Question: How does a person overcome doubt about himself?

Sri Chinmoy: We must treat doubt very seriously. As soon as a doubt comes we have to feel that it is someone standing in front of us with a knife, ready to stab us. Sometimes when we have doubt we cherish it, while at the same time wishing that this doubt could be conquered. But we will never be able to conquer doubt by mere wishful thinking. If we identify ourselves with the mind, we will not have the power to conquer all doubt because the mind itself unconsciously or consciously cherishes doubt. But the soul has more power than the mind. We should try to save ourselves with the light of the soul. Every day before doubt has the opportunity to enter into our mind, we should try to feel the light of the soul inside us. Each time doubt comes we should feel that the soul is not only protecting us, but is giving us a new life, a life of aspiration, a life of realisation, which is what we really want.

We can conquer doubt just by meditating on the soul or thinking always of the soul. The soul is infinitely more powerful than our mental doubt. We can and we should take the positive side. We come from the soul, inside us is the soul, we are the soul, we are for the soul. Always we can try to identify our physical being, our physical consciousness, with the soul which is all light and delight. When we feel that at every moment we are growing into the soul's light and delight then doubt can easily be transformed into divine confidence. At that time we will say, "I am God's son. If I cannot do it, who can do it? I can and I shall realise God. I can and I must manifest God." We can cherish that kind of divine awareness — that oneness with God each of us can and will establish. Then doubt is bound to leave us.