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A sea of Peace and Joy and Light
Beyond my reach I know.
In me the storm-tossed weeping night
Finds room to rage and flow.I cry aloud, but all in vain;
I helpless, the earth unkind
What soul of might can share my pain?
Death-dart alone I find.A raft am I on the sea of Time,
My oars are washed away.
How can I hope to reach the clime
Of God’s eternal Day?But hark! I hear Thy golden Flute,
Its notes bring the Summit down.
Now safe am I, O Absolute!
Gone death, gone night’s stark frown!
By: Sri Chinmoy
From: My Flute
When I enter bookshops, I often see books discussing atheism.
As a spiritual seeker I don’t have much interest in these books. Whether others believe in God or not is not of any concern. I rather like the quote of Thomas Jefferson:
"But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."
Also, through practising meditation, one realises that there are many states of consciousness that can not be described and explained by reason. Therefore, to discuss the existence of God, through reason and the mind only, inevitably has to be unsatisfactory.
I have no interest in proving God’s existence to others – I feel this is a fruitless and unnecessary task.
However, these are a few random thoughts, ideas and quotes on the subject of atheism
Swami Vivekananda used to recount the tale of a Hindu Sannyasin who took a vow of silence. Unfortunately the sannyasin got caught up in the Indian mutiny. – As he was being stabbed to death by a British soldier, he broke his 15 year vow of silence; saying to the soldier:
"And thou also art He!" [1]
The philosophy of seeing God in all, usually seems an ideal far beyond our grasp. At times, seekers may have difficulty to see God, even in a Saint or Realised Master. However, the ability to see God in all is the hall mark of a realised soul and a constant theme of all spiritual traditions.
An ancient Egyptian poem:
God is the Spirit of spirits, of creation the Spirit divine. GOD is God from the beginning before all things were He was God.
Sri Chinmoy says:
"To me, God is not only the most beautiful Golden Being or Spirit; to me, God is everything. Anything that is God’s creation embodies God. Anything that can be seen in God’s creation is of God and for God. Anything that you appreciate here on earth is not only an embodiment of God but God Himself."
Excerpt from Mahatma Gandhi: The Heart Of Life by Sri Chinmoy.
I used to shun my companion if his religion was not like mine; but not my heart accepts every form. It is a pasturage for gazelles, a monastery for monkss, a temple of idols, a Ka'ba for the pilgrim, the tables of the Torah, the holy book of the Qur'an. Love alone is my religion, and whichever way its horses turn, that is my faith and creed.
Anonymous
From Music of a Distant Drum, Bernard Lewis – Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Hebrew Poems
Last night I begged the Wise One to tell me the secret of the world. Gently, gently he whispered, "Be quiet, the secret cannot be spoken it is wrapped in silence."
Related Article
When Silence is the Best Philosophy by Tejvan Pettinger
Thursday, October 11, 2007 – A lifetime dedicated in the service of humanity has ended with the passing of Sri Chinmoy, the global humanitarian, meditation teacher and advocate of the boundless potential of the human spirit, at the age of 76 in his New York home. In the 43 years since he arrived in the America in 1964, Sri Chinmoy had turned his life into a living example of his firm conviction that, in his words, "the answer to the world’s problems is for each one of us to go beyond our current capacities and become better". Even now, as people from all countries, religions, cultures and walks of life gather to pay tribute to him, it is not the death of his mortal frame that comes most to mind, but the immortal spirit that lay behind his tireless contributions to the evolution of human consciousness.
What truly sets Sri Chinmoy’s work apart is the sheer variety of avenues through which he gave wings to this vision. In fields as diverse, art poetry, music and athletics, Sri Chinmoy left his own indelible mark that inspired all who came across it to in turn better themselves in their own sphere of talent. In exploring such a wide variety of endeavours, he sought to demonstrate that no matter where our talents lie, they can be put to use for the betterment of the world. In each field of activity, Sri Chinmoy embarked upon new challenges with an enthusiasm, poise and imagination that flowed directly from his deep inner awareness of the limitless capacity of the soul. His output in the creative fields was enormously prolific – 20,000 songs, over 100,000 poems and 200,000 pieces of mystical art, to name just some of his achievements: his inner feeling was that the quantity of his output need not be a hindrance to its quality, and so he kept on creating with the spontaneity of a child:
"If we know how to pray and meditate to gain a free access to the world of inspiration, if we have an inner communication with our Pilot Supreme, then quality and quantity can go together."
In addition, his many grassroots initiatives aimed at uniting his fellow beings behind the vision of a world based on harmony and oneness won him a unique position as a figure above political, religious or regional considerations, a person with truly the betterment of the world at heart. These initiatives included the World Harmony Run, an Olympic-style global relay which crossed the world seeing for themselves how the best qualities of humanity – kindness, empathy, largeness of heart – were qualities that could be found anywhere, and then spreading that message to everyone they met along the route. In 1990, he founded the Oneness-Heart Tears and Smiles humanitarian initiative, which provided aid to 24 countries with a philosophy based on recognizing that those we ‘give’ to are in fact giving us much more by enabling us to expand our heart. Sri Chinmoy was repeatedly honoured during his life, receiving the UNESCO Nehru medallion and the Mahatma Gandhi award, and being twice invited to hold the opening meditation for the Parliament of World religions in 1997 and 2004.
Every facet of Sri Chinmoy’s work spoke of the timeless and eternal qualities of the human soul, a timelessness that feels alive and vibrant even now, even if its creator has left his mortal abode. He often spoke of life and death being merely two sides of the same coin:
"We have a short span of life, say forty, sixty or eighty years; then we pass behind the curtain of Eternity. There is an eternal Life. This Life existed before the creation, it exists now in the creation, then it passes through death and it goes beyond death and enters again into its own realm….It had no beginning and it has no end. It existed, it exists and it will forever exist. Through our meditation, when we realise God, when we stay in God, we become the possessor of that eternal Life. Consciously we go beyond the veil of death and we remain in the eternal Life, which has neither beginning nor end."
His last weeks on earth did not see any slowing down in his activities – in the middle of September, he had travelled to the Russian city of St. Petersburg to give concerts of meditative music, and just the day before his passing he was composing more songs to add to his existing total of over twenty thousand, as well as hosting a meditation function for his students.
In Indian spiritual philosophy the human soul is likened to the Lotus – a most beautiful flower that grows in a miry existence but emerges skyward, delicate petals unfurling at the touch of the suns rays, offering its beauty and fragrance to the heavens. The human soul too has to struggle in the watery bog of the material world – through the practice of prayer and meditation and the cultivation of all the divine qualities we can rise above this material condition and be fully conscious of our divinity.
There was once a bandit by the name of Ratnakara who carried out a life of thievery and deception until one day quite by chance he happened across the great sage Narada whose thoughts were constantly immersed in Lord Narayana. Narada looked on Ratnakara with qualities that were so foreign to Valmiki that he could not recognize them – love, and compassion. Baffled by these emotions which he had never received even from his own wife and family, he asked Narada the reason for it. Narada replied that his constant love and adoration was for his Lord Narayana whose image he saw in the hearts of all, including the bandit Ratnakara. Narada instructed Ratnakara in the ways of meditation and advised him to repeat the name "Rama" which is another name for God. Ratnakara’s nature however was so tainted with sin he simply could not utter the holy name "Rama", thus Narada instructed him to repeat "mara" which is the word for tree.
Ratnakara was a forest dweller so he was able to repeat "mara" with ease. On constant repetition of the word "mara" it becomes "Rama" and in this way Ratnakara was able to repeat this divine incantation. Narada took leave of Ratnakara who was so earnest in his meditation that when Narada returned several years later, he was still fixed to the same spot, although over the course of time he had been covered by an ant hill. After cracking open the anthill Narada found Ratnakara – utterly transformed by his profound meditation into a saintly person. He bestowed on him the name Valmiki and instructed him to establish a hermitage where one day very soon a banished Queen by the name of Sita would be sheltered…
Valmiki became the sage who uttered the first poem and created the poetic epic the "Ramayana" – the account of the India’s great King Rama which to this day is a spiritual reference and source of inspiration for millions of truth seekers throughout the world.
The story of Valmiki teaches us that through sincere aspiration a seeker of any caliber may attain the greatest heights. Like Valmiki and the lotus we too must not be daunted by the impurity which clings to us at present and endeavour to transform ourselves through constant and heavenward prayerful effort.
Article by: Kate Carvalho. Kate Carvalho practises meditation with the Christchurch Sri Chinmoy Centre
Photo by: Abedan, Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries