New York University; New York, New York, USA

29 March 1969

America’s fond child is New York. New York’s fond child is New York Universiy.
This evening I wish to offer my sincere affection, true admiration and humble
dedication to you, O fond children of New York University.
Desire is a wildfire that burns and burns and finally consumes us.
Aspiration is a glowing fire that secretly and sacredly uplifts our consciousness
and finally liberates us.
Thirst for the Highest is aspiration. Thirst for the lowest is annihilation.
Desire is expectation. No expectation, no frustration. Desire killed, true
happiness built. Aspiration is surrender, and surrender is man’s conscious
oneness with God’s Will.
As war brings the commerce of a country to a standstill, even so, our tremendous
inclination towards the pleasures of ignorance brings all our inner spiritual
movements to a standstill.
As things exist at present, our very birth compels us to be far away from God.
Why wallow deliberately in the pleasures of the senses and move even farther
away from God? Indeed, to satisfy the imagined necessities of our human life and
cry for the fulfilment of our earthly pleasures can be nothing but self-torturing
evil. But to satisfy God’s necessities, real and divine, in us and through us, is selfillumination.
Poor God, unillumined men always take You amiss. They think that You are
merciless. Yet when You fulfil their teeming desires, they think that nobody on
earth can surpass You in stupidity.
Now, poor man, look at your most deplorable fate. In the apt words of George
Bernard Shaw, “There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart’s
desire; the other is to get it.”
Desire means anxiety. This anxiety finds satisfaction only when it is able to
fulfil itself through solid attachment. Aspiration means calmness. This calmness
finds satisfaction only when it is able to express itself through all-seeing and allloving
detachment. In desire and nowhere else abides human passion. Human
passion has a dire foe called judgment, the judgment of the divine dispensation.
In aspiration and nowhere else dwells man’s salvation. Man’s salvation has an
eternal friend called Grace, God’s all-fulfilling Grace.
Desire is temptation. Temptation nourished, true happiness starved. Aspiration
is the soul’s awakening. The soul’s awakening is the birth of supernal
delight.
A true seeker of the infinite Truth can never gain anything from Oscar Wilde’s
discovery that, “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.” The
seeker has already discovered the truth that it is only through high, higher and
highest aspiration that one can get rid of all temptations, seen and unseen, born
and yet to be born.
Wilde says something else, and this is quite significant: “I can resist everything
except temptation.” Needless to say, nobody blames him for that, for temptation
is a universal disease. For a man without aspiration, temptation is unmistakably
irresistible. But a true seeker feels and knows that he can resist temptation and
what he cannot resist is transformation, the transformation of his physical
nature, his entire consciousness, in the bosom of the sea of Time. Of course, the
transformation of his physical nature, his entire earthly consciousness, is
something he never did and never will resist. On the contrary, it is for this
transformation that he lives on earth.
Look at the strength of a bubble of desire! It has the power to encage our
entire life for its use alone. Look at the strength of an iota of aspiration! It has the
power to make us feel that God the Infinite is absolutely ours. And something
more: that God’s infinite Love, Peace, Joy and Power are for our constant use.
The objects of the senses and man’s attachment to them are inseparable. But
the moment they see the Smile of God, they deny their intimacy. What is more,
they become perfect strangers.
Fulfil your body’s demands, and you lose your self-control. Fulfil your soul’s
needs, and you gain your self-control.
Do not embrace vice. In refraining, you will possess something more valuable:
self-control. What is self-control? It is the power that tells you that you do not
have to run towards your Goal. The Goal has to come to you, and it shall.
The capital of the outer world is money, which very often changes itself into
poisonous honey. The capital of the inner world is aspiration, which eventually
transforms itself into self-realisation.
The acme of human desire is represented by Julius Caesar’s “Veni, vidi, vici—I
came, I saw, I conquered.” The pinnacle of divine aspiration was voiced by the
Son of God: “Father, let Thy Will be done.”
Passion’s slave is man. God’s child is likewise man. Which do you want to be,
God’s child or passion’s slave? Choose. One selection leads you to utter destruction,
the other to immediate salvation. Choose; you are given the golden and
unconditional choice. Choose; choose you must. Here and Now.