Spiritual Forum

Dear seekers of the infinite Truth and Light, I wish to give a short talk on the two worlds: the world within and the world without, the inner world and the outer world.

The citizens of the outer world are brooding doubt, teeming fear and strangling jealousy.

The citizens of the inner world are blossoming faith, soaring courage and glowing love.

Doubt destroys the universal Brother in us.

Fear destroys the supernal Dreamer in us.

Jealousy destroys the transcendental Lover in us.

Without the Brother, our body is helpless.

Without the Dreamer, our mind is hopeless.

Without the Lover, our heart is fruitless.

With our soulful faith, we knock at God's Heart door.

With our adamantine courage, we confidently walk to God's Heart room.

With our serene and pure love, we run to God's Heart room and occupy the special seat right beside God's Throne.

Faith inspires the divine seeker in us. Courage feeds the eternal server in us. Love fulfils the immortal runner in us.

Two worlds: the outer world and the inner world. The outer world constantly demands. There is no end to its demand. When its demands are not fulfilled, the outer world begins to expect. When its expectations are not fulfilled, the outer world becomes frustrated and wants to destroy everything around it.

The inner world does not demand, does not expect. The inner world only accepts. It accepts human beings as they are. Once it accepts them, it tries either to transform or to fulfill them. Each human being has imperfections and limitations. The inner world tries to transform our limitations into plenitude, our imperfections into perfections. And again, within each individual there are divine qualities like hope, dream and promise. The inner world fulfils our hope, fulfils our dream and fulfils our promise. What is our hope? Our hope is to become good and divine. What is our dream? Our dream is to enter into the vastness of the infinite and become the infinite itself. And what is our promise? Our promise is to create here on earth the Kingdom of Heaven. The inner world helps us, inspires us, energizes us and finally fulfils our promise at God's choice hour.

In the outer world, the highest achievement is the mind. There are three types of mind: the physical mind, the intellectual mind and the intuitive mind. The physical mind is the mind that is involved in and controlled by the gross physical consciousness, the mind that operates in and through the physical only. The intellectual mind is the mind that dissects and examines everything and everyone from a distance without becoming inseparably one with the object of its scrutiny. The intuitive mind is the mind that runs like the fastest deer. It enters instantly into something and becomes the very essence of that thing on the strength of its God given capacity to feel its oneness with everything around it.

Most of us do not have this intuitive mind, but we try to cultivate it. When we pray and meditate we gradually cultivate the intuitive mind. Once we have developed the intuitive mind, we have free access to our inner realms where the bumper crop of realization grows. Realization is the song of plenitude, fulfillment and God victory in our still obscure, impure, unaspiring and unfulfilled life.

In the inner world the highest achievement is the heart-the aspiring heart, the surrendering heart, the ever transcending heart. The aspiring heart wants to climb up high, higher, highest, and while climbing it illumines the world around it. The surrendering heart offers its very existence to the Will of the omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God, the Inner Pilot. The surrendering heart knows that it is a tiny drop that has to merge into the mighty Ocean, God. By surrendering to this Ocean it does not lose its individuality and personality. On the contrary, it gains the individuality and personality of the Ocean, itself. When it merges into the Ocean, the tiniest drop becomes the mighty Ocean. The ever transcending heart knows that there is no end to our progress and achievement. Today's goal is tomorrow's starting point. Again, tomorrow's goal will be the starting point for the day after tomorrow, since God Himself is endlessly progressing and eternally transcending His own infinite Heights.

The inner world and the outer world can and will eventually go together. But we have to know that, at the outset of our spiritual journey, we have to change our priorities. That is to say, we have now to pay utmost attention to the inner world, instead of to the outer world. We have to go without from within, not the other way around. Once we are well established in the inner world, we can again turn our attention to the outer world. First we shall give utmost importance to the inner world, then gradually to the outer world, until finally we love and serve both worlds equally and simultaneously. When we are fully established in the outer world on the strength of the divinity we have acquired in the inner world, at that time we shall successfully unite both the outer and the inner worlds.

The inner world is the seed. The outer world is the banyan tree. We have to pay attention to the seed first. When the seed germinates, it grows eventually into a banyan tree. Without the seed the tree cannot come into existence, and without the tree our expectations from the seed can never be fulfilled. So in the beginning the seed is important. In the end the tree is important, because it has grown from divine origins.

The inner world is the soul and the outer world is the body. Without the body the soul cannot manifest. But without the soul the body cannot realize. If we pay attention to the soul and allow our inner being to be surcharged with the soul's light, then we can successfully enter into and illumine the obscurity, impurity and darkness of the outer world. Once the outer world is illumined, it can live harmoniously hand in glove with the inner world.

The outer world is the horse. The inner world is the rider. The horse has to carry the rider or Master to the destined goal. If there is no rider to inspire and energize the horse and direct it to the destined goal, the horse will reach the goal very slowly, if at all. So the rider needs the help of the horse, which is the body; and the horse needs the guidance of the rider, which is the soul.

In our ordinary life, no matter how much material wealth we have, no matter how much outer authority we can exercise, we shall not be satisfied. Satisfaction is not to be found in the present day outer world, no matter what we do, what we say or what we achieve. But today's insufficiency is not and cannot be a permanent reality in our lives. When the light of the inner world looms large and comes to the fore, satisfaction automatically dawns in our devoted mind and surrendered heart. What we want from our lives is satisfaction-nothing more, nothing less. This satisfaction we are bound to achieve, provided we dive deep within and approach the outer world from the inner world. Let us enter into the inner world and bring forward the plenitude, the Eldorado, of the inner world, and share it with the outer world. Today we are having a kind of experience, an unfulfilling or unfulfilled experience. But tomorrow we can, without fail, have fulfilling and fulfilled experiences of Divinity and Immortality, provided we aspire. What do we aspire for? We aspire only for the Highest, for the Ultimate, for the absolute Supreme. How do we aspire? We aspire through constant self giving. And today's self giving is tomorrow's God becoming.

January 11th, 1974 ~ Sri Chinmoy