> — Sri Chinmoy
It is infinitely better to be an honest and moral person than to be an immoral, insincere and dishonest person. We won’t tell lies; we won’t deceive our parents, friends, teachers or students. If we are scrupulous about something, such as telling the truth, that means we are aiming at perfection. Because we are striving, partial perfection is already there. Partial perfection is bound to be found in our attitude itself. But for full perfection, many things will be required. If we are just scrupulous, that is not enough. We need many more divine qualities in order to achieve full perfection.
We have to know what truth we are aiming at: the ultimate Truth or the ordinary, mundane, day-to-day truth. Suppose you want to drink a glass of water and you tell me, “I am going to drink a glass of water.” In a few seconds you change your mind; you feel that your thirst is not so great. You told me that you were going to drink a glass of water, but you did not drink it. So, from the literal point of view, you have told a lie. Now, if you do drink the water, that means that you have told me the truth. But just because you have told the truth, that does not mean that you have realised the highest Truth. Again, if you don’t drink the water, in spite of telling me that you will drink it, you do not lose your own highest consciousness even for a second. We say we will do something and perhaps we don’t do it. But in this case, the truth we have broken is not the ultimate Truth.
There are many people on earth who are honest, but we have to know how far their honesty can take them. There are many clerks working in big offices who have never told a lie. They are honest; they always tell the truth. When it is a matter of telling the truth about filling out forms or receiving money, these individuals are perfect. Day after day they speak truthfully hundreds of times; they don’t deceive anyone. But when it is a matter of aspiration, when it is a matter of wanting to reach God, where are they? These clerks find the ultimate, absolute Truth beyond their imagination. They cannot even imagine praying to God for two or three hours a day, let alone being one with His Consciousness. Here they are absolutely limited.
Suppose one of our arms is dirty and we enter into the ocean. The part of us that is a little bit purer also enters into the ocean. Then what happens? The sea of illumination bathes the part that has a little purity and that part is properly illumined. But the part that is full of inconscience is also illumined. This is how real illumination takes place. We have to jump into the sea of spirituality with both the undivine part of our nature and the so-called pure part. The so-called pure part in us is our morality, our earthly truth. When we enter into the sea of spirituality, our entire being is flooded with illumination.
Right now we feel that the truth has to come only from within us, that there is no truth in the outer world. But no! The outer world is also God’s creation. We are all trying to be spiritual persons. When somebody tells us something for our own benefit, we have to accept it. If our neighbour has found some truth which we have not yet discovered, let us not be stubborn about accepting it. Only a foolish and stubborn person will always hold to his own opinion. The difference between a wise man and a stupid man is this: a wise man will try to rectify his opinion. It is not lack of wisdom on his part that makes him change his opinion. No! He sees a higher truth, a higher light, a higher possibility and he changes his opinion to reflect the higher truth. But a stupid person always sticks to his original opinions. He actually does not hold an opinion; the opinion holds him. We say we are holding an opinion. But no! Very often we ourselves are in the grips of this opinion. And right now our opinions need not and cannot be always founded on the ultimate Truth.
The real Truth, the highest Truth, comes to us only when we reach the Absolute. When we reach the Absolute, only then we can realise and embody the absolute Truth. But before we realise the Absolute, before we embody God, we cannot live the ultimate Truth. It is impossible! First we have to embody something; then only can we live it. Only when I embody Truth, Light, Love or any other divine quality can I reveal and manifest this divine quality in my day-to-day life. To live means to manifest. When we live Truth, we manifest Truth.
When we have given birth to Love, Light, Joy, Peace, Harmony, Bliss, Power and other divine qualities, they need a place to live. We have to constantly try to house all these divine qualities in our consciousness. If we aspire to keep these divine qualities inside us, we have to try to constantly give life to them. How can we give life to them? We can give life to them by consciously making them play within and without us. If we do this, then Truth is going to create life-breath inside these divine qualities. When Truth starts functioning in these divine qualities, this means that life is functioning. For their life is Truth. When life is functioning slowly and steadily, we will see our outer life listening to the dictates of our inner life. At that time we will be able to live the Truth.
> What is joy today may be sorrow tomorrow. But what is Truth today cannot be falsehood tomorrow.
> — Sri ChinmoyFrom:Sri Chinmoy,Aspiration-Plants, Agni Press, 1974
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