Question: Will this year of the Bicentennial help us to feel the same patriotism Americans used to feel?

Sri Chinmoy: To be very frank with you, the patriotism you are seeing in the Bicentennial is no match for the genuine sentiment that the pioneer American leaders had. The divine feelings, divine sacrifice, divine vision that they had will remain unparalleled. When I think of what took place in 1776, I feel that in those days there was no difference between theory and practice. Now there is a yawning gulf between theory and practice. The genuine enthusiasm of this year should have been infinitely more than what it is. What God wants in the Bicentennial is our determined will power to dive deeper than the deepest, run farther than the farthest, fly higher than the highest. He does not want us to remain self-enamoured by the grandiose achievements of the past but to aspire for higher ideals and higher goals that will promote in a significant way the cause of world-peace, world-perfection and world-satisfaction.