Sri Chinmoy: Never Give Up

Sure, many ministers and rabbis have decent enough forehands. But how many Hindu masters have their own clay court in Manhattan, play constantly and give talks on tennis. The late Sri Chinmoy, gave the following talk after his followers saw a tennis video in ’85:

“God’s creation is nothing other than God’s Cosmic Game. From time immemorial God has been playing in and through each human being at every moment. The day God created Time, He became the Owner and the Distributor of Time.            

Our philosophy is the philosophy of love, devotion and surrender. We have just watched tennis on the video. In tennis everything begins with “love.” There is also “serve” in tennis. Those who play need dedication or devotion to the game, and, at the end of the game, one party surrenders to the other. So tennis can teach us to become good seekers.     

You noticed how many fell while playing because of the rainy conditions. In the spiritual life, many fall. But they get ample opportunity again to stand up and run faster than the fastest… on the battlefield of life.            

In the spiritual life, there is no such thing as failure. We may descend, we may experience outer failure. But this is not real failure. Real failure is only when we give up and say, “This is an impossible task; no matter how many times I try, I will fail.“ If I entertain this wrong feeling and give up, then I have accepted failure and become failure itself.

Not to give up under any circumstances should be our motto. There will be obstacles, but I have to defy the obstacles. During the tennis, it was raining. Let us take this rain as an obstacle the players defied. Similarly, in the spiritual life, there will be obstacles: fear, doubt, anxiety, worry, insecurity, impurity. We have to conquer them…

Although the great tennis stars may not be conscious seekers, unconsciously they surrender their results to God. If they are conscious seekers, they definitely offer their results consciously to their Lord. If we can become conscious seekers…we derive abundant joy from what we do. The action itself, if it is devoted action, is joy.            

The ultimate aim of the spiritual life is enlightenment. But enlightenment includes entertainment. Real entertainment is not and need not be restless, vital excitement. It can come from an innocent, spontaneous feeling of joy from deep within and be the simple expression of this inner, soulful feeling. This innocent entertainment gives the rest of the world the same kind of childlike, innocent joy. It helps free us from tension…

There are seekers who do not find joy in the spiritual life… because they want to discover something new. But if they want to discover something new, illumining and fulfilling, they have to be in the heart… The heart is all oneness, and if we live in the heart, every moment there will be newness, and inside newness will be fullness — complete, whole…

Let us try to run consciously at every moment to our destined Goal. If the hostile forces compel us to descend, then the divine forces are there… to lift us again. So do not give up! Continue, continue! The Goal is ahead of you. If you do not give up, you are bound to reach your Goal.”

 

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