Question: When we look at very young children sometimes they seem so receptive. They seem to be conscious, as though the soul is right there. Can you see a real universal Consciousness in them?

Sri Chinmoy: Absolutely. Especially when a child smiles, at that time we see everything. When Sri Krishna was a child, his mother saw the universe in him. It is not an exaggeration, it is absolutely true. You can easily see the consciousness of the soul in children. The universal Consciousness, the transcendental Consciousness is there in seed form. Its potentiality is there. Then it germinates and becomes a plant, a small tree and then a huge banyan tree. The potentiality, the possibility, everything is there, but the problem is how to develop it once ignorance comes.

In a baby there is no mind at all. But after five or seven years, the mind begins to be developed and the mind separates everything. It gets pleasure in separating. As soon as the mind starts functioning, it gets tremendous delight in separating. If there are two things, immediately the mind will separate them. Even if there is only one thing, the mind wants to get satisfaction by dividing the thing into half.

In contrast to the mind, the heart gets satisfaction in oneness. If you live in the heart, two things will become one. Even if it sees two things, the heart will try to unite them and feel them as one.