Question: Did the Supreme manifest just part of Himself as the Supreme, and is the other part — the evil forces — just lack of the Supreme?

Sri Chinmoy: No. Each human being is part of the Supreme. Multiplicity started from unity; from one He wanted to become many. Each human being represents His multiplicity. When multiplicity started, in that multiplicity some had more light, some had less light, some had no light. But when Creation started, even in the ones that were all darkness, still there was the Supreme. It is like this: in a shop there are varieties of things and some are more beautiful than others. Perhaps there is one that you may say is not beautiful at all. But somebody else will say, "Yes, it is beautiful." So like that, the one that is absolutely dark is appreciated by someone, even though his standard of beauty may be darkness itself.

When the Supreme started the creation, it was from an iota of His entire Being. Everything in the creation, every human being, is a very infinitesimal portion of the Supreme. So if you say that half of His creation is light and half is darkness, it won't be correct. When He started, it was all light. It is not categorically dark or light. It is light, but everything has a shade. When we make a comparison, we can say that one person or one thing has more light than the other. The one that has no light is simply an undivine force; the one that has abundant light is divine. When there is multiplicity, one individual is brighter than the other, and the one that is not bright at all is called dark.