No matter who houses a bad thought —
A desire-man or an aspiration-man —
A bad thought is a dire challenge
To humanity’s progress-life.
Sri Chinmoy, Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, part 24, Agni Press, 1984
If I love God's Will
A little more,
His Love of me
Will immediately be more,
Ever more and infinitely more.Sri Chinmoy 1
God’s Will in an individual is progressive, like a muscle developing — strong, stronger, strongest. God’s Will is to make an individual feel that there is something abiding, lasting, everlasting. When an individual reaches that stage, he will know God’s Ultimate Will. God’s Will we can know from the sense of abiding satisfaction it gives us. Anything that is eternal, anything that is immortal, anything that is divine, is God’s Will. Even though God deals with Eternity, He is not indifferent even for one second. For it is from one second, two seconds, three seconds that we enter into Infinity and Eternity. Let us try to feel God’s Will in us at every second.
There is a very simple way to know what God’s Will is for us as individuals. Every day when we start our day we build our own world. We make decisions. We feel that things have to be done in a certain way. I have to deal with this man in this way. I have to say this; I have to do this; I have to give this. Everything is I, I, I. We all do this. If, instead of all this planning, we can make our minds absolutely calm and silent, we can know God’s Will. This silence is not the silence of a dead body; it is the dynamic, progressive silence of receptivity. Through total silence and the ever-increasing receptivity of the mind, God’s Will can be known. When the human mind works powerfully, the Divine Will cannot work. God’s Will works only when the human mind does not work. When the mind becomes a pure vessel, the Supreme can pour into it His infinite Peace, Light and Bliss.2
Sri Chinmoy: You can know God’s Will in your daily life if early in the morning you offer your utmost gratitude to God for what He has already done for you. When you offer your gratitude-heart, then it expands; and when it expands it becomes one with God’s Universal Reality. Gratitude-heart blossoms like a flower. When the flower is fully blossomed, then you appreciate and admire it. In your case also, when your heart of gratitude blossoms, immediately God is pleased. So if you offer gratitude to God for what He has already done for you, then naturally God’s sweet Will will operate in and through you. Early in the morning, before you meditate or do anything, offer as much gratitude as possible; offer your soulful tears just because you have become what you are now. If you do this, eventually you will become infinitely more than what you are now. So gratitude will be able to make you feel what God’s Will is. God’s Will will act in and through you and God will do everything in and through you, and for you, if you offer gratitude.3
Sri Chinmoy: When you fulfil the demands of the ego, immediately you will feel that you are the lord of the world or that you are going to become the lord of the world. You are bloated with pride, and you feel that the rest of the world is at your feet. Once a desire of yours is fulfilled, immediately you feel, “Oh, my desire is fulfilled; I have become something, and the rest of the world will not achieve what I have.” Always there will be a feeling of superiority when the ego is fulfilled.
But when you execute the Will of God, the question of superiority or inferiority does not arise. At that time you feel only your oneness. You feel that God has appointed you or that God has accepted you as His chosen instrument, and that He is acting in and through you. No matter what you achieve — even if it is something very grand, extraordinary, unusual — you will not have any sense of personal pride. On the contrary, you will feel extremely grateful to God that He has chosen you to fulfil Himself in and through you. There is no pride; there is only a feeling of expansion. To execute God’s Will means to achieve something. When you achieve something, you feel an expansion of your consciousness. But when you fulfil the demands of your ego, at that time you feel totally separated from the rest of the world. You are the lord and the rest of creation is at your feet. So, in this way you can know the difference between the two.4
Sri Chinmoy: To pray for God's Will to be done is the highest form of prayer. But a beginner finds it almost possible to pray to God sincerely to fulfil him in God's own way. So when the seeker is just starting out, it is advisable for him to pray to God for whatever he feels he needs most, whether it is patience, purity, sincerity, humility, peace and so forth. Then God will give the seeker a little peace, light and bliss, which are the precursors of something infinite that is going to come into his inner being. Once the seeker has received some peace, light and bliss and they have become established to some extent in his inner being, at that time he will have some confidence in God's operation and also in his own life of aspiration.
When one is making very fast progress or is a little advanced, he feels that there 'is some reality within himself and that this reality is not going to disappoint or desert him. Then he feels that God is fully aware of what he desperately needs and is eager to supply him with those things. When a seeker feels this kind of confidence within him, that is the time for the seeker to pray, "Let Thy Will be done." At that time he can sincerely say, "God, I want to please You only in Your own way." 5
Sri Chinmoy, My Sunrise-Heart, part 1, Agni Press, 2000↩︎
Sri Chinmoy, Flame-Waves, part 1, Agni Press, 1975↩︎
Sri Chinmoy, Father's Day: Father with his European children, Agni Press, 1976↩︎
Sri Chinmoy, Sri Chinmoy speaks, part 7, Agni Press, 1976↩︎
Sri Chinmoy, “God Is” p.137, Agni Press, 1997↩︎