Part I

Question: What would be the best way to calm the restless and unruly vital?¹

Sri Chinmoy: Restlessness takes you away from your Source. Restless people will never be pleased; nothing will ever give them joy. There is a very effective way to calm the restless vital, and that is with the poise of the soul. The soul's poise is like the bottom of the Pacific Ocean — very still and very deep. Each individual has the soul's poise. In my case, my soul's poise is my absolutely best quality.

You have many good qualities, but your best quality is your heart's golden luminosity. When you see something luminous, you get tremendous joy. The heart's luminosity can also calm the restless vital. As soon as luminosity enters into the vital, the restless vital becomes the dynamic vital. Each and every seeker needs a dynamic vital; it is of supreme importance. If you can enter into the heart and bring forward your golden luminosity, then your restless vital will become dynamic. Or if you can bring to the fore the soul's poise, the soul's poise will act immediately — like magic.

The most important thing in our spiritual life is the soul. It is the only thing that keeps us connected to our Lord Supreme. You may not be able to see it or feel it, but it exists. The soul knows no barriers. It is beyond time and space; it is eternally free. It carries our Immortality. To grow into the light of the soul and fulfil the soul is to please the Supreme in His own Way.

Unfortunately, there are many seekers for whom the soul has no reality. It has no reality for them because they do not value it. If you value the existence of the soul, then you are bound to feel it and one day see it. If we give utmost importance to the soul, then all our problems will be solved. The more we can give conscious importance to the soul, the faster will the burdens of our body, the restlessness of our vital, the impurity of our mind and the insecurity of our heart be eliminated. This is true for each and every God-seeker.

Have faith in your soul. If you repeat "I am the soul," all the negative, unaspiring qualities of your body, vital, mind and heart — everything that is standing in your way — will have to surrender. All the imperfections of your inner and outer existence will drop away, for there cannot be any negative forces or imperfections in the soul.