One day Balananda said to his disciples, “I know all of you want to become
my good disciples, but it is quite a difficult task. Each of you needs to
develop four most important things in your life. You need to develop the
capacity to tolerate the world and to tolerate your own life. You need to
develop the capacity to sacrifice everything that you have and everything
that you are. You need to cultivate the capacity to remain silent even when
you are mistreated mercilessly, without rhyme or reason, by a hostile world.
You need to develop the capacity to remain calm, quiet and tranquil without
being completely shattered when you lose in the battlefield of life or extolling
yourself to the skies when you succeed in the battlefield of life.”<br>
<br>
The disciples said to him, “Master, is it at all possible to do all this
in one incarnation?”<br>
<br>
Balananda said, “Why not, Why not? I, too, was once upon a time a disciple
in this incarnation. In this incarnation I realised God. You also can realise
God, provided you always do the right thing at the right time, with the help
of the right Master.”<br>
<br>
Sri Chinmoy&nbsp;