Europe Trip 1970: England
Stories about a one month lecture tour in Europe.
We have really entered into the wide world. History will bear witness to the truth of whether we have succeeded or not. Success and failure we always offer to the Supreme; we place them at the Feet of the Supreme. ... This journey of ours to England, this adventure, however, has been one of tremendous success.
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Now, unfortunately, I will not be able to tell you in any systematic way about the lectures I gave, but as far as my memory allows, I will try to be faithful to the basic order of our main activities.
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We went to the talk I was supposed to give. Even three minutes before the actual hour, nobody had arrived; nobody turned up. But one minute before eight o'clock, fifty or sixty people came in, all at once.
After the talk they asked me quite a few sincere questions. One question was, "Is death the end?" There were many other sincere questions. At the end of the meeting, a young man came to me with a short note and a greeting card with two beautiful birds on it. He said to me, "This bird signifies earth, and that bird signifies Heaven. I was so deeply moved by your talk that I wish to say that you have the same God-realisation that I have. Your realisation and my realisation are of the same type. We both know that there is no such thing as death. So I am presenting you with Heaven and earth in the form of these two birds, one earth, the other, Heaven."
So his realisation and mine were of the same calibre. I was so happy that I had at least equalled his realisation.
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Now, back to Nottingham University. As soon as we entered the hall, we saw that more than three hundred people were present. All the chairs were occupied, and fourteen people were sitting on the floor. I took my place on the platform and, standing there, I gave a very serious talk. This will eventually be printed.
During the question-and-answer period, the first question I got was from an Indian. Often when an Indian asks a question, it is not a question; it is a lecture in itself and the start of a controversy. Some of my Indian brothers do not want to know anything because they know everything already. Here I wish to go off the track and tell you that when I gave a talk at Cornell University about a year ago, an Indian stood up. Many professors and students had been so devotedly asking questions. This Indian stood up and said, "Why do you talk about God? Who is not God? You are God. I am God. Everybody is God. So why do you talk about God here?"
So I answered him, "This University has invited me to give a talk, and I am speaking on God, on Truth and on Light. If you have realised God, then who has asked you to come here to listen to me? You stay with your God-realisation. These people in the audience perhaps have not yet realised God; that is why they are listening to me. So you can leave this place and give us a little peace." He kept quiet.
After the meeting was over, he came up to me and fell flat at my feet, prostrating in the Indian fashion, with his head on the floor at my feet. He said, "Everybody was admiring you, adoring you, but nobody was paying any attention to me. So I thought that if I asked an embarrassing question, everybody would pay attention to me. That is why I asked you my question. Please forgive me. Forgive me!
So here in Nottingham University also, I was getting that kind of question. The first question was no question at all. The Indian man just wanted to show off his wisdom, but I didn't say anything about it and just answered his question very soulfully.
There were many questions. Many sincere questions they asked; very nice questions. But toward the end, this Indian started arguing. He said, "How is it you are talking about meditation? We are married people, and you know that married people cannot meditate. It is so difficult, and your philosophy is so difficult." He started again arguing with me. But with utmost kindness and affection I answered his objections—for about ten minutes.
The final question of the evening was again not really a question. Another Indian stood up and said, "What have you to offer? Why have you come here? You Indians, all you Yogis come here to the West only to exploit us." At this very time, so many people had been showing me sincere admiration. So one or two students of philosophy who had introduced me to the audience stood up and asked the audience to offer their appreciation of me. To my surprise this meant that they immediately started clapping for my talk. They applauded very enthusiastically and sincerely. Oh yes, the philosophy student had said, "I am sure you have all enjoyed the talk. So now let us offer our appreciation to the speaker." In the thundering applause, the poor Indian was drowned.
When everything was over, we went downstairs for refreshments. The Indian man who said that married people cannot meditate, that my philosophy was so difficult and all that, came down with two of his children. One was five and the other was two years old. With folded hands, he said, "Swamiji, forgive me, forgive me. I saw tremendous power inside you while you were talking. I thought that if I asked you some spiritual question, you would be able to answer it easily. I thought if I asked something that was not spiritual, something ordinary, it would be difficult for you to answer. That is why I asked you that kind of question. My question wasn't spiritual, but you answered it so well.
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Now, to come back to England. At our next university, it was raining heavily as I was due to give my talk. We had to walk through bitter, biting cold to get there. We encountered so much difficulty as it was so dark and the cold rain prevented us from finding the way. It was so hard to find the hall where the talk was scheduled. Such hard work simply to get into the university that night!
There were about sixty hippies there. The lecture was about to start, but they would not stop talking. The man who introduced me told them that it was high time for them to show a little respect to the speaker. Then they kept quiet. Most of the boys were sitting with their partners, their girlfriends. Three or four asked me spiritual questions, but those questions had a mockery behind them. So I became very strict and showed my spiritual pride and dignity as I answered their questions. They were humbled by my spiritual power.
Then again, as I always have wonderful experiences with my Indian brothers, an Indian student asked the last question. He was asking me a serious question about liberation and realisation. While he was asking the question, his girlfriend was caressing him, much to his enjoyment. I really became so mad that I gave him a very drastic answer. When I become furious, at that time I use my spiritual power. Then the girl stopped.
Another fellow was asking me a question, and I could see that he was thinking only about his girlfriend. The question was only lipdeep. So again I became mad: "You people should have some courtesy. Some of you are, to my extreme sorrow, still in the animal world. It is impossible for me to throw light into the animal consciousness. Only into the aspiring human heart can I offer a little light. So I have to leave." I walked out.
The man who introduced me was miserable and very sorry about the students' behaviour. I said, "It is not your fault. It was my Indian brother who inspired and instigated them to adopt that attitude. So often it is an Indian brother." That was our unfortunate experience at that particular university.
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By the way, we used to go to an Indian restaurant every day. In America, it is very expensive to eat in Indian restaurants. In England, it is not expensive. So we have eaten in seventeen or eighteen Indian restaurants in England.
Early each morning we had to leave Kensington; at noon we had to take a plane, then a train, then a taxi. We were absolutely gypsies, moving all the time from here to there, with no rest. Only at night did we come back to London and only to sleep in the Countess' beautiful house. We hardly saw the house, and we rarely saw her, a frail, elderly little lady.
Moving from here to there, to this city and that university, whenever we got hungry, we would take our food at some Indian restaurant in whatever town we found ourselves.
So you see, in one university I had practically the worst experience of my mission. In the question period, I was miserable. But at Oxford University I was so highly honoured. It is the first university where I have been garlanded. I have given talks in seventy or eighty universities in the West, but in Oxford the president of one of the Societies came up and garlanded me with utmost humility.
While garlanding me he said, "A candle is introducing the sun. The sun needs no introduction, but the candle gets the greatest joy, delight and pride when it gets the opportunity to introduce the sun. I am the candle and he is the sun. Sri Chinmoy does not need any introduction, but some of my colleagues have asked me to make this introduction, and I am very proud that I am in a position to introduce such a great figure."
Then he added something: "We have heard and read so much about Indian philosophy. We've also read the writings of many spiritual Masters. Professors use famous quotes from the Upanishads and other Indian scriptures. Indian philosophy is complicated and, when spiritual Masters speak on it, they make it more complicated. They say they are trying to explain in a simple manner what Indian spirituality stands for but, while trying to make it easy, they are actually making it more complicated. But today I see our speaker here, I see Swamiji Chinmoy Ghose, and I know that he will not fail us. He will make Indian philosophy really simple. This is not just my expectation; I am sure he will do it."
So now that the speaker had expressed his confidence in me, I tried my best to make my talk as simple as possible. Everything I made extremely simple. In fact, I did not use any "shlokas" (Sanskrit verses) or quote from the Upanishads or the Vedas. They were tremendously pleased. My simple talk was considered a great success.
