Dr. Kuznetsov: What is the connection between your outer strength and your inner prayer and meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: I have been praying and meditating consciously for many, many years, not only in this life, but also in my previous incarnations. For me, previous incarnations are like different rooms of the same house. Each time I take human birth, I know of my previous incarnations, or the room where I previously stayed. For centuries I have prayed and meditated. By praying and meditating I have pleased both God the Creator and God the creation. In my case, God the Creator and God the creation, or you can say inner power and outer strength, have become one.

If we pray and meditate, the inner life and the outer life go together, and inside our thoughts and actions there is always power. We cannot separate the inner and the outer. As there cannot be a tree without roots under the ground, so also inner power and outer strength go together. If there is a seed under the ground, in a few months or so it will germinate and become a plant. Then the plant will grow, and finally it will become a huge banyan tree. Before I was like a seed under the ground. Then I became a plant. Now I am like a tree.

To come back to your question, whatever inner and outer power you see in me is only God’s Compassion raining down on me. If we want the sunlight to enter into our room, we have to keep our doors and windows all wide open. In the same way we have to keep our inner doors and windows open. Then the power or light from Above will enter into us. Again, if we want to keep the sunlight out of our house, we can do so. In my case, it is like the divine sun-power entering into my body-room. The outer strength, which is inside my body, and the inner power, which is coming from Above, have become one.