Editor's introduction to the first edition

It is almost impossible for us, with our human experience, to conceive of anyone whose very existence has as its purpose love for and of humanity, a person whose task is to work open the hearts of men so that they may receive, and yet, who can bear the sufferings of such a task by the very fact that his heart and source are infinite. He knows he is far above and beyond any human suffering or pain.

Such a man is Sri Chinmoy, who is offering us here once more the petals from the rose of wisdom deep within his heart. The fragrance of such a rose is sheer joy, which he urges each one of us to share with him.

In the second volume of My Rose Petals, lectures from Europe, he addresses us all as seekers of the infinite Truth. Going one step beyond the inspiring wisdom of the last series, here he instructs us how to practise all that we have received before or, to use his own expression, to reveal and manifest what we have realised before and are still realising.

As a lecturer, Sri Chinmoy gives such a spontaneous and intuitive sense of the infinite Truth and Reality that one can only receive such knowledge through the heart — through feeling rather than through thinking and reason. For, as we learn, the Transcendental Reality is already housed within our hearts:

As a spiritual teacher, Sri Chinmoy speaks with such pure humility, simplicity and clarity, that one can only be inspired to reach those heights of consciousness which he describes so very clearly: Sri Chinmoy brings within our reach a world that previously we have barely been able to dream of. Thus, we look up from reading such a book as this with a deep sense of gratitude to men such as Sri Chinmoy, who are able to open our eyes and our hearts by their very sincerity — who give their very breath, in fact, to bring such hope to humanity.