“Music is inspiration, soulful inspiration. It inspires the human in us. Music is manifestation, fruitful manifestation. It manifests the divine in us. Music is satisfaction, supreme satisfaction. It satisfies the Pilot Supreme in us. The human musician plays in order to become great. The divine musician becomes good first and then plays divinely, while soulfully and unconditionally offering the results to his Beloved Supreme. The Supreme Musician does not play in order to become great, and He does not have to become good in order to play. For the Supreme Musician embodies at once the universal sound-music and the transcendental Silence-Music.”
Sri Chinmoy talks – 3 October, 8:00 p.m., University of California, Los Angeles, California
Singapore Song
“Singapore, Singapore, O Singapore.
Power and beauty’s splendour shore.
O bold Lion Strength, O swift deer speed.
Curiosity world you gloriously feed.
Free is your duty’s service delight.
Sure is your giant confidence height.”
Sri Chinmoy was a spiritual teacher who not only taught meditation but also emphasized the importance of living an active and dynamic outer life. In addition to being a poet, athlete, and author, he was a prolific composer of spiritual music, having written over 21,000 songs in both English and his native Bengali. He was also a skilled musician, recording numerous albums of meditative music and performing his compositions in public concerts.
“Music is inspiration, soulful inspiration. It inspires the human in us. Music is manifestation, fruitful manifestation. It manifests the divine in us. Music is satisfaction, supreme satisfaction. It satisfies the Pilot Supreme in us. The human musician plays in order to become great. The divine musician becomes good first and then plays divinely, while soulfully and unconditionally offering the results to his Beloved Supreme. The Supreme Musician does not play in order to become great, and He does not have to become good in order to play. For the Supreme Musician embodies at once the universal sound-music and the transcendental Silence-Music.”
Sri Chinmoy talks – 3 October, 8:00 p.m., University of California, Los Angeles, California
Question: Can music and aspiration co-exist?
Sri Chinmoy: Music and aspiration can and do exist together. Of course, here we are talking only about spiritual music. Spiritual music is the illumining and fulfilling language of the universal soul. Aspiration is the inner cry; music is the outer smile. When we sow the seed of inner cry, we reap the fruit of outer smile. Soulful music and soulful aspiration are not only true friends but eternal friends. Music spreads the height of aspiration; aspiration increases the length of music.
Sri Chinmoy, Aspiration-Tree, Aum Publications, 1976
Question: What is the best way to become one with soulful music?
Sri Chinmoy: The best way to become one with soulful music is to breathe in and breathe out with the firm inner conviction that while you are breathing in, the breath is immediately entering directly into your soul, and with the breath the universal Consciousness, divine Reality, divine Truth is also entering. When you breathe out, try to feel that you are breathing out the veils that are around your soul. Feel that they are lifted and discarded. If you can consciously imagine and feel this, it is the best way to become one with soulful music.
What do we mean by soulful music? If you say it is the music that embodies the soul, then I wish to say that it is incorrect. You have to feel that soulful music is the Light that wants to express itself in a divine way. Even as darkness wants to manifest its authority on earth, Light also wants to manifest its Reality and Divinity in a specific way. Light is the soul of everything. Light is the soul of music, Light is the soul of love and Light is the soul of all art. When Light manifests itself in a divine way in the form of music, it is the music of the soul.
Sri Chinmoy, God the Supreme Musician, Sri Chinmoy Lighthouse, New York, 1970