Part II — The soul's world

Question: Do the souls of inanimate objects benefit from being around a spiritual Master?

Sri Chinmoy: This house where I live was once upon a time a haunted house. Really. We were told that the priest who lived here used to exorcise so many things. When I came here, the soul of this house and the soul of my previous apartment had a wonderful fight. The apartment soul was more evolved. I had much to do with the soul of the apartment in Manhattan and also with the soul of this house. But again, how much can these souls receive? This chair I use eight hours a day, whereas I do not speak to you for even eight minutes in eight months. But because of your aspiration and your inner cry, the connection that you consciously make with me, this chair will not be able to make. Because of your conscious and constant meditation, you will make much faster progress than this chair, even though I am using this chair eight hours a day. This chair is not consciously taking from me; only it is taking unconsciously. The chair is inside my aura, my vibration, and according to its very limited capacity, unconsciously it is receiving. Again, sometimes I consciously give something. It is just like extra Grace. Because I touch the soul, because of the vibration that it receives from me, the soul will make considerable progress according to its own standard. If an occultist were here, he would say that my aura is divine. My aura is very powerful; it goes very far. So, wherever my aura goes, immediately evolution takes place.

But there comes a time when the soul of the chair becomes developed. It is like a child who is in kindergarten. One child may take one year, another child may take two years before he is ready to leave kindergarten and go to primary school. The time is fixed by the Divine, by the Supreme. Human beings progress consciously; human beings also progress unconsciously. But if we do it consciously, then our progress is very fast. In the case of the chair, progress is very, very slow. In the mineral life, plant life and animal life progress is very slow because there is no conscious effort. Unconsciously if we do something, we do get the result. But consciously if we try, then we can do the thing rapidly.

A child is crying for something. If the child pleases you, then you will give him what he wants. If the child knows how to please you, then he will do it every minute, every second. Here, too, if we consciously pray and meditate at every moment, then we can do miracles with our life. We can remain pure, we can remain divine, we can remain peaceful and blissful. But if we do it unconsciously, then today we will be peaceful and tomorrow we will not.

So, this chair, a rock and a stone are all making unconscious progress. They are depending on a higher Power. Human beings also depend on a higher Being, but they are also making a conscious effort to get Grace from above. But even in the case of the chair, there comes a time when the soul does evolve to another life.