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

Sri Chinmoy: If each and every individual decides to wait until he realises God before serving mankind, then I don't know how this world will go on. If everybody enters into the Himalayan caves and forgets about the world, can the world ever be happy? In the morning when you pray and meditate, God offers you His Light, Love and Peace. Then, later in the day when you mix with people, they see in your face or deep inside you a certain beauty, light, love and joy that they don't see in others. You don't have to say a word. You are walking along the street and somebody will look at you and unconsciously get some good feeling or feel something nice within himself. He does not know it, but because of the light you have received during your meditation, you are the one who has inspired him to feel something good in his life.

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.

If I look upward, God is very happy that His child is looking at Him. But when He stands in front of me, if I say, "Why are You standing in front of me here on earth? You should only be in Heaven," then God will not be pleased with me. No, when I am looking up at Him, He is happy; and when I am seeing Him in my brothers and sisters, He is also happy. When I look up at Him in my prayer and meditation, I am pleasing Him with my aspiration. When I serve Him inside my brothers and sisters, I am pleasing Him with my dedication.