Question: How can I develop and maintain a feeling of worthiness and self-respect?

Sri Chinmoy: You have to feel that you need God and that you have God. You are not aware of the fact that the thing that you want and need in order to discover your worth is already there. God is already there, but you don’t see Him. You are an instrument of God; His Capacity, His Vision, His Reality are there and He wants to manifest through you. But how can you be conscious of it? You can become conscious through your dedicated, soulful aspiration and service. If you pray and meditate you will become aware of God’s presence in your life, and you will see that you are really worthy of God’s Love. Because of your prayer and meditation, the Inner Pilot will make you conscious of His activities; and you will see that He is manifesting His Divinity in and through you. When you are conscious of this, who else but you can be worthy? So if you become more soulful, devoted and sincere in your approach to the Inner Pilot, you can easily become conscious of your own divine qualities. For you will realise that everything that God has, you are going to have as your own. You have to feel that divine confidence is most necessary. Divine confidence makes you feel that you are worthy of becoming God’s instrument. And what is divine confidence? It is confidence in God and in yourself. Unless you have confidence in God and in yourself, you can never be worthy of anything. Your self-confidence tells you that you will do everything for God; and your God-confidence tells you that He will do everything in and through you, that He is more than eager to manifest through you. When you have confidence in yourself and confidence in God, you will be able to see your inner progress and inside that progress you will see that you are really worthy of God’s Compassion, Joy and Pride.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Flame-Waves, part 6, Agni Press, 1976
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/fw_6