Question: I see so much joy here at the tennis court. While playing tennis, you were making so much noise — "OK, I got it! I got it!" — great screams of joy. What is happening inside you at that point?

Sri Chinmoy: I am almost sixty years old. But when I play tennis, at that time I completely forget my outer age. The outer calendar does not exist for me; I am aware only of the inner calendar, which is eternal, birthless and deathless. God is an eternal Child, playing eternally inside His own Heart-Garden. Since I am a child of God, I try to do everything that my Beloved Father does in His own Life. The child always tries to imitate the father. To a little child, his father is perfect. A child does not see any imperfection in his father or mother.

When I play, at that time I feel inside me the heart of a child. A child is always happy in his own way. He can be miserable if he does not get the toys that he wants. But if he remains in the heart, he is always happy. Anybody who remains inside the heart is a divine child, and he feels only joy.

According to our Indian philosophy, the creation came into being from Delight, in Delight we grow, and at the end of our journey’s close, into Delight we retire. God is all Delight. This Delight we feel only when we establish our oneness with God’s Will. Otherwise, at every second this world is full of pain. But if we see God inside the creation, inside the suffering, then it is all joy. Outwardly, when we identify ourselves with God the creation, we feel miserable. But inwardly, when we identify ourselves with God the Creator, we feel only joy because His Vision and His Reality are all joy. If we want to feel this joy, we have to pray and meditate, for that is how we will grow into the very image of God our Beloved Father. Even for five minutes if we have a deep meditation, it will inundate us with peace and joy.