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Liberation

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey

What is bondage? Bondage is limitation. What is limitation? Limitation is frustration, and frustration is destruction. Where do we find destruction? We find destruction in our failure-life. And what is a failure-life? A failure-life is a temporarily unmanifested and unfulfilled Vision-Reality of God, the Pilot Supreme.

What is liberation? Liberation is freedom from bondage. What is freedom? Freedom is satisfaction. How can we find satisfaction? We can find satisfaction on the strength of our aspiration and dedication in the inner world and in the outer world. In the inner world satisfaction has a new and soulful name: oneness, universal oneness. In the outer world satisfaction has a new and powerful name: transcendence, self-transcendence.

Liberation is the perfection of the seeker’s aspiration-heart and dedication-life. Each seeker is an artist, a divine artist, who has to long for perfection soulfully and sleeplessly. His sincerity has to be perfect, his aspiration has to be perfect and his dedication has to be perfect. His conscious conversation with his Inner Pilot has to be perfect. Until he has achieved perfect Perfection within and without, liberation will remain a far cry. No perfection, no liberation.

The human life has to be perfected, but how? It can be perfected only by bringing to the fore what the human life has deep within itself: a birthless and deathless cry. This cry, which is Eternity’s cry, eventually blossoms into the Vision-Smile of the Inner Pilot, our Beloved Supreme.

Right now, our life is far from perfect. Ours is a desire-bound life. Ours is a life of limitation. Therefore, our earthly existence always prays to be inundated with peace. Liberation is nothing but peace — peace sublime, peace infinite. How to achieve peace? Certainly not by exploring the outer world, but by imploring God in the inner world. A life of peace is not an experiment. A life of peace is an experience. Our earth-bound mind is prone to experiment, but a life of experiment cannot achieve peace. Only our Heaven-free heart, which cares for experience, achieves peace. Experiment is the capacity of the human mind, and experience is the capacity of the divine heart.

The experiment-boat plies between uncertainty-shore and certainty-shore. It carries two passengers: a man of doubt and a man of faith. When the boat touches the certainty-shore, the man of faith hoists his victory-banner. Again, when the same boat touches the uncertainty-shore, the man of doubt hoists triumphantly his victory-banner. The experience-boat plies between Eternity’s earth-bound shore and Immortality’s Heaven-free shore.

I have two friends: an Indian seeker and a Western seeker. The Indian seeker has always cared more for liberation than for salvation. The Western seeker has always cared more for salvation than for liberation. The Indian seeker has always told me that he finds it difficult to appreciate the way my Western seeker-friend constantly thinks of sin and guilt. He says, “If our Heavenly Father is all Perfection, and if we are a portion of His Reality-Existence, why do we have to dwell on sin all the time?” He finds it difficult to appreciate the approach of my Western seeker-friend. But my Western seeker-friend has always found fault with my Indian seeker-friend. He says, “Why do you have to think always of earth-bound, limited reality? Why do you have to think always of bondage?”

The Eastern seeker, my Indian friend, has always thought of his bondage and ignorance. The Western seeker has always thought of his sin and has always been assailed by his guilt. Such being the case, I prayed to my Lord Supreme to grant me illumination so that I could be of dedicated service to my Indian seeker-friend and to my Western seeker-friend.

Out of His infinite Bounty, my Lord Supreme granted me illumination to share with my Indian friend and my Western friend. My Lord Supreme said to me, “Your Indian seeker-friend is in the body-consciousness. If one lives in the body-consciousness, then one will always think of limitation and bondage, because the body is bound and its capacity is limited. Your Western friend lives in the vital, the lower vital, where temptation reigns supreme. In the temptation-world there is always the sin-consciousness and the guilt-consciousness. Guilt-consciousness and sin-consciousness are inseparable.

“A seeker of the infinite Truth and Light must live neither in the body-consciousness nor in the vital-consciousness. He must always live in the heart-consciousness — the psychic consciousness — which is the oneness-consciousness. This oneness-consciousness is of the supreme Reality, in the supreme Reality and for the supreme Reality. A seeker of the Absolute Truth who lives in the heart can easily establish a free access to the infinite Satisfaction, which I have and which I eternally am.”

I asked my Beloved Supreme another question: “My Beloved Supreme, I am a seeker. I know every day You do countless things for me. Do You do anything special for me every day?”

“Yes, My son, every day I do something special. Not only every day, but at every moment I do something very, very special, and that special thing is My sincere, blessingful work for your liberation. Do you know what I do? I push you and pull you at every moment. When you are lethargic, I push you forward so that you can see what you eventually can be: My choice instrument. When you are aspiring, I pull you upward so that you can know what you eternally are: My Vision-Reality.”

Each individual seeker needs liberation. For liberation, what he needs first is the Compassion-Eye of the Absolute Supreme. And for the Compassion-Eye of the Absolute Supreme, what he needs first is the Willingness-Heart of the Absolute Supreme. In order to have the Willingness-Heart of the Absolute Supreme, what the seeker needs is an iota of gratitude in his heart of aspiration and an iota of surrender in his life of dedication.

Published in Sound and Silence, part 1

Consciousness

A lecture bu Sri Chinmoy
at The New School for Social Research, New York

Consciousness is our real teacher, our dear friend and our sure slave. As a slave, consciousness carries our teeming ignorance to God. As a friend, consciousness tells us what the supreme Knowledge is. As a teacher, consciousness reveals to us the undeniable truth that today's imperfect and unfulfilled man is tomorrow's perfect and fulfilled God.

Consciousness sings. It sings the song of universal Oneness. Consciousness plays. It plays the game of cosmic Manifestation. Consciousness dances. It dances with God's fulfilling Vision within and God's fulfilled Reality without. Consciousness acts. It acts through man's crying, climbing and surrendering aspiration, and God's descending, protecting and illumining Compassion.

When consciousness is all activity, it bows to God the Mother, its Source. When consciousness is all silence, it bows to God the Father, its Source. From the Mother, it gets the mightiest Power to make the supreme sacrifice for the unconscious earth. From the Father, it gets the highest Light to illumine the unlit earth. Consciousness itself is at once Light and Power. As Light, it identifies with the pure inspiration and deep aspiration of our inner world. As Power, it exercises its divine sovereignty over the darkest bondage and the wildest ignorance of our outer world.

The consciousness that the unaspiring body uses is called the hopeful consciousness. The consciousness that the unyielding vital uses is known as the hurtful consciousness. The consciousness that the uncompromising mind uses is called the doubtful consciousness. The consciousness that the uncovering heart uses is called the truthful consciousness. The consciousness that the unlimited soul uses is called the fruitful consciousness.

Aum Anandamayee Chaitanyamayee Satyamayee Parame

"O Mother Absolute of Existence-Consciousness-Delight!" This triple consciousness is the longest length, farthest breadth and deepest depth. The longest length is Infinity. The farthest breadth is Eternity. The deepest depth is Immortality. When consciousness lives in Existence, humanity devotedly receives what Divinity soulfully offers. When consciousness lives inside its own domain, humanity and Divinity lovingly yet surprisingly share each other's experience. When consciousness lives in Delight, humanity is realised and transformed and Divinity is manifested and fulfilled.

Blind is he who does not see the Consciousness-light. Deaf is he who does not obey the Consciousness-right. Poor is he who cannot eat the Consciousness-fruit. Foolish is he who denies the existence of the Consciousness-sea.

Published in Eastern Light for the Western Mind

Music and Religion

A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts

I wish to dedicate my talk to the great soul Emily Dickinson. She was a true seeker who revealed her inner experiences through her soulful poems. I have deep appreciation and admiration not only for her poems, but also for the psychic life that she lived here on earth. It was from this august college that she graduated many, many years ago. Now I wish to invoke her blessingful soul and dedicate my prayerful talk to her.

Music and religion. What is music? Music is the purity of the seeker-musician’s life. Music is the beauty of the seeker-musician’s heart. Music is the divinity of the seeker-musician’s soul. Music is the Home of the seeker-musician’s Beloved Supreme.

Music is not and cannot be vital excitement. Music is psychic enlightenment. Music is the supreme fulfilment of the aspiring human soul.

Before he plays, the seeker-musician soulfully meditates so that he can fathom the ocean-depths. Before he plays, the seeker-musician intensely prays so that he can scale the mountain-peaks.

While playing, the seeker-musician in silence converses and communes with the Musician Supreme, his Inner Pilot. He learns from Him the music of the soundless sound. The music of the soundless sound is Eternity’s sheltering tree with Infinity’s inspiring flowers and Immortality’s nourishing fruits. What the music of the soundless sound has, is the involution of God the man, and what it is, is the slow, steady and unerring evolution of man the God.

As a seeker-musician, I pray to the Supreme Musician to grant me the music of the soundless sound. Before He sanctions my prayer, He tells me that I must give up my confusion-music, my volcano-music, my thunder-music, my tornado-music. Only then will I be able to learn from Him the music of the soundless sound, which will reverberate at every moment in the inmost recesses of my heart to illumine my entire being and fulfil Him, my Beloved Supreme, in His supreme Way.

Music and religion. What is religion? Religion is the code of life. From the code of life we come to learn that we are of the Compassion-God and for the Manifestation-God, that we are of God’s Transcendence-Vision and for God’s Omnipresence-Reality. We learn that we are of God the One, with God the One, in God the Many and for God the Many.

In religion there is soulful prayer and fruitful meditation. Soulful prayer purifies our human mind. Fruitful meditation illumines our human heart. Once we have achieved purification and illumination, we are far along the road to our self-discovery, which is God-realisation.

There are two kinds of religions: false religions and true religions. A false religion wants to change the face of the world by any means, even by foul means — by hook or by crook. A true religion wants only to love soulfully the heart of the world. A false religion will try to exercise its Himalayan Supremacy over other religions. A true religion will only sympathise with other religions. It wants to experience its oneness-ecstasy with all religions, founded upon its own soulful cry. It wants to become inseparably one with all religions by virtue of its tolerance, patience, kindness and forgiveness. Again, a true religion knows perfectly well that it is the Supreme Pilot Himself who is loving and piloting each religion, and at the same time forgiving the weaknesses and shortcomings that each religion unfortunately embodies.

So a true religion is one that, down the sweep of centuries, will love mankind with all its imperfections. And on the strength of its oneness-love it will try to bring about a new world. Not by force, not by lording it over others, but by becoming inseparably one with all the religions, it will try to bring about a new world. A true religion will blossom petal by petal at the Feet of the Creator, the Pilot Eternal.

A true religion has the capacity to show its followers the invisible truth. A true religion has the capacity to make its followers feel the incredible love divine. A true religion has the capacity to grant its followers the seemingly impossible reality: perfection — perfection within and perfection without.

You may be a Christian, but your life does not represent only Christianity. The moment I think of you, the moment I see you, I must realise that you are nothing but universality. Your heart, your mind, your vital, your body — everything that you have and everything that you are — are universality. You are an expression, a revelation of universality.

I am of the Hindu faith, but I know, in the very depth of my heart, that I am a song — a God-loving song, a God-fulfilling song. And if I become one with you, then I shall feel that I have become devotedly and unconditionally God’s universal Gong.

Music and religion are like the obverse and reverse of the same reality-coin. Music in its purest sense is religion and religion in its purest sense is music. Only music and religion can transform and perfect humanity. This music-religion, this code of life, this universal language of the soul, can only be offered; it cannot be purchased or sold. Music and religion are for the seekers, for the music-lovers, for the truth-servers. Money-power or earthly name and fame cannot lord it over these two immortal realities, these two earthly and heavenly treasures.

The Mogul Emperor Akbar employed the great musician Tansen in his court. One day when Akbar was deeply appreciating Tansen, Tansen said, “I am not a great musician.”

Akbar said, “You are not only a great musician; you are the best musician.”

But Tansen said, “No, my Guru, my teacher, Haridas, is by far the best.”

The Emperor said, “Then bring him to my palace!”

Tansen replied, “No, he will not come. He does not care for name and fame. He plays only for God. God’s Compassion is his sole reward.”

Akbar said, “Then I will have to go to him. Take me to him.”

Tansen agreed, but he told Akbar, “You cannot go as the Emperor. You have to go in the guise of my servant, my slave.”

So Akbar went to Tansen’s teacher as a servant, and Tansen begged his teacher to play for Akbar. Unfortunately, Haridas was not in the mood to play. Then a brilliant idea struck Tansen’s mind. He started playing, deliberately making many mistakes. Haridas could not believe his eyes and ears. How could his best student make such deplorable mistakes? Out of great surprise and shock, he started playing in order to correct his student. In this way the Emperor came to realise that Tansen’s teacher was indeed far superior to Tansen.

When they came back to the palace, Akbar asked Tansen, “How is it that you cannot play as soulfully as your teacher does?”

Tansen replied, “O Emperor, I play for name and fame. I play for you. He plays for God. Here is the difference. If I played for God — for God in you, for God in everyone — only then would my music be supernatural, heavenly, supremely soulful and perfect. But I play for money-power, for name and fame and so forth. How do you expect me to play the way my teacher does?”

The source of true music and the source of true religion will always remain the same, and that source is a cry, a birthless and deathless cry — an eternal hunger. It is a hunger not for one’s own satisfaction, but for God’s Satisfaction in God’s own Way. When music and religion come from this source, only then will the message and beauty of music and the message and beauty of religion be divinely illumining and fulfilling. He who is a seeker-musician has not only the potentiality and possibility, but also the inevitability of becoming a choice instrument of God the Supreme Musician and, at the same time, of God the Creator. To serve God in God’s own Way, each seeker-server sees the light of day. To please God in God’s own Way, each seeker-musician sees the light of day.

Here we are all seeker-servers; here we are all seeker-musicians. At God’s choice Hour our aspiration-heart and our dedication-life will be fulfilled. Again, this fulfilment is also God’s Fulfilment. Him to fulfil in His own Way, we serve mankind through our divine code of life, which we call religion, and through our music, which is our soul’s universal language.

Published in Sound and Silence, part 2

Invitational letter

inviting Sri Chinmoy as Visting Poet

Dear Sri Chinmoy,

It gives me great pleasure to invite you as a Visiting Poet to the University of British Columbia on behalf of the Cross-Cultural Literary Studies Group at the Institute of Asian Research. As Chair and Coordinator of the Group, which endeavours to bring together the literary treasures of Asia for the university community, I welcome this opportunity to extend our invitation to a poet, artist and musician of your eminence. Your Peace Concert will be held at the Chan Centre on June 2 during your stay in Vancouver. We will also be pleased to see your art displayed and we are looking at the arrangements.

We will be delighted to present you with a Dreamer of Peace award to recognize your endeavour to bring about World Peace. You have touched many hearts worldwide and I feel very happy to be able to sponsor your visit to our campus.

With sincere regards,

Mandakranta Bose

Chair and Coordinator 
Cross-Cultural Literary Studies in 
Asia Group 
Institute of Asian Research 
University of British Columbia

Published in Blessingful Invitations from the University-World