Sri Chinmoy Answers
questions at the Sri Chinmoy Centre in San Francisco
Question: My cousin and I have meditated a couple of times, or at least we have just looked into each other's eyes, and we see different faces, and the hair changes and everything. I wondered whether these changes are real?
Sri Chinmoy: It is very true. These are past incarnations. You are seeing his past incarnation, and he is seeing yours. But it is not at all advisable for you to do this right now. If you are seeing your past incarnations, there may be tremendous difficulties. When you enter into the past incarnation, you may see some undivine forces. Even in this incarnation, as long as you have not realised God, there are many undivine forces inside you. When you meditate on each other this way, the undivine forces of one can enter into the other. It is very risky.
We have to keep progressing and progressing. If we dig into our past, until three or four incarnations ago, we will see that we were all animals, although in the human body. Even in our first human incarnation here on earth, we were animals in human form. There are many, many people on earth who are absolutely animals, although they have human bodies. In Jamaica, in Canada, in Puerto Rico, in New York, when I walk along the street, I see people who have just entered the human kingdom. What can you expect from them? Their consciousness is more animal than human. If you look into your own past incarnations, you may consciously be bringing forward your animal consciousness. If you were a saint in a previous incarnation, then naturally the saint consciousness will come forward. But if you were a saint before, then in this incarnation you will be a greater saint. In this incarnation, if you become a saint, next incarnation you will be greater, and in the next, you will be still greater. The past, I always say, is dust. Has the past given you realisation? No. It did not give you realisation. If it had given you realisation then you would not be here struggling. From the past you did not get what you actually want now.
Question: Does it help to know what kind of animal you were, if you were a good animal like a bird or a reindeer?
Sri Chinmoy: Suppose you were a deer. Now, there are some advantages and some disadvantages. The advantage is that if you were a deer in your last animal incarnation, then you will think of your speed. You will see that you ran very fast. You will think, “Even in the animal incarnation I ran so fast, and at that time I did not have the advanced soul which I now have.” The soul is the same, but it is progressing and advancing. There is a soul in this sofa, a soul in this carpet, and a soul in me. But the soul is much more manifest inside me. If you know that in your past incarnation you ran really fast, you will say, “Let me now continue to run with utmost speed.”
Once you know something, it becomes very easy to learn again. If you ran fast in your past incarnation, then in this incarnation also you can run very fast. This is the advantage. I achieved God-realisation in a previous incarnation, so in this incarnation it took me only a year or so to realise God after I consciously began praying and meditating. If you know something that you can utilise positively, you will get inspiration. But again, if you know that in a past incarnation you were something very great, while in this incarnation you are nothing, then you will curse God. You will curse yourself. You will say, “I was so great. If I was so great, how is it that in this incarnation I am so useless?” Then you will feel miserable. You will think, “I have done something wrong and I do not even know it,” or “God is harsh. God does not care for me.” It is very easy to blame God.
On very rare occasions do people properly utilise the knowledge of their past incarnations. Unfortunately, what happens is this. If a past incarnation is not encouraging, if in my past incarnation I did not run fast at all in the spiritual life, if I was an ordinary person, or let us say, even a thief or something bad, then I will become frustrated. If we do something wrong in this incarnation, it takes us a few months to come out of despair and frustration. We say, “I was so bad. I did this, I did that. Now how am I going to become pure? How am I going to be God’s instrument? How am I going to realise God?” If you did something seriously wrong four years ago, it may still bother you.
The best thing is to forget about it if you have done something wrong. Just say, “I put my finger into fire and burned it. Now I do not want to do it again.” My advice is always to forget about the past. My feeling is — the past is dust. Only on rare occasions can you think of the past as an encouragement. If you know that you have to run 100 metres, and you ran 10 metres in your past incarnations, then you only have to cover 90 metres more. Now you have help; you are under the guidance of a spiritual Master who can inspire you and guide you. You know that you have the capacity to run. Now if somebody is guiding you, you will be able to cover the other 90 metres much faster.
If you do not get inspiration from your past, it is always a disadvantage to know that you were very great or very bad. If you were great in one field, and now God wants to make you great in some other line, you might misunderstand Him. And if He does not want to make you great, if you are ordinary, you will feel that He is really useless and cruel. It is better just to start from the beginning like a child. You may not remember where your starting point was, but you do know where the goal is.
Question: Are you always aware of what your disciples are doing?
Sri Chinmoy: It is up to me. I can be fully aware if I want to be. But I do not always want to be aware. With my human eyes I can look at something and see it, but I do not have to absorb it. I am looking at my picture now, but I do not want to see whether I have a garland on. My inner beings can do that job. I have faith in them. They are very good instruments. My physical body may enjoy relaxation by spending time talking to you, but the spiritual inside me has no rest.
Question: How can we avoid making mistakes in our meditation?
Sri Chinmoy: When you are learning something, it is so difficult to do it properly. But when you become an expert, it is impossible to do it the wrong way. In the spiritual life also, before you become an expert you make many, many mistakes during meditation. But when you really become an expert, even if you try to make a mistake, it is not possible. The correct method will be something normal and natural for you. Right now God-realisation is an abnormality, an unnatural thing for you people. But, the moment you realise God, you will see that there is nothing so normal, so natural, so close as that.
Question: Can you tell us something about the predominant qualities of America?
Sri Chinmoy: In America, the dynamic vital, but not the aggressive vital, is of paramount importance. There are various places in the world where the aggressive vital is more to the fore, but here in America I see the dynamic vital most of the time. Again, you have to know that we are still imperfect. The vital is like a knife. With a knife we can cut a fruit and share it with others. Let us say that that sharing is done by the dynamic vital. With the same knife, if I stab you, then that is the aggressive vital. The same instrument can be dynamic or aggressive.
I appreciate America for its dynamism. If you are dynamic, you run towards your goal. If you do not know where the goal is, then you may run from this side to that side, but it is better to move than to remain static. There are many people in India and other parts of the world who are wallowing in the pleasures of idleness. They live in eternal time. They think that one day God will come and stand before them and say, “All right, since you could not think of Me, it is My duty to think of you.” But that is absurd.
Americans are running. They are not sure of the goal, but they are constantly on the move. They go to one side and run into a wall and get hurt. Then they go to another side, and the goal is not there, so they get another blow. But at least they go. If they sit still, worrying that perhaps on this side there is a wall or on that side there is a hole, then they will not make any progress at all. This dynamism is the thing that I deeply appreciate and admire in America.
I have hope for the places where I notice dynamism. But there are places where there is no dynamism, and I have very little hope for their progress. In Europe presently, people still live in the mind. The mind is not a bad thing. The mind can be a very good instrument, later on, but not now. The mind that we are now using is the physical mind, which constantly doubts and suspects. It is limited and full of darkness. But there are other higher minds — the illumined mind, the intuitive mind, the overmind. We are not using these higher minds right now. First we have to live in the heart and bring the soul’s light into the mind. Europeans are mental people. They find it difficult to appreciate the heart’s qualities. Some, however, are trying hard to open their hearts.
Another good quality of Americans is that they appreciate everything, like children. A child appreciates everything without discrimination. God is a divine Child. He appreciates everything. When His son or daughter gives Him anything, He is so highly pleased, even if it is just a grain of sand. He says, “If you had wanted to keep that grain of sand for yourself, you could have, but you gave it to Me.” Americans are like that, too. America has a big heart. When it is a question of the heart’s magnanimity, America is very advanced. America makes mistakes, but who does not make mistakes? Mistakes we all make, but America does not know how to hesitate. The best quality in the spiritual life is not to hesitate once you know your goal. Even if you do not know your goal, run! Then God’s Compassion will dawn because you are running, because you are on the move. Once you feel that your goal is not where you are, your goal is somewhere ahead of you, then you have to run.
America has the willingness to see, and to accept or reject, rather than to first hesitate. There are many parts of the world that hesitate and hesitate and hesitate, until it becomes too late. In any race if you hesitate and hesitate before you start to move, in the meantime, your opponents just win the race!
Question: Can you speak about the connection between the great spiritual Masters?
Sri Chinmoy: Sri Krishna, the Buddha, and Jesus Christ are the same, only in different forms and different names. You cannot separate Krishna from the Christ or the Buddha from the Christ. They are all one. Sri Ramakrishna, a great spiritual Master, the Master of Swami Vivekananda, said, “He who is Rama, He who is Krishna, in one form is Sri Ramakrishna.” Here in the West we have the tendency to say that Christ is the only saviour. But the only saviour is God, the Supreme, Christ’s Father, let us say. When Christ said, “I and my Father are one,” he was absolutely right. He claimed this on the strength of his highest realisation. Others can also claim this on the strength of their own realisation. It is up to you to believe them or not. You can discredit their realisation but they will not be the loser. They have eaten the mango and they know how delicious it is. If you say, “No, you have not eaten it,” that is fine. But since they have eaten it, they are satisfied. Jesus is the Son, the Liberator, the Saviour. But we have to know that he, Krishna, Buddha and other great Masters are all one.
Question: Do you feel that there is really any significant spiritual progress taking place in the world right now?
Sri Chinmoy: Most of the spiritual Masters have been recognised, accepted and worshipped only after they have left the physical body. But now, the world has progressed. In the modern world, aspiration has increased. On the one hand, you see the Vietnam war, but on the other hand, the divine Light is being received by many. There are now quite a few spiritual Masters on earth. These Masters are not all God-realised, but they are trying in their own way to help mankind. If a so-called spiritual Master is not God-realised, he is like a teacher who has not received his university degree. He is in a position to teach a kindergarten student. From these Masters, you can learn Hatha yoga and a little philosophy. By doing Hatha yoga you will not realise God, but if you practise a few Hatha yogapostures it does help to keep better health and to have a little relaxation.
You cannot expect to get your Master’s degree in kindergarten, but you can learn something there. But to say that kindergarten or primary school lessons are enough, is foolishness. You can take Hatha yoga all your life without making an iota of spiritual progress. If you go to India, many Indian village people will be able to do all the most difficult exercises in a twinkling of an eye. But the life they lead is an animal life. Hatha yoga can help you physically if you want to do it for ten or fifteen minutes. But a spiritual aspirant need not spend an hour or two. You will be wasting your precious time.
To come back to your question, I wish to say that the world, especially the Western world, is crying for light. Very often people ask me on the radio and on television, “How is it that the Christians in the Western world are moving away from the Church and coming to Indian spiritual Masters? What is wrong with Western religion?” I say that nothing is wrong. But the seekers who come to spiritual Masters have looked for something in the Church which they did not find. That is why they are now looking to the Indian Masters to see if they can get it there. What is that thing? It is inspiration, and inside inspiration is aspiration. True Indian spiritual Masters embody inspiration and aspiration. The Western aspirants can see the difference between the sermon of the priest and the life he leads. There is often a yawning gulf between what he says and what he is.
Three years ago, I was speaking at Yale University. A professor of philosophy was sitting beside a student of his. During the question and answer period, the professor asked me, “How is it that when I invite questions and answer them, my students don’t pay any attention? They smoke and put their feet on the benches and all kinds of things. How is it that they are showing you such respect? You have given a talk on philosophy and now they are full of appreciation and admiration. I also teach philosophy. But they are looking at you with rapt attention.” So the student immediately stood up and answered the question for me. “Sir, there is a slight difference between you and this spiritual man,” he said. “That’s why we are behaving in a different way.” The professor says the same thing as the spiritual man. Perhaps he says it in a more mental and convincing way, in an academic way, but people can see the difference. When a sincere aspirant speaks about spirituality people will run to listen to him. But if you do not follow a spiritual life, nobody is going to be inspired by your spiritual philosophy. Everybody has a heart to feel whether there is any sincerity behind your words.
Question: What is the difference between a God-realised Master who doesn't want disciples but wants to stay where he is, and someone like you, who wants disciples?
Sri Chinmoy: Some people have played the game and they are tired. They have played, but now they do not want to teach the game to anybody else. Carlos says, “I have learned how to play the guitar. That is enough. I don’t want to teach anybody else. It is too difficult. I have achieved my goal. Now why should I waste my precious time? Let me now enjoy my achievement.” Learning is so difficult and teaching is also difficult. Some people say, “It took us years and years of struggle to learn this. Now again it will take years and years of struggle to teach somebody else.” So they do not want to do it. There are many people in this world who were students once upon a time and then became teachers, but there are many who have completed their studies but do not want to teach. They just go into some other line of work.
Of course, there is a difference in the spiritual life. If one does not want to teach after one has realised God, he may not teach outwardly, but his very presence on earth is a great blessing and help to others, because he offers his good will to everyone. The good will of a God-realised soul has tremendous power. Right now I am actively trying to be of service to you, to the world. But even if I had stayed in a Himalayan cave after realising God, I would have had only good will for the world. At that time, there is no evil will, no ego, no jealousy, no negative forces. But in my case, my feeling of oneness with humanity made me feel that after my own God-realisation, unless and until everybody else was realised, I would remain imperfect. I have realised God, but perfect perfection will be achieved only when everybody has realised God.
A God-realised soul is not a fool. When he discovers that he is incomplete and imperfect, naturally he will try to offer his help to others so that they will lead better lives and realise God sooner. The very fact that a spiritual Master offers good will is enough, for his good will has tremendous power. When everybody realises God, then the Yogi will be complete.
Question: Guru, in one of your plays there was a king who was jealous of a spiritual Master. So he went and realised God, and after he realised God, he was still jealous. How is that possible?
Sri Chinmoy: You have to know that realising God is like touching the foot of a tree. When you have realised God, you have touched the foot. Then you have to climb up to the top. If you do not have the capacity or the wish to climb higher, you remain at the foot. If you have the capacity to climb up to the Highest, then you will be able to perfect your human nature, which means to transform jealousy, anger, pride, ego and so on. But some God-realised souls are afraid that once they come down from the tree, perhaps they will not be able to climb up again. So they go up a few branches and then stay there. But if someone has the capacity to climb up to the Highest and again climb down to help mankind, then he will accept disciples and help those who are unable to climb up. He will teach them, inspire them, or place them on his shoulders and then climb up. He will take some up, and then he will come down again and take up a few more on his shoulders. If one has the capacity to climb up and climb down, to carry humanity up and then climb down again, that person will not have this kind of difficulty.
Touching the foot of the tree is also realisation, because the realisation-tree is very tall. So you have to know whether someone is just touching the foot of the tree or if he is going up to the highest branch. There is a difference. You have to know the degree of a person’s realisation. This king, Vishwamitra, had realisation, true, but his realisation was not complete. Until you reach the highest branch of the realisation-tree and come down from the height, your realisation is not complete. He realised God but the perfection of his human nature was not achieved. Some people do not try to change their nature. They have realised the truth, but they do not want to conquer their lower vital movements. They are satisfied to remain imperfect. Some spiritual teachers have got real light, but they drink and smoke and do many silly things. They do not purify that part of the vital. Only when they meditate, they enter into the soul’s purity and perfection. But the other room, the vital room, they keep absolutely dirty and dark. They are spiritual teachers, but when they are compared with those who have got the highest Illumination, there will be a vast difference.
Question: I don't know why my mother objects so strongly to my coming to you.
Sri Chinmoy: The parents of some disciples are jealous because they see that their children are listening to me. But they do not realise one thing — that I know these are the children of the Supreme. They are not my children. You have an eternal Father, who is the Supreme, and I am in touch with the Supreme, so I know what is best for you and I tell you. If your mother is truly fond of you, then in your happiness will be her happiness. A real mother eventually surrenders to the happiness of the child. We have had quite a few instances where for three or four years the parents of the disciples were so displeased with us. They said, “How is it that we are their parents and they don’t listen to us, but they listen to an Indian Guru?” But finally both parents saw that the Indian rascal was not as bad as they thought. He had changed their children for the better and had brought them happiness.
Then the parents also say, “We gave them money, but they were not happy. We gave them sound advice, but they did not take it. We offered them everything we had, but they did not accept it. By what kind of magic has he now given them happiness? We tried to make them happy in every way, but we could not.” These parents were digging my grave and making my coffin ready. But now they see their children’s happiness. Many parents who began by digging my grave are now coming to our Centre or to our big functions. They appreciate and admire me and tell me how happy and grateful they are that their children are now in good hands. They see that their children are not smoking, drinking or taking drugs, so now I am their genuine saviour.
What do parents want for their children? Only happiness. In the beginning pride comes forward. “They are my children. What right does he have to exercise his authority?” But afterwards, they see that it is not a matter of authority, only of love. So many parents are now full of appreciation for me because their children are happy. Your mother will observe you for some time, and when she sees your happiness shining or blossoming, she will say, “I didn’t see this happiness before in my son. He was a very great musician, but where was his happiness? He had name, fame and wealth before he entered onto this path, but these things did not give him inner joy, inner light or inner confidence.”
So please do not worry. She is not far from our path. She is only watching. She wants to see whether you have done the right thing. You have done absolutely the right thing. Just wait a little longer. It is just a matter of time.
Question: Guru, what is the purpose of telling you things outwardly? I mean, what do you actually need to know from us outwardly?
Sri Chinmoy: It helps the disciples, and it also helps me. The disciples then feel that I really have concern for them on the physical and mental planes as well as on the spiritual planes. They feel that the human in me also takes an interest in their activities. I ask all my disciples to do some kind of regular work. I tell them not to lead a vagabond life. I know that they are all doing something, so why do I actually ask them what they are doing? I ask so that they will see that I am interested in them. When I have the opportunity, I become involved in your outer activities. This convinces the physical mind. Otherwise, the physical mind will say, “No, he does not care for our outer life. He only cares for our inner life.” But that is not true. I do care for your outer life also.
Sometimes I actually already know what you are doing before I ask, and sometimes I do not know. If I know your soul, and how much progress you have made, that is most important to me. If you become the President of the United States, it might not help your soul. My main concern is with your soul, and how your soul will make the fastest progress. If the outer achievement comes from the realisation of the soul, then it is worth much. Otherwise, in outer achievements you may become great, but your inner achievements may be eclipsed.
The important thing is for you to be great inwardly. Achieving inner greatness is the hardest work. From that you can easily come to outer greatness if you want to. It is not necessary for me to know what you eat for breakfast. But if you meditate regularly in the morning, that is most important to me. That you feed your body with most delicious food is unimportant. But I want to know, did you feed your soul? Did you meditate? If you have meditated, then I know you are fulfilling God.
Question: Sometimes I can hold my concentration, and other times my eyes close and then I wake up because I'm losing my balance. What can help us have more control?
Sri Chinmoy: When you feel that you are tired, exhausted, please breathe in quietly. Take several deep breaths and try to feel that you are breathing in from various places. Try to feel that you are breathing in through the eyes, the ears, the forehead, through the crown of the head, through the shoulders and so on. When you are breathing in, if you are conscious of your breath, then you will not feel sleepy. But being conscious of your breath does not mean that you will make a sound. You will just feel that a stream of energy is entering into you with every breath. Feel that every place you are breathing in is a door. Each time you breathe in, you open a door here, there or somewhere else. Naturally, when you open the door, light enters. Then energy enters through the various doors into your body. This exercise is for everybody.
When you are meditating very well, you can feel that unconsciously you are doing this — you are drawing energy not only through your nose, but through your head and other places. Energy is coming from all quarters, so that universal energy wants to enter into you by various doors. Naturally, the more energy you can draw inside you, the higher will be your meditation. Everything depends on the energy that is circulating inside you. Where does it come from? It comes from the Universal Consciousness. So when you do not have the energy, it means that the Universal Consciousness is not entering into you properly.
If you cannot meditate well, please feel that it is still a necessity to meditate, just as it is a necessity of the body to eat even though you may not get most delicious food. Your wife knows how to cook extremely well, but if she does not give you the most delicious food every day, what will you do? Will you get angry? No, you will just feel that she has done something more important than cooking food. Similarly, you will think that if the Supreme has not given you a good meditation today, He is thinking of doing something more important for you in some other way. Instead of getting angry with Him or disgusted and disheartened, if you have faith, which you have, you will feel that the Supreme is going to give you something else most important. In the case of your wife, her whole existence is inside you. If she cannot give you most delicious food, she will do something else to please you, to make you happy. In God’s case, if God does not give you a good meditation today for some reason or other, He will give you something else which is equally important or more important. In the meantime, your business is to accept whatever He gives you. Even if your wife cooks very untasty food, you have to eat it. Similarly, when you sit down to meditate, you also have to feel that it is up to Him. Meditation is our spiritual food. The Supreme will not give you the same taste every day. He may give you something different each day.
If someone loves us, that person has every right to please us in various ways; otherwise, it becomes monotonous. Today the Supreme is pleasing us through meditation, tomorrow through dedication and the day after tomorrow through something else. He wants to fulfil Himself in and through you in a new way every day. He has every right to change, so we should not have a fixed expectation. If we do, we will be disappointed. If we eat the same food every day, then after a few days we will be sick of it. There should always be variety.
Published in Aspiration-Glow and Dedication-Flow, part 1
