Individuality and Personality
Excerpts from Sri Chinmoy's book - The Inner Promise
When we speak of individuality, we immediately see that it is composed of pride, vanity, desires, frustrations, fear, anxiety, worries and so forth. This kind of individuality can be observed in our ordinary day-to-day-life.
But there is another kind of individuality, which we call the divine individuality. Divine individuality is totally different from the individuality of pride, vanity, ego, earthbound desires, limited achievements and limited fulfilment. Divine individuality is a direct expression of the Divine in us.
God is one. At the same time, He is many. He is one in His highest transcendental Consciousness. He is many here on earth in the field of manifestation. At the Highest, He is unity. Here on earth, He is multiplicity. God is the Lotus, and He has many, many petals, each representing an individual aspect of Himself. He is manifesting Himself in infinite ways and in infinite forms.
When we speak of human personality, we immediately think of something coming from our physical consciousness or the physiacl body. A man, with his inborn capacities, tendencies and talents and all his characteristics, forms a kind of personality. When a man stands in front of me, his personality spreads like wateer flowing onto a flat surface. When we think of a person or a thing, immediately our own individuality enters into the personality of that person or thing.
Right now I am here in America. But if my mind carries me to someone in India, my own individuality immediately becomes one with the person there. I have entered into the person who is now in India, and I can use his personality on the strength of my union with him. I have not lost my individuality. I feel that my individuality has been transformed into an all-pervading and all-serving personality. The moment I think of anybody, my consciousness enters into him and pervades him. When my consciousness takes me into a person, I become part and parcel of him. Then I expand my consciousness there. When my consciousness expands, his consciousness also expands. We always serve the moment we consciously enter into something other than ourselves.
In our true Self we are all one. But in our outer self, we are many. Among the many, we see that one is serving the other; and the other may not take an active or even a conscious part in the process.
For example, I am giving a talk here. You may feel that I am serving you with my knowledge and my spiritual light, but I wish to tell you that you are also serving the Supreme in me through your communion with me and through your understanding and appreciation of my offering to you. This is what we call the all-serving personality. ~ Sri Chinmoy
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