Question: I am caught between my spiritual life and my parents. My parents live in New York and I live in Puerto Rico.

Sri Chinmoy: At this point you are making a deplorable mistake. Just because you cared more for Puerto Rico, you left New York and you went to live there. If you had been more attached to your parents, then you would have definitely stayed in New York. As an individual soul you came out of your parents’ jurisdiction and you are no longer living under the same roof with them. Now you are staying in Puerto Rico. You are satisfied there. You feel that your life there is quite comfortable. Now you have joined our path. When you come here to New York, you have to know that your source is here. You should take spirituality from your source as often as you can. So here you are making an unconscious mistake: attachment. Break asunder attachment before you enter the spiritual path. You left your parents to live in Puerto Rico and you have accepted the spiritual life, so you should run the fastest.

When you come here, you can visit your parents once or twice, but if you spend most of your time there, it will be a serious mistake. Even before you accepted the spiritual life you cared more for Puerto Rico than for New York. If you really cared that much for your parents, then you would not have gone and stayed in Puerto Rico. You made the choice. You left and now you are settled in Puerto Rico. Then you came back to New York purely because of your spiritual life; otherwise, you would have been with your parents some other time of the year. You should not come here with the intention of killing two birds with one stone. You have come to New York to get utmost joy, to gain more aspiration, and also to stay with your spiritual brothers and sisters and share your inspiration and aspiration. When you want to stay with your parents, at that point all your old attachments come forward unconsciously. You become your old self. This is a serious mistake. So, next time you come here, stay with the disciples and go to visit your parents only once or twice. Otherwise, you will be cherishing unconscious attachment. We find it very difficult to become detached. In your case you left them before you accepted the spiritual life. But like most people you have kept an inner connection with your parents. Since physically you are out of New York, why do you have to go back to the same place which you consciously left for a better, deeper and higher vocation and to fulfil a choice in your life?

The next time you come, please try to stay with the disciples. When you make considerable progress in the spiritual life, then you are bound to offer something to your parents’ consciousness, provided they care to make inner progress and they want something to fulfil their empty lives. It is not by staying with them that you will help them. That is impossible. By exchanging thoughts and ideas, you won’t be able to help them at all. But if you make great progress, tremendous progress here, then this progress will enter into them. Just by talking philosophy, you won’t be able to elevate their consciousness. If you want to help them, then you should become infinitely more spiritual. Then through spiritual power you will be able to enter into them, even when they are not aware of it at all. That is the best process. You come here on special occasions precisely because of your spiritual life. You definitely come for a spiritual purpose, so you should fulfil that purpose.