Inspiration-pearls: The Oceanic Consciousness
I would like to republish here some of the gems you can find at the Sri Chinmoy Inspiration Group starting with this article written by Michael, not only most inspiring, but a real classic in Sri Chinmoy literature. I am reposting it here, as Inspiration-Group Classic.
Recently, I wrote over a thousand words about one of Sri Chinmoy's short poems: God is descending. Man lost his umbrella. The ant-heart devoured the Elephant-Eye. http://www.srichinmoylibrary.com/books/0177/1/1/ I was fortunate to have an intuition about the poem which helped me write about it. I am very grateful to readers who felt I was able to shed some light on the poem. Other poems in this series from his book God The Supreme Humourist, Part 1 may be too difficult for me. I can enjoy them because they have his consciousness, but I may not be able to explain them. This beautiful man was not just a poet; he was many poets. He was not just a musician; he was many musicians. He was not just an artist; he was many artists. And in his most sacred inner life, he was not just a God-lover, he was a God-becomer. In his inner life, he played the role of the perfect seeker for his disciples, so that they would understand the art of it. He also played the role of the Absolute Lord Supreme. He entered into the oceanic consciousness and brought back the taste of the oceanic consciousness. I have said before that it will take hundreds of years for the world to understand and appreciate this glorious soul who walked - nay, ran among us. His glowing consciousness is still sending earth infinite blessings from the soul's world. For his 73rd birthday, his disciples gave him a bouquet of 100,000 roses which were later donated to charity. But in the inner world, he is now showering them with not thousands, not millions, not billions, but infinite infinite purity-flowers, love-flowers, and gratitude-flowers. If you get an inner telegram - if someone rings your buzzer and you see flowers, flowers, and more flowers, do open your inner door and receive his message. It is a message of love. http://humanflowerproject.com/images/uploads/yebiggest-bouquet.jpg Sri Chinmoy left us with thousands and thousands of works of art, such as his poems, songs, and paintings. Some of them are serious, some of them are playful, and some of them explore a rich palette of spiritual emotions so vast that human language has not yet found a name for them. In some of his later works, like the piano and organ improvisations, he was searching for a way to spontaneously express the oceanic consciousness. He had the courage to experiment; and as a God-Realized soul, he had the childlike quality which allowed him to simply play. He had become a true human being - which is to say a God man - and had earned the right to play. Therefore, to see him at play was as illumining and inspiring as any sermon ever preached. In the coming years, connoisseurs and music critics will no doubt spend much time comparing the piano and organ recordings, looking for those which are most outstanding. While this is naturally a matter of personal taste, two of my current favorites are: Piano: Silence-Sea-Flood (on CD of the same name), with an M4A version on Radio Sri Chinmoy [1]: http://www.radiosrichinmoy.org/radio/93 Pipe Organ: at St. John The Divine (on Multiplicity-Ecstasy CD), with an M4A version on Radio Sri Chinmoy [1]: http://www.radiosrichinmoy.org/radio/109 If, as a listener, you have been concentrating on his shorter, more accessible works, and are looking to break into the longer, more oceanic compositions, I highly recommend these two recordings. When researching the poem I wrote about, I happened upon another of his poems about compassion and forgiveness: My dear Lord How can I live Without Your Life's Compassion-Eye? My sweet Lord How can I breathe Without Your Heart's Forgiveness-Sky? http://www.srichinmoylibrary.com/books/1233/1/27 The song version is sung by Japaka Orchestra on their CD Living in the Heart, with a Real Audio version on Radio Sri Chinmoy: http://tinyurl.com/ywlfo6 (shortcut to page) http://tinyurl.com/2ojd45 (shortcut to download) In my earlier essay, I spoke about human doing - the constant human doing that forms an umbrella which keeps away God's Compassion. I am thinking that as the spiritual seeker reduces his wants, he comes to feel that to live and breathe, he needs only these two things: God's Compassion-Eye and God's Forgiveness-Sky. I am a long way from that place, but it is good to hear about these things again and again, so that we can prepare ourselves. Fortunately, Sri Chinmoy found thousands and thousands of ways to express these spiritual truths through poems, songs, and paintings - not just his talks. Therefore, he is destined to be the Master most beloved by those with a creative and artistic temperament. I offer him my gratitude for being a visionary unsurpassed in human evolution, and a perfect embodiment of the ideal of Compassion. Michael [1] Thank you to Kamalakanta and Sumangali for continuing to make Radio Sri Chinmoy a beautiful place to visit.
Source:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sri_Chinmoy_Inspiration/message/21771 and also: http://srichinmoyinspiration.com/forums/21771
Inspiration Group Classics
Bravo Michael, my goodness, is that a world this ant-heart. I would never imagined that Sri Chinmoy's sunlit Path would be so energising and uplifting.