“The Cry and the Smile”
a talk by Sri Chinmoy
I wish to give a short talk on the cry and the smile: the outer cry and the inner cry, the outer smile and the inner smile.
The outer cry is for name and fame. The inner cry is for Truth and Light.
When we walk along the road of name and fame, there comes a time when frustration makes friends with us. This frustration-friend takes us to destruction and there our journey ends.
When we walk along the road of Truth and Light, perfection becomes our friend and perfection leads us to satisfaction. But there our journey does not end; on the contrary, there a new and unprecedented journey starts. For this satisfaction is nothing but the ever-transcending Reality. Each time we are satisfied, a new reality inspires us to transcend ourselves.
The outer cry lives in the outer world. The outer cry is to possess the world, to bring it under our dominion, under our jurisdiction for us to use in our own way. We want to possess the world precisely because the outer world is not within us. Anything that is not within us, we feel is not ours.
The inner cry lives in the world of aspiration. Aspiration ultimately grants us realisation. Realisation means oneness with the Infinite. As individual seekers, we become inseparably one with the Infinite when we realise our transcendental Self. Inside our transcendental Reality we see the entire world with its cries and smiles.
The outer smile is the smile of the face. Quite often the outer smile consoles us, although it is not always encouraging and illumining. We notice at times that there is a motive behind the outer smile. The outer smile at times wants to be reciprocated; we smile and we want the world to smile back at us.
The inner smile is the smile of the heart. This smile inspires the seeker and elevates his consciousness. When the inner smile manifests itself through the outer smile, it reminds the seeker of his promise to the Absolute Supreme. His promise is to realise God, reveal God and manifest God here on earth. When the outer smile manifests itself through the inner smile, it is assurance that the outer life offers to the inner life. The outer life says to the inner life, “I am sorry I have stayed away from you for so long. But from now on, I shall become inseparably one with you. I shall help you in every possible way. Not only that, I shall please you and fulfil you in your own way. I shall fulfil you in your own way because I know that your way and God’s Way are absolutely one.”
Human life itself is a cry right from dawn to sunset. The moment a child is born, he offers a cry to Mother Earth. Again, when he is about to pass behind the curtain of Eternity, he offers a cry to Mother Earth. From the outer point of view, the child cries because the world is a stranger. The world is a stranger to the new born babe; therefore he cries. And the same person, when he is ready to die, is afraid of the other world. Therefore, he offers a cry. This is a human, outer explanation of the reality that we see.
But there is also an inner explanation, an esoteric explanation of the cry. When the soul enters into the world of manifestation with a human body, it offers its gratitude to Mother Earth through its cry. The soul enters into the world arena and it offers gratitude to Mother Earth for accepting it. And the same soul, at the end of its journey, again offers gratitude to Mother Earth through the physical cry, for the physical body was granted the opportunity by Mother Earth to realise, reveal and manifest Truth and Light on earth.
The human child cries for the mother’s milk. But this human child, on the strength of his aspiration, becomes a divine child. When he becomes a divine child, he prays to the Universal Mother, to the Absolute Supreme, to grant him Nectar, Delight, Immortality. In his human existence, he cries for the milk which nourishes the human existence. In his divine existence, he cries for something divine and immortal.
The human cry and the divine smile at times go together. The human cry in the physical world and the divine smile in the vital world at times go together. When a dear one dies, we cry. When we cry, the soul that is close to us smiles in the vital world. In the vital world, the souls that are attached to us, that still have kept a close connection with the world, get tremendous joy when we cry for them, and their joy they express with a smile. But if these souls are in the inner worlds that are far beyond the vital world, in the intuitive world or in the soul’s world, they only watch the progress of the individuals on earth. If they see that their dear ones who are on earth have manifested everything that they were supposed to manifest before leaving the body, then they are happy. If not, then they feel sad and miserable for their dear ones.
The souls that remain in the soul’s world always abide by the Will of the Supreme. Sometimes the Will of the Supreme tolerates certain things, sometimes it approves and sometimes it is totally committed to certain things taking place on earth. When the soul mixes with the vital, especially the lower vital, it loses its pristine divinity for the time being and it does not always abide by the Will of the Supreme. But it never loses its inmost divinity, which is eternally immortal. The souls that lose a bit of their Universal Reality, a bit of their divinity, become one with ignorance and become a miserable cry. Again, the souls that do not mix with the lower vital and remain always above the vital world, here and elsewhere, remain always in perfect peace and bliss. These souls constantly offer smiles both to Heaven and to earth. Again, it is not only ordinary human beings who cry and smile, but also the spiritual Masters of the highest magnitude who offer their cries and smiles to mankind.
Here in the West, the Saviour is Christ. The Christ cried for humanity’s salvation from sin. And sin is nothing but limited consciousness, which unfortunately we claim to be ours. Again, out of his infinite Bounty, the Christ gave us the most luminous Smile when He said, “Let Thy will be done.” When the human in the Christ became one with our cry, he said, “Father, what have I done? Why hast Thou forsaken me?” Again, when the Christ became one with his own divinity, his own transcendental Reality, he offered to the world at large his highest wisdom, his smile: “I and my Father are one.”
In the East, we recall the Buddha’s human cry for a little bird before he got his enlightenment. To save the life of a bird his heart literally bled; and he did save the bird. Again, in his later years, the Lord Buddha cried for the enlightenment of humanity. He got his illumination and his heart cried to offer it to the world at large. He told humanity two most sublime things. First he said, “This world is transitory. Here, if you expect abiding satisfaction, then you are bound to be disappointed.” The second message he offered to the world at large was this: “Discover the Light within. Be the Light unto yourself.”
The Christ taught us to free ourselves from sin consciousness. The Buddha taught us to free ourselves from ignorance and bondage consciousness. The Christ, out of his infinite Compassion, taught us the message of salvation; and the Buddha, out of his infinite Compassion, taught us the message of liberation. When we achieve salvation, anything within us that is inferior to the highest Reality becomes one with the highest Reality. When we achieve liberation, anything within us that is limited, anything within us that limits or binds us, becomes totally liberated, illumined, perfected and fulfilled.
Aspiration is an inner cry; again, aspiration is an inner smile. When we aspire to reach the highest Height, it is an inner cry that we embody. When we climb down to serve God in each human being, we are embodying an inner smile. Each human life is composed of a cry and a smile. The cry strengthens, the smile expedites. Therefore both the cry and the smile are of paramount importance.
God’s Vision is the inner Cry to manifest His infinite Divinity. God’s Reality is the inner Smile that grows and glows in humanity’s aspiring consciousness. As long as man and God exist, man will cry to God for fulfilment in his own human way and God will cry for fulfilment in and through man in His divine Way. Man will cry to God to give him the capacity to bind the world; God will cry for man to liberate himself and to liberate others. If someone is a desiring person, there will come a time when he becomes an aspiring person. At that time he says to God, “O Lord Supreme, I shall be pleased only when I please You in Your own Way.” God and the seeker smile simultaneously. The earth consciousness accepts the divine Consciousness and the divine Consciousness accepts the earth consciousness for Reality’s transcendental Satisfaction.
June 15th, 1976
American Church
Paris, France
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