The giver and the receiver

Part I: Discourse

The giver and the receiver¹

My Lord Supreme, You accept from me my teeming worries and anxieties as though these things are extremely beautiful.

My Lord Supreme, You accept from me my poisonous doubts as though these things are remarkably meaningful.

My Lord Supreme, You accept from me my untiring insecurity and my unending impurity as though these things are going to adorn Your Heart.

My Lord Supreme, You accept from me my ocean-vast ingratitude as though it is something that is going to richly satisfy You.

My Lord Supreme, when You give me Your Peace, Your Love, Your Joy, Your Compassion and Your divine Blessings in boundless measure, I get joy, true. But Your Joy, while giving, far surpasses my joy in spite of the fact that I am the receiver and You are the giver.

My Lord Supreme, when I give You my undivine qualities unreservedly, You get much more joy and satisfaction in receiving than I get in giving.

My Lord Supreme, You are always great. You are always good. Will there ever be a time when I shall be able to defeat You in anything?

"My child, you have already defeated Me."

I have defeated You? Impossible, my Lord, impossible! How can I ever defeat You? Tell me, how?

"My child, I need you infinitely more than you need Me. My need for you far surpasses your need for Me. Does this not prove that you have defeated Me badly?

"Now let Me explain to you this secret and sacred philosophy of Mine. You do not know who you are, but I know who you are. You think that you are ignorance incarnate, but I see you as an experience of Mine. I see you as My own evolving Life. I see you as My own dream-manifesting Reality.

"It is not you; it is I. It is not yours; it is Mine. It is I who am always in the process of unveiling and becoming, and becoming and unveiling. Thus it is I who sing in and through you My Eternity's Song: Oneness. It is I who dance in and through you My Infinity's Dance: Perfection. It is I who cry and smile, and smile and cry, in and through you My Immortality's Silence-Sound: Satisfaction."

Part II: Questions and answers on heart-power and mind-power

Question: When is mind-power equal to heart-power?

We can think of the mind as eyes and the heart as hands. With eyes we see; with hands we work. If we shape something beautiful, then heart-power fulfils its purpose. When our eyes can see all beauty and all purity, then mind-power reaches the zenith of perfection. Heart-power fulfills its role by becoming one with the ultimate Reality. Mind-power fulfils its role by seeing purity-beauty all around.

Question: Is it better to use heart-power or mind-power?

Question: Do occult power and spiritual power originate from heart-power or mind-power, or both?

Question: How can we increase the power of the heart?

Question: Can you have an experience in the heart without feeling it in the heart?

Question: If a person who cares for mind-power asks a question about heart-power of a person who cares for heart-power, can the heart-power person satisfy the mind-power person with his answer?

Question: Will the exclusive use of heart-power alone end wars and inter-personal conflict?

In a plane there are crew members of higher and lower rank. If the lower ranks do not accept the guidance of the higher ranks, the plane crashes. In God's Eye, all ranks are important. Mind-power has to be perfect, too. If mind-power is not perfect, heart-power will not be able to operate in and through the mind.

Heart-power can function in and through the mind, but mind-power has to be receptive. The mind is getting the opportunity to accept heart-power from the heart, but the mind has to avail itself of this opportunity. First, light comes into the heart, then into the mind. Once the mind is convinced, it will convince the vital, and the vital will convince the physical. The heart always accepts the soul's oneness-light. But until the mind accepts it and is perfected by it, it will not be able to work effectively on earth. Mind-power has to become the instrument of heart-power in order to manifest the Supreme's Will.

So, heart-power alone is not enough to establish the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. World peace, world harmony, world perfection will take place only when all the parts of the being accept the soul's light that flows through the heart. If they do not accept it, then no matter how much light the soul has, there can be no perfection, although light itself can remain. I have light. If you accept it, then your perfection will take place and my perfection will increase, because I have accepted you as part and parcel of my own life. You are a manifestation of what I am. If you see what I have and am and if you accept it, then my complete perfection takes place in and through you.

Question: At the present stage of man's evolution, which prevails: mind-power or heart-power?

If a country is warlike, then the undivine vital is to the fore. If a country is crying for peace, it is living in the heart. Right now, there is not a single country that is predominantly in the heart. All are wanting in a sincere cry for peace. Again, like an individual, each country can change its consciousness. Right now we do not have the capacity either to destroy permanently or to build permanently; but there will come a time when we will give all value to building and not to destroying.

Part III -- Love and serve

Love and serve¹⁰

Inspiration has many, many friends. Of all its friends, aspiration is by far the best. Illumination has many, many friends. Of all its friends, perfection is by far the best. Aspiration is our heart's inner cry. Illumination is our life's outer smile. The inner cry climbs high, higher, highest and tries to become devotedly, soulfully and unconditionally one with the ever-transcending Reality. The outer smile spreads all around and tries to manifest Divinity, Eternity, Infinity and Immortality.

A true seeker is he who continually wants to grow, glow and flow in the Heart of the Absolute Supreme. He loves God and serves God not because God is all powerful but because God is all goodness. He loves God because he knows that without God he does not exist. He serves God because he feels that without him, God does not exist.

At every moment, a true seeker has to love God and serve God with a pure heart and a clear mind. A heart of purity and a mind of clarity each seeker must possess in order to accelerate his inner progress and outer success.

A true seeker offers to God what he has and what he is. What he has is ignorance. What he is, is a gratitude-heart. When he offers his gratitude-heart, he becomes a chosen instrument of the Supreme. A chosen instrument at times pleases God in his own way; at other times he pleases God in God's own Way. There comes a time when the chosen instrument is transformed into an unconditionally surrendered instrument. An unconditionally surrendered instrument of God pleases God at every moment in God's own Way.

There are two worlds: the world of desire and the world of aspiration. In the aspiration-world, there are three things that we have to discover: divine love, divine devotion and divine surrender. Today's human love is tomorrow's frustration and the day after tomorrow's destruction. Divine love is today's illumination, tomorrow's perfection and the day after tomorrow's satisfaction, complete and perfect. Human devotion is nothing short of unconscious, unrecognised attachment. Divine devotion is conscious, spontaneous and continuous dedication to one's own higher existence-reality. Human surrender is the surrender of a slave, a forced surrender. Divine surrender is totally different. In divine surrender, the finite recognises and accepts the Infinite as its very own. The drop enters into the ocean and becomes the ocean itself. In divine surrender the unlit, the obscure and the impure part of us enters into the illumined and illumining portion of our existence. Our ignorance-world enters into our wisdom-world; the little "I" merges into the infinite "I," which is the universal and transcendental Consciousness.

Before we enter into the aspiration-world, we remain in the desire-world. When we live in the desire-world, greatness is of paramount importance to us. Even when we first enter into the aspiration-life, in the beginning the message of greatness at times looms large. But the real message of the aspiration-world is goodness. Desire cries for greatness. Aspiration cries for goodness.

Greatness has two standards of existence: a higher and a lower. He who is great consciously or unconsciously wants to remain an inch higher than the rest of the world. But he who is good wants to remain consciously, soulfully and devotedly one with all human beings to love and serve the Supreme in them. In this feeling of oneness, perfection dawns, and in perfection, what looms large is Eternity's Satisfaction.

Julius Caesar declared: Veni, vidi, vici, "I came, I saw, I conquered." This is the height of the greatness-world. But the height of the goodness-world is totally different. It comes from the inmost recesses of the seeker's oneness-heart and declares: "I came into the world, I loved the world, I became one with the world."

This expresses a real acceptance of life, not a rejection of life. True spirituality is the acceptance of earth-life. A true seeker is he who accepts life, transforms life and perfects life so that the earth-life can become a conscious instrument of God. Earth-life is constant thirst, constant hunger. This hunger is the soul's eternal hunger to become inseparably one with the Highest, and then to manifest the Highest here on earth. True spirituality advocates both God-acceptance and life-acceptance. In true spirituality, the seeker first tries to realise God and then to manifest Him in and through his own life.

When the seeker is on the verge of realisation, he sees goodness within and goodness without. On the strength of his goodness, he feels a true and abiding satisfaction. But God-realisation cannot be achieved overnight. It is not like making instant tea or coffee. True spirituality is a slow and steady process. Slow and steady wins the inner race. Gradually the seeker makes inner and outer progress. In true spirituality, this progress offers the seeker at every moment a sense of satisfaction, and satisfaction alone can immortalise him. In the beginning of his spiritual life, the seeker finds success. This success inspires him; therefore, he makes friends with it. But the same seeker, when he is advanced, feels the necessity of progress only; for success is a short-lived experience, whereas progress is continually carrying him into the everlasting and ever-transcending Beyond.

Love and serve: questions and answers[^11-20]: 11-20.

Question: Why is God so subtle?

Question: Throughout illusion, throughout enlightenment, throughout attachment and non-attachment why do we always say that God is good?

When we are in the desire-world, God fulfils one or two desires of ours. At that time, we say that God was good to us because He fulfilled our desires. Eventually, we come to realise that just by satisfying our desires, we are not achieving anything significant. What was good according to our receptivity or light yesterday need not be good today. Yesterday God was good because He fulfilled our desires. Today God is good, not because He is fulfilling our desires, but because He has given us the inner cry to fulfil our aspiration.

Question: There is a lot of sickness and sadness in the world. What is the best way to seek spiritual healing?

Question: How can one bring forth gratitude through oneself?

Question: If I meditate upon the sensation "I am", will this bring realisation?

Question: What level of communication have you found most rewarding regarding the world situation?

Question: Why is it that in all the world there are only a few spiritual seekers? And why is it that only perhaps a few of those will ever see God?

A kindergarten student will naturally find it impossible to get a Master's degree immediately. It may take him twenty, twenty-two, twenty-four years, but one day he will also get a Master's degree. Here we are all seekers. Even those who are wallowing in the pleasures of ignorance, if they have a sincere belief in God, are seekers in their own way. Not only those who are praying to God and meditating on God but also those who have faith in God are seekers. If someone has faith that God can do something for him, although He may not be doing it right now, that person is an unconscious seeker. The very fact that someone has belief in God is a sign of that person's God-acceptance. In the course of time, those aspirants will become like us. They will feel that mere belief won't do, that they have to consciously try to manifest their belief, which right now is vision, and transform it into reality. When they have that kind of inner feeling, at that time they become conscious seekers.

Question: How do we know what God wants us to manifest, and how can we obtain those qualities or things?

We do not have to know anything. We only have to cry sincerely to God to manifest Himself in and through us. If we become an unconditional instrument, what will God do? He will fulfil Himself in and through us in His own Way. So let us express our wish to manifest God not by asking, "God, tell me what You want me to do. Then I will be able to please You," but by saying, "God, do what You want to do in and through me."

Question: During meditation and prayer, some people concentrate on certain objects on the shrine, like photographs or some other things. Is it wise for them to cling to these objects, or is it wiser for them to meditate on something that has no form, that they cannot see?

Question: Eventually, when we realise God, will all these things drop off?

Part IV -- Questions and answers on happiness[^21-34]

Question: Is it better to be sincerely sad or falsely happy?

If you are sincerely unhappy, use the antidote. Cry more within. Be more spiritual. Increase your inner cry. Then your unhappiness will be illumined. Your inner cry will make your unhappiness go away. But do not stick to false happiness. Like a false coin it will be detected. Even you yourself will catch it. Again, if you are really happy, if you show off your happiness to others, they will only be jealous. If you are fortunate enough to realise God today, although others know they will get much benefit from your realisation, still they will become jealous. Your happiness does not matter to others.

Question: Where does true happiness lie?

Question: What is the soul's happiness?

Question: What is the difference between happiness, joy and bliss?

Question: How can we feel happiness when we displease you?

Question: How can we realise that only God's Will can give us happiness?

Question: When we feel unhappy, is it because we are not listening to our Inner Pilot, or is the Supreme having an experience in us?

Question: How can we remain happy in the face of obstacles?

Question: Is it possible to experience happiness on the spiritual plane while you are unhappy on the physical plane?

Question: Could my own inner joy help the rest of my family, like my husband?

Question: Is it more effective to pray for peace of mind or for cheerfulness when you are unhappy?

Question: Often when I first wake up in the morning, I don't feel happy.

Question: Will outer happiness help our spiritual progress?

Question: Sometimes when I am happy I want to share my happiness with others and help them be happy. Is this possible?

Part V -- General questions and answers

Question: Guru, sometimes when I don't see you for a long time and I sit down to meditate on your picture, I feel there is a block that does not let me feel your love and concern that is flowing to me. I feel that you are displeased with me and that you have reason to be so.

The block that you see does not come from me, and it does not come from you. It is a hostile attack that wants to take you away from my life and separate you from my love and my light. Forces like this want to make you unhappy. You set up a standard and say that only if something is done in this way is it perfection. But it is not good to allow your mind to calculate your progress or shape your goal. Your mind says that if you have this experience, then you will call it light; if you have another experience, then you will call it peace or power. But light itself is power. Peace is power. If you had real peace, then the atom bomb could drop down right next to you and you would not hear it. Certainly that kind of peace is power. In each thing is found all. So do not try to put everything in a certain place or call it by a certain name. Do not try to give reality a certain shape or form. Do not wait for the mind to be convinced; do not wait for the mind to measure your progress or your goal. The Supreme will show you reality according to His Will.

There are different ways to score a goal in a game. In soccer you can use your left foot, or your right foot, or your head. You should let God make the decision as to whether you will use your right foot or left foot or head. Before you aim, invoke the Presence of the Supreme's Eye. Then the mental sense of perfection will not enter. Then the mind will not say, "Only if you do this, or experience this, are you achieving perfection."

Question: Although I am sure that this is my path and I get intense joy in my heart from my devotion to you, sometimes I feel a strong longing for a quiet, monastic life. Where does that longing come from, and if it has a negative origin, how can I best overcome it?

If austerity and self-denial were the way to realisation, then you ought to cut off your arms, then your nose, and your ears and your legs. You should cut off limb after limb in order to realise God. Then we would say: "He has really achieved self-denial." It is the same with the old kind of monastic life. If you go and sit in a cave in the Himalayas, do not think that realisation will be waiting for you like a ripe fruit which you can just go and eat. No. This is not possible today.

Perhaps if someone is living a very materialistic life — like those people who say, "Eat, drink and be merry!" — and one wishes to change, then it would be good to lead a monastic life for a very brief period. But that is all. One must strike a balance. One need not build a Taj Mahal in order to meditate every day; but it is not necessary to go to a cave either. Today one should live in a small apartment or a house — very simple, but not austere.

Question: If we long to achieve Nirvana — that is, the total annihilation of the soul-existence — instead of aspiring for the manifestation of the Divine on earth, is that also an attitude of the deceptive vital?

In your case, you have followed our path for some years and have made gradual progress. When you follow our path and have made some progress, the hostile forces — even the deities — bring down the Goal right in front of your head. It is a kind of temptation, let us say. It is like a parent who brings a toy which is up near the ceiling right down before the child's face. When the child grabs for it, the parent pulls it away thinking that the child will not value it. But a day comes when the child grows taller and gets a ladder that reaches the ceiling and he is able to get the toy by himself.

You have to understand this kind of temptation on three planes: the vital plane, the mental plane and the psychic plane. You have to know the difference between the formations of the vital, mind and heart. Temptation in the vital is deception. Temptation in the mind is illusion. But temptation in the heart is ultimately illumination because the heart sees through the illusion and the fantasy of the mind and envisions the Reality itself. The heart will only feel gratitude to the Supreme for bringing the Goal in front of it without any effort on its part. The heart says, "Supreme, I thank You because, out of Your infinite Compassion and Concern, You have given me the vision of my Goal.”

What can you do when the Goal is in front of you? You may try to grasp it; that is the human reaction. The divine reaction is to be ready to drink the Nectar, but to wait for God's chosen Hour. At God's choice Hour, the illusion of the mind and the deception of the vital have to go. At that time, the heart knows that the Goal is being offered by the Supreme Himself.

Question: Guru, I wish to share with you an experience I had a few weeks ago. I was taking a bath in the river near my house when a voice seemed to call out my name. As I searched for the direction of the sound, a Christ-like figure was sort of delineated in my mind. My heart welcomed the vision by saying, "Brother Jesus, I do not need you; your brother Chinmoy is my Master." At this time, the figure in my mind turned into a black bird of prey and flew out of my mind, sounding off its belching screams.

This can also be seen in another light, as a test. Even though I never test my disciples, it could be seen as a test of sincerity, strength and faith in your own Master. In your particular case, it was not a test, but your faith and sincerity came to the fore in rejecting the assistance of one particular Master because you had one already. I repeat: the real Christ, on the strength of his inseparable oneness with me, would have blessed you for your sincerity and faith in me.

Question: Guru, I also saw the Christ, full of love, light and compassion. I also received a message from Him. Is this all true or is it an illusion? Was my ego interfering? After the experience I wrote a poem.

Question: Does evil exist or is it in our minds?

Each one has his own way of interpreting something. If somebody uses his mind to determine the nature of something, and if that particular thing does not give joy or satisfaction to the mind, then the mind will consider it evil. But the heart will say, "No, no! Something which gives no joy is not necessarily evil, only it has less light."

Anything that has been created by God has light. Your soul has light and a chair also has light. The only thing is, your soul has more light. If I turn off the light in this room, you may not see any light at all. As soon as you see darkness, then you say it is evil. But spiritual people don't use the term “evil”. They say, "What it is, is less light."

Question: Does the inner light have a power of its own to reveal itself to a seeker even though that person has a Master?

Question: When I work during the night, I often feel very old. At that time, I also feel everything so clearly. What is that state of clearness?

Question: I've always thought that the people who did some work using their hands were more conscious than others.

Each has to appreciate his job, whatever he is doing. Farmers work with their hands. That is their job, true. However, if you are meditating while using your hands, then you become infinitely more conscious than a farmer who is just working mechanically.

Question: What should be one's attitude when some disciple is a block to one's manifestation?

Question: Guru, at times I feel that whenever I am about to attend a Centre activity, a resistance presents itself before me and tells me not to go or participate. Am I doomed to feel this resistance, even when I know that the activity will be for my benefit? Sometimes the more I appreciate the benefit, the more strongly the resistance presents itself. Why?

Question: My worst qualities are my impurity and impatience that brings bad temper to me. When we come to meditate with you and you look into our souls, do you get a general feeling of impurity or negativity, or do you know exactly if it has been bad temper or impurity?

I am like a tree. I go fifty thousand miles high, but I have my roots here with you and I claim your consciousness as my very own. You cannot claim my consciousness, because you can't believe that it is also yours. What happens is you see only the body, only the form. You see my eyes move back and forth when I enter into my highest consciousness, and you see the expanse of light that is being focused through my eyes. But you do not feel that it is yours.