Question: When I read the newspapers and see all the suffering and violence in the world, it upsets me.

Sri Chinmoy: If you are disturbed by reading newspapers, then why do you read newspapers? If there are thorns lying right in front of you, will you walk on the thorns and then feel miserable because your feet hurt? This is stupidity. If you know that the newspaper is full of undivine forces on every page, which is true, then why do you read it? In the spiritual life, if you want to make the fastest progress, you should always read the things that will inspire you and lead you towards your goal.

There are people who read newspapers and they are not affected. I read The New York Times occasionally. I am not affected because I see it as an experience. I know that whatever has happened has been recorded in the cosmos, in the universe. Of course, I sympathise. While I am reading, I sympathise with the sufferer. But if I cherish or harbour that person’s suffering, then my meditation will be useless. So when I meditate I don’t think of how someone has shot someone else; I do not allow any force like this to enter.

You have to know how much capacity you have. You have to accept and reject the world according to your capacity. If you do not have the capacity to accept the experience as an experience, then it is not necessary to read the newspaper at all. Things that stand in the way of your inner life must be discarded like a dirty, filthy rag. You should constantly deal only with the things that inspire you. If the newspaper stands as an obstacle in your way, if it destroys your inner poise, which is your real wealth, then you don’t have to read it. But just because you see something in front of you, out of curiosity you want to touch it. If you see a flame and touch it out of curiosity, naturally you will be burnt.

A newspaper has only world-information. By getting world-information, you come nowhere nearer to God. There are many spiritual persons who say that newspapers are all falsehood. There are other people who will not believe anything until they see it printed the following morning in the newspaper. Perhaps they have seen with their own eyes that a house has burnt to ashes, and still they will not believe it. But when it comes out in the newspaper they say, "Yes, it is true it did happen." For these people, the newspaper becomes their Guru.