Each of us is a seeker,
walking along Eternity’s Road,
which has no beginning and no end.
—Sri Chinmoy
Sri Chinmoy is a spiritual teacher who dedicated his life in service to aspiring humanity. With all of his soulful offerings - his prayers and meditations, his literary, musical and artistic works - Sri Chinmoy is trying to inspire mankind.
We hope that the simplicity, purity and light of Sri Chinmoy's offerings will also inspire you.
There was a time
When I loved you,
O my thought-world.
But now I love
The beauty of a silence-mind
And
The purity of a gratitude-heart.
Sri Chinmoy, Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, part 9, Agni Press, 1981
“It is only through inner peace that we can have true outer freedom.” —Sri Chinmoy
No price is too great to pay for inner peace. Peace is the harmonious control of life. It is vibrant with life-energy. It is a power that easily transcends all our worldly knowledge. Yet it is not separate from our earthly existence. If we open the right avenues within, this peace can be felt here and now.
Peace is eternal. It is never too late to have peace. Time is always ripe for that. We can make our life truly fruitful if we are not cut off from our Source, which is the Peace of Eternity.
The greatest misfortune that can come to a human being is to lose his inner peace. No outer force can rob him of it. It is his own thoughts, his own actions, that rob him of it.
Our greatest protection lies not in our material achievements and resources. All the treasure of the world is emptiness to our divine soul. Our greatest protection lies in our soul's communion with the all-nourishing and all-fulfilling Peace. Our soul lives in Peace and lives for Peace. If we live a life of peace, we are ever enriched and never impoverished. Unhorizoned is our inner peace; like the boundless sky, it encompasses all.
Excerpted from 'Yoga and the Spiritual Life' by Sri Chinmoy.
The first step toward peace of mind is to sincerely feel that we are not indispensable. We lack peace of mind because we feel that others need something from us, or we need something from others. We feel that if we do not do this or say that, then the world will collapse or everything will go wrong immediately. But the moment we can sincerely feel that we are not indispensable, we will not have to go anywhere to get peace, for peace will immediately come to us.
Another easy way to acquire peace of mind is to feel that nothing is unduly important. Everything and everyone on earth can fail us or desert us as long as we do not desert God and God does not desert us. God will never desert us because He is all Compassion, and even if we try our hardest, we will not be able to desert God because He is omnipresent. Except for God, nothing on earth is indispensable. If we can consciously and continuously make ourselves feel that He alone is indispensable, then nothing can take away our peace of mind.
One can talk for hours on peace. The curious mind may get some satisfaction, but the crying heart cannot get any help from talks. The crying heart is the real reality within us, and that crying heart gets inner peace, everlasting peace, only through prayerful silence and soulful meditation. Only prayerful meditation and soulful prayer can bring about peace. If at every moment we can think that we are growing into a prayerful meditation and a soulful prayer, then peace eternal will be ours.
Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu reads from ‘Peace’, a chapter of Sri Chinmoy’s book ‘The Jewels of Happiness’.
“Peace that comes from inner awakening is the peace everlasting.” —Sri Chinmoy
I get peace only when I share peace with others. That is why I give peace concerts all over the world. I have only one goal — peace, universal peace.
Only when I meditate in silence or play soulful music do I feel peace in the inmost recesses of my heart. At that time I feel I can be of true service to mankind.
Sri Chinmoy offered over 700 Peace Concerts around the world. At the beginning and end of each concert, he would offer a moment of silent meditation.
Video: Sri Chinmoy in ConcertAs the countless drops
Of the boundless ocean
Or the myriad leaves
Of a huge banyan tree
Peacefully remain side by side,
Even so, all human beings
Will someday live side by side
In a perfect oneness-world.
The Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run is the world's largest torch relay run for peace. Since 1987, runners have carried a flaming torch to schools and communities in over 140 countries, sharing the message that there is much more that unites us as a human family than divides us.
Video: The Peace RunThe United Nations has a seeking heart and also a feeling of a oneness-world-family. These two things people may not outwardly see all the time, but in my case, I do see and feel them all the time.
I meditate at the United Nations on Tuesdays and Fridays from one to two o’clock. Our meditation sessions originated under the late Secretary-General U Thant, who was very kind to me. He was a close friend of mine, and he inspired me to start the peace meditations at the United Nations. The delegates and staff who are interested come and meditate with us. Over the years we have organised many, many programmes honouring the countries that long for oneness and peace. I have also given many talks about world peace, oneness and harmony at the United Nations.
To the end I will love and love the United Nations. One good word if I hear about the United Nations, I literally dance in the sky.
Sri Chinmoy conducted Peace Meditations at the United Nations from 1970 until his passing in 2007.
We own peace only after we have totally stopped finding fault with others. We have to feel the whole world as our very own. When we observe others' mistakes, we enter into their imperfections. This does not help us in the least. Strangely enough, the deeper we plunge, the clearer it becomes to us that the imperfections of others are our own imperfections, but in different bodies and minds. Whereas if we think of God, His Compassion and His Divinity enlarge our inner vision of Truth. We must come in the fulness of our spiritual realisation to accept humanity as one family.
Encouragement for Sri Chinmoy's peace work from Mikhail Gorbachev, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others. more »
The dream behind the world's largest peace torch relay, as well as notable milestones and achievements. more »
“Your deeds are invaluable, for they cannot be measured by any economic or political parameters; they are noble and cure the human soul.”
—President Mikhail Gorbachev
Next
topic
Top
“Truth is in all, but love is all.” —Sri Chinmoy
Do not see faults in anybody’s life; do not see the faults in your own life. Only force yourself to see all the good things you have done, all the good things you are planning to do and all the good things that others have done. In the next millennium, the goal of philosophy will be only to see the light in oneself and the light in others. Then only will you be able to expedite the arrival of world-peace and world-oneness.
My philosophy is very simple: love and serve. We love God the Creator and serve God the creation. God is at once the Creator and the creation. When I pray and meditate, I love God the Creator, and when I serve mankind, at that time I am serving God the creation.
You are God’s creation; so is humanity. Humanity is only an expression of your universal heart. You can and must love humanity, not just as a whole, but also individually if you realise the fact that until humanity has realised its supreme Goal, your own divine perfection will not be complete.
Do not try to change the world.
You will fail.
Try to love the world.
Lo, the world is changed, changed forever.
The heart is the source. We have to start our journey in the heart. Inside the heart is the soul. The consciousness of the soul permeates the entire body, but the special dwelling place of the soul is inside the spiritual heart. So when we enter into the inmost recesses of the heart, from there we derive real soul's love.
Love can go up to the head or it can go down to the feet. But if love comes from the heart first, then it is purified. If love does not originate in the heart, then it is vital love, which is not pure. If pure love, heart's love, soul's love, can permeate your entire being, it can purify and divinise your whole existence. When the entire physical existence is inundated with love, only then can we have the universal feeling of oneness.
Once you have got your inner wealth, which is love, from the source, then you can use it anyplace. But its actual dwelling place is in the heart centre.
When you think of heart-power, the first thing you have to think of is purity-power. What gives us an immediate sense of purity? Any flower that you like best — a rose or lotus or some other flower. You have to feel that you are breathing in the beauty and fragrance of the flower that you like most.
Please try to visualise it inside your heart. First feel that the flower is there. Imagine it inside your heart. Imagination has a reality of its own. As soon as you imagine that there is a flower inside you, a rose or any other flower, then try to smell the fragrance of that flower. Then, after fifteen minutes or half an hour or even a few days, try to feel that that flower has become invisible inside your heart. You do not have to see the flower as such, you do not have to smell the fragrance, no. As soon as you think of your heart, you will see that your heart has become the most beautiful flower, the most beautiful rose.
We are all citizens of the world. If I can inspire others, and if they can inspire the rest of the world, then we can have a better world. It is by virtue of inspiration that we can do good things for mankind.
I have lifted people from many walks of life, and they all got joy. We call the programme Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart. These world-citizens are great in their own fields, so I have honoured them in my own way. I lifted each of them with one arm using a special apparatus.
Sri Chinmoy started weightlifting in 1985, and began honouring people in this unique way in 1988; over 8,000 people were lifted in total.
Now we are all exercising the love of power. But a day will come when this world of ours will be inundated with the power that loves. Only the power that loves can change the world.
With our loving hearts, we identify and become one with what others are. This power that loves can solve world problems. This power is full of self-giving, not with a sense of sacrifice, but with the feeling of serving all humanity as our own brothers and sisters. Through both our loving silence and devoted service, we contribute to the betterment of the entire world.
Founded by Sri Chinmoy in 1990, the Oneness-Heart Tears and Smiles humanitarian service fosters a sense of connectedness between people in different parts of the world.
“Just as a rose has many petals, all of which add to the beauty and fragrance of the rose, so too the world shall become one world family.” —Sri Chinmoy
You can have heartfelt love for all humanity only when you love the Source. God created us. We did not create God. So in order to love all humanity, you have to go to humanity’s Source, God. If you love the root, then only can you love the tree. The root here is God. If you are conscious of the Source and the qualities the Source has, then only can you really love mankind. You cannot love any human being unless and until you love God. If you can make yourself feel that you love God and God alone, and nobody else, then you love everyone, for God is Someone who is inside everyone. If you say you love him or you love her, from that individual love you cannot go to love of God. But from love of God you can go to love of humanity. If you can please and love the Highest, God, then automatically you will be pleasing and loving humanity as well.
Serving the local community through free meditation classes and concerts, as well as other athletic and cultural events. more »
More about the history of this unique award, and the 8,000 recipients honoured for their role in serving their fellow man. more »
Next
topic
Top
“Happiness is the birthright of every human heart.” —Sri Chinmoy
True happiness is not a mental hallucination. True happiness is not a complacent feeling. True happiness is the spontaneous feeling of joy that comes from knowing you are doing the right thing and leading a divine life.
Joy and cheerfulness is not a life of pleasure. No! It is the conscious awareness of our inner divinity. When we are happy, when we are really happy, we are making real progress. When we become a happy heart, we move forward, we dive deep within, we fly. Progress is in movement, and this movement comes only when we have joy and we become joy.
Real joy comes from acceptance of the world, and not from renunciation of the world. God has chosen the conditions under which you are living your present life. It is like a play. The stage is set and the curtain has been raised for you to perform your part and advance in the spiritual path. Your present conditions are the best possible ones for your advancement.
In our daily practical life there is a way for us to get joy. If we lead a simple life and go to our goal on a direct path, if we walk along a sunlit path, then we can have joy. A simple life is the life of happiness. A direct path is the path of joy. A sunlit path is the path of constant joy.
Do you want to be happy?
Then make your life as soulfully simple
As sleeplessly breathing.
Simplicity we need at every moment. If the mind is not simple, if the mind is complicated and complex, then there can be no peace in the mind. A child is simple. A child is all joy. If we have a simple existence, we shall feel how lucky, how happy and how fortunate we are.
Boris Grebenshikov, one of Russia's best-loved singers, reads from ‘Simplicity’, a chapter of Sri Chinmoy’s book ‘The Jewels of Happiness’.
I am happy because I always choose the right moment.
I am happy because I am a good listener.
I am happy because I keep my voice down.
I am happy because I do not try to convince others.
I am happy because I do not complain.
I am happy because I do not do two things at the same time.
I am happy because I never think of two objects at the same time.
I am happy because I have realised the truth that the most important thing in my life is self-improvement.
I am happy because I unreservedly accentuate the good in others.
I am happy because I have considerably cut down on my desiring needs.
I am happy because I never quit.
Excerpt from a short talk by Sri Chinmoy, given during one of his twice-weekly meditations at the United Nations.
To live in joy is to live the inner life. This is the life that leads to self-realisation. Self-realisation is God-realisation, for God is nothing other than the Divinity that is deep inside each of us, waiting to be discovered and revealed.
The inner world embodies Peace, Light and Bliss. The outer world, unfortunately, does not right now embody these qualities, whereas the inner world has them in boundless measure. So we try to establish a free access to the inner world by virtue of our inner cry and our soulful meditation. We call this our aspiration.
There is no difference between inner happiness and aspiration. They are one. Aspiration is the flame and happiness is the light of the flame.
Is there any difference
Between a gratitude-heart
And a happiness-life?
The gratitude-heart is the nest.
The happiness-life is the tree.
A poem from Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, a series of 27,000 aphorisms written by Sri Chinmoy between 1983 and 1998.
I feel that it is through prayer, meditation and dedicated service that world peace can take place. Each individual has to try and make others happy, for it is only through happiness that we can have peace. If we can offer happiness to someone lovingly and sincerely, then that particular person will have only goodwill towards us. So from happiness we get peace and from peace we get happiness; the two are inseparable.
Next
topic
Top
“Self-transcendence-joy unmistakably knows no equal.”
—Sri Chinmoy
Self-transcendence gives us joy in boundless measure. When we transcend ourselves, we do not compete with others. We do not compete with the rest of the world, but at every moment we compete with ourselves. We compete only with our previous achievements. And each time we surpass our previous achievements, we get joy.
In the spiritual life, we are always trying to transcend and go beyond. If today I do twenty things wrong, then tomorrow I will try to do only nineteen things wrong. I will constantly try to improve myself, and in this way I will get a tremendous sense of satisfaction. I am not competing with anybody other than myself. This is how I can feel that I am arriving at perfection.
What do you want?
I want perfection.
Meditate on your life’s self-transcendence.
I do not compete
With the rest of the world.
I compete only with myself,
For my progress is my true victory.
Always compete with yourself; do not compete with anybody else. Success we cannot depend on, because somebody will always come along and make our success pale into insignificance. When we live in the success-world, sooner than at once we are doomed to frustration. But when we live in the progress-world, always there is tremendous joy. This joy comes not only from transcending one’s capacities but from the effort itself. Say I have set my goal at 300 pounds, and I cannot do it. The very fact that I have been devotedly practising and practising gives me joy, and the tenacity or perseverance that I am showing is itself progress. Anything that we do devotedly and soulfully helps us make progress.
Video Age is in the mind; age is not in the body. When we think that we are old, that is the end, the very end, of our journey. Every day at every moment only think that you are a seven-year-old or a nine-year-old or ten-year-old, but do not think that you are over thirty. Just imagine! Imagination is a world of its own, but you have to bring down that world every day or you have to enter into that world.
I always say that physical fitness is of paramount importance. Inside the body is the soul. The soul is not somewhere else. Inside the body-temple is the shrine. If we do not keep the temple in proper condition, the shrine will be totally ruined. Keep your body fit if you really want to make progress.
I feel that the world needs dynamism. The outer world needs dynamism and the inner world needs peace. As seekers, we have to pray and meditate in order to have peace. Again, if we can be dynamic, then we will be able to accomplish much in our outer life. To be dynamic we need physical fitness at every moment, and running helps us considerably to keep physically fit.
Athletes derive tremendous benefits from these races. They go beyond their capacities. In order to make oneself happy, one has to go always beyond and beyond and beyond one’s capacities. So here, while running, each runner is getting a very special opportunity to go beyond his or her capacities. Self-transcendence is the only thing a human being needs in order to be truly happy. So these races help the runners tremendously, although outwardly they go through such hardship. Eventually, when the race is over, they feel they have accomplished something most significant.
Sri Chinmoy founded the Marathon Team in 1977 to serve the athletic community in their quest for self-transcendence. Among many other events, the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race is the world's longest certified road race.
Early in the morning, after you have meditated — not before your meditation — write down three absolutely new things that you have never done, you have never thought of. Then those three things will give you inspiration or a kind of challenge. It will create a sensation in your mind or in your being to do them. After the meditation, use your imagination-power. Just write down, "Three things today I will try. I will make a fresh attempt.”
I am not saying that you have to accomplish these things in one day, no. It may take a few days or even longer to accomplish them. But you can make a start. Life is not boring to one who believes in adventure. Adventure does not mean that you have to climb up the tallest mountain. To allow new ideas, fresh ideas, healthy ideas to enter into your mind — that is adventure. And then you can work on them.
For all my achievements I entirely depend on the Grace of the Supreme. His Grace gives me inspiration and guides me in everything I do — whether I am writing a poem, composing a song, painting a painting, running a marathon or giving a lecture. Everything I do depends on the inner guidance, and this inner guidance is nothing other than Compassion and Grace from Above.
The story of Sri Chinmoy's 22-year weightlifting odyssey. more »
More on the philosophy behind the Marathon Team, and the endurance events they organise worldwide. more »
A champion sprinter in the spiritual community where he grew up, Sri Chinmoy was also an avid long distance runner and tennis player. more »
Next
topic
Top
“May my everyday life be a roaring waterfall of creativity.” —Sri Chinmoy
Each soul is endowed with creativity. But the soul finds it extremely difficult to convince the mind, the vital and the physical that they can consciously co-operate with the soul, that they all can create together and fulfil the Divine here on earth. Creativity does not mean that one has to write poems or articles, or compose songs. Creativity means one's inner concern for the expansion of what he is or what he has. When one consciously wants to go beyond his capacity and beyond his achievement, only then do we find real creativity, only then can creativity have its proper value, worth and purpose.
Where does one find the source of creativity? If one wants his creation to be permanent and eternal, then that creation must come from the soul — not from the mind, not from the vital, not even from the heart. In the heart, in the mind, in the vital and even in the gross physical, one can also see creativity, but the achievements of that creativity can never be lasting. It is only the soul's creativity that can be abiding. So creativity can be in the physical, in the heart, in the mind, in the soul — anywhere. But if it is in the inner life, the soul's region, then only can the aspirant be truly happy.
What do you want?
I want fruitful imagination.
Meditate on the limitless drops of the sea.
Everybody on earth is a musician and a singer. A singer does not have to carry a note perfectly. Music is the language of God. God's language, music, is not like mathematics or geometry. It is a language of love.
Let us not try to understand music with our mind. Let us not even try to feel it with our heart. Let us simply and spontaneously allow the music-bird to fly in out heart-sky. While flying, it will unconditionally reveal to us what it has and what it is. What it has is Immortality's message and what it is is Eternity's passage.
Sri Chinmoy composed over 22,000 songs which, in their lyrics and in their melodies, explore the length and breadth of the aspiring human experience.
The sole function of Art is to discover beauty within and without. And Art is in itself a self-expression of the different levels of Consciousness.
Art is the outer vesture of love. Art, like love, is a force of oneness with the infinite.
When we create a piece of art, we are really re-creating or reflecting some beauty of the Infinite.
Starting in 1974, Sri Chinmoy drew over 140,000 paintings of mystical art which he called 'Jharna Kala', or Fountain-Art in his native Bengali language; art coming forth from an inner source.
Video: Sri Chinmoy:“You are a miraculous model of the abundance in the creative life that we lesser mortals seek, and I can only hope that I may some day perhaps participate in that cosmic fountain of stillness and profound energy which you inhabit.”
— Leonard Bernstein, acclaimed composer and conductor
“Sri Chinmoy’s art has a playfulness which should not be mistaken for the trivial. It comes from an area of being where we strive for the highest. Very few artists dare to play in this way.”
— Amal Ghosh,Central School of Art & Design, London
I am grateful to the Supreme for having given me the golden opportunity to serve Him in His own Way. My poetry, my music, my art and everything else that I do are only expressions of Somebody who is operating in and through me.
Some people may say, “What is he doing? He is an artist, he is a musician, he is singer. Why is he not taking one subject and doing the utmost with it?” But I do not see it that way. A piano has many keys. Why should the pianist always stay on one key? If he plays only one key, one note, how can he produce the cosmic melody, the universal melody? Similarly, I feel that art is one key, poetry is another key, meditation is a third key and sports is a fourth key. If you strike the different keys, then you produce nice music.
The meditative power of Sri Chinmoy’s abstract paintings and the ‘Peace-Bird’ drawings. more »
Sri Chinmoy wrote over 1,600 books of prose and poetry; most of them are available online. srichinmoylibrary.com »
Words, translations, scores and audio melodies for Sri Chinmoy's oeuvre of over 22,000 songs. srichinmoysongs.com »
Sri Chinmoy drew over 16 million of what he termed 'Dream-Freedom-Peace-Birds' or 'Soul-Birds'. For Sri Chinmoy, birds evoked the unlimited freedom of the human soul.
Next
topic
Top
“The moment you know who you really are, all secrets of the world will be an open book to you.” —Sri Chinmoy
Self-realisation means self-discovery in the highest sense of the term. One realises one’s oneness with God — consciously. Now you have studied books and people have also told you that God is in everybody. But you have not realised God in your conscious life. When one is self-realised, one consciously knows what God is, what He looks like, what He wills.
Those who have not realised God will say, "God may be like this, God may be like that" — it is all mental speculation. But when one achieves self-realisation, one remains in God’s Consciousness and one speaks to God face-to-face. He sees God both in the finite and in the Infinite; he sees God as personal and impersonal. In this case, it is not mental hallucination or imagination; it is direct reality. This reality is more authentic than my seeing you right now in front of me.
We speak of self-discovery, but self-discovery and God-realisation are one. When we discover our true self, we realise God, because in our true self is the existence of God.
Wherever we are, God is. In order to realise this supreme truth, we have to return what we have borrowed from the world: darkness, ignorance, bondage, limitation, imperfection and death. We borrowed these things because we felt that they would help us considerably, but now we have come to realise that they are real obstructions. So these things we must return, and the things that we eternally have in the inmost recesses of our being—peace, light, bliss, truth—we have to increase. The things that we eternally are, we have to claim and offer to the world at large. If we do this, we shall know who God is and where God is.
What do you want?
I want illumination.
Meditate on a fully blossomed rose.
No mind, no form, I only exist;
Now ceased all will and thought;
The final end of Nature's dance,
I am it whom I have sought.
A realm of Bliss bare, ultimate;
Beyond both knower and known;
A rest immense I enjoy at last;
I face the One alone.
I have crossed the secret ways of life,
I have become the Goal.
The Truth immutable is revealed;
I am the way, the God-Soul.
My spirit aware of all the heights,
I am mute in the core of the Sun.
I barter nothing with time and deeds;
My cosmic play is done.
Consciousness is the inner spark or inner link in us, the golden link within us that connects our highest and most illumined part with our lowest and most unillumined part. Consciousness is the connecting link between Heaven and earth. Now, where is Heaven? It is not upstairs or somewhere far away. Heaven is in our consciousness. But it is the divine consciousness that connects earth with Heaven. The ordinary human consciousness will only connect us with something very, very limited and, at the same time, very fleeting. For one second we will be able to focus our consciousness on another person, and then our concentration disappears. But when we deal with the inner consciousness, which is the boundless, illumined, transformed consciousness, then our focus of concentration can go on, go on, go on.
Human consciousness is made up primarily of limitation, imperfection, bondage and ignorance. This consciousness wants to remain here on earth. It gets joy in the finite: in family, in society, in earthly affairs. Divine consciousness is made up of Peace, Bliss, divine Power and so forth. Its nature is to expand constantly. Human consciousness feels there is nothing more important than earthly pleasure. Divine consciousness feels there is nothing more important and significant than heavenly Joy and Bliss on earth. Human consciousness tries to convince us that we are nowhere near Truth or fulfilment. It tries to make us feel that God is somewhere else, millions of miles away from us. But divine consciousness makes us feel that God is right here, inside each life-breath, inside each heartbeat, inside everyone and everything around us.
Video Meditation is that very state of our consciousness where the inner being, instead of cherishing millions of thoughts, wants only to commune with God. Meditation is God’s language as well as man’s language. Now I am speaking in English and you are able to understand me because you know English well. Similarly, when one knows how to meditate well, one will be able to commune with God. Thus meditation is the language we use to speak to God.
Video Sri ChinmoySometimes I must be silent,
For that is the only way
To know a little better,
To think a little wiser,
To become a little more perfect,
To claim God a little sooner.
A poem from 'Transcendence-Perfection', a collection of 843 poems composed by Sri Chinmoy in a 24-hour period on November 1, 1975.
We have everything that is needed deep inside us — in the inmost recesses of our heart. There is the safe; there is our wealth. When we pray and meditate, God opens the safe and we see our own treasure. This is why we use the term 'self-discovery.' Through God's Grace, we discover the truth about ourselves; we discover our own inner light and divinity.
Sri Chinmoy explains the importance of regularity, and shares where, when and how best to start meditating. more »
“When we practise spirituality, when our inner cry, which we call aspiration, climbs up high, higher, highest, at that time Peace, Light and Bliss we get not only in abundant measure but in infinite measure.” more »
“Our path is basically the path of the heart and not the path of the mind. This does not mean that we are criticising the path of the mind. Far from it. We just feel that the path of the heart leads us faster towards our goal.” more »
Next
topic
Top
“Truth-existence is one. Sages call it by various names.” —Ancient Indian saying
The purpose of life is to realise the highest Truth, to reveal the highest Truth, and to manifest the highest Truth. What is the highest Truth? The highest Truth is that man and God are eternally one and inseparable although man is right now an unrealised God and God is right now an unfulfilled, unmanifested man.
God is all Love. God is all Light. God is all Beauty. God is everything: Truth, Peace, Light, Bliss in infinite measure. He is with form; He is without form. If you experience God as Peace, then you will say God is Peace. If you experience God as Light, then you will say God is Light. If you experience God as Love, then you will say God is Love.
What do you want?
I want freedom.
Meditate on the measureless vastness of the sky.
“Man's eternal question is: ‘Who is God?’
God's immediate answer is: ‘My child, who else is God, if not you?’” —Sri Chinmoy
God is your own highest, most illumined, most perfect part. You have two parts: one is higher, one is lower. Most of the time you stay in the lower part. When you become fully aware of your higher part and your lower part is totally transformed and unified with the Highest, at that time you are none other than God. Although it is not yet recognised or revealed, your own highest, most developed, most perfect and illumined part is God.
Dive deep within and you will discover that inside your body is your heart, inside your heart is your soul, and inside your soul is God.
Anything that you appreciate here on earth is not only an embodiment of God but God Himself. God can be above in any form, or formless, as infinite Light, infinite Peace, infinite Bliss. Again, He can be inside our hearts, where our real existence is. And if we open our eyes and look at nature, at the mountains and rivers, that also is God.
So no matter which way we appreciate the reality or want to identify ourselves with the reality, we have to feel that we are appreciating and identifying ourselves with Divinity; and this Divinity we call either God or Spirit or Being. If you don't want to call it God, you are at perfect liberty not to do so. But you have to call it happiness. Happiness itself is God. You can appreciate the beauty of nature and if you are happy, then the happiness that you are getting is God.
There is no fundamental difference between one religion and another because each religion embodies the ultimate Truth. Each religion is right, absolutely right, because each religion conveys the message of Truth in its own way. If you dive deep within, you will see that there is no difference at all between the religions. It is all one Truth called different names by different seekers. Your religion may say one thing and my religion may say something else. But our religions will never differ when it is a matter of the highest Truth. The ultimate Goal of every religion is to realise the highest Truth.
On the way to our Goal we may quarrel and disagree, we may misunderstand each other. Why? Precisely because there are many roads that lead to the Goal. Some will follow one road and some will follow another road. Each road will be able to offer inspiration. After a while, one person will say that his road is by far the best because it is pleasing him. Then another person will say that his road is the best. But when both reach their destination, they will be at the same Goal: Truth. In Truth there is no quarrel, no conflict; Truth or God-realisation transcends all religions.
My prayer-wings carry me up to Heaven to see God's Beauty. My meditation-wings carry God down to earth to see my heart's purity.
When we pray, we often feel that God is somewhere above us — miles and miles above our head or in the blue sky. We do not know exactly where He is; we only feel that we are here on earth, whereas He is far away, so it may take some time for our prayer to reach Him. We also feel that He has to come from wherever He is in order to give us peace of mind or whatever it is we are asking for.
But when we meditate, we have a totally different concept of God. We feel that He is right beside us or within us — inside our body, vital, mind, heart and soul-observing us. So we do not have to fly into the sky or run after Him. If our meditation is soulful, we feel that He will grant us what we need. In most cases, we feel that meditation can do the needful sooner than prayer or any other method. Again, if our prayer is the manifestation of our heart's intense cry, then it need not take time to reach God. Sooner than at once He will hear us and help us. So prayer and meditation complement each other.
Nothing can be greater than love. God is great only because He is infinite Love. If one wants to define God, one can define Him in millions of ways; but I wish to tell you that no definition of God can be as adequate as saying, "God is all Love." If fear comes into our mind when we say 'God', then we are millions and billions of miles away from God. When we repeat the name of God, if love comes to the fore, then our prayers, our concentration, our meditation and our contemplation are genuine.
Top
With the exception of explanatory media captions, the writings above are all by Sri Chinmoy. View sources »
If you would like to explore more of Sri Chinmoy's teachings, you are warmly invited to get in touch with your local Sri Chinmoy Centre.