Question: Is it spiritually good for us just to be near you?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, it is extremely good if you can be near me because my inner and outer presence are one. If you have a spiritual friend in me, then you can't separate my inner existence from my outer reality. If you can live near me, and if you can utilise the opportunity properly, then you will make very fast progress.

Again, you may stay near me physically but at the same time only be thinking of others: "Oh, today I have the opportunity to come to a special meeting and see Guru. Many others were not invited, but I am allowed to go." If you have these thoughts, then pride will enter into you. Again, you may be very afraid that since you are not the only one who is invited, your glory will go away. Then you will become sad, depressed, and you won't get anything from me. The soul has to convince the vital and the mind that I am doing the best thing for you and I am also doing the best thing for others whom I have not invited to something. When you go deep within, you will believe it.

Sri Ramakrishna and many other spiritual Masters used to say that the whole cow has milk but there is a particular place in the cow to get the milk. When you squeeze the udder, you get the milk; you don’t get the milk if you cut the tail. But first you have to come to the cow and then you get the milk. Similarly, if you can be with your Master, if you can come to see me, then you receive my blessings, my compassion and my concern. Then if you enter into my heart, and you can constantly stay inside my heart, you will get Peace, Light and Bliss.

So by staying here, you get more of an opportunity. The negative side is that you may be bloated with pride or afraid that somebody else will come and take me away, or you may feel that if you don’t meditate well today, then Guru will not ask you to come back to work at the Centre. Then you are not utilising the opportunity properly. If you can utilise the opportunity then you are really gaining something. When you are in my physical presence, if you can utilise each second in a divine way, then you can make the fastest progress. This is why some people are dying to remain with their Master. But for others, this can create doubt or other problems, which is why some spiritual Masters do not keep their dear ones near them.

There is an old Indian tradition in which the Master says, "I will initiate you, but on the condition that you will leave." This is because if the particular disciple stays with the Master, he will not aspire at all. He will think that his Master will do everything for him. Some of my disciples who have become close to me are now relaxed. They have become relaxation-kings and queens. They think that I will do everything for them. But some people who are away from me will have the fear, "Oh, if we don't do the right thing, why should Guru? We have to do everything we possibly can, and only then he will do the rest."

If those disciples who live here in the vicinity feel that they can rest, then this is the end of their progress in realising Peace, Light and Bliss. And what they have already gotten is nothing in comparison to what they could have received. Disciples who are near me get the best opportunity to run the fastest because they are receiving from me in both the inner and the outer worlds. If they do not properly utilise their time with me, it is a veritable curse. But if they do utilise it properly, then naturally they run the fastest.