Interview with United Press International
Excerpts from the interview with Sri Chinmoy
the United Nations in New York
UPI: You said once that honesty and frankness are the birthright of the West, humility and devotion are the birthright of the East, and the combination of these four powers should be the ideal of a human being. What do you mean by this?
Sri Chinmoy: When these qualities, the good qualities of the East and the good qualities of the West, are all combined, a human being can be perfect. Right now the good qualities that the East has are not enough. Similarly, the good qualities that the West has are not enough. But when we can amalgamate, when we can have the qualities of both worlds, then an individual can become perfect. Right now the West wants to proceed with only honesty and frankness, but this is insufficient. Humility is also required. The East has humility, but honesty is also required if it wants to become perfect.
UPI: What is it that you do at your meditation sessions?
Sri Chinmoy: We pray and meditate, plus I give short talks and answer questions. The inner world embodies peace, light and bliss. The outer world, unfortunately, does not embody these qualities right now, whereas the inner world has them in boundless measure. So we try to establish a free access to the inner world by virtue of our inner cry and our soulful meditation. We call this our aspiration.
UPI: So you don't sit down and talk about the boundaries in the Middle East; you talk about other things?
Sri Chinmoy: Yes. I am quite ignorant of politics as such. My forte is spirituality. There are two approaches to every problem. One is the inner approach; the other is the outer approach. Those who come to meditate want to try to walk along the inner road. But ultimately both the roads can lead to the same destination.
UPI: What is the inner road?
Sri Chinmoy: The inner road is the road of sincere dedication to the highest Cause. In the outer world one can aim at a particular goal without having sincere dedication to the goal. But the inner road represents the attitude of the seeker. The seeker tries in every way to lead a more illumining and more fulfilling life, to find and follow the way that is right from the highest point of view.
UPI: Do you envision the day when your goals will be achieved?
Sri Chinmoy: In the outer world it is a very, very slow process. In the process of time, definitely we will reach the destined Goal. No sincere cry will meet with frustration, disappointment or failure. If we have a sincere cry, the day is bound to dawn when our sincere cry will meet with satisfaction, supreme satisfaction, which is illumination within and without.
UPI: But you don't ever see the day when your work will be done, do you?
Sri Chinmoy: No, my work is not like that. It is a slow and steady process. We have to sow the seed, which has to germinate, then become a sapling and gradually become a huge banyan tree. We are now in the process of consciously becoming that which we always were in the inner world. But this process of growth is an ever-transcending process. We can grow eternally. We need never stop.
UPI: Where are you now? Have you dropped the seed? Do we have a seedling?
Sri Chinmoy: This is a most inspiring, encouraging question. I have been asked thousands and thousands of questions all over the world, but this last question of yours so far nobody has asked me, not even my disciples. We have sown the seed. Now we have a tiny plant. This tiny plant will grow and become a strong tree. If storms of doubt and hurricanes of jealousy and other undivine things enter, then naturally the progress can be very slow. But if there is implicit faith and devoted oneness, then naturally the plant will very soon grow into a tree. Now we are in the plant stage; we have sown the seed, and it is no longer a seedling. It has germinated properly. Previously it was only a seedling, but now it has become a tiny but healthy plant. So there is every hope that it will weather all the buffets and blows of human doubts and weaknesses and grow into a huge tree.
UPI: Thank you very much.
Published in The Inner Role of the United Nations