Western film and television has often given a very fixed portrayal of spiritual teachers, such that we have come to expect a master to seclude themselves away from the world for hours on end, with occasional breaks to dispense wisdom to their students.However, the reality is that every great spiritual Master has made his own unique contribution to the world's evolution by accepting and loving the world in order to transform it. In ancient times we had great teachers like Sri Rama and Sri Krishna who would combine the earthly duties of kingship with the higher calling of dharma, enlightened beings like the Buddha who criss-crossed the Indian subcontinent spreading the message of liberation to king and peasant alike, not to mention Jesus Christ, whose time on earth was as much a social revolution as it was a spiritual one. In recent times many great spiritual figures such as Swami Vivekananda and Mother Teresa have also demonstrated that spiritual progress can be made just as much by remaining in the world and working to transform it.

Many terms have been used to describe Sri Chinmoy during his 43 years of service in the west, but recluse is certainly not one of them. "The inner life is not the life of isolation," Sri Chinmoy explained. "The real spiritual life, the real inner life, will never tell us to leave society and enter into the Himalayan caves; far from it! We dive deep within early in the morning. Then, when we enter the outer world, we bring forward what we have received from within and we try to offer this to the world at large."

Sri Chinmoy's philosophy encompassed each of the main three yogas or paths to enlightenment in Indian philosophy: bhakti (love), jnana (knowledge) and karma (action). In particular, his life was a sterling example of the philosophy of karma yoga expounded in the Bhagavad Gita. In this ancient Indian scripture, Sri Krishna explains to his student Arjuna how one can achieve illumination whilst working in the world, summed up in the famous line "Thou hast the right to action, but claim not the fruits thereof". Sri Chinmoy, through his own example, showed how one could take this philosophy into the modern world. He threw himself into multifarious projects for one reason and one reason only - because he had received the inner inspiration from the communion with the Highest which he obtained in his meditation. Sometimes in carrying out these projects he would meet with success and other times with failure, and yet Sri Chinmoy treated these two events with identical detachment: all that mattered to him was that he was carrying out the express wish of his Inner Pilot.

"Human beings usually think before they act", he replied once when asked about the nature of God. "But in God's case, it is not like that. He uses His Willpower which, while seeing, also acts and becomes. God's seeing, acting and becoming are simultaneous and instantaneous." In Sri Chinmoy's every action, he would attempt to recreate that divine flow as far as was humanly possible. It was not uncommon for him to announce a new poetic, musical or artistic endeavour and complete it in one sitting. This spontaneity was a lesson for all of those who were fortunate enough to observe it - there was no wasting time wondering if what he was creating was good or bad, no stalling waiting for better conditions to present themselves; Sri Chinmoy just sat down and started creating.

The other hallmark of Sri Chinmoy's actions - and the same could be said of spiritual Masters throughout the ages - is the love and concern for humanity that lies behind them. For Sri Chinmoy, love of God and love of humanity are inseparable - "If we love God first, then automatically we are loving humanity. If we love God, then God will give us the capacity to please His creation, which is humanity", he once said. This oneness with his fellow man took Sri Chinmoy to the farthest corners of the globe giving lectures and concerts of meditative music. Sri Chinmoy always sought to awaken the best and brightest qualities of humanity, and no matter what far-flung region of the world he travelled to, he was able to meet with people who exemplified these qualities and could take the inspiration he had to offer and use it to inspire others in turn.

For spiritual aspirants of the hoary past, the outer world was something to be feared lest it took one way pace and bliss one received from meditation. Sri Chinmoy, on the other hand viewed the outer and inner world as natural complements of each other. As the goodness and kindness of humanity comes more and more to the fore, this outer world is evolving into Heaven on earth.

"There comes a time when my inner world and my outer world become inseparably one. At that time I feel that my reality and God's Reality are inseparably one, that my reality's height and God's Reality's Height are inseparably one, that my vision-world and God's Vision-World are inseparably one."

- Sri Chinmoy

Article by: Nirbhasa Magee