Diary Entry
by Sri Chinmoy
while in residence at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India
Part II — Amrita
What we understand easily we believe we understand rightly,
We make a confusion between the face and its mask.
We think the horizon line is the finishing line,
We forget that a blue sky stretches still beyond.The world is built with the tears and smiles of the gods...
A child is at play on the sandy beaches:
He is never to be met in the crowd...
A jewel knows not itself, nor does a pearl know that it is a pearl!The goal fixed for ever, for ever he goes on,
The path offers no bar, no call reaches from behind:
Lo!
The eternal voyager, eternally free,
Eyes ever turned to the dawning East, never to the setting West.He hides behind a veil and moves on...
Is it the stream?
Is it the ocean vast?— Nolini Kanta Gupta
Translated from the Bengali of Robi Gupta
The Creator in his dreaming has created
This immortal thing in creation,
Figuring as a common creature,
forgetful of his self:
A mystic reason makes him hide
his own form and nature,
Ever at labour in working out
the Impossible:
To transfigure Nature, to establish the Transcendent
here on the bosom of material Earth,
To feed the divine sacrificial Fire
with this human body,
With this bounded frame.
Lo, the timeless hero worker
with this flaming faith,
Indifferent to the rude impacts of Reality,
Dreaming the victorious Mother's
wonder dreams,
Shaping in his heart of hearts
the golden garden of Paradise —
A faultless, sleepless, pure
self-dedication
Has built this life into a piece of
IMMORTALITY.— Nolini Kanta Gupta
Translated from the Bengali of Chinmoy
22 September
I took a copy of it from Robi-da and gave Nolini-da's translations of both Robi-da's poem and mine to Sethna. He deeply enjoyed both poems and subsequently published them in the Mother India. Sethna said to me: "Chinmoy, Amrita's comment on Robi's poem is wonderful and what he said about your poem is also very, very nice. I do not know what you and Robi have done with your Bengali originals, but I must say Nolini's translations are extremely beautiful."
Published in A Service-Flame and a Service-Sun
Two Special Names
by Sri Chinmoy
My Lord Supreme, this is a special day — Gratitude Day. Alas, I do not have even an iota of gratitude to offer You. Since I have no gratitude, please tell me what I can offer You instead.
“My child, then give Me a soulful promise.”
My Lord Supreme, I do not know what a soulful promise is. I promise in season and out of season, but never do I fulfil my promises. Such being the case, my Lord Supreme, please tell me what I can offer You instead of a soulful promise.
“My child, then tell Me that you will love Me divinely.”
My Lord Supreme, I do not know what divine Love is. How can I offer You divine Love when I do not know what divine Love feels like?
“My child, then give Me a fruitful cry. Cry for Me once, only once in your life.”
Alas, my Lord Supreme, I do not cry even for myself. How do You expect me to cry for You?
“My child, let me tell you one thing. Each of us deserves a special name. Each of us will have a new name. Your new name will be a secret and clever unwillingness. My new name will be an unreservedly open and compassionately stupid Forgiveness.”
Published in Aurora-Flora