The Soul

If you do not know the capacity of your mind, You have not missed much. If you do not know the capacity of your heart, You have missed much. If you do not know the capacity of your soul, You have missed all.

The highest Truth is within our hearts but unfortunately we have not yet discovered it. So I ask my disciples to go deep within and meditate on the heart, which houses the soul. Eventually they learn how to contact the soul and start listening to its dictates. At that time they have begun to make real progress towards discovering their highest and deepest selves.

God is not something to be obtained from the outside. God is that very thing which can be unfolded from within. In the physical world, the mother tells the child who his father is. In the spiritual world, our aspiration tells us who our God is. Who is God? God is an infinite consciousness. He is also the self-illumining Light. There is no human being who does not own within himself this infinite Consciousness and this self-illumining Light.

Man, in his outer life or his outer achievements, is very limited. But the same man, when he enters into the inmost recesses of his heart, feels that there is something constantly trying to expand itself. This is consciousness. This consciousness links him with the Highest Absolute. Consciousness always welcomes us. It is in consciousness that we invoke, receive and offer boundless peace, light and bliss. An ordinary man does not have control of his consciousness. But a spiritual man is able to control his. He tries to lead a better life, a higher life, and in so doing, he brings down the light of the Beyond into the darkness of the present-day world.

Has your soul a special mission? Yes. Your mission is in the inmost recesses of your heart, and you have to find and fulfil it there. Forgetfulness makes you feel that you are finite, weak and helpless. This is not true. You are not the body. You are not the senses. You are not the mind. These are all limited. You are the soul which is unlimited. Your soul is infinitely powerful. Your soul defies all time and space. Your special mission - which is the fulfilment of your divinity - is not outside you, but within. Search within. Meditate within. You will discover your mission.

What is it, after all, that gives to a child his charm and beauty? Is it not the soul's glow? When that touch gets fainter and is finally lost, he becomes a dull and cautious adult.

Only when you listen To the dictates of your soul, The path ahead of you Becomes absolutely clear.

When you pray, Think of a lost child within you Crying helplessly. When you meditate, Think of a morning flower Smiling and smiling, Radiating its beauty And offering its fragrance. This is how you can make friends With your soul And fly with it infinitely higher Than the confines of the mind.

All excerpts by Sri Chinmoy

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