1969

Sri Chinmoy speaks to the Puerto Rican Centre⁶

First of all, I wish to tell you that Alo sends her deepest Blessings and deepest Love to each of you. She has not been able to come, and perhaps you know the reason. In case some of you do not know, I would like to tell you that it is money that has prevented her from coming. Either the Supreme or you will have to give us the money, so that we can come here as frequently as possible! Some people are under the impression here that we have plenty of money. Not true. God bless them and I love them. Well, I wish their feeling was correct, but we do not have much.

I am most grateful to each of you because last time, when we went to India for our visit and we were in great difficulty financially, we received some money from you. The disciples in New York became extremely generous when they found out about our difficulty. They gave us the necessary money. Then finally I received your money. I am most grateful to each of you. I thought of writing to each of you personally to thank you, but it was simply impossible.

From 8:30 in the morning until late in the evening, up to 11:30 pm sometimes, my friends, admirers, well-wishers, etc., came to see me and took away all my time. Then I had to concentrate at night on each of you, my disciples. Of course, I have an inner contact with those of you who have made a special inner contact with my soul and heart.

When we arrived in India, my sisters and brothers were overwhelmed with joy when they saw me, when they saw us. At the same time, the parting scene was unbearable. My sisters, especially, cried bitterly, as if I were already dead. I told my eldest sister, Arpita, "When I actually die, there will be no tears since you've used them all up here. There will be nothing left in your eyes. So you'd better stop crying now since you will have to cry again when I die." Then my sister Lily tried her best to control her tears, but finally she again burst out crying. This is Indian family life!

We shall come in May, both Alo and I together, for our regular visit. At that time we shall show our slides of India, the Himalayas, the spiritual pilgrimage places and other spots. Yesterday we showed those slides at our Centre in New York. The New York disciples liked them immensely. Here I am sure you will also enjoy them. We will also speak elaborately about India, our Mother India, Bharat Mata.

I come here with my heart's deepest love, joy and concern for each of you. You who have already come close to my heart and soul feel me at every moment of your existence, no matter where I am, whether I am in India, or in the West Indies, or in some other corner of the globe. I assure you, the closest and dearest ones, who have made themselves close to my heart, are bound to feel me, no matter where I am or what I do on the outer level. Here, on Thursdays and Sundays, when you actually start your meditation, no matter where I am, whether I am in a car, or in the street, or in a restaurant, as soon as the first disciple arrives here in this Puerto Rican Centre, there will be a tremendous knock at my heart's door. At that moment, I start my very special meditation on each one of you. That is what Alo and I have been doing.

I get great joy when I see our family of faces here. But when I see those who once upon a time used to come here regularly and now, unfortunately, are irregular, I feel very sad. I wish to tell you that in everything in life, there should be some regularity. I have not previously emphasised regularity, but you know very well that when you go to work regularly or you study at school regularly, you get good results. If you don't go to work regularly, the boss will fire you. If you don't study regularly, you will fail in your school examinations. Here our boss is the Supreme and no human being. But because He has asked me to take care of you, He has every right to command me to tell you what He feels to be best for you.

In New York, I have been extremely strict with my disciples. Here I am not. In New York, nobody can come to the meditations without my previous knowledge. If anybody wants to come, he has to send me his photograph. I concentrate on the picture and I inform Dulal, the President of the Centre, whether that person can be allowed to come or not. Then, if I do allow that person to come, the first thing I request is regularity in addition to aspiration. I tell them, "Aspiration is the fee." There is no monetary fee. Here in Puerto Rico, in New York and in other places, by the Grace of the Supreme, Alo and I have managed financially so that we are not starving. The disciples' contributions are taking care of us.

But if you want to be my disciples, you have to be regular. Here, aspiration you have; on the strength of your aspiration, you have pleased me. Regularity, however, is another matter. I am asking you and telling you that you can come to the Centre but you have to be regular. You have to pay attention to regularity. When someone comes regularly, faithfully and devotedly every Sunday and Thursday for four months, then I give that person an interview that lasts for forty-five minutes. Before that, I do not give interviews to newcomers. They have to complete at least four months in the AUM Centre.

Already four or five persons have been asked by me not to come to the Centre because of their irregularity. Yesterday I asked another lady not to come to the Centre. She then created such a scene, such a pathetic scene. But I cannot go against the Law of the Supreme. During our absence, while we were in India, not even once did she get the inspiration to come to the Centre. So I have asked her not to come any more.

In May, when we come back to Puerto Rico, we have to make the same kind of decision here. The time has come to be precise and strict. Those who really care for the Supreme have to be regular. At home they eat regularly; here they must feed their soul regularly. They feed the body at home; here is the place to feed the soul.

I beg to be excused. I come here not to scold you but to love you, to be one with each of you in your aspiration. All of you have sincere, true love for God, but that love has to be dynamic. It must be dynamic love, not inactive love.

In New York, since I have become strict, the result is most satisfactory. During our absence, only one particular lady did not come. Otherwise forty-eight or forty-nine members come regularly, without fail, on Sundays and Thursdays.

Here in Puerto Rico, I do expect you to come at least once a week. If you want Sunday or if you want Thursday, you are welcome to choose either day. But if you can come on both days, Thursday and Sunday, I will be so happy, delighted and grateful.

I do not know if you understand (or do not want to understand) that I have consciously taken responsibility for each of you who have sincerely, consciously and soulfully accepted me. You gave me your promise but, unfortunately, some of you have eaten up your promise. And I gave the same promise to the Supreme inside you, that I would guide your aspiration, the inner aspiration in you. So please give me the opportunity to fulfil the Supreme's Will inside you.

There can be no greater joy than regularity. Aspiration you have, but that is not enough. Along with aspiration, if you have regularity, then only will you achieve the Highest. When you are irregular, when you don't come to the Centre regularly during our absence, whom do you insult? Not the physical body, not the mind, not the soul in me, but the Supreme inside you, because the Supreme inside you has awakened and inspired you to lead an inner life. There are millions and billions of persons in life who are not awake, but you have awakened.

When you have awakened, the next step is to dive and to fly. Dive into the Deepest; fly towards the Highest. Run also to the Farthest. In New York, six or seven persons have already changed their jobs since they could not come on Thursdays for our meditation. I had told them that I would be extremely happy if they could attend on both days, Thursdays and Sundays. In case they could not come on Thursdays, they should come on Sundays without fail. But they wanted to become excellent disciples and, more than that, they wanted to feed their souls, their inner beings. So they left their old jobs. Now they have taken new jobs with lower pay. This is their real sacrifice, this is their true aspiration. Again I wish to say that this sacrifice is no sacrifice in comparison to one's highest realisation. If you get twenty or thirty or forty dollars less per month, so what? Whom are you getting in place of money? The Supreme. You are getting God, the living God who is infinite Light, Peace and Bliss.

Our Centre, this Centre in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is the Mother Centre of all our Centres. Here the AUM Centre was established long before any other of our Centres. Here, when you sing The Invocation, the Absolute Supreme dances with deepest Joy. I have told my American disciples that here in Puerto Rico you sing "The Invocation" in Spanish far better than they do in English. This was not the case even a year ago. But you have improved remarkably. A few months ago in New York I had to scold the disciples. I said, "My Puerto Rican disciples sing infinitely better than you people sing." When my Narayan (Raphael Elvira) plays The Invocation and you people sing, you just bring down Heaven on earth.

So at the end of my scolding to the New York disciples, I got a reward. An elderly lady, a very close disciple of mine who is very motherly to me, came over and said, "Guru, I know you must have a fever, and that must be why you are scolding us — because we also sing well. You say they sing better than we do." I replied, "No, I don't have a fever. I am telling the truth." Then she placed her hand on my forehead and said, "Well, your body is not overheated, but I feel that you must be unwell and that is why you are scolding us so unexpectedly." I answered, "Although I feel satisfied with the New York voices and the New York aspiration, I can only say that my Puerto Rican disciples really create Heaven on earth when they sing my Invocation to the Supreme. That is really what happens in Puerto Rico."

A few days ago, a young disciple of mine named Maureen Nestor, who is just eighteen years old and recently joined the Centre in New York, sang our Invocation. First Dulal taught her, then Alo taught her. Of all our disciples in New York, Puerto Rico, Kingston, Jamaica, or Miami, Florida — she happens to be the best singer of our Invocation to the Supreme. The other day — it was a Sunday afternoon, at our regular meditation — she sang it. You cannot imagine how soulfully, sweetly and divinely this young, delicate girl sang that song. I wish all of you could sing, individually, "The Invocation" as soulfully as Maureen sang it. Next time, we shall bring a tape of her singing and you will hear it for yourself.

Now, dearest Puerto Ricans, I wish to speak to you on a totally different subject. I feel that each one of you here has the capacity to inspire at least two other persons who are not disciples — persons in your vicinity or at work — and bring them here. But again, I do not want to increase our numbers only for the purpose of adding to our disciples. I am not like other Yogis. If I had wanted, I could have increased our numbers by thousands, especially in America. I have rejected drug addicts, hippies, people with perverted, emotional problems. These people are not welcome.

However there are sincere seekers who need a place to feed their inner beings, their souls. All of you have found that place. You will do the best service to the Supreme in yourself if you bring those seekers here, if you inspire them and bring them to the Centre. But mind you, only those are welcome who want to be awakened, want to be inspired and want inner Light.

So when we come back in May, I wish to see how many of you have sincerely tried to bring new, aspiring people. "New" or "more" does not mean all and sundry. It does not mean useless, unaspiring people. No. But there are many sincere and genuine seekers on earth crying for the inner life. The difficulty is that we do not know how to approach them, how to inspire them.

The time has come for each of you to inspire them. If I have the capacity to inspire you, you also have the capacity to inspire someone else. We are always satisfied with our individual success, our individual progress, but that is a wrong attitude. An individual — who is he or she, after all? He is the one who represents the universe. So an individual becomes perfect only when he sees the entire universe as his very own. His salvation is the quickest when he cries for the salvation of the entire universe, the whole of mankind.

Dearest spiritual children, please try to feel my heart's deepest love and purest concern for each of you. I come here with my heart's abundant love and my soul's deepest blessings. Each time I come here, I get profound joy and, at the same time, I get a few minor shocks. I wish to tell you that even though I receive unexpected shocks from you, you can rest assured that my love for you, my concern for you and my blessings for you will remain for Eternity.

There is a higher Truth, there is a higher Life, and we must, each one of us, attain to the spiritual perfection where this high, higher, highest Truth abides. Your imperfection is my imperfection. Your incapacity is my incapacity. This I say not out of sheer emotion but on the strength of my total oneness with you. I have become totally one with you in my heart. I am trying to give my realisation to each of you. Those who are crying for realisation are really climbing the ladder of the highest consciousness in me. They are getting an inner realisation in and through me. The road is arduous, but that does not mean that you will not reach the Goal. No, the Goal is destined; the Goal is ready; the Boatman is ready. You have to come and take your respective seats in the Boat and then see the capacity of the Boatman, whether he is capable of taking you to the Golden Shore of the Beyond. I pray to you: give me the opportunity and give me a trial. I wish to tell you that I shall not fail you. The only things I need from you are aspiration and regularity. The rest will be done by me.

If you have anything to ask, please do so. For your ultimate realisation, I feel that if I am strict with you, I am doing a good service to the Supreme in you. In New York, I have done it and it has been most successful. In Jamaica, West Indies, I am happy to tell you that not even one person has been irregular. There our number is twenty-three… I think it is twenty-four now. If you go through their attendance list, you will see how devotedly they have come to the Centre without me being there. I have come to Puerto Rico, I think, about twelve times, and there I have gone only twice — to Kingston, Jamaica. Of course, their Centre was established only last year but they are doing well, and I am going there on the 28th of March to see them. No demand in Jamaica: it is all love and concern and dedication that we get from them.

Here also in Puerto Rico we get love, dedication and devotion in infinite measure from some of you, but not from all of you. So you have to forgive me. Those who feel that they don't have to offer anything to the Supreme within themselves are really lucky! Please do not take this as a personal insult or as a scolding. I have come here neither to scold you nor to insult you. I have come here to love you and become one with you in your sufferings and also in your aspiration. After six months, I don't know what is going to happen here. If I have to become strict as I am in New York, I am sure that the situation here will become deplorable from the ordinary point of view, but not from the spiritual point of view. From the spiritual point of view, those who stick to the Centre in spite of the strict rules will be the real pillars of the Centre. Those who cannot do it will unfortunately create sorrow in their own lives.

A disciple of mine named Andrew Lepak has the spiritual name of Ribhu, which means "The son of Brahma, the Creator." He wrote me a letter in India and said, "Guru, I am now feeling you much more than when I stood in front of you. But please come back to us. If you want to stay in India, do stay for another month. You only have to write, telling me how much money you need. I will send you the money immediately. Stay there for another month but not more than a month. You have to come back again. I am feeling you more than I did when you were here, but you have to come back and not forget me."

So my inner being, my spirit, is all the time with you, with all my dearest disciples, no matter where I am. This feat I can do; your Guru is, after all, a realised soul. In this world, there are very few realised souls, especially in today's world. This I wish to tell you. Many people claim to have God-realisation, but God alone knows what calibre it represents. But a real spiritual Master, a true realised soul, is very, very rare on earth.

All sadhus and spiritual teachers proclaim that they are realised souls. Well, they have every right to tell people this; they also have every right to deceive people. But I wish to tell my disciples that if they have felt in me what I truly represent and what I stand for, they will be under no illusion. For inside me, the Supreme is living vividly, to guide each one of you. He has given me more capacity than I need to guide you.

In years to come, as Alo has prophesied here quite a few times, we will be known all over the world. It is not that our ego will push us forward, but it will be the dedicated service to the Supreme which will take us to many, many parts of the world. It is not ego that is pushing me or my disciples, but it is the selfless service with which the Supreme has entrusted us, that will compel us to work for the Supreme and serve Him all over the world. All of you have the same opportunity to dive into the sea of aspiration and dedicated service.