Sri Chinmoy:
The Peace Meditation at the United Nations

Problems do not indicate man’s incapacity. Problems do not indicate man’s inadequacy. Problems do not indicate man’s insufficiency. Problems indicate man’s conscious need for self-transcendence in the inner world, and his conscious need for self-perfection in the outer world.

You have a problem. He has a problem. She has a problem. Your problem is that the world does not touch your feet. His problem is that the world does not love him. Her problem is that she feels that she does not adequately help God in the world. To solve your problem, you have to conquer your pride. To solve his problem, he has to conquer his greed. To solve her problem, she has to conquer her self-styled and self-aggrandised desiring ego.

Each problem is a force. But when we see the problem, we feel deep within us a greater force. And when we face the problem, we prove to the problem that we not only have the greatest force, but actually we are the greatest force on earth.

A problem increases when the heart hesitates and the mind calculates. A problem decreases when the heart braves the problem and the mind supports the heart. A problem diminishes when the mind uses its search-light and the heart uses its illumination-light.

Self-denial cannot solve any problem. Self-assertion cannot solve any problem. It is God-manifestation through self-existence that can solve all problems of the present and the future. Our sincere approach to a problem will eventually lead us to a satisfactory solution. Our sincere approach to God will carry our teeming problems in God’s Will-chariot into the infinite, eternal Smile.

If fear is our problem, then we have to feel that we are the chosen soldiers of God the Almighty. If doubt is our problem, then we have to feel that we have deep within us the Sea of God’s Light. If jealousy is our problem, then we have to feel that we are the oneness of God’s Light and Truth. If insecurity is our problem, then we have to feel that God is nothing and can be nothing other than constant and ceaseless assurance to us that He will claim us as His very own. If the body is the problem, our constant alertness and attention can solve this problem. If the vital is the problem, our soaring imagination can solve this problem. If the mind is the problem, our illumining inspiration can solve this problem. If the heart is the problem, our perfecting aspiration can solve this problem. If life is the problem, our fulfilling self-discovery can solve this problem.

The individual problem arises when we want to possess infinite humanity. The universal problem arises when the Infinite wants to mould, guide, shape, transform and divinely and supremely fulfil the finite, but the finite does not want to listen to the dictates of the Infinite.

A problem is not the harbinger of defeat or failure. A problem can be transformed into the beckoning Hands of the Supreme that can take us to our destined Goal, the Goal of the ever-transcending, ever-fulfilling Beyond.

Conference Room 9

January 19, 1973