Question: How can the knowledge of spirituality help professional people in their efforts to serve mankind through their work?³⁹

Sri Chinmoy: First of all, let us try to know that spirituality is not something abstract and uncertain, something that encourages us to leave the world, something that is only for the chosen few. No! Spirituality is certainty itself; and, if it is true spirituality, it always encourages us to accept life. Spirituality is the simplification of life, not the rejection or negation of life.

Each individual has something to do here on earth, so he consciously or unconsciously throws himself into multifarious activities. He wants to get everything done sooner than at once so that he can go on to something better, something more illumining and fulfilling. There is a direct route or short cut that an individual can follow to reach his destination. This is the way of concentration, which is the first rung in the spiritual ladder. If we concentrate on the thing that we are supposed to do, we bring to the fore or bring down from Above extra capacity, confidence and assurance. If we can concentrate before each undertaking, we will not only simplify our task but also expedite a satisfactory result.

It is like this. All along the route to our destination are doubt-trees, insecurity-trees, hesitation-trees, anxiety-trees and worry-trees. They are lying across the road blocking our path. Concentration clears the road of these obstacles. It transforms doubt into faith, insecurity into security and so forth. Everything discouraging becomes encouraging and helpful as we move towards our destination. And that is only the first step. After concentration clears the road of confusion, meditation will purify and illumine our mind so that we see that the goal is not only right in front of us but also within us. This is the second rung of the ladder. Finally, when we reach the final rung of the ladder, contemplation, we realise that we are the goal itself. This moment we are the seeker running after the goal; the next moment we have become the goal itself.

So, if we want efficiency and perfection in our profession, then spirituality is the only answer. No matter what we want to achieve from life and in life, spirituality can help us. It simplifies, purifies, illumines, fulfils and immortalises our existence. It is the only way to make us feel that we need the goal, to show us how to reach the goal and to make us clearly see that we are nothing other than the goal itself. Spirituality is not something uncertain, vague, meaningless or fruitless. No! It is not only meaningful and fruitful but also illumining and fulfilling. And inside illumination and fulfilment is the satisfaction that we want.