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
Do not try to change the world.
You will fail.
Try to love the world.
Lo, the world is changed, changed forever.Sri Chinmoy
When we meditate in silence with utmost devotion, that is one form of meditation. When we try to dedicate our work to God or to the world, that is another form of meditation, which we may call manifestation. At that time we are serving the divinity in humanity.
In order to serve the divinity in humanity effectively, we have to consciously feel God's presence in those we are serving. While we are speaking to someone, we have to feel that we are speaking to the divinity within that person. Otherwise, if we are just helping someone in our own way without any conscious feeling of dedication to the Supreme, that work cannot be considered as a form of manifestation or as meditation in action. If we pray and meditate, we will feel that God is inside everybody, that He is a living reality. God is everywhere and in everything, true. But if we pray and meditate, then this mental belief becomes a real, living truth to us. At that time we will consciously serve each person precisely because we know and feel that God is inside him.
If we do not see God, truth, or light in our action, then our physical mind may not be convinced of the value of the things that we are doing. Today we will serve someone and tomorrow we will say, "Oh, he is such a fool! He has no aspiration, no good qualities! Why should I serve him?" If we look at an individual without prayer and meditation, we will separate the person from the soul. But if we pray and meditate, then we will see the soul, the divinity inside each person, and we will try to bring their divinity to the fore.
If we pray and meditate, then our work will be dedicated service, and this dedicated service will help us to make spiritual progress. There are many people who work fifteen, sixteen hours a day. But their action is not dedicated service. They are only working mechanically to make money and take care of their outer responsibilities. But if we really wish to dedicate our life to God and mankind, then prayer and meditation will enable us to do so.
Sri Chinmoy: In the morning, when you pray and meditate, feel that you have gained real wealth in the form of peace, light and bliss. As you keep your money inside your wallet, so you can keep your peace, light and bliss inside your heart. With money-power, you can buy whatever you want. Similarly, the spiritual power that you get from prayer and meditation is a real power. When people are quarrelling, fighting or behaving undivinely, just bring forward the inner power which you have kept inside your heart. Peace is power, light is power, bliss is power, just as money is power. Just bring these qualities forward. The power of inner peace is infinitely more solid and concrete than any outer disturbance anybody can create on earth. Your inner peace can easily devour the irritation caused by others.