Sri Chinmoy extracts, part 3
"If we use the mind, we will feel that nothing is as difficult or complicated as spirituality. But if we really want to follow the spiritual life, if we use the heart as our instrument, then nothing can be more simple. When the heart wants to to identify itself with something or someone, it uses the feeling of love and oneness. But when the mind wants to see something, it tries to delay and separate. The mind unconsciously gets pleasure in things that are complicated and confused, but the heart gets joy in things that are simple".
"We have to feel that matter and spirit go together. Matter has to be the consciousness expression of spirit. There is an inner reality, there is an infinite Truth that wants to express itself in and through matter. The material life has to be guided and moulded by the spirit".
"An ordinary person loves the body infinitely more than he loves the soul. A spiritual person loves the soul infinitely more than he loves the body. Why? He knows that his body will last only sixty, seventy or eighty years, and then he will have to give it up. Each time he reincarnates, he is doning a different body; but he has the same soul throughout all his lives. He knows that the soul is the conscious representative of the Supreme, revealing and manifesting, in each incarnation, the embodied Truth on earth."
"An unaspiring man will criticise the imperfections and limitations of others although he lacks the inclination, the willingness and the capacity to correct his own imperfections and limitations. But a man of spirituality is sincere. Not only does he not criticise the imperfections of others, but he is also fully aware of his own shortcomings and he tries to correct them. In addition, he sees the world's imperfections as his very own and tries to correct them by perfecting his own nature."
"We are living in a world of duality, multiplicity and variety. When we want to aspire and elevate our consciousness to the Highest, desire, the thief, robs us. It takes away our psychic aspiration, our pure devotion towards God, our surrendering will which we offer to the Almighty Will. The Christ said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." What do we learn from this lofty message? We learn that the life of desire has to give way to the life of aspiration. If the life of aspiration does not come to the fore, then a new life can never dawn. The Kingdom of God can be established only when we kindle the flame of aspiration deep within us."
"I live on earth not because others are living here. I live on earth precisely because I have a special purpose, a mission on earth. Each individual has to feel that he or she has something special to offer, and this message has to come directly from the soul and enter into our physical consciousness."
"Each individual has God inside him. When he realises the Highest, each individual will realise that God's Vision is nothing but Wisdom-Light. God created the world with His inner Vision, and this Vision is all Wisdom. Wisdom is not mere intelligence or cleverness; wisdom is something entirely different. Believe it or not, Wisdom is understanding and compassion. God's Wisdom and God's Compassion are one and the same thing. Because of His Compassion, God is using His Wisdom for us. And because of His Wisdom, God is using His Compassion for us. When we listen to the inner call, we consciously receive God's Compassion and grow into God's Wisdom."
"We have to feel that we were chosen from among countless people to run towards the Light. Others are still asleep. It was sheer Grace, God's unconditional Grace, that inspired us to come out of ignorance and look towards the Light. Since it was He who inspired us and invited us to join consciously in His cosmic Game, we have to feel that the one percent of faith we had in the beginning of our journey also came directly from God, the Absolute Supreme. We who have started walking the spiritual path are the forerunners. All will eventually run towards the same transcendental Goal. The majority of mankind will not always lag behind. All children of God, even those who are now unconscious and unaspiring, will one day run towards humanity's common Goal. This Goal is the supreme discovery of our Divinity and the constant and perfect manifestation of our everlasting Reality."
"A human being has many divine qualities. But there has never been another unparalleled divine quality like man's self-sacrifice, nor can there ever be. God's own soulful Message to humanity in all walks of life is self-sacrifice. The brightest self-sacrifice can easily ease and diminish the darkest trials and stresses of human life. He who is all sacrifice can never go through life as a failure. His is the perpetual victory. His is the spontaneous inner joy. What is to be sacrificied? One's life-breath. How to sacrifice? With the feeling of universal oneness."