Question: Can you say something about the other worlds or other planes of consciousness?

Sri Chinmoy: This is not the only world; there are other worlds and other planes of consciousness. As we know, there are seven higher worlds and seven lower worlds. Each world has its own kind of love. The higher we go, the more we feel love as an expansion of consciousness — constant expansion, constant freedom. And the lower we go, the more we see love as something that is binding us, the more we find ourselves at the mercy of love.

When we pray and meditate, when we go deep within, we become aware of a ladder of consciousness leading to the higher worlds. Consciousness itself is a ladder which has seven rungs. So each time we step on a rung we know that we are in a different world.