Question: Will you ever write your autobiography?

Sri Chinmoy: When a person becomes great, then millions of stories are fabricated about him. I have concentrated on many so-called great men as well as on some who are really great men. Since they are great, there are thousands of stories connected with them, yet most of these stories actually have nothing to do with that person. There are millions of things attributed to them that did not happen in their lives. People just create from rumour and then, afterwards, when it is found in their biographies, it becomes fact. But there is no authenticity. It is just that somebody wanted to say something about a certain great person. Many times people are inspired and get emotionally carried away, so what they say may also be of no value. So it is always better if one has been lucky enough to write down what he wants to say about himself.

Right now I do not want to take the time to write down stories about my past, my childhood; they will not help you at all in your God-realisation. I always discourage my disciples from looking at my past, because I am what I am now. True, sometimes when I am inspired, I tell you of my childhood and adolescence, but I know these juicy stories will not help you even an iota in your God-realisation. Twenty years ago, everything was inside me — spiritual Master, Yogi, everything — but I was not a Yogi for the world. In the Bible when Mary asked Jesus to turn water into wine at the wedding, he said it was not yet time for him to do this kind of thing. In my case, when I was a youth, it was not the right time for me to have disciples. Right now is the time. When the hour strikes, at that time the seekers must derive all benefit.

What I have been doing since I came to America is of real importance. Other things are not important. In the life of the Christ only three years are important. What he did before he was thirty years old, God alone knows. What do we see or get from his life before thirty? Nothing! But during the years from thirty to thirty-three he did things which are immortal. The earth-consciousness is still treasuring the things which he did; it is still treasuring his love and compassion.

If you people feel: "Oh, if I could only know something about the Christ before he was thirty, then I would be saved," I will say, "No, the less you know of the personal aspect, the unimportant aspect, the better. Just pay all attention to the goal itself." On the mango tree there are many branches and thousands and thousands of leaves. But what you need is the mango. If you know where the mango is, you have everything. Why do you want to know how many leaves there are on the tree? If you are hungry and thirsty, the mango alone will fulfil you, not the leaves. So you should eat your mango and be satisfied.

When one becomes a real Master and he is in a position to offer Light, the Light is the mango. If you want to get the mango too soon, before it is ripe, you will see only the leaves. So now I am the mango, the Light. This is the time to look at the mango — my present — and not at the leaves, which represent my past.

From:Sri Chinmoy,The inner journey, Agni Press, 1977
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