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In 1971, Herder and Herder published the book “Songs of the Soul”, Sri Chinmoy‘s 9th book since coming to the West. Later, Sri Chinmoy recorded a reading of many of the talks in this immortal book, and subsequently one of his disciples composed a suite of music as a soundtrack to the reading, which was released as an album, also entitled “Songs of the Soul”.
This episode begins with Sri Chinmoy reciting “Hope”, a poem that embodies the ascending cry of the God-seeker. Then there is a series of recitations where the seeker is talking to each part of the being — body, vital, mind and heart — about their role in life. A beautiful vision of the divine in each human being! 🕉
This episode begins with Sri Chinmoy reciting “Hope”, a poem that embodies the ascending cry of the God-seeker. Then there is a series of recitations where the seeker is talking to each part of the being — body, vital, mind and heart — about their role in life. A beautiful vision of the divine in each human being! 🕉
Creators & Guests
What is The Spiritual Wisdom of Sri Chinmoy?
Spiritual Master Sri Chinmoy wrote over 1800 books of poetry, prose, talks, plays and stories. We are happy to share his deep spiritual wisdom with you through recitations of his soul-stirring and illumining writings, given by himself and by his disciples.
Hope
Thou art my Lord, my golden dream,
Thou art my life in death.
O bless me with Thy Hope Supreme,
Lord of the Eternal Breath!
Agelong the vision of Thy Sun
For darkness have I sought.
I know the evils I should shun
And quickly bring to nought.
The earth is deaf and blind, my Lord;
Its true goal it denies.
It hears no voice, no Heavenly word
From those who seek the skies.
O yet I feel Thy kingly Grace
With my feeble mortality.
I shall win at last the noonward race,
Plunge in the Nectar-Sea.
* * *
My Body
O my body, you are a gift of the Supreme. Potentiality inexhaustible you have, deep within you. To misunderstand you means to misunderstand the chosen instrument of God.
You want not, you must not, you cannot conquer the length and breadth of the world with your physical strength. Offer your growing heart to the hearts far and near. Offer your glowing soul to the souls around, below, above. Then alone you become the conqueror and possessor of God‘s entire universe.
O my body, invoke your soul always for you to lead. Invoke! Never shall the monotony of the uneventful life plague you. With lightning speed yours shall be the ceaseless march… upward to the highest, inward to the inmost, forward to the farthest.
Sing, sing the song of Bliss in Immortality! Breathe, breathe in the breath of Consciousness in Immortality! Live, live the life of Existence in Immortality!
Death? Die you must not. For your death will be a great loss to humanity and by far a greater loss to Divinity. Fight, O my body, fight with ignorance to the bitterest end. Never allow ignorance to envelop you, your outer cloak. Your tearing efforts shall be crowned with success.
O body of mine, fare you well for Eternity. May each earthly year of yours have a trillion fulfilling years.
God the Eternal Dreamer is dreaming through you, with you. God the Eternal Reality is living for you, with you and in you.
* * *
My Vital
O my vital, my first choice falls on you. Without your dynamic and stupendous inner urge, nothing can be embodied, nothing can be revealed here on earth.
O my vital, when you fall fast asleep, my mind's undying frustration grips my outer existence. My body‘s helpless surrender to the Prince of Gloom poisons my inner existence.
Man‘s most powerful imagination fails to fathom you, your depth. Man‘s far-flung, brightest wisdom fails to determine you, your breadth.
Yours is the indomitable courage that springs from the fountain of boundless emotion. Kill not your emotion, never. Emotion killed within, fulfilment starved without. Emotion divinely fed within, God the Eternal Delight revealed without.
O my vital, you know no tomorrow. You want to be born, you want to grow and fulfil yourself in the immediacy of today. With the infinite Blessings of the Supreme, on you march across the path of Infinity‘s bloom, Eternity‘s glow and Immortality‘s lustre.
Your life is green, the ever-aspiring and ever-growing green. Your breath is blue, the ever-encompassing and ever-transforming blue.
O vital of mine, in you is humanity's glowing hope. With you is Divinity‘s reverberating clarion.
* * *
My Mind
O my mind, no earthly chain can fetter you. You are always on the wing. No human thought can control you. You are forever on the move.
O my mind, hard is it for you to believe in my soul‘s constant fulfilment. And hard is it for me to believe that you are doomed to be the eternal victim of venomous doubts. Alas! You have forgotten. You have forgotten the golden secret: “To remain in the silence-room is to open the fulfilment-door.”
O my mind, vast are your responsibilities. You have to please your superiors: the heart and the soul. Only with your warmest admiration will you be able to conquer the heart. Only with your deepest faith will you be able to conquer the soul. You have also to satisfy your subordinates: the body and the vital. Only with your pure concern will you be able to make the body smile. Only with your genuine encouragement will you be able to help the vital run unmistakably towards good and not pleasure.
O my mind, I need you desperately, either to abide in you or to go beyond you. You see and thus protect the physical in me. You serve and thus reveal the spiritual beyond me.
O my mind, cast aside your long-treasured arid reason. Welcome the ever-virgin faith. Possess the naked sword of conscience. Far above the storms of fear you are destined to climb. Stay no more in self-created sombre shadows of death. Don the golden robes of simplicity, sincerity and purity. Permit not the gales of disbelief to extinguish your inner mounting flame. Yours is the arrow of concentration. Yours is the soil of lightning intuition. Yours is the unhorizoned peace.
Behold the Supreme! He crowns you, O mind of mine, with the laurel of His infinite Bounty.
* * *
My Heart
O my heart, I am divinely proud of you. You do not have the shameful and shameless disease — worry! Never do you drink the deadly venom — doubt! Nothing can be simpler than your pure longings. Nothing can be more spontaneous than your glowing feelings. Nothing can be more fulfilling than your selfless love. Nothing has a more immediate access to the Supreme than your inmost cry.
O my heart, your Heavenly day within an earthly day is for God-realisation. Your immortalising minute within a fleeting minute is for God-embodiment. Your revealing second within a vanishing second is for God-manifestation.
O my heart, the other members of the family are afraid of God. You are never! Their lightless, persistent fear is a lifeless, persistent paralysis. In life’s journey, others make their own choice. God makes the choice for you. They want to save humanity with their ego's darkest night. You wish to serve humanity with your dedication’s brightest day. Their victory is the victory over humanity. Your victory is the victory over yourself.
O my heart, O heart of mine, you are my life-boat. You sail the uncharted seas of ignorance and reach the Golden Shore of the Beyond.
I am not alone, O my heart. I am with your soaring aspiration. You are not alone. In you and for you is my life’s unreserved breath.
Yours is the unfaltering will and unfailing faith in the Supreme. Each petal of the radiant lotus deep within you is perpetually bathed in nectar-rays of the Transcendental Delight.
O sweet, sweeter, sweetest heart of mine, you are not only God’s. God also is yours.
* * *
My Soul
O soul, I am your body. I am thirty-six years old today. I wish to learn from you.
“Do good.”
O soul, I am your vital. I am nineteen years old. I want to learn from you.
“Be good.”
O soul, I am your mind. I am sixty years old. I need to learn from you.
“See good.”
O soul, I am your heart. I am four years old. Please tell me the secret.
“Remain good.”
O soul, your body again. What do you do with your boundless love?
“I distribute my boundless love to ever-expanding horizons.”
O soul, your vital again. What do you do with your infinite peace?
“I feed the teeming vasts of the past, present and future with my infinite peace.”
O soul, your mind again. What do you do with your vision of the ever-transcending Beyond?
“I feather the golden nest of my Reality's Infinitude with my vision of the ever-transcending Beyond.”
O soul, once more your heart. Tell me your absolute secret, please.
“I live for the Supreme and for the Supreme alone. This is my absolute secret.”