Question: Besides your name, is there a sound or a word that we can use when invoking you that brings us quickly to you?

Sri Chinmoy: Nothing can be sweeter than the word ‘Guru’. It is not a mere word or name. It is a mantra. It has become part and parcel of the life-breath of any disciple who has accepted me sincerely and seriously, just as I have become inseparably one with my true disciples.

Again, there are many, many disciples who get more joy by invoking the Supreme directly. He is my Source. The Supreme is my Guru, your Guru, everybody’s Guru. But sometimes before God-realisation, the term ‘Supreme’ can be vague. The Supreme is both personal and impersonal. Until we see Him and talk to Him face to face, He can remain impersonal. When Naren came to Sri Ramakrishna, he asked him, “Have you seen God?” Sri Ramakrishna said, “Have I seen God? I can talk to Him more clearly, more intimately than I can talk to you. I can see Him more clearly than I can see you in front of me.” I can also say the same. Not only do I see Him, but I can talk to Him. Why would it be impossible for me to talk to my Highest? It is like a little child who wants to speak to his father. No matter what the father is doing, he will spend a few moments with his child. Look at my dog Chela. No matter how serious I am or what I am doing, does Chela care? He just comes and says whatever he has to say in his own barking language. Chela knows his oneness with me. In exactly the same way, God is our Absolute Lord Supreme, but even in my human consciousness I can approach Him.

To come back to your question, you have to use whatever word gives you utmost joy. The Supreme has become inseparably, breathlessly one with your life-breath, and your Guru also has become inseparably one with your life-breath. Unfortunately, there are some disciples who, although they have been with me for many years, have not kept me inside their life-breath. Again, there are some new disciples, especially those who live in other countries, who will never have the opportunity to say a word to me in this incarnation, and I will also not have the opportunity to talk to them. In spite of this, they have established such closeness and such oneness with my divinity’s life-breath, my Eternity’s breath. The oneness that they have established with me is so solid, so concrete.

In other cases, for months disciples do not get any joy either by using ‘Supreme’ or ‘Guru’. That is called a dry period. Even spiritual Masters of the highest order have had to pass through dry periods. Sometimes for months Vivekananda used to go through dry periods. Believe it or not, your Guru never went through a dry period. From the age of six, when I started my prayer and meditation, I have not had that experience. It makes me sad that my disciples sometimes go through dry periods for years. It has happened in some cases that for five long years, not even one single day do they have a good meditation. For up to one year it is common to have a dry period, but five years is too much.

Why do people go through dry periods? Because they lose their devotion. Devotion is like a magnet. If the devotion-magnet is not working, then the spiritual life is all dryness. But if one maintains devotion to the Supreme or to his Guru, then one will never, never go through a dry period. It is devotion that connects both love and surrender. Devotion is the golden link. If one has devotion, constant devotion, sleepless and breathless devotion, then one will never lose the sweetness in life.