Be a little more compassionate
Than needed.
– Sri Chinmoy, Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, part 26, Agni Press, 2002
Dear seekers, dear brothers and sisters, I wish to give a short talk on satisfaction. Earth needs satisfaction, Heaven needs satisfaction, man needs satisfaction; even God needs satisfaction. Where is satisfaction found? Satisfaction is found in being, in achieving and in becoming. What are we? We are God veiled and unmanifested. What do we achieve? We achieve God-realisation. What do we become? We become God revealed and manifested.
What is satisfaction? Satisfaction is perfection. Yesterday our perfection was God realisation. Today our perfection is God revelation. Tomorrow our perfection shall be God manifestation.
Who is satisfied? Not he who has material wealth in boundless measure. Who is satisfied? Not he who rules a country. Who is satisfied? Not he who performs constant miracles. He alone is satisfied who is in constant communion with his Inner Pilot. He alone is satisfied who loves God unconditionally. He alone is satisfied who serves God in God's own way. In order to commune with God inwardly, love God unconditionally and serve God in His own way, we need aspiration. Aspiration is the inner cry that rises from the very depths of our heart. It climbs high, higher, highest and touches the pinnacle of Light and Truth. Aspiration is the creation of God's Compassion. Compassion is God's highest and best divine quality. God has infinite divine qualities, but His Compassion far surpasses all His other divine qualities. God's Compassion and man's salvation are inseparable.
Satisfaction lies in our self giving. Through self giving we enter into the universal Consciousness and the limited human consciousness grows into the boundless divine Consciousness. Self giving precedes God becoming. God becoming experiences the universal Consciousness in both its static and its dynamic forms. In His static form God enjoys His supreme Silence. In His dynamic form God enjoys His all manifesting Sound.
On the physical plane we try to get satisfaction at every moment, but we try to get satisfaction by fulfilling our desires. We feel that each time we fulfil a desire we shall see the face of satisfaction. But unfortunately, each time a desire is fulfilled we feel tremendous dissatisfaction. We feel that something higher, something more powerful, exists; yet that very thing we have not yet achieved. We blame our circumstances. We blame others. We blame the world. We blame God. We blame circumstances because we feel that circumstances could have been on our side, but were not. We blame others because we feel that they could have been of considerable help to us, but were not. We blame the world because we feel that the world did not encourage us enough to win the victory. We blame God because we feel that God was indifferent to us and did not play His part. We feel that God did not give us the tremendous will power we needed to achieve victory in life. We feel that He did not show us the Compassion we needed. But if we are sincere, we will see that it is we ourselves who have to be blamed; for no matter what we do or achieve, we will always have a sense of dissatisfaction unless and until we have realised the highest Truth, the Lord Supreme.
There are a few enemies we have within us that do not allow us to be satisfied. They are doubt, jealousy and despair. Doubt-power is contagious. It starts in the mind and then spreads to the vital and the physical. Gradually it poisons the whole of our physical existence. Jealousy acts like a ferocious animal. If it gets the opportunity it will not hesitate to devour the whole world. Despair is a destructive power, a negative power that feels that everything is lost and there is only darkness. Despair invokes frustration and frustration invokes destruction. In a negative way despair obtains satisfaction, but this satisfaction is nothing but self destruction.
Divine satisfaction lies in renunciation. What do we renounce? We do not renounce the body. We renounce the things in us that are not aspiring-qualities like fear, doubt, anxiety and worry. After we have renounced these, we bring faith, joy, love, devotion and confidence into our life. These divine qualities give us real satisfaction. If we want to be satisfied in our spiritual life we have to cultivate devotion. Devotion can give us considerable joy and satisfaction. If we kneel down before our Lord Supreme, He blesses us and gives us joy. If we cry like a child, He embraces us, and in His embrace we get satisfaction. If we pray soulfully to Him, He employs us to serve Him in aspiring humanity, and through our soulful service we get satisfaction.
As ordinary human beings want satisfaction, spiritual Masters also want satisfaction. While they are here on earth they serve God. This is their satisfaction. They also make a solemn promise to the world at large that they will come back again and again to serve God in mankind and to fight the evil forces and help the divine forces.
"Whenever the undivine qualities prevail and the divine qualities decline, I embody myself for the protection of the good and for the destruction of the wicked." This is the message that Lord Krishna offered to mankind. He also taught us that if we really want satisfaction, we have to live in the consciousness of the soul and not in the physical consciousness. The soul is the divine representative of God on earth. This is Lord Krishna's description of the soul: "Weapons cannot cleave it; fire cannot burn it; water cannot drench it; wind cannot dry it. Eternal and immutable is the soul." If we can remain inside the soul, we cannot be affected by the buffets of life, for we become immortal. It is in Immortality that we will find eternal satisfaction. In the finite there can be no satisfaction because the finite always wants to possess. In possession there can be no satisfaction. But in the Infinite there is all satisfaction.
The modern world is getting satisfaction from new scientific discoveries. What is God's latest discovery? If we say that God's latest discovery is man, then we are mistaken. If we say that God's latest discovery is human aspiration, we are mistaken. If we say that God's latest discovery is man's dedication, we are mistaken. If we say that God's latest discovery is man's surrender to God's Will, we are also mistaken. What, then, is God's latest discovery? It is man's gratitude, which is absolutely the rarest thing on earth. Each time God discovers it, He feels that it is really His latest discovery. When man offers gratitude to the Supreme, his power of receptivity increases in infinite measure. As his receptivity increases, his satisfaction power also increases. The supreme Satisfaction lies in man's constant offering of gratitude to God.
July 12th, 1974
La grande salle
Fédération internationale d'accueil de Paris, 30 rue Cabanis
Paris, France