Part I

SCA 1013-1024. Sri Chinmoy answered these questions in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 18 December 1999.

Question: How can I find the quality of enthusiasm more appealing?

Sri Chinmoy: You have to use your imagination. Think of something sweet, either honey or something else. Or you can think of divine nectar, which is definitely sweet and immortal. Let us say that you want to taste something sweet in your own life — in your soul, heart, mind, vital and body. Now, if you lick your finger, there is no sweetness. If you taste any part of your body, you will not get sweetness. But you can take enthusiasm as sweetness in your life. You definitely like sweet things, whether it is sugar or honey or something else. There is nobody who can say they do not like sweet things at all. That is absurd.

Take enthusiasm as something very, very sweet and imagine that you are enjoying that sweetness. Never take enthusiasm as something that you cannot enjoy or that is out of your reach. No, no! When you think of enthusiasm, use the word ‘sweetness’ instead of ‘enthusiasm’. Either your heart will enjoy the sweetness, your mind will enjoy the sweetness, your vital will enjoy the sweetness or your body will enjoy the sweetness. You are bound to increase your enthusiasm if you replace the word ‘enthusiasm’ with ‘sweetness’. While you are looking at a flower, if you feel that you are getting sweetness, then that sweetness will give you enthusiasm.