Mother Superior: Tomorrow you are going to see our Federal Councillor, Flavio Cotti. As a final question, I would like to know if you are going there as a private person or as a spiritual leader.

Sri Chinmoy: I am not going there as a spiritual leader. I am a student of peace. Wherever I go, I try to offer the lessons that I have learned from my prayer and meditation. I am going there as a seeker of truth and as a lover of God. Since I pray and meditate, I would like to pray and meditate with him for world peace.

I am so grateful to you, Mother Superior, for allowing me to be here. Twenty-three years ago I visited a chapel in Puerto Rico. Some Sisters saw me and became disturbed and annoyed that a Hindu was in their chapel. They went and called the Mother Superior. At first she was furious that a Hindu had come into the chapel, but when she saw me praying with folded hands in front of a picture of the Christ, she said, “This fellow has devotion for our Lord. Let us forgive him.” Then she said to me, “You must never, never come to this place again, because you are a Hindu.”

Look at your heart’s magnanimity. You were born a Christian and I was born a Hindu, yet you have given me a place in your heart. You have invited me here to offer my prayerful service. Look how the world is progressing! One Mother Superior scolded and insulted me, and you have asked me to offer my soulful prayers. This is how we make progress and please our Heavenly Father.