Video by Utpal Marshall
On March 3rd 1979, Sri Chinmoy completed his first marathon in Chico California in a time of 4:31:34. Each year since then, his students in New York and around the world have honoured him by running the 26-mile distance.
Video by Utpal Marshall
On March 3rd 1979, Sri Chinmoy completed his first marathon in Chico California in a time of 4:31:34. Each year since then, his students in New York and around the world have honoured him by running the 26-mile distance.
Sri Chinmoy gives a talk to the students of Karate Teacher Mr. Kimo Wall of Honolulu, Hawaii, at the Sagrado Corazon College in San Juan, Puerto Rico, after Mr. Wall and his students had given an extraordinary demonstration of their skills.
Sri Chinmoy completes his 7,000th Jharna-Kala artwork, after painting another 1,000 while in Puerto Rico. The final 181 paintings are completed in 2 hours. This achievement comes just three months after he began creating his ‘Fountain-Art’ in Ottawa, Canada, on November 19, 1974.
Sri Chinmoy composes the song ‘O My Puerto Rico’ dedicated to the Governor of Puerto Rico Rafael Hernandez Colon.
An interview with Sri Chinmoy for the Ted Bonnet Show is broadcast at 2:00 p.m.on radio station WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy performs piano improvisations in concert to celebrate his second Piano Anniversary at Progress-Promise in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy celebrates his 18th Esraj Anniversary and his 5th Piano Anniversary at the Wednesday evening meditation at Public School 86 in Jamaica, New York, USA. His performance on the Bösendorfer piano lasts 23 minutes and 13 seconds.
Sri Chinmoy meets Masanobu Ikemiya at Annam Brahma restaurant in Jamaica, NY, USA. Sri Chinmoy answers questions from the famous Japanese composer and concert pianist.
Sri Chinmoy’s book I Go Out, I Come In is published. The first printing contains 33 poems. The second printing contains 92 poems.
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert and celebrates his 23rd Esraj Anniversary at Public School 86 in Jamaica, NY, USA.
An article about Sri Chinmoy’s Peace Concert appears in the Slovakian newspaper ‘Trhak’.
Sri Chinmoy lifts two 650-lb. dumbbells (1,300 lbs. in total) simultaneously, using both arms, in Jamaica, NY, USA.
Sri Chinmoy celebrates his 13th Piano Anniversary by giving an 18-minute perfornance at Public School 177 in Jamaica, Queens, New York. The recording is later released as a CD, entitled ‘Omnipotence-Poise’.
Sri Chinmoy meets with flautist Paul Horn — who had given a concert for Sri Chinmoy and his students the previous evening — for an extended lunch at Annam Brahma restaurant in Jamaica, New York. In the evening, Paul Horn attends a concert performed by Sri Chinmoy.
Sri Chinmoy celebrates his 30th Esraj Anniversary by performing 30 songs in a concert – the recording is later released on a CD entitled Esraj: My Heart-Song.
The following interview was broadcast on radio station WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, NY, on 19 February 1976, at 2:00 p.m.
Question: What approach to God do the follower’s of your religion take?
Sri Chinmoy: First of all I would like to make it very clear that ours is not a religion. Ours is a path, a path that leads to God-realisation. In order to reach this destination some people pray, while others meditate. In our case we do both, but the emphasis is on meditation. There is a definite difference between prayer and meditation. When we pray, we talk and God listens. When we meditate, God talks and we listen.
Question: What benefit do you derive from meditation?
Sri Chinmoy: First and foremost, when we meditate we get peace of mind. The world has everything except peace of mind. Then, the world has become very complex. We want to simplify our lives so that we can run towards our goal without countless distractions. When we meditate, we simplify our earthly life so that we can run faster towards our goal. When we meditate, we see the reality in everything. Right now there are many things on earth which do not seem real to us. But when we meditate, we see the essence, the reality-seed, in everything.
When we meditate properly, we come to realise that God is not only in Heaven hut He is also on earth. In the West there is a belief that the Father is in Heaven and the son is on earth. But when we meditate properly, we feel that wherever the son is the Father also has to be. If the son is on earth, the Father is also on earth. In His entire creation, the Compassion-Light of the Supreme reigns. Meditation makes us feel that there is no place where God does not exist. And it is through meditation that we bring to the fore the living presence of God in all our multifarious activities.
Question: How can a person learn to meditate?
Sri Chinmoy: If someone wants to learn how to meditate, either he has to go to a spiritual teacher or he has to study some spiritual books. If the seeker does not care for a spiritual Master, then he has to study some spiritual books. The difficulty here is that each individual seeker has a specific way to meditate. A book will give general instructions with regard to meditation, but if the seeker has no teacher, he has to select from the books the things that will suit him. If the seeker accepts a Master, the Master will give him at the very beginning the inner guidance that will help him learn how to meditate properly. This is the advantage of having a Master.
Question: If someone does not want to study spiritual books and does not want to go to a spiritual Master, then what should he do?
Sri Chinmoy: In this case he should try to make his mind absolutely calm and quiet when he wants to meditate. Then, if he sees that there are some good thoughts arising in his mind, he should let these good thoughts play in his mind. If he has thoughts of love, joy, peace, and bliss, then he can let these thoughts grow and play in his mind or in his heart. But if he has thoughts of fear, doubt, jealousy, insecurity and other negative forces, then he should try to destroy them immediately. He has to feel that his mind is his door. He has quite a few friends and quite a few enemies who are trying to come in, but he will allow only his friends to enter the door, not his enemies. His friends are love, joy, peace, bliss and so forth. This is the simplest form of meditation.
Question: Will it be easier to meditate if one knows how to concentrate first?
Sri Chinmoy: If one wants to start with concentration, then usually it will be easier for him to meditate. There are three spiritual terms that go together: concentration, meditation and contemplation. Concentration paves the way for meditation. If one knows how to concentrate, then it will be easier for him to meditate. And if one knows how to meditate, then it will be possible for him to contemplate. Concentration is the practice of focusing our attention on a particular subject or object to the complete exclusion of anything else. Our entire mind will be concentrated only. on that particular subject. Nothing else in God’s creation should be allowed to enter into our mind. We will focus all our attention on one particular object.
When our power of concentration becomes strong and vigilant, we can try to meditate. In order to meditate we make our mind calm, quiet and tranquil. We try not to have any thoughts at all. Then, when we are successful in our meditation, we can try to contemplate. Contemplation is the third stage and it is both the most important and the most difficult. The seeker becomes one with his Beloved Supreme on the strength of his proper contemplation. He feels that he and his Lord Supreme exist as one; there is nothing separating the two. They become one and inseparable.
To come back to your question, if one knows how to concentrate, then it will be easier for him to learn how to meditate, although one can learn meditation without practising concentration first. The best thing is to start with concentration. It is like walking up a ladder. The first rung is concentration, the second is meditation and the third and ultimate is contemplation. I would advise the beginner to start with concentration. But if a beginner finds it too difficult even to concentrate, then he should start with japa. Japa means repeating a syllable or a word or a few words over and over again. He can start with ‘peace,’ ‘joy,’ ‘love,’ ‘God’ or any divine word that gives him satisfaction. This will help him considerably if he cannot concentrate right at the very beginning.
Question: Do we really need a spiritual teacher?
Sri Chinmoy: Whatever you want to learn, you will be able to learn faster and better with a teacher. Suppose somebody wants to learn how to sing. Naturally, he will go to a singing teacher. After he has studied under the teacher’s guidance for some time, there comes a time when the student has learned everything. Then he no longer needs the help of a teacher. We need a teacher for everything: singing, dancing, swimming. Meditation also needs to be learned properly, and he who is wise will go to an authority on this subject in order to learn it.
People come to me because they feel that I am familiar with this subject and I can offer them some light, some peace of mind, some inner and outer guidance and assurance. As I said before, books are available in the market about how to concentrate and meditate, but most people need direct guidance if they really want to learn well. People go to school just because they feel the necessity of a teacher to give them direct knowledge and guidance. In the inner life also, if one wants to make fast progress, then one goes to a spiritual Master. I am not the only one; there are a few others on earth. But if one likes my method of teaching or my course of study, then he will come to me. If one likes somebody else’s method, naturally he will go to that other Master. Eventually, my students and the students of other Masters will arrive at the same Goal. All the true spiritual paths lead to the same Goal. The destination is one, although we are walking along many roads.
Question: How many disciples do you have?
Sri Chinmoy: Right now about a thousand students all over the world. These are my actual disciples — those who have outwardly and inwardly accepted me as their spiritual Master. But I also have followers. Followers are those who read my writings and try to get some inspiration and wisdom from my writings. The difference between the followers and the disciples is that the disciples try to follow certain spiritual disciplines regularly. They pray, they concentrate or meditate, they try to follow my advice as sincerely as possible. The followers are not as strict as the disciples. They are also trying to make progress, but in their own way. So altogether I have about a thousand disciples in about fifty Centres all over the world.
Question: I was told you will be going to Australia next month. Why are you going there?
Sri Chinmoy: I have been invited by the disciples in four Centres of mine there to hold meditations and give spiritual talks. I shall be there for two weeks giving talks at various places. For the last four years my disciples in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide have been inviting me to hold meditations, give talks and offer my dedicated service to the Australians. So now I am going at last.
Question: Do you give spiritual talks often?
Sri Chinmoy: Yes, very regularly. For the past three weeks I have been speaking at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. I gave a series of seven talks there. Two days ago I gave a talk in Cape Cod. Twice a week I go to the United Nations and also I have centres in Connecticut, New Jersey, Manhattan and Queens. I am occupied every day.
Interviewer: Sri Chinmoy, thank you very much for being on the air with us today.
Sri Chinmoy: I offer you my heart’s sincere appreciation and gratitude for having given me the opportunity to serve your listeners.
Published in AUM – Vol. 3, No. 2, February 27, 1976
O My Puerto Rico!
Your soul is beauty’s flow,
Your heart is duty’s glow.
O my Puerto Rico!
Your simple life of Truth
Is God’s Perfection-Ruth.
To you I bow, to you I bow,
In our Lord’s Eternity-Now.
To you I bow, to you I bow,
O my Puerto Rico!
Sri Chinmoy dedicates the song to Rafael Hernandez Colon — Governor of Puerto Rico on 21 February 1975
Published in My Aspiration-Heart’s Country-Life-Salutations
Peace is a God-lover’s Aspiration-harvest.
Published in O My Peace-Nest-Heart
Sri Chinmoy offers a Peace Concert and celebrates his 23rd Esraj Anniversary at Public School 86 in Jamaica, New York.
Sri Chinmoy celebrates his 13th Piano Anniversary by giving an 18-minute perfornance at Public School 177 in Jamaica, Queens, New York. The recording is later released as a CD, entitled ‘Omnipotence-Poise’.
Sri Chinmoy lifts two 650-lb. dumbbells (1,300 lbs. in total) simultaneously, using both arms, in Jamaica, Queens, New York.
My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!
Today it will be a symbolic lift.
My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!
Today I am embarking on
A very, very, very long journey.
While I am taking each step forward,
I am going to offer You
My heart’s gratitude-tears.
I do hope that one day,
Out of Your infinite Bounty,
You will take me to my destination.
My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!
Sri Chinmoy offers this prayer at 8:37 a.m. before lifting 650 lbs. with each arm simultaneously six times (Total: 1,300 lbs.) New record.
Published in My Morning Soul-Body Prayers, part 12
My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!
Indeed, a mystic journey
In the weightlifting world.
My Supreme, my Supreme, my Supreme!
Sri Chinmoy offers this prayer at 8:56 a.m. after successfully lifting 1,300 lbs.
Published in My Morning Soul-Body Prayers, part 12
by Sri Chinmoy
After lifting 1,000 pounds with both arms I got the inspiration to go directly to 1,300 pounds. Today was my first attempt at lifting 1,300 pounds with both arms simultaneously — 650 in each arm. Before lifting, I announced, “Today will be my symbolic lifting. God alone knows how many years and months it will take me to actually lift the weight.”
For the first lift, I gave myself zero. But when I did the second lift, my third eye was telling me that my left arm went up a little. My human eyes were telling me that it is all foolishness.
Then, when it came to the third lift, definitely the push was coming. For the fourth lift, I turned on the camera and the result was very good. The fifth lift happened to be the best. I then did it two more times. The fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh lifts are all noticeable and visible. Today, on the very first day, it has gone practically as high as 1,000 pounds. So you can see, impossibility is not to be found in our aspiration-dedication-journey.
I did not take any stretching exercises or use any other machines beforehand. I said, “Since I depend entirely on the Supreme, why do I have to take stretching exercises?” Only I took a shower. This is how stupidity entered.
For me, it is nothing short of a miracle and again, there is no such thing as a miracle at the Feet of our Beloved Supreme. This is called Grace. From 900 to 1,000 pounds, it took four days. Then today I lifted 1,300 pounds on the very first day. On the 13th of April I will do it so that even the blind can see!
I never, never imagined that with this 300-pound increment I would be able to succeed on the very first day. So it is one hundred per cent due to the Grace of the Supreme. That is why after the lift I said, “Indeed, a mystic journey in the weightlifting world.”
Published in A Mystic Journey in the Weightlifting World, part 4
by Sri Chinmoy
It seems that something historical has taken place today. Only future generations will appreciate it. This morning, at 8:37, I embarked on this journey and at 8:56 I completed it. I said it would be a very, very, very long journey, but when the Compassion-flood descends from Above everything can take place in the twinkling of an eye. I never, never, never imagined that today I would be able to lift 1,300 pounds. That is why I used the term ‘mystic’. How can one increase by 300 pounds?
There is no such thing as impossibility when you entirely depend on the Will of God. But if you feel that you are the doer, then impossibility looms large.
Published in A Mystic Journey in the Weightlifting World, part 4
Sri Chinmoy meets with the Japanese composer and concert pianist Masanobu Ikemiya at Annam Brahma Restaurant in Jamaica, Queens, New York.
Question: When you play different instruments, are you expressing different qualities?
Sri Chinmoy: Each instrument has its own unique soul. Again, each time we play an instrument, the soul of that particular instrument expresses a different quality. Again, while we are playing an instrument or singing, every minute or two and sometimes every second, our own soul can bring to the fore a different quality. The soul can change its garments very rapidly. This moment it wears one garment; the next moment it wears a different one. But it is not actually a garment; it is the soul’s fragrance that is changing.
This moment, while you are playing, your soul-flower is offering a soulful or prayerful fragrance. Then something happens in your consciousness, and the soul-flower offers a different fragrance. It is not that the music or melody are changing, no! Your own consciousness is changing, so your soul is expressing or manifesting another quality. The soul has countless qualities, and which one it expresses at any moment depends on the consciousness of the performer.
Question: Do you feel this when you play?
Sri Chinmoy: In my case, I try to become the embodiment of what my soul wants to express. I may play all wrong notes, but my soul does not care. My soul does not care for my perfection. It cares only for my prayerfulness and soulfulness. It cares only for how much mental purity I have and for how much psychic oneness I have established with my inner life. The soul does not care for technique at all; only it sees how much I am in tune with it in the inner world.
Question: As a pianist, sometimes I am so caught up with technique that I lose the soul or forget what I am trying to say.
Sri Chinmoy: If you can meditate for three or four minutes before you play, your mind will be inundated with light. Then your mind will be clear and confusion will not dare to enter into it. At that time, you do not have to think of the technique; it will come automatically. Everything comes from light — even technique. The light will pull the technique.
If the owner or manager of a restaurant asks one of his workers to do something, immediately the worker will try to please him. Similarly, when you embody light, the light within you will command the technique to perform for you, and you will go far beyond the domain of technique. Now you are thinking about technique; you are begging it to serve you. But at that time, technique will be dying to serve you and please you because you are the boss.
Spending a minute or two in silence is like putting money in your pocket. If you have money in your pocket, in the supermarket you can buy anything you want. When you meditate for two or three minutes, you accumulate inner wealth — peace, light and bliss. Then, as soon as you stand in front of the audience — before you play even — spontaneously you are sharing this wealth with them. So before you even start to perform, you have already pleased your audience. Then, even if you play wrong notes, they will be sympathetic towards you.
It is like a mother and her child. The child makes a million mistakes when he plays an instrument, but the mother thinks, “Oh, it is so excellent!” The mother’s love for the child makes her feel that whatever the child does is perfect. So if you distribute your inner wealth before you play, the audience is not going to judge you because it is already satisfied. You can play anything you want and the audience will be pleased.
When I play for my students, they do not care how many mistakes I make. Why? Because before I play, I meditate with them and we establish our oneness with one another. So right from the beginning there is mutual satisfaction. At that time, they are so inwardly happy and satisfied that no matter how bad my outer performance is, their mind and heart are happy. And when you are happy and filled with inner delight, you do not see any mistakes. When you are in a very high state of consciousness, nothing affects you; everything is joy.
It is like a host trying to please his guests as soon as they come in. If the host stands at the door and gives them a flower or a smile and talks to them, then half the battle is won. No matter what else he does, everything is perfect because he has already conquered the hearts of his guests. But if the guests are pouring in and the host is somewhere else, they will say, “Look at this! He is so callous and irresponsible!”
Question: All of us before going on stage are so nervous, but we don’t show it.
Sri Chinmoy: Everybody has nervousness, but by virtue of prayer and meditation you can conquer nervousness — to a great extent or completely. In addition to prayer and meditation, there is also something you can do on the practical level. Instead of seeing a thousand people in the audience, imagine that there is only one person, one listener. Then feel that this one person is not even a musician. He is not somebody who will find fault with you; he is just an ordinary person. Since you are an infinitely better musician than he is, why do you have to worry? Or feel that he is your greatest admirer and you are playing for him out of sheer compassion. You should do this not in an aggressive way but in a sympathetic way. So from a thousand people in the audience, bring the number down to one person, and feel that that person is your most sincere admirer.
Question: I have trouble organising my life. It takes so much time to pay bills and do the everyday things in life that there is not enough time for music. There is so much junk in my life; it is just like my mind. I would like to have a much more simple life, but to live in this world I need to do so many things.
Sri Chinmoy: You have to have silence, not sound. Sound can be silenced by silence itself. When you meditate, there is tremendous silence. On the surface there are huge waves, but the waves are only a very small part of the ocean. At the bottom of the ocean there is deep silence.
You are talking about paying bills and so many other things that you have to do. You have to think of these things as monkeys that are biting you; they are not biting your body but your mind. If you pick up a big solid stick, the monkeys become frightened and stop biting you. In this case, the stick is your inner silence. When you keep your mind absolutely quiet, you will know what is most important. You are a musician and not a secretary or a politician. If you do not answer certain letters, your world will not collapse. But if you do not pay attention to your music first and foremost, then you will be the real loser. Again, you have to be practical and pay your bills. But the money for this comes from your music. So always you have to go to the source. Music is the source of your inner life and also the source of your outer life.
If you pay utmost attention to your music, from your music-world you will get tremendous joy. Then, if you are happy, you will pick up a particular letter that came three months ago or six months ago and answer it. But if you are unhappy, you are not going to touch anything. So first you have to derive joy from your music. Then, once your mind is inundated with joy, everything else will come easily. But if you do not do first things first, which in your case is music, then everything will go wrong.
I have one particular song that is the source of all my musical pieces; it is called The Invocation. I sing The Invocation every day, as well as play it and listen to it on tape. Before that I meditate. All my disciples early in the morning also sing that song in front of their shrines. Then their outer world and inner world become in tune with the universal harmony. For me and my students, the highest type of music is meditation. Life without meditation is out of tune with the inner harmony.
Question: How do you have the same amount of inspiration every day?
Sri Chinmoy: In my case, I am dealing with the Source, which is inexhaustible. Every day I am entering into my heart-garden, where there are so many beautiful and fragrant flowers. If every day we enter into our heart-garden by virtue of our prayer and meditation, we will constantly get a fresh supply of inner beauty and inner purity. If we cannot enter into the inmost recesses of our heart, if we just enter into the mind-jungle, we will only occasionally find flowers. To have flowers all the time, we have to enter into the heart. The heart is all freshness and newness because of its oneness with the universal spirit. Every day it offers us a newly blossoming dawn.
Question: Some days I feel so down and other times I am up high.
Sri Chinmoy: One day we climb up the life-tree and another day we climb down. We have to be wise. When we climb up to the top of the tree, we have to feel that we are plucking the fruits. Then, when we are coming down, instead of feeling miserable, we have to feel that we are distributing the fruits that we collected. There is a joy in achieving and there is a joy in giving. So when we are up, we are achieving; when we are down, we are giving. But if we do not take that attitude, then when we are down we feel miserable because we have nothing to do. No, we do have something to do — we have to share our wealth with the rest of humanity!
Question: Is giving as important as achieving?
Sri Chinmoy: If the father gives the child a piece of candy and the child gives the father a sweet smile, that smile will conquer the father’s heart. For the child, his smile is all he has. So when he smiles at the father, he is giving the father all his wealth.
When we follow the spiritual life, we come to realise that we never give anything to a third party; the giver and the receiver are the same person. God is in everybody. This moment God is playing the role of the giver inside me, and the next moment He is playing the role of the receiver inside you. Then it is reversed. It is like taking from the left hand and giving to the right hand. Again, God the giver cannot be happy unless God the receiver takes what is offered. When the father gives something to the child, if the child does not take it, the father will feel sad. But when the child takes and is happy, the father is also happy. So it is reciprocal happiness, in which the giver and the taker are of equal importance.
If you are playing a masterpiece and the audience is not receptive, then you are very sad. Only if the audience is very, very attentive and receiving joy from your playing will you also get tremendous joy. So the joy has to be mutual. Everything in life we have to share. What you have, you have to share with me. What I have, I have to share with you. Otherwise, there is no happiness.
Question: So sharing gives joy to everybody, and I am the one who has to start activating this?
Sri Chinmoy: Somebody has to start. In a relay race there will be four people. But one has to start. If everybody starts at the same time, everybody will collide and it will be chaos. One completes the circle around the track and then the next one starts. The whole world is going around like this. But one has to start with his self-giving heart.
Question: So many people in this country do not care for music or poetry or dance anymore. They do not see value in it. Do you think it will change?
Sri Chinmoy: It is only a matter of time. The eagerness and self-giving of the musicians, poets and artists will eventually conquer the public’s restlessness or unwillingness. If the performer has readiness, willingness and eagerness, then he is bound to win over the heart of the audience. Right now the audience is like a naughty child, but if the mother is extremely kind-hearted and has infinite patience, eventually the mother is going to win. The mother’s compassionate tears or her smile will eventually conquer the heart of the child.
Question: That is how we have to deal with our own mind, too!
Sri Chinmoy: Exactly! In everything we do, we need patience. In the beginning, when a child tries to stand up, he falls down again and again. After falling down a number of times, he could say, “No, I am not going to try to get up anymore.” But he has a tremendous inner urge to walk. He sees his father, mother and elder brother all walking and he, too, wants to go forward. The patience that a child exercises unconsciously, a grown-up has to exercise consciously.
For a child patience is natural because he is all the time in the heart. But because adults live in the mind, they have to try so hard to get back those heart-qualities. When we are in the mind, everything becomes crooked and distorted. So we have to bring the unruly mind under the control of the heart.
Published in Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 10
by Sri Chinmoy
We have a new disciple who plays the cello with the Puerto Rico Symphony. She also has about 50 students and teaches five or six hours daily. One by one her students come and play in front of her. When her good students come, she gives them five minutes. When the bad students come, after a minute she says, “Oh, you are playing very well. I am pleased with you.” Then she sends them away immediately.
I wanted to practise the cello while I was in Puerto Rico, but this new disciple did not want to let me play on her cello. But after she refused, then for the whole day she felt totally miserable. So on her own she brought me her cello the next day. She said her cello cost $5,000. It was good, but mine is better. She herself was supposed to play that day, so she borrowed a cello from somebody else.
When I tried her cello she flattered me, saying that my intonation was good. That is why she allowed me to use it.
The day I was supposed to return the cello, I told her to come at twelve o’clock and take it back. She came exactly at twelve. I had brought her a trophy, and she said, “Can I not also have a plaque to put on this trophy that says you gave it to me?”
After I returned the cello, she told Alo that she felt some higher power was guiding her hand when she played it. When she played she felt that it sounded as if Pablo Casals were playing. So she was very happy that she had let me use it.
Published in The World-Experience-Tree-Climber, part 3
by Sri Chinmoy
I have been on airplanes many, many times, but only two or three times have I watched the movie. On a flight from Florida to New York, I was sitting in my seat drawing when they announced that it was time for the movie.
They were going to show George Burns in Oh God. I hadn’t liked the movie when we showed it at the Centre, but I said, “To kill time, let me see it.”
So I paid two dollars for the earphones and turned the switch to channel 9. With my right hand I was holding the earphones to my ear, and with my left hand I was trying to draw. Of course, I couldn’t draw very well with my left hand, since I am right-handed.
The stewardess saw me and said, “Why are you not using the headphones?”
So she showed me how to put the headphones on my head. Then she asked, “Where do you come from? India?”
I said, “Yes.”
She said, “Oh, that’s why!”
I said, “I have been here in the States for 20 years.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her how many times I have been on airplanes. But if you don’t use things, you don’t know the proper way.
Published in The World-Experience-Tree-Climber, part 4
by Sri Chinmoy
Sri Chinmoy’s book I Go Out, I Come In is published. The first printing contains 33 poems. The second printing contains 92 poems.
When I go out,
I am nowhere.
When I come in,
I am all-where.
I go out
To school my mind.
I come in
To school my heart.
I go out
To buy what I leave behind
Foolishly.
I come in
To reclaim what I am
Eternally.
I go out
To feed my curiosity-mind
And curiosity-eyes.I come in
To feed my divinity-soul
And purity-heart.
Out I go
To foolishly invent.In I come
To wisely discover.
I go out
To measure Nature's divinity.I come in
To treasure Divinity's nature.
When I go out,
Mine is a sound-bound journey.When I come in,
Mine is a silence-bound destination.
When I go out,
I assume a new name:
Joy-expectation.When I come in,
I resume my old name:
Peace-foundation.
When I go out,
I try to find God.When I come in,
God tells me,
"Bind Me, My child,
Once more."
When I go out,
I need what I find.When I come in,
I find what I need.
When I go out,
I spend money.When I come in,
I drink honey.
I go out
To watch my mind's exploration.I come in
To sing my heart's invocation.
Proudly I go out,
Only to say what I can.Peacefully I come in,
Only to feel what I am.
The carpenter's human son asks me
To go out.God's divine son asks me
To come in.
Be a brave mind
When you go out.Be a pure heart
When you come in.
When I go out,
I dine with the known.When I come in,
I pine for the Unknown.
I go out
To see the Face of God.I come in
To become the Heart of God.
When I go out,
I see the flow.When I come in,
I become the glow.
When I go out,
God tells me:
“My child, enjoy yourself.”When I come in,
God tells me:
“My child, enjoy Me.”
When I go out,
I become a mad elephant.When I come in,
I become a glad deer.
When I go out,
I start my mind-engine.When I come in,
I sail my heart-boat.
To see God the Power,
I go out.To feel God the Peace,
I come in.
Columbus went out
And discovered the New World:
America.I came in
And discovered my old world:
My Source, my God.
I go out
To get what I want.I come in
To feel what I need.
When I go out,
I surprise others
And others surprise me.When I come in,
God and I surprise each other.
I go out
To hear what the world
Has to say.I come in
Only to see that God is waiting
To hear from me.
I go out
And decrease my money-power.I come in
And increase my heart-power.
I go out
To see the vastness of the world.I come in
To see the Infinity of the universe.
I go out
To see the power of greatness.I come in
To feel the love of goodness.
I go out
To buy the world.I come in
To love the world.
I go out hurriedly
To learn.I come in wisely
To unlearn.
I go out to say:
“God, where are You?”I come in to say:
“God, take me!”
When I go out,
My mind provokes.When I come in,
My heart invokes.
Published in I Go Out, I Come In, part 1