Question: Do you have any comments on the world food problem — the fact that many people are starving and more will be starving? Some people say that that is due to the fact that it requires much more grain today to feed a cow than a person would eat directly.

Sri Chinmoy: Speaking from the spiritual point of view, I wish to say there will always be some problem, either a food problem or physical problems, mental problems, vital problems, psychic problems. There will be no end to our problems. What we have to do is go to the root of all these problems. The root is ignorance. If I am making a mistake, then I have to rectify it all at once. If you are making a mistake, then it is your bounden duty to rectify it. If I know that I have done something or I am doing something wrong, then my inner awakening will prevent me from doing that thing. So it is not a matter of too little meat or too little grain. The real problem is ignorance. There are many things we do wrong every day; we can’t help ourselves. We have surrendered to ignorance. That is why problems are in our mind, problems are in our body, problems are in our vital. Problems are everywhere. These problems can be solved only when we can surrender to the light, the inner divinity within us.