Are your paintings different in the inner world?

Question: Are your paintings different in the inner world from what they are in the outer world?

Sri Chinmoy: In the inner world they look much more beautiful, because the inner world is the source. In the source, the beauty has just blossomed. And in the inner world, there is no conflict to ruin the beauty.

Here in the outer world, when something is created, it can be appreciated and it can be criticized. Jealousy can enter into it and, again, oneness can enter into it. Each painting gets quite a few blows from human beings when they say it is very bad. With your outer eye you will say that nothing is damaged. But if you look with your inner eye, you will see that the painting has become damaged. Again, if people are appreciating the painting, it is strengthened. But in the inner world, the painting is absolutely fresh; nobody has touched it. The inner eye does not pollute. In the outer eye there is envy and jealousy, and if you look at a painting with the wrong consciousness, with an unaspiring consciousness, then the painting will be affected. But if you are aspiring while looking at the painting, your aspiration adds to the beauty and reality of the painting. So each time we pass judgement on a painting, we hurt the painting. If we simply say, “Oh, the colour should be that. Here it needs blue, and so forth,” then we hurt the painting. Each time we pass judgement on a painting, we hurt the painting; we strike the painting. Again, when we appreciate the painting, it becomes stronger.

The outer world is like a battlefield. Sometimes the painting is winning, sometimes it is losing. But in the inner world, it is not like that. When we look at a painting, we don’t criticize or judge it. Only we feel that this is how the Supreme wanted the painting to be done. We say, “Let us be one with the Supreme’s manifestation in and through this painting. Whatever is achieved in the inner world is the right thing.” So we become one with the painting as such. In the outer world, we see the painting as something other than our own reality. But in the inner world, we see the painting as an expression of our own inner reality. Therefore, we can’t criticize or judge, because we are what we eternally are. In the outer world, we are constantly separating the painting from our consciousness. Therefore, we are seeing it in a different light. In the inner world we are seeing it with oneness-light and in the outer world, we are seeing it with a sense of separativity. So naturally the paintings are different in the inner world and the outer world.