Every day, a fresh attempt...

On the spiritual path, we know we have covered hundreds of miles, or thousands of miles, or millions of miles, or billions of miles, or even trillions of miles. Some people have covered many, many miles over the years. They have had many, many incarnations. Again, some people in the spiritual life have covered only ten miles, twenty miles, thirty miles or forty miles.

But no matter how many miles we have completed, we have to forget about the distance we have covered over the years on the strength of our prayer and meditation. Every morning we have to make a new attempt, a fresh attempt, to fly a little higher, to dive a little deeper, to go forward a little farther. Whatever our height is, we shall make an absolutely new attempt. Early in the morning, when we look at a flower, we get so much joy. Then in the late afternoon or evening, we may see that the flower has become wilted. But every day we have to feel that a new flower is blossoming.

Early in the morning, while you are the most beautiful flower, the freshest flower, at that time when you pray, absolutely develop your adamantine will power. Feel that it is just you and your inner existence, you and God. There is no outer world, good or bad; no third person with good news or sad news — no! There is only you, and right in front of you is your own Highest, your own Highest.

If it is difficult to imagine your own Highest, my Transcendental picture you can take as your Highest. When I go to the other world, I will be able to say that if I have given to this world one thing, that is my Transcendental picture. Again, quite a few years ago I went beyond that height. I always say that the Supreme Himself is making progress. That idea is unbelievable to the mind. He is infinite, He is eternal and He is immortal. But still, in His Infinity, Eternity and Immortality, He is progressing, progressing. Who am I in comparison?

I always say that imagination is a reality in itself. Now it is veiled, but it will become unveiled in the future. If it is difficult for you to imagine your own Highest, once more I wish to say that my Transcendental picture is enough. Take the Transcendental as your own Highest. The more you can think of my Transcendental as your own Highest, the stronger you will be in your spiritual life. That is your ultimate Goal: to reach that consciousness. Again, if you find it difficult to identify yourself completely with my Transcendental, then think of yourself, where you are right now, and go one step forward, one step upward, one step inward.

Never take spirituality as something old. Our difficulty is that as soon as we take spirituality as an old subject, as soon as we say, “Oh, we have studied it,” our joy goes away. If I say that I have studied English, for example, for forty years, then what more do I have to know? That is the end for me; I will not make any more progress in the English language. But in my case, I do not think that way. Even now, why do I take the trouble to learn a few difficult words? It is because I am an eternal student.

In the spiritual life, it is exactly the same. Every day make a fresh attempt. You know that you have advanced along the spiritual path. For so many years you have made progress. But do not think all the time of what you have achieved. Only be in your Highest. Look at my picture and dive deep within.

While you are looking at my Transcendental picture, either smile from your soul or cry from your heart. These are the two things you can do. If you can feel at that time that you are the soul — not the body, not the vital, not the mind — then smile at the Transcendental. But if you feel that you are the heart, then cry. Cry, cry, cry as soulfully and as helplessly as possible. If you are in the soul, then smile at the Highest, at the Supreme. If you are in the heart, then cry like an infant. These are the two ways to reach the Highest.

- Sri Chinmoy, Live in the eternal Now