Sri Chinmoy’s TV interview
on WKAQ, Channel 2
in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Moderator: Sudha (Miss Carmen Suro) Panel: Vijaya (Mrs. Sarah Casanova), Agni (Mr. Jose Luis Casanova), Prajna (Mrs. Haydee Casellas), Mr. Pedro Dacosta
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks to the courtesy of ‘Foro de la Comunidad’ (Community Forum), I have the privilege and the pleasure to introduce to you the figure of Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose. To many here in Puerto Rico he is well known. Many know, ‘Una Pausa en el Dia’ (A Pause in the Day), the column in ‘El Mundo’, the daily newspaper where Sri Chinmoy expresses his teachings.
Sri Chinmoy is a spiritual figure, a great Master, philosopher and Hindu yogi. He is the spiritual director of the Aum Centre in San Juan and the Aum Centre in New York. Sri Chinmoy is with you.
Sri Chinmoy: Thank you. I am extremely happy to be here at this TV station and at the same time, I am most grateful to the authorities of this T.V. station WKAQ for granting us the opportunity to be here. We do hope that we will be able to serve, to some extent, those who will be seeing us and listening to us. Again I wish to offer my deepest sense of gratitude to this T.V. station, WKAQ.
Question: Master Chinmoy, I believe that there are two wars, the inner and the outer. When and how will these two wars stop?
Sri Chinmoy: You are right, there are two wars, the inner and the outer. The inner war is the war that our inner being or the soul fights against limitations, ignorance, doubt and death. The outer war is the war that man fights with man, nation fights with nation, country fights with country. Now the question is: when and how can these wars come to an end? These wars can come to an end only when the inner war first stops. That is to say, when in the inner world, the inner being or the soul conquers ignorance, fear, doubt and death. Then in the outer world there will be no necessity to wage war. We fight because deep inside us there is disharmony, there is fear, there is anxiety and there is aggression. When deep within us there is peace, joy, plenitude and fulfilment we shall not invite war. So the outer war will come to an end when the inner war is resolved, when the inner war stops. Both wars will come to an end and are bound to end in the process of human evolution.
Question: Master Chinmoy, I have read in some Eastern books that man is greater than the gods. I wish to hear from you if this statement is correct?
Sri Chinmoy: Thank you. I am glad that you have read Eastern books. There often it is mentioned that man is superior to the gods. What we actually mean by that is that there are many, many gods in the vital world. According to our Indian scriptures, as many human beings, so many are the gods. So, these gods, what do they actually do? They help us at the time of our need. When we suffer from headache or stomach-ache or some minor diseases they come and help us and we pray to them. But there is something else that is called liberation. Liberation or Self-realisation can be had only by a human being. When a soul enters into the human being and starts making progress, in the process of evolution, his soul becomes fully liberated and fully realised; when this particular human being has fully realised himself, he has realised God also. But the gods do not have that opportunity. They do not take the human form. They live in the vital world and from there they operate. So, unless and until they enter into a human body and human form and go through the process of reincarnation, they cannot have the Self-realisation or liberation that we human beings have. When we have Self-realisation, we know that there is nothing greater than that self-realisation. That means we have crossed the barriers of ignorance and travelled across the sea of ignorance and death. That is why we say that man is greater than the gods, superior to gods, because man gets Self-realisation whereas the so-called gods who are in the vital plane do not care for it and do not get it.
Question: Can you explain further what liberation is?
Sri Chinmoy: Liberation means the actual freedom from fear, freedom from doubt, freedom from ignorance and freedom from death. Now, as soon as you come into this world you become a prey to ignorance, fear, limitation and doubt. But through our spiritual practise and by living the inner life, we enter into the consciousness of the Divine and there we start growing and a day comes when we are well established, fully established, in the spiritual consciousness of inner life. We become totally free from ignorance. Now we are caught by ignorance, we are wallowing in the pleasures of ignorance; but a day dawns when we will be free from ignorance, and the moment that we are free from ignorance, we are liberated for good.
Question: Is there a special means that would accelerate this process of liberation?
Sri Chinmoy: Yes, there is a special way and is called “conscious aspiration”, and this conscious aspiration should come from the body; from the physical, the vital, the mental, the psychic and the soul. Of course, the soul has been all the time aspiring. The physical, the vital, the mind and psychic have to be aware of this aspiring consciousness, and when we consciously aspire in all different parts of our being we will be able to accelerate the achievement of liberation.
Question: Master Chinmoy, from the spiritual point of view does the New Year have any special significance?
Sri Chinmoy: From the spiritual point of view the New Year has a special significance. On the eve of the New Year, a new consciousness dawns on earth. God once again inspires each human being, each creature with new Hope, new Light, Peace and Bliss. God always wants us to move farther, farthest; He does not want us to look back. We know when a runner runs fast, while running fast if he looks back, he drops to the ground. Similarly, if we constantly look behind at the year that we are leaving aside, thinking of our sorrow, miseries, frustrations and all that, we lose everything that we gained. But if we look forward, ahead, we see hope dawning deep within us, we see a new light illumining our consciousness.
Each New Year is like a rung on the ladder of consciousness; we have to climb up the ladder of consciousness and each New Year serves the purpose of a rung in the ladder. When the New Year dawns, we have to make ourselves conscious of the fact that we are going to transcend ourselves. We have to go beyond the present capacity, beyond our present achievement. And when we have that kind of firm determination, God showers His choicest blessings upon our devoted heads and He says, “New Year dawns, a new consciousness dawns deep within you. Run towards the destined goal.” And we listen to God, we listen to the dictates of our inner soul, we run towards the Ultimate Reality. The New Year energises us, encourages us, inspires us to run towards that Ultimate Truth.
Question: When God thinks of me what does He really do?
Sri Chinmoy: God actually thinks of you all the time. It is I or somebody else that has to think of you at a particular time. But in God’s case, God being All-Awareness, He always thinks of you. But He does not use his mind to think of you. We use the mind to think of a human being. In God’s case, the mind is not required. So whether we think of God or not, God is constantly thinking of us. So in your case God has been thinking and will think of you, because deep within God it is you who are always there and at the same time, in you is God’s Own Reality. So God does not need to think of you. He is All-Awareness and we are deep in His Heart all the time.
Question: Master Chinmoy, will you explain briefly to us what is Yoga?
Sri Chinmoy: Yoga means union. Union with whom? It is the union with God. By practising Yoga, that is, spiritual discipline, we unite ourselves with God.
Published in Earth’s cry meets Heaven’s smile, part 3
Published in Frankfurter Neue Presse, 27 December 1986