Question: When you see us, if we have doubt or insecurity or any wrong forces or good forces, is it a matter of seeing something in our aura or are you seeing our thoughts or are you seeing the actual forces in us? How is it that you read our consciousness?

Sri Chinmoy: To start with, I am not reading, I am not reading. I am not eager, I am not even curious to know what is happening inside your mind. That I do on very, very rare occasions. In general, I will not. Most of the time what happens is that the flower inside you is trying to show me, “Look, now I am no longer blooming, I am blossomed. This petal is fully blossomed, that petal is fully blossomed.” Five or six different petals you are showing me. I am the seer, I am witnessing, but in no way am I trying to force you to show me or am I curious to know what you have inside you.

When a child has something, at that time the father does not say, “Can you show me what you have?” No, the child is so eager to show the father that he comes running, “Look! I have this, I have this.” In the same way, when my spiritual children have something very beautiful inside them, they are eager to show me. But I am not begging them, “Tell me what you have or what you are doing or what you have in your mind.” No. But you are coming like a little child to show the spiritual father, “Look, look, I have such beautiful things to show you.” Then I will appreciate them. After I have appreciated them, I will say, “I am so happy that you are satisfied, but again, in a few days or a few months or a few years, you will have much more beautiful things.”

So, on my part, I am in no way eager or anxious to know what is happening inside you. When we come to a certain height, we are not eager to know what is happening in somebody’s brain. Disciples can be eager to know what is inside the spiritual Master’s mind, whether he is thinking of them or not, but he is not eager to know in that way. The spiritual Master’s attitude is, “If you have something, then you can come and show me.” Then, as I said before, you get the joy because on your own you have come to show the Master what you have. Your eagerness has to compel the Master. He is not going to say, “Show me if you have something inside you worth watching or worth having.” I am not going to examine anybody’s thoughts. It is the disciple’s bounden duty to give and take. Whatever you are, whatever you have, you give me, and whatever you want to take, take, take, take. I am ready.

This is called openness of the heart, openness of life. When you are open, then you increase the receptivity of your inner vessel. When the father sees the child running towards him with a dime, the father is overjoyed. The child could have gone and bought something from the street, but instead he came running to his dearest, to his father, to show what he has. Then the father says, “My child is so happy with a dime. I want to increase his joy. I will give him a dollar.”

Always if you give what you have and what you are, even if it is a drop, then when the Master gives, he gives much more. When the little child came running to the father early in the morning to show him what he had, the father was so pleased because he saw that he was the child’s dearest. We do not go to our enemy to show what we have.

So that is the answer to your question. If I have to spend time on what is happening in this person’s mind or that person’s mind, then I am only wasting my time. Again, if the disciple wants to know, not out of sheer mental curiosity but out of oneness, what is happening inside the spiritual Master, then there is a way. With your love, devotion and surrender, you can enter into the Master’s heart. Then definitely you will see and feel what is inside his heart, what is inside his consciousness. Out of curiosity, if you want to see, you will get nothing. But out of oneness-necessity if you want, at that time necessity will compel you to bring your love, devotion and surrender to the fore.