Last modified June 7, 2021
These 50 songs are amongst the best-known and loved songs in Sri Chinmoy’s extensive canon. They are part of a series called One Thousand Lotus Petals, in which Sri Chinmoy sings selected songs, accompanying himself on harmonium
Selected translations of two songs
Ananda Bhola
Self-enraptured in the swing of nirvana,
The boat of consciousness infinite
Is spreading pinnacle-light.
Sri Chinmoy, [music score]
Track 16 Ajike amar hridaya duar
Today do open my heart’s door, O Lord.
All the ugliness, darkness and ignorance that I cherish
Do remove from the depth of my heart.
I know I am not worthy of worshipping You,
But do make me worthy.
Right from my childhood may I search for You;
May I cry only for You.
– Sri Chinmoy [music score]
Sri Chinmoy: God’s Music is heard by each individual according to his own capacity of receptivity. God plays the same music, but it will sound one way to one person and totally different to another. When a professor gives a talk, there will be many students in the same classroom. One student will understand the professor’s talk in a way totally different from another. Because of his inner capacity, the best student in the class will understand much more than the worst student in the class. God’s Music is heard, valued, understood and felt in a specific way according to the listener’s own capacity of receptivity.
Sri Chinmoy, God the Supreme Musician, Sri Chinmoy Lighthouse, 1974
Sri Chinmoy: Our consciousness is like a book. When we play divine music, we will be able to write down something significant in the book. If it is undivine music, we will write down something undivine. The moment we write something undivine we will see that the quality of the book suffers. When we write divine things we will see and feel that the quality of the book is greatly elevated. There is another way to feel how music affects our consciousness. If we have a piece of paper right in front of us and listen to bad music, we will immediately feel that we have dropped ink on the paper and ruined it. But if we hear good music, we will immediately feel that we have written something divine and immortal on it.
Bad music will immediately affect our consciousness. Consciousness, like water, is neutral. Water symbolises consciousness. What we put inside water is of paramount importance. If it is something harmless, sweet and divine, then naturally we get joy. But if we put something undivine, poisonous and destructive in the water, then naturally when we drink it we shall die. What we mix with the water before drinking it is up to us.
Sri Chinmoy, God the Supreme Musician, Sri Chinmoy Lighthouse, 1974
Sri Chinmoy: Soulful music is the music that wants to eventually transform our consciousness. It carries us into the universal Consciousness and makes us feel that we are in tune with the highest, with the deepest, with the farthest. It also makes us feel that God Himself is the Supreme Musician. When we play soulful music we come to realise the actual truth that we are not the musician; we are just an instrument. We are like a piano, violin or guitar, and God is constantly playing on us. If we really play soulful music, we will see that we are just an instrument, that somebody else is singing in and through us, and that somebody is our Inner Pilot, the Supreme.
Sri Chinmoy, God the Supreme Musician, Sri Chinmoy Lighthouse, 1974
We hope that this soulful offering by Sri Chinmoy will inspire us to go deep within and discover the Source of Joy which we all have in our heart.
Related albums
Artist: Sri Chinmoy
Name: One Thousand Lotus Petals, Part 2, CD 4
Composer: Sri Chinmoy
Release Year: 1999
Duration: 1:10:56
Acknowledgements: Sri Chinmoy
Tracks uploaded and published: Kamalakanta Nieves and Tejvan Pettinger
Format: Advanced Audio Coding
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