Russia and Russia's God-Blossoming Heart

60 minutes of questions and answers

Question: Does everyone have a special mission on earth?

Question: What do you think of the soul of Russia and of its role in the development of the earth's consciousness?

Question: Is it possible for modern human beings to establish a harmony between the inner and outer life?

Question: Is it necessary to suffer or feel sorrow in order to make spiritual progress?

Our Indian realisation runs thus: "We came from infinite Delight. We grow in infinite Delight. And at the end of our journey's close, we enter into infinite Delight." This kind of Delight we don't experience in our day-to-day life. During the course of our multifarious activities we encounter lots of problems, and we suffer. But on our own, we must not cherish suffering. That would be a deplorable mistake.

Question: Very often we go through suffering when we try to reach perfection because we have to overcome our imperfections.

In the spiritual life, let us say that yesterday I desired ten cars, ten houses, ten tennis courts. But now my desires have decreased and I want only five cars, five houses, five tennis courts. I have made progress, and this progress is my perfection. Then tomorrow I will want only one tennis court, and after a few days or a week it will not matter if I do not have even one. Although I like to play tennis, because of my spiritual progress I will say, "If it is God's Will, let Him give me a tennis court. If it is not His Will, then I don't need one."

Previously, God was not even in the picture, but now I am saying I want a tennis court only if it is God's Will. This is called progress, and it comes from decreasing our earthly desires and increasing our heavenly aspirations. In the world of aspiration, if I have doubt or any other bad qualities, I will try to decrease them and eventually illumine them. Anything that is undivine in me I shall try to decrease, and anything that is divine in me I shall try to increase. That kind of progress is called perfection.

Right now, let us say, I can meditate for only two minutes. Then gradually I learn to meditate for three minutes, five minutes, an hour. Like this, in the beginning I try to make progress according to my mind's way of seeing progress. But there will come a time when the divine within me, my Inner Pilot, will make me realise that it is not how long but how soulfully I meditate that is of paramount importance. God will tell me that it is better to meditate soulfully for seven seconds than to spend seven hours in front of my shrine thinking of what I ate in the morning or of what Russia and America are doing. So when I realise this, I will try to make progress in another way.

Question: Is it true that first you should realise God yourself and only then help your brothers and sisters?

You will pray to God to give you light; this is your aspiration. Then you will pray to God to give you the capacity to spread this light; that is your dedication. Aspiration and dedication must go together - like two hands. If you want to run, you need both legs; with one leg you cannot run. A coin has two sides; how can a coin have only one side? Similarly, aspiration and dedication cannot be separated. When you pray, you receive something from Above. But then, if you really want to be happy, you have to offer what you have received to others.

You don't lose your good qualities by giving them to others; you only increase them. Right now I am serving the Supreme in you by answering your questions. In no way am I losing my wisdom or my love for you by serving the divine in you. On the contrary, I am increasing the love and wisdom-light that I already have. It is like a mother. The mother gets tremendous joy and satisfaction when she shares what she has with her children. She gets no joy in keeping everything for herself.

The same Person who is inside you is also inside others. The same God who is in Heaven is also on earth. God is both the Creator and the creation. When you look up, you see God the Creator; when you look around, you see God the creation. God will not be happy if you only look for Him above you and do not also look for Him around you.

Question: We are human beings; we are not gods. Can we nevertheless discover the astral planes inside or outside of ourselves?

Sometimes we cry only for one thing, for an apple or a rose, and the owner may say, "All right, take it." But if I please the owner, he will say, "Why just take an apple or a rose? Everything that is in the garden you can have." But if I try to take even a single apple from the garden without first pleasing the owner, then he will scold me.

In this particular case, the owner is God, and God will only give us what is best for our spiritual life. So, if you can please your Inner Pilot through your prayer and meditation, then He will give you what you need most. If He thinks it is necessary for you to enter into the astral planes so you can see what is happening in Russia, let us say, then He can let you enter. But that will not make you happy. It will only increase your desire-life. Today if you get the capacity to fly 100 miles in the astral plane to get some messages from a different place, then tomorrow you will want to use the astral tubes to get messages from 200 or 400 miles away. But this kind of ability will not satisfy your heart and your soul; it will only feed your curiosity and take you farther from God.

But if you can please God in God's own Way, then He will give you everything far beyond your imagination. To your greatest joy, He will give you things that you never dreamed of. Once He is satisfied with your aspiration and dedication, once He is satisfied with your love, devotion and surrender, there is nothing that He will not give you. Once you are spiritually ready, He will give you everything. At that time, in the twinkling of an eye you will be able to go farther than the farthest to see what is happening not only in the outer world but also in the inner world. You will have a free access to God's entire universe. So the best thing is to concern yourself only with pleasing God. Once you please God, then He will give you the capacity to see everything and do everything and become everything - in His own Way.

Question: I read that the soul has no nationality. What do you mean when you say a soul is Indian or British or Russian or some other nationality?

You can say you were born in Russia; so you are a Russian soul. But as you gain inner experience and become more spiritually developed, you will say that you belong not only to Russia but to the Soviet Union. Then gradually you will say that you belong to the whole world. I was born in Bengal; so I am Bengali. Bengal is in India; so I am an Indian. India is in Asia; so I am an Asian. Asia is a continent in the world; so I belong to the whole world. I am a citizen of the whole world.

Question: Is there an absolute Truth, and is it possible to discover this absolute Truth?

Question: Would you like to offer a special message to your Russian children for your coming birthday?

Question: What do you mean when you speak of peace and tranquillity?

Let us take the entire being as a tree. If you look at a particular leaf and see that it is not moving, then you can say that the leaf is tranquil. But if you look at the whole tree — the solid trunk and branches — then you will feel that it is peaceful.

Question: When will you go to Russia?

Question: All the Russian disciples are dreaming of the time when you can come to Russia.

Question: When will the Russian soul find harmony?

Question: Will humanity exist forever?

_Question_ How can one protect oneself from doubt and remain always strong on the spiritual path?

Question: What is better for spiritual development — to sing your songs in English or in Bengali or in Russian translation?

I composed the "Invocation" in English. When the original words came to me, each and every word came from my own highest experience and realisation. Outwardly you may say these are all just words. The last line is so simple: "Thou art one Truth, one Life, one Face." Every Tom, Dick and Harry can say this. But when I wrote those words, I not only saw them but also felt them and became them. What I expressed through my "Invocation" — the reality, the divinity, the life-breath of the song itself — I actually became.

As for my other songs, it depends on the individual. If you like the Bengali songs more than the English songs, then learn the Bengali songs. If some English songs give you joy, then those songs you learn. Only I must say that many of my English songs are not on the same level as my Bengali songs. Some of my English songs can be placed on the same footing as my Bengali songs. But there are hundreds and hundreds of Bengali songs that give me enormous delight, not because they are written in Bengali-which is my mother tongue-but because their melodies are very haunting, thrilling, illumining and fulfilling.

When I write poems or compose songs in English, I never think of Bengali words or Bengali ideas; the English words and ideas come to me naturally. But because I was born in Bengal, the Bengali atmosphere, the Bengali vibration, the Bengali way of expressing and revealing the divinity within me is easier for me than the borrowed English language or English words.

Question: We were all invited for your 60th birthday. Is there a chance that we will be invited for your 100th birthday?

But wherever I am, whether in Heaven or elsewhere, I will definitely bless my spiritual children who think of me, who pray to me and who meditate on the Supreme in me. No matter where I am, I will be of devoted, loving service to you all provided you think of me and meditate on the Supreme in me. The physical is not the only reality. But a oneness-life, oneness-heart, oneness-existence, oneness-life breath is of supreme importance.