AUM — Vol.II-2, No.10, 27 October 1975

Sri Chinmoy: It is most kind of you to say so. With your soul’s permission, today we wish to observe your birthday. I understand that your birthday falls on the 24th of October, so in our absolutely modest way we would like to celebrate your birthday a few days in advance.

Sri Chinmoy: In honour of your birthday, I shall meditate with my students and pray to the Absolute Supreme to grant you infinite Peace, Light and Bliss. You are the supremely chosen instrument of our Father, so we shall pray to Him.

Governor Colon, while receiving the painting: We shall put it in our home in memory of you and your friends. I wish to express my gratitude to Sri Chinmoy and to all of you who have come tonight and who have honoured us on the occasion of my birthday. You have brought us many gifts and, above all, you have brought us the gift of spirituality, a gift to be treasured, a gift which deepens our inner life. Both Lila and myself are very joyous and most happy on the occasion of my birthday to receive these gifts from the Almighty through you. To you we offer our eternal gratitude. As a token of appreciation from the people of whom you sing in your song [“O My Puerto Rico"], which was so beautifully executed here by your disciples, I wish to give you a flag of Puerto Rico.

Sri Chinmoy: Dear spiritual brother, this has been my fourth visit. Each time I come to you, I come to pray to the Almighty to shower His choicest Blessings upon your devoted head and divinely surrendered heart.

Here we are observing your birthday. Each soul comes into the world to do something for God, to spread God’s Light. But each soul does not embody the same amount of potentiality, capacity and divinity. There are some souls which are most extraordinary; and you are one of those. Without the least possible hesitation, on the strength of my own inner experience and realisation I wish to tell you that you are a supremely chosen instrument of the Supreme for the Supreme. In you I always see a divine lion roaring for the expression-manifestation of God’s ultimate Truth, His boundless Light and His infinite Peace.

In terms of the earthly calendar, you are only thirty-nine years old. But in terms of the divine calendar, which is birthless and deathless, you are the supremely chosen instrument of the Heavenly Father. You were born in Puerto Rico. Yes, the Puerto Ricans can claim you as a Puerto Rican. But the lovers of Truth, the God-lovers, the seekers of the eternal Truth, will claim you as their very own, because in your heart they feel a cosmopolitan heart. In you, not only do your brothers and sisters of Puerto Rico feel perfectly safe, but we who are your brothers and sisters from all over the world feel a real haven of love, concern and perfection which you are for all mankind. In you we see a solid, strong, abiding choice of God.

When one becomes a perfect instrument of God, God blesses that person with a strong physical and a strong vital. This is the vital that expands, not the vital that strikes. You have an indomitable physical and vital which expand God’s Love and God’s Light. And the mind that you have is a clear mind, a mind bathed in clarity. You see the whole island in the twinkling of an eye. Present, past and future are at the express command of your vision of light and truth. You have an all-loving power which cares not for politics. You are the heart of self-giving God-love and all-illumining oneness-light. An illumined physical, vital, mind and heart: these are the things that we need in order to please God, fulfil God and manifest God on earth. And all these qualities that a perfect instrument of God needs, you have in abundant measure.

You are not only illumining this island, your enchanting island of Puerto Rico, but you are also illumining all truth-lovers, God-lovers and divine soldiers who are trying to manifest God here on earth. In you I see a pioneer-champion of Truth- Light for God’s expression, revelation and manifestation. The spiritual heart in me offers to your heart eternal gratitude, constant concern and supremely divine Light. You are the chosen pilot of Puerto Rico and you are also the true divine brother and lover of aspiring mankind.

Governor Colon: Thank you, Sri Chinmoy, for your expression about my humble person. In all my imperfections I can only say that to be beside you and to be able to feel and contemplate your spirituality and your holiness is a great source of inspiration, of light and of guidance. I only wish that you could guide me and help me to grow in spirituality so that I may, as you say, be of service to my people and mankind everywhere. I appreciate very deeply your words about my humble person.

Sri Chinmoy: All my love, all my gratitude to you. We are eternal friends, eternal sons of the Almighty. We shall fulfil each other in the Heart of the Almighty.

Puerto Rico's present Governor, the Honourable Rafael Hernandez-Colon, with his wife, Lila, invited Sri Chinmoy to visit them at their home during his brief stay in Puerto Rico this October. As the Governor's birthday, was just a few days away, Sri Chinmoy and his disciples brought cakes and gifts and made the visit into a festive occasion. The film Awakening, a half-hour documentary about Sri Chinmoy, was shown at the Governor's request. This is a transcription of parts of the conversation between Governor Colon and Sri Chinmoy and also of Sri Chinmoy's message to the Governor on his birthday.↩

Charity

Sweetness

Oneness

Satisfaction

Absolute

Boundless

Rededication to the United Nations' highest goals

A slightly abridged version also appeared in another publication, Diplomatic World, on 6 October.

From the left, seated: M.A. Shamsee, the Rev. D. Potter, Ms. Levitt, D. Keys, Rev. Tsang, A. Hixon, Chairperson. Standing:

To celebrate the opening of the General Assembly's 30th session, delegates and UN personnel joined leaders of the world's major faiths in a programme on 12 September at Headquarters. The Secretary-General wrote a message for the occasion, which stressed the immense potential of the UN and the requirement for "a renewal of our common faith and determination that the advances of the past thirty years will be maintained."

The programme began with silent meditation led by Sri Chinmoy, Director of the UN Meditation Group, who then sang one of his own compositions. Prayers were offered by: Norma Levitt, Co-Chairperson, World Union for Progressive Judaism; the Reverend Dan Potter, Executive Director, Council of Churches, City of New York, Reverend Jih Tsang, Assistant Abbot, Temple of Enlightenment; and Muddassir Ali Shamsee, Leader, UN Muslim Prayer Group.

One of two guest speakers was Mr. David S. Burgess, Senior Officer, UNICEF, who noted the ever more apparent need for individuals and nations to "recognize our human interdependence". Mr. Donald Keys, UN Representative of the World Association of World Federalists, maintained that "mankind is on the verge of taking its next big step...a step in awareness, a step in consciousness, a step in perspective, a step in relationships. ...we are in the throes of a new Copernican revolution in which man will come to see, naturally and normally, that the planet is the basis of social organization and inter-relationship."

A highlight of the event was the première performance of "O United Nations", a song composed by Sri Chinmoy.

The white lie

“I am very interested in the spiritual life and want to become your disciple,” she said, “but my mother is opposed to it. She tells me that your path is wrong. She tells me that I have to go to church, for only then will God be pleased with me. Master, what should I do? My soul wants to follow your path, but I can’t always be fighting and quarrelling with my mother.”

The Master concentrated inwardly and saw quite clearly that this particular girl was receiving some inner nourishment by coming to his Centre, whereas she was not getting anything when she went to church. Now, the Master knew that some people would have just the opposite experience — they would get nothing from him but would get spiritual nourishment from their church or from some other Master. But in this girl’s case, it was different.

So the Master said, “If your soul is making you feel that by coming to a particular place, your inner being is being nourished with inner light and you are running towards God, then when your mother stands in your way and tries in every way to hinder your progress, what will you do? When she asks if you have been to church, if you tell the truth and say, ‘No, mother, I didn’t go to church,’ she will simply not allow you to come to our Centre at all. So, just to keep peace and harmony, you have to tell a so-called white lie.”

“But Master,” the girl said, “Isn’t it wrong to lie? Won’t it bring me bad karma?”

“Not in this case. In this case, when you say that you have been to church, God will protect you because you are sincerely trying to go to Him. When you go to a spiritual teacher and follow his path, then you are going towards your real goal. I am not saying that the church does not have a real goal. No, it is only that unfortunately you are not finding your goal there. The church does have a goal and millions and billions of people feel that they will find it there, but you are finding your goal somewhere else. You are walking towards your goal along another path and there God is waiting for you.

“If you truthfully say to your mother, ‘Mother, I went to the Centre instead of going to church,’ she will be angry and she will make you feel totally miserable. So you have to see what you are aiming at. If you are aiming at the ultimate goal, you have to make yourself feel that walking toward the goal at every moment is of utmost importance. So you can tell an innocent lie in this case. God is there to forgive you since you are trying to reach Him in the way God Himself has inspired your particular soul to come to Him.”

The Master replied, “Yes, you can tell the truth to your mother, but then you will be unable to come to the Centre, and you will be unable to make progress in your own soul’s way toward your goal. Which is most important: to listen to your inner being, to your heart’s cry to reach the Highest in a specific way, or to listen to your mother? You have to see that the so-called truth has to be transcended, otherwise it will be extremely difficult for you to make any progress. But if your mother is also involved in the spiritual life, or if she allows you to come to the Centre and says that it is up to you whether you go to church or to the Centre, then you don’t have to tell lies at all. You can and should tell her the truth.

“Let me give you an analogy. One man with a knife is chasing after a second man in order to kill him. The man who is being chased takes shelter in somebody’s house. Then, when the other fellow arrives, he asks the owner whether the person he was chasing has taken shelter there. Now what can the owner do? If he says, ‘Yes, he is here,’ then the man with the knife will definitely kill the one who is hiding. But if he says, ‘No, he has not come into my house; I haven’t seen him,’ then although he would be telling a lie, he would also be saving a person’s life.”

But Master, doesn’t the world then have the right to call the owner a liar?”

“Morality will say that he is a liar. But your inner being will say that he has done the right thing. What is right in these circumstances? To go deep within and tell God the situation. If God says at that time, ‘Yes, tell the man that he is inside here,’ then you do it and your part is over. But if you don’t have direct access to God, immediately you will try to preserve God’s Reality. This Reality is a reality of protection and not a reality of violence and destruction. If you want to follow human morality, you will be allowing violence to take place and a person will be killed. You have to apply the truth in a way that pleases God and fulfils humanity.”

The girl still seemed uncertain, so the Master continued, “On the spur of the moment, somebody with a quick temper may declare in front of hundreds of people that he will kill someone because he is terribly angry with that person. Now, when he calms down he may say to himself, ‘It is a wrong thing for me to kill this person,’ so he does not keep his promise. Peace, love and compassion have dawned on him, so naturally he will forgive the other person. Now, from the mental level, this person is a liar, because he has not kept his promise. But in God’s Eyes he is a great victor. God’s Light and Compassion have come to the fore and he has really won a victory.

“In our day-to-day life we will always try to tell the truth. But we have to see if there is a higher cause that will be protected by telling a lie. You feel that you should walk along a specific path to reach your goal. If somebody that you are afraid of or whom you want to please stands in your way, then you are starving your soul’s possibilities and potentialities if you surrender to that person’s wishes. And this is a crime against your own soul. It is infinitely worse than telling a white lie.”

“Master, how can we tell which truth to follow and how to apply it in our life?” the girl asked.

The Master smiled and said, “The truth that will energise you, the truth that is going to eventually immortalise you, the truth that will take you to your ultimate, absolute, destined Goal — that is the truth you have to aim at. Otherwise, if you constantly make friends with the so-called truth of a lower level, then your spiritual life of highest height will never dawn.”

Some other disciples and seekers were listening to the conversation, seeing how it applied to their own lives. The Master turned to them and said, “You young boys and girls will never be able to come to a spiritual Master or spiritual path in any form if you are always afraid. If you listen to your parents all the time, you may have to wait millions of years to realise God because their way of approaching God is different from yours. They tell you, ‘Do this if you want to be close to God.’ But they themselves have not yet realised God, so how are you going to realise God by following their instructions? If somebody knows the Truth himself, then only should you have belief in that person.”

A new disciple then said, “But others have realised the Truth the way that our parents are suggesting.”

The Master offered this new disciple a sweet smile and said, “True, God is realising Himself, expressing Himself, in millions of ways. But God wants you to realise the Truth in a different way. If the message comes from within to follow a specific path, you have to follow that path and you have to be fully prepared to meet resistance from your parents or superiors. You want to reach the highest Goal which is based on God’s Truth, not on the so-called human or moral truth. That does not mean that I am asking you people to be immoral. Far from it. But at times the so-called moral truth stands in opposition to the highest, absolute Truth. That is why our Upanishadic seers used to say to God, ‘I surrender to You all my morality and my immorality, my darkness, my light.’”

While the Master was speaking, even though he wasn’t looking at her, the young girl began to feel that his words were entering into her very heart. Her whole countenance and expression began to change, and suddenly she threw herself at the Master’s feet.

“Master, Master,” she cried, “I wish to belong only to you. For nineteen years my physical parents have lovingly guided my outer life, but now it is time for you, my eternal father, to guide my inner life. Please accept me as your disciple.”

Sri Chinmoy day in San Francisco

Sri Chinmoy also visited his Victoria, B.C., Canada Centre on the same trip, and while there, met with Roman Catholic Bishop Remi De Roo. A large photo of that meeting was given a prominent spot in a local newspaper. (see p. 22).

The Sri Chinmoy Centre of San Francisco is being honored by a visit from their founder Sri Chinmoy Ghose from October 12 through October 17, 1975.

Sri Chinmoy is a prominent interdenominational religious leader and is currently the Director of the United Nations Meditation Group in New York City, a monthly lecturer at the United Nations, and the head of a non-governmental representative organization at the U.N. During the past ten years in which Mr. Ghose has lived in the United States, he has acquired a very distinguished reputation as an author and lecturer and is currently a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Joseph L. Alioto, Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco, do hereby proclaim SRI CHINMOY DAY in San Francisco, October 13, 1975.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the City and County of San Francisco to be affixed this sixth day of October, nineteen hundred and seventy-five.

Peace worker visits

Religion, spirituality and yoga²

When seekers come to the house they feel a divine vibration. If they are really sincere seekers, they will look for the living room. Otherwise, they will go away from the house. Only the sincere seekers feel God’s presence there. It gives them tremendous joy, so they want to see God and speak to God. For this they enter into the living room, where they try to lead a divine life. And from there, when they begin to feel the necessity of fulfilling their aspiration in a most significant way, they enter into the prayer and meditation room in order to achieve satisfaction in their inner life.

Sincere seekers feel that only seeing God and speaking to God is not enough. They feel that it is of utmost importance to pray to God and meditate on God so that they can be divinely and supremely satisfied. They cry to God in their prayer and meditation room for boundless Peace, Light and Bliss so that they can fulfil God on earth. They meditate on God so they can manifest His perfect Perfection in and through themselves.

Human religion and divine religion. Human religion says, “God is everywhere.” Divine religion says, “God is everywhere, I don’t deny it. I fully subscribe to this view. But I want a living God with whom I can talk and mix at every moment. I want to feel Him. I want to see Him. I want to speak to Him. I want a living God.” This is the soulful need of divine religion.

Human spirituality and divine spirituality. Human spirituality says, “God is above, in the highest realm of consciousness. He is only in Heaven. Here in this world of imperfection God is not to be seen, not to be found, not to be expected.” Divine spirituality does not see eye-to-eye with human spirituality. It says, “God is everywhere. He is on the highest plane of consciousness and again He is on the lowest plane, in the lowest chasm. He is everywhere. If God is not here on earth, then I do not need that kind of God. My God is within, He is without, He is below, He is above. He is everywhere. He has to be with me, even on earth, one hundred percent of the time.” Divine spirituality does not care for the God who stays only in Heaven.

Human Yoga and Divine Yoga. Human Yoga is all about the body, the perfection of the body and the perfection of the physical consciousness. In human Yoga the body is all. If the body can live without food, then the body is perfect. If the body can live without sleep, then the body is perfect. If the body can walk on water without sinking or walk on fire without being burned, then the body is perfect. But divine Yoga is totally different. Divine Yoga wants the real, integral perfection of the body and the soul. It feels that each limb has to aspire to receive light from above. The physical has to be a perfect receptacle. The capacity of receptivity must grow inside the physical along with the growing capacity of the soul. In divine Yoga perfection lies in receiving light from above and also in bringing to the fore the light, peace and bliss that are inherent in the soul.

The divine Yoga says, “The smile of the soul has to be manifested here on earth, but first the cry of the body, vital, mind and heart have to reach the highest transcendental Source. The union of the soul’s manifestation-smile and the body’s aspiration-cry is what the divine Yoga needs. Aspiration for the highest and manifestation of the highest are what the divine Yoga needs. When we aspire we discover how we shall consciously reach the plane which we eternally need, and when we manifest we feel that we are offering the highest to all of God’s creation.

Here on earth we practise religion, spirituality and Yoga in a human way. Religion says, “I am great. Why? I can exercise God’s Justice. I can punish the rest of the world if so is the Will of God. I am great because I can tolerate the world. The world is full of imperfections, the world is constantly rejecting and distorting me, but in spite of that I can tolerate the world. Also, although the world is unforgiveable, I have the capacity to forgive the world; therefore, I am great.”

Spirituality says, “I am good. I try to love mankind. Although mankind and I have countless limitations and imperfections, according to my power of receptivity and capacity I try to love mankind. I am imperfect and the world is imperfect, but with all my imperfections I try to love the imperfect world as my own, my very own; therefore, I am good.”

Yoga says, “I do not know whether I am great or good. But whether I am great or small, whether I am good or bad, I am what God wants me to be and I will become what He wants me to become. I do not want to be caught by the snares of either bad propensities or good capacities. I want only to be the devoted, dedicated, soulful and self-giving instrument of God.”

Religion speaks to the sleeping world: “Wake up! Can’t you see that God is standing at your door? It is high time for you to wake up. God is standing at your door waiting for you. He has come to you out of His infinite Bounty.”

Spirituality speaks to the awakening world: “Look, look! Your Eternal Friend is waiting for you. Look at Him, smile at Him, talk to Him. He is your Eternal Friend.”

Yoga speaks to the awakened seeker: “Why are you such a fool? Why can’t you recognise your own self, the real in you? The highest in you, the real Reality in you is right in front of you. Claim yourself. Claim unreservedly and wholeheartedly what you really and eternally are.”

Religion says to the seeker, “O seeker, I can tell you who God is. I can tell you all about God in unmistakable terms.” Spirituality says to the seeker, “O seeker, I can do something more for you. Religion says it knows who God is, and it can tell you all about God. But I can tell you where God is. I can show you where He is and what He is doing. I will be able to establish a free access for you to God.” Yoga says to the seeker, “O seeker, I can not only tell you about God and show you where God is, but I can make you another God.”

Religion, spirituality and Yoga. Religion tries to do the right thing precisely because it is afraid of God. It loves God, but it is afraid of God and does not want to displease God in any way; therefore, it tries to please God. It feels that by pleasing God it can fulfil itself.

Spirituality feels that it is its bounden duty to please God precisely because God is its Source, its perennial Source, and eventually it has to go back to the Source and claim the Source as its very own.

Yoga knows and feels that God is omnipresent. On the strength of its oneness with God, Yoga feels that it can do nothing but please God in every way, at every moment.

Each individual human being has religion in him, has spirituality in him, has Yoga in him. When he uses his religious power, he is blessed with God’s infinite Greatness-Light. When he uses his spiritual power, he is blessed with God’s infinite Goodness-Power. When he uses his Yogic power, God blesses him with what He has and what He is. What He has and what He is far transcends His Greatness-Light and Goodness-Power. It is something beyond our human comprehension. It is something a Yogi grows into and eventually becomes. It is something that transcends both greatness and goodness, a Reality which perfectly houses God’s ever-transcending Height and God’s ever-manifesting Vision-Delight.

Syracuse University, Hendricks Chapel, Saturday, 26 October 1975↩

Jharna-Kala news³

Before I give a short talk on spirituality and art, I wish to sing a devotional song.

[Sri Chinmoy sang Dipta Madhuri, a Bengali song written and composed by himself.]

October 6th, 7th and 8th saw a three-day exhibit of Sri Chinmoy's art at Manhattan's prestigious School of Visual Arts. The brief showing was viewed by hundreds of artists, art lovers, art students and art teachers. On the last day of the exhibit Sri Chinmoy gave a short talk on art and spirituality, and answered questions. This is a transcription of the talk. School of Visual Arts, 8 October 1975↩

Spirituality and art

Spirituality is the essence of an ideal. This ideal illumines the world, the world that cries to elevate its consciousness. Art is the expression of an idea. This idea inspires the world to dive deep within and to move forward constantly. Spirituality is an upward movement and art is a forward movement. Spirituality is a soaring bird and art is a running athlete.

Spirituality has a friend: aspiration. Art has a friend: inspiration. Our aspiration-friend tells us that when we reach our destined goal we not only see the face of our goal but we also grow into the very image of our goal. Our inspiration-friend tells us to run forward, for there is the goal. That goal is awaiting us. At God’s choice Hour we are destined to reach that goal.

A seeker tells his artist-friend, “Not this, not this, my friend. Something else here on earth and there in Heaven.” The artist-friend tells the seeker, “This is it. This is the thing that you actually want. I have precisely what you want.”

There is real spirituality and false spirituality, real art and false art. Real art does not imitate anything, not even nature. Real art does not imitate; it only represents. Real spirituality does not reject anything; it only accepts and transforms. Real spirituality is not asceticism. It does not advocate living in hermit caves. Real spirituality is based on vision. Real spirituality tells us to accept life and to transform the undivine in life. Today’s imperfection need not be the imperfection of tomorrow. Tomorrow’s perfection can dawn provided we cry soulfully, ceaselessly and unconditionally for illumining light.

Human art and divine art. The human art is social and commercial success. The divine art is constant outer and inner progress. Success and progress. Success stimulates us. Progress energises and immortalises us. Success is a short-lived life. Progress is an abiding life. Success can easily be followed by frustration, and inside frustration looms large destruction. But when we make progress in our inner and outer life, we feel a sense of satisfaction. Progress is of paramount importance in our life here on earth.

The human artist and the divine artist. The human artist has as an aim: greatness. The divine artist has a goal: goodness. Greatness consciously or unconsciously creates supremacy. If I have greatness, I must needs be much higher than you. This is the only way I can exercise supremacy and lord it over you. Goodness does not do this. If I have goodness, I can establish my inseparable oneness with you. But if I am higher than you, then I cannot establish my oneness with you on the same footing. To the desire-loving world, God is great. To the aspiration-loving world, God is good.

A divine artist always tries to establish oneness with art, music, poetry. He feels that it is oneness that can offer satisfaction, not separativity or a sense of duality.