Question: Guru, how would you describe the people who have become your disciples?

Sri Chinmoy: I will describe them as my own spiritual children. My love for them is boundless and infinite. But I will not say that my children are by far superior to others. In an ordinary family, the parents will always extol their children to the skies. They will say, "My children are all divine. They are absolutely perfect perfection." But in my case I will say, "My children have imperfections, they have limitations, but they are trying. As other spiritual Masters have their spiritual children and are teaching them in a particular way, so also I have my disciples and I am teaching these children of mine in my own way." When it is a matter of comparison, I will not say that my children are superior to others. Only I will say that my children are eating the food that I have in my refrigerator. They like my food; so I am giving them this food. Others who do not like my food go to other Masters and eat their food.

I always tell my children not to make any comparison. I say, "You love me and I love you; that is enough." It is our mutual love that has compelled us to stay together in the same boat. Otherwise they would go to some other boat, to some other Master. It is the love-aspect of our inner life that has made me very close to them and made them very close to me. Our path is the path of love. We feel that love is the greatest knowledge, the greatest wisdom, the greatest treasure.

We are offering divine love, the love of oneness. When this oneness is manifested totally, the Universal Heart becomes ours. Right now each of us has a limited heart. But when you are one with me, when he is one with me, when she is one with me, at that time we become universal.

When we have the Universal Consciousness at our disposal, we feel that we are perfect.