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Soulful gratitude to the world beyond — photo by Bhashwar

World Gratitude Day Award

World Gratitude Day Award

On 21 September 1977 Sri Chinmoy received the World Gratitude Day plaque at ceremonies in World Gratitude Day’s New York headquarters. The plaque was presented to him by Mrs. Edna Lemle, president and founder of the organisation dedicated to promoting the cause of worldwide gratitude. The first September 21 World Gratitude Day celebration was held 13 years ago.

Following are Mrs. Lemle’s remarks when presenting the award, and Sri Chinmoy’s reply.

Mrs. Edna Lemle: Now we’re going to conclude with an extremely special, unusual man. Sri Chinmoy comes from India. He makes everything seem possible. He is the head of the United Nations Meditation Group and he has people from the different United Nations countries meditating together. By golly, if you can do that, I guess you can do anything. And he is also a very creative man. He is a painter; he is a writer. I met Sri Chinmoy just last week when, Heaven-sent, he offered to have a programme to herald World Gratitude Day at the United Nations. Sri Chinmoy stood there and just meditated, and everybody felt it. He does, of course, so much; I have to strain to reach it.

He is currently having an art exhibit at Grand Central Station with his magnificent paintings. He has written 300 books. There are Sri Chinmoy Centres in 50 or 60 countries or places around the world. We’re grateful for your presence, Sri Chinmoy.

[Reading from the plaque] “World Gratitude Day is pleased to honour Sri Chinmoy who has enhanced the spirit of globalism with his compassion, his creativity and nobility of spirit, whose being and achievements reflect the spirit of our proclamation.”

Sri Chinmoy: Dear Mrs. Lemle, dear sister in the Universal Compassion-Heart of the Supreme, your searching mind’s World-Gratitude dream is astonishingly beautiful. Your aspiring heart’s World-Gratitude reality is supremely fruitful. I am extremely grateful to you and to the Board of Directors for bestowing upon me, upon my devoted heart, this signal honour. You have discovered in me a world-server. A world-server is he who is a God-lover. A God-lover and a world-server are one and the same. Just because God, out of His infinite Bounty, has granted me the opportunity and capacity to love Him, today I am in a position to be of service to humanity, His creation. Your discovery will be a great asset in my service to mankind. I shall try to serve more devotedly, more soulfully and more unconditionally this creation of our Beloved Supreme.

Here many religious faiths are proclaiming the oneness, absolute oneness, of our Absolute Pilot Supreme. An hour ago when I arrived here, my dear friend and seeker-brother, Dr. Russell Barber, [Producer of NBC’s “First Estate”], and my dear seeker-sister, Pat Parker, greeted me at the entrance. During our conversation, Dr. Barber said to me that he was very pleased that he and I were getting the award together on the same day. I said to him, “So, we are sailing in the same boat.” He immediately and lovingly corrected me. He said, “Not exactly so. We are sailing towards the same destination but in different boats.” Many roads lead to Rome. But here we are arriving at the same destination.

God is the gardener. In His garden there are many beautiful flowers. One flower alone cannot make a beautiful garden; many flowers are needed. Again, it is the garden that embodies the many flowers and the flowers’ fragrance. So the One became many and, finally, the many are reaching the self-same Goal and again uniting with the One. We all came from the One; the one Tree put forth many branches. But each branch knows that there is a trunk, a Source. God is evolving in and through us in various ways, and then He is returning to the one destination. The One became many in order to enrich and fulfil Itself, and finally to reach one Goal.

During his short but significant speech, dear Dr. Barber has told us that the United States is next to India in spirituality. With his soul’s permission, I wish to correct his experience or his pronouncement. It is not because I am here in America that I feel bound to extol America to the skies where spirituality is concerned, but it is because I happen to be a seeker of the Absolute Supreme. Our Beloved Supreme has two most illumining and most fulfilling qualities or attributes: Peace and Power. They are inseparable. They are mutually illumining and fulfilling. India embodies and represents the Peace aspect of our Beloved Supreme, and America embodies and represents the Power aspect of our Beloved Supreme.

Peace and power we can take as two legs of a divine runner, who is endlessly running along Eternity’s Road to reach an ever-transcending destination, an ever-fulfilling destination. At any moment when we observe the runner running, we will see one leg ahead of the other. This doesn’t mean that one leg is actually leading or winning. No, sometimes the right leg is in front and sometimes the left leg is in front, but we need two legs in order to run properly towards our destination. So peace is one leg and power is another leg. Neither of them is slower, or behind the other. Both of them are equally important. Each one is needed and each one is helping the other to run fast, faster, fastest towards the destination.

My gratitude-heart is my thoughtful inspiration. My gratitude-heart is my prayerful aspiration. My gratitude-heart is my soulful meditation. This inspiration, aspiration and meditation of mine have been helping me to become a devoted instrument of my Beloved Supreme. Today you are honouring me for what I have done to serve the world at large. My contribution is an infinitesimal iota of self-giving. But there is Someone who is celebrating in the inmost recesses of my heart not only what I have done, but also what I have not done. Out of His boundless Bounty, God has helped me not to dine anymore with ignorance-night, and He is very pleased that I have not done so. So not only for what we do, but also for what we do not do, God is equally pleased with us.

My inspiration-wings, my aspiration-bird and my soulful life I am offering to each seeker present here, especially to you, Mrs. Lemle. You are the head of this organisation, World Gratitude Day. Gratitude is our self-expansion. It is the liberation of the finite reality inside the infinite Divinity. When we offer gratitude to someone, in no way are we showing insufficiency, inadequacy or an inferior existence-reality to that person. He has given us what he has and what he is, and we are giving him what he have and what we are. Let us take God, for example. He gives us what He is: infinite Compassion. This is by far the best Reality that He embodies. For us, our best achievement is our gratitude-heart. Our gratitude-heart will make us inseparably one with our Beloved Supreme. There is no other way. Consciously, soulfully and unreservedly we become one with Him only by the expansion of our aspiring heart.

Gratitude is what we must try to grow into at every moment in order to fulfil the divine in us. Gratitude is an earth-born and earth-grown fruit which not only nourishes the Heaven-born cosmic gods but also pleases most the Heavenly Creator, our Eternity’s Beloved Supreme.

Finally, I wish to invoke the presence of the immortal poet Shakespeare, whose soulful prayer I wish to share with you all: “O Lord who lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.”

Gratitude day the 21st of September

Gratitude day the 21st of September

World Gratitude Day is pleased to honor

Sri Chinmoy

Who has enhanced the spirit of globalism with his compassion, creativity and nobility of spirit.

Whose being and achievements reflect the spirit of our Proclamation

Whereas humanity has come to recognize devotion and allegiance to immediate family, to clan, to city, to state, and to nation, and now must experience the concept of globalism, and

Whereas words of praise and positive thoughts generate dynamic harmony, and

Whereas decisions made from a grateful heart are endowed with intrinsic wisdom and engender prosperity, and

Whereas gratitude, the opposite of “taking for granted," is a positive emotion which creates good will, is a basic emotion, which is indigenous to all people, is a peace producing feeling.

And Whereas September 2lst is a special day. It is an equinox: one of the two times of the year when the sun passes over the equator and night and day are everywhere of equal length and everyone is equal under the sun.

Therefore let us proclaim World gratitude Day, a holiday for all peoples, a day of meditation for all religions, a day of celebration for all humanity, united by knowledge of a simultaneously shared emotion, a day when triumph of the spirit can make a world community.

Gather with a few friends Be aware of being grateful (To whom and for what is personal) Know that the emotion of gratitude is being shared globally.

Edna Fuerth Lemle President

Prayer-plants

1

My sweet Lord, do fulfil my two prayers. My first prayer is to have the capacity to wait endlessly after I have asked You my question. My second prayer is to have the capacity to offer You my gratitude-sea immediately after I have received Your blessingful and fruitful Answer.

2

My sweet Lord, I wish to run in the outer world to get Your Compassion and Illumination. I wish to run in the inner world to get Your Perfection and Satisfaction.

3

My sweet Lord, I do not know what I am doing. At the same time, I do not want to know what I am doing, for I know perfectly well that my doing or not doing cannot liberate me. Only Your Compassion can make me see the face of Light — and it does.

4

My Lord Supreme, do grant me the vision to see Your endless Grace inside my small efforts, and to see inside Your Grace the smile-dance of my liberation.

5

My sweet Lord, my faith-plant is helpless. It is not growing anymore. The buffets of doubt are destroying it. Do give me the capacity to study once more in Your inner school where I can study my faith-life, my realisation-life and my oneness-life.

6

My Lord Supreme, do grant me the capacity to be grateful for everything that I have, even my teeming weaknesses, for they help me to think of Your boundless Compassion.

Purity: selfless oneness with God

Purity: selfless oneness with God

Once there lived a pious youth named Nagamuddin who came from a Muslim family. He used to study all day and night. His father died when Nagamuddin was still quite young, and suddenly Nagamuddin had to support his poor mother. He started looking for a job here, there and everywhere, but he did not succeed in getting one.

One day he went to a Muslim priest and begged him to give him a job in any line, although he would be very happy if he could also become a priest. The priest said, “I will give you a job, but I can’t make you a priest, for you will far surpass every priest on earth. You have no idea how great you are. One day everybody will come to know of you. Even the Emperor of Delhi will come to you to honour you.”

Already a burning desire to realise God had long been consuming Nagamuddin. He had been looking for his Guru everywhere. Finally one day he went to a very spiritual man named Phariduddin and said to him, “Please become my Guru. I am tired of searching for a Guru.”

Phariduddin accepted Nagamuddin as his devoted disciple, and Nagamuddin learned to cook for his Master. He enjoyed the Master’s deep affection for him. But the Master and the disciple were very, very poor. Sometimes for days together they had no food to eat. They spent most of their time praying and meditating, and totally neglected the demands of the body.

One day somebody gave Nagamuddin some flour to make bread. Nagamuddin did not have money, and he knew that his Master also had no money to buy the absolutely necessary thing — salt — to make bread. So he went to the village market and borrowed some salt from a shop. The shopkeeper readily gave him the salt because he knew that Nagamuddin was a spiritual man, and that his Master was very great.

Nagamuddin brought the salt back and made delicious bread for his Master. But when he offered Phariduddin a few pieces of bread, something unusual happened. On other days when he would give something to his Master, the Master would eat it happily and bless Nagamuddin for the food. But that day Phariduddin said, “I shall not eat your food. There is tremendous impurity in it.”

Neither the Master nor the disciple had eaten for three days, but because there was tremendous impurity in the food, the Master would not eat it. Nagamuddin felt miserable. He could not account for it. Then his Master said, “I can clearly see that you have borrowed salt from our neighbour to make this bread. This is indeed a disgraceful act. Never borrow anything from anyone.

“If you borrow, your consciousness descends. You become impure. The man who gave you the salt is proud that he has given you something, so he is treasuring impurity. And when you borrow something, you become a victim to worries and anxieties. Worries and anxieties are also a kind of impurity. If you do not have purity in your system, in every cell of your body, then you will not be able to realise God. From now on, don’t borrow anything — money or material gifts. Worries and anxieties will assail you and purity will leave you.

“If you have purity, then you have everything. There are two ways to have purity. One is by seeing God inside everyone, consciously and constantly.

The other is by imagining God and consciously repeating His Name as many times as possible. My son, if you have purity, you do not have to go to God. God Himself will make you see His infinite Divinity. What God is will be reflected in you. You will be an exact replica of God.

“Purity expedites God’s Hour. Purity embodies God’s Power. If you have purity, then there is nothing that you cannot accomplish. Purity is the harbinger of selfless oneness; and Eternity’s perfect, selfless oneness is God.”

Poems

Authorized and unauthorized

Who is the authorised seeker?
The seeker who has totally
Discovered himself.

Who is the unauthorised seeker?
The seeker who thinks and feels
That the crying earth
And
The smiling Heaven
Will never meet together.

Procrastination and preparation

Procrastination,
My life knows you quite well.

Preparation,
My heart wants to know you
Breathlessly well.

God, Truth, Love

God is what we think of Him.
Truth is what we make it on earth.
Love is what we felt
When we were in Heaven.

Entertaining

Don’t entertain doubts.
You will die
Sooner than the soonest.

Entertain faith.
In a twinkling
You will not only see the Face of God,
But you will definitely become
Another God.

Touch the bottom

To touch the bottom
Of the mind
Is to meet with
Humanity’s suspicious eyes.

To touch the bottom
Of the heart
Is to see
Man the aspiration-flame
And
God the Satisfaction-Sun.

Is God jealous?

Is God jealous?
Yes, God is jealous
Of His unconditional Compassion.

Is man jealous?
Yes, man is jealous
Of his cosmic oneness-transcendence.

Three victories

Not one, but three clear victories
I have already achieved.
I have seen the mind of man.
I have felt the Heart of God.
I have become humanity’s
Helpless and perpetual cry.

Two puzzles

Earth, you constantly puzzle me
With your insecurity-hole.

Heaven, you constantly puzzle me
With your competence-role.

The man within

The man within the man
Is Eternity’s preparation-God
And
Infinity’s satisfaction-beauty.

Don't ask me how

Don’t ask me how
I have realised God.
Don’t ask me how
I have discovered ignorance.
Don’t ask me how
I constantly
Sigh and cry and cry and sigh.

Am I a giver?

6:35 a.m. 20 July 1977 Jamaica High School, Jamaica, New York

Am I a giver?

Am I a giver? Yes, I am. Am I a cheerful and soulful giver? No, unfortunately I am not. That means I am offering not only my rose, but also many, many thorns along with it.

Am I a giver? Yes, I am. Am I a cheerful and soulful giver? No, unfortunately I am not. That means I am offering not only my hope-world, but also my frustration-world along with it.

Am I a giver? Yes, I am. Am I a cheerful and soulful giver? No, unfortunately I am not. That means I am offering not only my aspiration-free world, but also my desire-bound world to all those who are around me.

How can I become a cheerful and soulful giver in order to liberate myself and liberate others? I can become a cheerful and soulful giver provided I can feel that a giver is he who is also a receiver. The greater a giver he is, the better a receiver he becomes. He gives because he feels that that is the only way to please the real in him, the soul. The real giver gives to the world his soul’s all-illumining beauty cheerfully and soulfully, and never, never does he give his body’s ugliness-dream.

The Core of India's Light

//[Continued, from previous issue]//

94.

Bhaya

Fear

Fear is a strangled, divided reality which makes us feel that we can never claim the universal man and the transcendental God as our own, very own.

95.

Bhikshā

Alms

To give alms to the needy is a sign of true generosity, and this generosity may help the receiver for some time. But the offering of an iota of soulful will from the depths of one’s heart can and will last for a very long time, if not forever.

96.

Bhikshu

Mendicant

A mendicant roams from country to country to derive divine satisfaction from his God-search. A true seeker does not have to roam from country to country. His heart-home is large enough to house Satisfaction Supreme.

97.

Bhoga

Enjoyment

When we sing the song of enjoyment we see that there are many things which we will never be able to enjoy. But when we dance the dance of renunciation we see that there is nothing on earth which we cannot divinely enjoy. As a matter of fact, renunciation itself is supreme Satisfaction.

98.

Bhraṣta

Fallen

In the spiritual life, if your aspiration descends, you are undoubtedly a fallen hero. But you need not remain a fallen hero, if you have an iota of tearful gratitude for what you have already received from your previous inner oneness with the higher realities, that came from your inner cry.

99.

Bhranti

Mistake

To say that you love God more than He loves you is to deliberately enjoy the worst possible stupid mistake, both in your desire-life and in your aspiration-life.

[To be continued in next issue]

The Other Hour, WRVR-FM Radio, Part II

(Continued from previous issue) On 3 July 1977 Sri Chinmoy was the guest on "The Other Hour", a radio program broadcast live in New York. Following is a transcription of the interview.

The Other Hour, WRVR-FM Radio, Part II

[Interviewer Donna Halper has just begun to accept calls from her audience for Sri Chinmoy.]

Donna Halper: Good evening. You are on the air.

Caller: I am particularly interested in astral projection. I had an experience three years ago where I left my body. I had just read about this some time before that, but I didn’t do it consciously. It just happened to me. Since then I have been trying to do it consciously. I would like to ask Sri Chinmoy if this is safe. Is it a safe thing to go into by myself?

Donna Halper: Interesting question. Astral projection, leaving the body. Can people actually do this?

Sri Chinmoy: People can do this, but it is advisable to have a teacher who is well qualified in this adventure. Otherwise, it can be a very dangerous thing. It is like learning to drive a car. One needs a teacher in the beginning. If one tries to learn driving by himself, he is very likely to have an accident.

Donna Halper: What can a teacher teach one about leaving the body?

Sri Chinmoy: Everything can be taught by a qualified teacher. If one can learn a language from a teacher, if one can learn music, if one can learn to dance, one can learn this also.

Caller: I would like to ask the Guru, what kind of mental attitude should one have in learning to play music?

Donna Halper: That is a question that I think Mahavishnu John McLaughlin was asking when he came to the Guru in the first place. What kind of mental attitude should one have if one wishes to improve his music?

Sri Chinmoy: There is something called mental music, something called vital music and something called physical music. But again, there is something called psychic music. If one wants to get true delight from the heart and from the aspiring life, then he must dedicate his music to God. He must play psychic music, soulful music, music that will inspire his own life of aspiration, and inspire others who hear his music, not music that will excite the vital and arouse the physical consciousness.

Donna Halper: So spiritual music is music that makes you think more about God?

Sri Chinmoy: Let us say, more about satisfaction, light and delight. There may be great musicians who do not believe in God, but they do believe in satisfaction, joy, delight. If you play divine music, spiritual music, then you are bound to give and get satisfaction.

Caller: I’d like to know how much discipline is required to master meditation.

Sri Chinmoy: All the discipline that one can muster in one’s own life. Discipline is a continuous process. In this process we make progress. It depends on how sincerely the individual has taken the spiritual life. If he wants to become perfect, then he has to discipline his body, vital, mind and entire life totally. But if he wants to derive only a little satisfaction from life, a little bit of peace from life, then he does not have to go through all self-disciplinary acts. It entirely depends on the need, how much the seeker needs from his inner life.

Donna Halper: How does one discipline his life? What does one have to do?

Sri Chinmoy: He has to be very careful in every way, beginning with the mind. He has to feel that his mind is a room that has a few doors and windows which will let the whole world inside. The seeker has to close the doors and windows and stand at a particular door. Then he must allow inside only the thoughts and ideas that are going to help him in his spiritual life. Purity, peace, harmony, and so on — these are his friends, so he will allow them to enter into his mind-room, and he will converse only with them. This is how the individual can practise.

Donna Halper: Does a person have to go away somewhere? Does he have to go to an ashram or a synagogue in order to be successful at meditating?

Sri Chinmoy: It is not necessary to go anywhere. Meditation entirely depends on one’s inner sincerity. There are many people who have been to ashrams and monasteries, and there they could not conquer their mind’s wrong thoughts. If you remain in a closed room, that does not mean you will have no thoughts about the outside world. It is advisable for a seeker to meditate at a certain place at a specific time, but meditation does not require a life of seclusion.

Caller: How can I contact Sri Chinmoy or become his student?

Sri Chinmoy: There are quite a few ways to approach me, but the easiest way is to call this number: 523-3471. From there somebody will direct the seeker.

Donna Halper: The person who calls this number, what usually will he or she be required to do?

Sri Chinmoy: He will not be required to do anything. The only thing is that I hold meditations at various places, so if the seeker calls that number, he will be told where and when he can see me next. This evening also I will give a concert which is open to the public. If the seeker comes to see me and he is inspired, then he can make further inquiries. This number will only give him the necessary information.

Caller: I would like to ask if he feels that a person should refrain from physical and sexual intercourse if he wants to develop his meditation. In other words, does that take anything away from spiritual development?

Donna Halper: Should one refrain from sex if one wants to develop in meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, it is advisable. One has to refrain from all lower vital movements if one wants to make the fastest progress in meditation.

Donna Halper: What are some of the other things that one would have to give up in order to make progress in meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: He has to give up drugs, he has to give up smoking and he has to give up drinking. There are quite a few other things that are spiritually unhealthy as well, but these are the most damaging.

Donna Halper: When one does this, then one becomes better at meditation, is that right?

Sri Chinmoy: One becomes a much more receptive vehicle of light.

Caller: I was wondering if you are going to play more music and, if the music is recorded, where we could buy it.

Donna Halper: If the Guru wants to play another selection it’s fine with me. Everyone here in the studio was just absolutely flipped out when he was playing. There is a recording on the Folkways label, called “Music for Meditation.” Would you like to do another selection before the show is over?

Sri Chinmoy: Certainly.

Caller: If you belong to a specific religious group, is it contradictory to meditate? Does meditation have one specific religion, or can anyone of any religion meditate?

Sri Chinmoy: Meditation far surpasses the barriers of religion. One can follow any religion. Meditation is like a school. You can go to a school or college no matter which religion you belong to. Spirituality is also like that. Everybody can meditate, no matter what religion he belongs to, or even if he does not belong to any religion.

Donna Halper: So whether you call God by the name Allah or Buddha or Vishnu or whatever you call God, meditation is the same?

Sri Chinmoy: It is only a name. A child will call his father “Daddy”, but the same man is called by a different name when he goes to the office. It is like water. You call it ‘water’ in English, but a French person will call it ‘l’eau,’ and a Bengali will call it ‘jal’. It is the same thing, only different names.

Donna Halper: So meditation is kind of like an addition to the religious belief that you already have?

Sri Chinmoy: It is not only an addition. It is the inner essence of all religions.

Donna Halper: Now that you mention it, isn’t there some form of meditation in every religion? They may not call it meditation, but don’t all religions have some sort of meditation?

Sri Chinmoy: Every religion encourages some kind of inner communion with the Highest.

Caller: If someone was a failure at self-discipline in meditation and other aspects of life, what is the most sincere prayer that kind of person could make to God for guidance in meditation?

Donna Halper: The person who has a hard time accepting the discipline, the person who finds it really difficult to give up smoking or drinking or sex life and yet still wants to meditate — is it hopeless for that person?

Sri Chinmoy: It is not hopeless at all, if the person is sincere. If he prays to God for His boundless Compassion, then God will give him the necessary capacity to discipline his life. He has only to pray to God for God’s infinite Compassion. God’s Compassion-Light will be able to illumine him, and his weaknesses and shortcomings will not be able to remain with him forever.

Donna Halper: Is it possible that a person could not be ready to meditate at one time, and yet at another time be ready to meditate?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, it is possible. It is like cooking food. Every day one may not cook the most delicious food. One day he makes delicious food; another day he is a failure. But he does not give up eating or cooking just because he is not always successful.

Donna Halper: So the person on the phone should just keep on trying, and ultimately…

Sri Chinmoy: Ultimately, he will become an expert. Learning meditation is like learning anything else. One cannot become an expert overnight. Sometimes he will do extremely well, sometimes he will do very badly. But if he continues to study, to practise, he will become an expert eventually.

Donna Halper: So in meditation you have to practise?

Sri Chinmoy: Practise is necessary in every sphere of life.

Caller: Does Sri Chinmoy feel that meditation has really done anything for the musicians he has dealt with, and has it helped their music?

Donna Halper: Has meditating with you and studying with you changed the lives of the musicians that you have had as disciples? Did it change John McLaughlin or Michael Walden or Carlos Santana?

Sri Chinmoy: According to my inner vision, it has definitely changed them. In the outer life, anyone who knows them can be the judge.

Donna Halper: How do you think it changed them?

Sri Chinmoy: They have intensified their inner cry. Their cry for God, for truth, for light has immensely increased. Also, they have simplified and purified their outer life to some extent. They have definitely made progress in the spiritual life.

Donna Halper: Do you think it helped their music in any way?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, it has inspired their creative capacities, and it has made their music better in whatever way they wanted.

Donna Halper: How about their attitudes towards what they did before — drugs and alcohol and things like that?

Sri Chinmoy: They have given up these things.

Donna Halper: They still refrain from all those things?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, as long as they remain on my path.

Caller: I’d like to know if it is possible to be used as an instrument in an intimate relationship with somebody?

Donna Halper: Can a person be an instrument of God and also be an instrument in a relationship with somebody, where God is acting through them to help another person? For example, do you believe people in the material world can become instruments of God?

Sri Chinmoy: Easily. We are all instruments of God, but if we are too much involved in the material life, we will not be able to be chosen instruments of God. Chosen instruments of God are those who are constantly self-giving. They are not for themselves only, but for the entire world. The conscious seekers have a wide heart. They don’t try to confine themselves to their own reality. They try to offer their lives to the world at large.

Donna Halper: Can you also be an instrument of God in a relationship with another human being? Let’s say there is a person who is addicted to drugs. Do you believe that God can perhaps bring someone — just an ordinary person — into the life of that person to make him better?

Sri Chinmoy: Certainly. God is inside everyone, not only the seekers. If someone is addicted to drugs and if he has a sincere inner cry to get out of that addiction, then God will bring someone to his rescue.

Donna Halper: So on a personal basis then, our relationships are not an accident? We don’t just randomly find each other, but the people who find each other are finding each other because God wants them to find each other?

Sri Chinmoy: Not in every case, but if it is something significant in the life of the individual. There is something called God’s Hour. When God’s Hour strikes, the persons who are needed will come. Otherwise, every person we meet is not sent by God.

Caller: If an ignorant person who hasn’t had any realisation is confronted with a situation of great physical danger, what kind of prayer could a person make to God at that critical moment? Sudden death happens to people in an airplane or on the streets at times.

Donna Halper: If he finds his life in danger, can a person seriously speak to God, even though the person has been irreligious?

Sri Chinmoy: We are all God’s children. The parents are always full of love, even for a naughty boy who does not listen to them. When this naughty child at times runs into difficulty, he runs to his parents to help him. Will the parents discard him at that time? No, the parents will immediately embrace him and say, “At long last, my son, you have come to me for help.” Similarly, God’s help is always there, provided we have a sincere cry.

Donna Halper: So the person who has been against religion or who thought religion was silly or did not want to get involved in religion, if at a moment of danger that person reaches out to God, God will answer him?

Sri Chinmoy: Definitely He will answer, but in His own way, of course.

Donna Halper: He will accept the sincerity of this person even though his life is in danger?

Sri Chinmoy: If someone sincerely cries for God’s help, God will definitely help him. It depends on his sincerity.

Caller: Do you believe that God is in the mind?

Sri Chinmoy: God is not only in the mind, God is the mind itself. But you have to know what kind of mind it is. If it is the physical mind, the earth-bound mind, the mind that cherishes and treasures jealousy, meanness and impurity, this is not the mind that can be of any help in our search for God. The mind that is as wide and vast as the sky, the mind that accepts and loves the entire world, is the real mind. Inside that mind God functions most satisfactorily. So we have to know which mind you are referring to.

Donna Halper: So you’re saying that the person who thinks in a positive way, the person who thinks in a way that is honest and sincere and concerned about all the people in the world, that person is using the mind in a spiritual way?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes.

Caller: But they say that God is a jealous God.

Donna Halper: That’s a very good religious point. What about when they say that God is a jealous God?

Sri Chinmoy: God is jealous only for those who have not experienced God the Supreme Beloved, God the Eternal Compassion, God the Eternal Friend.

Donna Halper: So you’re saying that God is a friend?

Sri Chinmoy: God is our Eternal Friend, and our only true Friend.

Donna Halper: The person who accepts the Bible as the word of God, is that person mistaken to think that the Bible is totally true in everything it says?

Sri Chinmoy: If a person feels that what the Bible says is absolutely true, and has implicit faith in the Bible’s teachings, then he should definitely continue in his life of faith. But if somebody says that there are a few things he cannot accept from the Bible, and he wants to get some new clarification or new illumination in his life by studying something else or by diving deep within, then he is entitled to do so. God wants satisfaction in us. If someone gets satisfaction from absolute faith in the Bible, wonderful. But if he does not find satisfaction there, then let him study something else. Let him study his own life; let him dive deep within in order to find the truth which will satisfy him.

Donna Halper: Sri Chinmoy will play another selection at the end of the program. I could listen to your music all day, I really could. Why is that music so relaxing? I’ve heard music before, but it didn’t relax me as much as that music. Is there something special about your music?

Sri Chinmoy: In my case I do not just play music. I pray, I meditate, I contemplate while I am playing. I try to be in close communion with my Inner Pilot who is the Supreme Musician. And according to my capacity of receptivity, I try to offer His Light and Peace to the world through my music. So when I play, the esraj is not the real instrument, the instrument is me. It is I who am the instrument.

Donna Halper: Sri Chinmoy, I would be very appreciative if you would play another song for us.

You are at WRVR, “The Other Hour”, and our guest is Sri Chinmoy. If you would like to get in touch with Sri Chinmoy, at the end you will find out how. In the meantime, I would like you to listen and meditate. Sri Chinmoy.

[Sri Chinmoy played the esraj.]

Donna Halper: Thank you very much, Sri Chinmoy. I would like to remind you all that Sri Chinmoy will be giving a series of 27 concerts this month. If you would like more information on any of them, you can call 532-3471. This is Donna Halper, “The Other Hour”. Thank you for listening to Jazz Radio 106.7, WRVR, New York.

To-morrow's dawn

[Continued from previous issue]

122.

Yesterday was God’s Day; therefore, I loved Him dearly. Today is God’s Day; therefore, I am devoted to Him unreservedly. Tomorrow will be God’s Day; therefore, I shall surrender to Him unconditionally.

123.

My Lord loves me for what I am. My dear world, can you not do the same?

124.

My journey’s start: self-enquiry. My journey’s end: self-mastery.

125.

Self-offering comes from our prayer to God. Self-faith comes from our meditation on God.

126.

A perfect seeker is he who knows how to bow his head, open his heart and offer his soul.

127.

Do not plan your life in advance. It is not fair to take away God’s job.

128.

Not to plan does not necessarily mean irresponsibility. It means a cheerfully surrendered oneness with God’s Will.

129.

Why am I resigning from the world? I am resigning because I clearly see that there are people who have more wisdom and more compassion than I have. They, too, should be given a chance. I want to be fair.

130.

Why am I resigning from the human life? I am resigning because I thought that the human life was something else. I thought self-giving was another name for the human life.

131.

Do you want to be freed from all your embarrassments? Then do not suspect.

132.

The transformation of your life is guaranteed: just change the attitudes of your life.

133.

God is most practical; therefore, He does not suffer. Let us also try to be practical if we really want to be happy in the world of our aspiration.

134.

Be prosperous. You will love yourself. Be generous. The world will love you. Be pious and gracious. God will love you.

135.

In the long run your spiritual achievements will far outshine your other achievements.

136.

You the thinker will eventually die. You the seeker will eternally live.

[To be continued in next issue]

Songs

My feet have wings

My feet have wings, they fly. My hands have eyes, they cry. My thought has God, it shines. With God-Delight it dines.

Nayan nehare bishwa bhuvan

/Nayan nehare bishwa bhuvan/
/Herena tahar pran/
/Tai ankhi duti ruddha kariya/
/Jogi kare tar dhyan/
/Shruti shudhu shune bahirer katha/
/Shunena oishi bani/
/Sangjata tai shrutire kariche/
/Satya tapasa gyani/

The eye sees the entire world
But it sees not its own life;
Therefore, keeping the two eyes closed
The Yogi meditates on You,
O Lord Supreme.
The ear hears only
The messages and the clamour of the outer world.
It hears not the messages
Of the highest Heaven;
Therefore, the true seeker of wisdom
Always tries to keep his ears
Under his perfect control.