Question: Do you notice many changes on your return to Dumaguete after so many years?

Sri Chinmoy: I see that the inner, spiritual qualities of Dumaguete have been kept intact, and for that I am so happy. Again, modernism and scientific development also have entered. On the one hand, that is good, but sometimes we surrender our inner qualities, our heart's qualities, when we develop the material life. Then we lose the most precious thing in life.

I am so happy that in Dumaguete you have kept a balance between them. You have kept your spirituality and, at the same time, you have adopted modern, scientific ways. I am seeing that you are able to derive benefit from technology and, at the same time, keep your precious qualities of the heart.

Some countries, unfortunately, become very hungry or greedy. They want only outer development, outer achievements, material success, material prosperity. They neglect their inner qualities; their simplicity, sincerity, purity, humility and other good qualities they lose or destroy. They know what they are destroying, but they do not care. They feel that people have only outer eyes, and they want only outer appreciation and admiration. You do not know at this moment whether I am having a good thought or a bad thought, whether I am thinking well of you or inwardly criticising you. But if you see me wearing a nice suit or something very gorgeous, then immediately you admire and appreciate me. Outer appearances can easily fool us.

If we allow modern technology to lord it over us, it can and will, but at the same time we may lose our heart’s main quality, which is love. The call letters of your radio station are LUV — love. Our philosophy is love, devotion and surrender. We start with love. In everything we do, we try to express our love of God. We love both God the Creator and God the creation and feel that He is not only high in Heaven, but also here on earth. He is not only above us, but also within us and around us.

Again, we have to know there are two kinds of love — human love and divine love. Human love is all possession. Divine love is expansion. With human love we are only thinking of loving and being loved by one individual. Divine love wants to love everybody — the whole creation. Human love is very limited. If you are born in Dumaguete, your love will be confined only to Dumaguete. But if your love is divine, then it will spread throughout the length and breadth of the Philippines and enter into the farthest corners of the globe. Divine love, which thinks of God first, is all-pervading, like the boundless ocean.

Through your radio station, you are using your love properly. Because of your radio station, so many thousands and thousands of people are getting joy every day. If you didn't have this station, they would have only talked to the members of their family. Their love and their wisdom would be confined only to their own tiny house. But you are bringing to them the message of something far beyond their domain. You are bringing the message of universal love and oneness.