Question: Do we lose all our progress when we die and then do we have to start from the beginning in our next incarnation?

Sri Chinmoy: No, nothing is lost. From the soul’s region you come into the world-battlefield to fight against doubt, anxiety, frustration, and everything else that is undivine. But in this life you have not yet manifested the proper victory for God here on earth. You have not established the divine victory on earth. So with the achievement you have made, you will go back to the soul’s region and take some rest for some time. You come into the world and play your role. Then, as in a game, you become tired and you take rest. After five years or ten years or twelve years, you will come down here again and continue the game. You may not remember, but your soul remembers how much you realised here. So, with that achievement, you will again start your journey. Nothing is lost. Suppose you have an iota of Peace, Light and Bliss in this incarnation. In your next incarnation you start with that iota of Truth. From one dollar we go to three dollars and then to five dollars.

In the spiritual life also, we go from little Light to more Light. When we start our journey, we cannot meditate for five minutes. Then, after two or three months, or years, we can meditate for two hours without any difficulty. Each time we come into the world and aspire, we increase our divinity. Then a time comes when we realise the Highest. At that time, our inner consciousness becomes infinite, our inner joy becomes infinite. A spiritual Master, if he is a real spiritual Master, deals with infinite Peace, infinite Light, in his inner consciousness. Outwardly nobody will know it or value it. Now I have infinite Peace, Light and Bliss. But if I go to a grocer and say that I will give him Peace and Light in exchange for some food, he will tell me to go home. Again, in this world everybody can give and everybody can receive. The Master wants to receive your aspiration; he wants to see if you are sincere and if you want to receive his Light. It is a mutual giving. You give me what you have, your aspiration; I give you what I have, my realisation.