1.

Simplicity we see.
Purity we feel.
Divinity we become.

Note

On the eve of Christmas, 1974, many of Sri Chinmoy’s disciples from all over the world met together to meditate and sing Christmas carols from many countries. The preceding picture was taken during the meditation. Afterwards, during the carolling, Sri Chinmoy wrote twenty imaginative poem-conversations between himself and the Christ. Following is a selection of six.

1.

Brother Jesus,
Do you have any special message
For us today,
On the day of your Earth-awakening
And
God-revealing?

“Yes, a very short message:
Don’t give up.”

2.

Brother Jesus,
Tell me, how is everything
In Heaven?

“Heaven is resting.
And I tell you,
It will not open its eye
Unless earth gives up
Its stupid
Inferiority-pride.”

3.

Brother Jesus, why is your Heaven
So fond of singing the song
Of indifference-sky?

“Brother C, why is your earth
So fond of dancing the dance
Of stupidity-sea?”

4.

Brother Jesus,
Will you do me a big favour?

“Certainly, I shall.”

Please tell Father
That of late I have been
Thinking of Him constantly.

“Brother C,
I give you my word of honour
The moment I go back
And sit at Father’s Feet
I shall offer
Him Your message.
Don’t you worry.
Brother C,
It is getting late.
I must not cause
Any unnecessary worry for
Our poor old Father.”

Brother Jesus,
I perfectly understand that.
Go, go back to our lucky Father.
Let me stay, commissioned if not compelled,
With our unlucky Mother.

5.

Brother Jesus,
Tell me frankly,
Do you care for Moses?

“Yes, I do.
How can I not care for the creator
Of the Jewish people?
How can I deny the great lawgiver?”

Where is Moses now?
What is Moses doing nowadays?

“He is working very hard
To discover a few new laws
That will stand against Earth’s atom bomb
And hydrogen bomb.”

6.

Brother Jesus,
I am sharing with the world
Only my imagination-sound-talk with you.
Will you permit me
To share with the world
Our reality-silence-conversation?

“No, for our Father’s sake, no!
Don’t be a fool.
If you do that,
Father’s perfect and complete Manifestation
In and through your children
Will suffer
Eternity’s endless delay.”

What does surrender really mean?¹

Surrender means oneness, inseparable oneness with our infinite, eternal, immortal life. Without surrendering, we will not know that we are infinite, eternal and immortal. As soon as we enter into the sea, we experience the consciousness of the sea itself. We may swim in only one particular spot, but the consciousness of the vast sea becomes ours. Here the finite consciously enters into the Infinite. Surrender means conscious oneness of our real Self with the Infinite. When we surrender, we become one with the infinite Eternity, which is a seeker’s birthright. At this time we do not lose our own finite individuality; instead we now become the possessor of divine Infinity. The imperfect nature becomes totally one with the perfect nature. Our surrender has become our accomplishment, our fulfilment.

Let us not play with the word ‘surrender’. It is a most significant and soulful word in the aspirant’s life. An aspirant can use the word in and out of season, but when the actuality of surrendering his will to the divine Will confronts him, the aspirant will be ready for anything but surrender. Difficulty is one thing; impossibility is another. It is impossible for an aspirant to surrender unless he understands the meaning of surrender. He has to be careful not to desecrate the absolute purity of the word ‘surrender’.

In human surrender, the slave surrenders to the master. We dislike this kind of surrender because it is beneath our dignity. Here, the slave pleases the master out of fear, not out of love. In ordinary human surrender, we lose our personality and our individuality. When we say, “I surrender to you,” we fear that the one to whom we are surrendering will lord it over us. When he says, “Stand up,” we will have to stand up. If he says, “Sit down,” we will have to sit down. We are at the feet of that person in spite of our own will.

Spiritual surrender is not the surrender of a slave to a master. Spiritual surrender is our absolute oneness with our own highest part, with the Supreme. We do not feel that we are surrendering to somebody other than ourselves. When our Master stands in front of us and bows down, to whom is he bowing? He is bowing to the Supreme in us. And when we bow down with folded hands to the Master, we are bowing to the Supreme in him. His Highest and our Highest can never be two different things; they are the same.

To understand the truest meaning of surrender, we have to remember that it must be constant and unconditional. The moment we ask the Supreme the significance of His Will or the motive behind His action, there is no surrender. In true surrender we do not ask what or why. Surrender means to jump with absolute faith into the sea of the unknown. Today we find ourselves in the sea of the unknowable; tomorrow, in the sea of the unknown; the day after tomorrow, in the sea of the known. The following day we have become the unknowable, the unknown and the known.

The necessity of surrender

How can we surrender to the Will of God? First let us ask ourselves whether we can accomplish anything worthwhile by not following the Will of God. Can we be truly happy by not surrendering to God’s Will? The answer is ‘No’. We cannot be happy without surrender to God’s Will. Why are we going to surrender to God’s Will? Are we going to surrender to God just because we are helpless? If we are very sincere, we will have to answer ‘No’. We are not surrendering to God because we are helpless or because God is making us feel helpless. We are surrendering our will to God’s Will because we are not satisfied with what we have and with what we are.

There comes a time in our spiritual life when we realise that we are not satisfied with what we have, whether it is material wealth or inner wealth, or with what we are. At that time we are ready for surrender. How does one surrender? It is very easy. When we feel the need for surrender, automatically the means will come. If we are desperately in need of surrender, if we feel the soul’s inner urge, if our entire being wants to surrender to God’s Will, then automatically we will be given more than the necessary capacity, assurance, Compassion and Light from above and within. When we surrender, we empty all our impurity into God and He replaces it with His Purity and His Divinity.

Surrender to God’s Will entirely depends on our necessity. If we feel that our life is meaningless, that we won’t be satisfied or fulfilled without surrendering our earthly existence to God’s Will, then surrender will be possible for us.

The Christ’s message was, “Let Thy Will be done.” The Son said that we are all God’s children and God’s Will has to be fulfilled. What the Bible speaks of is repeated in our message of surrender. It says the same theme, but in a different form. All spiritual Masters have come into the world with one message: love God and inside God see and love humanity; then surrender the individual will to the Will of the Supreme.

Before we can prepare ourselves for surrender, we have to acquire the capacity for love and devotion. If we do not feel love and devotion, then what is the necessity of surrender? Is there anything that can compel our spiritual surrender? No. We surrender just because of our love, just because of our devotion. God never compels us to surrender; it is we who have to feel the necessity of loving God and devoting ourselves to God at every second.

We start with love. Even in the ordinary life, when we love someone, what do we do? Just because we love that person we gladly surrender to him, even if he is an ignorant person. If I really love someone, then I want to devote my life and my entire being to that person or his life. In the spiritual life also, if we really love God, who is all Light and infinite Wisdom, then we have to devote ourselves to the inner life, to God. We will find that without truly devoting ourselves to God, it is impossible to love God wholeheartedly. Love and devotion always go together.

We love and devote ourselves to the Supreme. But when we feel that this is not enough, we try to surrender to the Will of the Supreme. When we devote ourselves to something or someone, we may have an ambition or a hankering for a personal way of getting the Truth. Some will say to the Supreme, “I am doing this for You; I have devoted all my life to You and expect You to give me something in return.” This is quite natural, but in the highest spiritual life it is wrong. Others will say, “I shall give what I have and what I am to God. If God does not like me or want me, then He may give me nothing; it is up to Him. My duty is to serve Him with what I have and what I am; it is His Duty to give me or not to give me, to utilise me or not to utilise me according to His Will. Anything I need, God will give me. If He has something in mind for my life, I will do it. ‘Let Thy Will be done.’” This is the right attitude. A real seeker will try to please God in God’s own way. A real seeker will say that if God wants him to remain in the sea of ignorance, he will remain. This is called surrender.

Surrender is misunderstood in the Western world. But when a spiritual person uses the word ‘surrender’, this is not the surrender of the slave to the master. We are not God’s slaves; we are God’s children. The Western world is a world of freedom, where nobody is willing to be a slave to anyone else. But in real surrender we are not surrendering our existence to a human being or to a human personality; we are surrendering our existence to the infinite Will within the person whom we call our teacher. While a tiny drop remains separated from the infinite ocean, it is just a tiny drop; but the moment it enters into the mighty ocean, it becomes the ocean itself. A tiny drop will be afraid of the ocean if it maintains its individuality. It will say, “I will be totally lost. It is such a vast ocean!” But if the tiny drop has a little wisdom, it will say, “If I enter into the mighty ocean, then I will become absolutely one with the ocean.” And as soon as it enters into the ocean, it will get the utmost satisfaction.

Our path of love, devotion and surrender leads to the same goal as the path of jnana, or wisdom. But we feel that the path of love is easier. The very word ‘God’ conquers our hearts, not because God has infinite Power, but just because God is all Love. God is the mightiest Being, but if we concentrate on God as infinite Power, our human nature is so feeble that we shall not be able to approach Him. If we say, ‘God’ and immediately feel that He is all Love, infinite Love, then we are right. His Love is His greatest Power. If we approach God through love, this is the easiest and quickest way to surrender.

1.

Vision is the outer power of the inner faith.
Faith is the seeker’s eternal Haven.

2.

During his lecture tour in Europe this past summer, Sri Chinmoy had a significant interview with Mr. Erskine Childers, the late President of Ireland. Upon hearing of the President’s unexpected death, Sri Chinmoy wrote to Mrs. Childers to express his sympathy and offer his spiritual consolation. Following is a reproduction of the very gracious reply sent by Mr. Childers’ son.

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

PROGRAMME DES NATIONS UNIES POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT

866 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA
NEW YORK, N.Y. 10017

TELEPHONE: 754-1234

CABLE ADDRESS: UNDEVPRO • NEW YORK

8 January 1975

Dear Sri Chinmoy,

I carried your very kind letter of condolences to my stepmother, the late President's widow, back here to New York to answer on her behalf. It was most thoughtful of you, and she and I were especially touched by it. Knowing my father's range of concerns and interests, I can well understand that he found meeting with you a great pleasure.

You may remember that, at the Presidency, there is a very lovely little lake, on the enrichment of which my father worked hard — indeed, I fear that the amount of sheer physical labour that he put into clearing its shore to plant shrubs from all over the world on his last day may have contributed to the strain that felled him. That night he gave a speech to the combined British and Irish associations of psychiatrists, and his theme was a plea against the indiscriminate prescription of sedatives and tranquillisers, above all to young people, many of whom could be helped far better by locating themselves within their selves and their society. Specialists tell me that he spoke with great feeling, and that this may have finally brought on the massive heart attack.

We hope to have the lake, and especially an island he cleared in the centre of it, made into a memorial to him and, quite specifically, a place of meditation. One of the little texts that would be set among the shrubs would be his favourite prayer, from the 15th century, which he read at his Inauguration:

God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in mine eyes, and in my looking;
God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;
God be in my heart, and in my thinking;
God be at mine end, and at my departing.

Again, our grateful thanks for your kindness,

Sincerely,

Erskine Childers
Director, Division of Information

Sri Chinmoy
Spiritual Director
United Nations Meditation Group
New York, N.Y. 10017.

Jharna-Kala

Sri Chinmoy has already completed his second thousand paintings since he began this new form of expression late in November 1974, and he is well into his third thousand. Following are four birds, his favourite animal for drawing.

Light-Delight-Journeys

AUM 1360-1365. On the bus from Ottawa to Montreal in November, each of Sri Chinmoy's disciples chose a folded piece of paper with either 'Supreme' or 'ignorance' written on it. Sri Chinmoy then recorded the word each disciple had chosen and wrote a poem for that disciple, using the word he had picked. Following are three of the 'Supreme' poems and three of the 'ignorance' poems.

Supreme

Supreme God of my soul,
Your Height
I dare not scale;
Your Depth
I dare not fathom.
But I do know
On the strength of
My inner cry
I claim You as my very own.

Supreme

My soul sees the Face
Of my Supreme Pilot
Daily,
Unmistakably,
Unconditionally.
Alas, my own stupid mind
Fails to believe it,
Let alone the suspicion-world.
Alas, alas!
But my only consolation is
That my Lord Supreme will one day prove
That I am not an inch far
From real Reality’s life.

Supreme

Supreme, Supreme, Supreme,
Do You think I can be near Your Feet?
Do You think I can be inside Your Heart?
Do You think I can ever
Please You the way I love You?
I know these are very difficult questions.
But You can take Your own time.
After all, I am not in a hurry.

Ignorance

Ignorance, I warn you,
Dream not to blind my earth-eyes
Any more.
I am with my Lord Supreme.

Ignorance, I warn you,
Dream not to bind my Heaven-heart
Any more.
I am for my Lord,
And my Lord alone.
Within my earth’s easy reach my illumination-soul.
Within my infallible ken, my perfection-goal.

Ignorance

Ignorance,do you think you are really powerful?
I tell you, you are not.
My heart’s cry is infinitely stronger.

Ignorance, stupidity’s height, futility’s night,
Do I have to hear from you
How far or how close
My Beloved Supreme is?
I know where He is.
I know who He is.
I know why He is.

Where is He?
He is inside my heart-life.

Who is He?
He is my Eternity’s Lord Supreme.

Why is He?
To fulfil Himself in and through me.

Ignorance

Ignorance-child of mine,
Millions and billions and trillions
Of miles you have covered with me.
Are you not tired?
I think you really are.
Let me walk alone for a while.
I assure you,
If and when I reach
My salvation-liberation-realisation-perfection-goal,
I shall definitely come back to you
To feed you,
Transform you
And immortalise you.

2.

The NORTH AMERICAN MENTOR Magazine

ANNUAL MENTOR POETRY AWARD

1974

CERTIFICATE OF MERIT

for poem entitled

O Bird of Light

by

Sri Chinmoy

THE NORTH AMERICAN MENTOR
John Edward Westburg, Ph.D.
Editor

The poem chosen by Mentor Magazine is Sri Chinmoy’s translation of a poem which he wrote in Bengali at the age of thirteen. The poem appears here, followed by the Bengali transliteration and the music, also written by Sri Chinmoy. The Master considers this one of his most beautiful songs and one of his most significant poems.

O Bird of Light

One thought, one tune, one resonance —
Who calls me ever and anon?
I know not where I am;
I know not whither I shall go.
In dark amnesia
Myself I buy, myself I sell.
All I break, again all I build.
All I hope to be mine, mine alone.
Alas, my heart is eclipsed
By dark and wild destruction-night.
O Bird of Light, O Bird of Light,
With your glowing and flowing flames
Do enter into my heart once again.
You are calling me to climb up
And fly into the blue,
But how can I?
My heart is in prison
In the strangled breath of a tiny room.
O Bird of Light, O Bird of Light,
O Bird of Light Supreme,
In me, I pray,
Keep not an iota of gloom.


Ekti katha ekti sur ekyi jhankar
Nam dhare ke dakchhe jena amai barebar
Kothai achhi kothai jabo
Nai jena thikena
Ghumer ghore karchhi shudhu
Ami becha kena
Kata bhangi katai gari
Katai kari asha
Hiya khani dhekechhe mor
Andhar sarbanasha
Alor pakhi, alor pakhi
Abar eso phire
Jyotir dhara banan kare
Namo amar shire
Dak ditechha urdhe jete
Jabo keman kare
Bandhi je mor paran khani
Ekti andhar ghare
Alor pakhi, alor pakhi
Alor pakhi, alo
Prane amar rekhona ar
Ektu andhar kalo

Faith and devotion

1.

Faith is God’s mighty Power in man.
Devotion is man’s mighty power in God.
Faith carries man into the heart of God.
Devotion carries God into the heart of man.

2.

Faith. What is faith?
It is the safest way to Liberation.
Devotion. What is devotion?
It is the swiftest way to Liberation.

3.

Faith without action is feeble.
Action without faith is brittle.

4.

To have faith is to have fulfilment.
Faith is fulfilment realised and revealed.