If our heart is devoid of an inner cry, we cannot pretend we are leading a spiritual life. The inner cry is the beating heart of spirituality: arising from the Infinite and the Eternal, and reaching ever towards the Infinite and the Eternal. The inner cry is at once our most sacred gift from God, our most precious offering to God.
Our inner cry will bring us faster to God than any spiritual book, religious observance, good deed, sacrifice, offering or spiritual discipline.
Sri Chinmoy was unequivocal that the inner cry of aspiration is the single indispensable prerequisite and qualification for the spiritual life:
“If you ask whether there is anything that is most important in our spiritual life, then I wish to say, ‘Yes, there is, and that is aspiration.’ Today’s aspiration is bound to bring down God tomorrow or in the near future. It is in aspiration that God manifests Himself through us. The human aspiration and the divine Compassion go together. Divine Compassion is the flame of human aspiration. There is no end to our aspiration. There is no end to our realisation, no end. The goal is ever transcending its own limits. Today’s goal will be tomorrow’s starting point. There is no end to our goal; therefore there is no end to our ultimate realisation. There is no end to our aspiration. We aspire for the Highest, for the Infinite, for the Eternal. The Infinite cannot be measured. As we enter into Infinity, the finite and the Infinite become inseparably one. Our Vedic seers voiced forth:
‘Infinity is that. Infinity is this.
From Infinity, Infinity has come into existence.
From Infinity, when Infinity is taken away,
Infinity remains the same.’
That is the message we can get from our aspiration.”
– Sri Chinmoy