106. Sri Chinmoy's Interview With New Television –- Ntv, 22 May 2007

Interviewer: First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to you for coming here and encouraging Mongolia to join the movement for world peace. Can you please elaborate on the goal of your visit to Mongolia? I have heard that you have ancestors from Mongolia.

Sri Chinmoy: My ancestors from my father's side came from Mongolia. The very name 'Mongolia' gives me boundless joy and boundless inner thrill.

I have come to Mongolia to love the country and to be of service to Mongolia. Our beloved President Enkhbayar has given me boundless inspiration and encouragement. For that I shall remain eternally grateful to him. He has a child-like heart, and he is a devout Buddhist, an adorer of Lord Buddha. I have the deepest adoration for the Lord Buddha, so we have quite a few things in common, the President and I.

Interviewer: Can you please tell me your feelings about music?

Sri Chinmoy: Music is a universal language. I do not know even a single word of the Mongolian language. Yet, when I hear the Mongolian music, I get tremendous joy. The real music comes from the heart, and then again it goes back to the heart. The heart does not need to learn all the languages of the world – no! The heart has developed an inner feeling for each and every human being on earth. When we play prayerful music, soulful music, then we can easily feel our oneness with each and every human being.

In my case, I am so fortunate that some of the world's greatest musicians and composers have not only inspired me, but also encouraged me to continue my music. It started with Pablo Casals, then Leonard Bernstein, Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar and others. They all have encouraged me enormously, and their kind appreciation has helped me enormously in composing hundreds and thousands of songs.

Interviewer: You have achieved astonishing results in many fields. What is the source of your strength?

Sri Chinmoy: I pray and meditate. I started praying at the age of four or five. And at the age of nine or ten, I started meditating. When you pray and meditate, you can enter into the inner world. The inner world is the source, not only of my creativity, but the creativity of all the artists, all the singers, all the musicians – all, all. So if we pray and meditate, we can develop those capacities.

I did not pray to God to make me a great musician or a great singer – no! I prayed to God only for the fulfilment of His Will. When we pray to God for the fulfilment of His Will, God encourages us and inspires us, and actually in and through us, He creates things to inspire the rest of the world. Again, I did not pray to God to become a great musician, a great singer or a great writer – no, no, no! I prayed to God only for the fulfilment of His Will. So this is how He is fulfilling His Will in and through me, my activities.

Interviewer: It is said that whoever wants to become illumined needs help from a Teacher. In your case, who was your spiritual Teacher?

Sri Chinmoy: In the beginning, when I was a young boy, I came to a spiritual institute, which we call an ashram. There I was extremely fortunate to have Sri Aurobindo and the Mother as my Teachers. Then, gradually, gradually, when I came to America, I felt that there is only one Teacher: God, the Supreme. He is everybody's Teacher. He is the Teacher of a little boy and He is the Teacher of spiritual people, and of spiritual Masters as well. So there is only one Teacher, and that Teacher we call our Inner Pilot. Now my Teacher is the Inner Pilot. He inspires me, He blesses me, He encourages me to do all the things that I do. Everybody's Guru, everybody's Teacher is God, God Himself.

Interviewer: Now I have a question about birds. Why do you draw so many birds?

Sri Chinmoy: I have drawn many, many birds – over fifteen million. While drawing these birds, I get tremendous joy. Birds fly in the sky. The sky is so vast; it is infinite. There the birds fly and enjoy freedom. We, too, want freedom. But this is not the freedom to break something or to kill someone. No! This freedom is the freedom of oneness. The sky is so vast; it is infinite. There I wish to establish my oneness with Infinity – not to rule others, not to lord it over others, but to love others and embrace others. This oneness is the real freedom.

Interviewer: There are many religions in the world and apparently they all lead to the same goal, but when will it happen that all the religions will unite?

Sri Chinmoy: All the religions will lead us to the same goal; but I have no idea when. I cannot predict when they will unite. When, I cannot predict; but how, I can predict. I feel that it is by virtue of prayers and meditations that all the religions can be brought together. But when that will occur, I have no idea. The oneness of all religions, the synthesis of all religions, can take place only by virtue of prayers and meditations. If we sincerely pray, if we sincerely meditate, then we shall not find fault with anybody. We shall only feel oneness, oneness, oneness. But if we do not pray, if we do not meditate, then we shall find so many mistakes inside others. Our own mistakes we do not take as mistakes, whereas when we see the same mistakes in others, we immediately feel that these are mistakes. We must stop seeing mistakes in others' lives. We must only encourage and encourage one another. By virtue of encouragement, we shall fulfil one another, and we can establish a new world of harmony and peace.

Interviewer: What is happiness, and how can we achieve happiness?

Sri Chinmoy: We can achieve happiness by loving others and by praying to God to give us happiness – not only our personal happiness, but happiness for all human beings. If we pray to God only for our own happiness, God will make us happy; but if we pray to God to make everybody in the world happy, then God will be extremely, extremely pleased with us. God wants us to feel that this world of ours is a family, just one family. In a family, if only one or two members are happy and the others are miserable, that family will not make any progress. All the members of the family should be happy. Only this happiness will keep us peaceful. If we are happy, we do not go out and fight, we do not quarrel. If we are unhappy, then we quarrel, we fight, we try to kill one another. Happiness comes only from prayer. Happiness comes from the feeling that all of us belong to one family.

Interviewer: God grants life to everyone on earth, but some people cry, some people smile. Why is there such a big difference in our lives?

Sri Chinmoy: Some people have joy. That is why they smile. And some people do not have joy. That is why they cry. But the question here is, when people cry, what do they cry for? If they cry for name, fame, wealth and material possessions, then they will never be happy; they will never be able to smile. But if they pray to God to please God in His own Way, if they cry for God, then one day they will become happy. If they cry for material possessions, for earthly belongings, they will never be happy. If they cry for God to make them happy, then God will definitely make them happy at His own Time.

Happiness comes from the inner feeling of oneness, the feeling that God is within us and He wants us all to be happy, happy. He does not want us to cry. But if we do cry, then we shall cry only for peace, light and bliss, and not for material possessions. If God fulfils our desires, then we shall feel miserable. But aspiration is a different type of desire which is divine, which only wants God, God, God. When we aspire, we say, "Let the world make progress, let the whole world think of God and pray to God." That kind of desire is very good. For that kind of desire we use the term "aspiration."

Interviewer: You have done many drawings while in Mongolia. What is your impression of Mongolia?

Sri Chinmoy: My impression of Mongolia is extremely good! Here I have been inspired, and I have had the opportunity to aspire as well. Because of the inspiration and encouragement that I have received in Mongolia, I have been able to do quite a few things. I was able to meditate with the President; two times he blessed me. And I was able to offer a Peace Concert, which unites everybody. I have also given talks on art and poetry. When we develop art in our inner life, we get tremendous joy and satisfaction. In every way, I am very, very sincerely and soulfully pleased with Mongolia, its inner life and outer life. Mongolia has inspired me and encouraged me in so many ways to bring forward my creativity. For that, I am very, very, very grateful to the soul, heart and life of Mongolia.

Interviewer: In conclusion, what would you like to say to the Mongolian viewers?

Sri Chinmoy: My brothers and sisters of Mongolia, I love you dearly. I am very, very pleased with you all. Here you have loved me and blessed me, and I wish you tremendous inner progress and tremendous outer success. Inner progress and outer success we all need.

Here I have noticed two most extraordinary things: you have inner speed and you also have outer strength. When the outer strength and the inner speed go together, we feel that we are absolutely certain to arrive at our destination, which is oneness, oneness, universal oneness.

Interviewer: Thank you.

Sri Chinmoy: Thank you, thank you.