Halper: Do you think it helped their music in any way?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, it has inspired their creative capacities, and it has made their music better in whatever way they wanted.

Donna Halper: How about their attitudes towards what they did before — drugs and alcohol and things like that?

Sri Chinmoy: They have given up these things.

Donna Halper: They still refrain from all those things?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, as long as they remain on my path.

Caller: I’d like to know if it is possible to be used as an instrument in an intimate relationship with somebody?

Donna Halper: Can a person be an instrument of God and also be an instrument in a relationship with somebody, where God is acting through them to help another person? For example, do you believe people in the material world can become instruments of God?

Sri Chinmoy: Easily. We are all instruments of God, but if we are too much involved in the material life, we will not be able to be chosen instruments of God. Chosen instruments of God are those who are constantly self-giving. They are not for themselves only, but for the entire world. The conscious seekers have a wide heart. They don’t try to confine themselves to their own reality. They try to offer their lives to the world at large.

Donna Halper: Can you also be an instrument of God in a relationship with another human being? Let’s say there is a person who is addicted to drugs. Do you believe that God can perhaps bring someone — just an ordinary person — into the life of that person to make him better?

Sri Chinmoy: Certainly. God is inside everyone, not only the seekers. If someone is addicted to drugs and if he has a sincere inner cry to get out of that addiction, then God will bring someone to his rescue.

Donna Halper: So on a personal basis then, our relationships are not an accident? We don’t just randomly find each other, but the people who find each other are finding each other because God wants them to find each other?

Sri Chinmoy: Not in every case, but if it is something significant in the life of the individual. There is something called God’s Hour. When God’s Hour strikes, the persons who are needed will come. Otherwise, every person we meet is not sent by God.

Caller: If an ignorant person who hasn’t had any realisation is confronted with a situation of great physical danger, what kind of prayer could a person make to God at that critical moment? Sudden death happens to people in an airplane or on the streets at times.

Donna Halper: If he finds his life in danger, can a person seriously speak to God, even though the person has been irreligious?

Sri Chinmoy: We are all God’s children. The parents are always full of love, even for a naughty boy who does not listen to them. When this naughty child at times runs into difficulty, he runs to his parents to help him. Will the parents discard him at that time? No, the parents will immediately embrace him and say, “At long last, my son, you have come to me for help.” Similarly, God’s help is always there, provided we have a sincere cry.

Donna Halper: So the person who has been against religion or who thought religion was silly or did not want to get involved in religion, if at a moment of danger that person reaches out to God, God will answer him?

Sri Chinmoy: Definitely He will answer, but in His own way, of course.

Donna Halper: He will accept the sincerity of this person even though his life is in danger?

Sri Chinmoy: If someone sincerely cries for God’s help, God will definitely help him. It depends on his sincerity.

Caller: Do you believe that God is in the mind?

Sri Chinmoy: God is not only in the mind, God is the mind itself. But you have to know what kind of mind it is. If it is the physical mind, the earth-bound mind, the mind that cherishes and treasures jealousy, meanness and impurity, this is not the mind that can be of any help in our search for God. The mind that is as wide and vast as the sky, the mind that accepts and loves the entire world, is the real mind. Inside that mind God functions most satisfactorily. So we have to know which mind you are referring to.

Donna Halper: So you’re saying that the person who thinks in a positive way, the person who thinks in a way that is honest and sincere and concerned about all the people in the world, that person is using the mind in a spiritual way?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes.

Caller: But they say that God is a jealous God.

Donna Halper: That’s a very good religious point. What about when they say that God is a jealous God?

Sri Chinmoy: God is jealous only for those who have not experienced God the Supreme Beloved, God the Eternal Compassion, God the Eternal Friend.

Donna Halper: So you’re saying that God is a friend?

Sri Chinmoy: God is our Eternal Friend, and our only true Friend.

Donna Halper: The person who accepts the Bible as the word of God, is that person mistaken to think that the Bible is totally true in everything it says?

Sri Chinmoy: If a person feels that what the Bible says is absolutely true, and has implicit faith in the Bible’s teachings, then he should definitely continue in his life of faith. But if somebody says that there are a few things he cannot accept from the Bible, and he wants to get some new clarification or new illumination in his life by studying something else or by diving deep within, then he is entitled to do so. God wants satisfaction in us. If someone gets satisfaction from absolute faith in the Bible, wonderful. But if he does not find satisfaction there, then let him study something else. Let him study his own life; let him dive deep within in order to find the truth which will satisfy him.

Donna Halper: Sri Chinmoy will play another selection at the end of the program. I could listen to your music all day, I really could. Why is that music so relaxing? I’ve heard music before, but it didn’t relax me as much as that music. Is there something special about your music?

Sri Chinmoy: In my case I do not just play music. I pray, I meditate, I contemplate while I am playing. I try to be in close communion with my Inner Pilot who is the Supreme Musician. And according to my capacity of receptivity, I try to offer His Light and Peace to the world through my music. So when I play, the esraj is not the real instrument, the instrument is me. It is I who am the instrument.

Donna Halper: Sri Chinmoy, I would be very appreciative if you would play another song for us.

You are at WRVR, “The Other Hour”, and our guest is Sri Chinmoy. If you would like to get in touch with Sri Chinmoy, at the end you will find out how. In the meantime, I would like you to listen and meditate. Sri Chinmoy.

[Sri Chinmoy played the esraj.]

Donna Halper: Thank you very much, Sri Chinmoy. I would like to remind you all that Sri Chinmoy will be giving a series of 27 concerts this month. If you would like more information on any of them, you can call 532-3471. This is Donna Halper, “The Other Hour”. Thank you for listening to Jazz Radio 106.7, WRVR, New York.