One Small World

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel to London at the same time as Sri Chinmoy. My flight arrived in about an hour before Sri Chinmoy’s, so I went upstairs in Heathrow airport to have a shower, (I had traveled from New Zealand).

An Indian lady was in charge of the upkeep and revenue collecting of the showers. I chatted a little with her, and told her I was from New Zealand. She said she had recently visited New Zealand. I thought this was quite amazing because when you arrive in Heathrow after traveling for about 25 hours, New Zealand seems an inconceivably small and unknown place, (and even more so when you are in an obscure little bathroom talking to the cleaner). I told her I was from Christchurch, and she said she went there, too. She then asked me what I did for a living, and when I told her that I worked in The Lotus-Heart I was dumbfounded when she said she had been there as well! I looked closely at her and then realized that I had even been the one to serve her, I said “Did you order a samosa?”, she said “Yes, and it was very nice”.

She was the first person I spoke with in London, and I did not think for a moment that she would even have heard of New Zealand, let alone been to our restaurant! I recounted the experience to Sri Chinmoy and friends later that day. Sri Chinmoy did not say anything, but gave a knowing smile, and I was reminded of how small the world really is, how connected we all are, and that life is a Cosmic Game of The Supreme.

An excerpt by Sri Chinmoy follows; “God was One, but He wanted to become many. You cannot enjoy a game with only one person. If you want to play any game, you will need more players. God originated Himself out of His own Silence in order to divinely enjoy the Cosmic Game. If we go deep within, we see that we are only taking a conscious part in God’s Cosmic Game. We see that we are not the doers; God is the Doer. We are only His instruments God is One, but He felt that He wanted to enjoy Himself, to fulfil Himself in millions of shapes and forms. He felt that being One, He was not fully satisfied. Why should He be satisfied with only being the One Infinite? He can also be the multitudinous finite. God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. If He is omnipotent, then why should He not become like an ant, an infinitely tiny creature? Because of His omnipotent Power, we think of God as something very great or very vast. But just because God is omniscient and omnipotent, He can also be inside the finite. In this way, God is playing His eternal Game in and through you, through me, through all human beings…”