Sri Chinmoy offers a prayer, entitled ‘Serve and Love’, at St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University, in New York.
Serve and Love
To serve God I need only one thing:
Joy.
To serve mankind I need only one thing:
Patience.
To love God I need only one thing:
Purity's Breath.
To love mankind I need only one thing:
Humility's Soul.
Published in The Oneness of the Eastern Heart and the Western Mind, part 2
Tribute to John F. Kennedy, Jr.
Thirty-eight poems by Sri Chinmoy
1.
John Kennedy:
The 20th Century choice
Of the American heart.
2.
John Kennedy:
The 21st Century voice
Of the American soul.
3.
Your highest height
You surprisingly concealed.
Your deepest depth
You astonishingly concealed.
Why?
To selflessly mingle
And be inseparably one
With the common run.
4.
You plied your life-boat
Between the simplicity-shore
And the spontaneity-shore.
5.
Opportunity and prosperity
Befriended you
Right from the very first breath
Of your life.
But you chose your own
Hard-earned capacity
To be your dearest
And most cherished friend.
6.
In your inner life
You ran unnoticed
On the determination-track.
In your outer life
You played noticed
In the recreation-ground.
7.
Destined you were
To be a conductor supreme
Of the world-harmony-symphony.
But alas, your fate unknowable
Has made it otherwise.
8.
You breathed
The ocean-vast breath of oneness.
A rarity, indeed!
9.
To have a quick, secret glimpse
Of you
Is to proudly enjoy
The morning blossom-smiles.
10.
Yours is the heart
Of a newness-beauty-dreamer.
11.
Yours is the soul
Of a fulness-fragrance-seeker.
12.
Whoever is adoring you
Is worshipping
In the depth of your heart
A yet to be fully manifested
God-Dream.
13.
Mother’s dream, father’s promise
And sister’s pride
Have been playing hide-and-seek
In your heart-garden.
14.
In the world-sympathy-consolation-ocean
Your heart-cherished sister, Caroline,
Is swimming fast, very fast.
15.
May your sister, Caroline,
And you, her fondness-cradle-
Treasure-brother, John,
Together swing in the Heart-Garden
Of Immortality.
16.
Your heart-intimacy
Smilingly disarmed
Your mind-supremacy.
17.
The ill-fated human beings
Discovered in you
Their confidence-assurance-
Divinity-panorama.
18.
To our great joy and satisfaction,
You were wont to consult your conscience
For everything.
19.
In your outer life
You were the possessor
Of two Heaven-dreaming eyes.
20.
In your inner life
You were the giver
Of an earth-feeding heart.
21.
Amidst your admirers and adorers,
All your movements invariably created
An atmosphere of festivity.
22.
No, no, no!
Yours is not the legacy
Of a futile promise.
Yours is the legacy
Of a yet to be finished
Cosmic play.
23.
You preferred
The culture-life-creativity-evolution
To the whirlwind of world politics.
24.
You are at once
America’s hope revealed
And
America’s promise unmanifested.
25.
My aspiring heart is telling me
That your earth-departure
And Heaven-arrival
Shall convincingly, unmistakably
And eternally remain
An insoluble world-mystery.
26.
Alas, we are living
In an unfading
Doubt-attraction-invasion-world.
27.
Alas, confusion-weeds are not removed.
On the contrary,
To our deepest sorrow,
They are fast growing.
28.
As God has garlanded you
Compassionately and proudly,
Even so, may God garland the tears
Of all American hearts.
29.
Publicly and openly we see in you
The streaming tears
Of God the creation.
Secretly and sacredly we see in you
The ever-blossoming, ever-consoling
And ever-assuring Smiles
Of God the Creator.
30.
Continue, continue!
Your soul-music is being heard
By the length and breadth
Of America the Beautiful
And
America the Brave.
31.
The indomitable spirit
Of your life-partner, Carolyn,
Has not come to a final halt.
Her mind-brilliance and her heart-lustre
Shall permeate the world of creativity
In God’s own Way,
At God’s choice Hour.
32.
Your earth-bound life is no more
With the fellow citizens
Of your beloved America.
May the Heaven-free beauty-petals
Of Time
Fall into their soulful prayer-hearts.
33.
Your family-life-tragedies
Have been mind-devastating
And heart-rending experiences
Of America.
Yet, unparalleled shall forever ring
Your family’s inspiration-bells
In the inmost recesses
Of the American heart.
34.
Kennedy — this very name
Is a Himalayan climb of inspiration,
Aspiration and dedication.
35.
No hyperbole,
Your Father and Mother
Won the garland of Immortality.
And you, too,
Now have unmistakably won it.
36.
May our peace-prayers
For your goodness-flooded soul
Reverberate to the limitless
Unhorizoned horizons.
37.
May your very name,
John Kennedy,
Inspire the American despair-heart
To proudly jump
Into the sparkling enthusiasm-river.
38.
John Kennedy:
The world-treasureJohn, John, John Kennedy, John, John!
America's Dream-Hope-Promise-Dawn.
Sweetness, firmness, newness, fulness.
American heart’s dearness, fondness.
Tragedy tears: the world-treasure.
The Heights of your Soul, beyond measure.
Published in John Kennedy: The World-Treasure-Home