Sri Chinmoy describes his path

Our Path - a talk by Sri Chinmoy

"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."

Full text on www.srichinmoycentre.org

Questions

Sri Chinmoy answers some questions frequently asked about his spiritual path, and about spirituality in general.

• You say that yours is a path and not a religion, is that correct?
• How did you obtain the inner experiences on which your philosophy is based?

Questions

Question: Many religions claim that the Gods of other religions are false and only their God is the right one. You speak of the Supreme, but this does not seem to be a specific God to the exclusion of all other Gods. It is everyone's God, somehow. Your students are not strictly following a religion, but a path. Is that correct?

Sri Chinmoy: God is like a tree. A tree has many branches. Each branch is powerful, but without the trunk, there can be no branches. God is the trunk of the tree. If one particular religion claims that their saviour is the only saviour, we cannot agree with them.

...To me, each religion is like a house. Today you have come from your house, and I have come from my house. Together we are meeting at this restaurant. In exactly the same way, all religions have to feel that they are only representing different houses. But we can all meet together in the same inner school 1

Question: You say that yours is a path, not a religion. But after the teacher of the path leaves, it becomes a religion, like Buddhism, for example,and it stands against other religions.

Sri Chinmoy: In my case, I only speak about the soul. My philosophy is that the soul is the only reality and at every second we have to listen to our souls. I have not said a word against any religion. On the contrary, I have expressed the greatest love, admiration and adoration for the Saviour Christ, the Buddha, Sri Krishna and the spiritual Masters associated with other religions. So why should my path become a religion and stand against other religions? My writings will make it very, very clear that I was not a man who directly or indirectly tried to establish a new religion. After my departure, the world will see only my creations. 2

Question: You say your philosophy is based on your inner experiences. How did you get these experiences?

Question:What is your view of religion? Why are so many religions not friendly with each other?

Sri Chinmoy: The essence of every religion is love of God. There is not a single religion that does not tell us to love God. The problem comes with the followers of religion. Very often they say, "My religion is by far the best, whereas your religion is very bad." The followers of the different religions are like children in a family. The children have the same parents and receive the same affection, love and compassion from their parents. But still the children quarrel and fight. If one sister sees that another sister is more beautiful, then immediately she becomes jealous and quarrels with the other one. If one brother sees that another brother is more powerful, immediately the weak one speaks ill of the strong one. Again, in a family, many times one brother will say, "I know better than anybody!" and the other brother will say, "No, I know better than you!" Similarly, each religion will tell its brother and sister religions, "I know more about the Heavenly Father than you do." Or they will say, "My way of loving God is the only correct way, and your way is wrong." So, quite often it happens that there is quarrelling and fighting among the various religions.

• 1. from Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 32
• 2. from Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 10
• 3. Excerpt from Meditation: God Speaks And I Listen, Part 2 by Sri Chinmoy.
• 4. from Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 11