Picture

The Compassion-power of the Beyond penetrating the spiritual poverty of the world
— photo by Pranavananda

My salutation to the soul of Australia

My aspiring heart is saluting you.
My illumining soul is loving you.
In you I see the perfect combination of the body’s service and the vital’s dynamism.
Your soul is at once the embodiment of the ancient sun and the revelation of tomorrow’s dawn.
Your body’s consciousness is the expansion of vastness.
Your heart’s delight is the perfection of illumination.
Slowly and steadily your body walks.
Confidently and dynamically your vital marches.
Pointedly and unerringly your mind runs.
Devotedly and unconditionally your heart dives.
Eternally and supremely your soul flies.
Your life’s greatness-dream is humanity’s transcendental pride.
Your life’s goodness-reality is humanity’s universal treasure.

— Sri Chinmoy

Picture

The Dean of Perth, the Rev. John Cornish, with the Indian guru Sri Chinmoy in Perth yesterday.

The West Australian, Perth, Wednesday March 3, 1976

Lecturers in spirit

Even the most prolific of writers such as Shakespeare or Arnold Bennett would have been no match for the spiritual master or guru Sri Chinmoy, who arrived in Perth yesterday.

During one 24-hour concentrated session, Sri Chinmoy says, he once wrote 834 poems. Recently he also completed 10,000 paintings in 24 hours.

“If even one of the paintings give you something in spirit, then it is all worth while,” he said.

“I do it not to compete with others but to compete with myself.”

He said that the exercise gave him great joy.

Yesterday Sri Chinmoy called on the new Dean of Perth, the Rev John Cornish, because the guru was to lecture last night in St George’s Cathedral.

The dean had earlier had an anonymous phone call from a woman who said that the lecture should not be allowed.

“I spoke to her gently and she calmed down,” Dean Cornish said.

The two spiritual leaders discovered yesterday that they had more in common than leading their flocks.

They were both born in 1931, the guru in August and the dean in October.

Sri Chinmoy was born in Bengal but now lives in New York, where he conducts meditations twice weekly for delegates to the United Nations.

He teaches a mystical approach to God based on love, devotion and surrender to the divine will.

— Jill Crommelin.

Aspiration ¹

Before I give a short talk on aspiration, I wish to offer my soulful gratitude to the soul of Australia for having granted me the opportunity to be here in Australia to serve her sweet children. I have been here for only twenty-four hours. During this very short span of time, seekers, friends and acquaintances have bestowed upon me their blessingful love, sympathy and concern. For that I am extremely grateful to each and every individual. Finally, I wish to offer my most soulful gratitude, from the inmost recesses of my heart, to the Dean of Perth. His heart’s magnanimity has touched the very depths of my heart. This morning I had the golden opportunity to be blessed by his august presence, and with all the sincerity at my command, I pray to the Christ-consciousness to grant Mother Earth a few more sincere seekers, sincere lovers of mankind, like the Dean of Perth, so that our planet Earth can have a better peace, a more fulfilling heart and a more satisfying reality.

AUM AUM AUM

My dear Australian sisters and brothers, you are all welcome in my house. My house is my heart, my heart of aspiration and my heart of dedication. My heart of aspiration shall love the divine in you, and my heart of dedication shall love the Supreme in you.

As you all know, there are two mighty forces that govern this world of ours. These mighty forces are desire-night and aspiration-light. The desire-night is the love of power, and the aspiration-light is the power of love. The love of power wants to destroy and devour the entire world. The power of love wants to feed the world and immortalise the world. The love of power is self-love. The power of love is God-love. When we utilise the love of power in our day to day multifarious activities, we consciously and deliberately bring to the fore the vital and destructive anger in us. When we utilise the power of love, then God, out of His Infinite Bounty, showers His choicest Blessings on us.

The life of greatness and the life of goodness. We aspire. Why do we aspire? If we aspire to become great, then our aspiration is not the real aspiration. If we aspire to become good, then our aspiration is real divine aspiration. Goodness is the aim of true aspiration. Greatness alone is constant competition. There is no satisfaction in it. By competition alone we can never achieve satisfaction. But if we become good, if we become divine instruments of God, then we achieve satisfaction far beyond our imagination’s flight.

God is great. He is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. But the sincere seeker is he who feels that God is most divine not because God is all powerful, but because God is all Love. It is the love aspect of God that has conquered the heart and soul of the true aspirant. God is good. His goodness cannot be separated from His greatness. True goodness always embodies greatness. The Christ, the Buddha, Krishna — all spiritual Masters of the highest order — were goodness incarnate. What do we see and feel in them? Greatness as well. So real greatness and real goodness go together. They are inseparable, like the obverse and, reverse of the same coin.

The desire-night and the aspiration-light. If we walk along the road of desire-night, fulfilment will always remain a far cry. Our inner and outer expectations will never be satisfied. Yesterday we had a house; today we want to have two houses. If we get two houses today, tomorrow we will not be satisfied. We will want to have one more. No matter how many things we possess, we will not be satisfied. Each time our expectation is fulfilled, a new expectation will come to take its place. But if we live in aspiration-light, when we achieve even an iota of satisfaction, we feel that inside that satisfaction one day will loom large infinite, boundless satisfaction. The aspiration road must be followed. Each individual seeker must live in the aspiration-light if he wants satisfaction. If he lives in desire-night, there can be no satisfaction.

Each individual on earth is crying for only one thing and that is satisfaction. But if satisfaction comes, it has to come first through self-giving. Self-giving is the precursor of God-becoming. The more consciously and soulfully we can give our body, vital, mind, heart and soul to the Supreme Pilot within us, the sooner we can become an expert prototype of this divine Existence.

Aspiration is divine love. Human love is always the song of bondage. We try to bind others, and others will naturally want to bind us. There is no satisfaction in this mutual bondage. Human love is eventually followed by frustration, and frustration is immediately followed by destruction. But divine love is continuous growth in our divine reality. At each moment it tries to expand its reality. It is our aspiration that makes us aware of the divine love within us. This divine love illumines us, liberates us, and helps us to realise the highest Absolute. It illumines the obscure and impure life within us. It liberates the ignorance-bound and earth-bound realities within us. It satisfies the divine realities within us.

Fear is the obscurity within us. Doubt is the impurity within us. When illumination dawns, fear is transformed into strength and doubt is transformed into faith — the life-saving, life-immortalising faith. Insecurity is the ignorance-bound reality within us. When illumination dawns, our insecurity is transformed into all-illumining confidence. Our doubt-reality is transformed into willingness to open to the inner light. Our fear-reality is transformed into willingness to open our heart’s door to the divine realities. Finally, when realisation dawns, the earth-bound realities, which did not allow us to accept the divine realities soulfully, lovingly, devotedly and unconditionally, now soulfully surrender to the divine power of the divine realities. When our undivine part surrenders to the divine in us, our entire being becomes absolutely perfect.

Aspiration is the inner cry, the mounting flame. Aspiration is at the journey’s start and it is also at the journey’s close. This journey is not an ordinary, earthly, human journey. This is a divine journey; therefore, this journey has neither a beginning nor an end. It is a birthless, deathless journey. This journey has a goal, but it does not stop at any goal, for it has come to realise that today’s goal is the starting point of tomorrow’s journey. Once we start consciously and sincerely aspiring, we feel that we are walking along Eternity’s road, and that we shall eternally walk along this road, receiving and achieving light, more light, abundant light, infinite Light. We shall offer this light to the aspiring humanity so that this world of ours can become a Kingdom of Heaven.

Here we are all seekers. We have made an outer promise and an inner promise. Our outer promise is to Mother Earth, and our inner promise is to Father Heaven. Our outer promise is that we shall become inseparably one with the excruciating pangs of Mother Earth. Our inner promise is that we shall become inseparably one with the all-illumining and all-fulfilling Smile of Father Heaven. We shall become inseparably one with both our Mother Earth and our Father Heaven, and then we shall become a direct link between Mother Earth and Father Heaven. The aspiration of Mother Earth we shall carry to Father Heaven, and the Realisation-Reality-Light of Father Heaven we shall bring down to Mother Earth for manifestation. Mother Earth and Father Heaven are of equal importance. We need the Father Heaven for God’s supreme Realisation and we need the Mother Earth for God’s supreme Manifestation. Both realisation and manifestation are of paramount importance. When we realise and manifest, we complete the cosmic Game.

Meeting with the Lord Mayor of Perth²

Sri Chinmoy: You are the Mayor of Perth, so you have the responsibility for thousands of children. I happen to be a teacher, so I also take responsibility, but for only a thousand children. I know how difficult it is to deal with only a few people, and you, being the Mayor, have to deal with many, many problems every day. I admire your dedication and hard work.

Lord Mayor: Thank you for your understanding. I find it very rewarding to be responsible for such a number of different types of people in the city. We have many ethnic groups here. There’s the Greek Community, the Italian Community and some from India and Sri Lanka, and our Aboriginal Community (I speak their language a little). I find it easier to please the average person than the odd man at the top. I often don’t quite understand the attitude of some people whom you would think could have the same sort of responsibility as we have to try and do the best they can for everybody, but avoid it because it is a burden.

Sri Chinmoy: From the spiritual point of view we take each responsibility as an opportunity. Responsibility means opportunity to widen our consciousness. If I have a responsibility toward you, then if I properly use that responsibility, I become one with you.

Lord Mayor: I’m very self-critical. I feel that ever since I was a little boy I clearly saw the right path, and I used to wonder why people like the Dean had to preach every week. Now I realise that they could preach every hour, on the hour, and still be needed to continue saying what they do. So it is an inspiration to meet someone such as yourself. I get a sense of re-dedication to the things that so obviously need to be done.

Sri Chinmoy: It is most kind of you to say so. We feel that spirituality is like our regular food. We can’t depend on yesterday’s food. Yesterday we ate because we were hungry. Today, when we are again hungry, can we say that yesterday we ate so that is enough? No. Today’s hunger needs and demands new food. Every day we have to strengthen ourselves with new food, with new inspiration. Then only can we be satisfied inwardly and outwardly.

Lord Mayor: Thank you, thank you. Well, you have brought a big meal for me today. I had a very rewarding task once. I had to lead a mission of good will to India, and it went off wonderfully well. We made a great number of friends among the average people we met while we were there, and I was very taken with the calm philosophy of so many. The Indians are a million years ahead of us in understanding not to fuss about things that don’t matter. They’ve got a sense of judgement of what matters and what doesn’t matter, probably from people like yourself teaching them and inspiring them. Are you enjoying your trip to Australia?

Sri Chinmoy: Yes, I have been enjoying it very much. Right from the start of this journey, I have been blessed not only by the soul of Australia but by the kindness of its people as well.

Lord Mayor: You do a lot of good work for the people in the United Nations, I believe.

Sri Chinmoy: I try to serve mankind according to my capacity. Whenever I am given the opportunity to be of any service, I feel it is most rewarding. So I try my hardest to serve mankind, not only at the United Nations, but everywhere. I go from one place to another, like a bird, and try to offer to others the light that God, out of his infinite Bounty has granted me.

Lord Mayor: I think it’s wonderful that you do this, because so many people, particularly those who hold the so-called prominent positions for their countries at the U.N., seem to need it. In my experience with local government, it’s slightly disappointing to see the number of people who are ostensibly there to serve their fellow citizens when, in fact, their main motivation seems to be to glorify themselves. I think a person such as yourself who is so humble in himself, trying to give light to people in so-called prominent positions, probably reminds them to be more humble and more dedicated to the ideals they are supposed to be serving rather than to themselves.

Sri Chinmoy: I always say that when you really have something to offer to the world, then you can become truly humble. A tree, when it has no fruit to offer, remains erect. But when the tree is laden with fruit, it bends down. When you have genuine humility, it is a sign that you have something to offer to mankind. If you are all pride and ego, then nobody will be able to get anything worthwhile from you.

Lord Mayor: That is a very wonderful parable. Great men through the ages have been quietly preaching parables to other people. I’m so glad you have met the Dean. He’s new here. He seems a nice man.

Sri Chinmoy: He has been very kind and generous. One lady berated him on the phone for giving me the opportunity to speak in a Christian cathedral. This is why I find it difficult to accept the barriers of religion. Our Indian spirituality far transcends these barriers of religion. It feels that Truth is nobody’s monopoly. Truth is your birthright, my birthright, everybody’s birthright. When we think of Truth and cry for Truth, all problems are solved. But when we think of a particular religion, each religion claims to be by far the best. “My religion is far better than yours,” people will say. There is no end to this silly fruitless controversy.

Lord Mayor: Man’s inhumanity to man through different sects of religion is incredible! When you think of the French, for instance, tying people upside down on stakes and burning them because there was a slight difference in their Christianity. And the Spanish Inquisition, the Moslem and Christian war in Lebanon, the war in Ireland. It’s awful, isn’t it? What happens all around the world is unbelievable! In the name of Truth and God, people are led by their religions to this absolutely ridiculous bigotry.

Sri Chinmoy: What does it prove? It proves that the animal in us is not yet fully transformed. It is only waiting for the opportunity to come to the fore and devour the rest of the world. Only when we practise real spirituality, when we sincerely cry for God and the highest Truth through our prayer and meditation, is this animal in us transformed into a divine child. Then slowly, steadily and unerringly the divine child becomes absolutely perfect. This perfection is everybody’s ultimate aim and goal. Unfortunately, right now, the animal is still hiding in us like a hungry wolf. It is only waiting for the opportunity to devour us and the rest of the world.

Lord Mayor: You know, sometimes I find myself nearly preaching in my job here, because of people’s stubbornness. This was chosen as the site of a city where a lot of people would live; therefore, it’s necessary to have roads and interchanges. But there is always a group that says nothing should be done — you’re spoiling nature. My answer to that is twofold. First, if you don’t want to do anything around the river at all, then you should have put the capital city on some hot, dusty sandhill out back, and left the river exactly as it was. And the second is that at least we as humans have done better than perhaps the dinosaurs would have done. They would have been trudging around despoiling parts of the river. So I find myself almost preaching, God forgive me, by saying that I’m a great believer in the divinity of man and that for better or worse we’re the best He’s got. I say that we’re trying to look after people, not trying to worship the ground or the river. It may sometimes be bad luck from an aesthetic point of view, but we have to have some roads and some car parks since this is the place where people have decided to live. It’s my job as Lord Mayor to make Perth as comfortable as possible for the people while at the same time preserving the beauty as best I can. There’s a lot of Western Australia that hasn’t got anything on it except the ants and the birds. And so I keep finding myself almost preaching, saying that in my opinion man is made in the sight of God and this is what we are supposed to be doing. That falls on some deaf ears amongst some of the hard-headed people around, but is it not a reasonable philosophy?

Sri Chinmoy: Absolutely! With my heart’s implicit sincerity I wish to tell you that you are a real lover of God and Truth. What I practise and what my students practise you also try to practise. We use the term “seeker”. We seek God and Truth in a specific way. You are also seeking the Truth and believing and manifesting the Truth in your own way. But our ultimate Goal is the same. What you are doing is absolutely right. The seeker in you is most genuine and most soulful, and because of that I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to be here. The seeker in me and the seeker in you have become eternal friends in the soul’s world. Our eternal friendship is recorded on the tablets of our aspiring hearts.

Sri Chinmoy wrote a dedication to the Mayor in one of his books, and presented it to the Mayor. The Lord Mayor presented a book about Perth to Sri Chinmoy and wrote in it: “To a truly great and humble man. ”

Songs

Before going to Australia, Sri Chinmoy wrote 23 songs in English, which he asked a small group of girls from the San Francisco Centre to learn and sing during the 13 April celebrations. Following are the words to a few of the songs.

O world of peace

O world of peace,
O world of light,
How long shall I
With darkness fight?
How long my heart
Shall cry in vain?
This eyeless world
Has nothing but pain.

O wings of eternal flame

O wings of eternal flame,
Blame not my service lame.
I try, I cry, I sigh;
You are too high, too high.

A sweet and soulful voice

A sweet and soulful voice
Inspires my heart to fly.
Earth-tears still need my smile.
Alas, I have no choice.

I test you not, never

I test you not, never,
In the inner world.
I just show you my heart’s
Sweet oneness-way.

I test you not, never,
In the outer world.
I just tell you to claim
My Eternal Day.

Each man is a challenge vast

Each man is a challenge vast.
Each thought is a world supreme.
Each act will fruitfully last
In God’s Perfection-Dream.

I love the glow of beauty's dream

I love the glow of beauty’s dream.
I love the flow of duty’s joy.
I love the blows of my Lord Supreme.
His is the Love my pride to destroy.

Your gold and silver wealth

Your gold and silver wealth
Shall rest,
Your heart of soulful love
Shall last,
To grant your life Freedom-speed
And Eternity’s
Perfection-seed.

My inner sun is climbing high

My inner sun is climbing high.
My outer darkness-day no more.
My life of service-love shall sail
To God-Beauty’s Ecstasy-shore.

A rose bush for world peace

Sri Chinmoy planted a rose bush for world peace at the Nedlands Memorial Rose Gardens in Perth on 3rd March 1976. With him was Mayor Charles Smith of Nedlands, a suburb of Perth where the Sri Chinmoy Centre is located. Sri Chinmoy offered the Mayor a plaque to be placed at the foot of the rose bush, and began his talk by reading the message on the plaque.

Sri Chinmoy: “This rose bush was planted by Sri Chinmoy for the inspiration of all who aspire towards Peace.” So this I offer to you. And I wish to say, Mr. Mayor, dear spiritual brother, that to be here in your presence is to be blessed by your wisdom-light. You have far surpassed most of us with your soulful maturity. And with your magnanimous heart you have conquered the hearts of many, many, many people. From now on I will be one of those. I shall be one on that list of the countless souls who appreciate and admire you.

Here we are planting a rose bush. The significance of the rose in the inner world is most important. The rose, like other flowers, has fragrance and beauty, but it also has something special, unique. There are very few flowers in God’s creation that please God most. The rose is one of those, along with the lotus. Rose and lotus: these are the two mystical flowers. These are the two flowers in God’s Heart-Garden that please Him most. So the fragrance and beauty of this rose will come from Perth, Australia, and go directly to the Heart of God the Creator and God the Creation.

I wish to say that this is not an honour, it is a blessing that you are bestowing upon me and my followers, and this blessing I am going to treasure all my life. As a seeker, I am offering my aspiration to this rose bush so that it can continuously grow and increase its beauty, fragrance, light and delight to be of constant inspiration to humanity’s progress and constant delight to Divinity’s all-fulfilling Compassion on earth.

Mayor Charles Smith: (very moved) Thank you, sir! Well my friend, on behalf of the Council and the citizens of this very, very wonderful city, we take this plaque from you. It will remain here in front of this bush, which is a reminder also of what has become your homeland, has it not? (The Mayor is referring to the fact that it is a Lincoln Rose.) And it joins, of course, the other bushes in this garden which commemorate the fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, who have lost their lives in the defence of this country and the defence of right and justice throughout the world at many times. It is fitting, sir, that it should be a rose. The rose is the national flower of England, you would probably be aware, and most of our forefathers, of course, originally came from England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales. They are our great grandfathers now, of yesterday.

I’m quite sure that a large number of people, sir, will have a look at this. Questions will be asked as to just who you were and what happened on the 3rd March 1976. If I’m not here, I guess the Town Clerk or one of the others will be here, or Mr. Alan Turner, the head gardener.

Sri Chinmoy: Your spirit and your soul will long be here in this beautiful city, in this beautiful country. (Sri Chinmoy blessed the rose.) This rose is a Lincoln Rose. President Lincoln’s most famous utterance was “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” I wish to say that this Lincoln Rose is not only of Perth’s heart or Australia’s heart, it is of humanity’s heart and for humanity to claim and to utilise.

Back in the Mayor’s office Mayor Smith recited for Sri Chinmoy his favourite poem:

When the world was new and the morning sun
First shone upon sea and land,
When nothing had died and nothing had failed
Of all that the Lord had planned,
God looked down on His handiwork,
On the birds and the beasts and the trees,
And He smiled as He said,
I will make a greater thing than these,
And He fashioned Man.
And He gave him power and strength for his daily tasks,
But for aught that Thou needest more,
He said,
Thou shalt turn unto Me and ask.
And one thing more He put into the world,
The greatest of all to be,
And He hid it deep in the heart of man,
The unknown quantity.
The will to strive, the will to fight,
The will even to die.
And to those who strive with all their might,
Which is all that the best can do,
God’s promise stands as it always stood,
“Behold, I make all things new.”

“The Unknown Quantity.” It appeals me; it’s appealed to me for most of a lifetime because it’s a bit of a rule. I’m not much good at this you know, but it’s been a bit of a rule with me.

Sri Chinmoy: It is an inner revelation.

Mayor: Yes, it is from Revelations: “Behold, I make all things new.”

Sri Chinmoy and his disciples sang “O My Australia” for the Mayor, the Town Clerk and several other councilmen. Sri Chinmoy said before singing the song: “You are a most worthy son of Australia, so I would like to sing it for you.” The words and music of this song appear on the following pages.

Sri Chinmoy presented two of his books: _Songs of the Soul and My Rose Petals to the Mayor, writing in one of the books: “To the Mayor, who has blessed me and my students so generously with his heart’s wisdom-light.” _N.B. Earlier, Mayor Smith and Sri Chinmoy discovered that in the year 1931 Sri Chinmoy was born and Smith first came into office. He has never been defeated in 44 years as mayor. He was born in 1904 and is now 72 years of age.

O my Australia

O my Australia, Australia, Australia!
I love your beauty’s vastness green,
I love your heart’s sweet unseen cry.
Your new soul knows no bondage-screen;
It beckons your body’s strength to fly.

O my Australia, Australia, Australia!
No foe have you: a matchless surprise.
Your simple, soulful life of love
At God’s express Hour choice shall rise.
Yours is the trumpet-triumph here and above.
O my Australia, Australia, Australia!

/— Words and music by Sri Chinmoy/

Philosophy, spirituality and yoga⁴

Philosophy is God-speculation. Spirituality is God-expectation. Yoga is God-union. God-speculation, God-expectation and God-union.

Philosophy most of the time operates on the mental plane. Spirituality operates most of the time in the outer being. Yoga operates in the oneness heart and in the perfection-life.

Philosophy has come to the conclusion that God is stupendous. Spirituality has come to the conclusion that God is glorious. Yoga has come to the conclusion that God is gracious, loving, compassionate, illumining and fulfilling.

God says to philosophy, “My child, you have known Me as something stupendous, and I shall make you stupendous.” God says to spirituality, “You have known Me, My child, as someone glorious. I shall grant you all My Glory.” To Yoga God says, “My child, you have known Me as someone gracious. Of all My qualities, My most treasured quality is Grace. You are also aware of My Love. Nothing is equal to My Love. Because you are aware of My Compassion and Illumination I shall bestow My choicest blessingful Compassion and Illumination on you in infinite measure. And not only that, but also I shall eventually fulfil you by making you another God.”

A student of philosophy studies in the mind school. He wants to measure God’s Infinity. A student of spirituality studies in the body, vital, mind and nature schools. He wants to reach God’s Eternity. A student of Yoga studies in the heart school and in the soul school. In the heart school he studies for liberation from ignorance-night, and in the soul school he studies for the perfect perfection of life here on earth.

Who can measure God’s Infinity? It is absurd to think of trying. Who can catch God’s Eternity? Nobody. But who can try to become liberated? Who can try to become perfect? Everybody. You, he, I, everybody. Everybody in God’s Creation can make a soulful attempt to be freed from the meshes of ignorance and to be perfect. In the heart school and the soul school the student of Yoga learns something else: he learns how to become an unconditional instrument of God. He learns to live on earth only to please God in God’s own Way.

The student of philosophy is puzzled. The student of spirituality is astonished. The student of Yoga is awakened, totally awakened. The student of philosophy wants to address the world assembly. He wants to prove that God does exist. The student of spirituality wants to carry God’s Light to the length and breadth of the world. The student of Yoga has been commissioned by the infinite Bounty of God Himself to embody, reveal and manifest God in God’s own Way.

Philosophy and spirituality belong to the domain of knowledge, whereas Yoga belongs to the domain of wisdom. I am extremely happy to learn that the motto of this august university is “Sweet Wisdom”. When a seeker practices true Yoga, he comes to realise that there can be nothing more important in his life than wisdom-light. He discovers that there is a vast difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is nothing more than the accumulation of world-facts and information. These facts and information do not and cannot illumine his aspiring consciousness. But wisdom-light can and does illumine his entire being, his earthly life and his earth-bound reality. What is proper wisdom? Proper wisdom is the realisation that God is at once One and many, the Creator and the Creation. In the inner world He is Silence and in the outer world He is Sound. The seeker also realises that God needs him as much as he needs God.

Each individual can launch into the path of the spirit. He can start as a philosophy student. Then he can become a spirituality student. Then he can become a student of Yoga. The most important thing for each human being is to start the journey. There is no end to our journey. There is no end to our goal. One should consciously start, even if he starts only out of curiosity. If he has even a little thirst for God-discovery, let him start with curiosity. Naturally, there will come a time when mere curiosity will not satisfy him. He will try to go deeper. Then he will resort to imagination. Let him try to imagine God in whatever way he wants to. Soon there will come a time when he will no longer be satisfied with his imagination. Then he will go one step ahead. He will knock at the door of inspiration. He will continue his journey with inspiration, and for some time he will go on using all his inspiration.

But there will come a time when the seeker will realise that imagination and inspiration cannot carry him far enough. Then he will try to go deep within to discover if there is anything else that he needs for his inner journey. He will discover that he is missing something, and that thing is aspiration. Once he has discovered aspiration in the inmost recesses of his heart, all his problems are solved. All past, present and future problems put together are helpless in the face of aspiration, for aspiration is the burning, glowing flame within — a birthless and endless flame. This flame mounts high, higher, highest. It purifies the things that have to be purified in our unlit, obscure, impure nature and, while illumining the unlit, obscure, impure qualities in us, it immortalises the divine qualities in us: faith in God, love of God, and surrender, unconditional surrender, which says to God, “Let Thy Will be done.”

Pictures

Sri Chinmoy meets a kangaroo
— photo by Lalita

Sri Chinmoy at a public meditation at Melbourne, Australia
— photo by Lalita

Sri Chinmoy, in Canberra yesterday

UN meditation leader on visit

The director of the United Nations Meditation Group in New York, Sri Chinmoy, who is visiting Australia at the request of his disciples in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, spoke last night at a meeting at University House, ANU.

Sri Chinmoy is the head of an international spiritual organisation with about 60 centres throughout the world. He is the author of more than 250 books of spiritual poetry, essays, plays, stories and lectures and has painted more than 100,000 mystical paintings.

He teaches a mystical approach to God based on love, devotion and surrender to the Divine Will. He said yesterday that he and his disciples tried to see and feel the presence of God and worked for mankind through prayer and meditation.

Sri Chinmoy, 44, came to the West in 1964 after 20 years in a spiritual community in his native India practising intense spiritual disciplines. He spends about two months every year travelling to centres around the world “inspiring my students” and has lectured in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. This is his first visit to Australia.

He has already addressed meetings in Perth and Sydney and will go to Melbourne today. About eight of his 30 Australian disciples are travelling with him.

Tribute to Ananta⁵

My Ananta, your physical absence has thrown me totally into a sea of sorrow and grief. You have been extremely close to me. Your loving heart, your heart of sacrifice, your heart of oneness with my heart, has always made me feel that there is someone who will blindly follow me. If I had said that the sun rises in the West, without the least possible hesitation you would have said that I was right. My wish was your command at every moment. How I wish to have a few more dedicated, devoted and surrendered disciples like you were.

Eight years ago we inaugurated our Puerto Rican Centre with a small group of six members. With these six members we formed a committee. To my extreme sorrow, out of the six, one by one, five left us. And now you — the most sincere, most devoted, most surrendered, the only one who stayed with us from the very beginning — now you are with our Beloved Supreme.

Even now my physical mind does not believe, cannot believe, that you have left this earth. Yesterday, at least five times I called out your name at the Centre: “Ananta, Ananta. Why are you late? What are you doing?” The physical mind cannot believe that you have left us. My heart of oneness will always feel that you are deep within my heart, and you are unconditionally for me. Since you left the body about two weeks ago (not according to medical science, but according to my spiritual realisation), I always see you in the soul’s world carrying divinely, heroically, supremely, my banner of victory. This is not my mental hallucination. This is the real reality that my third eye sees.

My Ananta. We use the term ‘selfless service’. In our Centres this service has originated with you. You are the head of selfless service. You are the pioneer, absolutely the pioneer server. Selfless service is your foremost contribution to our spiritual family. I personally did not know what selfless service truly meant in the outer life until you became my disciple. It was through your devoted service that I came to know how far and how deep one can go. We now unmistakably see that selfless service is another form of meditation. One can discover Reality on the strength of selfless service.

‘Ananta’ means ‘the endless, infinite Vast’. Six months ago you asked me whether it was my wish to give you a spiritual name since I didn’t give you the name ‘Ananta’. I told you it was not necessary, because the name that you have is extremely beautiful and soulful and it does apply to your soul’s qualities, especially in one aspect: your endless sacrifice for mankind. Therefore, I told you it was unnecessary.

The Puerto Rican Centre has been blessed with quite a few devoted, sincere seekers, but your service will eternally remain unparalleled. Some of my Puerto Rican disciples call me ‘Master’. I wish to say that it was you, my Ananta, the pioneer seeker who first started calling me Master. There were occasions when I used to cut jokes with you. I used to tell you that the Master is the Supreme. There was a time when I did not know how to drive a car. You knew how to drive a car, but you had such faith in me that you used to ask me at times what you were supposed to do. I said, “This Master cannot help you, Ananta. He does not know how to drive.” But you said, “No, Master, I cannot believe you. Anyway, you are driving inwardly. That is what I need most.”

Wherever I have been with you, you have shown me your tremendous sacrifice, your oneness. If I had to spell ‘Ananta’, then I would spell it only this way: S-A-C-R-I-F-I-C-E.

On radio, television and newspaper, you have helped us considerably in spreading our light in Puerto Rico. And from here the rest of the world received the same inspiration and aspiration to spread our light. This inspiration, aspiration, dedication, came from you, my Ananta.

One thing you have done for me which no other disciple has ever done or will ever do. Seven or eight years ago when I used to come here, you used to literally go from door to door and tell people, “My Master has come, my Master has come. Come to the meeting. Come and see my Master.” Then if anybody showed any interest in my path, you used to go to that person’s place and spend hours and hours there talking with him and inspiring him. Sometimes you used to take the person to a restaurant to eat, only to please him, to satisfy his needs, so that you could bring him to the Centre. You sacrificed countless hours in order to bring one person to the Centre because your Master had come. Sometimes the disciples ask me for mantras. Ananta’s mantra was always, “My Master has come, my Master has come!” I don’t think I will get any other disciple who identifies himself with me to such an extent that he will go from door to door to bring people to our Centre.

I am lucky, I am proud, that I never felt the need to scold you. My heart never allowed me to scold you, even if you had made some mistake, and for that I am proud of myself. When I think of you, my Ananta, I think of the most special flower that grows inside my heart. The physical in me, the human in me, is missing you terribly. Terribly is an understatement. But the divine in me, the realised soul in me, is feeding you with inner light, peace and bliss in boundless measure. But as long as I am on earth, the human in me — the human eyes, the human senses — will miss the human in you that was so close to me.

The day before yesterday, I went to see you. I knew your soul was not in the physical. The last message your soul gave me when I was there was, “Master, this body is not alive.” But the doctor said you were still alive. The doctor called this mechanical breathing life. I am not a doctor; I have to listen to the doctor’s verdict. But the soul in me, my oneness-soul with your soul, my realisation-soul, knows that about two weeks ago your soul left the body. Your soul came to me — a beautiful, beautiful soul — and said, “My life I have placed before the Universal Father, the Supreme.”

Your absence on the physical plane is undoubtedly an irreparable loss to us, especially to me. When I think of Puerto Rico without my Ananta, my Puerto Rican Centre seems incomplete. But again, I know that although the physical in you has left us, the absolutely real in you, the eternally real in you, is the soul, which will remain with us eternally. Your soul will help us, inspire us, serve us, fulfil us from the higher planes. Now you will do even more than what you have done for us on the physical plane.

To me, my Ananta, you have been precious, most precious. Your oneness-service to the Supreme in your spiritual Master not only today, not only for a few years, but forever will remain invaluable.

Picture

Sri Chinmoy blessing Ananta
— photo by Sarama