Prayer and Meditation
A talk by Sri Chinmoy
at the University of Massachusetts
Dear seekers, I wish to give a very short talk on prayer and meditation.
I pray. Why do I pray? I pray because I need God. I meditate. Why do I meditate? I meditate because God needs me.
When I pray, I think that God is high above me, above my head. When I meditate, I feel that God is deep inside me, inside my heart.
There are two types of prayer: right prayer and wrong prayer. Similarly, there are two types of meditation: right meditation and wrong meditation. The right prayer says, "I am helpless, I am innocent, I am weak. I need You, O Lord Supreme, to strengthen me, to purify me, to illumine me, to perfect me, to immortalise me. I need You, O Lord Supreme."
The wrong prayer says, "Although I need You, O Lord Supreme, I have some strength of my own, I have some capacity of my own. I need You because if I have Your Power and Capacity, then there shall come a time when I shall be able to lord it over the world and dominate the world. The whole world will be at my feet and I shall act according to my sweet will. But for that I need power in boundless measure. I have some power, but I need infinitely more. Therefore I invoke You, O Lord Supreme." This is wrong prayer. This prayer is for the fulfilment of the vital in us, the vital that wants to dominate the entire world.
The right meditation says, "Lord Supreme, out of Your infinite Bounty You have chosen me to be Your instrument. You could have chosen somebody else to play the role, but You have granted me the golden opportunity. To You I offer my constant gratitude, my gratitude-heart, for You have chosen me to become Your instrument to manifest You here on earth in Your own Way."
The wrong meditation says, "Lord Supreme, this world of ours is full of ignorance. We all are swimming in the sea of ignorance, wallowing in the pleasures of ignorance. You need me because in this world of ours, God-manifestation is extremely difficult. Your manifestation, Your full manifestation, is a far cry. Therefore You need considerable assistance from me here on earth. You need an ignorant human being like me to fight against ignorance in this strange world that You have entered into. You need my help for Your own manifestation; so I will be Your instrument."
Prayer is a flower. When we see the flower, we are inspired. Inspiration compels us to run the farthest, to climb the highest, to dive into the deepest depth. Meditation is a tree. The tree aspires. It aspires to reach the highest height, the highest plane of consciousness. When we see the flower, inspiration dawns in us. When we sit at the foot of the tree, our aspiration to reach the Highest, the absolute transcendental Consciousness, comes to the fore.
Prayer is purity. It purifies our mind. The mind is always subject to doubt, fear, worry and anxiety. It is always assailed by wrong thoughts, wrong movements. When we pray, purification takes place in our mind. Purity increases our God-receptivity. In fact, purity is nothing short of God-receptivity. Each time we pray, our inner receptacle becomes large, larger, largest. At that time, purity, beauty, light and delight can enter into our receptacle and they can sport together in the inmost recesses of our heart.
Meditation is luminosity. It illumines our heart. When illumination takes place in our heart, insecurity disappears, the sense of want disappears. At that time, we sing the song of inseparable oneness, our inseparable oneness with the universal Consciousness, the transcendental Consciousness. When our heart is illumined, the finite in us enters into the Infinite and becomes the Infinite itself. The bondage of millenia leaves us and the freedom of infinite Truth and Light welcomes us.
Prayer is followed by meditation; not the other way around. First we must pray, then we meditate.
Asato ma sad gamaya
tamaso ma jyotir gamaya
mrityor ma amritam gamaya.
Lead me from the unreal to the Real.
Lead me from darkness to Light.
Lead me from death to Immortality.
This is the prayer that we have learned from the Vedic seers of the hoary past. This immortal prayer in the firmament of India knows no parallel.
Here in the West, the Saviour has taught us the supreme prayer: "Let Thy Will be done." Again, the same Saviour has taught us the supreme meditation: "I and my Father are one."
Tat twam asi: "That Thou art." You are That, the ever-transcending Beyond, the Lord Supreme. This is the highest height of prayer. Brahmasmi: "I am the Brahman, I am the all-pervading Brahman, the Absolute Supreme." This is the supreme height and depth of meditation.
Prayer tells me, "O seeker, claim the Supreme Beloved as your own and say, 'O Beloved Supreme, You are mine. I claim You as my own, very own. Do grant me Your divine qualities in boundless measure so that I can be Your perfect instrument here on earth. You have infinite Peace, Light and Bliss. Do grant me infinite Peace, Light and Bliss so that I can be a most perfect instrument of Yours.'"
Meditation tells me, "O seeker, tell God, 'I am Yours.' Tell the Absolute Supreme, 'I am at Your command. Use me in Your own Way. At every moment You can manifest Yourself in and through me. You can utilise me at Your sweet Will at every moment, throughout Eternity. To fulfil You in Your own Way is to achieve immortal life. Through me fulfil Yourself here on earth, there in Heaven.'"
With a soulful prayer each seeker begins his day's journey; and with a soulful meditation the seeker ends his day's journey.
Published in Sri Chinmoy Speaks, part 10
Questions following the Talk
Answered by Sri Chinmoy
Question: What is the most important thing in the spiritual life?
Sri Chinmoy: There is one most important thing in the spiritual life, and that most important thing is: God first and God last. God should come first in my life and God should come last in my life. I will start my journey with God, I will end my journey with God and, in between, God will be there, too. I don’t need anybody save and except God. Whoever claims God as his own, I claim that person as my own. He who does not dare to claim God as his own is claiming ignorance as his own. I can’t claim ignorance as my own. So whoever is in God, with God and for God is mine.
In the spiritual life there is no such thing as neutrality. In the ordinary life we say, “I don’t want to be involved.” But in the spiritual life that is impossible. Either you take God’s side or the hostile forces will pull you, and you will be compelled to accept, consciously or unconsciously, world ignorance as your own. It will grab you and devour you. So please feel that those who are not aspiring have already taken the side of ignorance. And what is ignorance? Something that deliberately takes us away from the Real in us. Some people say that they are not practising spirituality, but they also say that they are not inside the prison of ignorance. But I will say, “You are already there, but you don’t know it.”
There are two magnets. If you allow the spiritual magnet to pull you, it will definitely pull you towards realisation. But if you don’t allow it, then ignorance will pull you to itself. You can’t stand in between; you can’t remain neutral. You have to take one side.
Question: How do we know that we are nearing our goal of liberation?
Sri Chinmoy: When one is a student, one studies at the elementary school, high school, college and university. When one enters the university, one knows that he will soon be completing his course. In the spiritual life also, it is the same. When one starts the spiritual life, one knows how much peace he has. He grows into more peace, abundant peace, infinite peace. When one is a beginner in the spiritual life, one knows how much suffering he has, how difficult it is for him to meditate even for five minutes. Then gradually he gets the capacity to meditate for hours at a time. It happens in the same way that a student goes from first grade to a higher class and to the highest class. He knows when he goes to the highest class that his course is complete.
Question: When people are gossiping about a negative quality in another person, can this gossip increase the strength of that quality?
Sri Chinmoy: Certainly it does. Each time we open our mouth, we are bringing to the fore or we are using a power. It can be a good power or it can be a bad power. Even if we do not speak anything aloud, if we cherish an undivine thought about somebody else, then this undivine thought will enter into that person like an arrow. He will not be able to know who is the culprit, but the arrow will definitely enter into the person.
Gossip is very bad. It does not help anyone. Here we are all trying to be wise people. Anything that does not help us, we try to reject from our nature. We are all seekers. By becoming gossip-mongers, we will not be able to go to God. We need Peace, Light, Bliss and divine Love. If we care for these qualities, then we shall not speak ill of others. We are trying to love God. If we love God, then how can we hate God’s children? To speak ill of someone is indirectly to hate him. If we really love the root, which is God, then we cannot speak ill of the branch or the leaf. If we really love the root, then the leaves, fruits and branches we also have to love.
Question: What can we do about pride?
Sri Chinmoy: Suppose I think that I am a good singer. Pride has entered into me. Then immediately I will compare myself with some great, well-known singers and my pride will be smashed. Or suppose I think that I am a good lecturer. Then immediately I will try to compare myself with some great orator. Then my pride will pale into insignificance. Each time pride enters, this is what we can do. This is the human way of dealing with pride. But the difficulty with this way is that it helps us conquer our pride only for the time being. Today pride has entered into me because I feel that I am a great singer. The moment I think of a really great singer, my pride goes away. But tomorrow it may come again. Tomorrow I will be proud of something else. But if I can bring down Peace and Light into my system, then what happens? I don’t have the occasion to be proud of anything because I feel that every person who has really achieved something or accomplished something is my brother or sister. The right hand does not become jealous of the left hand. Both belong to the same body. So when there is oneness, pride goes away.
Question: How can I fight comfort in the lower consciousness?
Sri Chinmoy: What you call comfort, I wish to call pleasure. Comfort and pleasure go together. Pleasure is a form of passion, a form of destruction. Until the vital is completely purified, the human consciousness feels that pleasure is something very sweet.
Unconsciously a child takes poison. Just because unconsciously he is drinking poison, do you think that he will not be killed? Unconsciously a child places his finger in fire and he is burned. Just because he is not conscious of doing something, does it mean that he will not suffer the consequences? Since you have accepted the spiritual life, you do not consciously enter into the lower vital world. But unconsciously, in your mind, you do enter. On the physical plane you can remain thousands of miles away from the vital world. But mentally, if you cherish lower vital, emotional thoughts, destructive thoughts, naturally the mind will be destroyed.
If your aspiration is constant, then the burning flame inside you is climbing up, up, up. But if the flame is not burning, the pull of the vital becomes very strong, very strong. Again, if the flame is burning upward all the time, how can it go downward? When the flame is burning very brightly, the vital feels, “I have no place here.” The lower vital has no chance to remain in that particular person. Then the lower vital gives the death blow, a most fatal blow. At that time the aspirant has to be very careful; he has to brave that blow. If he does brave that blow, then the lower vital feels, “Oh, he does not need me.”
You want to have perfection in your nature and you want to have illumination. If you constantly feel that you want to become perfection and nothing else, then you are bound to remain at your own height. Gradually, from this height you will climb up to the highest height, which is your goal. Your own height right now is your upward aspiration and nothing else. Your ultimate goal is bound to come if you constantly strive to stay where you are right now, in your climbing aspiration.
Whoever wants to give up the spiritual life just because he is not making considerable progress or because he is falling down from time to time, is making a terrible mistake. And then something more I wish to say. After accepting the spiritual life, if you consciously leave it, then hostile forces torture you most ruthlessly and the divine forces show considerable indifference. If you don’t accept the spiritual life, wonderful. Sleep, sleep; the time has not yet come for you to wake up. But if you already have started to run, and then you go again to sleep, at that time ignorance comes and covers you totally.
So, please run towards the sun. Then darkness has to leave you. Do not be afraid of your faults. Only be conscious of your height, conscious of your goal. If you are conscious of your height and you are conscious of your goal, then there can be no fall. But if there is no conscious awareness, then every moment is dismal darkness.
Published in Sri Chinmoy Speaks, part 10