The Australian SBS Radio, Persian Programme, interviewed Dr. Kazem Abhary1 about his book, a translation of 500 of Sri Chinmoy’s aphorisms into Persian, titled Pire Maa Farmood, meaning ‘Thus Spoke our Master’ on 20th March 2011. The audio of this interview is courtesy of SBS Radio.
Listen to the interview in Persian
پیر ما فرمود: گفتگویی با دکتر کاظم ابهری
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| The poet Sri Chinmoy, deep in concentration. |
Dr.Abhary was asked the following questions by SBS host Peyman Jamali:
Question 1: Thank you very much for accepting our invitation for this interview. We learnt that today your new book, Pire Maa Farmood, a translation of aphorisms by the famous mystic Sri Chinmoy, is going to be launched in Perth, Australia. Would you please provide us with some information about the writer of the book, Sri Chinmoy?
Answer: Certainly. Sri Chinmoy is not only one of the greatest and exceptional contemporary mystics, but of the whole history of mankind. He passed away on 11th October 2007. In addition to being a spiritual master, he was a poet, writer, artist, musician, composer, weightlifter and sportsman. He scored many achievements in all these areas.
For example, he wrote and composed about 22,000 songs; his works, consisting of his writings, novels, plays, speeches, teachings, and dialogues with his disciples, have been published in more than 1,500 books. He delivered more than 350 spiritual lectures in many famous universities.
He was a unique artist. He left behind more than 150,000 paintings. He had special interest in schematic drawings of birds, perhaps because birds are symbols of freedom; in fact he created more than 14,000,000 of them such that, strangely, none of them resembles the other one!
In weightlifting he enjoyed unusual strength. On 30th January 1987, he lifted more than three tonnes over his head with his right hand, and repeated this with his left hand the year after. He blessed many people by lifting them over his head, using a special apparatus.
He was a profound musician, performing more than 700 free peace concerts in places such as the Royal Albert Hall in London, some of which attracted audiences of up to 19,000. At his 74th birthday party in New York he played 74 different pianos. In September 2005, in a seven-and-a-half hour concert in Switzerland he played 170 different instruments.
His spiritual music has revived many souls and is of such a high standard that it has attracted the admiration of famous musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Yehudi Menuhin and Paul Horn.
Of his ‘miracles’ I should mention that on 16th Nov 1975 he created more than 16,000 drawings on the same day. On 8th August 1996 he completed more than 1,300 poems in less than 24 hours.
I firmly believe Sri Chinmoy was the real subject of this poem by the great Persian Poet Sa’di:
“Infinite patience is to be practiced by the father universe,
Till the mother universe gives birth to a child like you.”
One of his works is a treasure of more than 100,000 aphorisms. I decided to translate his aphorisms into Persian due to the fact that, firstly, I enjoyed his aphorisms and benefited a lot myself; therefore I felt pity not to share my joy with my Persian-speaking fellows. Secondly, the Persian language is the language of Rumi, the language of love and spirituality, so I believe it is a most suitable suite to clothe and manifest these aphorisms with. I decided to publish each 500 of the translations of these aphorisms in one book, the first of which is now going to be launched today.
Question 2: If I am not wrong, your background and field of expertise and teaching is Mechanical Engineering. What then encouraged you to translate this mainly mystical-poetical- literary book?
Answer: I had multi-dimensional interests ever since I was a high school student. I love literature, poetry, spirituality, mysticism, philosophy… I always believed they were my soul’s food. Since then up until now I may have lived, now and then, without food, but never without poetry. That is what inspired and encouraged me to translate these aphorisms.
Question 3: To acquaint our listeners with Sri Chinmoy’s works would you please recite some of these aphorisms from your book?
Answer: Certainly, here it is:
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Love is the essence of God's Divinity. The very nature of kindness God tells me If you want to reach My Lord, chain me!
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Gratitude,
A gratitude-heart
Silence me, |
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Endnote:
1 Dr. Kazem Abhary is Associate Professor in Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering at University of South Australia.