Question: When we concentrate on love and devotion, should we direct it mainly to the Supreme or to our Guru?

Sri Chinmoy: It entirely depends on the disciple’s conscious awareness of the Guru’s spiritual status. If the disciple’s ignorance compels him to feel that the Guru stands only ten inches higher than he himself stands in the spiritual domain, then naturally he will direct his love and devotion to the Supreme. But if he sincerely and consciously and spontaneously feels that the Guru is a God-realised soul and that there is a yawning gap between him and his Guru in their inner achievements, if he feels that the Guru has achieved and established his conscious and constant oneness with the Supreme, and that the Guru is the representative of the Supreme for the disciples and that he is the direct channel streaming downward from the Ultimate Source to cultivate the soil of human aspiration, then the disciple with the least possible hesitation, can direct his love and devotion to the Guru. To be sure, neither the Supreme nor the Guru is hurt when you approach one leaving aside the other. As a matter of fact, just because they know that they are absolutely one, they are equally and supremely pleased with you when you offer your love and devotion to one of them.