Question: If we are inspired to do something, how do we know that it is divine inspiration and not ego that is prompting us?

Sri Chinmoy: The previous answer also covers this question. If you are getting inspiration from within, from the depths of your heart, then you will experience tremendous joy. At that time, you will not look around to see if anybody is watching you and appreciating you; you will only try to execute the job. When you get the message from within, when you have heard the inner voice, you do something spontaneously and sleeplessly, not looking to see who is seeing, who is admiring. If this voice comes from your very deep meditation, then you can trust it. Otherwise, while you are working or running if you hear a voice, you may feel that it is coming from the very depths of your heart, but it may be coming directly from your vital, your intense vital. But if you have a very deep and powerful meditation, a long meditation where there is no thought, nothing, and an inspiration comes in the midst of it, at that time you can trust this inspiration. Otherwise, if people say they are receiving messages from within, it is mostly their mental hallucination.