Bharat Mata, Mother India,
My own Mother-heart-ambrosia.Worship I must Her vastness-sky,
And love I must Her compassion-eye.She is the Sovereign Queen of my soul;
Her heart's smile-joy my supreme Goal. ```Bande Mataram, Mother, I bow to Thee!
O dream-heart for the world's Oneness-Home-Tree!Your soul, Eternity's Silence-Truth-Song.
Your life, Creator's Vision-Victory-Gong. ```My Lord, I am an Indian.
Do teach my devotion-heartHow to write
Love-letters and gratitude-lettersTo You every day.
```The silence-heart of Mother India
Longs for world-illuminationAnd not for world-information.
```No,
Mother India is not the Golden AgeOf the remote past.
Mother India is the wisdom-lightOf Eternity's Here and Now.
```The soul of Mother India
Always accompanies GodOn His World Peace-Campaign.
```Mother India's heart
Is lovelier than readiness,Richer than willingness
And swifter than eagernessTo be inside God's Silence-Heart
And God's Sound-Life. ```God gave to Mother India's children
What they desperately needed:A thunderbolt-determination
To liberate them from the foreign yoke. ```Each and every fighter
For the independence-freedomOf Mother India
Was a Truth-marcherOn the celestial Light-Highway.
```Those who offered their lives
In Mother India's freedom-fightFlew up into God's Bliss-flooded Sky
When they proudly embraced death. ```Mother India's freedom-fighters
Became God'sSatisfaction-fulfilled Fragrance.
```Mother India's freedom-fighters
Did not depend on guiding stars.They depended on their Mother's
Loving affection and satisfaction. ```While they were sacrificing
Their lives for freedom,God Himself gave
Mother India's freedom-fightersPurity-heart-tears
To embrace Him. ```God called Mother India's
Freedom-fightersBy a special name:
God-Heart-climbersFor God's Satisfaction-Delight.
```Mother India's heart
Loves to study only one subject:God-gratitude.
```May a God-obedience-shrine
Be found in everyIndian heart-home.
```My Lord Supreme,
May each and every IndianBecome a peace-life-dweller
In every inch of his being. ```Mother India's heart knows
Only a full-time God-loverCan be a perfect
God-manifestation-peace-dreamer. ```India's greatest gift:
God-abundanceIn God-acceptance.
```To feel the nearness of God,
Mother India's soul smiles.To breathe the closeness of God,
Mother India's heart cries. ```Unlike the mind of Mother India,
The minds of many countriesRemain astronomical distances
Away from simplicity. ```May clear-minded, pure-hearted
And God-fulfilling serversIn infinite number
Take birth on Indian soilTo satisfy and please God
Sleeplessly in God's own Way. ```India's secret weapons:
The transcendental Vision-LightOf the Vedic seers,
The universal Consciousness-DelightFrom the Vedic code.
```The body of India
May be discouraging.The mind of India
May be disheartening.But the heart of India
Still maintains its pristine beauty and purityWhich will forever remain
Untouched by human ignorance. ```India is not just a place.
India is not just a people.India is the celestial music,
And inside that musicAnybody from any corner of the globe
Can find the real significance of life. ```India is not Hindu, Muslim or Buddhist.
India is India.Its tolerance is more than ready
To freely house all religions. ```India holds and will forever hold
A special charm and a special beautyFor all spiritual seekers:
The illumining and fulfilling messageOf the soul.
```See India with your aspiring heart.
Then inside even its outer weaknesses,Inside its helplessness and hopelessness,
You are bound to feelIts heart-illumining
And soul-fulfilling uniqueness. ```To feel what India has and is,
You must haveWhat you do not yet have:
A new vision, a perennial vision. ```My Mother India commands me
To learn that there is no such thingAs confusion.
Everything in God's creationIs on the clear road
To illumination. ```My Mother India announces
The synthesis betweenHer mountain-high promises
And Her ocean-vast hopes. ```My Mother India commands me
To learn that comparisonIs not a nice game.
```My Mother India commands me
To learn that Her ancient beautyFar transcends the capacity
Of Western curiosity. ```My Mother India tells me
That Her body may be meantFor a silence-life,
But Her soul is definitely meantFor the direct manifestation
Of God the Sound. ```My Mother India commands me
To unreservedly honourOne of Her main virtues:
Patience. ```My Mother India commands me
To learn that life's divinityIs founded upon oneness-purity.
```My Mother India announces to me
That by virtue of my heart'sConstant cries,
I can go beyond the soaring imagination-flightOf the modern world.
```There was a time when each Indian home
Cried for liberation from bondage-night.But now each Indian home
Cries for freedom from frustration-sighs.There shall come a time when each Indian home
Shall cry only for God-Compassion,God-invocation and God-manifestation.
```Indian devotion
Has made my heart pure.American love
Has made my life sure. ```I dearly love my India
And its age-old silence-peace.I dearly love my America
And its child-heart's beauty-increase. ```Half-life in Mother India!
Half-life in America!Bharat kusum Markin shikha.
Half-life in Ind,Half-life in the West.
The Blue Bird treasuresHis Golden Nest.
```I love my country,
I love, I love, I love.She is, indeed,
The world peace-beauty's dove.Her heart is made of God's
Vision-Delight.My country, you are the pride
Of the Summit-Height. ```Fulfilling the vision of the sages,
India, our Mother India,With smiling face opens today
The door of Her Eastern Light.Our Mother's body is not amputated.
She shines with divine beauty —Though even now Her glow and grace
Are veiled by the clouds.It is the festival of awakening of our Mother;
It is the dawn of a golden new era;Our Mother is bringing for us Her casket
Filled with Her immortal gifts.We shall bestow to the comity of nations, to the world at large
The sweet nectar of the Supermind.We shall satisfy by the favour of our Mother
The hunger of all the souls.The vision of Jesus Christ — the Kingdom of Heaven —
In order to materialise,Narayan is revealed today in man
On this earth of dust.Victory of the Creator, victory of Bharatvarsha,
Victory of the dwellers of the universeIs indicated today, and of the Golden Age
Today forms the dawn.```
Composed on the occasion of Independence day August 15, 1948, AfternoonThe sons and daughters of India are arising again
With incantation-fire.The deep and sonorous notes are being played
To invoke Mother India.To India the world shall offer its salutation.
Once again India's Victory shall be proclaimed.We are the soldiers of light
And the worshippers of the Fire-God.Away we shall chase world-fear.
India, India, in this great land of Mother India,Before long the Peace of the Beyond shall reign supreme.
Falsehood and emptiness forever shall end.Beauty's light and delight shall blossom, grow and sport
In the love of India's heart. ```Awake, awake,
O seer-poet of Mother Ind,O world-haven,
Awake in your new form, knowledge-sea.Piercing the heart of ignorance,
Awake, O Beloved, O Source of light.May your silence-touch
Transform the long-accrued imperfection-nightInto the light of dawn.
Bring down your lustre-lightAnd illumine this unlit world
And make it beauty immutable. ```With great joy in the New Year
Our hearts are awakening.Let the hearts of all Bengalis
Become one, great and vast.Bengal is not two, Bengal is not divided;
In one Bengal, let the world-love abide.The torture of the undivine hostile forces
Creates false fear in the heart of Bengal.A tenebrous night will blossom into beauty's day.
The sun of wisdom-light will dawn.The golden Bengal, the immortal Bengal,
Will once more see the Light of the Infinite.In the heart of the New Year
The liberation-hope will feed us.We shall once more receive the silence-language
Of ImmortalityFrom the Aryan sages of the hoary past.
```Mother India's call has come.
Come, come, all come!Let us go and be
In Her affection-love-floodedHeart's elysian lap.
```What is India's absolutely distinctive possession? Her soul. She lives in the soul, she lives from the soul and she lives for the soul.
Where can the world find the real nature of India? In the ever-wakeful domain of the Spirit.
What has made the history of India unique? A most surprising and unusual continuity of the line of her spiritual seekers and Masters.
What does Indian spirituality teach? It teaches the world to conquer the evil of the lower nature and to go beyond the good of the higher nature.
What is Mother India's desire? It is to transcend the human way once and for all through radical self-transmutation, and to enter into the ever-dynamic Way of God.
Religion, however mighty it may be, is not and cannot be the message of India. Her message is Self-realisation.
The perfect truth of India's religion lies in its outer and inner realisation of the One that is, of the One that is in the process of becoming.
O world, on you march towards the deepest recesses of your heart! To your amazement, you will find Mother India to be anything but God-fearing. What then is she? She is God-loving: the God-loving soul in God's all-dreaming and all-manifesting Truth.
The soul of India feels that to be satisfied with intellectual speculation is to remain satisfied with only half of the food that is actually needed for health. It is realisation that gives one a full meal. And if one seeks realisation, meditation and concentration are of paramount importance.
Indian philosophy, in its most sublime sense, is nothing short of the practical realisation of the Truth.
There is no more than a hyphen between the Vision of the Vedic seers and the soul of India, and between India's spirituality and the final spiritual liberation of the world.What were the chief causes of India's downfall? She neglected the body-consciousness and eschewed the material life. She narrowed her outlook and sealed herself up in the outworn rituals of the past. She clung to the festering shell of her ancient culture and succeeded in killing its living, growing spirit. And India's doom was sealed the day she started these practices.
India began to rise the day she turned away from these tendencies and accepted life in all its dynamic aspects.
India will rise fully the day she becomes self-reliant. She knows well that she cannot achieve her goal if she has to depend permanently on alien help. Self-help is the best help. Self-help is God's own help in disguise.
India has within her a voice that is the self-same, all-fulfilling Voice of God. That Voice she simply must hear and obey.
What is actually meant by the emancipation of the Indian woman? It means that she must no longer be alienated from education. She must have free access to the worldwide knowledge of the present day, in addition to the sacred lore of past centuries. True education helps us to live in the integral perfection which is the very backbone of our existence on earth. The Indian woman must be given full opportunity to develop and manifest this perfection.
The emancipation of the Indian woman also means that she must not be suppressed and dominated by man. She must be free to be herself, independent in her own right, strong and confident, a true partner and companion of man and not his drudge and serf. She must become again what she was in Vedic India, a respected and equal citizen, a glorious complement to man.
Today's India is poverty-stricken. But tomorrow's India will be prosperous. She will be a mighty wave of hope and faith. Her very thought will be stirred with a new vision. Infinite will be the possibilities on her horizon. Her sacrifice will build a more durable foundation for mankind. She will contain within herself nationalism and internationalism, becoming the true symbol of spirituality in action.
India, with her spiritual power, will wield a tremendous influence on future generations. This is no imagination, but vision in operation.
India and India alone is the nerve centre of the aspiring world.
India's strength is not in her arms, but in her heart. More so, it is in her seer-vision.
India tells the world that the realisation of unity is the only strength which can conquer the world.
India is a seeker of the Absolute. The summum bonum of life is the ideal of God-realisation. In her heart there is a burning love of God; in her mind, the service of unawakened humanity.
Consumed with desires and temptations, Europe rushed towards India to acquire her fabulous wealth. That is true. But it is equally and absolutely true that Europe's soul came to India with a spiritual seeking and an occult urge to discover what India was actually like.
India has three world-conquering weapons: non-violence, peace and the wisdom which tells that she is in all as all is in her.
India's choice is character. But she must feel that she needs personality as well.
Mother India's fear is not of atomic bombs but of her children's self-forgetful amnesia.
Unbelievably, India has perfectly reconciled in herself the two worst antagonists: renunciation and epicureanism.
Perfection was the choice of the Greeks. Proportion was the choice of the Romans. Universality is the choice of the Indians.
India's is the voice that never falters. Hers is the truth that cannot be silenced by the threatening darkness of centuries. Hers is the heart that sings perpetually of the unity of mankind.
India is the vault of an ancient, eternal wisdom that has a universal appeal. She is also the universal reserve bank of an ever-growing wisdom, and she is destined to be the hub and dynamo of world transformation.Satyam eva jayate nanritam
"Truth alone triumphs, not falsehood." This Truth teaches us how to be true brothers of mankind, conscious and devoted lovers of God and perfect masters of nature.
Each Vedic seer is a poet and a prophet. In the case of an ordinary poet, his poems are quite often based upon imagination. In the case of the Vedic poets, it was intuition that gave birth to their poems. This intuition is the direct knowledge of Truth.What is chimera's mist or miracle today
Was the immaculate truth divine of yore.Immeasurable by our human thought
Was regal Vasishtha's presence and bright power.But from Above yet greater souls unmatched
Over our Ind imperishably shall lean.The might of seers antique shall fade away
Before the souls to come with Light new-born;And she shall sit on splendour's throne in the world.
``` (from "The Ideal of Forgiveness," after a story in Bengali prose by Sri Aurobindo)Yagnyavalkya: Unfortunately, no.
Maitreyi: Then why do you impose upon me things that will take me away from the path of Truth, from the path of Divinity, from the path of Immortality? My Lord, my heart pines only for the immortal, transcendental Self. I want nothing but Immortality's Life. Yenaham namrta syam kim aham tena kuryam. What shall I do with the things that cannot make me immortal? Let Katyayani have all your material wealth. Let her cherish your earthly possessions, and I shall treasure your Heavenly possession — your loftiest realisation, your total oneness with the Absolute.
(Excerpt from a one-act play entitled "Maitreyi")Dhruva: O my Lord, my eternal Lord, You have granted me everything I wanted. You have given me all that I wanted and beyond, far beyond my imagination's flight. What more do I need?
Lord Vishnu: No, Dhruva, I want to give you something more. I want to give you a particular place of your own. Yours will be a divine station far above the earthly world. You will become one with the real Dhruva: Dhruva Tara, the pole-star. You will sustain all the stars and other planets in their course. You will guide the aspiring, seeking, struggling world. You will show the earth the world of Light and Delight. You will be the guiding star, the pole-star. It is with you that the earth-consciousness will enter into My Life of infinite Peace, Light and Bliss.
(Excerpt from a short play entitled "Dhruva")Because the great sage Agastya's wisdom was the heaviest, the other sages requested that he leave the Himalayas, which are in the North, and go to the South. Agastya agreed and with his boundless knowledge and wisdom he went to the South.
Agastya is very well known in South India. It was he who brought science and literature to that part of India. It was he who introduced Tamil grammar. He excelled in astrology, magic, sorcery and many things.Kaikeyi: Nothing is wrong, Rama. This very day you have to retire into the forest for fourteen years of exile. My son Bharata will be the King, and not you. Your father has promised.
Seeing that his father is lying unconscious, Rama runs out and returns with Lakshmana, Kausalya, Sumitra and Sita.
Rama (to Kaikeyi): Mother, I shall obey your command. You want me to go into the forest for fourteen years. You want my dearest brother, Bharata, to be the ruler. I am fully prepared to keep my father's promise to you. I am glad it is I who will have the opportunity to prove to the world that my father knows how to keep his promise.
Lakshmana, Kausalya, Sumitra and Sita burst into tears.
(Excerpt from a full-length play entitled My Rama Is My All)Sita: O Fire God, my husband Rama has every right to test me, and I have every right to prove to him that I was pure, I am pure and I shall forever remain pure. If I fail in this test, I shall go to my Divine Rama in Heaven. If I pass, I shall remain with my human Rama here on earth.
Sita walks slowly, steadily through the leaping flames and comes back to Rama. The all-consuming fire could do nothing to her. Her whole face is aglow. Rama receives Sita with all his love.
Rama: My Sita, the fire ordeal is over. The world now knows that you are Purity itself.
(Excerpt from My Rama Is My All)Sri Krishna is the beloved Boatman who untiringly plies His Boat of Consciousness between India's unparalleled history and Her unrivalled spirituality.
The Gita is Sri Krishna's Heart, His Vision-in-Fulfilment. The Gita is humanity's breath, its journey towards Immortality.
Sri Krishna's Flute stirs the Universal Consciousness. Sri Krishna's Gita enchants the Transcendental Consciousness.
Sri Krishna plays on His Flute. We hear. We do something more. We barter our body's dust with His Soul's Plenitude.
Sri Krishna is the shoreless ocean of Bliss. But as soon as I sincerely dedicate myself to Him, He presents me with His own Boat and takes me to the boundless Shore, the Golden All.Sweetness and grace inexpressible, bond unbreakable, sacrifice unfathomable — this, indeed, is Radha, the Mother-Heart of Sri Krishna.
Radha carries the human soul into Sri Krishna's Heart. Sri Krishna transforms the human soul into the Divine Soul and commands it to play its role in the Divine Play.Mahavira, Mahavira, Mahavira!
In prayerful supplication I bow my head to You.Do accept my soulful obeisance.
O Pilgrim of the Highest ever wandering free,Your Heart is a ceaseless Compassion-Fountain.
O Vardhamana, O Vardhamana, O Vardhamana!By virtue of sleepless and breathless askesis
You made the discovery supreme:Each bondage-life can and shall attain
Liberation of the Beyond. ```Sri Chaitanya's Vaishnavism is synonymous with the Radha-Spirit, the living emblem of divine love at its highest. And this love attains the acme of perfection in possessing and being possessed by the ever-blissful Sri Krishna.
Man can pay his true homage to the Avatar Sri Chaitanya when he is capable of sharing even an infinitesimal fraction of His Divine Ecstasy.Then the son said, "Mother, this is the time to grant me my boon. I want to accept sannyas, renunciation. If you do not allow me my wish, then the crocodile will kill me."
"I will give you my permission to accept sannyas if you feel that the crocodile will free you," the mother said.
Immediately the crocodile let him go. The boy fell at his mother's feet for the last time and took her blessings. Then he left home.
This boy was none other than India's Shankaracharya, the peerless philosopher who introduced our Advaita philosophy, "One without a second.""What do you want?" Nanak asked. "Do you want me to show you another miracle? I have shown you so many miracles, but have any of them changed your life? No! Again, if you want one more miracle I can show you, but I tell you it will not change your nature. It will only increase your curiosity. But perhaps in this way you will be silenced. Go and taste the water of the sea."
Some of the disciples hesitated, others went. The water was full of salt. Then Nanak asked them to drink the sea water again. This time, when the disciples drank, the water was as sweet as honey.
Nanak said, "I have pleased your curiosity, but I wanted something else from you: oneness with the Will of God."Matsyendranath: My son, you have now equalled me in spirituality. You have inner peace, light and bliss in boundless measure. I want you to leave my ashram and open one of your own.
Gorakshanath (bursting into tears): Master, Master, this can never be! I can never leave you and I shall never leave you. You are my life.
Matsyendranath: Son, two lions cannot stay in the same den. We should not stay together now. You should roam somewhere else. You have the capacity to guide world-souls as I am guiding them. Now you must use it. You are not getting the opportunity to flourish here. Now go, my son. This is my soulful demand and command. If you really love me, then you will obey my command.
Gorakshanath: Master, I shall obey you although my heart is crying and bleeding within me. Please bless me once more before I depart.
IMI 68. Excerpt from a full-length play entitled "Matsyendranath and Gorakshanath: Two Spiritual Lions".↩
Why do we doubt? Because we are wanting in proper understanding. There was a great spiritual saint named Kabir, who said, "Listen to me, brothers. He understands who loves."
If we love, then we understand; and if we understand the truth, then we have neither the opportunity nor the necessity to cherish even an iota of doubt in our day-to-day existence.One day she was in the temple singing. There were quite a few devotees around her and they were singing as well. Lord Krishna was so pleased with Mirabai that He appeared before her in His subtle human form. This form is so tangible when one's third eye is open. Mirabai was able to see her Lord, but the others did not have the subtle vision to see Him. However, they did see something in her.
Lord Krishna opened up His Heart Chakra. Then Mirabai entered into His Heart and disappeared. That is how she passed away. At that time she was in a high, ecstatic consciousness. And with her physical body she melted into His divine Form and disappeared.Dayananda carried with him two books of Hindu scriptures which he had studied. He carried those scriptures hundreds and hundreds of miles as he went from village to village searching for a Guru. One day a seeker told him where he would find his Guru. Dayananda travelled on foot to the place where the Guru lived.
"What are you carrying with you?" asked the Guru.
"Two books of scriptures," said Dayananda.
"Go and throw them into the river," commanded the Guru.
Dayananda obeyed his Guru and was immediately accepted as a disciple.Rakhal: So you must not go away alone, leaving us behind.
Sri Ramakrishna: The religious mendicants appear quite unexpectedly out of the blue. They sing and dance, and again they disappear quite unexpectedly. Hardly anyone recognises their aspiration. Similarly, spiritual Masters appear and disappear without being recognised. (Sri Ramakrishna closes his eyes for a minute.) I tell you all that a life without renunciation is no life at all. Renounce your ignorance. Renounce your knowledge. Renounce what you have and what you are.
(Excerpt from a full-length play on Sri Ramakrishna entitled Drink, Drink My Mother's Nectar)(To everyone's surprise, Sri Ramakrishna raises himself slightly.)
Ramakrishna: Why do you weep so bitterly? I leave your Naren with you.
Sarada Devi: Yes, my Divine Lord, it is true. You are the seed sown in the world soil, and our Naren is the bumper crop which humanity shall reap. Thakur is the inspiration, his Naren is its expression. So humanity will have both inspiration and expression as its peerless possessions. (She bows down to Sri Ramakrishna.) Glory to you, O Thakur. To you we offer our deepest homage. Our hearts feel that what you possess is the Infinite, and that the Infinite is your heart's Eternal Home.
(Sri Ramakrishna leaves the body.)
(Excerpt from Drink, Drink My Mother's Nectar)O Swami Vivekananda!
Sri Ramakrishna's life-breath,Sri Ramakrishna's supreme gift to mankind,
Sri Ramakrishna's victory-song all-where!The victory-world's delight you were;
Lo, the cyclone-valour of the Absolute!You awakened your slumbering India,
You awakened humanity's sleep.In you blossomed the Form Universal.
O hero-warrior sannyasin,In the core of the creation,
Sleeplessly shall burnThe incense of your self-offering.
```The officer bent down to pick up the pencil for the Master, but he could not lift it. Again the Master said, "Please give it to me. I cannot reach it."
The officer tried and tried, but he did not have the strength to lift up the pencil. With utmost affection the Master told him, "Look, it is God's Strength and Capacity that work in and through you on the battlefield. That is why you are victorious. Without God's Strength, you do not have the capacity even to lift up a pencil. So, do not boast, my child. It is all God's Will."Devadas Maharaj came out of his trance and insulted Ramdas mercilessly. "Who asked you to leave your parents and your family if sleep is so important in your life?" he shouted. "This is my last warning. If you ever fall asleep again when you are supposed to be meditating, I shall not keep you as my disciple. You do not deserve to be my disciple."
In this way, Devadas Maharaj taught his disciple that spirituality means discipline. Discipline means conscious progress. Conscious progress means the transcendence of nature. Man's transcendence of his nature is his awareness of his immortal Self for God-satisfaction in God's own Way.One day Bijoy Krishna Goswami's Master came down from the Himalayas to visit him. The Master saw that the wife was really bothering his disciple and so he decided to take her away to the Himalayas. He used his occult power and made her form extremely subtle. Then they flew to the Himalayas with their subtle bodies.
When the husband realised what his Master had done, he started laughing. "How compassionate my Master is!" he said. "My wife and I were quarrelling day in and day out, so to give me a little peace of mind he has taken her away for a short time. While she is gone, I will be able to meditate without any interruptions!"
His children soon began to miss their mother, but he consoled them, saying: "My Guru came and took your mother to be with him and his friends for some time. But do not worry. He will return her soon."The Birth of the Infinite
(5 a.m., August 15th, 1872)The golden dawn of the cosmos, rapt in trance,
Awaits the Birth of the All.The seven worlds' bliss converges in her heart
With august and sun-vast call.Slowly the Peak unmeasured of rapture-fire
Climbs down to our human cry.His diamond Vision's deathless Will leans low,
Our mortal yearnings nigh.Suddenly life's giant somnolence is stirred.
His all-embracing WingDeclares, "I come to end your eyeless fear.
To Me alone now cling!"No fleeting dreams your teeming births do trace.
Now own My infinite Bloom.In Me the flood of Immortality!
Nowhere shall be your doom." ```Sri Aurobindo is the Father of a beginningless beginning and the Son of an endless end.
The Mother always gives. We too always give. Hers is the Blessing. Ours is the unworthiness.
Sri Aurobindo's Truth is the Seed. His Law is the Plant. His Forgiveness is the Tree. His Holocaust is the Fruit — the Supermind for the world's transformation.
The Mother is ceaseless forgiveness. It is man's bulwark against perdition.Sri Aurobindo's Yoga is an ambrosial consciousness with infinite possibilities; it is a never-tiring march, a decisive and everlasting victory of Truth.
The keynote of Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga is evolution — evolution of consciousness in and through Matter. There is no shadow of doubt that Matter and Spirit are one. Spirit, when it is fast asleep, is Matter; Matter, when it is fully awakened, is Spirit.
Integral Yoga is founded on an all-fulfilling experience which is anything but speculation and reasoning. An Integral Yogi is he who has seen all the phases of existence and whose very life is full of variegated experiences and realisations.
A marvel-idealism and a highly practical divinity are housed in Sri Aurobindo. His are the experiences that may serve as humanity's royal road to a life worth living — a life of the Spirit, the Life Divine.
Sri Aurobindo holds that physical work is in no way a bar to spiritual progress. On the contrary, he strongly feels that physical work is an aid to self-preparation for the full manifestation of the Divine both in oneself and upon the earth.
Sri Aurobindo tells the world that it is not only possible but entirely practicable to work easily, incessantly, consciously, inwardly, outwardly, thus finally successfully. And in his opinion, life itself is a blessing of God through which man has to realise Him and be one with Him.
Sri Aurobindo's is the supernal Smile that reveals at once the embodiment of an infinite achievement and the future spiritual destiny of mankind.
Invisible to the blind, yet invincible to the strong, and a wonderful practical hope to the four corners of the globe, is the power of Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga.
Sri Aurobindo is the ever-creative silent bridge between God's Will and His Fulfilment.
In Integral Yoga, God-realisation means merely standing at the shore of the vast sea of Consciousness. The fire-pure change of the inner and outer life means swimming in that sea. Manifestation of the Divine on earth means returning Home after having crossed the sea, bringing with you the Golden All.
It is not a dream of God but His Decree that Heaven and earth must fall supremely in love with each other. He wants their marriage to take place sooner than immediately. Earth feels that she is inferior to Heaven. Heaven feels that he is superior to earth. And because of their mutual hesitation, the day of their marriage is kept in abeyance.
Integral Yoga has made a significant choice. It wants not only to see and feel the conscious evolution of life, but also to embody a fully harmonised life of Matter and Spirit.
An Integral Yogi is he who sacrifices his life to become a bridge between earth and Heaven. He has foregone Heaven; he uplifts earth.
The aspirant in man is the cross-bearer. The Yogi in man is the crown-bearer.
To say that Yoga is the realisation of God is not to say all. Yoga is the living union with God by self-affirmation and self-abnegation.
Sri Aurobindo tells us that God-realisation never obliges us to kill all feelings, to make our heart a sterile wasteland and to pronounce a curse on the world. God is everything and in everything.
Readiness in Integral Yoga amounts to an aspiration that wishes to be expressed. Willingness amounts to an aspiration that has already been expressed.
An unprecedented teaching of Integral Yoga propounded by Sri Aurobindo is that man can have material prosperity alongside his spiritual development.
Give an ordinary man ten dollars. He will immediately wonder what he can buy with it to make life more pleasant. Give a sannyasin ten dollars. He will try to avoid taking it or else find some means by which he can do without it. Give an Integral Yogi ten dollars. Since he has neither attachment to nor repulsion from money, he will try to utilise it as a divine trustee.
To be unconscious of a spiritual opportunity is to starve one's spiritual destiny.
Difficulties in the Integral Yoga never indicate one's unworthiness. Behind each difficulty there is a possibility, nay, a blessing in disguise, to accept the test boldly and to come out successfully.
In Yoga, all reactions are threatening but passing clouds. Human aspiration is the naked and permanent sword of the soul to stab through the weakness of human nature and rise triumphant on the ashes of its conquests.
Follow no other ideal than to materialise the power of perfection on earth.
Sri Aurobindo's Yoga is the tallest mango tree. His disciples and followers have to climb right up to the top of the tree and bring the mangoes down to earth. For if the fruit is taken at the top, it tastes sour; if taken at the foot of the tree, it tastes delicious.
What is the meaning of coming into contact with God? It means that we shall become one with His universal Existence. As after marriage a woman automatically possesses her husband's name, home and wealth, even so, after our union with God we shall infallibly become one with His all-fulfilling Nature. Verily, in that Divine Hour we shall hear Sri Aurobindo's soul-stirring voice:
"We are sons of God, and must be even as He."The ocean of peace
Anandamayee Ma's eyes were.The ocean of bliss
Anandamayee Ma's heart was.The ocean of compassion
Anandamayee Ma's life was.Infinity's Delight in Immortality's Sky
Anandamayee Ma's realisationOf the Transcendental Heights
Forever shall breatheThroughout the length and breadth of India.
```O good friend, O divine friend,
O friend universal,O hero-lover, O oneness-love,
Pir Vilayat, Pir!With your sleepless heart you desire to wipe
The streaming tears of the world.Within, without an unparalleled beauty-smile,
Along with the soul-stirringTransformation-Flute of Lord Krishna.
With you and in youHeaven's wonder-grandeur,
Earth's wonder-splendour,Eternity's movement and stillness.
```My sisters and brothers of the world,
Are we so blind that we cannot seeGod's own Autograph
On Mother Teresa's forehead?Mother,
The sorrowful earth-planetHas a special treasure-home,
And that homeIs your compassion-heart.
```IMI 93. Excerpt from the play My Rama Is My All.↩
Ganapati came and agreed to write on one condition. The condition was that Vyasa could not pause; he had to dictate continuously, without interruption. If he hesitated or if he paused, then Ganapati would leave him. Vyasa consented and said, "Now, I also want to dictate to you on one condition, and that condition is, that unless and until you know the meaning of what I dictate you will not write. You have to wait and ask me if there is anything that you do not comprehend."
Thus, India's unparalleled epic, the Mahabharata, was composed.Kalidasa lived during the reign of a good, kind, benevolent and powerful king named Vikramaditya. To encourage inspiring, illumining and divine activities in his court, he appointed nine extraordinary figures, who were known as navaratna, the nine gems. They were experts in various fields, such as medicine, astronomy, painting and so on. Kalidasa happened to be one of those nine gems. He was the asthana kavi, the poet of the royal court.
Kalidasa received wisdom-light from Mother Kali; that is why his name was Kalidasa — the servant of Mother Kali.O Sun of India's sky,
O World-Poet,O Moon of Bengal's heart,
You were beautiful in your inner life,You were beautiful in your outer life,
You were beauty incarnate in God's entire creation.Gloriously and triumphantly you secure your place
In the world-assembly with your creative force,Supremely meaningful and fruitful in various walks of life.
```Rabindranath was a Golden Song sung by the Divine Singer in him.
He was, indeed, the World-Song, the golden chain that bound East and West. By his soul-awakening songs of transcendental beauty, Rabindranath charmed the world and seized the All-Blissful.From his adolescence he was consumed with the desire to be an out-and-out Englishman. According to him, Bengal, nay the whole of India, was sadly wanting in the capacity of appreciating a genius, whereas the free thinking of foreigners could evaluate real merit...
To our joy, Madhusudan realised his mistake. He wrote to his friend Gour from France: "If there be any one among us anxious to leave a name behind him, and not pass away into oblivion like a brute, let him devote himself to his mother-tongue. That is his legitimate sphere — his proper element."One day Sri Ramakrishna said to Girish, "I see what kind of life you are leading, but do not worry. You just give me your power of attorney."
"What is this?" asked Girish. "What do you mean by 'power of attorney'?"
Sri Ramakrishna said to him, "Whatever you are doing, you can continue doing, only say that I am responsible. I am ready to take all your so-called sins."
Then Girish found that he could no longer lead his old life because he could not bear to bring Sri Ramakrishna into those situations. This is how he came to accept Sri Ramakrishna and develop such faith in him.This year (1997) is his birth centenary. He was born on January 22nd and his dearest friend, Subhas Chandra Bose, was born on January 23rd, 1897.
Dilip was a singer of the Source. Subhas was a marcher on the Course. In terms of the affection, blessings, fondness and even pride that Dilip received from Sri Aurobindo, nobody can come near him. He was a great musician, a colossal soul and a supreme devotee of Sri Aurobindo.
To my extreme joy, I was blessed by Dilip-da's physical presence many, many times during my adolescent years. He appreciated and encouraged me most lovingly and most affectionately.Ahimsa, the non-violence-world-transformation-light, you had. Satyagraha, the truth-eagerness-manifestation-delight, you were. You were the invaluable voice of India's soul. You were the indisputable choice of India's heart.
Mahatma, you were at once India's hope-beauty-flower and India's promise-fragrance-garden. Your colossal soul will perpetually shine in India's gratitude-heart on the path of life. The transcendental greatness-life of the sun your outer name was. The universal goodness-heart of the moon your inner name was.
Mahatma, in you India discovered India's heart-awakening bells. In India you discovered India's world-beckoning trumpets.
Mahatma, to you I bow and bow.Netaji Subhas, Netaji!
You are the Pilot Supreme of the Indian Boat.You are Bengal's Maratha Shivaji.
You are at once India's birdAnd the world's vision-eye.
Ignorance-bondage-destruction-capacityYou breathed.
In you, the revelation of Infinity.You are the beloved son of Heaven and earth,
O Immortality's Subhas!```
Netaji, our beloved Netaji, the year 1997 most affectionately and most proudly celebrates your Birth Centenary. Every Indian heart is your home.Some of his countrymen took him amiss. They took him for an old man who clung to the education and culture of ancient India, be it supremely good or abysmally bad.
According to him, no other country in the hoary past dared belittle India for anything. And now why should it be otherwise? Indians must be Indians heart and soul. To ape the English is to ask the presiding Deity of India to quit her own throne. And what, after all, would they get by this mad pursuit? Nothing short of self-perdition. He was a pioneer in the field of giving concrete shape to Indian nationalism.Once he was giving a talk about the freedom of India. In the middle of the talk, a messenger came to Vallabhbhai Patel and gave him a telegram. He opened it only to learn of the unexpected death of his wife. But Vallabhbhai Patel did not say a word to anyone. He continued lecturing for an hour or so. Then he answered everyone's questions with utmost calm and quiet.
Afterwards, tears were flowing from his eyes. Everybody came up to him, asking, "What happened? What is the matter?"
He showed them the telegram. Then he said, "Duty comes first. My Motherland comes first. My wife was dear to me, but my Motherland is infinitely dearer."Deshapriya (upon greeting Netaji who has preceded him to Heaven): Alas, our Mother India is now divided. She can no longer pride herself on the oneness of Her sweet children. The whole of India is drenched with the blood of Hindus and Muslims. Poverty, untold misery and catastrophe have become India's daily companions. My Mother Chittagong has fallen under the inexorable curse of division. The poisonous air of division-night is about to devour and destroy me completely. There is no food, no clothing; only birthless and deathless fear. Premature death, accidental death and unnatural death: this is what India's fate has become. Soon, Netaji, I shall visit Bengal again. My sole aim, like yours, is to unite India. We must uproot the separation-poison-tree!
(Excerpt from an imaginative play about India's revolutionary heroes originally written by the author in Bengali in 1948)On February 18th, 1930, the revolutionaries of Chittagong, led by Surya Sen, broke into the British armory and stole a large quantity of guns and ammunition. Chittagong was thrown into the vortex of revolution. The British Government resolved to put an end to their problems by capturing Surya Sen. They offered a 10,000-rupee award to anyone who could tell them about Surya Sen.
Either because of money, or out of jealousy, one of Surya Sen's relatives told the British that Surya Sen was at his house. As a result, the police came and captured him. On January 12th, 1934, before the sun rose, Chittagong's sun, India's sun, was hanged.Sarat Chandra, I offer you
My soulful obeisance,My flower-heart-obeisance.
At each hush-gap your heart pinedFor your brother's progress-light.
You were your affection-ocean.You were your vastness-heart unbounded.
You were your hope-fountain.You were your Motherland-lover,
Dauntless and deathless.Sarat Chandra, O self-giver,
You came into the worldFrom the realm transcendental.
Your aspiration-heart desiredThe victory-manifestation
Of the breathless fragrance: Subhas —Dearer than your life itself.
Triumphant you were! ```Mountbatten,
O high and deep Mountbatten, Mount!Heaven's Courage, earth's compassion-fount.
O good Viceroy of Indian nation vast,Your justice-wisdom-light ever shall last.
British hero, British pride and delight.Success-progress loved your journey's victory-fight.
```It was Vidyasagar who introduced into Bengali society the remarriage of widows of tender age. At this, a multitude of people let loose a flood of abuse upon him. He stoically braved all calumny.
"There is none in Bengal," said Vivekananda, "who has not in some way or other derived benefit from the multifarious activities of Vidyasagar."
Vidyasagar was a man of supreme genius whose memory one can cherish as an invaluable treasure.One day he was working in his garden. He was wearing very, very simple gardening clothes. A few middle-aged men came up to him and said, "Can you tell us where the chief is?"
He said, "Yes, I can. Just wait. I will call him." Then he went into the house, washed his hands, put on a panjabi and dhoti and came out and stood in front of them.
Some of them bowed down; some were shocked. Some felt miserable. "Oh, we thought you were just the gardener," they said.Devi Indira, Prime Minister Indira!
O unparalleled daughter of great Mother India,O temple-deity of Indian hearts,
Indira, Indira, Indira!In one form you are the dream of Nehru,
The hope of Nehru and the promise of Nehru.Most translucent is the power of your aspiration-heart,
And fastest is the speed of your dedication-life.You are the source of India's amazing progress-light.
Indira, Indira, Indira!Blessed Mother Kamala, blessed Father Jawahar
And blessed Grandfather Motilal —You are their nectar-moon-delight
And their Himalayan prosperity-forehead. ```Salutation, Prime Minister Desai!
You are the Brother of Indian hearts.O worshipper of Truth,
O embodiment of Peace,You are the Pilot Supreme of the Indian Boat.
Your Bharat is running fast, very fast.Your hallowed longing
Shall ere long be fulfilled.Hearken your victory,
O eternally dauntless one,O manifestation-sun of infinite Delight!
```President Ramaswami, President!
To you I bow, President Ramaswami Venkataraman.Yours is the life that worships Truth
And disdains falsehood.A fountain-art is in your eyes.
A fountain-art is in all your utterances.Mother India's ecstasy-dance your heart is.
A freedom-wave within, without, you are.Smashed asunder you have — ignorance-wall.
```M.
Munshi, O founding Father of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, I salute your unhorizoned vision-light:```
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan:
India's culture-light-delight,To end all-where ignorance-night.
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan:
India's culture-code-Institute,Founding Munshi's earth-awakening flute.
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan:
India's rainbow-pilgrim-MessageAlong Eternity's sun-blossomed Passage.
```Dr. Bose's heart was the heart of a little child. He had a special fondness for children and used to play many games with them. And they, for their part, accepted him as their hero.
Satyen's guru was Einstein. Once, when he was teaching at Dhaka University, he wrote an article on physics which he sent to Einstein. Einstein was so deeply impressed that he translated it into German. The scientific world remembers their immortal friendship in a most significant way. Satyen once wrote something which Einstein improved upon. Thereafter, it was known as the "Bose-Einstein Statistics."When Max Müller extolled India to the skies, he was sincere in his praise. It came from the depths of his heart. He undoubtedly loved India.
He writes, "If I were to look over the whole world to find out the country most richly endowed with all the wealth, power and beauty that nature can bestow — in some parts a very paradise on earth — I should point to India."Chakravarthi Narasimhan, Narasimhan!
You are your service-beauty's fragrance-dawn,UN's mountain-choice, UN's fountain-voice,
UN's failure-tears and its victories to rejoice.Tall in the body, deep in the heart and vast in life
For God's Joy, Smile and Pride ever to last.```
Dear Brother Narasimhan, your life was supremely chosen by the Supreme Himself to serve the United Nations and its illustrious leaders with your brilliant mind, your dynamic life-energy and, above all, your universal oneness-heart.Physically robust. Patriotically and culturally deep. Politically wise. Self-givingly pure. This is our beloved Ambassador Siddhartha Shankar Ray.
Our Beloved Ambassador Siddhartha Shankar Ray came to America. America he saw. America gave him America's rose garden. He gave America his India's lotus lake. This is our beloved Ambassador Siddhartha Shankar Ray.
Two giant misunderstanding-walls of the decades are dauntlessly and unquestionably smashed and replaced with the beauty of mutual trust and the fragrance of reciprocal concern. This is our beloved Ambassador Siddhartha Shankar Ray.> Yours is the life of bounty, lofty and free.
> Yours is the soulful seed and fruitful tree. While walking along Eternity's Road, Lakhan Mehrotra, the pilgrim-soul, is offering lovingly and breathlessly his heart's birthless and deathless goodness-fragrance to each and every human being on earth.When he went outside into the streets, he saw one of the greatest followers of the Buddha chanting nearby. King Ashoka approached him and said, "Please forgive me, but I have heard your chanting, and now I wish to be initiated. I wish to be a follower of the Lord Buddha."
After that, Ashoka took refuge in the Lord Buddha — in the Buddha's Compassion and in the Buddha's Light. He no longer paid any attention to his kingdom or to his throne. Everywhere Ashoka went — even inside mountain caves and on pillars — the Buddha's message was inscribed: Ahimsa paramo dharma (Non-violence is the greatest virtue).Then a saint came to Babar and said, "If you sacrifice something most precious to you, only then will your son be cured. The Kohinoor diamond is most precious."
The Emperor said, "The Kohinoor is my son's possession. What kind of sacrifice would that be? I have to sacrifice something of my own. My life alone is most precious. I am ready to give my life."
Then he walked around his son's bed three times, offering this prayer: "Allah, take my life instead of my son's. Let me die in his place, and let him live on earth. This is my only prayer and my most willing sacrifice."
To Babar's wide surprise, after he had completed three rounds, his son stood up completely well. But immediately Babar fell ill and in three months' time he died.A water carrier named Nizam, who was a humble man of low caste, dove bravely into the river and held out his leather bag so the Emperor could float across the river to safety. Both men held the bag and the water carrier protected the wounded Emperor until they reached the other shore.
The Emperor was so moved. He said, "You have come and saved me. Now I am helpless, but I promise you that when I go back to Agra and am once more seated on my throne, I shall give you my throne for one day."
The Emperor kept his promise, and Nizam did sit on his throne for one day.One day Akbar said to his minister, "Birbal, for a long time I have been thinking of one question. I am sure you will be able to answer it. We see everything clearly in the sunlight, but is there anything that cannot be seen even with the help of sunlight?"
"Yes, your Majesty, there is something that cannot be seen in the sunlight. Even the sunlight fails to illumine it."
"What is it, Birbal?"
"Your Majesty, it is the darkness of the mind."Long before he was imprisoned, Shah Jahan had built the Taj Mahal, one of the great wonders of the world, in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, whom he had loved very much. Who knows what he would have done if Jahan Ara also had died before him! True, by that time he was no longer the Emperor, but he would perhaps have begged his most notorious son to do something very special for his all-giving daughter Jahan Ara.
When Shah Jahan died, Jahan Ara felt that her life had no meaning. She had full freedom to come out of her self-imposed prison-life, but she chose to continue living in prison for her few remaining years on earth.One day he was praying in the mosque, along with many other people, when one of the mosque attendants saw a hole in the carpet. The man cried out, "What will the Emperor think if he sees such a hole?"
Aurangzeb overheard the attendant and said, "Why should you beg my forgiveness for a hole in the carpet? This is Allah's special place, and Allah does not care for luxury and pomp. Here, simplicity and poverty are the real perfection. So do not worry about the hole; let it remain. Only if I pray in a simple place will I have true aspiration and love for Allah."Once Shivaji went to a temple and saw his spiritual Master at the temple gate begging for alms. People were giving him a little rice or money, whatever they wanted to give. When the King saw his Master reduced to this condition, he wrote something down on a small piece of paper and put it in his Master's bowl.
The Master was curious to see what his disciple had written. He opened the note and read: "I am placing my kingdom at your feet. I am here and I want to be your slave."
The Master asked Shivaji, "Do you mean it?"
The King replied, "I mean it. I am not going back to my kingdom. I shall remain here at your feet. I am not a king; I am your slave now."As we all know, India is not a piece of land. India is the living Breath of the Absolute Supreme. At every moment, devotedly and self-givingly, let us proclaim Her divine Victory. On the strength of Her inspiration, aspiration and dedication, India dreams. And it is in India's dream that the Reality of the Absolute Supreme blossoms.
Bharat amar, India, my India, to your Eternity's Silence-Heart my aspiration-heart bows and bows.
India, my India, to your Infinity's Sound-Life my dedication-life bows and bows.
God created me as a Bengali seed. Then He made me an Indian plant. Next He made me an American tree. And now He has made me a universal flower, to love Him, to serve Him, to worship Him and to manifest Him throughout the length and breadth of the world.
My Indian friends, my Indian brothers and sisters, my Indian hearts, my Indian home, I am a seeker and I shall remain so throughout the length and breadth of Eternity. For to be a seeker is to remain a continuous lover of God and server of God, always at His Feet. Him to please in His own Way is my sole goal.Our Bharat Mata always beckons the length and breadth of the world. She inspires the seekers. She elevates the consciousness of those who sincerely thirst for a higher life, a life of illumination and perfection.
India, in its purest sense, is neither a matter-hungry nor a world-shunning country.
An indomitable will is energising Bharat Mata. Progress, both material and spiritual, is being effected with lightning speed.
India is the land of surrender. This surrender is not a blind submission, but rather the dedication of one's limited self to one's unbounded Self.
It is easy to insist that the India of the past was sublime while the India of today is anything but that. But they are mistaken who think that ancient Hinduism is the only part of Indian life worth studying. India's present, too, has much to contribute to the world at large. Her soul's light, paying no heed to outer recognition, is playing an important role in awakening the heart of the world, and it is ultimately destined to inspire humanity with the message of truth, forgiveness and universal kindness.
The present-day world is consciously longing for unity. Hinduism teaches that India's unity is Her oneness of spiritual vision, Her integral fulfilment. Humanity is becoming convinced of the truth that the material, intellectual and spiritual lives can indeed run abreast to achieve the final Victory of God here on earth.
The ancient Romans saw religion as a force which binds and controls man. But the ancient Indian seers felt that religion, nay, dharma, must release man from that which binds him, that is, his own ignorance. Man's awakened consciousness must do away with ignorance, or to be precise, must transform ignorance into the knowledge of Truth.
India's spiritual heart knows how to accept other religions, how to appreciate other religions and how to admire other religions. India's spiritual heart has realised that for each new religion there is a new approach to the Goal. Each path is right and indispensable for its own followers.
Hinduism gives due importance to all the spiritual figures of the world. It recognises a great harmony in their teachings. Down through the ages, the firmament of India has sent forth the message of peace, love and truth. It has fostered and encouraged the synthesis of all world religions. Further, Hinduism has always affirmed that the highest end of life is not to remain in any particular religion, but to outgrow religion and realise and live in Eternal Truth.
Hinduism is the embodiment of certain lofty, infallible ideals. These ideals within us live and grow, grow and live. Because of this fact, Hinduism is still a living force. It lives to lead. It leads to live.
To know Hinduism is to discover India. To discover India is to feel the breath of the soul. To feel the breath of the soul is to become one with God.
The world surprisingly appreciates and astonishingly admires the spirituality-surges of Tibet. The world irrevocably adores and sleeplessly bows to the spirituality-ocean of India. As Hinduism is the tree and Buddhism is a branch thereof, even so, Indian consciousness is the fount of the Tibetan flow. India gave and became. India gave aspiration and became the service-smile. Tibet received and enriched. Tibet received benediction and enriched its silence-sound.
It is absurd to hold that the India of the hoary past played exclusively the role of world-renunciation. Our ancients accepted life in full faith. They clearly believed in life itself as a great power.
Our Vedic parents expressed their will to live a long, radiant life when they sang:
> Tach chakshur devahitam
> Purastat shukram uchcharat```
"May we, for a hundred autumns, seeThat lustrous Eye,
God-ordained, arise before us.May we live a hundred autumns;
May we hear for a hundred autumns;May we speak well for a hundred autumns;
May we hold our heads high for a hundred autumns;Yea, even beyond a hundred autumns."
```In full earnest, they tried to fathom and understand the mystery of life. They accepted the earth with all its joys and sorrows, its hopes and frustrations. Moreover, they wanted to live as the master and lord of life. They were therefore dauntless and uncompromising in their opposition to evil. They wanted their souls to be possessed absolutely by the Supreme and, at the same time, they aspired to serve Him in the world.
Mother India is an aspiring tree. This aspiring tree has the Vedas as its only root. The root is Truth, the tree is Truth, the experience of the tree is Truth, the realisation of the tree is Truth, the revelation of the tree is Truth, the manifestation of the tree is Truth.
The Rig Veda is the oldest of all the Vedas. This Veda embodies the earliest monument of India's aspiration and realisation. India's poetry, India's philosophy, India's literature, India's religion and India's science all owe their very existence to the Rig Veda, which is their source.
India's soul-offering is the perennial light of the Upanishads. The Upanishads offer to the world at large the supreme achievement of the awakened and illumined Hindu life.
Although outwardly the Indian people quarrel and fight, the light, the peace and the silence that we have received from the Vedic seers of the hoary past are working within us in our inner life. Outwardly many Indians are in constant conflict, but in the inner world they are in perfect harmony and they love their Source, God, most sincerely. So the inner message of India will always remain illumining and fulfilling.Prayer is one road and meditation is another road. In the East, in India, meditation is part and parcel of people's living existence, whereas prayer is part and parcel of people's living existence in the West. When we pray, we talk to God; and when we meditate, we listen to God.
Prayer and meditation can easily go side by side. In the West we hear more about prayer. In the East, especially in India, we hear more about meditation. Prayer and meditation should go together because they lead us to the same destination. Yet they each have distinct qualities and capacities.
When we pray soulfully, we feel that something within us — let us call it an inner cry — is climbing high, higher, highest until it reaches the Feet of our Beloved Father Supreme. We also feel that our Heavenly Father, our Eternal Father, is listening to our prayer or is waiting for our cry to reach Him.
When we meditate, we feel that Something or Someone is coming down to us from Above, from the highest plane of consciousness. The Absolute Lord is descending in order to bless us and tell us what to do.
God is at once our Divine Father and our Divine Mother. In the West, God the Father is prominent, while in the East, in India especially, God the Mother comes first. Both East and West are perfectly right. When we realise God the Father, we are bound to see God the Mother within Him. When we realise God the Mother, we will unmistakably see God the Father within Her.
When we approach God the Father, we feel His Wisdom, His inner Light, His Vastness. When we approach God the Mother, we feel Her infinite Love, infinite Compassion, infinite Concern. It is not that God the Father does not have Compassion. He also has it. But God expresses Love, Compassion and Concern through the feminine form more than through the masculine form. In the masculine form He offers Wisdom, Light, Vastness.
In the West, we know that Christ, the Son of God, said, "I and my Father are one." In India, our Vedic seers said, "Aham Brahmasmi — I am the Brahman." On the strength of their highest realisation, they became the Truth itself. When Christ or the spiritual Masters say that they are God, they say it on the strength of their inseparable oneness with Him.
Matter is the pride of Europe. Spirit is the pride of India. Neither of the two can possess a complete satisfaction, for the former is in the dark about the potentialities of the Spirit, and the latter about the cogency of Matter. There can be no abiding happiness until Matter and Spirit are amalgamated into one Reality.
It has been delightfully claimed that: "Love in France is a comedy; in England a tragedy; in Italy an opera seria; and in Germany a melodrama." In the true Indian tradition love has always been a self-offering and a self-fulfilment.Here in America, we are in the land of freedom, the freedom that nourishes dynamic thoughts and dynamic movements. There in India, we are in a land of freedom, the freedom of a fertile, tolerant spirituality that nourishes all religions. Here we wish to reach God by running speedily, while there we wish to reach God by climbing swiftly.
India's history is aglow with stories of kings and potentates who enjoyed power and opulence without being in the least attached to them. Rajarshi Janaka was not an isolated example. Prince Siddhartha, afterwards the Buddha, Emperor Asoka and Chhatrapati Shivaji are other such outstanding figures in India's history.
Of all the nations in the world today, America is the one which, in the modern context, stands forth uniquely as the one most fit for the ideal of Janaka, Siddhartha, Asoka and Shivaji. By the flow of her wealth, America has restored shattered Europe, not once but twice. Impoverished India has been helped towards her goal of achieving minimum conditions of life for her vast millions through large-scale and repeated American aid.
It is not only for political and economic purposes that the divine logic of events has brought India and America close together. What is visible in these external aspects of life will be seen in an incalculable measure on deeper levels in days to come. America is perhaps not conscious that in taking a major part in the economic rehabilitation of India she has been building up the base of a divine new world.
Life to the American consciousness is nothing short of completing one task after another with the hope of realising the all-liberating Freedom.
Life to the Indian consciousness is nothing short of completing one endeavour after another with the hope of realising the all-nourishing Peace.
Why does a particular soul take birth in a particular country? There are two basic reasons: either the soul has been commanded by the Supreme or the soul has a specific preference for that country. Why will a soul care for a particular country? It is because the soul has its own inner propensities. It feels that it has some intuitive capacity or other quality which can be easily brought into manifestation if it takes incarnation in a particular country. If a particular soul has dynamism, it will try to take incarnation in America, not India. Again, if it cries for inner harmony and peace, then it will try to take incarnation in India.
Both India and America, East and West, have something to give to the world. India is offering the message of peace and the West is offering the message of science. If the West had not given the East the message of science, India would have remained primitive. And if India had not brought an iota of light to the West, then the West would have remained unillumined. Whatever India and America have, each has to give to the other gladly. They are like two brothers in a family. If one brother is a doctor, he will give medicine. If another is an electrician, he will do electrical work. How can the doctor do the work of the electrician, or vice versa? In exactly the same way, whatever India has to offer to the world, the West must gladly accept; and whatever the West has to give, India has to accept. Then only, East and West can become complete.
Without India, America is incomplete; and without America, India is incomplete. But when they are together, when they are for each other, at that time they please the Absolute Supreme in His own Way. India is God the Vision, America is God the Mission. The union of Vision and Mission can alone bring about God the Satisfaction.
Nothing gives me greater joy than to hear that American brothers and sisters and Indian brothers and sisters have worked together for the fulfilment of one cause, one hope and one heart, in which all-loving, all-illumining and all-fulfilling oneness reigns supreme.
May India's aspiration-sky and America's rocket-speed together sing the supreme fulfilment-song of God-prosperity here on earth.He tells His Eastern children that music is the fulfilling rest at the bottom of the life-sea. He tells His Western children that music is the dance of the multitudinous waves of the life-sea.
Most English songs are like geometry. Everything is measured — English metre, English line. But we Indians have eternal time. It is like the Ganges flowing. Our flow is also eternal. And whenever we get the opportunity, we bring forward our classical tendencies, and we do not know when to start and stop; it just goes on. Once we are inspired, inspiration carries us, or we carry it or drag it! But English songs are like metric units — here there will be a beat, a quarter note, this and that. But when we Indians start singing soulfully, we forget about beats and earthbound measurement; at that time we deal with Eternity's time. Eternity's time carries us along or we carry the inspiration with us.
There is a considerable difference between the Western approach and the Indian approach in the music world. No criticism; it is only a difference of taste.
Bande Mataram (Mother, I bow to Thee):
This was the original national anthem of India, and the source of profound inspiration in the long struggle for India's independence.
No Indian will forget the role that this song, Bande Mataram, played in the patriotic feeling of the Indian people. It served a divine purpose in energising them in their long struggle for freedom. From the burning hearts of India's patriots, its flames of incantation rose high into the sky.
It is my firm conviction that Bande Mataram will keep Bankim's memory green for all time in this great sub-continent and will stand out in the future as the national Mantra that it is.
Of all the musical instruments, the conch is the most sacred and spiritual. Cosmic gods and goddesses hold the conch. Sri Krishna, Arjuna, and all heroes of the highest order used the conch. It is the symbol of victory. The conch is to be found on the sea bed. Water symbolises consciousness and the ocean symbolises vastness. In our spiritual life, nothing is more important than the expansion of our consciousness. A sacred, sacred, sacred instrument is our Indian conch.> I suppose
> It is something in their climate."> - Oscar Wilde
```
All Indians procrastinate too long.I suppose it is something
In our climate.All Englishmen think too much.
I suppose it is somethingIn their climate.
All Canadians follow too far.
I suppose it is somethingIn their climate.
O American friend of mine,
I wish to hear you lecture.O Indian friend of mine,
Let us not sleep any more.O English friend of mine,
I am sure you knowThere is something far beyond thinking.
O Canadian friend of mine,
Your own goalIs infinitely more beautiful
Than the goal of others. ```My Indian heart
Needs more compassion.My American body
Needs more vitality.My African legs
Need more speed.My Chinese head
Needs more wisdom.My European mind
Needs more nobility.My German vital
Needs more determination. ```The English language
Unites the whole worldBut
Separates America from England.The Indian love
Feeds the whole worldBut
Fails to unite the brothers:Pakistan and India.
```O my English friend,
Smile.Let me see your smiling face.
O my Canadian friend,
Dare.Let me see your daring heart.
O my Indian friend,
Think.Let me see your thinking mind.
O my American friend,
Rest.Let me see your resting life.
O my other friends,
I think of you, too.I love you, too.
I adore you, too. ```O my China and Japan,
My God has not forgotten you.O my Germany and Russia,
My God remembers you.O my India and Pakistan,
My God is worried about you.O my Ireland and Scotland,
My God is confused about you. ```A rare Indian aspiration:
Power-manifestation.A rare American aspiration:
Peace-manifestation.A rare earth-aspiration:
Perfection-sun.A rare Heaven-aspiration:
Concern-sea. ```Only three unusual things
I really do not comprehend:America's power-gospel,
India's peace-gospelAnd
God's Silence-Gospel. ```My American friend
Tells me how great he is.My Indian friend
Tells me how pure he is.My Canadian friend
Tells me how tolerant he is.My English friend
Tells me how intelligent he is.My Scottish friend
Tells me how friendly he is.My Puerto Rican friend
Tells me how soft he is.My Irish friend
Tells me how energetic he is.My Swedish friend
Tells me how visionary he is.My Swiss friend
Tells me how solid he is.My Italian friend
Tells me how sweet he is.My French friend
Tells me how polite he is.My Japanese friend
Tells me how sincere he is.Needless to say, they all
Tell the truth.Of course, their own version
Of the truth. ```In the later periods of India's history, the saints and seers came to feel that the material life and the spiritual life could never go together, that they had to renounce the outer life in order to attain God. Hence, the external life was neglected. This led to foreign conquests and many other troubles. Even today, the attitude that material prosperity and beauty should be negated is very common in India. This accounts for much of her continued poverty.
But at present there are spiritual giants in India who feel that God should be realised in His totality, that Creator and creation are one and inseparable. They advocate the acceptance of life, the real need for both progress and perfection in all spheres of human existence. This new approach is widely accepted in modern India.
India may be poverty-stricken today, but she will progress quickly by virtue of her new awareness and her new aspiration. She has not only magnanimity of heart but also the power to bring her soul's strength to the fore and use it to solve all her problems.If India had continued to remain with her ancient heart-power and soul-power, eventually the Western world would have valued what India was offering. When there is something new or totally different, we may not value it at first. It may seem meaningless to us. But eventually we try to dive deep within to see if there is any reality in it.
Although the India of today may believe in non-violence in her soul, I do not feel that there is a sincere longing for peace in the heart, in the mind, in the vital and in the body. To our extreme sorrow, the present-day India is in no way better than the rest of the world in terms of restlessness and vital aggression.
Non-violence is not something that is on the physical plane only. It has to be found in the vital and in the mind. If the mind is clear of wrong thoughts, then there cannot be any violence. To clear the mind, to have an iota of peace in the mind, we have to practise the spiritual life.
From our spiritual life we will come to discover that there is something that is even more important than non-violence, and that is peace. Peace is like a peak in the Himalayas that is high, higher, highest. It has its origin in the Supreme Himself. Prayer and meditation can feed us with inner peace. This inner peace will inundate our soul, our heart, our mind, our vital and our body. But it is we who have to cultivate the inner hunger for peace. Without that hunger, it is impossible for the Supreme to feed us with His all-fulfilling Peace.I owe my aspiration-heart to India; I owe my dedication-life to America. I feel that the inner life of aspiration and the outer life of dedication are both needed in order to manifest the divine Light of our Heavenly Father here on earth.
I do not follow a prearranged plan. I just obey devotedly, soulfully and unconditionally the express Command of my Lord Beloved Supreme. In the beginning, I was absolutely puzzled and confused by the West. But, over the years, I have been able to accept the Western world with all its good and bad qualities as my own.
Now, with my aspiration-heart, I am praying to God to inundate both the Eastern world and the Western world with His absolute Love, Peace and Delight. And, with my dedication-life, I am trying to inspire the world to cry for a better, purer and higher life.The Brahmins are supposed to study India's sacred books, such as the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Vedas and the Upanishads, and meditate on the significance of their messages. If Brahmins study and meditate on the sacred books in this way, they will be able to realise God. That is the sunlit road for them.
The Kshatriyas are warriors. They have the heroic spirit to pierce the veil of ignorance. If somebody is in trouble and needs help, they will help that person. They will not say, "It is your problem; you fight." If somebody comes and attacks their country, they will fight to protect it. But they will not use their weapons to go out and attack other countries. They are not going to drop bombs on other countries. In the modern world, if one country attacks another country, a third country may say, "I clearly see that this country needs my help." The one that has been attacked may say, "I do not need your help. I can solve my own problems." But the third country says, "No, I have to go and help." This is the modern way. But the Kshatriyas will only go to help if someone wants their help. The Kshatriyas represent the dynamic spirit; through vital dynamism they conquer lethargy and ignorance. That is the sunlit road for the Kshatriyas to reach the Highest and go to God.
Then come the Vaishyas. They are merchants and businessmen. Although they deal with money power and material wealth, they are not supposed to be Shylocks. They earn money, and with their money they are supposed to build temples and serve the poor. They are supposed to give money to charity and support the development of their country as well as using their material wealth to help their own family members. Their road is not sunlit, but if they use their material wealth properly — to build temples, serve the poor and develop their country — then they also will be able to make spiritual progress.
The fourth class is the Shudras, the servant class. Their occupation is to serve their brothers and sisters by bringing them food or doing physical labour. The earthly, mundane jobs they do.
Some may say the Brahmins are superior to the Kshatriyas, the Kshatriyas are superior to the Vaishyas and the Vaishyas are superior to the Shudras. But that is not true. In a family each member has a different job. If you are studying the Vedas and there is nobody cultivating the ground and bringing you food, then you will die. Each role is needed, and each person serves in his own capacity. If each one does his respective job soulfully and lovingly, then he is walking on the brightest road for himself and making the fastest progress.
No matter which caste an individual has taken birth into, if he combines the activities of all the castes, then his progress will be the fastest. But it may be difficult for someone to combine the duties of all the castes. If someone is seriously studying the Vedas, he cannot go out and work in the fields or start a business or join the army and serve his country. But while he is studying, he can pray to God for his brothers and sisters who are in a position to be dynamic in other capacities. If he has this kind of good will, then he is covering the activities of the other three castes also. If someone does not have the capacity or talent to do the good work of all the others, he can still try to bring their good qualities into himself and help them with his prayers and meditation. In that way he will also expedite his own spiritual journey.So you do not have to be the world's poorest person in order to realise God. Again, you do not have to be the world's richest person in order to realise God. But you have to be able to meet your basic needs. Otherwise, if you do not have rice and bread, if you do not have the things your body needs to live, then how can you think of God? So it is not wise to want to amass money and, at the same time, it is the height of stupidity to want to give away all your possessions and live in the street. There has to be a balance.
God does not want you to cut off your limbs to show Him how much you love Him. He does not require you to deliberately embrace a life of poverty to prove your love for Him. He wants you only to have an inner cry for Him. That alone is of supreme importance.So both parties are wanting in light. But it would be a mistake for America to say that India's imperfections are worse or of a lower type, or for India to say that America's imperfections are worse. To say that my imperfections are not as dangerous or destructive as yours is the height of stupidity. You and I are both imperfect. Our imperfections are more than enough for us to spend the rest of our lives trying to illumine them. Both of us have to bring down light and pray to God to illumine our lives.
You may say, "Oh, my imperfections are negligible; I can easily overcome them." But the moment you try to conquer them, you will see that it is the most difficult thing. Let us say that you have been telling lies for twenty years. For one hour you will tell the truth; then, out of the blue, falsehood will descend again. Or if someone else is overweight, he will say, "I can easily stop eating." Then for a few days he will try, but soon his determination will disappear. So each of us must take our own imperfections as seriously as possible.
Instead of criticising others, let us try to keep our own body, vital and mind under control. If we can control ourselves, if we can have determination to do the right thing and become the best possible person, then there is hope that others will also have the same determination to improve their lives. It is our own longing for perfection, our own cry for perfection, that is of paramount importance. If I can become perfect, then there will be one less rascal on earth. So if I try and you try and everybody else tries, then real progress will be made on earth. If today I become perfect, tomorrow you become perfect and the day after tomorrow somebody else becomes perfect, then someday everybody will be perfect.The Aryan sages discovered that there were many cosmic gods who could bless them with the things they longed for. So when they prayed or meditated, they invoked different cosmic gods for different things. This moment they prayed to Agni and the next moment they prayed to Vayu. They definitely knew that there is a Supreme God, the Absolute Transcendental Lord Supreme, who has infinite Light, Power, Peace and Bliss. But, unfortunately, they did not find Him as easy to approach as the lesser deities.
Since one doctor carries all the medicine, I do not know why they chose to go to one doctor for a headache, another for a stomach upset and a third for knee pain. On the earthly level, different doctors specialise in different ailments. But in the spiritual life there is only one ailment — ignorance — and for that ailment illumination is the only cure. If we receive illumination from the Highest, from the Source, then we are more convinced than if we get it from someone who may be higher than us but who is infinitely lower than the Highest. So if we can establish a free access to the absolute Highest and receive Light from Him, then our inner conviction becomes much, much stronger.
The realisations of the spiritual Masters of the last few hundred years are higher, richer and deeper than those of the Vedic seers. We shall appreciate and adore the Vedic seers because they are the source of our aspiration and our wisdom. We shall adore them like grandfathers because they had the inclination to study at the inner school. If we do not value the wisdom of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, then we will be the losers. But we have to know that the wisdom and inner wealth that they achieved is nothing in comparison to the inner wisdom that their grandchildren have acquired. If we say that their realisations were higher than those of later spiritual Masters, then we are just fooling ourselves. In his story "The Ideal of Forgiveness", Sri Aurobindo said that the achievements of the Vedic seers of the hoary past will pale into insignificance when the achievements of more recent spiritual figures are blossomed.
But sometimes, by appreciating our ancestors, we increase our own heart's enthusiasm-thrill. This inner thrill helps us immensely in all walks of life. If we have an inner thrill, we can go the fastest on any project in any field — whether it is writing poetry or composing songs or running, diving and flying. The inner thrill is of paramount importance if we want to reach our destination.
There are many things that the Vedic seers envisioned, and sometimes their visions were very high. But, unfortunately, they could not properly interpret their visions. They saw something and gave meaning to it, but their meaning was not absolutely accurate because it was not as profound as it could have been. But then the yogis and seers who succeeded them were able to discover, on the strength of their own deeper and higher realisations, the actual significance of the visions that the Vedic seers of the hoary past had. Because their own realisations were much higher, they could give a better, clearer and more illumining interpretation to the experiences of these Vedic seers.
If we try to interpret an experience with our mind's capacity, we will be totally lost. But if we can take the experience with us into the heart, then immediately we get a full view of the experience — where it came from, why it came and how it can be fully and fruitfully utilised. So if we can use our heart, rather than our mind, when we read about the experiences of the Aryan sages and seers in the Vedas and Upanishads, then we shall be able to discover our own Source.
Scholars approach the Vedas and the experiences of the Vedic seers in their own way, which is drier than the driest. They use their mental geometry. But the geometry and grammar of the Vedas and Upanishads cannot fulfil the heart's cry. Philosophers approach the experiences of the Vedic seers in another way, which is theoretical rather than practical or practicable. But seekers of the highest order and realised Masters use the experiences of the Vedic sages to help them establish something solid and basic in their lives; they make these experiences practical. They deal with the experiences of the Vedic seers in such a beautiful, tangible and illumining way that they actually manifest the beauty and fragrance of these experiences and make them a living reality in their own lives. So the scholastic and philosophical approaches are not beneficial for the sincere seeker. It is only the spiritual, psychic approach that can fulfil the real sincere God-hunger of humanity.At first, England responded by inwardly challenging India. Then fear entered England, and finally they adopted a positive approach. They said, let us be kind and generous. Their attitude was like a master towards a slave. When the master feels that the slave will revolt and kill him, he decides that it will be better to give him his freedom. The master can be conquered either with outer power or with inner will. From the strict spiritual point of view, India had the inner will. This inner will was accumulated by her spiritual children of that era — Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo and others. Mother India's liberation and the spiritual height of Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo and others run parallel. They brought forward the power of Mother India's soul, and placed it in a kind of spiritual bank. Sri Aurobindo himself put a very, very large amount there. Then India's political freedom-fighters availed themselves of this power.
Sri Aurobindo was so happy that Mother India gained her independence on his birthday, August 15th. His seventy-fifth birthday was celebrated on that day. Sri Aurobindo issued a statement which began: "August 15th, 1947 is the birthday of free India. It marks for her the end of an old era, the beginning of a new age. But we can also make it, by our life and acts as a free nation, an important date in a new age opening for the whole world, for the political, social, cultural and spiritual future of humanity.
"August 15th is my own birthday and it is naturally gratifying to me that it should have assumed this vast significance. I take this coincidence, not as a fortuitous accident, but as the sanction and seal of the Divine Force that guides my steps on the work with which I began life, the beginning of its full fruition...."But gradually he came to realise that each of the many different groups comprising India had its own way of expressing itself. Each one had its own leader, its own belief. One group followed Mahatma Gandhi, another group followed your father, a third group followed someone else, and so on. Although Netaji tried his utmost to bring about unity among all the groups, specially in the political sphere, he was forced to realise that this way would not be feasible. Then he decided that if peace could not be achieved through inner unity, it had to be achieved through military action. The British were using their military might to suppress the Indians. Netaji believed that if he attacked them on their own level, it would force the Indians to unite, and the British would not be able to withstand the power of the whole country.
Let me give you a simple analogy. Let us say that a thorn has entered my heel. I may try to use medicine to bring the thorn out. But there is another way. I can use a second thorn to take out the thorn that is inside my heel. Then what will become of the second thorn, the one that was of help to me? I will simply throw it away, along with the first one.
Your father was misunderstood because he went to Germany to seek help from Hitler and various other European leaders. Some of his countrymen said to him, "What are you doing? Germany is worse than Great Britain!" But Netaji's reply was, "I know they are worse, but I am ready to take help from anybody. My immediate enemy is Great Britain. Great Britain has enslaved my Motherland. I have to get rid of my immediate enemy. Then, if I am successful, in the future I can get rid of the one that I have taken help from. If I can use this thorn to remove the one that is already inside my foot, then one day definitely I will be able to get rid of the second thorn."
In the beginning, it was beyond his imagination that he would adopt this way of freeing his country. But when he saw that all other procedures had failed, he knew that there was no other way. It was the last resort. This is the thing that people do not understand.
In the Bhagavad Gita, which is our most sacred book, our Bible, Lord Krishna tried in every way to avert the Battle of Kurukshetra. He begged the Kauravas to settle their differences with the Pandavas without entering into the battlefield. He did not succeed. When Lord Krishna saw that all other means had failed, only then did he ask the Pandavas, the virtuous ones, to fight against the Kauravas, who were hostile forces incarnate. The Pandavas entered into the Battle of Kurukshetra as a last resort. For the establishment of Truth, they had to take up their weapons. The Pandavas were righteous, but there was no other way to bring about peace than to fight. It was for the victory of Truth that Lord Krishna asked them to fight.
Your father knew that India's freedom was his birthright. When he saw that the other way, the way of peaceful settlement, was not making any progress, he decided he had to try a new way. In his thinking, he was far ahead of all the other patriots of his day. Needless to say, I am totally convinced that your father did absolutely the right thing. He was the harbinger, the pathfinder. His vision was much vaster and deeper than that of the other Indian national leaders of the time. In everything he went ahead, and it was only later that others followed him.
Both Mahatma Gandhi and Netaji played their distinctive roles in bringing about India's independence. Your cousin Dr. Sisir Bose, Netaji's beloved nephew, has most aptly summed it up when he said, "The Father of the Indian nation is Mahatma Gandhi; the Father of the Indian revolution is Subhas Bose."
IMI 218. Question by Professor Anita B. Pfaff — Daughter of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose↩
The poem became a song in New York on July 8th, 1995 — fifty years later. It is the longest song in Sri Chinmoy's musical opus.
Sri Chinmoy began translating this Bengali poem into English on June 9th, 1996. He completed the translation on August 4th so that it might be released on August 15th of that year.God in human form
Descends from Heaven todayTo touch and feel
The breath of earth-dust.Comrades, His Victory
Let us proclaim, casting asideAll our world-responsibility-obligations.
O Lord Absolute,
We, the ever-blossoming souls,Shall satisfy You with our
Oneness-devotion-breath-hearts.We embody certainty's life
To surprisingly illumineOur journey's birthless
And deathless course.Lovingly, prayerfully and soulfully
We shall bring the Victory-CrownFrom the Consciousness-Ocean-Beyond
And, with a brightness-splendour-smile,Place it at Your Feet
With our softness-heart-care.A poltroon-body, a dunce-mind,
A restlessness-vitalWe never shall be.
We shall ever be foundIn the newness-vortex
Of activities multifarious.No sorrow, no diffidence,
No loss can torture usBefore Your blessingful, august Presence.
To none save YouShall we offer our fear-surrender.
You to invoke
And place insideOur mind's seraglio-cave,
Let us sleeplesslyOccupy our mind, shunning
All our childish games and pranks.Together, in oneness-heart,
Your Victory we all shall proclaim.You if we fail to receive and achieve,
Our earth-life will helplessly betrayIts utter worthlessness and uselessness.
Singing our Master's Victory-Song,
We, the ever-blossoming souls,Shall walk along Eternity's Road
Blazed by His Divinity's Radiance-Feet.Like fully blossomed flowers,
We shall distributeOur sweet redolence-fragrance.
Speechless, the whole world will watchOur journey's progress-march.
Your new Message we shall carry
To all climes, near and far.We shall be self-discoverers;
Pride-victims we never shall be.Refrain
God in human form
Descends from Heaven todayTo touch and feel
The breath of earth-dust.Comrades, His Victory
Let us proclaim, casting asideAll our world-responsibility-obligations.
O Summit-Soul supreme,
Your Compassion-Light we invokeTo keep our hearts
Eternally at Your Feet.In all,
The lower than the lowestAnd the higher than the highest,
You abide.Sleeplessly Your Victory-Song
Resonates in the heart of Eden.You are a perfect stranger
To superiority-inferiority-twins.You are at once the chosen Haven
Of both penury and prosperity-possessors.You are Your Life's Sweetness-Affection
To all souls that breathe on earth.None can dare fathom
Your Compassion-Heart-Ocean.To offer You our raison d'être,
We are speeding towardsYour Infinity's Height,
Smashing asunder todayAll the bondage-shackles
That will cross our path.Refrain
God in human form
Descends from Heaven todayTo touch and feel
The breath of earth-dust.Comrades, His Victory
Let us proclaim, casting asideAll our world-responsibility-obligations.
To spread Your Compassion-flooded
Life-Transformation-Message-LightHere on earth,
We shall offer our all,Our very last breath.
Even if we fail to muster
A new supply of strengthAt each hush-gap,
We, the ever-blossoming souls,Shall not permit ourselves
To be name-fame-beggars.While enjoying a short respite,
We shall sing Your Victory-SongsAnd fly Your Victory-Banner
Upon the Himaloy-pinnacle.A day shall dawn
When we, the ever-blossoming souls,Only by virtue of
Your Compassion-Blessings,Shall proclaim our world-conquest
To the four corners of the globe.No iota of wealth You own;
Yet, all El Dorados at Your Feet.O Lord Supreme,
Indweller of our hearts,Your boundless Bounty
Permits You not to escapeOur stark mind-confines.
Refrain
God in human form
Descends from Heaven todayTo touch and feel
The breath of earth-dust.Comrades, His Victory
Let us proclaim, casting asideAll our world-responsibility-obligations.
If any bosom pines
To be our compatriot,Then presto!
Renounce your all,Your world-pleasure-plethora.
When all world-attachments leave you,
We shall welcome youTo join our group
With ever-widening open arms.The rich and the poor,
The wise and the ignorant —All those who inhabit the world —
In each and every human beingWe shall see the living Presence of God,
Like our Master-Guru.If ever we become pride-victims,
We know for certainThat Your infinite Compassion-Treasure
Will desert us.We, the ever-blossoming souls,
Must be extremely carefulIn preserving
Our newness-strength indomitable.Refrain
God in human form
Descends from Heaven todayTo touch and feel
The breath of earth-dust.Comrades, His Victory
Let us proclaim, casting asideAll our world-responsibility-obligations.
He whom the holy saints
And honesty-flooded soulsIn perfect amity worship,
And the single-minded devoteesInvoke to claim as their own.
He has taken human form
In the heart of Mother Bengal.In His happiness
Our hearts must rejoice.In His sadness
Our hearts must suffer.To each and every soul,
Smiling we shall offerOur hearts' newness-strength.
We, the ever-blossoming souls,Shall dive deep
Into the Heart of Infinity's Light.O Lord Absolute,
Today do inundate our earth-existenceWith Your Compassion-Flood.
May our devotion-adorationEver be found
At Your Feet Supreme.O Transcendental Height,
O Beauty Unfathomable,To You we bow.
May we be totally obliviousTo our earthly gains and losses
In committing ourselvesTo Your Service-Light.
Refrain
God in human form
Descends from Heaven todayTo touch and feel
The breath of earth-dust.Comrades, His Victory
Let us proclaim, casting asideAll our world-responsibility-obligations.
O Lord of the ever-transcending Beyond,
You are discovered Self-amorousIn Your birthless and deathless Light.
At Your FeetAll utterly lost human souls
Have found their Peace-Haven.Vishma, Dadichi, Arjuna, Drona,
Bhima, AbhimanyuWere all indomitable hero-souls
Who walked Mother-EarthWith their loftiest tower-majesty-heads.
You have inundated us
With Your Blessings infinite.By virtue of Your Blessings,
We, the ever-blossoming souls,Shall equal those immortal souls
And run abreast with them.O Lord, Your Consciousness
Pervades the skyAnd the Himaloy-pinnacle-heights.
In darkness-cavesAnd in ocean-expanse
It sings and dancesIn perfect oneness.
O Lord Absolute,
Pondicherry-Dweller,The saints, sages and yogis
Every morn and every eveProclaim Your Victory
From all four corners of the globe.Refrain
God in human form
Descends from Heaven todayTo touch and feel
The breath of earth-dust.Comrades, His Victory
Let us proclaim, casting asideAll our world-responsibility-obligations.
If ever others speak ill of us,
We shall never hurt their heartsIn return.
Knowing perfectly well
That the Absolute Lord Supreme abides,In His living Presence, in all,
How can we ever tortureAny human life?
The way the Life-Force
Of our breathResides in us,
Exactly the same wayThe Life-Force abides in all,
And accepts and enduresEach and every human being.
You are the Source
Of Brahma the Creator.Before You we place
Our supplication, devotionAnd adoration-surrender.
No iota of fear have we
While offering YouOur wee, puny and paltry gifts,
For we knowYou are the Compassion-Lord
Of our motherless, fatherless, helpless life.You are the Vision-Light
Of the whole universe.You are our Eternity's only Friend.
Refrain
God in human form
Descends from Heaven todayTo touch and feel
The breath of earth-dust.Comrades, His Victory
Let us proclaim, casting asideAll our world-responsibility-obligations.
Like the most insignificant service
Rendered by the morning dewTo the ocean-surface,
We know our service to YouIs equally and unmistakably
Most insignificant.Notwithstanding, lovingly
You accept our service-flamesTo bless us
With Your bountiful Pride.In fire and water,
In dust and atoms,Seeing You, Your Meditation-Trance,
Many poets have depictedYour immortal Beauty.
They are our pioneers.
We are walking along the same roadTo reach Your hallowed Feet.
This beautiful morningWe are weaving the garland
Of our heart's message,Prayerful and soulful:
"Victory, victory, victory
To Sri Aurobindo,The Guru Supreme of the Universe!"
Sleeplessly and breathlesslyRepeating this incantation,
We shall becomeEternity's sweetness-purity-breath.
O Lord Supreme,
You have donnedAn earthly cloak.
We place at Your FeetOur surrender unconditional
For Your unhorizoned ManifestationHere on earth.
Refrain
God in human form
Descends from Heaven todayTo touch and feel
The breath of earth-dust.Comrades, His Victory
Let us proclaim, casting asideAll our world-responsibility-obligations.
```Some of the selections date from as early as 1946 — Sri Chinmoy was then in his adolescence — in India, while others were written in the West, from 1964 to the present. Many of the songs, in particular, were composed this year to celebrate India's Independence Anniversary. They have been performed during the 50 Peace Concerts that Sri Chinmoy has offered all over the world in 1997 dedicated to Mother India.
The concluding Peace Concert in this series is to be held on this day, August 15th, 1997 at Aspiration-Ground in Queens, New York City.From:Sri Chinmoy,India, my India. Mother India's summit-prides, Agni Press, 1997
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