Question: What changes do we have to make, when, as seekers, we have to work and eat with other persons who don't feel what we feel? Sometimes I have harsh reactions in my relations with the ordinary world.

Sri Chinmoy: It is true that you are superior to a street urchin because you are consciously praying to God and an ordinary person in the street is not thinking of God, is not praying to God, is not concentrating or meditating on God. In that way, naturally you are superior. But if you yourself consciously cherish the idea that you are a superior individual, then naturally you create a barrier between your existence and the existence of the people around you.

Now let us use an analogy. The mother is naturally superior to the child. But the mother does not consciously feel, twenty-four hours a day, that she is superior. What she feels is that she is absolutely one with the child. Hers is a feeling of oneness and not a feeling of superiority. It is we who say that the Mother has more knowledge, wisdom, more capacity, than the child. But if the mother consciously harbours the idea that she is superior to her child, then she won’t be able to show affection or concern or be able to do anything for the child.

So if you consider the world around you and feel that you are superior because they are acting in an animal way, you won’t be able to become one with them and enter into them. It is we, the witnesses, who will make the comparison, that you are superior to others who are not aspiring, who are still sleeping.

Now how can we mix with people who are not aspiring, who are destructive in their relationship with us? You lose your patience and you lose your temper, it is true.

Now every day, I am sure, you try to meditate. You not only try, you do meditate every day. Now when you go out, try to feel that your wallet is your spiritual bank. Early in the morning you meditated for five minutes and you gathered Peace, Light, Bliss and Power, etc. This is all your money, your wealth. Just like nickels, dimes and dollar bills, you are putting all this money into your wallet. This is inner wealth, however. In the morning you meditated and you collected the money, this spiritual wealth, which you are putting into your wallet.

Now in your outer life, the moment you are displeased with someone, and you are about to fly into a rage, always when you are about to burst into fury, immediately try to open your inner wallet where you have kept the inner peace. These are the pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and bills that you have saved. If you can use your inner wealth, which is inside your wallet, then you will not be attacked by the wrong forces; at the same time, the Peace and Poise that you get from your inner wealth will prevent you from attacking them with your human power. What you will do while they are attacking you is to show your money, your Light, Bliss, Peace, Joy, etc. Just open your inner wallet and show them the solid protection that you have. They will not be able to enter into your inner sanctum when you have placed right in front of you a solid wall which is composed of your inner wealth.

Now every day when you meditate, try to feel that the result of your meditation will be in the form of spiritual currency and this currency you are putting into your wallet for later use. Then you will see that the rest of the world will not be able to torture you. At the same time, you will have no occasion to attack them.